David Lee Roth, former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach, and Stephen Pearcy and Warren DeMartini performing Ratt are the rockers set to headline the annual M3 Rock Festival at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.
The 16th edition of the hard rock festival is happening May 2-4, with a lineup that also includes Winger, Slaughter, former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley, Warrant, Great White and Lita Ford.
The Roth performance will be the former Van Halen frontman’s first live performance since March 2020. He was supposed to play a Las Vegas residency in December 2021/January 2022, which was billed as his final shows, but they it was canceled and he retired from performing.
Tickets for the festival go on sale Friday at 12 p.m. ET. A complete schedule and lineup can be found at m3rockfest.com.
Kansas and 38 Special are teaming up for a new tour.
The two bands will hit the road this summer on a 14-date tour that kicks off June 6 in Richmond, Virginia, and wraps July 26 in Rogers, Arkansas.
The tour will feature special guests Jefferson Starship, Traffic’s Dave Mason and the Outlaws on select dates.
Tickets for most shows go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. A complete list of shows, and ticket information, can be found at kansasband.com and 38special.com.
Kansas, best known for their hits “Carry On My Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind,” already has a busy schedule for 2025, with spring dates booked through April. Their next show is Feb. 1 in Orlando, Florida.
38 Special, whose hits include “Hold On Loosely” and “Caught Up In You,” is also currently on tour and will play New Buffalo, Michigan, on Feb. 7.
Alice Cooper‘s touring lineup is shaking up once more.
The “No More Mr. Nice Guy” rocker has announced that former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke will play in his live band during his upcoming tour, launching Friday in August, Georgia.
Clarke will be filling in for guitarist Orianthi, who’d been brought in to fill in for Nita Strauss, who will be touring on her own playing solo dates and opening for Apocalyptica. However, Orianthi, who previously played with Cooper from 2011 to 2014 before Strauss joined the band, is no longer able to play the shows due to “unforeseen circumstances.”
Strauss is set to rejoin the Cooper band live starting in the spring at the Sonic Temple festival. She’ll also play with them during their gig opening for My Chemical Romance in August.
Sunday, Jan. 26, would have been guitarist Eddie Van Halen’s 70th birthday, and his family and bandmates marked the occasion on social media.
The late rocker’s son, Mammoth WVH frontman Wolfgang Van Halen, shared a photo of his dad with his finger up his nose, captioning the shot, “70. That’s a lot of candles. Happy Birthday, Pop. Love and miss you more than you could ever know.”
Former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagarposted a tribute to Eddie with a photo of them rocking together onstage.
“happy 70th birthday, my brother wherever you are,” he wrote. “i will love and miss you and what we did together forever,” adding that he and Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony “will keep it live, and alive.”
Anthony also posted a series of photos with Eddie, with the message, “Happy Heavenly Birthday Ed, miss ya.”
Eddie Van Halen passed away Oct. 6, 2020, at age 65 following a long battle with cancer.
John Lennon wrote and recorded the single “Instant Karma” in one day, at one point telling reporters he “wrote it for breakfast, recorded it for lunch, and we’re putting it out for dinner.”
The song, produced by Phil Spector, featured his Beatles bandmate George Harrison on acoustic guitar and piano, with Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono and Billy Preston contributing background vocals.
The inspiration for the tune came to Lennon during a visit he and Yoko took to Denmark, where they met up with Yoko’s former husband Tony Cox. Cox’s then wife Melinde Kendell used the term in conversation.
“Instant Karma,” Lennon’s third solo single, wound up being a hit for the rocker, peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Simple Minds is returning to North American for a new tour this spring.
The Alive & Kicking tour, featuring special guests Soft Cell and Modern English, will hit arenas and amphitheaters across the U.S. and Canada starting May 16 in Ridgefield, Washington, and wrapping June 22 in Noblesville, Indiana.
“Been a while but absence makes the heart grow fonder,” says frontman Jim Kerr. “Simple Minds are ecstatic at the prospect of touring so extensively in the US and Canada this coming Spring.”
A ticket presale launches Wednesday at 10 a.m. with tickets going on sale to the general public starting Friday at 10 a.m.
The tour coincides with this year’s 40th anniversary of their hit studio album Once Upon a Time, which featured their #1 hit “(Don’t You) Forget About Me.” To mark the occasion the band released a ruby anniversary digital edition of the album on Monday, and will play “(Don’t You) Forget About Me” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday.
Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend are set to play two shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall, March 27 and 30, as part of the annual benefit concerts for Teenage Cancer Trust. They’ll be joined by special guests Level 42.
A post on The Who’s Instagram shares that the two rockers “are so excited to be among the incredible artists who have played these historic shows,” adding, “Every day seven young people hear the life-changing words, ‘You have cancer’ – and this number is set to rise. But with your support, Teenage Cancer Trust can help make sure no young person faces cancer alone.”
Other artists booked for the Teenage Cancer Trust shows include: Sex Pistols with Frank Carter on March 24, James Arthur on March 26 and The Coors on March 28.
Tickets for all shows go on sale Friday at 9 a.m. GMT.
Teenage Cancer Trust is a nonprofit dedicated to providing specialized treatment and support for young people with cancer.
Bob Dylan has released 40 studio albums throughout the course of his career, which means he’s come up with 40 unique album covers. But not all covers are created equal, and Rolling Stonemagazine decided to take a deep dive into those covers, singling out the best and the worst of them.
Writing about the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s cover art choices, the mag notes, “Sometimes Dylan made iconic covers, both calculated and spontaneous; sometimes he treated them with the same regard as a grocery list.”
Topping the mag’s list as the best Dylan album cover is 1963’s The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, which features the rocker walking down a New York City street with his girlfriend Suze Rotolo.
The mag notes photographer Don Hunstein nabbed an image “full of love and art and the endless possibilities of youth.”
Coming in at #2 is Dylan’s 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home, followed by 1965’s Highway 61 Revisited, 1976’s Desire and 1966’s Blonde on Blonde.
As for the worst of Dylan’s 40 album covers, that distinction went to 1986’s Knocked Out Loaded, which features an image taken from the January 1939 cover of Spicy-Adventure Stories magazine. Rolling Stone describes the shot as “ungainly and amateurish.”
A Complete Unknown star Timothée Chalamet was the host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live on Saturday, where he performed some Bob Dylan songs, although he opted for deep cuts rather than hits like “Like A Rolling Stone” or “The Times They Are a Changin’.”
During his monologue, Chalamet revealed that he was “really excited” to perform, and shared, “you might not know the Bob Dylan songs I’m performing, but they’re my personal favorites.” He then added, “I’m so grateful Saturday Night Live is still doing weird stuff like this.”
Chalamet’s first performance was a medley that started with “Outlaw Blues,” from 1965’s Bringing It All Back Home, with Chalamet donning a black hooded jacket with fur trim, and wearing black shades, to go along with the song’s lyrics: “I got my dark sunglasses/ I got for good luck my black tooth.”
He then shed the jacket to perform “Three Angels,” a tune from Dylan’s 1970 album New Morning, with the help of British singer James Blake on keyboards.
That performance was introduced by Adam Sandler, who was part of a Nikki Glaserjoke at the Golden Globe Awards about the pronunciation of Chalamet’s last name.
Chalamet’s final performance had him on acoustic guitar for the 1963 track “Tomorrow Is A Long Time,” which appeared on the 1971 compilation album Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Vol. II.
A Complete Unknown is up for eight Academy Awards, including best actor for Chalamet, something he joked about in his monologue. He commented on how he keeps losing every time he goes to an awards show, sharing, “Each time it gets harder to pretend it doesn’t sting.” SNL showed then showed a montage of his reactions every time he lost at a ceremony.
Monica Barbaro just earned a best supporting actress Oscar nod for playing Joan Baez in A Complete Unknown, and she’s yet to meet the singer. But she’s hoping that will change soon.
Barbaro tells Vulture that so far she has only talked and texted with Joan, but she’s making plans to try and see her perform.
“We’re texting because I’m trying to make it to this benefit concert she’s having next month in San Francisco,” Barbaro shares. “It’s a retrospective on her amazing career. I’m filming in London for the next few weeks, so I’m spitballing ideas to her, like ‘How do I get a round-trip ticket, pop in for the night, and then run back to London to keep working? Where are my Sky Miles?’ She’s so cool and grounded about all of this.”
The concert Barbaro’s referring to is A Night to Honor Joan Baez, happening Feb. 8 at Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco, with Baez expected to perform. Other artists on the bill include Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, Rosanne Cash, and others.
But if Barbaro really had time to spend with Joan, she has some ideas on what she’d like to do with her.
“We’d have a lovely time drumming and dancing in her garden. I think that would be my pinnacle, pie-in-the-sky moment to share with Joan,” she says. “What do we do for the rest of the day? I don’t know and I don’t care. If I could dance in a drum circle with Joan, I’d die right there.”
