Classic Rock News

Five years after he first announced it, Elton John‘s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour finally comes to an end Saturday, July 8, in Stockholm, Sweden. It’s officially the highest-grossing tour of all time, taking in more than $900 million so far. By comparison, no previous tour had even hit $800 million. So, why has Elton’s tour reached this milestone? Chalk it up to a combination of length, location, setlist and, of course, the whole “farewell” thing.

“He announced in 2018 that it would run for three years, and that’s pretty much what it’s done, if you take COVID out of that,” explains Eric Frankenberg, Billboard‘s senior chart and data analyst for touring and global music. “So yeah, being able to tour for that long…really showcasing this incredible catalog that he has, that’s a big part of it.”

The other part, says Frankenberg, is the fact that Elton’s literally toured the world, selling out both arenas and stadiums in North America, Europe and Australia. 

“It’s been a full world tour. I would say that and the length has really pushed it over the edge,” he notes. 

Branding it as fans’ last chance to see Elton has also helped attract more than six millions fans to the tour as well, Frankenberg says. 

“I really don’t know if he’s going to come back,” he points out. “…But they’ve definitely put a lot of stock into this being his farewell tour. So I wouldn’t be surprised if this is actually it.”

As incredible as his $900 million gross is, Elton’s record likely won’t stand for long. Frankenberg says Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour is “a big contender for this record … next year when she comes back for Australia and Europe.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band headlined BST Hyde Park in London Thursday, July 6, and the huge crowd featured lots of famous faces. 

According to Sky News, A-listers spotted taking in The Boss’ performance from the VIP section included Peter Gabriel, Jon Bon Jovi, tennis legend Roger Federer and Billy Joel, who plays his own BST Hyde Park show on Friday, July 7.

As for the concert itself, The Boss rocked the crowd with a three-hour show that included such classics as “Prove It All Night,” “Badlands,” “Thunder Road,” “Born to Run,” “Born in the U.S.A.,” “Dancing in the Dark” and more. 

According to BBC News, at one point, Springsteen addressed an incident from his 2012 Hard Rock Calling Festival in Hyde Park, when he and Paul McCartney‘s performance of some covers got cut off because they had gone over curfew.

“I think it’s time to go home,” Springsteen told guitarist Steve Van Zandt about 15 minutes before the show was to end. “I’m telling you, if we don’t go, they’re going to pull the plug on us again,” before adding, “f*** em.”

Springsteen and the E Street Band play their second BST Hyde Park show on Saturday, July 8. Their tour returns to the U.S. with a two-night stand at Chicago’s Wrigley Field on August 9 and 11. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.net.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Queen is back with episode 24 of their weekly YouTube series Queen the Greatest Live, once again looking at the evolution of a song’s live performance, this time focusing on the classic hit “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.”

This week’s episode features a joyous performance of The Game track from Japan’s Seibu Lions Stadium during their 1982 Hot Space Tour.

“It took me five or ten minutes,” frontman Freddie Mercury previously told Melody Maker of writing the tune. “I did that on the guitar, which I can’t play for nuts, and in one way it was quite a good thing, because I was restricted, knowing only a few chords.” 

Released in December 1979, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” went on to become Queen’s first #1 single in the U.S., spending four weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100. 

Next week on Queen The Greatest Live:  “Seven Seas of Rhye.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, July 7, 2007…

The Live Earth concerts to battle climate change took place at various venues across the world, including New Jersey, Tokyo, Rome, London, Washington, D.C. and more.

The concerts featured more than 150 acts, with The Police closing the show at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. Other artists on that bill included Roger Waters, Bon Jovi, Dave Matthews Band, Melissa Etheridge and more.

Meanwhile, in London, Foo Fighters, Beastie Boys, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Duran Duran and more headlined the concert at Wembley Stadium.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Talking Heads is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the concerts that were filmed for their classic movie, Stop Making Sense — with a deluxe edition of the soundtrack featuring previously unreleased content. 

Dropping August 18, the deluxe edition will feature the entire concert for the very first time, including two tracks that didn’t make the original album: “Cities” and “Big Business / I Zimbra.” The live version of “Cities,” which up until now was only included on the VHS/DVD of the movie, is out now.

Stop Making Sense (Deluxe Edition) is being released as a limited edition two-LP set as well as digitally, and there will also be a Dolby Atmos mix. The vinyl will come with a 28-page booklet with liner notes from all four band members and a series of previously unpublished photos. 

“We had done a live album before this, but coupled with the film, and with the improved mixes and sound quality, this record reached a whole new audience,” frontman David Byrne writes in the liner notes. “As often happens, the songs got an added energy when we performed them live and were inspired by having an audience. In many ways, these versions are more exciting than the studio recordings, so maybe that’s why a lot of folks discovered us via this record.”

Stop Making Sense (Deluxe Edition) is available for preorder now.

This isn’t the only way the film is being celebrated. A24 plans to release a newly restored 4K version of the movie to theaters later this year.

Directed by Jonathan Demme, Stop Making Sense is considered by many to be the greatest concert film of all time. In 2021, it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A concert movie featuring the final performance of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s late guitarist and founding member Gary Rossington is set to hit theaters on Saturday, July 8, and Skynyrd frontman Johnny Van Zant is excited fans are going to be able to see Gary in his element. 

After undergoing heart surgery in 2021, Rossington was no longer touring with the band, but he did get to rejoin them for the concert featured in the movie, Skynyrd’s 50th anniversary show at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in November 2022. It turned out to be his final performance.

“I know if he was here to talk to me, he’d be, ‘That’s the way for me to go out,’” Johnny tells ABC Audio. “And I can’t wait for people to see it.”

Gary passed away in March, and Johnny says in addition to his family and the band, the legacy Gary leaves behind is “of course the music.”

He explains, “Gary told me one time, he goes, ‘Hey, man, I don’t do nothing but play guitar and write songs … so, the good Lord gave that to me and I’m so proud that I’ve been able to make some sort of, you know, impact on the music business and impact on the fans.’” 

The 50th Anniversary of Lynyrd Skynyrd: An Exclusive Concert Film Experience will have a weeklong run in movie theaters, drive-ins and outdoor venues from July 8 to 14. Tickets are on sale now.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Kurt Cobain may have broken another auction record.

According to Guitar World, a guitar pick belonging to the late Nirvana frontman was sold for $14,678, reportedly the highest winning bid for a pick sold at auction.

Notably, the pick not only belonged to Cobain, but was also signed by him as “Kurdt Kobain.” It features a drawing he made depicting the Dunlop Tortex tortoise logo. According to the seller, the pick is believed to have been used by Cobain during the recording sessions for Nirvana’s 1991 landmark album, Nevermind.

“It feels surreal to own this piece of music history,” auction winner Shaun Ertischek tells Guitar World. “I haven’t seen anything like it before and it is truly one-of-a-kind. Kurt was obviously an incredible singer, songwriter and guitarist. It is beyond rare and special to have something played by his hand and subsequently signed.”

Cobain’s 1959 Martin D-18E guitar, which he famously played during Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged special, set the record for most expensive guitar sold at auction when it went for $6 million in 2020.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Gov’t Mule has a busy touring schedule ahead of them this year, but frontman Warren Haynes is finding time to fit in a solo show.

The rocker just announced he’ll be playing The Clubhouse in East Hampton, New York, on August 25, which he’s billing as his only solo show of 2023.

“Solo shows are special to me, and I believe to the fans as well, because it allows me to explore my catalog in different and unique ways. I try to play at least a few each year,” he shares on Instagram. “With all my other touring for the remainder of the year, I’m only able to do this one solo show in East Hampton, NY at The Clubhouse on August 25th. Since this will be my only solo show for 2023, I’m going to make it count!”

Tickets for the show go on sale Friday, July 7, at 12 p.m. ET at murmrr.com. 

As for Gov’t Mule, they kick off their Dark Side of the Mule tour on July 22 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The trek will feature the band playing a set of their own music, along with a tribute to Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon. A complete list of dates can be found at mule.net.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ringo Starr says The Beatles were very amused at the big “Paul is dead” conspiracy theory of the late ’60s, which suggested Paul McCartney had died and was replaced by a lookalike.

“We only ever had one that stuck. That was ‘Paul is dead.’ And there were some songs people pointed out as being ‘secret,'” Ringo, who turns 83 on July 7, tells Vulture when asked to pick his favorite Beatles conspiracy theory. He explains that the whole “secret song” thing was just them being “silly.”  

“John (Lennon), by accident, learned how to play a tape backwards, and we put that to full use. So we’d just do something silly at the end of a track and it’d be all over the newspapers and on the radio,” he explains. “They’re actually singing, ‘Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.’ It just made us all laugh.”

He notes, “All of those interesting things we said were not that interesting. We had a great laugh about that. Look at what they’re saying now.”

In the same piece, Ringo reveals that the band’s first song, “Love Me Do,” is the track he’d consider his “career-defining song,” even though session musician Andy White is featured on the album, while Ringo’s on the single.

“We were on vinyl. We made a record,” he says. “We were just blessed that George Martin took a chance on us because many record labels sent us down.” He adds that when they heard it on the radio “it was a really big moment. It was magic because we were on this piece of vinyl all to ourselves.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Foreigner is ready to kick off their farewell to the road. To mark the occasion, the band has released a brand new companion album.

Farewell – The Very Best Of Foreigner features 11 of the band’s biggest hits, including such classics as “Cold As Ice,” “Hot Blooded,” “Double Vision,” “Waiting For A Girl Like You,” “I Want To Know What Love Is” and more. 

Farewell – The Very Best Of Foreigner, produced by Mick Jones with Jeff Pilson, is being released as a limited edition gold vinyl with only 5,000 numbered copies available. They’ll be sold at tour stops and independent retailers.

Foreigner’s Historic Farewell Tour kicks off Thursday, July 7, in Alpharetta, Georgia, with dates confirmed through November. A complete list of shows can be found at foreigneronline.com.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.