Classic Rock News

INXS’ hit album Kick is getting an audio upgrade.

The 1987 album is the latest record to get a Rhino High Fidelity release, with an audiophile-vinyl edition of the album set to drop May 1.

Kick (Rhino High Fidelity) was cut from the original master tapes and will feature new liner notes from journalist David Fricke. The release is limited to just 5,000 individually numbered copies and is available exclusively at Rhino.com.

Released in October 1987, Kick is INXS’ sixth studio album and most successful release. It features four top-10 singles: “Need You Tonight,” “Devil Inside,” “New Sensation” and the Aussie band’s only #1 single, “Never Tear Us Apart.”

The album is certified six-times Platinum by the RIAA.

In other INXS news … The band is nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year, and INXS bassist Garry Gary Beers has shared his reaction to the news via social media.

“I’ve always downplayed the importance of this to me for a few reasons- the main being that there were always other artists more deserving etc etc,” he wrote on Instagram. “So time has passed and here’s the nomination and I have to say I’m pretty proud of us Aussie boys from the Northern Beaches getting nominated to be in such amazing company.” He then shared the link for the Rock Hall fan vote.

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On This Day, March 11, 1972 …

Neil Young hit #1 on the Billboard 200 with his fourth studio album, Harvest. It spent two weeks at the top of the chart.

The album featured guest vocals by Young’s Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young bandmates, David Crosby, Graham Nash and Stephen Stills, along with Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor. It also featured the London Symphony Orchestra on two songs.

Songs on Harvest include “Heart of Gold,” which went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and “Old Man,” which was a top-40 hit for Young.

In 2015 Harvest was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

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The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music has an opening date.

The center, formerly known as the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music, will open to the public on June 7 on the campus of New Jersey’s Monmouth University. Not only will the center house the Bruce Springsteen archives, but it will host exhibits, concerts, education initiatives and more, covering all aspects of American music.

“The Springsteen Center provides a home for Bruce Springsteen’s archives and places him in the greater story of American music,” said Robert Santelli, founding executive director. “Popular music is one of America’s most enduring and respected cultural resources and Bruce Springsteen is one of its most important artists.”

The Bruce Springsteen Center will be located in a new 32,000-square-foot building, which includes exhibition galleries, a theater, immersive interactive experiences and research archives.

“We are honored to host the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music on our beautiful campus here at the Jersey Shore,” said Monmouth University President Patrick F. Leahy. “This center reminds us that music has always been one of the most powerful teachers in American life. We are proud to open this new destination to scholars, students, fans, and neighbors as a place where American music in all of its forms can be preserved, studied, and celebrated.”

More info can be found at SpringsteenCenter.org.

The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music is responsible for the annual American Music Honors. This year’s honorees include Patti Smith, The E Street Band, The Doors, Dionne Warwick and Dr. Dre. They will be held April 18 at the Pollak Theatre on the Monmouth University campus.

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The new Judas Priest documentary, The Ballad of Judas Priest, is set to have its Canadian premiere at the 2026 Hot Docs Festival.

The film, co-directed by Sam Dunn and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, chronicles the band’s five-decade career. It includes interviews with the band and previously unpublished footage from their personal archives. It also boasts appearances from fellow rockers Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Jack Black and others.

The film had its world premiere in February at the Berlin International Film Festival, with Morello, Dunn and Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford in attendance. The first clip of the film was shared on YouTube ahead of the Berlin premiere.

“Heavy metal music is the music that made me love music,” Morello said at a Berlin press conference, “and Judas Priest are culturally really the creators of heavy metal, co-creators of it musically with Black Sabbath. But as far as a cultural force, creating a community that is metal, that is Judas Priest.”

The Hot Docs Festival will be held in Toronto April 23 to May 3. Information on tickets is available online at hotdocs.ca.

(Video includes uncensored profanity.) 

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Mike Campbell and The Dirty Knobs are hitting the road this summer.

The Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist and his band have announced a 10-date tour that will kick off July 7 in Minneapolis. The tour will hit such cities as Chicago, Nashville and Pittsburgh before wrapping July 24 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

An artist presale for tickets begins Wednesday at 10 a.m. local time, with tickets going on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m. local time.

In addition to the new summer tour, Mike Campbell and The Dirty Knobs have one other show on their 2026 schedule. They will be a special guest at the Oct. 2 stop of Chris Stapleton’s All American Road Show in Bristow, Virginia.

The band released their most recent album, Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits, in May 2024.

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

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Metallica has shared a statement thanking fans following the announcement of their Life Burns Faster residency at the high-tech Sphere venue in Las Vegas.

“We are so appreciative and grateful to all of you for the incredible response to our upcoming Life Burns Faster residency at Sphere in Las Vegas,” Metallica writes in an Instagram post. “We are completely and utterly blown away and cannot believe that we will have 24 amazing nights on stage there, all thanks to you and a record-breaking week.”

Metallica originally announced eight dates for the residency beginning in October. The number of shows now sits at 24 and stretches into March 2027.

As for any more Sphere dates, Metallica says, “At this point in time, we will not be adding additional shows, but we are hoping to offer more in the future.”

“In the meantime, we hear you loud and clear that the ticket-buying process was often frustrating and not always smooth,” Metallica says. “We’re working with our partners to improve this experience and offer some remedies for the next time around.”

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It’s their life and it’s headed to the big screen.

Deadline reports that Universal Pictures has just closed a deal to make a biopic about New Jersey rockers Bon Jovi, with frontman Jon Bon Jovi on board to participate. The studio will also be granted access to the band’s music catalog.

The film will reportedly focus on the formation of the band and follow them until the release of their third studio album, 1986’s Slippery When Wet, which became their first #1 record. The album sold 30 million copies, thanks to hits “Livin’ on a Prayer” and “You Give Love a Bad Name,” which both went to #1.

Bon Jovi went on to sell over 130 million records worldwide and were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.

The film is being produced by Manchester by the Sea producer Kevin J. Walsh and Gotham Chopra, the latter of whom directed all four episodes of the Bon Jovi Hulu docuseries Thank You Good Night: The Bon Jovi Story. Screenwriter Cody Brotter is on board to write the script.

ABC Audio has reached out to Universal Pictures for confirmation. 

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Kansas has announced some new tour dates with 38 Special.

The “Carry On My Wayward Son” rockers have added seven co-headlining dates with 38 Special to their 2026 schedule. The tour begins June 5 in Little Rock, Arkansas, and hits cities in Missouri, Georgia, Alabama, Nebraska and Indiana before wrapping July 17 in Beaver Dam, Kentucky.

They’ve also added a June 19 headlining show in Park City, Kansas.

A presale for tickets begins Tuesday at 10 a.m. local time, with tickets going on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m. local time.

Up next for Kansas, they’ll play the Ostrich Festival in Chandler, Arizona, on Friday. They are also scheduled to play the ’70s Rock and Romance Cruise, which leaves from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on March 21.

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

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Boston founder Tom Scholz has paid tribute to the band’s late singer Tommy DeCarlo, who passed away Monday at age 60 after being diagnosed with brain cancer last September.

“Everyone who has heard Tommy sing on stage, or on BOSTON albums, knows what a gifted artist he was, but few know how hard he worked to fill that role of BOSTON’s lead vocalist, and to turn himself into a top-tier live performer – or more important, what a dedicated father he was to his children,” Scholz wrote on Facebook on behalf of the band. He noted DeCarlo was “a sweet man who did not deserve to be cut down at such a young age.” 

“While many people will remember Tommy giving his audience amazing live performances,” Scholz continued, “I will remember him as the incredible singer who appeared out of nowhere to rescue BOSTON in 2007, and gave all of us with the band 10 additional years of performing our most memorable live shows.”

DeCarlo joined Boston in 2007 following the death of the band’s original frontman, Brad Delp, and had been part of the band’s touring lineup ever since.

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Bruce Springsteen has recorded a cover of The Pogues’ classic “A Rainy Night in Soho,” according to an announcement posted to the Instagram account of late Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan.

“Our very good friend Bruce has recorded a beautiful version of ‘A Rainy Night in Soho,'” reads the post. “It’s a stunning tribute to Shane’s songwriting and it’s out on Thursday!”

The song is available for preorder now.

This isn’t the first time The Boss has performed “A Rainy Night in Soho.” Springsteen and The E Street Band performed the song in celebration of MacGowan at their May 2024 concert in Kilkenny, Ireland.

Following MacGowan’s death in November 2023 at age 65, Springsteen paid tribute to the Irish singer on Instagram, noting he was heartbroken by the news.

“Shane was one of my all-time favorite writers,” he wrote. “The passion and deep intensity of his music and lyrics is unmatched by all but the very best in the rock and roll canon.”

He added, “His music is timeless and eternal. I don’t know about the rest of us, but they’ll be singing Shane’s songs 100 years from now.”

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