On This Day, April 30, 1977: Led Zeppelin set new attendance record at the Pontiac Silverdome

April 30, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

On This Day, April 30, 1977…

Led Zeppelin set a new attendance record when 76,229 fans came out to see them perform at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan.

According to Guinness Book of Records, it was the largest attendance to that date for a single act show. It surpassed previous record holder The Who, who set a record with an audience of 75,962 people at the same venue.

The night’s set list featured performances of such Zeppelin classics as “The Song Remains the Same,” “The Battle of Evermore,” “Going to California,” “Kashmir,” “Stairway to Heaven” and more.

Sean Ono Lennon, Elvis Costello attend special screening of The Beatles’ ‘Let It Be’ in New York

April 30, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

The restored version of The Beatles 1970 documentary, Let It Be, was shown at a special screening in New York City on Monday, April 29, with stars like Sean Ono Lennon, Elvis Costello and Paul Shaffer in attendance.

The evening included a special Q&A with the film’s original director, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, and Apple Corps Ltd.’s Jonathan Clyde.

The film, restored from the original 16mm negative by Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post Production, premieres May 8 on Disney+, marking first time the film has been available in over 50 years. The audience at the screening also got to see the premiere of the new trailer for the film, which is out now.

Originally released in April 1970, Let It Be takes Beatles fans inside the studio as they recorded their album Let It Be and includes footage from their January 1969 Apple Corps rooftop concert. It was released one month after the Beatles officially broke up.

Footage from the film was used in Jackson’s 2021 Emmy-winning docuseries, The Beatles: Get Back, which also aired on Disney+.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

This house is not for sale: Jon Bon Jovi has no interest in cashing in on his catalog

April 30, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

Back in 2016, Bon Jovi released an album called This House Is Not For Sale, and that’s currently where Jon Bon Jovi stands when it comes to cashing in on his catalog, as so many other artists have done recently.

While artists ranging from Bob Dylan and Justin Bieber to Sting and Bruce Springsteen have made multimillion deals to sell the rights to their music over the past few years, Jon tells Yahoo Entertainment, “I have no desire.”

“Our catalog has done nothing but go up [in value] exponentially. I know matter of factly, it’s really exploded to, like, 15-year highs, and [our new] record is not even out yet,” he continues. “So I have no need to or desire to. Those are my babies.”

Another thing Jon has turned down is the chance to do a residency at the Sphere Las Vegas, where U2 recently completed an acclaimed run of shows. However, Jon notes there “are some benefits” to playing in one place for an extended period of time: “You’re doing 10, 15 nights in one venue and it gets nice. You can leave your shoes there at night. That’s not bad.”

However, he tells Yahoo, “For me personally, the desert isn’t all that appealing — to be out in Vegas for a long period of time. And the Sphere is otherworldly. That’s a serious commitment. So, for me, not at this time.”

The four-part docuseries Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, documenting the band’s 40-year history, is now streaming on Hulu and their new single, “Legendary,” is climbing the charts.

He says, “That we can sit here and talk … 40 years later, and we’ve got a hit record out … it’s nothing short of a miracle.”

George Harrison’s sitar sells for more than $66,000 at auction

April 30, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

George Harrison’s first sitar sold for more than expected at a recent auction.

The instrument, which The Beatles member used during the recording sessions for “Norwegian Wood,” sold for $66,993 at Nate D. Sanders Auctions, well above the minimum bid of $25,000.

Harrison purchased the sitar in 1965 at Indiacraft on Oxford Street in London. It would go on to inspire his further involvement, and lifelong passion, for Indian music, culture and the Hindu religion. In 1966 he became the first Beatle to travel to India, where he would study the sitar under musician Ravi Shankar.

Nate D. Sanders Auctions was also auctioning off a Keith Richards custom-made guitar, which was used during the Rolling Stones‘ Some Girls recording sessions, tour and music video, although it apparently failed to bring in its $400,000 minimum asking price. It is still available, though, on an offer basis.

Sting to play October’s United States Grand Prix

April 29, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

Sting is set to headline the Germania Insurance Super Stage during the Formula One Pirelli United States Grand Prix, happening October 18-20 in Austin, Texas.

Sting is set to perform on Friday, October 18, with Eminem booked for Saturday, October 19.

Tickets to the Grand Prix include entry to the shows. Single-day tickets are on sale now.

Up next, Sting is set to headline Beachlife Festival in Redondo Beach, California, on May 3, followed by shows in St. Petersburg, Florida, May 9 and 10.

In addition to three shows with Billy Joel this fall, Sting will kick off his Sting 3.0 tour on September 17. The tour will have him backed by guitarist and longtime collaborator Dominic Miller and drummer Chris Maas. A complete list of dates can be found at sting.com.

Bill Wyman says it took two years for The Rolling Stones to accept his departure

April 29, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

Former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman reveals that almost two years passed before his bandmates accepted that he had actually quit the band.

In a new interview with The Mirror, Wyman says that while he left the group in 1991, “they wouldn’t believe me.”

“They refused to accept I had left. It was not until 1993, when they were starting to get together to tour in 1994, when they said, ‘You have actually now left, haven’t you?’ And I said, ‘I left two years ago,’” he explains. “They finally accepted it, so they say I left in 1993.”

As for why he quit, Wyman shares, “I just had enough. It was half my life and I thought, ‘I have got other things I want to do.’” He added, “I just had this whole other life I wanted to live.”

The Rolling Stones just launched their ’24 Hackney Diamonds tour, and while Wyman is no longer with them, he hasn’t forgotten what life on the road is like and even dreams about it.

“The weird thing is ever since I’ve left, up until the present day, I still dream I’m on tour, like we are in a dressing room or we are in a hotel,” he says. “I still dream those dreams and I dream of other friends like David Bowie. They are all very nice but very confusing.”

The Alarm postpones Live Today, Love Tomorrow tour following return of Mike Peters’ cancer

April 29, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

The Alarm front man Mike Peters has revealed that his cancer has returned, forcing the band to postpone their upcoming U.S. tour.

“I have no doubt that the following news will come as a complete shock to you in the same way that it has also come as a bolt out of the blue to me and my family,” Peters shares. “On Sunday morning April 21st, I awoke with a large swollen gland on the left side of my neck.”

Peters, who was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 2005, then had an emergency biopsy and CT scan, which revealed that his cancer had “undergone a transformation into a High Grade Lymphoma.”

He is awaiting the results of more tests before a treatment can be put in place, but because of that he can no longer travel to the U.S. for the tour.

“I am still reeling from the consequences of this new and completely unforeseen diagnosis and doing my best to process what is happening,” he says. “I’m grateful for the love and understanding of everyone affected by the tour postponement and hoping and praying with all that I have, that this is just a pause in the story of my life, and that normal service will be able to resume soon.”

He adds, “Cancer has been chasing me for 29 years now, and in all that time, I have managed to outrun the disease and stay alive. My focus and resolve remain the same, and I’m determined to keep running even harder to stay one step ahead and resume my life as a husband, father, and musician as soon as possible.”

The Alarm’s Live Today, Love Tomorrow, featuring Jay Aston‘s Gene Loves Jezebel and Belouis Some, was due to kick off May 1 in New Orleans.

U2 bassist Adam Clayton confirms divorce from wife after 10 years

April 29, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

U2 bassist Adam Clayton has confirmed that he and his wife, Mariana Teixeira de Carvalho, are no longer together.

“After more than 10 years of marriage, musician Adam Clayton and lawyer Mariana Teixeira de Carvalho have amicably divorced,” read a statement provided to ABC Audio from the band’s spokesperson. “Both will continue to be fully involved in the care of their daughter and they request that the family’s privacy be respected.”

Clayton and Teixeira de Carvalho, a former human rights lawyer, tied the knot in 2014 in Dublin. They welcomed their first and only child in July 2017.

The marriage was the first and only union for Clayton. He was previously engaged to supermodel Naomi Campbell in the early ’90s.

Bon Jovi calls Shania Twain his “spirit sister” in vocal troubles

April 29, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

Medical problems make strange bedfellows.

Jon Bon Jovi tells People that none other than Shania Twain has been a huge support system for him amid his vocal issues, for which he had surgery in 2022. It turns out Shania not only had the same surgery to correct her vocal issues, but even used the same doctor.

“She’s been my spirit sister in this,” Jon tells People. “She’s the only other one I’ve known that’s ever had this surgery, with this doctor, and the only reason I found that out is because she reported it in the press.”

“Not only did she reassure me that it would be OK, but I think she also pulled my leg a little bit because she told me I’d be out there a lot sooner than I have been,” Jon adds. “She says, ‘Well, I told you that because I knew that you might back out otherwise.’ And so, I couldn’t wait to get the operation.”

Jon and Shania reunited during his MusiCares Person of the Year tribute in February; she sang a cover of the Bon Jovi hit “Bed of Roses” at the event.

Bon Jovi’s new album, Forever, comes out June 7. As for live shows, Jon says he’s trying to build his voice back up to where he can sing two-and-a-half hours per night, four nights a week.

“Every day is the recovery process,” he says.

Judge dismisses sexual assault lawsuit brought against Steven Tyler

April 29, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler has some good news on the legal front. A judge in New York has dismissed a sexual assault lawsuit brought by Jeanne Bellino, a model who claimed she was assaulted by Tyler in the summer of 1975 when she was 17. She accused him of forcibly kissing and groping her.

Bellino filed her suit under New York City’s Victim of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act, which granted a two-year window to file suits that would have otherwise fallen outside the usual statute of limitations

In February, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan dismissed her case, suggesting she waited too long to file it and that in order to qualify under the Victim of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act, she would have had to show Tyler’s actions posed a “serious risk of physical injury,” but she didn’t.

While Bellino’s lawyers wanted to amend her initial complaint, on April 26, the judge denied their request on the “ground of futility” and dismissed the suit with prejudice, meaning she’d be unable to refile her claims.

Tyler is still facing a lawsuit filed in December 2022 by a woman named Julia Misley, who accused him of sexual assault, assault and battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Tyler and Misley were in a relationship for three years, starting in 1973, when she was 16 and he was in his 20s. She claimed she was “powerless to resist” the rock star’s “power, fame and substantial financial ability” and said he “coerced and persuaded” her into believing their relationship was a “romantic love affair.”

+ More