Classic Rock News

Bruce Springsteen was celebrated in London on Thursday, being honored as an Academy Fellow of The Ivors Academy. He’s the first international songwriter to receive the honor by the U.K. organization, which presents The Ivor Novello Awards, celebrating excellence in British and Irish songwriting.

According to The Standard, The Beatles‘ Paul McCartney was on hand to present Springsteen with his honor, calling The Boss a “lovely, lovely boy” and a friend.

“He’s a fantastic guy and he showed up for me at Glastonbury,” McCartney added. “He’s known (as the) American working man, but he’s never worked a day in his life.” 

During his speech, Bruce recalled his early shows in the U.K. in 1975 and the difficulty he had finding something to eat, noting it was “a little disconcerting” that he couldn’t find a cheeseburger.

He added that if London wasn’t ready for burgers, it wasn’t “ready” for him.

Springsteen is now the 27th Ivors Fellow. Other artists who have received the honor include Sting, McCartney,  Kate Bush, Elton John and Peter Gabriel.

Also honored at the Ivors was Elton’s songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, who received the award for outstanding contribution to British music.

Springsteen was able to attend the ceremony because he had a couple days off from his tour with the E Street Band. Next up they play Marseille, France, on Saturday.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Foreigner is giving their fans a chance to win a custom Harley Davidson motorcycle, and it’s all for a good cause. 

The band is selling a custom Ticket To Ride T-Shirt, with 100% of the proceeds going to Shriners Children’s Hospitals. Each T-shirt purchased comes with a chance to win the custom Harley designed by Shawn Barker, owner of Barker Gang Inc., and Foreigner lead singer Kelly Hansen.  

The bike, in “Hot Blooded” red, features the logos of Foreigner and Shriners Children’s and is signed by the band, including co-founder Mick Jones, Hansen, bassist Jeff Pilson, guitarist Bruce Watson, keyboardist Michael Bluestein, drummer Chris Frazier and former saxophonist Tom Gimbel.

More info can be found at foreignerbike.com.

Next up, Foreigner is set to launch the Renegades & Jukebox Heroes tour with Styx and John Waite on June 11 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. A complete list of dates can be found at foreigneronline.com.

And this fall, Foreigner will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The ceremony will take place October 19 at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. It will stream live on Disney+, followed by a special airing on ABC at a later date.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The recent documentary about former Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett, Have You Got It Yet?: The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd, will be released on DVD and Bu-ray, as well as digitally and on demand, on July 19.

The film, which was originally released in June 2023, was directed by award-winning filmmaker Roddy Bogawa and the late album cover designer Storm Thorgerson, known for his work with Floyd, Led Zeppelin and others. It delves into the relationship between Pink Floyd and Barrett, who was responsible for giving the band its name. He left the group in1968 before they hit it big.

The film features interviews with Pink Floyd members David Gilmour, Roger Waters and Nick Mason, along with original band managers Peter Jenner and Andrew King.

The DVD and Blu-ray include bonus features that didn’t appear in the original movie, including two performances of the Barrett-penned “Arnold Layne,” one featuring Gilmour and David Bowie from Gilmour’s 2007 release, Remember That Night Live At The Royal Albert Hall, and the other from a 2007 tribute concert for Barrett that featured Gilmour, Mason and Richard Wright in their final performance as Pink Floyd.

Bogawa is also interviewed for the DVD and Blu-ray versions, and he and the film’s producers offer commentary on the flick. Barrett’s paintings are also explored, plus there are spoken word performances of some of Barrett’s lyrics.

Have You Got It Yet?: The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd on DVD and Blu-ray is available for preorder now.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Metallica‘s James Hetfield has a major gripe with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

In an interview on the latest episode of the Metallica Report podcast, Hetfield say that Motörhead not being in the Rock Hall is a “disrespect to rock ‘n’ roll.”

“The most rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle-living person on this planet is not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which is a travesty, a shame,” Hetfield says, referring to late Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister.

Hetfield has long been an admirer of Motörhead and Lemmy — the Metallica song “Murder One” pays tribute to the “Ace of Spades” rocker. In April, Hetfield shared that he’d gotten a tattoo infused with Lemmy’s ashes, which were sent to a number of his good friends.

“For me, [the tattoo is] paying respects to [Lemmy] in maybe lieu of him being in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which still continues to piss me off,” Hetfield says.

Motörhead was nominated for the Rock Hall once in 2020, but wasn’t selected for induction.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Van Halen drummer and co-founder Alex Van Halen is getting ready to part with instruments from his personal collection.

Backstage Auctions just announced a new auction of The Alex Van Halen Collection, featuring over 350 lots filled with drum kits, snare drums, kick drums, cymbals, sticks, mallets and more. Those drum kits include Alex’s 5150 tour kit and the last kit he used in concert during Van Halen’s 2015 tour.

The auction will also include personal items, like a piano from the Van Halen family home, autographed pieces, tour cases and record awards, including a collection of vintage RIAA certifications.

“I kept all these drums, cymbals, heads, and all other kinds of gear, instruments, and road cases in my warehouse for decades and it will bring me great pleasure to see them end up in the hands of my fans and fellow drummers,” Alex shares, noting that a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Ride On Therapeutic Horsemanship, which helps at-risk youth and people with disabilities by using equine-assisted activities and therapies. 

Bidding on The Alex Van Halen Collection is set to open June 1, with the auction running through June 9. More info can be found at backstageauctions.com.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Bon Jovi is the subject of a new Rock & Roll Hall of Fame exhibit set to open June 8, one day after the band’s new record, FOREVER, comes out.

The Bon Jovi Forever exhibit will cover an entire floor of the museum, giving fans an overview of the band’s 40-year career, with never-before-seen artifacts from the band members. 

Although the official opening is on June 8, the exhibit will actually launch on June 7 with a special preview and listening experience, where attendees will get an early look at the exhibit and get to listen to Bon Jovi’s new album. More information on the exhibit can be found at rockhall.com. 

Meanwhile, in a new interview with AARP The Magazine, Jon Bon Jovi reveals that fans will hear him singing about aging on the new album, with lyrics like, “Don’t try to be what you used to be.”

“I don’t want to be the kid from Slippery When Wet,” he shares, referring to Bon Jovi’s 1986 album, which was released when Jon was 24. “I have no desire to be that kid.” 

“I have a grander palette to write from. More life experience,” he adds. “I think that every record reflects somehow who I am at that time.”

Jon is still recovering from vocal surgery he had two years ago, and it’s leaving his touring career up in the air, but he’s not giving up hope that he’ll be back on the stage some day. 

“Whether or not I can ever do a 100-show tour again, I don’t know,” he says. “But if I can have joy on the stage on night one, that would be great.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Rolling Stones have just expanded their Hackney Diamonds tour by one show.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers added an additional stop at Thunder Ridge Nature Arena in Ridgedale, Missouri, on July 21, which is now the final stop on the U.S. tour. 

Thunder Ridge is a new outdoor amphitheater described as a “musical postcard from Mother Nature.” It’s the brainchild of conservationist and Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris, who calls it a “gift of the Ozarks to the world.”

Tickets for the new show go on sale May 31 at 10 a.m. local time.

The Stones kicked off their Hackney Diamonds tour on April 28 in Houston, Texas. Their next stop is New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, where they’ll play two shows, May 23 and 26.

A complete list of dates can be found at RollingStones.com.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Lenny Kravitz is back with a brand new album, Blue Electric Light, dropping Friday, and he tells ABC Audio that the songs on the record came to him “organically.”

“I’m always inspired, it’s just a matter of what is it going to be,” he says. “I don’t have any preconceived ideas when I start working on a new phase of music.” 

Although some artists may head into the studio with a specific vision, that’s not how Lenny works — instead he just waits for the music to come to him.

“It’s just a big mystery. So, until it’s finished, I have no idea what’s going on,” he says. “I’m just channeling what I’m receiving. I’m just an antenna.”

So, what kind of album did Blue Electric Light wind up becoming?

“The album is, it’s just celebration, it’s fun. It’s just carefree and loose and spiritual and sensual, but mainly it’s a lot of fun,” Lenny says. “It’s a bit of the record I didn’t make in high school before I made my first album, Let Love Rule. I can sense the influence from that time.”

As for the message he hopes fans get after listening to Blue Electric Light, Kravitz shares, “As always, love. You know, love, unity, inclusion, God, humanity.”  

Blue Electric Light, Lenny’s first album since 2018’s Raise Vibration, is available for preorder now.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Hank Azaria is set to celebrate the music of Bruce Springsteen in New York this summer.

The actor is bringing his Hank Azaria and the EZ Street Band tribute show to Le Poisson Rouge in New York City on August 1. The show has him and a band of musicians performing songs from The Boss’ catalog.

Azaria says he got “the crazy idea” to perform The Boss’ tunes for his 60th birthday, noting, “I’ve never worked harder preparing for any role than I did in perfecting a singing vocal impression of Bruce Springsteen.”

“At first I wasn’t sure I could capture Bruce’s singing voice – talking like him is no problem, I mean, that’s my day job!” he says in a press release. But he noted it took four months of “scream singing” before “something ‘unlocked’ in my voice – I kind of couldn’t believe how Bruce-like it sounded!” 

Azaria and his band previously performed their Springsteen tribute in front of a crowd at City Winery in New York, where he was joined by none other than E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg, who was thoroughly impressed, calling it “the best Springsteen tribute band he’s ever seen.”

Tickets for the August 1 show are on sale now. Proceeds go to Azaria’s Four Through Nine Foundation, which is devoted to social justice, education and recovery causes.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Long Island Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame had planned a 20th anniversary concert for June 7 to celebrate the music of Billy Joel — but it’s been canceled because Billy can’t make it.

In a statement provided to ABC Audio, the organization said the event, which was also to have celebrated the induction of Billy’s longtime agent Dennis Arfa, has been “cancelled due to family commitments preventing Joel from attending.”

“LIMEHOF sincerely apologizes for any inconvenience this cancellation may cause and thanks you for your understanding,” the statement continues. “Tickets will be refunded at the place of purchase.”

The event was to have featured performances by Billy’s daughter Alexa Ray Joel, Debbie Gibson, Darryl McDaniels of Run-DMC, The Rascals’ Felix Cavaliere, legendary songwriter Jimmy Webb and others.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.