Classic Rock News

As a U.K. citizen, Sir Mick Jagger can’t vote in the U.S. presidential election, but he took to Instagram to urge Americans to go to the polls, alongside photos of himself posing with six of his eight, count ’em, eight kids.

“DON’T FORGET TO VOTE – JAGGER KIDS ARE VOTING FOR KAMALA,” Jagger’s post read. In one photo, Mick is posing with his four daughters — Karis, Jade, Elizabeth and Georgia — and in the other photo, he’s pictured with his sons James and Lucas.

Mick is also the father of sons Gabriel and Devereaux. Devereaux is only 7, though, so he can’t vote. It’s not known if Gabriel is also voting for Harris.

It’s not clear which of Jagger’s kids are actually U.S. citizens. 

While on tour earlier this year, Jagger reminded fans, “[In] November, there’s a presidential election, so don’t forget to vote. Don’t take anything for granted!”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

After teasing it at a concert in September, Jon Bon Jovi and Pitbull have officially announced a musical collaboration: a song called “Now or Never,” which is essentially a remix of Bon Jovi‘s classic song “It’s My Life.”

The song is coming out on Nov. 14 but is available to presave now. Jon and Pitbull became friends after meeting at the 2017 Songwriters Hall of Fame gala. In April, they duetted at a Jimmy Buffett tribute concert.

The song’s video will feature footage from the September appearance, which took place at Jones Beach Theater in New York’s Long Island.

“Now or Never” will drop the same day as the 25th annual Latin Grammy Awards, and Pitbull is one of the performers. Will Jon join him for a rendition of the song? Stay tuned.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Drummer Jason Bonham has posted a message on Instagram explaining why he sat out the last four shows of Sammy Hagar‘s The Best of All Worlds Tour. In his absence, drummer Kenny Aronoff, who’d replaced Chad Smith in Hagar’s band Chickenfoot, stepped in.

Bonham, son of Led Zeppelin‘s John “Bonzo” Bonham, wrote, “I wanted to take a moment to explain my absence over the past few weeks. As many of you know, my mother has been facing some serious health issues, and it’s been an incredibly challenging time for our family.”

“I’m grateful to share that she’s on the mend and has been discharged from the hospital!” he continued. “She’s now home and recovering, which brings me immense relief.”

“It was truly difficult to step away from ‘The Best Of All Worlds’ tour with only four shows left,” Bonham noted. “The energy, the connections, and the experiences were nothing short of incredible, but my priority had to be with my mother during her fight for life.”

Bonham went on to announce that JBLZE aka Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening will kick off a tour Nov. 19. “I can’t wait to see all of you and share this journey together once more,” he concluded. “Thank you for your understanding and love. See you soon!”

Bonham’s mother, Pat, was married to John Bonham from 1966 until his death in 1980.

Van Halen‘s Michael Anthony, who played bass on Hagar’s tour, wrote in the comments, “Glad to hear your mom’s recovery is going well … miss ya brother.” Joe Satriani, the guitarist on the tour, added, “That’s great news Jason.” Others adding their well-wishes included Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen and Deep Purple‘s Glenn Hughes.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, Nov. 4, 1963 …

The Beatles took part in the Royal Variety Performance show in London, in front of an audience that included the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret.

The show is held annually to raise money for the Royal Variety Charity.

The band performed “From Me To You,” “She Loves You,” “Til There Was You” and “Twist and Shout” on the show.

John Lennon made headlines for cheekily telling the crowd ahead of “Twist and Shout,” “For our last number, I’d like to ask your help. The people in the cheaper seats, clap your hands. And the rest of you … if you’d just rattle your jewelry.”

It was the only time The Beatles performed on the show, despite repeated attempts to get them back.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

At a rally for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in Atlanta Sunday, Michael Stipe sang an R.E.M. classic with an unlikely musician backing him up: Jon Bon Jovi.

In fan-captured footage, you can see Stipe sing “The One I Love” backed up by Bon Jovi on guitar and country duo The War & Treaty on vocals. 

Stipe also performed another R.E.M. classic, “Driver 8,” at the rally and encouraged the crowd to join him in singing “It’s fun to get out the V-O-T-E,” to the tune of the Village People song “Y.M.C.A.”

Stipe has been supporting the Harris/Walz ticket with appearances, while R.E.M. collectively has shared a new lyric video for their song “I Believe” to encourage people to vote. They also released a digital compilation of 18 hand-picked songs called We Are Hope Despite the Times in honor of National Voter Registration Day.

As for Bon Jovi, he and The War and Treaty will appear with Walz at a rally in Detroit on Monday.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Sammy Hagar is once again dipping into the Van Halen archives to share a classic performance from the band.

The rocker posted a video to YouTube of the band performing the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge track “Runaround.” The performance is from a July 27, 1995, concert at Alpine Valley Music Theater in East Troy, Wisconsin.

“Wow this sounds so good. ’95 top of our game,” Hagar shared in the comments, noting that bassist Michael Anthony “sounds like Geddy Lee, ha ha!” referring to the Rush frontman.

Hagar adds, “brings back some memories that’s for sure.”

This is just the latest classic Van Halen performance Hagar has shared with fans. In October he posted a video of the band performing the 5150 track “Why Can’t This Be Love,” recorded in August 1995 in Toronto for Canada’s Much Music.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Queen recently released the box set Queen 1, dedicated to their self-titled debut album, and in the latest installment of their Queen The Greatest video series, they are giving fans a little insight into the making of the record.

Guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor share what it was like when they got into the studio for the first time, with Taylor noting, “it was tough in the beginning,” because they could only get studio time during odd hours when it was free. 

Despite the difficulties, which also included different producers and pressures to sound a certain way because of the studio, May notes, “I think us as a band, we came through.”

But when the album came out in 1973, critics were indifferent, with Taylor calling it a “tsunami of nothing.” 

“Tell you what helped, we looked at some of the reviews for the Led Zeppelin albums that had been out at that time, some of which were appallingly bad,” May shares. “And we thought, well, if they can run these people down, we shouldn’t be too worried about being run down ourselves.”

The audience also helped, with May noting, “once we had that first album out we had an audience that understood us and were really behind us …That really gives you the energy you need.”

With the new box set, Queen was able to use modern technology to right some of the wrongs they felt happened during the recording.

“Essentially with the Queen 1 box set we’ve made the actual album sound the way we wanted it to sound,” Taylor notes. “The overall sound of it is better … I think we’ve greatly improved it.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Grateful Dead is ringing in November by once again launching 30 Days of Dead.

The month-long campaign offers fans an unreleased live Dead track from the vault every day throughout November, with each download selected by Dead archivist and producer David Lemieux.

“The tracks are yours, 100% free gua-ran-teed,” reads a post on Instagram, “but the real fun is taking part in the challenge for the chance to win some sweet swag from the Dead.”

The songs, posted to dead.net, will be taken from a past Dead show, and fans can win prizes if they correctly guess the date and venue of the concert where the song came from. The daily prize is a 2025 Grateful Dead wall calendar, but there’s also a grand prize, a copy of one of the limited, numbered, Friend of the Devils: April 78 box sets.

30 Days of the Dead kicked off on Friday, with a performance of the songs “Space” and “The Wheel,” which, according to the website, were from Bobby Weir and Jerry Garcia’s respective 1972 solo albums, and never actually recorded in the studio by the Grateful Dead.

More info can be found at dead.net.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Tears for Fears are returning to Las Vegas next year.

The band recently wrapped a three-night stand at the BleauLive Theater inside Fontainebleau Las Vegas, and they’ve now announced plans to return to the venue with four new shows in 2025.

The new concerts are set for Jan. 31, Feb. 1, Feb. 5 and Feb. 7, with a ticket presale launching Monday at 10 a.m. and tickets going on sale to the general public starting Nov. 9 at 10 a.m.

The news comes just a week after Tears for Fears released the first-ever live album, Songs For A Nervous Planet, featuring live recordings of their classics like “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” “Sowing the Seeds of Love,” “Shout” and “Head Over Heels,” taken from their 2022 The Tipping Point Tour.

In addition, the album includes four new studio tracks: “Emily Said,” “Say Goodbye To Mum And Dad,” “Astronaut” and “The Girl That I Call Home.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Thin Lizzy is back with their first new album in over four decades.

The rockers announced plans to release the new album, Acoustic Sessions, featuring reimagined versions of tracks from their first three albums, including the first-ever acoustic version of their classic “Whiskey In The Jar.”

The album combines guitar work from founding member Eric Bell, and the original drum takes of Brian Downey, with previously unheard vocal recordings from Thin Lizzy’s late co-founder and frontman Phil Lynott.

According to the description, the album presents the songs “in an intimate, stripped-down format that is sure to captivate both long time fans and a new generation of listeners.” 

This will be Thin Lizzy’s first album since 1983’s Thunder and Lightning. Lynott passed away in January 1986 at the age of 34.

So far no release date has been announced for Acoustic Sessions but it is available for preorder now. Here is the track list for Acoustic Sessions:
“Mama Nature Said”
“A Song For While I’m Away”
“Eire”
“Slow Blues – E.B” (Eric Bell)
“Dublin”
“Whiskey In The Jar”
“Here I Go Again”
“Shades Of A Blue Orphanage”
“Remembering Pt. 2”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.