Classic Rock News

Queen fans will soon be able to experience their 1973 debut album in a whole new way.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers are set to release a remixed and remastered version of the self-titled album on Oct. 25, with an expanded collector’s edition that comes with six CDs and one LP, featuring 63 tracks with 43 brand new mixes.

The set, now titled Queen I, will include the original album with a new track listing, along with its originally intended running order, and the addition of “Mad the Swine,” a song that was absent from the 1973 release. There are also alternative takes, demos and rare live tracks, along with “fly-on-the-wall audio” that gives fans a behind-the-scenes look at Queen in the studio. 

It also comes with a 108-page book featuring handwritten lyrics and memorabilia.

“Queen I is the debut album we always dreamed of bringing to you,” guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor share.

In the new liner notes, May adds, “This is not just a remaster, this is a brand new 2024 rebuild of the entire Queen debut album, which, with the benefit of hindsight, we have re-titled Queen I.”  

And Queen is offering up the first preview of the set with the Oct. 4 release of a 7-inch single of the new mix of “The Night Comes Down.” The track will also be available immediately to anyone who preorders the digital version of the album.

In addition to the box set, Queen I will be released as a single CD and two-CD deluxe edition, as well as on vinyl, picture disc and cassette. 

All formats are available for preorder now.

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Bonnie Raitt has a lot of songs in her catalog that fans will want to hear when she’s out on tour, and she doesn’t see that as a bad thing.

“I’m lucky enough to have songs that people will be mad if they don’t hear; that’s not a drag, it’s an honor,” she tells the Los Angeles Times for an article about creating a concert set list. “I’m still invested every time.”

Bonnie says that while some artists like Bob Dylan will completely change up their set from show to show, it isn’t as easy for her to do since she’s constantly switching instruments during her concert. But, she says, she still likes to swap out songs when she can, sometimes making the decision in the middle of a performance.

“I’ll have my guitar guy standing there with two instruments and I’ll point to the one I want,” she says.

And while playing the same songs every night can get boring, Raitt says she’ll change things up in order to keep things fresh, although that doesn’t always work. For instance, on one tour she performed her hit “Something to Talk About” with a ska beat, which may not have gone over that well.

“We had fun doing it, but I couldn’t tell what the audience thought and you can’t interview them about whether they liked it or not,” she says. “I think you’ve got to keep those iconic songs pretty close to what people came to hear since they’re paying for the tour bus.” 

Raitt is currently on the latest leg of her Just Like That… tour. She plays San Diego on Wednesday. A complete list of dates can be found at bonnieraitt.com.

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Dave Grohl has revealed that he’s had a baby with someone other than his wife.

In an Instagram post, the Foo Fighters frontman writes, “I’ve recently become the father of a new baby daughter, born outside of my marriage.”

“I plan to be a loving and supportive parent to her,” Grohl continues. “I love my wife and my children, and I am doing everything I can to regain their trust and earn their forgiveness. We’re grateful for your consideration toward all the children involved, as we move forward together.”

A rep for Foo Fighters confirms to ABC Audio that the post is authentic.

Grohl and his wife, Jordyn Blum, have been married since 2003. They have three daughters.

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Judas Priest is set to reissue their debut album, Rocka Rolla, in celebration of its 50th anniversary. 

A new remixed and remastered version of the album will be released digitally on Friday, with the CD and vinyl versions coming out Nov. 22.

“It’s great to look back and see our future unfurl — from little metal acorns mighty metal oaks do grow,” Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford shares. “One small step for metal, one giant leap for metalkind — a lifelong metal journey began with these songs. This album lit the eternal metal flame — as real and fresh as ever five decades on.”

Released in 1974, Rocka Rolla was produced by Roger Bain, who had previously produced Black Sabbath. Up until now, the band had no say in the sound of the record or other rereleases, and Halford admits at first listen he and the band were “disappointed” by how it sounded. 

But in 2022, when their original label, Gull Records, decided to sell the masters and publishing rights for Rocka Rolla and its follow-up, Sad Wings of Destiny, Judas Priest bought it back. Now Tom Allom, who produced Priest albums British Steel, Screaming For Vengeance and others, has remixed and restored it. 

“I’m just thrilled … because it just goes to show you when you get an expert involved in a project, it’s likely that you have a second chance,” Halford notes, with guitarist K.K. Downing adding, “At last! This! The first Judas Priest album can be listened to and enjoyed in the way it was always intended to be!” 

The 50th anniversary reissue of Rocka Rolla is available for preorder now.

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Green Day is headlining the 2025 edition of Lollapalooza India, held March 8-9 in Mumbai.

The festival will mark the “American Idiot” trio’s debut performance in India. The bill also includes Glass Animals, Nothing but Thieves and headliners Shawn Mendes and Louis Tomlinson.

For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit LollaIndia.com.

The inaugural Lollapalooza India was held in 2023, making it the latest international version of the festival. Lollapaloozas have also been held in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Germany, Sweden and France.

The U.S. Lolla takes place in Chicago’s Grant Park after beginning as a touring festival in the ’90s. The 2024 festival took place in August and featured headliners including blink-182, The Killers and Hozier. The 2025 dates and lineup have yet to be announced.

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Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour surprised patrons at bar in East Sussex, England, getting up on stage to join his daughter Romany Gilmour for an impromptu performance.

David shared a clip of the performance on social media, which shows him walking into Neptune Live Music Bar and his daughter asking, “Would you like to come and upstage me?” When David says “yeah,” she replies, “OK, great.”

The clip then shows a snippet of the pair performing the Pink Floyd classic “Wish You Were Here.”

David captioned the post, “Very much enjoyed crashing @romanygilmour’s gig at the Neptune in Hove this evening after finishing tour rehearsals.”

Those rehearsals are for David’s upcoming live shows in support of his recently released solo album, Luck and Strange. The shows kick off Sept. 27 in Rome, Italy. He hits the States starting Oct. 25 in Los Angeles, with shows in New York to follow. A complete list of dates can be found at davidgilmour.com.

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Back in April, Neil Young revealed in a post on his Neil Young Archives site that a live album featuring an early concert by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young was in the works, and now we have more details about the release.

Live At The Fillmore East, 1969 will be released Oct. 25, featuring a newly discovered multiple-track recording of CSNY’s Sept. 20, 1969, show at the Fillmore East in New York. The concert took place a month after their second-ever show together at Woodstock. It includes performances of future CSNY classics “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” “Guinnevere” and “Our House,” as well as the Young track “Down By The River.”

The first performance released from the album is a previously unreleased live recording of “Helplessly Hoping,” which is available now via digital outlets.

The album was produced from the original eight-track concert recordings of the show, with Young and Stephen Stills working with Jay Hanlon at Sunset Sound Studios in Los Angeles on the final product. 

Live At The Fillmore East, 1969 will be released on two-LP vinyl and CD and is available for preorder now. There will also be a special clear vinyl edition, sold exclusively at retailers.

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Shailene Woodley is set to star as rocker Janis Joplin in a new biopic funded by the California Film Commission’s Film and Television Tax Credit Program. The film is one of 15 independent projects to receive funding from the commission.

“California meant so much to Janis Joplin – from the stoops of San Francisco to the wooden walls of Sunset Sound, the state became the stage upon which she explored not just the world of music, but the world of her vibrant humanity,” Woodley, who is also producing the film, shares. “I have a feeling Janis would be smiling ear to ear zipping down the PCH in her psychedelic Porsche knowing her story is bringing opportunities and funding to the city and people that held so much significance to her.” 

Woodley adds that she and the other producers on the project believe “California is the only place to film a slice of Janis’s life with authenticity and truth – and we are so grateful to have received the green light to do so!”

This isn’t the first attempt at making a Janis Joplin biopic. In fact, back in May The Hollywood Reporter ran a piece about the many failed attempts at making one. Among those who were at one time attached to play Joplin on screen were Amy Adams, Melissa Etheridge, Brittany Murphy, Renée Zellweger, Zooey Deschanel and Pink.

Joplin gained fame as one of the most electrifying performers of her era, thanks to appearances at the Monterey Pop Festival as lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist at Woodstock. She died Oct. 4, 1970, at the age of 27. At the time she was recording her second solo album, Pearl, which was released after her death and spent nine weeks at #1.

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A long-lost Tom Petty documentary from the ’80s will be hitting theaters in time for what would have been the rocker’s 74th birthday. 

Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party followed Petty and the Heartbreakers during their 1982-83 tour for the album Long After Dark. It originally aired on MTV in 1983, but, according to the description, it “was deemed too experimental and abruptly pulled from the air.”

The film was the directorial debut of Cameron Crowe, and now Crowe and the Petty Estate have come together to restore the film, adding a new intro from the director and 20 minutes of previously unreleased footage. 

“’Heartbreakers Beach Party‘ occupies a special place in my heart,” Crowe shares. “I’m so happy we’re bringing it back in all its reckless glory.”

The film is set to have a limited run in theaters on Oct. 17 and Oct. 20, the latter being Petty’s birthday. Tickets are on sale now.

The documentary announcement follows the recent news that a deluxe edition of 1982’s Long After Dark is coming on Oct. 18. The album features the singles “You Got Lucky,” “Change of Heart” and “Straight Into Darkness.”

The deluxe edition includes the remastered original album, plus 12 bonus tracks, among them Petty’s versions of his songs “Never Be You” and “Ways to Be Wicked,” which were previously recorded by Rosanne Cash and Lone Justice, respectively. Other additional tracks were taken from sessions for French TV.

It is available for preorder now.

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Mötley Crüe is returning to some of the Los Angeles venues that launched their career.

The rockers just announced a series of intimate shows on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, starting with the Troubadour on Oct. 7, and followed by The Roxy on Oct. 9 and the Whisky a Go Go on Oct. 11.

Tickets will be limited to two per person and will go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. at the box office of each club. 

Also on the Sunset Strip, the Crüe will open a pop-up store at the Rainbow Bar and Grill, featuring band-curated merchandise. The store will be open from Oct. 6 to Oct. 12, from 3 p.m. to midnight.

The shows come just a few days after the Oct. 4 release of Mötley Crüe’s new EP, Cancelled, which features three new songs: their latest single, “Dogs of War”; a cover of Beastie Boys’ “Fight For Your Right”; and the title track.

In conjunction with the show news, Mötley Crüe has announced the launch of a new philanthropic effort, the Mötley Crüe Giveback Initiative, which will have them partner with nonprofits that are important to them.

The first steps in their effort include an auction of two tickets to the Troubadour show, which is happening now, followed by a special auction of stage-played instruments from each of the Hollywood shows, happening Sept. 30. There will also be a special charity dinner at the Rainbow Bar and Grill on Oct. 8

Proceeds from the auctions and dinner will be donated to Covenant House, which supports young people experiencing homelessness. The band’s aim is to raise $250,000 for the organization by the end of the year.

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