Classic Rock News

Madame Tussauds is set to honor Elton John with a brand new wax figure.

The museum just revealed a preview of a new gravity-defying statue featuring Elton’s signature 1970s keyboard handstand move. The figure is expected to debut later this year in Madame Tussauds London’s Impossible Festival music zone, which already features statues of Queen’s Freddie Mercury and David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, as well as Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande and Amy Winehouse.

“We’ve been creating figures of Sir Elton John since the beginning of his legendary career, and he has always inspired us to go above and beyond in our creations,” Steve Blackburn, general manager at Madame Tussauds London, says. “Back in the 1970s, his first figure was our first talking figure, and in 2024 we’re determined to go big again.” 

He adds, “The figure’s iconic, gravity-defying pose will capture the essence of Elton’s legendary early performances in a way that only Madame Tussauds London can.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A new class of musicians will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday, and Sting, a Hall of Fame member himself, is excited by some of this year’s inductees.

The rocker tells ABC Audio he’s particularly happy to see Peter Frampton and Mary J. Blige get in this year.

“I’m a big fan of Peter Frampton,” Sting says. “I think he’s had an amazing career from way back when he was in England and I was a kid. So, yeah, it’s great.” 

He adds, “Mary’s a dear friend of mine. We worked together, so that’s fantastic.”

Sting’s also happy to see the late British blues musician Alexis Korner get recognized in the Musical Influence category.

He notes Korner was a “very, very influential figure in London in the blues scene, in the jazz scene,” sharing, “The Rolling Stones came out of that thing and so many other people,” a reference to the fact that Stones drummer Charlie Watts was in Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated, along with several other artists. 

Sting, whose Sting 3.0 tour hits Miami on Sunday, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 as a member of The Police. During their induction he reunited with bandmates Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland to perform three songs: “Roxanne,” “Message in a Bottle” and their #1 hit “Every Breath You Take.” 

Meanwhile, the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held Saturday at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. It will stream live on Disney+ at 7 p.m. ET and will be available to rewatch following the ceremony.

On Jan. 1, ABC will air the special 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, featuring performance highlights. It’ll be available the next day on Hulu and Disney+. 

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Just as they did for Hurricane Helene relief, Metallica is donating $100,000 to help those affected by Hurricane Milton.

Through their All Within My Hands charity foundation, the metal legends are sending $50,000 to Feeding America and $50,000 to the Information Technology Disaster Resource Center.

“The series of storms has strained food bank operations, and there is a need for the swift restoration of essential technology and communications infrastructure,” Metallica says.

For more info, visit AllWithinMyHands.org.

Metallica’s Hurricane Helene donation included $50,000 to World Central Kitchen and $50,000 to Team Rubicon.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

While Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde may love the band’s fans, it seems she’s sick of seeing the same ones in the front row time and time again. 

In a post on social media, Hynde addressed fans who come to multiple shows and get in the front row, letting them know why they may not be keeping the spot they snag.

“First of all, thank you to everyone who’s come to see our shows. We’re in the homestretch of this year‘s tour and it’s been a real pleasure,” she writes. “Fantastic cities and fantastic audiences. We’ve had a great time playing for you.”

But she shares that there’s “[o]ne thing we feel obliged to explain: When we go on tour, the whole point of it for the band is that we are playing to a different audience every night.” She notes they “look forward to seeing local faces. This is what makes it new for us every night.”

“We appreciate those of you who follow us and buy tickets for multiple nights, so please don’t be offended if we request you to move out of the front row,” she adds. “All we are asking is that you give the local fans a chance. This is what keeps it new for us…especially after being on tour for so many months.”

Pretenders are currently on a U.K. tour. They play Edinburgh, Scotland, on Wednesday and Gateshead, England, on Thursday. A complete list of dates can be found at thepretenders.com.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Bruce Springsteen posed for pictures with The Bear star Jeremy Allen White at the New York premiere screening of The Boss’ upcoming documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band.

White is set to play Bruce in the upcoming film Deliver Me From Nowhere, about the making of Springsteen’s 1982 album Nebraska, and this was the first time they’ve been photographed together.

The Road Diary screening took place Tuesday at the Museum of Modern Art, with Bruce, director Thom Zimny, guitarist Stevie Van Zandt and Bruce’s manager Jon Landau in attendance, along with musicians Marky Ramone, Paul Shaffer and G.E. Smith, actor Andrew McCarthy, comedian Sandra Bernhard and others. 

Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band debuts Oct. 25 on Hulu and Disney+.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News. 

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Sammy Hagar has shared a classic Van Halen performance clip on YouTube.

Hagar posted a video of the band — him, Eddie and Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony — performing the 5150 track “Why Can’t This Be Love,” which was recorded in August 1995 in Toronto for Canada’s Much Music.

“It’s so touching when I see old clips of Eddie singing his heart out!” Sammy shared in the caption. “He wasn’t a natural lead singer, but when he sang, he had [sic] with soul and passion. This is a prime example.” 

He added, “And Mikey, rockin’ that mullet hard! I Love finding this old stuff for ya.”

The video release comes just a day after Rolling Stone released Alex Van Halen’s first interview since Eddie’s October 2020 death. In it, Alex seemed to discount Sammy’s contribution to the band, saying “the heart and the soul and the creativity and the magic” of Van Halen was the original four members, him, Eddie, Anthony and David Lee Roth.

The mag also noted the only mention of the Van Hagar years in Alex’s upcoming memoir, Brothers, due out Tuesday, is Alex writing, “We had a lot of other singers over the years.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Metallica pinball machine is getting an update.

A “remastered” version of the metal legends’ signature game has been revealed by the company Stern Pinball, which also put together the original 2013 cabinet. 

The updated machine features expanded gameplay options, additional songs, new video and animation, and updated voice recordings from the Metallica members. 

“Obey your pinball master!” frontman James Hetfield declares in a new trailer released by Stern.

If you have room in your home for a Metallica pinball machine and $9,699 to spend, you can order one now via Metallica.com.

You can hear more about the pinball machine on the latest episode of The Metallica Report podcast.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The late Robbie Robertson’s life and music is being celebrated with a tribute concert in Los Angeles Friday, and now fans who can’t make it to the show will one day be able to experience it on the big screen.

It was just announced that director Martin Scorsese, a longtime friend and collaborator of Robertson’s, is set to direct a film of the concert, dubbed Life Is A Carnival: A Musical Celebration Of Robbie Robertson.

The concert, happening at the Kia Forum, will feature an all-star lineup that includes Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Bruce Hornsby and Warren Haynes, along with Bobby Weir, Trey Anastasio, Noah Kahan, Jim James, Daniel Lanois, Mavis Staples, Don Was, Eric Church, Jamey Johnson, Lucinda Williams and Margo Price.

Scorsese and Robertson worked together on several projects over the course of their careers, starting with Scorsese’s direction of The Last Waltz, the film about Robbie and The Band‘s 1976 farewell concert. Robbie then worked as composer, music supervisor and music producer on several of Scorsese’s films, including Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, The Color of Money, Casino and The Departed.

Their most recent project together, Killers of the Flower Moon, which was released after Robbie’s Aug. 9, 2023, death, earned him a posthumous Oscar nomination.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Talking Heads was a category on Tuesday night’s episode of Jeopardy!, with all four band members – David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison – reading the questions to the contestants.

“We’re the stars of Stop Making Sense,” Byrne says, with Frantz adding, “Acclaimed as the greatest concert film of all time.”  

“Now that it’s getting a 40th anniversary rerelease,” Tina says, “we’ll have clues about the movie and our music,” Harrison adds. 

Questions in the category ranged from where they played their first show, opening for the Ramones — the answer being CBGB — to who directed the film, with the answer Jonathan Demme.

There were also questions about their songs “Psycho Killer,” “Burning Down The House” and “Once in Lifetime.”

And the contestants were up on their Talking Heads knowledge, as all the questions were answered correctly. Four out of the five questions were answered by the same contestant, Zoe, who said, “I love them, and I love the movie.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Stevie Nicks is showing her appreciation for director Michael Moore, who wrote an article praising her Saturday Night Live performance of her new song “The Lighthouse.”

Stevie said the song was inspired by the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and Moore gave her props for using the performance to speak out on the subject.

In the article, Moore described Stevie’s performance as a “rare moment when a performer chose to give voice to the 200 million or so of us Americans who, for over two years, have been in a rage that the Supreme Leader in America (aka, the ‘Supreme Court,’ that group of five or six religious right-wing nutters who rule over what women can and cannot do with their bodies in this country), overturned Roe v. Wade.”

He added, “[M]y jaw dropped as she belted out one fiercely brutal lyric after another aimed squarely at the Court, at Trump, at MAGA Nation — and imploring all women to take a stand, to fight back now, it’s not too late.” 

Moore noted that when a technical glitch delayed Stevie’s second performance he had worried SNL pulled the plug on the two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, but she did eventually go on.

“All was well in land!” he wrote. 

Stevie responded to the article with a note on her Instagram Story, thanking Moore “for so eloquently saying what I’ve been trying to express.” She noted, “Your words remind us of the urgency to act.”

She then encouraged her fans to “get involved and most importantly go out and vote,” adding, “Let’s be the lighthouse guiding each other toward real change.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.