Classic Rock News

Foo Fighters‘ concert in New Zealand on Saturday, January 20, featured a surprise from Jack Black.

Fan-shot footage shows the actor and Tenacious D frontman joining Dave Grohl and company for a spirited rendition of the AC/DC song “Big Balls.” The performance also featured co-vocals by the Foos’ drum tech Fiona, who also sang “Big Balls” during the band’s 2023 tour of Australia.

As for how Foo Fighters and Black found themselves on the other side of the planet at the same time, the “Tribute” singer has been in New Zealand filming the upcoming Minecraft movie.

The Foos have two more New Zealand shows on their schedule. They’ll be back in the U.S. in May for a few one-off shows and festival sets, including at New Orleans Jazz Fest and Shaky Knees, before launching a full Stateside stadium tour in July.

Foo Fighters released their latest album, But Here We Are, in June 2023.

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Jon Bon Jovi is set to appear at February’s Pollstar Live! conference, HitsDailyDouble reports.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has joined the conference’s February 7 panel called How To See a Million Faces and Rock Them All, a reference to the Bon Jovi hit “Wanted Dead or Alive.”

The band’s 40th anniversary will also be marked during the conference, with the rocker honored with Pollstar Live!’s Milestone Award.

The conference is set to take place February 6-8 in Los Angeles. 

Jon’s appearance at Pollstar Live! will take place just a few days after he receives another prestigious honor. As part of Grammy week he’ll receive the MusiCares 2024 Person of the Year award at a gala held Friday, February 2, at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

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A pool table once owned by rocker Janis Joplin is now up for auction.

Coinciding with what would have been Joplin’s 81st birthday on Friday, January 19, Julien’s Auctions announced the launch of an auction of the rocker’s personally owned pool table, made by Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co. in the 1920s.

That pool table has been in Joplin’s home in Larkspur, California, since 1969 and was featured in an August 1970 issue of Rolling Stone that accompanied a review of her January 1970 concert at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. 

Whoever purchases the pool table will be getting it directly from Joplin’s former home, where it currently resides in the same room it did when the rocker was alive.

The auction is happening online through Monday, January 29, with the pool table estimated to sell for between $10,000 and $20,000. More info can be found at juliensauctions.com.

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The Alarm is returning to the U.S. for a new North American tour, and they’re bringing along two other acts from the MTV era.

Joining The Alarm on the Live Today Love Tomorrow Tour MMXIV will be The Blow Monkeys, best known for their top 20 hit “Digging Your Scene,” and Belouis Some, best known for songs like “Some People” and “Round and Round,” the latter of which was featured on the soundtrack to ’80s classic Pretty in Pink.

“This tour will be a chance for a generation of fans – both old and new – to step back into the future and celebrate a time that defined millions of people’s life soundtracks when the era of Music Television ruled the earth,” The Alarm’s Mike Peters shares. “All our bands made an initial impact through the medium of music, but it was driven deeper into the hearts and imaginations of people all over North America via Music Television.” He noted it “paved the way for a new generation of artists and fans of which had never been witnessed before.”

The tour kicks off May 1 in New Orleans, hitting Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York and more, with dates confirmed through May 29 in Boston. 

A ticket presale will kick off Wednesday, January 24, with the general sale happening Friday, January 26.

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Alice in Chains may be reopening their Jar of Flies.

In a Facebook post, the “Man in the Box” outfit is teasing the date January 25, which will mark the 30th anniversary of their 1994 Jar of Flies EP. The post also features artwork of flies surrounding the AiC logo.

Jar of Flies followed Alice in Chains’ 1992 hit album Dirt and arrived during the last years of the grunge era. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, making it the first EP to ever achieve that feat.

Alice in Chains’ most recent album is 2018’s Rainier Fog.

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Bob Dylan was one of the many A-list stars who took part in the 1985 charity single “We Are the World,” but according to Lionel Richie, who co-wrote the song, he didn’t have an easy time nailing down his contribution.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter to promote The Greatest Night In Pop, a documentary about the making of the song, Richie reveals Dylan “was having a nervous breakdown” while recording his part.

“He’s trying to sing it. And we said, ‘No, we don’t want you to sing it, just do it like Bob Dylan,’” Lionel shares. “If you’re thrown in a room with a bunch of singers, you have a tendency to get psyched out, that you want to sound like them.” 

With each artists getting only a small portion to sing, Lionel explains, “We had to make sure that whoever was singing, your voice was identifiable right away.”

“Now, Bob Dylan has an identifiable voice instantly. But he was trying to sing it another way,” he says. “We kept saying, ‘No, just sing it like Bob Dylan.’ But did you see that look on his face? He was like, well, what does that sound like?”

“We Are The World” features huge stars like Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and more, but one person who didn’t show up for the recording session was Prince.

“I was hoping he was going to come by,” Lionel says. “But there’s a point when that tape starts rolling, that’s it.” 

In the end, Huey Lewis wound up taking Prince’s part.

“Poor Huey, even to this day, he still hasn’t recovered. He did a great job,” Lionel laughs. 

The Greatest Night in Pop premieres January 19 at the Sundance Film Festival; it hits Netflix on January 29.

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Sting, ZZ Top and Devo are among the acts booked for the 2024 BeachLife Festival in Redondo Beach, California.

Sting is set to headline the festival’s opening night on Friday, May 3, with Devo on the bill for Saturday, May 4, and ZZ Top playing on the final night, Sunday, May 5.

Joining Sting as headliners are Incubus and My Morning Jacket, with Seal, Trey Anastasio, Sugar Ray, Fleet Foxes and more also on the bill.

Info on tickets and a complete lineup can be found at beachlifefestival.com.

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Judas Priest is offering up another single from their upcoming album Invincible Shield, which is set to drop March 8.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers just dropped the tune “Crown of Horns,” the third single from the record following “Panic Attack” and “Trial By Fire”

You can listen to “Crown of Horns” now via streaming services and on YouTube.

Judas Priest first announced they’d be releasing Invincible Shield during their October performance at Power Trip in Indio, California. The record will be their first new album since 2018’s Firepower. 

Invincible Shield is available for preorder now.

Fans will soon get a chance to see Judas Priest perform some of these songs live. They kick off a U.K. and European tour starting in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 11, with the tour hitting the U.S. on April 18 in Wallingford, Connecticut. A complete list of dates can be found at judaspriest.com.

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Van Halen’s David Lee Roth has fired some shots at his replacement Sammy Hagar in a new post shared to his Instagram.

In the clip titled “The Ballad of Popsicle Sam,” Roth uses Hagar’s 2011 claim that he was visited by aliens to try and explain some of Hagar’s behavior toward him over the years. He suggests Hagar’s conduct is a result of him being sex probed.

Hagar has said some disparaging things about Roth over the years. In a 2023 interview on Steve-O’s Wild Ride podcast, Hagar said Roth didn’t care about his voice and called his singing embarrassing.

Despite “a constant fart gas aimed” in his direction, Roth insisted he’s never “said a single syllable about” Sammy. “I think we’ve arrived at both the technical and the medical answer that may explain some of Sammy Hagar’s conduct and his constant spew of diarrhea vitriol in our direction,” he wrote, revealing, “Sammy Hagar was abducted by aliens and he was sex probed. Sex probed.” 

Roth then questioned what sex probing entails, before offering, “What I do know with absolute accuracy is that if you take a half of a popsicle and you jam it into a cassette tape player, no matter how carefully you extract it, that tape player will never play the same again, no matter how carefully you try and fix those delicate little parts. And it’ll get worse and it’ll seem like the singer that you used to [be] will stop making sense whatsoever. A lot like Sam.”

Hagar’s set to launch his The Best of All World Tours on July 13 in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he plans to celebrate Van Halen’s music. He’s invited Roth to stop by, but after these comments, who knows what the chances of that happening will be.

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Dolly Parton turned 78 on Friday, January 19, and she celebrated by giving her fans a gift.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer just dropped a deluxe digital version of her latest album, Rockstar, featuring nine additional tracks, five of which were retailer exclusives and four that have never been released before. 

“It’s my Birthday so I’m going to give you a present!…” Parton shared on social media regarding the new songs. “I hope you enjoy them, and I hope you all have a happy birthday for me! LOL.”

The new tracks include covers of Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” Eddie Money’s “Two Tickets to Paradise,” Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” Billy Joel‘s “The Entertainer” and Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).” 

There’s also a new take on Dolly’s classic track “Jolene,” which features Italian rockers Måneskin; the track “Mama Never Said”; a live version of her original tune “Rockin’ It”; and her version of “Stay Out Of My Bedroom,” which she recorded with Sylvester Stallone for their 1984 movie, Rhinestone.

Dolly Parton’s Rockstar (Deluxe) is available now via digital outlets.

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