The Rolling Stones recently wrapped their Hackney Diamonds tour, and they are giving fans a unique way to memorialize their experience at the concert.
The band is now selling limited-edition Hackney Diamonds 2024 tour crystal tickets, each individually numbered, with only 1,000 available worldwide.
“Forget paper – this isn’t your ordinary ticket stub,” reads a description of the unique memento. “Inspired by the tour’s name, the design shimmers with a unique diamond-like bevel, incorporating the tour date and name into this one-of-a-kind ticket. It’s a collector’s dream.”
But the ticket isn’t cheap. It sells for $358, although it comes in a keepsake box, a certificate of authenticity and a display stand.
They are available to order now and will ship Oct. 4.
The Rolling Stones kicked off their Hackney Diamonds tour of North America on April 28 in Houston, and wrapped it with a hits-filled show in Ridgedale, Missouri, on Sunday. So far they haven’t announced any other dates for the tour.
After 104 monthly shows over 10 years — and 1.9 million tickets sold — Billy Joel finally brought his residency at New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden to a close on July 25 … with help from special guests Jimmy Fallon and Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose.
When Billy noted early in the evening that it was the final show of the residency, fans booed — and Billy responded, “We don’t want to leave either, but it’s time.” He called the 10-year residency “the most amazing gig that we’ve ever done, ever.”
He then proceeded to reel off a list of his impressive other gigs: The first rock act to play at Yankee Stadium, the final act to perform at Shea Stadium, playing in front of the Colosseum in Rome, playing in Berlin as the Wall came down, performing in Cuba and being one of the first Western rock acts to perform in the Soviet Union.
But, Billy said, “THIS is the best!” He then added, “We’ll come back.”
Billy’s pal Jimmy Fallon was on hand to announce that a banner was being raised to the rafters of the Garden commemorating the fact that overall, the Piano Man has played 150 concerts at the legendary venue — the most lifetime performances by any artist. “No one else has done this!” Jimmy yelled. “We are part of history!”
A bit later, Axl Rose joined Billy to perform Paul McCartney‘s James Bond theme “Live and Let Die,” which GN’R had covered on their 1991 album Use Your Illusion I. Rose also performed AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell,” which was fitting, considering that he filled in as AC/DC’s lead singer in 2016. Rose returned to join Billy and the band for the final number, “You May Be Right.”
Billy was also joined onstage by his two youngest daughters: Della, who’ll be 9 in August, and Remy, 6. While Remy sat on the piano and waved at the crowd, Della sang along with every word of her dad’s hit “My Life,” acting out the lyrics when appropriate. At the end, she commandeered the mic to yell, “Thank you, Madison Square Garden!”
After a visibly moved Billy regained his composure, he joked, “I guess it’s HER life now!”
As for the rest of the set list, Billy stuck to hits like “Only the Good Die Young,” “You May Be Right” and “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” and fan favorites like “Vienna,” “Zanzibar” and “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.” The only unexpected number was “This Is the Time,” a romantic ballad from his 1986 album The Bridge which he played by special request of his wife, Alexis.
“Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)” “Pressure” “The Entertainer” “Zanzibar” “Vienna” “My Life” “Start Me Up” (snippet) “An Innocent Man” “Downeaster ‘Alexa'” “Don’t Ask Me Why” “New York State of Mind” “Allentown” “This Is the Time” “Live and Let Die” (With Axl Rose) “Highway to Hell” (With Axl Rose) “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” “Only the Good Die Young” “The River of Dreams”–> Ike & Tina Turner’s “River Deep, Mountain High” (vocals: Crystal Taliefero) –> “The River of Dreams” “Nessun Dorma” (vocals: Mike Guidice) “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” “Piano Man” Encore: “We Didn’t Start the Fire” “Uptown Girl” “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” “Big Shot” “You May Be Right” (With Axl Rose, snippet of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock & Roll”)
Former Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward appears up for a reunion show.
In a Facebook post, Ward writes that he’s “checking in regarding all the updates on a possible Sabbath show in England.”
“I’m in for playing some of everyone’s old favorites,” Ward shares. “Loved playing them then, I’d love to play them one last time.”
He adds, “I’m not going to talk about my health publicly except to say, everyday I’m pretty good for 76 years old, I’m active musically every day, and I have a very busy and gratifying life.”
Ward, Sabbath’s original drummer, parted ways with the band acrimoniously shortly after they’d announced their reunion in 2011. He didn’t take part in Sabbath’s final album, 2013’s 13, or their farewell tour, which concluded in 2017.
In recent years, Ozzy Osbourne has spoken out about Ward’s absence from Sabbath’s farewell, telling Stereogum in 2022 that he regrets that the drummer didn’t play on 13. Then in a May episode of his Madhouse Chronicles show, Ozzy said that the story of Sabbath feels “unfinished” and that he’d want to do “one more gig” with Ward behind the kit.
Ozzy, meanwhile, had been sidelined from the live stage due to various health issues — he hasn’t played a full live set since 2018 — but he did reunite with Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi for a two-song performance at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. He also just appeared in a new commercial alongside Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler for the Aston Villa F.C. soccer team.
While Van Halen had plenty of success with both David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar as their frontmen, they couldn’t produce the same magic when Extreme’s Gary Cherone took over the gig. And bassist Michael Anthony is opening up about why it didn’t work out.
“It was an interesting time, because the band was really going through a lot personally,” Anthony told Ultimate Guitar. “And as far as musically, I personally didn’t think that Gary was a really good fit for Van Halen. I mean, I really love him in Extreme, but I just didn’t really see the fit.”
Van Halen released one album, 1998’s Van Halen III, with Cherone, and also went on tour with him, which Anthony describes as a good experience because Cherone “was open to doing any of the Van Halen stuff.”
“In fact, he suggested doing the Roth era stuff, the Hagar era stuff,” he says. “And he wanted to play it all, which was really great because we ended up on that tour playing a lot of the older Van Halen stuff that we hadn’t played for years when Sammy was in the band.”
Anthony says there’s some Cherone material in the vault that’s never been released, but it doesn’t sound like he’s expecting any of it to ever come out.
“But as far as the other music goes, that’s shelved and that’s up to Wolfgang (Van Halen),” he says. “I don’t think any of that will really see the light of day because it was something that was a work in progress and never completed.”
Anthony is currently out on tour with Sammy Hagar on his The Best of All Worlds Tour. The trek hits Mansfield, Massachusetts, on Friday. A complete list of all dates can be found at redrocker.com.
Sting is replacing Neil Young at yet another festival.
It’s already been announced that the former Police frontman would be filling in for Young at Kentucky’s Bourbon & Beyond music festival on Sept. 19, and now he’s set to do the same at the Eddie Vedder-curated Ohana Festival on Sept. 28. Sting will be taking the stage with guitarist and longtime collaborator Dominic Miller and drummer Chris Maas.
Young canceled his entire tour with backing band Crazy Horse in June due to health reasons, although he was recently announced as one of the performers at Farm Aid, happening Sept. 21 in Saratoga Springs, New York.
The Ohana Festival, taking place Sept. 27 to Sept. 29 in Dana Point, California, also features two headlining sets by Pearl Jam, on Sept. 27 and Sept. 29, as well as sets by Alanis Morissette, Garbage, Crowded House, The Breeders and more.
In other Sting news, he’s set to premiere a new song as he helps French high-wire artist Philippe Petit celebrate the 50th anniversary of his high-wire walk between the two towers of the World Trade Center.
As previously reported, Sting will be performing at Petit’s anniversary celebration, taking place Aug. 7 and Aug. 8 at Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. It turns out the performance will include the debut of a song written about Petit, along with two other tracks.
Petit’s illegal walk between the two buildings in lower Manhattan happened on Aug. 7, 1974; during the celebration he plans to get back on the high wire for an artistic recreation of his original walk.
Hermann Hesse’s classic novel Siddhartha is being reimagined as an illustrated novel and album, authored and composed by Pete Townshend’s wife, Rachel Fuller, with The Who rocker providing additional songs for the album.
The project is titled The Seeker, which also happens to be the name of a Who song. The book has been narrated by the late Christopher Plummer and will feature Pete, plus special guests Elton John, Emeli Sandé, South African singer Nakhane, British actor LaytonWilliams, Indian singer Sunidhi Chauhan and the RoyalPhilharmonic Orchestra and choir.
“The creation and realization of The Seeker in musical and book form has been part of my own spiritual journey,” Fuller shares. “I feel truly blessed to be a part of it and hope that the story resonates with listeners and readers in today’s world, where we need the energy of love, peace, and hope more than ever. Music and art has been and forever will be universal.”
Fans will get their first taste of the project with a podcast series featuring conversations with special guests, including Townshend. The illustrated novel, with artwork by Emelia Wharfe, and the album are set to drop Nov. 7. The project will also be performed at a special concert at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London on Nov. 6, featuring members of the cast along with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and choir.
Tickets for the concert will go on sale in September.
U2 is revisiting their ’90s ZOO TV tour with a new EP coming out in August.
ZOO TV – Live In Dublin 1993, dropping Aug. 30, features performances from the band’s two-night hometown stand at RDS Arena in August 1993. This marks the first official release of songs from those shows, with the EP consisting of five performances, including “Mysterious Ways,” “Zoo Station” and “Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around the World.”
Launched in February 1992, U2’s ZOO TV tour was in support of their 1991 album Achtung Baby, although the band also recorded and released the album Zooropa during that time. The tour consisted of five legs and 157 shows, with the band playing to 5.3 million fans before wrapping in December 1993. One of the Dublin shows was also broadcast to more than 700 million fans via a live global radio broadcast.
ZOO TV – Live In Dublin 1993 will be released on CD, 12-inch vinyl and digitally, including Spatial Audio/Atmos remixes. It is available for preorder now.
Here is the track list for ZOO TV – Live In Dublin 1993:
“Zoo Station” “Mysterious Ways” “Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around The World” “Stay (Faraway, So Close!)” “Love Is Blindness”
Stevie Nicks took the stage in Glasgow, Scotland, Wednesday after previously postponing her show in the city, and she explained to fans what kept her from performing in the first place.
In fan-shot footage posted to YouTube, Stevie revealed she got an infection that led to her hospitalization.
“When I got here I was just really excited to be in Glasgow,” she told the audience. “And I don’t know what happened, I just got this weird infection, and it just went crazy.”
Stevie shared that she had gotten to Glasgow a few days early in order to enjoy the city and was staying at a castle when she realized something was wrong.
“I finally looked at my assistant, it was like 2 in the morning, and I said, ‘I think we need to go to emergency,’ and she looked at me and I just said, ‘I’m not kidding, I think we need to go to the hospital,'” she said.
The butler then sped Stevie to the hospital, where she wound up staying for two days.
“They let me go back to the castle, and we canceled this show,” she said. “This whole tour I’ve been fighting what started here, and I would be damned if I wasn’t coming back here.”
Stevie’s Glasgow show was originally supposed to take place on July 6, with the postponement blamed on “a recent leg injury requiring a minor surgical procedure that will need a few days of recovery time.” She also postponed a show in Manchester.
Wednesday night’s makeup show was the last date of Stevie’s European tour. She has two more U.S. shows on the books for 2024: Sept. 24 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Sept. 28 in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Mick Fleetwood is the latest artist to pay tribute to British blues/rock guitarist John Mayall, who passed away Monday at the age of 90.
Fleetwood was a member of Mayall’s band the Bluesbreakers in the ’60s, where he played with his future Fleetwood Mac bandmates John McVie and Peter Green.
“The news of John Mayall’s passing …. in many ways hit me as losing a musical father!!” Mick wrote on social media. “John Mayall was a guiding light to so many of us young English players! To have spent time as part of his band the ‘Blues Breakers’ led the three of us, Peter Green, John McVie, and myself to form Fleetwood Mac back in 1967!!”
He adds, “He is owed much gratitude from so many in the musical world. John Mayall, you will be missed!”
Mayall’s Bluesbreakers formed in 1963, and different incarnations of the band featured artists who would go on to be huge rock stars of the ’60s and ’70s. In addition to the three future Fleetwood Mac members, rockers like Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones’ Mick Taylor and Cream‘s Jack Bruce played in the band.
Mayall is due to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in October in the Music Influence category.
After 10 years, Billy Joel is finally ready to wrap his Madison Square Garden residency Thursday, with what will be the 150th show of his career at the iconic New York venue.
“It is an honor to be here. I’m kinda flabbergasted that it did last as long as it did,” he told reporters during a June 2023 press conference announcing plans for the residency’s end. He joked that his team told him he could keep on going if he wanted, but said with 150 shows, “It’s ‘Alright, already!'”
Joel launched the residency on Jan. 27, 2014, and ever since he’s been packing the house for one show a month, with only some random illnesses and the COVID-19 pandemic keeping him from his scheduled appointment with the Big Apple crowd.
Joel took the monthly gigs as a chance to have some fun onstage, mixing his set with classics like “Piano Man,” “Only The Good Die Young,” “You May Be Right” and “Big Shot” with deeper cuts like “Los Angelinos,” “Zanzibar,” “Summer of Highland Falls” and “Everybody Loves You Now.”
He also surprised fans with plenty of musical guests, including Tony Bennett, Sting, Jon Bon Jovi, Elvis Costello, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, AC/DC’sBrian Johnson and John Fogerty.
Other guests included his daughters Alexa, Della and Remy, and even comedian JerrySeinfeld, who in March helped raise a banner marking Billy’s 100th consecutive sell-out residency show. A taped special of that performance aired on CBS and was recently nominated for an Emmy award.
“I’m going to miss doing it a lot,” he told USA Todayabout the residency.“I love it. The band loves it. The crowd is a New York-crazy crowd. The minute you walk onstage you’re aware they’re rooting for you.”
