Classic Rock News

Def Leppard is giving fans some behind-the-scenes insight into their current tour with a new video tour diary, with the newest episode featuring footage from stops in Nashville, Philadelphia and Hershey, Pennsylvania. 

In the clip, frontman Joe Elliott reflects on the anniversary of the U.K. release of the Hysteria track “Animal,” which he says is the “song that broke the band in the U.K.” He later discusses their plans to perform the Pyromania track “Billy’s Got A Gun” in Hershey, the first time they’ve played it on this tour.

In addition to performance clips from each show, there’s footage of some of the guests who stopped by their Nashville concert, including Alison Krauss and Mötley Crüe‘s Vince Neil. Plus fans get to see Elliott and guitarist Phil Collen conferring on how to sing a tune while in the bathroom, Collen and Vivian Campbell rehearsing on the band’s plane, the band partaking in some wellness therapy, Rick Savage running up the Rocky steps in Philly and more. 

Def Leppard and Journey’s Summer Stadium tour hits Houston on Wednesday. A complete list of dates can be found at defleppard.com.

(Video includes uncensored profanity.)

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Rod Stewart has been making videos for his songs since the ’70s, and was a fixture on MTV through the ’80s and ’90s. But his first video to hit 1 billion views isn’t for any of those hit singles.

The one that rang the billion-view bell for Rod is a 2004 live performance of “I Don’t Want to Talk About It,” which was a big hit for him in the U.K. in 1977. He cut a new version in 1989, which was a big hit in the U.S.  The 2004 video is taken from Rod’s concert video One Night Only! Live At Royal Albert Hall — it’s sung as a duet with Scottish singer Amy Belle.

This is good news for Rod, who’s had a spate of bad news lately: He had to postpone two concerts and missed the landmark 200th show of his Las Vegas residency due to illness.

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A new documentary exploring the time John Lennon and Yoko Ono became daytime talk show hosts is set to hit theaters this fall.

Deadline reports that Daytime Revolution, directed by Erik Nelson, will debut in theaters across the country on Oct. 9, which would have been Lennon’s 84th birthday. It focuses on the week in February 1972 when Lennon and Ono produced and co-hosted the popular daytime talk show The Mike Douglas Show.

According to the description, the film “takes us back in time, as we observe John and Yoko interacting with a transfixed studio audience in revealing Q and A sessions where John Lennon was astonishingly candid about his life after the Beatles.”

Guests during their hosting gig were picked by the pair and included activist Jerry Rubin, Black Panther Bobby Seale and Ralph Nader. There were also musical performances, with Lennon performing a duet with guest Chuck Berry and also performing his classic tune “Imagine.”

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Alice in Chains has announced a vinyl reissue of their 2009 album, Black Gives Way to Blue, in honor of its 15th anniversary.

The release will be available on Sept. 27 in three different color variants. You can preorder your copy now.

Black Gives Way to Blue marked Alice in Chains’ first new album in 14 years and was their first with vocalist William DuVall, who joined the band following the 2002 death of frontman Layne Staley. It spawned the Grammy-nominated single “Check My Brain.”

Alice in Chains has since released two more albums with DuVall, 2013’s The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here and 2018’s Rainier Fog.

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New documentaries about Elton John and The Beatles are part of the New York Film Festival’s Spotlight section, which showcases the most notable fall releases.

Elton John: Never Too Late, co-directed by R.J. Cutler and Elton’s husband, David Furnish, follows Elton during his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, with the description noting it “offers keen insight into a life and career marked by soaring highs and crushing lows, and contemplates a legacy defined equally by advocacy and artistry.” Elton, Furnish and Cutler are expected to attend the premiere.

Also premiering at the festival is TWST / Things We Said Today, from Romanian director Andrei Ujica, about The Beatles’ 1965 trip to New York to headline Shea Stadium, and Pavements, a “rule-flouting sorta-documentary” about Stephen Malkmus and the band Pavement.

Elton’s doc is getting its U.S. premiere at the festival; it’s already set to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, which runs from Sept. 5 to Sept. 15. Meanwhile, TWST / Things We Said Today and Pavements are getting their North American premieres, with both set to debut at the Venice Film Festival, which runs from Aug. 28 to Sept. 7.

The New York Film Festival takes place Sept 27. to Oct. 14.

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The Band‘s 1976 farewell concert, The Last Waltz, will once again be celebrated with an all-star tour.

Life is a Carnival: Last Waltz Tour ’24 will kick off Oct. 19 in San Francisco, with a lineup that includes Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ band members Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, Don Was, Ryan Bingham, Jamey Johnson and John Medeski, with Lukas Nelson joining the tour for three shows in Colorado.

The tour will hit several historic venues across the country in such cities as Denver, Cincinnati, New York, Boston and Philadelphia before wrapping Nov. 16 in Toronto.

Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. A complete list of dates can be found at thelastwaltztour.com. 

The tour kicks off just two days after an all-star concert celebrating The Band’s Robbie Robertson. Life Is a Carnival: A Musical Celebration of Robbie Robertson will take place Oct. 17 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles. 

The Last Waltz celebration shows have been happening since 2016. The initial concerts were held in New Orleans to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Last Waltz concert, which took place Nov. 25, 1976, at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, which was billed as The Band’s farewell concert.  

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On This Day, Aug. 14, 1971…

English rockers The Who released their iconic album Who’s Next, featuring such future Who classics as “Baba O’Riley,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” and “Behind Blue Eyes.”

The album was originally conceived as another rock opera, Lifehouse, following their 1969 hit Tommy. Pete Townshend eventually scrapped the whole project.

Who’s Next was a critics darling, and consistently lands on lists of the greatest albums of all time. The album was the band’s only #1 in the U.K.; it hit #4 on the Billboard 200 Album chart and has been certified triple Platinum by the RIAA. 

Last year The Who revisited Who’s Next/Lifehouse with a new 10-CD/Blu-ray set that featured 155 tracks, with 89 songs that had never been released and 57 fresh remixes. It included Lifehouse demos, various session recordings and two complete concerts from 1971: one recorded at London’s Young Vic theater and one recorded at San Francisco’s Civic Auditorium.

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Earlier this year, nine reimagined Meditation Mixes of John Lennon’s classic track “Mind Games” were featured on the Lumenate app, and now folks who don’t use the app will finally get to experience them.

Mind Games – The Meditation Mixes, produced by Lennon’s son Sean Ono Lennon, will be available digitally and as a limited-edition three-LP crystal clear vinyl set on Oct. 11, just two days after what would have been John’s 84th birthday (it will also be Sean’s 49th). In addition to the nine Meditation Mixes, the vinyl will include nine 1.8-second mantras that will play in infinite loops. 

“You might say meditation is the ultimate mind game. These very abstract interpretations will hopefully assist you in exploring your ‘Innerverse,’” Sean shares. “This part of the Mind Games project evolved spontaneously and feels like it is sprinkled with just the right amount of good vibes and fairy dust. (Effects may vary).”

The Meditation Mixes follows July’s release of Mind Games – Ultimate Collection, which featured six different listening experiences, as well as unreleased outtakes, stripped down mixes, instrumentals, demos, rehearsals and even what’s described as “studio chatter.”

Mind Games – The Meditation Mixes is available for preorder now.

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An iconic piece of Grateful Dead history is set to go up for auction as part of Indiana’s 54th Annual Auburn Auction and Show.

Among the 400 cars up for auction is The Dead’s personal equipment truck, known as “The Dred.” The 1949 Studebaker M5 was originally owned by the band’s legendary sound man, Owsley “Bear” Stanley, and was used to haul The Dead’s equipment in the 1960s.

Often seen parked outside The Dead’s studio in Novato, California, the truck is painted, as you’d expect from the band, with a psychedelic design. It was retired from use once The Dead introduced their legendary Wall of Sound system in the ’70s, as it was too big to be carried in The Dred.

The 54th Annual Auburn Auction and Show will take place Aug. 29-31, with The Dred auction set to happen on Aug. 30.

More info on the auction can be found at worldwideauctioneers.com.

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Billy Joel has paid tribute to his former guitarist David Brown, who passed away Sunday, August 11. Brown played in Joel’s band from 1978 to 1991 and appeared on all of Joel’s albums from 1978’s 52nd Street to 1986’s The Bridge.

“I am so sorry to hear that David Brown has passed away,” Joel wrote on Instagram next to photos of the musician. “He had such a young heart and such extraordinary musical talent,” adding, “I send my deepest respects to his family.”

News of Brown’s death was first revealed on social media by Joel’s former drummer Liberty DeVito, who shared, “I am heart broken to hear my old band mate David Brown passed away.”

Mark Rivera, who has been Joel’s saxophonist since 1982, shared on Facebook that Brown passed away Sunday, and reflected on how his connection with Brown led to him being hired by Billy.

“I can’t say enough about the Beauty and Grace that David brought to Every musical endeavor that we shared,” Rivera noted. “His Sound and Feel were like no other. I Will Miss You My Friend.”

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