Classic Rock News

Def Leppard is continuing their 40th anniversary celebration of the album Pyromania.

In addition to the upcoming 40th anniversary deluxe edition of the album, set to drop April 26, the band has just launched a new 40th anniversary Pyromania merch collection.

Items in the collection include a Union Jack tank and short set and a variety of T-shirts, including one that reads “Ah F F Foolin,’” plus a woven blanket, mug, baseball cap, lighter and more.

All are available now at store.defleppard.com. 

The 40th anniversary edition of Pyromania will be released as a four-CD + Blu-Ray box set featuring the original album and a full disc of unheard demos. It will also be released digitally, as a one-LP half-speed master, and on two-LP black vinyl and two-LP colored vinyl. All formats are available for preorder now.

Released in January 1983, Pyromania featured such hit songs as “Photograph,” “Rock of Ages” and “Foolin,” and reached number #2 on the U.S. Album chart. It sold 6 million copies in 1983 and went on to be certified Diamond by the RIAA for selling over 10 million copies.

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Green Day is performing during the upcoming Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance concert, co-hosted by United Nations Human Rights and the Recording Academy.

The show will take place April 2 in San Francisco, and aims to raise awareness for “human rights-based approaches and solutions to climate change and the suffering it causes.” Green Day will also be recognized for their “long-standing commitment to social justice and environmental causes.”

“As world renowned artists and activists, Green Day continues to leverage its major influence and platform to bring awareness to the impact of climate change on the people and the environment,” says Volker Türk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights.

“Don’t be an Idiot, you won’t want to miss this one,” Green Day adds.

Tickets go on sale Friday, March 29, at noon PT.

Green Day will launch a U.S. stadium tour in July in support of their new album, Saviors. They’ll also be playing their albums Dookie and American Idiot in full each night to celebrate their respective 30th and 20th anniversaries.

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Mick Jagger‘s recent Instagram post in which he’s dancing to the tune “Moves Like Jagger” has not gone unnoticed by Maroon 5, the band that made the track a hit. 

The Rolling Stones frontman, 80, shared his video on Wednesday, March 27. In the clip he’s seen busting some moves while laughing and smiling, adding the caption, “Moves like who!” It appears the video was taken at one of the rock icon’s favorite island destinations, Mustique.

Well, Maroon 5 caught wind of the clip and reposted it to their Instagram Story, captioning it with an animated “GOAT” — “Greatest of All Time” — graphic. 

“Moves Like Jagger,” featuring Christina Aguilera, came out in 2011 and became Maroon 5’s second #1 hit, as well as one of the bestselling singles of all time.  

And those Jagger moves will be on full display in just one month, when The Stones kick off their Hackney Diamonds tour on April 28 in Houston, Texas. A complete list of dates can be found at rollingstones.com.

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U2‘s successful Las Vegas residency, U2: UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere, has landed them on top of the Billboard Top Tours chart for the month of February.

The Irish rockers brought in $56.5 million from 166,000 tickets sold to put the Sphere show on top for the first time. Previous months of the residency landed at #2 on the chart.

U2 played a total of 10 Sphere shows during the month of February, before wrapping the residency for good the following month with two shows on March 1 and 2.

Thanks to the success of the February concerts, U2 is also at #1 on the Billboard Top Boxscores list, with the Sphere becoming the top-grossing venue for the month.

U2 launched their sphere residency on September 29, playing a total of 40 shows. They were the first band to play the state-of-the-art venue, with Phish set to follow with four shows booked from April 18 to April 21. Dead & Company will then take over, playing 24 shows between May 16 and July 13.

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A new documentary about German-Italian actress, artist and model Anita Pallenberg, ex-girlfriend of The Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones and Keith Richards, is set to come out in May, and fans are getting their first look at it.

The first trailer for Catching Fire: The Story Of Anita Pallenberg, coming to Video on Demand on May 3, has just been released. 

The film has Scarlett Johansson reading from Anita’s unpublished memoir and includes never-before-seen home movies and family photos, as well as interviews with Richards, the two of the children he had with her — Marlon and Angela Richards — and others.

“I’ve been called a witch, a slut and a murderer,” Johansson is heard saying in the trailer. “Maybe people confuse me with the characters I played.” 

“I was bursting in love,” Richards says about their relationship.  “Anita is in a lot of those songs. She’s a muse I’m sure though not just for me.” He also adds, “Basically, I was trying to keep up with her most of the time and most of the time it was fun.” 

Pallenberg appeared in over 40 films throughout her career but is best known for her association with The Stones. She dated Jones for two years, ending the relationship in 1967. She then began a relationship with Richards, which lasted until 1979. While the pair never married, they had three children together, Marlon, Angela and a son, Tara Jo Jo Gunne, who died from SIDS when he was 2 months old.

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As Major League Baseball’s opening day festivities begin on Thursday, March 28, The Black Crowes have revealed that their music is set to play a big role in baseball season.

The band shared on Instagram that their single “Wanting and Waiting” from their new album, Happiness Bastards, will be the new anthem for Tuesday night baseball on TBS.

“Tune in next Tuesday on TBS for an incredible double-header and every Tuesday all-season long,” they share.

“Wanting and Waiting” is the first single The Black Crowes released from Happiness Bastards, the group’s first album of new material in 15 years. The Crowes will kick off a tour in support of the album on Tuesday, April 2, in Nashville, Tennessee. A complete list of dates can be found at theblackcrowes.com.

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Music fans are getting another preview of the upcoming album paying tribute to Talking Heads’ 1984 concert film and live album, Stop Making Sense.

Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense features 16 reworked versions of the songs on the soundtrack, from artists like Paramore, The National, Miley Cyrus and more. 

The latest song released is Lorde’s take on “Take Me To The River,” a track originally recorded by soul legend Al Green in 1974 and then covered by Talking Heads in 1978. The Talking Heads version became the band’s highest charting single at the time, and a live recording is included on Stop Making Sense.

In a statement, Lorde shares that she wanted her “Take Me to the River” cover to reflect when her mom first showed her a Talking Heads video on YouTube when she was 12 years old. 

“It’s my interpretation of that pixelated spiritual experience,” Lorde says. “We did it fast, I didn’t let myself tidy it up too much, it had to feel young and imperfect, the peeling posters, the jaw of acne.”

You can listen to Lorde’s “Take Me to the River” now via digital outlets.

So far, a release date for Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense has not been announced.

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The Rolling Stones are getting their fans hyped up for their upcoming tour. 

The band is set to kick off their Hackney Diamonds tour in a month, and they just revealed on Instagram that they’ve started rehearsals for the trek.

The rockers shared a collage of photos of their equipment and gear, captioning the post, “Meanwhile… somewhere in the US the Rolling Stones were starting tour rehearsals.” 

The Hackney Diamonds tour, The Stones’ first North American tour since 2021’s No Filter tour, is set to kick off April 28 in Houston, Texas, with dates confirmed through July 17 in Santa Clara, California. The tour also includes a headlining set at JazzFest in New Orleans on May 2.

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

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An unflattering portrait of Sir Paul McCartney has brought in a nice chunk of change for charity.

London artist Wilfrid Wood created a sculpture of The Beatle‘s face to be used as the cover art for “Pipes of Peace,” McCartney’s contribution to War Child U.K.’s annual Secret 7” auction, in which seven tracks from seven artists get auctioned off to raise money for the organization. 

But Wood says his contribution, a rendering of McCartney’s face on polymer clay, was rejected, explaining on Instagram that it was “BANNED by Macca and the gang because it was TOO UNFLATTERING.”

As a way to still raise money for the charity, Wood decided to auction the sculpture off on eBay, and it sold for over $1,700. He plans to donate all proceeds from the sale to War Child U.K. in their mission to help children affected by conflict in various war zones, including Gaza and the Ukraine.

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On This Day, March 28, 2005…

U2 kicked off their Vertigo tour at the iPayOne Center in San Diego, California.

The North American portion of the tour consisted of two legs. The first was made up of 28 sold-out arena shows, wrapping May 28 in Boston, and the second, consisting of 50 sold-out shows, launched September 12 in Toronto and wrapped December 19 in Portland. 

The band performed on an ellipse-shaped stage surrounded with fans on both the inside and outside. The stage also featured see-through LED lighting that hung behind and to the side of the stage.

The tour followed the release of U2’s 2004 album, How To Dismantle and Atomic Bomb, with the set list including album cuts “Vertigo,” “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own” and “City of Blinding Lights,” and classic tunes like “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” “One,” “Mysterious Ways” and more.

The tour wound up being the top earning tour of 2005, grossing $260 million.

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