Classic Rock News

Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman has added more dates to his Final One Man Solo tour.

After launching the tour in March, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer will kick off the new leg on Oct. 3 in Tarrytown, New York, with dates confirmed through Nov. 2 in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania.  

The show will feature highlights from Wakeman’s five-decade career, including solo work and work with Yes. Plus, he’ll play the 30-minute instrumental, “Yessonata,” turning themes and melodies from Yes into a sonata. 

“I have thoroughly enjoyed performing the various one-man shows, but it’s time to call it a day,” he says, sharing he plans to stop touring by his 77th birthday, which will happen May 18, 2026. “I intend to throw in the best of what I have done in the past, plus a few new surprises on the way, and possibly even the odd guest joining me on the odd occasion.” 

He adds, “I am taking this opportunity of thanking everyone and anyone who has supported me over the last 53 years!”

A complete list of Rick Wakeman tour dates can be found at rwcc.com.

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Mark Lanegan‘s Facebook page is teasing an announcement regarding the late Screaming Trees frontman.

The page’s first post since announcing Lanegan’s death in February 2022 reads, “We appreciate your kind loving words over the last 2 years. There is lots of news to share with you very soon.”

The post also includes photos of recording equipment and the exterior of the famed Abbey Road Studios in London, suggesting that a posthumous Lanegan release could be in the works.

Lanegan passed away at age 57. Along with fronting Screaming Trees, he was known for his solo career and for his works in bands including Queens of the Stone Age and The Gutter Twins.

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Paul McCartney has added another show to his 2024 Got Back tour.

The latest addition has the Beatle headlining El Campin Stadium in Bogotá, Colombia, on Nov. 1, his first time in the city since 2012.

⁠”Colombia, we are on our way!” McCartney shares. “Our last visit to you was so special and felt like an unbeatable experience but we know this is going to be even bigger and better!”

He adds, “Me and the band can’t wait to see you all. Let’s get ready to make memories together again.”

McCartney launched his Got Back tour in the U.S. in 2022. He’s set to kick off the latest leg on Oct. 1 in Montevideo, Uruguay. A complete list of dates can be found at PaulMcCartney.com.

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On This Day, July 8, 1984…

Bob Dylan wrapped his European tour at Dublin, Ireland’s Slane Castle, where he was joined by local heroes Van Morrison and U2’s Bono.

Morrison joined Dylan for “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” and his tune “Tupelo Honey,” while Bono teamed with Dylan for “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat” and “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

Carlos Santana was also a special guest during the show, joining Dylan for “Tombstone Blues,” “The Times They Are a Changin’” and “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

Thirty years later, Dylan is still performing live and is currently a part of Willie Nelson‘s Outlaw Music Festival. The tour hits Chula Vista, California, on July 29.  

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If you weren’t able to snag tickets to the Eagles’ Las Vegas residency at the Sphere, you may get another chance.

Eagles are set to kick off their residency on Sept. 20, with dates confirmed through Dec. 14, and in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Sphere Entertainment’s executive chairman and CEO James Dolan indicated there’s a good chance they could come back for more shows.

“The Eagles, first off, are selling like hotcakes,” Dolan says. “So the likelihood is they will extend. But that’s up to them. They have to decide that.” 

He adds, “Look, they can play as long as they want.”

Dolan notes that not every artist can play the Sphere, because it poses challenges that don’t come with a regular concert.

“There’s a challenge for every artist who comes here. It’s the same with Dead & Company, it’s not just playing your show,” he says. “They are the best musicians in the world, but they still have to take their art and translate it on to the screen,” adding, “It requires an awful lot from the artists.”

Dead & Company is currently headlining their Dead Forever residency at the Sphere. Their next show is happening July 11, with shows confirmed through August 10.

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Lenny Kravitz is known for putting on a spectacular live show, so it’s no surprise he says it was a concert he went to when he was young that made him realize he wanted to make music a career.

Kravitz tells ABC Audio his first concert ever was the Jackson 5 at Madison Square Garden in New York in the early ’70s. It really convinced him music was what he should be doing, noting, “After that night, my life was never the same. I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”

Lenny, who released the new album Blue Electric Light earlier this year, says for him, getting to play live is all about the people who come to his shows.

He shares that his favorite thing about performing is “the communion with the audience, being with the audience, being with the people that support you, that have made it possible for this music to live.”

Lenny has seen lots of fellow musicians in concert and while he does get inspired by what he sees, he doesn’t necessarily use that inspiration when planning what he’ll do onstage.

“I don’t really think about other artists when I’m preparing for something like this,” he says. “I’m just trying to represent the time and be, you know, as strong as I can be and to be as open as I can be to really share this experience with the people.” 

Kravitz in on tour overseas through August. So far his only U.S. shows are a five-night residency at the Dolby Live in Las Vegas in October. A complete list of dates can be found at lennykravitz.com.

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Even after over 30 years, Pearl Jam keeps racking up career firsts.

The band’s song “Wreckage,” the current single off their new album, Dark Matter, has hit #1 on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart. Having already conquered the ranking with the Dark Matter title track, which was also the record’s lead single, Pearl Jam has now notched consecutive #1 hits on Mainstream Rock Airplay for the first time.

“Wreckage” gives Pearl Jam a total of five #1 Mainstream Rock Airplay singles. The song “Dark Matter” previously gave PJ the record for the longest gap between #1 hits on the chart, having taken over 26 years since last leading in 1998 with “Given to Fly.”

The album Dark Matter, the follow-up to 2020’s Gigaton, dropped in April. The band will launch a second leg of their U.S. tour in support of the album in August.

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After postponing three shows due to an illness in the band, Pearl Jam returned to the stage in Barcelona Saturday night, where frontman Eddie Vedder opened up about the health issues they were dealing with.

Fan-shot footage posted to social media shows Eddie addressing the crowd before a performance of “Wasted Reprise,” sharing, “the last week it almost felt like a near death experience. It was very uncomfortable and it got frightening.”

The comments came just after a performance of “Just Breathe,” with Vedder saying the issue was chest related. “It felt like maybe you couldn’t breathe, maybe you wouldn’t make it through the night, maybe you’d have to go to the hospital,” he said.

Eddie then noted that it wasn’t just him, and “a few of us” had it.

“You just realize how precious this life is, how lucky we are to have been living on a planet where we could go round and play to incredible people like the people in this room here tonight,” he added. “So, it was a poignant experience. I won’t be forgetting it anytime soon and we won’t be forgetting tonight anytime soon.”

Next up, Pearl Jam plays a second night in Barcelona on July 8. They return to the U.S. on August 22 with a show in Missoula, Montana. A complete list of dates can be found at pearljam.com.

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Stevie Nicks is the latest artist forced to postpone tour dates.

The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer postponed her July 6 Glasgow show, as well as her planned July 9 show in Manchester, with a now-vanished Instagram Story post from Stevie blaming it on “a recent leg injury requiring a minor surgical procedure that will need a few days of recovery time.”

The post noted fans should keep their tickets and rescheduled dates will be announced soon. 

It also indicated that Stevie still plans to continue with her upcoming July 12 show in London, noting, “Stevie looks forward to seeing everyone at Hyde Park in London.”

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Pat Benatar and husband Neil Giraldo are offering up an update on their musical Invincible, a retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet using their music catalog.

The musical originally opened in late 2022 at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, and after mixed reviews, Benatar now tells Billboard they are planning to totally rework the show.

“The place we’re at right now is about tearing it to shreds and starting over,” Benatar shares. “We have the liberty to do that because we haven’t gone to even off-Broadway or anything like that. So we’re tearing it apart, doing a similar show but with a lot of different elements to it.” 

Giraldo adds that after the changes, the musical will be “different and the same at the same time.”

“It will take it in a little different direction, maybe go back to the very beginning,” he says. “I think we got too far in the weeds with it and it started getting a little messy.” 

In addition to the title song, the show features such classic Benatar/Giraldo tunes as “Love Is a Battlefield,” “Heartbreaker,” and “We Belong” and despite the setbacks, Benatar says the process has been “exciting” and “fun.” 

She notes, “You just keep evolving ’til we get to the place we feel like it’s time to put it out there.”

So far there’s no word on when or where exactly they plan to put it out there, although Benatar suggested it could open next in Giraldo’s hometown of Cleveland.

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