Classic Rock News

Actor Michael Shannon and musician Jason Narducy will hit the road in February for a tour where they’ll be performing songs from R.E.M.’s 1985 album Fables of the Reconstruction, and folks just got a taste of what to expect. 

The musicians appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Wednesday, where they performed the R.E.M. classic “Driver 8.”

The tour kicks off Feb. 14 in Pioneertown, California, with stops in Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, New York and more before wrapping March 14 in Chicago. 

This isn’t the first time the pair have launched a tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of an R.E.M. album. They previously went on the road in honor of the 40th anniversary of R.E.M.’s debut album, Murmur.

The latest tour includes two shows, Feb. 27 and Feb. 28, in R.E.M.’s home city of Athens, Georgia. During Shannon and Narducy’s Murmur tour, all four members of R.E.M. — Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Bill Berry and Peter Buck — made a surprise appearance at the Athens show, although Stipe did not perform.

In other R.E.M. news … Buck is set to join Drivin N Cryin frontman Kevin Kinney for four shows in January. The shows kick off Jan. 28 in Atlanta and include stops in Chattanooga and Athens, before wrapping Jan. 31 in Ellijay.
 

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On This Day, Jan. 9, 1944 …

James Patrick Page, better known as Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, was born in Heston, a suburb of London.

Page started his career as a studio musician and was a member of The Yardbirds before forming Led Zeppelin in 1968 with Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham.

The band went on to become one of the bestselling acts in music history, releasing nine studio albums that all reached the top 10, with six hitting #1. 

Led Zeppelin called it quits in 1980 following Bonham’s death, although the surviving members would reunite in 1985 to perform at Live Aid in Philadelphia and again in 1988 for the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary concert in New York, with Bonham’s son, Jason Bonham, behind the drum kit. They reunited for a final time in 2007 at the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert at London’s O2 Arena, again with Jason.

Outside of Led Zeppelin, Page and Plant worked together in the band the Honeydrippers and performed together as Page-Plant in the early to mid-’90s. Page also collaborated with several other artists, including David Coverdale and The Black Crowes.

Page was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Led Zeppelin in 1995. In 2005 he was appointed Order of the British Empire and earned a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award with Led Zeppelin.

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A singer covering a Green Day song at an England venue found himself performing in front of Billie Joe Armstrong himself.

The “American Idiot” rocker stopped by the Cavern Club in Liverpool, which is famous for hosting The Beatles back in the day, and caught a set by resident artist Callum McMorran, who just happened to be putting a spin on Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).”

The Cavern Club posted footage of the moment on Instagram, adding in the caption, “Imagine performing a @greenday song to Billie Joe Armstrong… Well our resident @callummcmorran got to on The Cavern Club front stage.”

Armstrong has an England gig of his own coming up Jan. 15 in London, which he’s playing with his side project The Coverups.

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Back in 1990, Billy Joel staged the first rock concerts ever held at New York’s Yankee Stadium. Now he’s coming back, and he’s bringing Rod Stewart with him.

Billy has announced that he and Rod will play a one-night-only show at the iconic New York venue on July 18. A Citi cardmember presale starts Jan. 13 at 10 a.m. ET. The general sale begins Jan. 17 at 10 a.m. ET.

During his residency at Madison Square Garden, which ended last year, Billy generally avoided performing at other venues in the New York-New Jersey area, but now all bets are off. He’s also going to perform at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Aug. 8 with Stevie Nicks.

Billy and Stevie began performing shows together in 2023. Last year, he added Sting and Rod to his list of co-headliners for stadium dates.

Billy’s next show is Jan. 17 in Hollywood, Florida, solo. On Feb. 8, he and Sting will perform in Indianapolis.

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Succession’s Jeremy Strong is set to play Bruce Springsteen’s manager Jon Landau in the upcoming movie Deliver Me From Nowhere, and he tells Deadline working on the film has “been one of the greatest working experiences I’ve ever had.”

“(Landau) has a lot to do with who Bruce is, his spirit and the kind of concentric, uplifting circles that emanate from the core of his being,” Strong says of Landau. “I like to do a deep dive playing these characters, and I’ve had a lot of access in this case to them.” 

The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White plays Bruce in the film, and Strong says both the rock star and Landau have been very helpful to them in the process. “The more I’ve learned about them and witnessed them together, it really is a love story in a sense between these two men,” he says.

“It’s just been a beautiful thing to see and to have them on set, capturing it with them and weaving together the tapestry,” Strong shares. “Bruce and Jon will feed me stories, anecdotes, memories, thoughts, feelings that have all made their way into the film that we’re making.”

“But honestly, man, if you’re a Bruce person as I am now more than ever, just being in the orbit and telling the story about Nebraska … it’s really a story about artistic authenticity in an increasingly synthetic world,” he adds.

Deliver Me From Nowhere, directed by Scott Cooper, follows Springsteen’s efforts to make his 1982 solo album Nebraska. The film is based on Warren Zanes‘ book Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska.

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Former Yes frontman Jon Anderson will once again be hitting the road with the cover group The Band Geeks.

The rocker just announced new tour dates for 2025, with the trek consisting of 18 shows that kick off April 1 in Tucson, Arizona, and wrap May 18 in Carteret, New Jersey. 

The show will feature Anderson performing songs from throughout his career, including tracks from the Yes catalog, along with songs from his first album with The Band Geeks, True, which was released in August. 

Ahead of the tour, Anderson and The Band Geeks will release a new live album and DVD, Jon Anderson and The Band Geeks Live – Perpetual Change, a recording of their concert at the Arcada Theater in St. Charles, Illinois, which took place during their 2023 summer tour. It comes out March 14 and is available for preorder now. 

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Gene Simmons has added a handful of new dates to his U.S. tour with his Gene Simmons Band.

In addition to his previously announced shows, which start in April in California and run through May in Houston, the God of Thunder will perform April 3 in Anaheim, California, April 8 in Auburn, Washington, April 10 in Magna, Utah, and May 18 in Rockford, Illinois.  

A complete list of dates and ticket information can be found at GeneSimmons.com.

Following KISS’ final show at New York’s Madison Square Garden last December, Simmons’ first solo show was in April 2024 at the grand opening of the Rock & Brews Restaurant and Concert Bar in Ridgefield, Washington. He and his band then went on to play shows in Brazil and Europe.

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Variety has put together its annual list of the 500 biggest names in showbiz over the past year, and Elton John has made the cut.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is recognized in the Talent category of the Variety500, which was released ahead of the publication’s annual Entertainment Summit on Jan. 8. According to the trade, the list recognizes the year’s “leaders, movers and shakers” in the entertainment world. 

Elton is singled out for all the recent highlights of his career, including the 2024 release of the documentary Elton John: Never Too Late, the 2023 conclusion of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour and the livestream of the final show on Disney+, Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium, which earned him an Emmy, making him an EGOT winner. 

Other musicians making the Talent list this year include Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, Rihanna and Beyoncé. 

The rest of the 500 names are in TV, film, gaming, production, digital media, marketing, podcasting and other entertainment-related disciplines.

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The words “Billy Joel” and “sinister vibes” don’t normally go together, which is why one user on social platform X is getting roasted for claiming that’s what they got from the Piano Man’s 1983 doo-wop-inspired hit “Uptown Girl.“

The user, @plumjae, who Page Six claims is a “Gen Zer,” initially posted, “I was in an Uber share today and a song came on that had the most sinister vibes ever and all three of us were sitting in dead silence I wish I could rmbr the song imma try to find it.”

They followed it up by posting the “Uptown Girl” video, starring Billy as a mechanic who tries to woo a wealthy woman played by his then-girlfriend and future wife Christie Brinkley.

They wrote, “I found it. I was scared as f*** the Uber was just gonna drive us off the road I do not like the energy this song brought into the car.”

While there are a few Billy Joel songs that might be described as somewhat sinister — “Pressure,” “Stiletto” and “The Stranger” come to mind — most X users mocked the poster over their reaction to what is decidedly not that type of tune.

“This is definitely the last song I would have guessed,” wrote one.

“To think we’ve crossed the Rubicon where one of the most well known pop songs of all time by one of the most successful pop artists of all time is a ‘Creepy mystery song,'” wrote another.

“Lmfaoooooo how old are you?!” someone replied. “Omg it was Uptown Girl? Dying… I thought it was Marilyn Manson or something lol,” wrote another.

Yet another snarked, “Tell us you’re younger than 30 without telling us you’re younger than 30.”

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The Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown continues to rake in the accolades.

The film just earned four nominations for the 31st annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, including outstanding performance by a cast in a movie, the SAG’s equivalent of best picture. Timothée Chalamet earned a nomination for outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role for playing Dylan.

Ed Norton also earned a nod for outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role for playing Pete Seeger, while Monica Barbaro was recognized in the outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role category for playing Joan Baez.

The 31st annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will stream live on Netflix Feb. 23 at 8 p.m. ET from Los Angeles.

A Complete Unknown, which is in theaters now, follows a 19-year-old Dylan as he arrives in New York from Minnesota and tracks his rise as a folk singer during the ’60s to the top of the charts, ending with his electric rock ‘n’ roll performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

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