The Who‘s Roger Daltrey, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, and James Taylor are among the artists booked for the 2024 Ravinia Festival season, which runs from June 4 to September 15 in Highland Park, Chicago.
James Taylor and his All-Star Band will headline the festival’s Pavilion on June 8 and 9, with Plant and Krauss booked for June 12 and Daltrey with KT Tunstall headlining on June 29.
Other artists booked for the season include Daryl Hall and Elvis Costello, ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd, Crowded House, The Beach Boys with John Stamos and more.
Information on tickets and the complete Ravinia Festival lineup can be found at ravinia.org.
Pink Floyd is set to reissue their classic album Animals in Dolby Atmos for the first time.
Animals 2018 Remix – Dolby Atmos will be released on Blu-ray and digital platforms on May 17. The Blu-ray includes the 1977 original stereo mix along with high resolution stereo and 5.1 mixes of the album.
According to the press release, with the new mix, “listeners will feel like they are inside the song as music moves around and above them.”
The album’s iconic cover of a floating pig between two chimneys of the Battersea Power Station, conceived by Roger Waters and designed by Storm Thorgerson, has been reimagined for the new release. The new take, created by Thorgerson’s Hipgnosis partner Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell and Peter Curzon from StormStudios, still features the pig and the power station but has been modernized with various light projections.
Released in January 1977, Animals was the 10th studio album by Pink Floyd. It peaked at #3 in the U.S. and went on to be certified four-times Platinum by the RIAA.
After quite a few teases, Bon Jovi has finally announced details of their new album.
Called Forever, it’ll be out June 7 and is now available for preorder in multiple formats, including colored vinyl, cassettes, and limited-edition signed copies.
“This record is a return to joy. From the writing, through the recording process, this is turn up the volume, feel good Bon Jovi,” says Jon Bon Jovi in a statement.
Forever is the band’s first release since their album 2020, which came out four years ago.
The first single, “Legendary,” and accompanying video are out now. In the video, Jon and the band are performing at a recording studio which opens up to show them standing in a green field, with a huge moon visible in the sky behind them. Throughout the video, a number of young people are shown looking up at the moon; at the end, they’re all standing in a group, looking at it together.
Tonight, March 14, the band’s new documentary Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story will premiere at the South by Southwest Festival in Texas. It streams on Hulu April 26.
Here’s the track list for Forever:
“Legendary” “We Made It Look Easy” “Living Proof” “Waves” “Seeds” “Kiss the Bride” “The People’s House” “Walls of Jericho” “I Wrote You a Song” “Living in Paradise” “My First Guitar” “Hollow Man”
Early in The Black Crowes’ career, frontman Chris Robinson was known for his bratty behavior, calling out other musicians who he didn’t think were rock ‘n’ roll enough. Well, he now says there was a dark reason behind that behavior.
“A lot of my comments during that time came out of being in a depression,” Robinson tells Mojo in an interview promoting their new album, Happiness Bastards. “Back then, no one cared if you were depressed and had to go on a press tour.”
Some of Chris’ bad behavior included insulting Miller Lite in 1991, the sponsor of the ZZ Top tour they were on, getting booted off the trek. He also called out the popular boy band New Kids on the Block, describing them as “talentless p*****.”
Chris notes, “If I have a tinge of regret, it would be the way [I] came across as so outspoken in the media and how that became the headline more than how good the music was.”
This was all happening as The Black Crowes were gaining fame with their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, and Chris says another problem was that critics seemed to not get their music, often comparing them to other bands.
“We never sounded like f****** Lynyrd Skynyrd,” he says. “The Stones? Yeah I get it. But, ‘Oh you guys sound like Faces.’ We didn’t really, we just wore flares.”
Happiness Bastards, The Black Crowes’ first album of new music in 15 years, comes out Friday, March 15. It is available for preorder now.
Billy Idol is giving fans a preview of the upcoming 40th anniversary deluxe expanded edition of his breakthrough album, Rebel Yell.
The rocker has just released a visualizer for his cover of Rose Royce’s “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore,” one of the previously unreleased tracks that will appear on the release.
The reissue will be available digitally, and as a two-LP and two-CD set on April 26. It will include the original album and an album of previously unreleased songs and demos. In addition to “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore,” it will include “Best Way Out Of Here,” a never-before-heard Idol/Steve Stevens track from the album’s original recording sessions, and a Poolside remix of “Eyes Without A Face.”
Released in November 1983, Rebel Yell was Idol’s sophomore studio album. It peaked at #6 in the U.S. and went on to be certified double Platinum by the RIAA. In addition to “Eyes Without A Face,” which was a top five hit for Idol, the album featured such classic tunes as the title track and “Flesh for Fantasy.”
Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson is thrilled with the success of his latest solo album, The Mandrake Project.
The album debuted at #5 on the Billboard Top Album Sales chart, and at #1 on the Rock Album Sales and Hard Rock Album Sales charts.
In Canada, the album debuted at #1 on the Album Sales, Current Album Sales and Hard Music Album Sales charts. It also debuted at #1 in Germany and Sweden, #2 in Finland and Switzerland and #3 in the U.K., as well as in the top 10 in several other European countries, plus Brazil and Mexico.
“I’m delighted that so many people love the record,” Dickinson shares. “It’s been incredible to hear directly from so many fans in the countries I’ve visited over the last week or so, and the chart positions are just icing on the cake to be honest.”
Dickinson is getting ready to hit the road on a new tour. He’s set to play a show in Santa Ana, California, on April 15 and will then head to Mexico City on April 20, with dates confirmed in Brazil, the U.K. and Europe. A complete list of dates can be found at themandrakeproject.com.
The Black Crowes are giving fans another preview of their new album, Happiness Bastards, ahead of its release on Friday, March 15. The band just dropped the new track “Wilted Rose,” which features a guest appearance by country star Lainey Wilson.
This is the third track Chris and Rich Robinson have released from Happiness Bastards, their first album of new material in 15 years, following “Wanting and Waiting” and “Cross Your Fingers.”
The band is set to celebrate the album with a special release day show in Brooklyn, New York, for Amazon Music’s City Sessions, in which they’ll play tunes from the new album as well as some classic hits.
They will then hit the road on the Happiness Bastards tour starting April 2 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville. A complete list of dates can be found at theblackcrowes.com.
Bon Jovi continues to get fans excited for new music.
The band is set to drop the new song “Legendary” on Thursday, March 14, at 9 a.m., and in a new tease, they appear to be dropping hints about their upcoming album.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers shared a video of a couple driving in a car and surfing the radio dial, where you hear snippets of such Bon Jovi classics as “You Give Love A Bad Name,” “Livin’ On A Prayer” and “It’s My Life.” As the couple continue to flip channels, you hear three other Bon Jovi songs, which could possibly be tracks from the upcoming album.
The clip also features a snippet of Jon giving an interview in which he shares, “I’m really proud of this album, the sound, the songwriting. I actually think it’s the best record we’ve made in 20 years. I think the fan is gonna love it.” He ends with, “Bon Jovi forever baby.”
It sounds like Jon is hinting that the album will be called Forever. Not only does he end the interview by saying “Bon Jovi forever,” but the car in the clip has a license plate that reads “Forever” and the video ends with the website bonjoviforever.com flashing across the screen. When you go to it, it features a countdown to the debut of “Legendary.”
“Legendary” is set to arrive on the same day the band’s new documentary, Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, premieres at South by Southwest. It’ll start streaming on Hulu April 26.
AC/DC‘s Brian Johnson and Dire Straits‘ Mark Knopfler are teaming up for a new TV series for Sky Arts.
Johnson and Knopfler’s Music Legends is described as “a joyous journey through decades of music” and will have the pair opening up about their careers, music that shaped their lives and more. They will also talk with a hand-picked selection of guests, including Carlos Santana, Sir Tom Jones, Nile Rodgers and Cyndi Lauper.
“When two rock and roll legends open up their address books it turns out they are full of other legends and we are thrilled to be bringing this revealing and utterly charming series to the small screen,” Phil Edgar Jones, director of Sky Arts, shares, calling the series “a very special treat.”
The six-part series premieres April 25 on Sky Arts, Freeview and NOW.
Eric Clapton hit #1 with Unplugged, an album featuring performances from his MTV Unplugged episode, which was recorded live in front of a studio audience.
The album, which featured performances of such songs as “Tears in Heaven,” about the death of his four-year-old son, Conor, and an acoustic version of “Layla,” which spent three weeks in the top spot of the U.S. album chart.
Unplugged went on to win three Grammy Awards, including Record and Song of the Year for “Tears In Heaven.” It sold 26 million copies worldwide to become the bestselling live album of all time.
