Classic Rock News

It’s been one year since KISS played the final date of their End of the Road world tour, and they are apparently feeling nostalgic. 

The band just shared an almost 20-minute video recap of the Dec. 2, 2023, show at New York’s Madison Square Garden, which was their final goodbye to the road. 

The clip kicks off with Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons descending to the stage on platforms while playing “Detroit Rock City” as pyro goes off around them. It also features clips of them performing “Heaven’s On Fire,” “I Was Made For Lovin’ You,” “Rock and Roll All Nite” and more.

The video ends with the introduction of the “new KISS era,” with video debuting their KISS avatars.

Simmons and Stanley also shared a special message to fans to mark the anniversary.

“While it’s true we stopped touring, this is not the end,” Simmons said. “I wish I could tell you the amazing things that are brewing but you will soon be able to experience it beyond anything you’ve experienced.”

Stanley added, “You’re not forgotten, the 50 years aren’t forgotten and the years to come will not be forgotten either.”

Finally, Simmons noted, “Hang in there. KISS is forever.”

KISS announced their End of the Road world tour in September 2018 following a performance on NBC’s America’s Got Talent. They launched the tour in January 2019 in Vancouver and wrapped it with two Madison Square Garden shows in 2023, Dec. 1 and Dec. 2.
 

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‘Tis the season for the Ten Days of Pearl Jam.

The grunge vets’ annual holiday tradition kicked off Sunday with a live video for “Scared of Fear,” a track off their new album, Dark Matter. The performance was filmed during a May show in Vancouver, which marked the first date of PJ’s 2024 tour.

The series continued Monday with performances of “Scared of Fear” and fellow Dark Matter cuts “Running” and “Setting Sun” recorded at Pearl Jam’s Seattle headquarters as part of their interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe.

Dark Matter was released in April. It’s the 12th Pearl Jam album and the follow-up to 2020’s Gigaton.

(“Running” video contains uncensored profanity.) 

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It’s not uncommon for David Lee Roth to share somewhat bizarre videos of himself dancing to other people’s music, but in his latest clip he’s showcasing one of his own songs.

The rocker has posted a new video of what appears to be him singing along to Van Halen’s “Panama,” although the caption notes it’s the solo version of the tune he recorded with his Roth Band.  

“Panama” was the third single off Van Halen’s hit album 1984 and was a top-20 hit.

Roth released his new version of “Panama” back in September 2022. It was one of several Van Halen tracks he rerecorded on his own. Others include “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love,” “Dance the Night Away,” “Unchained,” “You Really Got Me,” “Everybody Wants Some!!,” “Atomic Punk” and “Jump.”

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Lenny Kravitz shared a sweet throwback photo on Instagram to wish his daughter, actress Zoë Kravitz, a happy birthday. 

Zoë turned 36 on Sunday, and her rocker dad posted a black-and-white photo of them cuddling together on a bed when she was younger.

“Happy birthday Zoë…. Thank you for teaching me what true love and joy is,” Lenny, who is shirtless in the photo, shared in the caption. “I couldn’t be more proud of you. I love you.”

Zoë is Lenny’s only child. Her mother is his ex-wife, actress Lisa Bonet, who he was married to from 1987 to 1993.

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Aerosmith’s Joey Kramer will no longer be helping people get caffeinated.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame drummer announced the closing of his Rockin’ & Roastin’ Coffee brand on the company’s website, noting that no orders will be filled passed Nov. 30.

“To all of Rockin’ & Roastin’s loyal subscribers and my coffee loving fans along the way – It is with deep deep sadness that we have had to make the decision to close the business of Rockin & Roastin’ Coffee,” read Kramer’s message. “After the years of working to recover from the devastation to our business from the impact of Covid, significant increases in the cost of doing business and the tragic, painful loss of my wife, Linda, there just is no realistic alternative but to close our proverbial doors.” 

Linda passed away in June 2022 at age 55.

Kramer launched Rockin’ & Roastin’ Coffee in 2013, sharing on the company’s website that he was motivated to start his own coffee line after drinking lots of bad coffee on the road. He described his coffee as “some of the finest, purest kick-a** coffee on the planet, sure to please the palate of any ‘coffee-sseur.’”

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On This Day, Dec. 2, 2012 …

Rockers Led Zeppelin were celebrated as Kennedy Center Honorees at a ceremony held in Washington, D.C.

Jack Black handled the intro, calling the band — made up of Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and the late Jason Bonham — “the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band of all time.”

The tribute also featured several performances, including “Stairway to Heaven” by Heart‘s Ann and Nancy Wilson, with John Bonham’s son, Jason Bonham, behind the drum kit.

The night also featured performances of “Rock and Roll” by Foo Fighters, “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” and “Ramble On” by Kid Rock and “Whole Lotta Love” by Lenny Kravitz.

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AC/DC is ready to bring their Power Up tour to the U.S. and Canada.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers have just announced a set of North American tour dates, which will be the first time they’ve toured the States in nine years.

The 13-date stadium tour will kick off April 10 in Minneapolis, with stops in Arlington, Pasadena, Las Vegas, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Vancouver, Chicago and more before wrapping May 28 in Cleveland.

Tickets for all shows go on sale Friday. A complete list of dates can be found at acdc.com. 

AC/DC — Angus Young on lead guitar, vocalist Brian Johnson, rhythm guitarist Stevie Young, drummer Matt Laug and Chris Chaney on bass — launched their Power Up tour in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, in May. It was their first tour since releasing their most recent album, Power Up, in 2020, as they were unable to support it on the road due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The last time they played the U.S. was at the Power Trip festival in Indio, California, in October 2023, although the last time they toured the U.S. was in 2015.

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Beatles ’64, a documentary capturing The Beatles‘ 14-day trip to America in February of that year, is streaming now on Disney+. While there have been several docs about this particular chapter of Beatles history, this one has plenty of new stuff for fans to enjoy.

“A big goal for us with this film is to try to bring something new to a beloved story that has been oft-told,” producer Margaret Bodde [BOW-dee] told ABC Audio.

Among those new things: 17 minutes of never-before-seen footage shot fly-on-the-wall style by Albert and David Maysles, who followed the band over those 14 days. That footage “has so many intimate moments with the band, and also really intimate and revealing moments [with fans],” says Bodde.

Plus, the audio from The Beatles’ live performances during that time has all been restored. “For the first time, you can hear how great the band is. They have so much energy. They’re such great musicians,” she adds.
 

Martin Scorsese is a producer on the film and, according to director David Tedeschi [tuh DESK ee], the film legend was “beyond happy” to interview Ringo Starr on camera, as he shows off some of the memorabilia he has from that time period. 

“It was very exciting. … You can’t quite believe that this is Ringo’s drum kit and this is what he played on [The Ed Sullivan Show],” Tedeschi says.

Tedeschi’s other favorite moments in the film include a scene where George Harrison confuses a reporter by naming “White Christmas” as his favorite “rock” song, and footage of a fan who brought a monkey to greet the band in Miami.

Tedeschi notes, “It gave me a real sense of the chaos … as George said [in the film], they were normal, and everybody around them went crazy.” 

Disney is the parent company of ABC Audio.

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In the U.K. it’s a big deal for a song to land at #1 for Christmas, and a new campaign is trying to make that happen for the classic ELO tune “Mr. Blue Sky.” 

According to the Official Charts site, the “Mr. Blue Sky” Christmas #1 campaign was started on social media by Jon Morter, who was behind a successful 2009 campaign to get Rage Against the Machine to #1 for Christmas. The new campaign was sparked by a desire to help promote the Bluesky social media app over Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter.

“It certainly became apparent after I’d made the suggestion that many [users] on the Bluesky app want to make it happen to help promote the new place [now that] many are going away from X/Twitter,” Morter tells the  site. “If nothing else it will be a lot of fun to see if Bluesky users can have an impact on the annual Christmas #1 race.”

The campaign will also serve as a way to celebrate the band, now dubbed Jeff Lynne’s ELO, performing at the upcoming British Summertime Hyde Park festival. The concert is happening July 13 and has already been announced as their final show.

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Roger Daltrey seems mighty impressed by a youth band’s cover of The Who‘s classic tune “Baba O’Riley.”

The Central Pennsylvania Music Hall of Fame, a nonprofit focusing on youth music education, just shared video on TikTok of Daltrey singing the praises of the Central Pennsylvania Youth All-Star Band, who covered the tune in a video posted a little over a year ago.

“I have just seen the most amazing video of the Central Pennsylvania All-Star Band playing ‘Baba O’Riley,’ and I’m gonna tell you I am really impressed,” Daltrey says in the TikTok clip. “The way it’s filmed is really good, but the music you’re playing and the characters in it are all, every one of you, your personalities are coming out, you’re singing from the heart and it shows.” He adds, “It’s wonderful … and I loved it.”

The Central Pennsylvania Music Hall of Fame posted the “Baba O’Riley” video back in August 2023, and it has since been viewed over 50,000 times. Based on the video’s recent comments, Daltrey’s video has attracted a new group of fans to the clip.

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