Classic Rock News

Def Leppard is giving fans another look at their life on the road. The band just shared the third installment in their ‘Behind the World Tour’ diary, this time highlighting stops in Chile and Brazil. 

The episode kicks off with the band at a Santiago cemetery for a photo shoot with photographer Ross Halfin, and later features footage of the band at another photoshoot in São Paulo with some of their tourmates in Mötley Crüe. 

There’s also lots of footage of the band on and off stage at both gigs, as well them enjoying Mötley’s set. The clip also shows Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott meeting a fan in São Paulo who gives him a small model she made of him based on an old photo taken by Halfin.

Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe are set to resume their World Tour May 22 in Sheffield, England. You can find a complete list of tour dates can be found at defleppard.com.

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Steve Hackett is ready to celebrate his career with Genesis with a new North American tour. Genesis Revisited: Foxtrot and Fifty + Hackett Highlights Tour will have the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer performing Genesis’ 1972 album Foxtrot in its entirety, plus other songs from Hackett’s catalog. 

Hackett shares, “I’m thrilled to be bringing my Genesis Revisited: Foxtrot at Fifty + Hackett Highlights tour to the USA and Canada in the autumn, and very much look forward to seeing you all then!”

The tour is set to kick off October 3 in Montreal, Canada. It hits the States October 5 in Ithaca, New York, with shows confirmed through November 18 in Los Angeles, California.

A complete list of tour dates and ticket information can be found at hackettsongs.com.

Released in October, 1972, Foxtrot was Genesis’ fourth studio album, and contained such classic songs as “Watcher of the Skies” and the epic 23-minute track “Supper’s Ready.” 

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Peter Gabriel is extending his North American i/o – The Tour, adding 13 new dates to the trek. Added cities on the tour include Washington, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, St. Paul, Palm Springs, Denver, Austin, Dallas and Houston. 

The tour is set to kick off September 8 in Quebec, Canada and will now run through October 21 in Houston, Texas.

A special presale for the new shows starts Tuesday, March 21 for members of Gabriel’s fan club. The general on sale begins Friday, March 24 at 10 a.m. local time.

A complete list of Peter Gabriel tour dates can be found at petergabriel.com.

The tour is in support of Gabriel’s forthcoming new album, i/o, which is due out sometime this year. He’s been releasing a new song from the album each month to coincide with the full moon, with the latest release being “Playing for Time.”

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As previously reported, Roger Waters‘ concert in Frankfurt, Germany has been cancelled by the local government due to the rocker’s outspoken political beliefs, and now several of his fellow musicians are coming to his defense. 

A Change.org petition has been created to try and get the government to reverse its decision on Waters’ tour stop, and it already has close to 12,000 of the 15,000 signatures requested, with artists like Eric Clapton, Peter Gabriel, Tom Morello and Waters’ Pink Floyd bandmate Nick Mason among those who’ve signed.

“We artists, musicians, writers, and other public figures and organizations are deeply disturbed by the recent efforts by German officials to discredit and silence musician Roger Waters,” reads the petition. “Officials in Germany, concert organizers, and music platforms must not succumb to the pressure of those individuals and groups who would rather see Waters’ music removed than engage with the issues his music highlights.”

Other artists who’ve signed the petition include actor Susan Sarandon, music producer Brian Eno, directors Ken Loach, Terry Gilliam and Julian Schnabel and more.

Waters is currently on his This Is Not a Drill tour, which is set to hit Barcelona, Spain on Wednesday. The concert in Frankfurt is scheduled for May 28.

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Red Hot Chili Peppers are headed to Chicago this summer. The band has been confirmed to headline Lollapalooza 2023, taking place August 3-6 at Grant Park.

Other headliners of the weekend include The 1975, Billie Eilish, Lana Del Rey, Kendrick Lamar, ODESZA, Karol G and TOMORROW x TOGETHER. 

A ticket pre-sale begins this Thursday, March 23, at 10 a.m. CT. For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit Lollapalooza.com.

Red Hot Chili Peppers kick off a North American tour on March 29 in Vancouver, BC. They have several other music festivals booked for the year, including the Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama May 19, Bottlerock Festival in Napa Vally, California May 28 and Sound on Sound in Bridgeport, Connecticut September 30. Check out a complete list of dates at redhotchilipeppers.com.

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The Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood is showing off his latest work of art. The guitarist and painter shared his newest creation on Instagram, an illustration of the band in Cuba, and he’s giving fans a chance to get a copy of their own.

“Ronnie’s latest portrait of the Rolling Stones shows the band on a Havana Street, with Charlie (Watts) playing a Cuban drum, Mick (Jagger) dancing with a flourish and Darryl (Jones) throwing his Fedora into the air!,” he writes. “The painting illustrates how the band were inspired and invigorated by the Havana musical scene and the people of Cuba, at the time of their spectacular free concert for over 500,000 people.”

The Stones’ free outdoor Havana concert took place March 25, 2016. A movie of the concert, The Rolling Stones Havana Moon, was released for one night only in theaters in September, 2016, and aired on cable in January, 2017. The soundtrack was released in November, 2016. 

In addition to the drawing of the band, there is also an illustration of the Havana set list, with individually signed, named and numbered copies of each available for pre-order now.

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On This Day March 21, 1994…

Bruce Springsteen added an Oscar to his trophy case, winning the Academy Award for “Streets of Philadelphia,” which he wrote for the Tom Hanks movie Philadelphia. The tune was one of two tracks from the movie to be nominated, the other being “Philadelphia,” by Neil Young.

Philadelphia was one of the earliest mainstream films to deal with the HIV/AIDS crisis, and won Hanks an Oscar for Best Actor.

“Streets of Philadelphia” also won five Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year. It peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, marking The Boss’ 12th and, to date, last top-10 single.

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Bobbi Kelly Ercoline, whose photo appears on the cover of the soundtrack to Woodstock, has died at the age of 73. The news was announced on Facebook by her husband, Nick Ercoline, who was just her boyfriend when the iconic picture of them wrapped in a blanket was taken at the concert.

“She lived her life well, and left this world in a much better place. If you knew her, you loved her. She lived by her saying, ‘Be kind,’” Ercoline wrote. “She didn’t deserve this past years nightmare, but she isn’t suffering from the physical pain anymore and that brings some comfort to us.” 

According to Rolling Stone, Bobbi and Nick were just 20 when they decided to go to the festival, which was about an hour from Middletown, New York, where they lived. They had only been dating a few months at the time but wound up marrying two years later, and stayed married for 54 years. 

The soundtrack, Woodstock: Music From the Original Soundtrack and More, was released May 11, 1970. It features performances by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Who, Joe Cocker, Joan Baez and more.

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Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band continue to add shows to their North American tour. 

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers added a second North American leg last month, and now they’ve added two more dates to the trek. The new shows include Springsteen’s return to San Diego, with a December 2 show at Pechanga Arena. 

Plus, due to overwhelming demand, they’ve added a second show at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts on August 26.

The Gillette show is one of several multiple night stands on Springsteen’s 2023 schedule. Others include two nights at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, Pittsburgh’s PPG Paints Arena and San Francisco’s Chase Center, as well as three nights at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium over Labor Day Weekend.

Bruce and the E Street band bring their tour to Buffalo, New York on Thursday. A complete list of tour dates is posted at brucespringsteen.net.

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Lots of folks seemed to be obsessed with vinyl these days, and that includes plenty of musicians who are about to share their love in a new AXS TV series launching next month. 

Vinyl Obsession, the latest addition to the network’s Sunday Night Rocks lineup, follows musicians to Grimey’s Record Shop in Nashville. They’ll talk about their career and influences, and pick out five vinyl albums that have had the most impact on them. 

The eight-episode series kicks off April 2 at 8:30 p.m. ET, with STYX’s Tommy Shaw and Headbanger’s Ball host Riki Rachtman. Future episodes feature John Oates, ZZ Top’s Billy F. Gibbons, Joe Bonamassa, Billy Sheehan, The Go-Go’s bassist Kathy Valentine and others.

Also premiering April 2 at 8 p.m. ET is the sixth season of The Top Ten Revealed, with the latest season featuring such rock stars as Alice Cooper, Sebastian Bach, Dee Snider, Lita Ford and John Oates.

And at 9 p.m. ET Sunday Night Rocks will air a variety of classic concerts, kicking off with Nirvana: Live at the Paramount, followed by Journey: Live In Houston 1981 – The Escape Tour, Queen: Live At Wembley and AC/DC: Live At The River Plate Buenos Aires.

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