Classic Rock News

On Saturday, February 24 in Tampa, Florida, Billy Joel and Sting played the first of several co-headlining stadium shows they have planned for 2024. In addition to playing their own sets, they also joined each other for one of their respective songs.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, the show — the first time the two artists have shared a bill — began with Billy introducing his old buddy Sting, who then asked the Piano Man to “stick around and sing with me.” They launched into Sting’s Police classic “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.” 

The rest of Sting’s set mixed solo and Police hits, from “Roxanne” and “Every Breath You Take” to “Fields of Gold” and “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free.” For “Englishman in New York,” Sting’s pal Shaggy came out for a cameo.

Billy started his set by reminiscing that the last time he was at the venue, Raymond James Stadium, was in 2023, when he took his two young daughters to see Taylor Swift. “It was a good show,” he confirmed.

During his set, Billy performed his new single “Turn the Lights Back On” for only the second time live, telling the crowd, “I hope we don’t screw it up!”

Later in the show, Sting returned, wearing a Sinatra-style hat and suit, to join Billy on his jazzy song “Big Man on Mulberry Street.”

Billy and Sting will perform together again on April 13 in San Diego, September 27 in St. Louis and October 25 in San Antonio, Texas. In between, Billy will play solo dates, a few shows with Stevie Nicks and one with Rod Stewart. He’ll also wrap up his 10-year Madison Square Garden residency on July 25.

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The Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood is taking inspiration from his bandmates for his latest works of art.

The rocker has debuted a new collectors series, titled “Burning,” featuring three paintings that “explore the interplay between the members of The Stones.” The description notes the art captures “intense moments in performance when the band are ‘on fire.’ As the viewer you take the part of the audience – feeling the heat!”

The paintings include “Play on Hands,” which explores frontman Mick Jagger’s movements onstage and how his hands are “as communicative as his vocals.” There’s also “Twang,” featuring Ronnie, Keith Richards and the late Charlie Watts, and “Weaving,” focusing on the dynamic between Ronnie and Mick.

Prints of all three paintings are on sale now individually and as a three-print set. All are numbered and hand-signed by Wood.

But Wood may soon be too busy to focus on his art, as The Rolling Stones are set to kick off their Hackney Diamonds tour on April 28 in Houston, Texas, with dates confirmed through July 17 in Santa Clara, California. A complete list of dates can be found at rollingstones.com.

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While KISS retired from touring back in December, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons‘ former bandmate Ace Frehley doesn’t believe they’re actually calling it quits from the road.

“I’m the only game in town because KISS is supposedly retired — which I don’t believe is gonna happen,” Frehley tells Billboard. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they reformed.”

But until that happens, Frehley is embracing his KISS past on the road.

“We added ‘Shout It Out Loud’ and ‘Rock and Roll All Nite’ because talking to people, they go … you gotta do those songs live — and I did and it went over fantastic,” he said. “We ended the night with three KISS songs … and everybody was singing along and it was great.” 

And while it’s often felt like Frehley and his former bandmates aren’t on good terms, he insists that’s not really the case.

“We’re still friends,” he says. “I know a lot of people think we hate each other, but that’s not true. We’re just like a family, but sometimes brothers and sisters have arguments and so on. But when the s*** hits the fan, we’re there for each other. I just wish them the best.”

Frehley just released his new solo album, 10,000 Volts. Fans can catch him performing songs from that album, as well as those KISS classics, on tour this year. His next show is happening March 28 in New York City. A complete list of dates can be found at acefrehley.com.

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Yes released their most recent album, Mirror To The Sky, in May 2023, and now they’re sharing a new video of an edited version of the album’s title track.

The video comes as the band — currently made up of Steve Howe, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison, Billy Sherwood and Jay Schellen — is set to release a new limited two-CD+Blu-ray Digipak edition of the album on April 5. The set includes the original album, along with a Blu-ray featuring Dolby Atmos, 5.1 surround sound and instrumental mixes of the record.

The new edition of Mirror To The Sky is available for preorder now.

After touring the U.S. in 2023, Yes is set to embark on the U.K. and European leg of their The Classic Tales of Yes Tour, which has them performing songs from the band’s more than 50-year career, including tracks from Mirror to the Sky. It also includes a celebration of the 50th anniversary of their sixth studio album, Tales from Topographic Oceans.

The tour kicks off April 30 in Lisbon, Portugal. A complete list of dates can be found at yesworld.com.

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Kansas has announced that original drummer Phil Ehart recently suffered a major heart attack, which is forcing the 73-year-old to take time away from touring with the band in order to recover.

A message on the band’s Facebook page says there’s currently “no timetable for his recovery.” It adds, “While not on the road, Phil is remaining in a prominent role with Kansas during his recovery, serving as band manager, as he has done for 40 years.”

Kansas is currently on their 50th anniversary tour, and drummer Eric Holmquist is set to fill in for Ehart. The post notes that Holmquist has been Ehart’s protégé for the past 20 years and filled in for him in 2016 when Phil was sick, and again from 2022 to 2023 as Phil was in rehabilitation for his arm.

Kansas’ next show is happening Friday, March 1, in Richmond, Virginia. A complete list of dates can be found at kansasband.com.

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NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers has become known for recruiting drummers from the rock world to play alongside its house 8G Band, including Pearl Jam‘s Matt Cameron, The Black Keys‘ Patrick Carney and Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers. But there are still a few drummers producer Eric Leiderman is hoping to get on the show.

“I have tried everything I can to get Dave Grohl to come in for a week,” Leiderman tells Deadline.

Along with the Foo Fighters frontman/Nirvana drummer, Leiderman names Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich and Mötley Crüe‘s Tommy Lee as his other “white wales.”

“Those are big influences,” he says. “It just comes down to scheduling.”

The most recent guest drummer on Late Night was Avenged Sevenfold‘s Brooks Wackerman.

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E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Vandt is letting everyone know how much he appreciates the Kinks.

It all started when Kinks guitarist Dave Davies shared a post on X, formerly Twitter, about the band’s classic tune “You Really Got Me,” which was written by his brother and bandmate Ray Davies. 

“You Really Got Me really was a landmark record and everyone wanted to be a part of it,” Davies shared. “Next month is 60 years of YRGM anniversary. It was Ray’s song and my guitar sound that made the record.”

That prompted Van Zandt to comment, “Everything Dave is saying is historical fact. That record was the beginning of the modern Hard Rock world as we know it. Absolutely incredible that it was a top ten hit single! Unimaginable in today’s boring f****** world.

And Davies was honored by the compliment, replying to Van Zandt, “That means a lot Steve. Thank you.”

“You Really Got Me” was the third single the Kinks ever released and hit #1 in the U.K. It was the band’s breakthrough hit in the U.S., peaking at #7 on the chart. It was covered by Van Halen on their 1978 self-titled debut.

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Tom Petty’s music will be celebrated with an upcoming tribute album, and we’re getting our first taste of what to expect.  

Country star Dierks Bentley has shared his take on Petty’s classic “American Girl,” the first track released from the upcoming album Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty. The album will include some of today’s top country and Americana artists covering Petty’s tunes.

“Petty’s southern roots shined through across his songwriting and storytelling,” Bently shares. “He might not have ever been considered as Country but you can’t go into a bar in Nashville without hearing this song.”

Bentley calls “American Girl” “one of the greatest songs in a life’s work of great American songs.” He notes, “The spirit of this woman, the idea of such relentless hope – and disappointment – ignites such a spark. (Producer) Jon Randall and I were driven to make that feeling of American roots stand tall.”

You can listen to Bentley’s cover of “American Girl” via digital outlets and on YouTube.

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The documentary Kiss the Future features Irish rockers U2, but it’s not about the band — and that’s just the way they wanted it.

The film follows a group of underground musicians and creatives during the siege of Sarajevo, which lasted from April 1992 to February 1996. Aid worker Bill Carter reached out to U2 to connect them with the locals, which eventually led to them playing a concert at Koševo Stadium in 1997 to celebrate the country’s liberation.

While having U2 be part of the film was important, Matt Damon, one of the film’s producers, tells Variety the rockers were concerned about taking the focus away from the story.

“They didn’t want it to be yet another U2 concert film. They didn’t want to be the primary focus,” Damon says, noting the film’s director, Nenad Cicin-Sain, was fine with that because he wanted the film to tell the story of Carter and the Sarajevans.

“He wanted to present their stories of what happened as a sort of collective memory of the time,” he says. “Once the band heard that, they came on board as quickly as we did.”

But while U2 wasn’t the focus of the film, Damon knew their contribution to it was important.

“To do this properly, we not only needed their sign off, but also their footage from the concerts where they did the satellite interviews with Bill Carter as well as footage from the concert they performed in Sarajevo — this had never been seen before, by anyone,” he says. “Without that, we simply couldn’t tell the story.”

Kiss the Future is set to open exclusively in AMC theaters in the U.S. starting February 23 and will stream on Paramount + later this year.

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The music of The Alan Parsons Project is being revisited with a new series of releases that kicked off Friday, February 23, with I, Robot (Sessions).

Out now via digital services, I, Robot (Sessions) serves as a companion to the band’s 1977 sophomore studio album, I, Robot, and features demos, early mixes, instrumentals and more. One of those tracks is an early take on the song “Don’t Let It Snow,” which gives fans some insight into songwriter Eric Woolfson‘s creation of the song, which was covered by Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Pat Benatar on her 1976 debut album.

I, Robot (Sessions) is the first in The Alan Parsons Project Sessions series, which will be released over the course of the next year, adding bonus material like demos, edits, alternative versions, backing tracks and more to APP albums. The bonus material has been discovered amongst more than 1,000 master tapes stored for over 40 years in Woolfson’s archives.

In addition to the Sessions series, the band’s catalog will be getting a spatial audio release over the next year.

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