Classic Rock News

Queen is back with the latest installment in their weekly YouTube series Queen The Greatest Live, and this week they’re delving into what goes into creating a great set list for a show.

“Set lists are a very interesting case. You have all these songs and everything and what is the optimum way to put them across?” guitarist Brian May shares. “Do you just go in there and randomly work your way through where you can and that’s how everybody starts. But wouldn’t it be nice if you can take the audience on a journey and optimize the mood that happens?”

May adds that for Queen, their philosophy has always been to “come on big, give them what they’ve been waiting for.” 

“They’re full of adrenaline. They want to rock hard, hard, hard,” he says. “So the first two or three songs hit them hard in different ways, different tempos, different kind of atmospheres, but all hard rock.”

After going hard out of the gate, Roger Taylor says it gives them the freedom to “meander all over the place with different styles of stuff,” including their infamous acoustic sets on a B-stage, before coming back and building up to a huge end with songs like “The Show Must Go On,” “Radio Gaga,” “We Will Rock You,” and “We Are the Champions.“

Notes Taylor, “I think we like to send our audiences home feeling they’ve had a real experience.”

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The Police made their fans very happy when they reunited for a huge tour in 2007 and 2008. The tour wound up being the third highest-grossing tour at the time, which certainly makes reuniting an appealing idea for bands.

So, would Sting recommend other bands do it? “Once,” he tells the British publication Music Week with a laugh. “You should do it once and the timing should be right. When The Police reunited it had been long enough and it was the right time to do it. “

Sting takes full credit for the decision to reunite with his bandmates Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers, but don’t expect it to ever happen again. “Doing it again would just be gratuitous and that won’t happen,” he says. “But we did it, and everyone was happy that mum and dad got back together again and had one last fling.” 

While Sting says he and his bandmates “still love each other and respect each other,” he notes, “I’m happy not to be in a band.” He says they “didn’t even try” to make new music during the time of the reunion, noting “it was, what’s the word, nostalgia, with recreating that thing for a short time.”

At 71 some may wonder how much longer Sting plans to perform, but it doesn’t sound like he’s ready to slow down. He notes, “I’m not wearing a corset or anything. As long as I can get into my rock star pants, I’ll be fine.”

Next up for Sting, he’ll be honored as a Fellow of the Ivors Academy at the Ivor Awards on May 18 in London. He’ll then kick off a European tour in Bilbao, Spain, on June 1. A complete list of dates can be found at Sting.com.

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Mötley Crüe will relaunch their stadium tour with Def Leppard later this month, and it sounds like they are loving having guitarist John 5 on the trek with them.

The former Rob Zombie guitarist replaced original Crüe guitarist Mick Mars, who is suing the band over his departure. According to frontman Vince Neil, the transition wasn’t all that hard. 

“We have the honeymoon situation right now,” Vince told AXS TV during an interview promoting his new talent competition Banded. “We really love John. He was ready to play the set before we even hired him.” 

He adds, “He knows all the Mötley Crüe songs. He knew everything down to the letter. So we didn’t have to do a lot of rehearsing for the stadium tour, because he was right there.”

Last month Mars sued Mötley Crüe, alleging his share of the band’s profits were decreased following his retirement from touring last October. He also accused the band of playing to prerecorded tapes during their Stadium tour. Mötley Crüe has denied the accusations.

Banded premieres Sunday at 9 p.m. on AXS TV. Mötley Crüe’s European tour with Def Leppard kicks off May 22 in Sheffield, England. A complete list of dates can be found at motley.com.

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Here’s something every Bob Dylan fan will want to get their hands on.

Callaway Arts & Entertainment just announced a new comprehensive book, Bob Dylan: Mixing Up The Medicine, described as “a richly illustrated book that is the first panoramic look at” the Bob Dylan Archive, which is currently housed in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The 608-page book features close to 1,000 images, many of which have never been seen by the public. There’s also Dylan draft lyrics, writings, drawings and more, along with essays from writers and artists who were asked to pick an item from the archive that inspires them and write about it.

“This is the long-awaited book that Dylan fans have been dreaming of since the 1960s, and it introduces the full scope of this artist’s monumental creativity and achievements to a new generation,” Nicholas Callaway shares. “This is a book for the ages.”

The book is being done in cooperation with the Bob Dylan Archive, with Mark Davidson, its curator and director, who wrote and edited the book with archivist Parker Fishel, noting it “is unlike any book on Bob Dylan ever produced.”

Bob Dylan: Mixing Up The Medicine will be released October 24.

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Steve Perry is one of the many artists set to appear on Dolly Parton’s upcoming rock record, Rockstar, collaborating with the icon on the Journey classic “Open Arms.”

In a post on Facebook, Perry expressed how “thrilled” he is about the excitement surrounding the record, noting, “I have been a Dolly Parton fan for years and years and to sing one of my songs with her was truly a thrill.” 

He adds, “When I first got the track I could not believe how strong and amazing her voice was. I did my very best to keep up with that girl, but boy she’s got fire! And to quote her on my telephone she said ‘I think we harmonize well together, don’t you?’ And I said ‘Absolutely my dear. Absolutely.'”

Dolly’s Rockstar will be released November 17. In addition to Perry, it features a whole host of rock stars, including Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Steven Tyler, Elton John and Stevie Nicks. It is available for preorder now.

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A Bob Marley classic has returned to the top of the charts, and it’s all because of the hit Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso.

Billboard reports that the Marley and The Wailers classic “Three Little Birds” is number one on the Top TV Songs chart, after appearing in sixth episode of Lasso‘s current third season.

The episode focused on AFC Richmond and company’s free night in Amsterdam and ends with Rebecca, played by Hannah Waddingham, launching into the song, sparking a team singalong. The inclusion of the song resulted in 9.6 million on-demand U.S. streams, as well as 4,000 new downloads last month. 

And that’s not the only song Ted Lasso has helped return to the chart. The Peter, Paul & Mary song “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” lands on the same chart at 10, thanks to its appearance in the fourth episode.

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Last year, Rod Stewart made headlines when he rented a house near his home in England in order to put a roof over the heads of a Ukrainian family of refugees. Now he’s thinking of taking in a second family.

After the war in Ukraine started, Rod and his nephews organized a convoy of trucks to bring much-needed supplies to the border and to bring back a number of refugees. He was then put in contact with a different group of refugees — a family of seven who’d escaped the war and had made it to the U.K. He rented them a house, and has pledged to pay their rent and bills for a year. On top of that, he found jobs for two other refugees on his estate.

Now, Rod tells the Las Vegas Review Journal that he’s considering building another house just so he can take in a second family. “I’m just waiting for the Ukrainian offensive to stop this guy,” Rod says, referring to Vladimir Putin. “We can’t let him win. It’s 1939, all over again.”

During his Las Vegas shows at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Rod wears a blue and yellow suit, the colors of the Ukrainian flag, and dedicates his hit “Rhythm of My Heart” to the people of Ukraine.

Rod recently played his 182nd show in Las Vegas, which he says is more than he’s done in any other city. However, for now he’s refraining from kicking his signature soccer balls into the audience — not only because people fight over them, but occasionally people get injured by them.

“I’ve got one or two lawsuits,” he admits.

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Grateful Dead fans are getting their first peek at the band’s upcoming 11th annual Meet-Up At The Movies screening.

This year’s screening highlights the band’s June 22, 1991, concert at Chicago’s Soldier Field, the first time they ever played the venue. A just-released clip of the concert shows them performing the In The Dark track “Hell in a Bucket.”

The concert features the Dead’s Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, along with Bruce Hornsby and Vince Welnick on keyboards, taking the place of Brent Mydland, who had passed away a year earlier. It features performances of such songs as “Shakedown Street,” “Playing In The Band” and “Terrapin Station.”

This year’s Meet-Up At The Movies will screen in select theaters worldwide on June 22 and 24. Tickets are on sale now.

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Since the Black Album days, Metallica concerts have featured a “snake pit” section — a limited capacity, enclosed area right near the stage reserved for the luckiest of fans. As drummer Lars Ulrich tells Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Metallica wanted the “snake pit” to feel like an exclusive experience at a great restaurant.

“One of our managers back in New York in the late ’80s/early ’90s [had] the idea that when you would go to a restaurant, that the best seat in the restaurant was actually not in the house, but the best seat was in the kitchen,” Ulrich explains in a clip posted by RollingStone.com. “So in crazy, cool restaurants, if you could somehow get into the kitchen and eat in the kitchen, you were in there where all the action was.”

The interview took place as Ulrich walked Lowe through the empty stadium in Amsterdam where Metallica kicked off their M72 world tour in April.

“This is the most pristine large-scale concert production I’ve ever seen,” Lowe remarks. “This makes U2 look sloppy.”

The M72 tour, which supports Metallica’s new 72 Seasons album, comes to the U.S. in August.

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Last summer Joni Mitchell surprised the crowd at the Newport Folk Festival with her first live performance in 20 years — and now fans who didn’t catch the show will finally hear what went down.

The new live album At Newport, produced by Brandi Carlile, the artist responsible for getting Mitchell back on the stage, is being released July 28. It features songs from the onstage “Joni Jam,” with guest appearances by Carlile and her bandmates Phil and Tim Hanseroth, Wynonna Judd, Marcus Mumford, Celisse, Lucius’ Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith and more.

The album, with liner notes by Oscar-winning director Cameron Crowe, features performances of such Joni classics as “Big Yellow Taxi,” “A Case of You,” “Both Sides Now” and more. 

At Newport will be released in a variety of formats, including digitally, on CD and two-LP black vinyl, and in Dolby Atmos. There will also be a two-LP clear vinyl set sold at independent record stores and Barnes & Noble.

And Mitchell’s return to performing isn’t over. She’s set to headline a “Joni Jam” on June 10 at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Quincy, Washington, with Carlile as special guest. The show is the legendary singer’s first ticketed performance in 20 years, and it sold out almost immediately.

At Newport is available for preorder now. Here’s the track list:

Introduction by Brandi Carlile
“Big Yellow Taxi”
“A Case Of You”
“Amelia”
“Both Sides Now”
“Just Like This Train”
“Summertime”
“Carey”
“Help Me” – Celisse
“Come In From The Cold”
“Shine”
“The Circle Game”

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