Bruce Springsteen signed a record deal with Columbia Records. He had auditioned for the label’s A&R exec John Hammond in New York City the month earlier, where he performed “It’s Hard to Be A Saint In The City.”
On the same night, he performed for Columbia execs at the Gaslight Club in New York and later recorded a demo for the label.
Springsteen would go on to release his debut album, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., in January 1973. He has spent over 50 years with the label, releasing his last album, Only the Strong Survive, in 2022. His new box set, Tracks II: The Lost Albums, comes out June 27.
A new book about Pink Floyd is set to hit bookshelves this fall.
Pink Floyd Shine On: The Definitive Oral History was writtenby author Mark Blake, who’s worked with the band for the past 35 years. The book is described as a “forensic retelling of one of the most turbulent and enduring groups in rock music history.”
According to the description, the book is “the most comprehensive history of the band ever compiled” and includes new, archival and unpublished interviews with Pink Floyd members David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and the late Richard Wright. Their story is also told through the words of friends, family members, contemporaries and more.
Shine On also features a rare and previously unpublished interview with Rosemary Breen, the sister of Pink Floyd’s original frontman, Syd Barrett, who was kicked out of the band in 1968 and died in 2006.
Pink Floyd Shine On: The Definitive Oral History is due out Oct. 9 and is available for preorder now.
Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Glastonbury 2022/ Samir Hussein/WireImage
Bruce Springsteen brought his Land of Hope and Dreams tour to Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium Saturday and surprised the crowd with a very special guest: local hero Paul McCartney.
“We’re lucky tonight, we have a young man, a local young man, from Liverpool, who’s gonna dance with us tonight,” Springsteen told the crowd, as seen in fan-shot video posted to YouTube. “I think he’s got a lot of talent and I believe he’s gonna be going places So let’s bring out Sir Paul McCartney.”
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers then teamed up for two songs: The Beatles‘ classic “Can’t Buy Me Love” and a cover of the Leiber & Stoller tune “Kansas City,” which The Beatles recorded in 1964 after being inspired by Little Richard‘s version of the song.
The Liverpool show was far from the first time Springsteen and McCartney have performed together. In 2022, Springsteen made a surprise appearance during McCartney’s Glastonbury Festival set, performing “Glory Days” and “I Wanna to Be Your Man” with McCartney. The Beatle also joined Springsteen for his 2017 show at New York’s Madison Square Garden, where they performed “I Saw Her Standing There.”
Bruce and Sir Paul joined forces ahead of the Liverpool show for a non-musical appearance. According to the BBC, on Friday, the two rockers visited the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), which was co-founded by McCartney.
Springsteen and The E Street Band next hit Berlin on June 11. A complete list of dates can be found at BruceSpringsteen.net.
Olivia Rodrigo: Marleen Moise/Getty Images; David Byrne: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic
Talking Heads frontman David Byrne made a surprise appearance at New York’s Governor’s Ball on Saturday.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer came out during pop star Olivia Rodrigo’s headlining set, joining her for Talking Heads’ 1983 hit “Burning Down the House,” with Olivia in red and Byrne in red-and-white. The two even performed some choreography to the song. You can see fan-shot video of the performance on social media.
Considering the fact that a downpour delayed the start of Olivia’s set by an hour, it’s fitting that the song includes the line, “Hold tight, we’re in for nasty weather.”
This has been a busy week for Talking Heads: On Thursday, they released the first-ever video for their iconic tune “Psycho Killer.” The release marked the 50th anniversary of their live debut at CBGB in New York, during which they opened for the Ramones.
After coming down with the flu, Stewart had to scrap two shows of his Las Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace: One was rescheduled and the other was canceled. Now, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer just announced that his illness has further impacted his tour schedule.
“I have to cancel and reschedule my next six concerts in June as I continue to recover from the flu,” Stewart shared on Instagram. “So sorry my friends. I am devastated and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience to my fans.”
He added, “I’ll be back on stage and will see you soon.”
Canceled shows include his next three concerts at The Colosseum — June 7, 9, and 10 — as well as his June 14 show in Stateline, Nevada. He also moving his June 12 show in Rancho Mirage, California to Sept. 20, and his June 15 Paso Robles, California show to Sept. 21.
Stewart is set to return to the stage to play the Legends slot June 29 at the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival. His tour returns to the U.S. on July 5 in Pittsburgh. A complete list of dates can be found at RodStewart.com.
Talking Heads just released the first-ever music video for “Psycho Killer.” Its director, Mike Mills, who helmed the Ewan McGregor/Christopher Plumber film Beginners, is revealing his thought process behind the concept.
“The last thing you want to do is pin down or reduce what the song is about. The song is so much more than being psychotic or killing,” Mills tells Vulture. “At first, I was totally daunted. I was like, How the f*** do you make a video for ‘Psycho Killer’ for my art heroes? It’s impossible. I can’t think of that idea, it’s too hard.”
“Then walking down my hallway, the idea came to me in a flash,” he adds, sharing that the video’s star, Saoirse Ronan, “isn’t at all a psycho killer or anything. It’s the environment and that life and false normality.”
The video follows Ronan through her daily routine; while the routine doesn’t change, she does, slowly unraveling as each day passes.
Mills explains, “There’s something violent in the banality of it all. It’s psychic violence, but it’s still hostile to me. I don’t think normality actually exists. It’s a construct.”
Mills says the band was totally on board with his concept, noting, “They really liked that it wasn’t reducing the meaning of the song. That’s essential to the way they work.”
Mills says both he and Ronan were nervous about the band’s reaction to the final product, but David Byrne soon sent him an email with “Brilliant” in the subject line.
“I didn’t even open the email for five hours because I was like, That’s enough. That’s a beautiful gift. I’ll just keep it at that, who knows what’s inside,” he says. “My response was, Okay, great, I don’t have to do therapy for at least a year.”
Former Deep Purple singer/bassist Glenn Hughes is set to release his first new solo album in almost a decade.
The rocker has announced he’ll drop his 15th studio album, Chosen, on Sept. 5. He’s previewing the record with the release of the title track to digital services, along with an accompanying music video.
“Songwriting is deeply personal to me, and l generally write and record when I have something to say,” he shares. “When writing Chosen, I went back to my life drawing board, writing about the human condition, love, hope, faith, and acceptance. I write about how I feel on the inside and not externally.”
He adds, “My life is lived from within, in the present moment. It’s an album of soul food, and I’ve never been so grateful, right here, on planet earth. Music is the healer!”
Hughes is set to hit the road in support of the album this fall with a European tour that kicks off Sept. 2 in the Netherlands. A complete list of dates can be found at GlennHughes.com.
The Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood made an appearance at the band’s official store on London’s Carnaby Street Thursday as part of a celebration of his 50 years with the band.
“From memorable stage looks to legendary guitars and iconic art prints, we marked the milestone with a look back at five decades of rock ’n’ roll,” the store wrote on Instagram next to video from the evening, which shows Wood checking out some of the memorabilia on display.
Wood also debuted new artwork, titled 50 – The Portraits, featuring drawings of himself and his bandmates Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and the late Charlie Watts.
Canvas prints of the collection are now available to purchase online and at the Carnaby Street store. There’s also a limited-edition set of all four prints that comes with a 7-inch never-before-heard demo made by Ronnie. The sets are all individually named, numbered and hand signed.
Following Mick Taylor‘s departure from The Stones, Wood took part in their recording session for their 1975 album Black and Blue and went on to tour with the band that year. He became an official member of The Stones in April 1976.
Guns N’ Roses are hitting Latin America this fall.
The band just announced 13 new tour dates that will have them playing Mexico, Central America and South America.
The new dates kick off Oct. 1 in San José, Costa Rica, followed by shows in El Salvador, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Peru, before wrapping Nov. 8 in Mexico City.
A complete list of dates and ticket information can be found at GunNRoses.com.
The “Sweet Child O’ Mine” rockers are currently on the first leg of their 2025 tour, with the trek hitting Coimbra, Portugal, on Friday. The summer dates culminate with a July 31 appearance at the Wacken Open Air in Wacken, Germany.
Billy Joel’s former wife Elizabeth Weber and stepson Sean Weber-Small; Gary Gershoff/WireImage
While many Billy Joel fans know that his first wife, Elizabeth Weber, was originally married to his bandmate Jon Small, they may not be aware that Elizabeth and Jon had a son, Sean Weber-Small, who lived with Billy and Elizabeth during their marriage. In the new Billy Joel documentary And So It Goes, part one of which premiered Wednesday at the Tribeca Festival, Sean and Elizabeth open up for the first time about their relationship with The Piano Man.
“My mother and I have been silent about any of our time with Billy since really 1983,” Sean tells People. “Those memories we had, they were ours. So I’ve kind of felt like by talking about them, it would kind of cheapen them somehow, if that makes any weird sense.”
As for why they’re speaking now, Sean says, “My mom didn’t get her due for a long time and kept her mouth shut, and kind of, in my opinion, took the high road. So people are going to get to hear her story and our story.”
While he, his mom and Billy lived together as a family, Sean tells People, “Billy was always really clear that I had a dad. He wasn’t my dad.” He described Billy as more of a “conspiratorial uncle” with whom he was “always getting into trouble.”
Sean says after Billy and Elizabeth split, he would see Billy if they happened to be in the same place at the same time, and also kept in touch via phone and email. He says looking back on his time with Billy via the film has been “healing.”
And So It Goes, which will premiere on HBO in July, also details Billy’s two pre-fame suicide attempts, his drinking and his reckless behavior with motorcycles.
