Classic Rock News

Mick Fleetwood is the latest artist to pay tribute to British blues/rock guitarist John Mayall, who passed away Monday at the age of 90.

Fleetwood was a member of Mayall’s band the Bluesbreakers in the ’60s, where he played with his future Fleetwood Mac bandmates John McVie and Peter Green.

“The news of John Mayall’s passing …. in many ways hit me as losing a musical father!!” Mick wrote on social media. “John Mayall was a guiding light to so many of us young English players! To have spent time as part of his band the ‘Blues Breakers’ led the three of us, Peter Green, John McVie, and myself to form Fleetwood Mac back in 1967!!”

He adds, “He is owed much gratitude from so many in the musical world. John Mayall, you will be missed!” 

Mayall’s Bluesbreakers formed in 1963, and different incarnations of the band featured artists who would go on to be huge rock stars of the ’60s and ’70s. In addition to the three future Fleetwood Mac members, rockers like Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones’ Mick Taylor and Cream‘s Jack Bruce played in the band. 

Mayall is due to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in October in the Music Influence category.

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After 10 years, Billy Joel is finally ready to wrap his Madison Square Garden residency Thursday, with what will be the 150th show of his career at the iconic New York venue. 

“It is an honor to be here. I’m kinda flabbergasted that it did last as long as it did,” he told reporters during a June 2023 press conference announcing plans for the residency’s end. He joked that his team told him he could keep on going if he wanted, but said with 150 shows, “It’s ‘Alright, already!'”

Joel launched the residency on Jan. 27, 2014, and ever since he’s been packing the house for one show a month, with only some random illnesses and the COVID-19 pandemic keeping him from his scheduled appointment with the Big Apple crowd.

Joel took the monthly gigs as a chance to have some fun onstage, mixing his set with classics like “Piano Man,” “Only The Good Die Young,” “You May Be Right” and “Big Shot” with deeper cuts like “Los Angelinos,” “Zanzibar,” “Summer of Highland Falls” and “Everybody Loves You Now.”

He also surprised fans with plenty of musical guests, including Tony Bennett, Sting, Jon Bon Jovi, Elvis Costello, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, AC/DC’s Brian Johnson and John Fogerty.

Other guests included his daughters Alexa, Della and Remy, and even comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who in March helped raise a banner marking Billy’s 100th consecutive sell-out residency show. A taped special of that performance aired on CBS and was recently nominated for an Emmy award.

“I’m going to miss doing it a lot,” he told USA Today about the residency. “I love it. The band loves it. The crowd is a New York-crazy crowd. The minute you walk onstage you’re aware they’re rooting for you.”

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A new biography of late Motörhead guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke has been announced.

Titled Make My Day: The Rock ‘n’ Roll Story of ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke, the book is due out Sept. 6 and was written by rock journalist Kris Needs alongside Clarke’s widow, Mariko Fujiwara.

Make My Day will accompany a four-CD box set dedicated to Clarke’s career, including unreleased Motörhead and solo material, as well as music from his band Fastway. You can listen to a track called “Over and Out” now via digital outlets.

Clarke, who died in 2018, was part of the classic Motörhead lineup alongside frontman Lemmy Kilmister and drummer Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor. Lemmy and Taylor both passed in 2015.

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The Police are giving fans some insight into the making of their #1 single “Every Breath You Take” ahead of the upcoming 40th anniversary reissue of their multi-Platinum album Synchronicity.

The band just released a demo of the song, which, according to a post on Instagram, was “Recorded at London’s Utopia Studios, around two months before the version that we all know today.” 

“Every Breath You Take,” The Police’s first and only #1 song, spent seven weeks on the top of the charts. The song earned The Police two Grammy Awards, Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

The 40th anniversary edition of Synchronicity will be released Friday in a variety of formats, including a six-CD super deluxe box set featuring 55 previously unreleased tracks, made up of alternate takes, instrumentals, demos and live recordings. It is available for preorder now.

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Lenny Kravitz has just dropped the video for “Paralyzed,” the third single off his recent album Blue Electric Light.

The clip, directed by Anthony Mandler, begins with Lenny, in leather pants, a leather jacket and no shirt, walking in the desert toward five women covered in red robes. According to the video’s description, they “symbolize Kravitz’s hypnotic affection for the woman” he’s singing about in the song.

As the clip continues, the video cuts to footage of Kravitz playing with his band, and of the girls dancing alone and around a shirtless Kravitz. The clip also features an epic guitar solo from the rocker.

Blue Electric Light, Lenny’s first new album since 2018’s Raise Vibration, was released in May.

The rocker is currently on tour in Europe. He plays Stuttgart, Germany, on Thursday and brings his show to the U.S. for a five-night stand at Dolby Live in Las Vegas starting Oct. 18. A complete list of dates can be found at lennykravitz.com.

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Billy Joel will play the final show in his residency at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Thursday, and the legendary venue is sending the Piano Man out with a bang.

Starting Thursday, fans can see a “Defining Moments” exhibit on the Garden’s sixth-floor concourse, which will feature memorabilia from Billy’s entire career run of 150 shows, including a pair of his Ray-Bans, set lists, photos, ticket stubs and a replica of one of his banners, which are currently hanging in the rafters. Fans will also be able to write a special message to Billy.

Meanwhile, fans who attend the final show will be able to enjoy special foods at the venue’s concession stands, including a “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”-themed menu of items like cannoli and chicken vodka parmesan heroes.

And everyone — not just ticket holders — can access a pop-up merch shop at Chase Square at the Garden. It’s  open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday and features a range of merchandise celebrating the final show, including varsity jackets, T-shirts, posters, prints, hats, tote bags and mugs.

Billy’s Instagram has posted a carousel of photos showing some of the famous guests he’s welcomed during the residency, which started in January 2014. Among them: Tony Bennett, Sting, Miley Cyrus, Jon Bon Jovi, Elvis Costello, Jimmy Fallon, Bruce Springsteen, Phish frontman Trey Anastasio and Billy’s daughters Alexa, Della and Remy.

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Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart is exploring the connection between the worlds of music and sports in the new ESPN film Rhythm Masters: A Mickey Hart Experience. The film will have him talking to legends from the world of sports and using those conversations to create an original score.

“Rhythm is the heartbeat of life, and it’s everywhere — in the music we create and the sports we love,” Mickey shares. “When I set out to make Rhythm Masters: A Mickey Hart Experience, my goal was to explore this universal pulse and celebrate how music and sports are deeply intertwined.”

He adds, “Through the voices and stories of some of the greatest athletes, we uncover the profound connection that rhythm brings to their performance and passion. This film is a journey into that shared human experience, a testament to the power of rhythm in uniting us all.” 

In Rhythm Masters, Hart talks to such athletes as Joe Montana, Marshawn Lynch, Laila Ali, Phil Jackson and others, including the late basketball legend Bill Walton, a huge Dead fan, who passed away on May 27. Hart dedicates the film to him, noting Walton’s “own rhythmic journey in sports and life has been a true inspiration.”

Rhythm Masters: A Mickey Hart Experience will debut Aug. 14 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN+.

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Mick Fleetwood has some new music to share.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has teamed with ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro for a new album, Blues Experience, dropping Oct. 18.  

As the title suggests, the record has the pair sharing their take on classic blues tracks, including “Rollin’ N Tumblin’,” which you can listen to now via digital outlets. 

Jake also penned one original song that appears on the album, “Kula Blues,” about the area in Maui where Mick lives. The album also includes their take on Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World,” Procol Harum’s “Whiter Shade of Pale” and the Christine McVie-penned Fleetwood Mac track “Songbird,” with Mick also adding a spoken word version of the song.

“I’ve always wanted to do a blues album, and when Mick and I started talking about working together, I thought who better to work with than Mick Fleetwood?” Jake shares. “Mick’s energy when he plays is so infectious. He’s such an intense musician. He pushes everyone around him, and it’s inspiring to see his facial expressions and watch his movement and the way he hits the drums.”

Mick adds of “Rollin’ N Tumblin’,” “Jake and I had a full let-it-all-go moment on this one!! Jake let his hair down. A blues standard being given a wake-up call!”

Blues Experience is available for preorder now.

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Eric Clapton has paid tribute to his “mentor,” blues and rock legend John Mayall, who passed away Monday at the age of 90.

Before hitting it big, Clapton was a member of Mayall’s band the Bluebreakers. In a video posted to Instagram, Clapton thanked Mayall “for rescuing me from oblivion and God knows what when I was a young man ’round the age of 18, 19 when I decided that I was gonna quit music.” 

“He found me and took me into his home and asked me to join his band and I stayed with him and I learned all that I really have to draw on for today in terms of technique and desire to play the kind of music I love to play,” he said.

Clapton called playing in Mayall’s band “a fantastic experience,” noting Mayall taught him “it was OK just to play the music you wanted to play.”

“He was my mentor and a surrogate father,” Clapton added. “He taught me all I really know and gave me the courage and enthusiasm to express myself without fear, without limit.” Clapton then noted that all he taught Mayall was drinking and womanizing, noting, “I wish to make amends for that. I did that while he was alive and I have obviously since learned that is not the best way to carry on.” 

“I shall miss him but I hope to see him on the other side,” Clapton concluded. “Thank you, John. I love you, I’ll see you soon, but not yet, as they say in the Gladiator movie.”

Clapton wasn’t the only one to honor Mayall. The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger and Ronnie Wood both shared tributes on social media, as did Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler.

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Green Day‘s Billie Joe Armstrong has released a cover of the Jesse Malin song “Black Haired Girl,” recorded for an upcoming tribute album to the longtime New York City punk fixture.

As previously reported, proceeds from the record, titled Silver Patron Saints, will support Malin and his recovery efforts after having a spinal stroke in 2023.

You can listen to Armstrong’s “Black Haired Girl” now via digital outlets. Silver Patron Saints will be released Sept. 20.

Others featured on Silver Patron Saints include Bruce Springsteen, Rage Against the Machine‘s Tom Morello, Bleachers, Elvis Costello, late MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer, Spoon, The Wallflowers, Rancid, The Kills‘ Alison Mosshart, The Bangles‘ Susanna Hoffs, Counting Crows, Dinosaur Jr. and The Replacements‘ Tommy Stinson.

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