Classic Rock News

Peter Frampton has canceled his Tuesday show at Virginia Credit Union Live in Richmond, Virginia.

A post on the soon-to-be Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s Instagram blames the cancellation on “unforeseen circumstances,” adding, “We apologize for the inconvenience. Refunds will be available at point of purchase.”

The show was part of Frampton’s Positively Thankful Tour, which kicked off Sept. 8 in South Carolina. The next show is scheduled for Thursday in Philadelphia, with the tour wrapping Sept. 23 in Northfield, Ohio. A complete list of dates can be found at Frampton.com.

Following the tour, Frampton will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Oct. 19 at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. The ceremony will stream live on Disney+, followed by a special airing on ABC at a later date.

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The Doors’ John Densmore and Devo are among the musical artists taking part in a livestream event in support of the Kamala Harris and Tim Walz campaign. 

Dubbed Musicians for Kamala, the virtual concert takes place Tuesday in honor of National Voter Registration Day at 8 p.m. ET.

The lineup also includes Jefferson Starship, Living Colour, The Flaming Lips‘ Wayne Coyne, Sheila E., former 10,000 Maniacs frontwoman Natalie Merchant, Bootsy, Collins and Jack Johnson.

For more info, visit MusiciansforKamala.com.

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Grateful Dead is giving fans another preview of their upcoming Friend of the Devils: April 1978 box set ahead of its release on Friday.

The band has just released a performance of “Peggy-O,” recorded live at Duke University’s Cameron Indoor Stadium on April 12, 1978. It is available now via digital outlets. 

“No one could have known that the X-factor would appear in such force at Duke ‘78,” Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux shares. “The Dead, as everyone in the building that night could hear, were determined to play one of their best shows ever.”

The 19-CD Friend of the Devils: April 1978 will be made up of eight previously unreleased complete shows from April 1978, including three Florida shows, as well as two Atlanta shows and single shows from North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.

The set will be released exclusively at Dead.net and will be limited to 10,000 individually numbered copies. Plus, the Duke University show will released digitally and as a three-CD or four-LP set.

And for fans who want to hear an even bigger preview, on Wednesday Dead.net will be hosting an early listening party for the April 16, 1978, show at the Huntington Civic Center in Huntington, West Virginia. On Thursday there will be a viewing party for the Duke University concert on The Dead’s YouTube channel at 8 p.m. ET.

Friend of the Devils: April 1978 is available for preorder now.

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Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks’ pre-Fleetwood Mac album Buckingham Nicks has been reimagined by musicians Andrew Bird and Madison Cunningham.

The pair is set to release a full covers album, titled Cunningham Bird, featuring their take on the record, using the exact sequencing of the original release. 

“It’s hard to listen to Buckingham Nicks’ 1973 debut album without trying to imagine it as a prequel to Fleetwood Mac’s legend,” Bird shares. “It’s hard to listen to this album period, as it’s out-of-print and not available on any streaming services. Yet it’s that youthful ambition and overindulgence that make it fascinating.” 

He adds, “The best reason to cover anyone is that little part of you that thinks you might do it better. This album epitomizes excess and confidence, and it only made sense to embody that spirit ourselves. The confidence, that is, to mess with an iconic, if underrated gem.”

The duo has already shared two singles from the record, “Crying in the Night” and “Crystal,” which are available now via streaming services. 

Released in September 1973, Buckingham Nicks was the only studio album from the two future Rock & Roll Hall of Famers. A little over a year after the album’s release the pair was asked by Mick Fleetwood to join Fleetwood Mac.

Cunningham Bird will be released digitally on Oct. 18, and on vinyl and CD Dec. 13. It is available for preorder now. 

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R.E.M. is hoping to encourage fans to vote and get involved in the political process with a newly released compilation album We Are Hope Despite The Times.

Released to coincide with National Voter Registration Day, the digital compilation features 18 hand-selected R.E.M. tracks, with themes of activism and social responsibility. Songs on the album include “World Leader Pretend,” “Fall on Me,” “Welcome to the Occupation,” “Drive,” “Finest Work Song,” “Turn You Inside-Out,” “Pop Song ’89,” “Stand” and “Its the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).” 

The name of the album is inspired by a lyric from the song “These Days,” from 1986’s Lifes Rich Pageant, where they sing, “We are young despite the years/ We are concern, we are hope despite the times.”

With the release of the album, the band is urging fans to visit vote.gov or headcount.org to register to vote or update their voting information.

We Are Hope Despite The Times is available now via digital outlets.

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REO Speedwagon bassist Bruce Hall wants fans to know he’s not happy about the recent announcement that the band will be retiring from the road in 2025.

In a post on social media, Hall, who’s been with the band since 1977, shared, “Never ever thought it would end like this and I’m heartbroken. Please know Neal (Doughty) and I did everything in our power to try and keep the Wagon rolling.”

Hall thanked fans for their support, noting, “You guys have been very vocal and clear in your wishes for me to return to the stage. Trust me…that’s all I wanted too. We all deserved a farewell tour.”

The news of the touring retirement came just days after frontman Kevin Cronin revealed to fans that he had recently undergone emergency surgery.

“I am on the mend and will be up and rockin’ as soon as the good docs here say it’s okay,” he said. “Until then, I am 100% focused on recuperating.” 

Hall has been off the road since November 2023, when he left to have back surgery. In their retirement announcement, the band claimed he “had not recovered sufficiently to be able to perform at the level the fans have come to expect.”

Hall noted in his post, “For the record, I wanted REO Speedwagon to continue to tour with the lineup of Kevin, myself, Dave (Amato), Bryan (Hitt) and Derek (Hilland).”

REO Speedwagon’s retirement is set to begin Jan. 1, 2025. They still have several dates booked through the end of the year, with their next show happening Sept. 27 in Rancho Mirage, California. A complete list of dates can be found at reospeedwagon.com.

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On This Day, Sept. 17, 1967…

The Doors appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing their #1 single “Light My Fire.”

But the performance wasn’t without controversy. Prior to the show, the band had been asked to change the line of “girl, we couldn’t get much higher” to take out the reference to drugs. While they originally agreed to do it, and sang the altered version during rehearsals,  frontman Jim Morrison wound up disregarding the request and sang the original lyrics live on the air.

Morrison’s defiance resulted in The Doors getting banned from The Ed Sullivan Show, with Ray Manzarek later saying they were told that Sullivan had initially planned to have them back six more times.

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Talking Heads are revisiting their debut album, Talking Heads: 77, with a brand new box set coming Nov 8.

Talking Heads: 77 (Super Deluxe Edition) will be made up of four LPs, one of which is a remaster of the original album. There will also be an LP of unreleased demos and outtakes, along with a two-LP live album, Live at CBGB, New York, NY, Oct. 10, 1977, a recording of their last concert at the famed New York club. 

The live album, only available in the box set, will feature 13 previously unreleased live recordings. The rarities include alternate takes, acoustic versions and more, like “Psycho Killer (Acoustic Version),” featuring the late cellist Arthur Russell, which is available now via digital outlets. 

The set also includes four 7-inch singles, an 80-page hardcover book with never-before-seen photos and more, and liner notes written by the members of Talking Heads – David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison – as well as recording engineer Ed Stasium.

In addition to the super deluxe edition, the reissue will be released digitally, on two-LP standard black vinyl, two-LP green vinyl at Barnes & Noble and as a three-CD/Blu-ray set, with the Blu-ray featuring new high-quality mixes of the album.

Talking Heads: 77 (Super Deluxe Edition) is available for preorder now.

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While some musicians will insist they don’t do what they do for the money, KISS’ Gene Simmons isn’t necessarily one of them.

In a new interview with Forbes, Simmons was asked why, after KISS’ retirement from the road, he’s still doing shows with the Gene Simmons Band. The journalist suggests it isn’t about the money, but Simmons strongly disagrees.

“I don’t like that phrase: ‘It’s not about the money.’ Money has been vilified and I take offense to that as a human being, sharing the planet with the rest of the people,” he says. “I’ve heard that phrase, ‘Money can’t buy happiness.’ That’s one of the biggest lies of all time.”

Some KISS fans were upset that the band’s final shows in December 2023 didn’t include the original members of the band, and others were upset about their planned avatar experience, but Simmons says he’s “too rich to care” about that.

“When you’re worried about the next dollar … it’s funny what money does. You have to be kind and you can’t treat people badly,” he says. “But money gives you a really good buffer that if you’re going to be critiqued – and food for thought, not everybody likes Jesus, either – if you’re making up a new reality and well good Lord, if you’ve got a s******* of money around you, say whatever you want! I don’t know how else to say it.”

He adds, “Fame, by the way, is highly overrated because one of the things that keeps eating away at fame is age. … The more money you’ve got, the more you can bear it.”

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David Gilmour has a top 10 album with his latest solo release, Luck and Strange.

The former Pink Floyd member’s fifth solo release debuts at #10 on the Billboard 200 album chart, his first top 10 record since 2015’s Rattle That Lock landed at #5. His only other solo top 10 was 2006’s On an Island. 

Gilmour moved 32,000 equivalent album units of Luck and Strange in its first week in release, 30,000 of which were in traditional album sales, landing it at #1 on the Top Album Sales chart.

While Gilmour’s only had three solo top 10 albums, as a member of Pink Floyd he’s earned 10, including five #1 albums: 1973’s The Dark Side of the Moon, 1975’s Wish You Were Here, 1979’s The Wall, 1994’s The Division Bell and 1995’s live album Pulse.

As previously reported, Luck and Strange charted even better in the U.K., debuting at #1 on the U.K.’s Official Album Chart, making it Gilmour’s third #1 album in the U.K.

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