Classic Rock News

Here’s a sentence you probably never thought you’d read: A bar in Toms River, New Jersey, won’t allow a Bruce Springsteen cover band to perform there. And the reason has nothing to do with the actual band.

According to NJ.com, Riv’s Toms River Hub had booked a Springsteen cover band called No Surrender to perform on May 30. However, after Springsteen made headlines by criticizing President Donald Trump‘s administration from the stage in Manchester, England, bandleader Brad Hobicorn got a text from the bar owner, Tony Rivoli, telling him the gig was canceled.

According to Hobicorn, Rivoli told him it was “too risky at the moment” to have them play, because his customers are conservative. When Hobicorn offered to simply play classic rock songs, Rivoli said he wouldn’t pay them their fee for that.

“Unfortunately it’s just too much money,” Rivoli texted Hobicorn. “We would have done well but now because Bruce can’t keep his mouth shut we’re screwed.”

In a separate message to bass player Guy Fleming, Rivoli wrote, “Whenever the national anthem plays, my bar stands and is in total silence, that’s our clientele. Toms River is red and won’t stand for his bulls***.”

Hobicorn said that after Fleming revealed what happened in a Facebook post, Rivoli reached out and denied he’d canceled the gig. But the band decided not to play due to safety concerns and the “negative vibes.”

“This is not political for us at all,” Hobicorn said Thursday. “We’re just a cover band that’s trying to make some money and people rely on it financially. We’re the ones really getting hurt.”

Rivoli told NJ.com that he would have let the band play, adding, “I think a lot of people of my base would not have came, but I could have been wrong.”

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Elton John‘s career might have been very different if he hadn’t met Bernie Taupin way back in 1967, so it’s no wonder he wished his songwriting partner a happy milestone birthday on Thursday.

Elton, 78, posted a photo of him and Bernie sitting together in the ’70s. “Happy 75th Brithday, Bernie!” he wrote. “Over 50 years of friendship and we’re still going strong. Forever grateful to be creating and collaborating with you. Love you!”

Elton and Bernie’s most recent collaboration is Who Believes In Angels?, the album they teamed up with Brandi Carlile and producer Andrew Watt to make. And, of course, Bernie wrote the lyrics to all of Elton’s biggest and most beloved hits, from “Rocket Man” and “I’m Still Standing” to “Your Song,” “Tiny Dancer” and “Candle in the Wind.”

Bernie documented his life and career, including his partnership with Elton, in his 2023 memoir, Scattershot. In 2023, Elton inducted Bernie into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In 2024, it was announced that a documentary about Taupin is in the works, featuring interviews with the likes of Ringo Starr, Annie Lennox and The Who‘s Pete Townshend.

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Robert Plant is the latest rocker to express his support for Bruce Springsteen, whose onstage comments during his shows in Manchester, England, have drawn the ire of President Donald Trump.

In fan-shot footage of his May 18 show in Finland with the band Saving Grace, Plant tells the crowd, “Right now in England, which is where we come from … Bruce Springsteen’s touring right now in the U.K. And he’s putting down some really serious stuff. So tune in to him.”

Plant continued, “And let’s all hope that we can be …” — the cue for the band to kick into the Led Zeppelin song “Friends.”

Following Springsteen’s anti-Trump administration comments onstage in Manchester, the president attacked him on Truth Social and called for an “investigation” into whether Springsteen, Bono, Oprah and Beyoncé had been paid to endorse Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. The celebrities have denied this.

On May 20, Neil Young supported Springsteen in a message on his website in which he told Trump, “STOP THINKING ABOUT WHAT ROCKERS ARE SAYING. Think about saving America from the mess you made. Taylor Swift is right. So is Bruce. You know how I feel. You are more worried about yourself than AMERICA.” 

Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder also spoke out in support of Springsteen during a recent concert.

In other Robert Plant news, he appears on a new album of cover songs by former The Jam frontman Paul Weller. Find El Dorado, which includes Weller’s versions of songs by The Kinks, Bee Gees and Richie Havens, is out July 25.

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Jethro Tull really is living in the past with a new reissue that expands their 1972 double compilation album, Living in the Past.

Still Living in the Past, a five-CD/Blu-ray box set, is due out July 11. It includes remixes, edits, demos, live tracks and four promotional films. If that’s too much Tull for you, there will also be a two-LP vinyl edition featuring stereo remixes of the album by Steven Wilson.

The package includes a fully remixed version of Tull’s 1970 release Live at Carnegie Hall, the Steven Wilson stereo remixes and all the tracks from the Life Is a Long Song EP. Songs include “Locomotive Breath,” “Teacher,” “Bourée,” “A Song for Jeffrey,” “Dharma for One” and the title track.

Tull’s Ian Anderson says in a statement, “After 53 years since its original issue, this collection with the Steven Wilson re-mixes and surround sound upgrades is a splendid addition to the Tull album series. It was conceived at the time primarily to update the Tull story for U.S. and European audiences who might not have had the benefit of the many songs which had already reached U.K. fans’ ears.”

He adds, “I am so happy to have this material made available again.”

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On This Day, May 22, 1976 …

Paul McCartney & Wings hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with “Silly Love Songs,” which spent five weeks on top of the chart.

The tune, from the 1976 album Wings at the Speed of Sound, was McCartney’s answer to critics who suggested he only wrote lightweight love songs.

“Silly Love Songs” was McCartney’s fifth #1 as a solo artist and his 27th #1 as a songwriter, which was a new record.

According to the Beatles Bible, although McCartney continues to tour to this day, he hasn’t played “Silly Love Songs” live since the Wings Over the World Tour in 1976.

Next up, McCartney is set delve into his musical history with Wings in the new book Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, coming Nov. 4.

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Metallica‘s M72 world tour will last for at least another year.

The metal legends have announced a 2026 European leg, kicking off in Athens in May. The outing will be a mix of One Night Only shows and Metallica’s No Repeat Weekend, which consists of two concerts in one city, each of which features a completely different set list.

Depending on the date, openers include the reformed Pantera, Gojira, Avatar and Knocked Loose.

For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit Metallica.com.

The M72 tour first began in 2023 in support of Metallica’s latest album, 72 Seasons. Its current North American leg continues Friday in Philadelphia.

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While some of his contemporaries are doing farewell tours, Rod Stewart is still going strong. He says he’s got three new albums in the works, and no plans to stop performing.

Speaking to AARP magazine, Rod, 80, says, “I’ve got so much more music to do. At the moment, I’m doing a covers album of all the songs I’ve ever wanted to cover … I’m supposed to do a country album … and we’re working on a Faces album, so that’s three projects that have got to be done.”  

Plus, Rod says, he’d still like to do a tour with “a big orchestra and play those glorious songs I did from the Great American Songbook.”  He adds, “I enjoy doing concerts more than I did back then. Maybe I’ve come full circle to appreciate how lucky I’ve been.”

As for how he maintains his stamina, Rod says he keeps himself “very fit.” He says Frank Sinatra once told him that the secret to being a great singer is to have powerful lungs. So, he says, “We do a lot of underwater training, where the trainer throws a brick into the pool and I have to dive in, push the brick to the end of the pool, and come up.”

Off the road, Rod enjoys his massive family, which includes eight children, five grandkids and “various boyfriends and husbands.” For his 80th birthday, 15 of them took a cruise on a huge yacht he rented. “One night, they all dressed up as Rod Stewart and didn’t tell me,” he says. 

And though they had a falling out a while back, Rod says he and Elton John are friends again. He tells AARP, “We FaceTime each other. It was his birthday a couple of days ago, so I sent him 48 pink roses.”

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Former Eagles guitarist Don Felder will release his fourth solo album, The Vault – Fifty Years of Music, on Friday, featuring a collection of newly recorded versions of songs he’s demoed over the past five decades.

Felder tells ABC Audio that when he decided to dip into his vault for a new album he had “no idea” what was in there.

“I hadn’t heard stuff since the ’70s or ’80s,” he explains. “It was really like a flashback cause I could remember where I was working on those songs.”

And apparently there was a lot of music, with Felder sharing, “I could probably do a box set.”

“It was just interesting to go take some of these ideas, whether they were brand-new ideas or ideas that had just been little sparks along the way, and turn it into a finished song,” he adds.

The album has tracks embracing the sounds of the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and current day, including one that was written for the late Glenn Frey, his former Eagles bandmate.

While Felder left the band in 2001 on not the best terms, he says, “The only regret I have is that Glenn and I never really got a chance to have a human conversation.”

“That’s why one of the songs on this album is called ‘Blue Skies,’ and it’s written and produced for Glenn wishing him blue skies forever,” he says. (

Felder will be testing out some of these new songs on the road when he joins Styx and REO Speedwagon‘s Kevin Cronin on their upcoming Brotherhood of Rock tour, which kicks off May 28 in Greenville, South Carolina. A complete list of dates can be found at DonFelder.com.

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Tom Petty referred to his 1994 release Wildflowers as his favorite album, and now a book documenting the making of the LP is on its way.

The limited-edition book is a collaboration between the Estate of Tom Petty and Genesis Publications. It will feature rare photography, handwritten lyrics and personal stories from Petty, the Heartbreakers and his musical collaborators.

Preorders for the book will open soon, and you can sign up at Genesis Publications’ website to be notified when it goes live.

Wildflowers was Petty’s second solo studio album and the first of three Petty projects produced by Rick Rubin. While only credited to Petty, the members of the Heartbreakers played on it, except for drummer Stan Lynch, who’d been fired prior to its release.

Wildflowers was critically acclaimed and was eventually RIAA-certified for sales of 3 million albums. It featured the singles “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” “You Wreck Me” and the title track.

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Dead & Company have revealed details about their previously announced performances in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park this August, including openers and ticket information.

Billy Strings will open the Aug. 1 performance, followed by Sturgill Simpson on Aug. 2 and Trey Anastasio Band on Aug. 3. 

You can sign up for a presale now at DeadAndCompany.com; those tickets go on sale May 28 at 10 a.m. PT.

Three-day tickets start at $635 and go on sale May 30 at 10 a.m. PT. Single-day tickets will cost $245 apiece; sale information for single tickets will be announced soon.

A limited quantity of $60 tickets will be available via lottery for California firefighters, starting June 4 at 10 a.m. PT. VIP tickets and travel packages are also available. 

As previously reported, the Dead & Company shows come in celebration of 60 years of Grateful Dead music. 

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