Classic Rock News

Queen is back with episode 10 of their YouTube series Queen The Greatest Live, this time focusing on a classic performance of their iconic track “Tie Your Mother Down.”

Continuing last week’s look at the importance of lighting, this week’s episode features a performance of the 1976 track at the band’s famous concert at Milton Keynes Bowl in June 1982. 

At the time of the show, Milton Keynes Bowl was one of the U.K.’s largest open-air venues, which had the band a bit concerned. “It’s a big field,” Roger Taylor says in a backstage interview. “I hope it goes well.” Brian May adds, “Outdoor gigs are fraught with all kind of unexpected things.”

The Milton Keynes Bowl show turned out to be a classic Queen concert, with Queen On Fire: Live At The Bowl, a DVD and CD of the concert, released in 2004.

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Elton John’s 50th anniversary release of the 1972 album Honky Château is out now, and to celebrate he’s sharing some rare live footage with fans.

The CD version of the release includes the original album, plus outtakes from the original session tapes, as well as eight live recordings from a concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall.

Elton has also posted a video of his performance of “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” from that 1972 concert, which was his first performance of the album in its entirety. 

“This album, with ‘Mona Lisas’, ‘Honky Cat’ and ‘Rocket Man’ was a real game changer for me, Bernie (Taupin) and the band and I’m so proud to be celebrating 50 years since its release,” Elton shares.

Honky Château was the first of Elton’s six consecutive Billboard number-one albums. The 50th anniversary edition is available now.

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The Zombies have shared a new video for “Merry-Go-Round,” the third single off their upcoming album, Different Game.

The video features footage of their recent experience at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, including clips of their performances, meeting fans and more. 

And speaking of SXSW, The Zombies were awarded the Career Act Grulke Prize at the fest, which is given to an established artist who attends SXSW “to reinvent themselves or launch a new project.” The band decided to  donate the prize to Oxfam America to support their fight against world poverty and injustice. 

That new project is Different Game, the follow-up to 2015’s Still Got That Hunger. It will be released March 31 and is available for preorder now.

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James Taylor has shared another classic performance with fans. The latest release from Taylor’s vault is a “recently re-discovered and restored” performance of “Sunny Skies,” from his November 16, 1970, BBC concert special. He was just 22 when the performance was broadcast.

The clip is one of many Taylor has been sharing on his YouTube channel. He also posted a classic performance of “Sweet Baby James” from the same concert, as well as archival performances of “You’ve Got A Friend,” “Fire and Rain” and more.

And fans will be able to see the 75-year-old Taylor perform these classic songs and many others on the road this summer. He’s due to kick off a new tour on May 25 in Woodinville, Washington. A complete list of James Taylor tour dates can be found at jamestaylor.com.

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A Belgian rock band called Black Box Revelation has shared a cover of the Foo Fighters classic “My Hero” while accompanied by 100 drummers in honor of the late Taylor Hawkins.

The performance was filmed at Belgium’s Sportpaleis Antwerp arena and is streaming now on YouTube. Its release coincides with the one-year anniversary of Hawkins’ passing on March 25, 2022.

You may recall that the Rockin’1000 project also put out a performance of “My Hero” shortly after Hawkins died, featuring 1,000 musicians playing together simultaneously. Rockin’1000 previously convinced Foo Fighters to play a town in Italy with their viral cover of “Learn to Fly.”

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Night Ranger has postponed a trio of shows after bassist/vocalist Jack Blades had to be hospitalized for an undisclosed ailment. 

“First and foremost, we want to apologize to the fans,” the band shared in a statement posted to social media. “You guys know better than anyone we don’t take this lightly, earlier this afternoon Jack was admitted to the hospital. He is in good hands, but on the advice of medical staff we will not be able to perform any of our next 3 shows.”

They add, “We have to prioritise Jack’s health and safety, and we cannot thank you enough for your understanding. This is not the message we wanted to be sending and we cannot wait to rock with all of you again soon.”

The postponements began with Thursday’s scheduled show in Anaheim, California, and also include concerts Friday and Saturday in Ivens, Utah, and Stateline, Nevada, respectively. They have already been rescheduled to October. A complete list of Night Ranger dates can be found at nightranger.com.

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He’s been teasing it for weeks, and now The Who’s Pete Townshend has finally released his brand new solo single, “Can’t Outrun The Truth.” The new tune was composed and produced by his wife, Rachel Fuller, under her nom de plume, Charlie Pepper. 

Rachel previously shared that the song was inspired by the feelings of isolation many were dealing with during the beginning of the pandemic: “I really started to think about how unbelievably difficult this period of time was going to be for so many people.”

“Can’t Outrun The Truth,” which features cover art from renowned artist Damien Hirst, is Townshend’s first solo single in 29 years. He’s also released a video for the track, which is his first solo video in 40 years.

A portion of each “Can’t Outrun The Truth” download will be donated to the Teenage Cancer Trust.

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On This Day, March 24, 1986…

Van Halen released their seventh studio album, 5150, which was their first record with new lead singer Sammy Hagar, following the departure of original frontman David Lee Roth.

5150, named after guitarist Eddie Van Halen‘s home studio, is a reference to the California law that allows a mentally disturbed person to be placed on an involuntary psychiatric hold. It went on to become the band’s first number-one album and contained three pop hits: “Dreams,” “Why Can’t This Be Love” and “Love Walks In.” 

5150 went on to be certified six-times Platinum by the RIAA.

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Neil Young is the latest artist to blast Ticketmaster for their business practices.

In a post on his archives website titled “CONCERT TOURING IS BROKEN,” Young blasts the ticket-selling service for its 30% ticket fees. He shared an article about The Cure’s recent attempt to keep ticket prices down and how they were able to get Ticketmaster to refund fans a portion of its “unduly high” fees. 

“It’s over,” Young writes. “The old days are gone.” 

Young notes that fans have written to him complaining about the $3,000 price tag for tickets to an upcoming benefit he’s a part of, but he writes, “That money does not go to me or the benefit.”

He adds, “Artists have to worry about ripped off fans blaming them for Ticketmaster add-ons and scalpers.” 

He ends the post by sharing, “CONCERT TOURS are no longer fun. CONCERT TOURS not what they were.”

That benefit Young is talking about is Stephen Stills’ Light Up the Blues charity show, which raises money for Autism Speaks. The show, which will be Young’s first concert appearance since September 2019, is happening April 22 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.

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Queen + Adam Lambert are bringing their Rhapsody Tour back to North America. The tour first kicked off in North America in 2019, and now they’ve expanded and updated it for a second leg. 

“Our last tour featured our most ambitious production ever,” guitarist Brian May shares. “So we decided to rip it apart and get even more ambitious.”

“Watch out world.” Lambert adds. “I can’t wait to tour North America one more time with the Rhapsody tour alongside the two unbelievably talented legends that are Brian May and Roger Taylor.” 

The Rhapsody Tour kicks off October 4 in Baltimore, Maryland, hitting such cities as Toronto, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, Denver and more, and wraps November 11 in Los Angeles, California. You can find a complete list of tour dates at queenonline.com. 

Tickets for all shows go on sale Friday, March 31 at 10 a.m. local time. In an attempt to keep the tickets away from scalpers, the band announced that all tickets will be non-transferrable and can only be resold through Ticketmaster’s Face Value Exchange. That’s not the case for the shows in New York, Illinois and Colorado, because of laws in those states that prohibit the artist from restricting transfers.

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