Classic Rock News

Elton John is worth millions, but evidently, when he gambles, he keeps things low-key.

One of Elton John’s pals, U.K. soccer legend Gary Lineker, posted a photo on X, formerly Twitter, showing a £10 note — worth just under $12.70 — along with a handwritten note from Elton. The note, dated December 27, indicates that the bill was his payment on a bet the two made on a soccer match, which Elton lost.

“Dear Gary, sorry this is late! With Christmas we were left a little short! Have a great new year. It was so great to see you! Thank you. Love Elton,” the note reads.

“Never let it be said that @eltonofficial doesn’t pay his debts,” Lineker wrote, adding the final score of the match, which took place in November: “Leicester [lester] 2 Watford 0.”

Elton was formerly the chairman of the British soccer team Watford FC, which he still supports. Lineker, now a sportscaster, used to play for Leicester City, among other teams.

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Green Day has announced worldwide listening parties for their upcoming album, Saviors.

Events will take place in independent record stores across the globe starting January 13, roughly a week before the record officially drops on January 19.

“Listening parties are free + have exclusive giveaways (while supplies last),” Green Day teases. “Did we mention you’ll get to hear the whole damn album in its entirety before it’s out!!!”

For more info, visit ListentoSaviors.GreenDay.com.

Saviors is Green Day’s 14th studio album and the follow-up to 2020’s Father of All… It includes lead single “The American Dream Is Killing Me” as well as the tracks “Look Ma, No Brains!” and “Dilemma.”

Green Day will support Saviors on a world tour; the U.S. leg kicks off in July. The tour will also celebrate the 30th and 20th anniversaries of Green Day’s albums Dookie and American Idiot, respectively.

In other Green Day happenings, official footage of their performance on ABC’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest is streaming now on YouTube. During the song “American Idiot,” Green Day changed the lyrics to “I’m not part of the MAGA agenda.”

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Looks like Neil Young may be heading out on tour in 2024.

The rocker teased the news in his year-end note to fans on his Neil Young Archives website, where he thanked his booking agent Marsha Vlassic for “booking my soon to be announced tour.”

There’s no word on when that tour will be announced and where Young will be going.

Young returned to the stage this past summer for a short West Coast tour, his first trek since 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. His coastal tour consisted of 15 shows in California, Washington and Oregon.

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On This Day, January 4, 1967…

The Doors released their self-titled debut album, which they recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood, California. 

The album, which peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 Album chart, featured future Doors classics “Break On Through (To the Other Side),” “Light My Fire” and the ominous “The End.”

The record wound up being the band’s best-selling album and has been certified four-times Platinum by the RIAA.

Both the album and “Light My Fire” were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and chosen by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry.

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A recent report claimed that Dead & Company were in talks to play a residency at the Las Vegas Sphere, but a new poll suggests they aren’t the artists most folks want to see headline the state-of-the-art venue.

Considering there have been lots of rumors as to who may play the venue next, a new survey by casino.org asked 3,000 Americans who they’d most like to see. Well, it turns out Dead & Company doesn’t top the list. In fact, they’re the artists most would least like to see at the venue, with Lady Gaga being America’s top pick. 

Other bands coming in ahead of Dead & Company include Paul McCartney at four, Eagles at five, Bon Jovi at six and KISS at eight.  

For now, U2 is still at the venue until March 2, with U2: UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere. Phish will follow from April 18-21.  

So far, there’s been no official announcement that the rumored Dead & Company residency is going to happen. The band, made up of Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir and Mickey Hart, along with John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti, went on their final tour in 2023, but Mayer recently gave fans some hope that the group is not completely over.

During a New Year’s Eve appearance on CNN, Andy Cohen asked Mayer about the future of Dead & Company, and he replied, “I’m not at liberty to say just yet. But, have hope is what I’ll say. Have hope … just like you should for all things in 2024.”

Survey questions, methodology and results have not been verified or endorsed by ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.

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Even more than fuel and fire, safety is that which James Hetfield desires.

The Metallica frontman is well aware of the thrill and danger of onstage pyrotechnic productions — he was infamously burned in a pyro accident during a 1992 concert. Thirty years later, Hetfield explains how much safer the pyro is now at Metallica shows.

“We’ve learned a lot over all the years on what to do, what not to do,” Hetfield says on the latest episode of The Metallica Report podcast. He emphasizes the importance of “spotters” — people dedicated to monitoring the onstage movements of the band members to make sure that nothing’s going off that would put them in danger.

“We’re on the stage and we’re concentrated on the riffs, we’re playing music,” Hetfield shares. “But these guys gotta know that the band is kind of important, so don’t blow ’em up, please. No more barbecues onstage.”

Hetfield adds that Metallica’s pyro team has “got a love for it like we have a love for music.”

“They want to make it cool,” Hetfield says. “They will push the limits to, ‘Here’s what we can do here, here’s what we can’t.’ They’ll find that middle ground, where it’s pushing the limit a little bit but not too much.”

“We love the fact that we have some safe guys that are still slightly insane,” he adds.

Metallica and their pyro will return to the stage when their M72 world tour resumes in May.

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Paul McCartney wrapped his 2023 Got Back tour in Brazil last month, and he’s sharing highlights from the trek with fans.

The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer debuted a video recapping the five-city tour, which kicked off with a club show in Brasília on November 28 and wrapped December 16 in Rio De Janeiro. The dates were McCartney’s first time back in Brazil since 2019.

“Brazil has been fantastic. It’s a beautiful nation,” he shares in the clip. “When you go on stage with an audience like that the feedback you get, it’s like meeting a dear friend in the street who you haven’t seen for a long time. But it’s that 40,000 times over.”

The video recap features footage of McCartney performing in each city, clips of him warming up backstage and more. There’s footage of crying and screaming fans in the audience as well as crowds waiting for him to arrive, including one fan who revealed that she learned English listening to McCartney’s music. 

“When people ask me, why do you still do it, it’s cause of the crowds,” McCartney says in the clip. “Brazil, the people, they love to dance, they love to sing. For us it’s been brilliant just coming and performing for all of those crowds.”

McCartney’s Brazil shows were the final dates of his 2023 Got Back tour. So far, he has no shows planned for 2024.

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Graham Nash took to social media to wish his bandmate Stephen Stills a happy 79th birthday on Wednesday, January 3.

“Happy Birthday to one of the most genuinely cool and kind people I’ve been lucky enough to call my friend,” Nash wrote on Instagram next to a picture of him, Stills and the late David Crosby. “Hope it’s a great one, Stephen! Much love my friend.”

Meanwhile, Stills’ Instagram account marked his birthday with a montage of photos set to The Beatles “Birthday.” The post was captioned with a quote from Stills about aging.

“Getting older is like a long rock and roll song,” he writes. “Some parts are epic solos, and others are just the drummer trying to find the beat.”

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Back in May, Queen‘s Brian May posted a photo with his good friend Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi, sharing that they were filming a documentary on guitar riffs. Now, fans in the U.S. are finally getting to see what went down.

The two rockers teamed for the three-part Sky News series, Greatest Guitar Riffs, which aired in the U.K. back in November. Guitar World has just debuted a clip of them chatting and performing together.

Asked how he came up with his Sabbath riffs, Iommi explains, “I don’t know. I think it’s within.” 

“Normally, we jam around and play something, and Ozzy (Osbourne) will go, what the f**** that,” he continues, adding, “It just feels right.”

They then discuss Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid,” which Iommi says happened because they didn’t have enough tunes for their album, and their producer told them they needed another song.

“The others had gone out to have something to eat. I came up with this riff, so when they got back I played them this idea of ‘Paranoid’,” he explains. “It’s basic. It’s not technical by any means. What I’ve always done is, not try and play anything that’s flash. I play things that I think is right for the song.”

Iommi and May then jam on the song’s classic riff, although May seemed hesitant to play.

“I’m going to commit sacrilege by joining in!” May jokes, before adding, “It is a good riff. It will go far.”

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Vinyl sales continue to grow in the U.K., and one of the biggest vinyl albums of 2023 comes from none other than The Rolling Stones. 

The U.K. Official Charts reports that while Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) was the U.K.’s bestselling vinyl album in 2023, The Stones land at #2 with Hackney Diamonds, their first new album in 18 years, making it the bestselling vinyl by a U.K. artist last year.

Hackney Diamonds debuted at #1 on the U.K. charts back in October, becoming The Stones’ 14th #1 album. It also topped the chart for a second week in December, becoming the U.K.’s official Christmas #1 album.

Meanwhile, The Beatles‘ “Now and Then” was the biggest selling vinyl single of 2023. The tune, billed as the final song from the band, has moved 33,000 vinyl copies. The numbers were helped by the band offering various vinyl options, including 12-inch and 7-inch versions in clear, light blue and blue/white marble.

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