Classic Rock News

As previously reported, Neal Schon teased a “special surprise” at Journey’s 50th anniversary tour stop in Austin, Texas, with many fans guessing it would be an appearance by original keyboardist Gregg Rolie. Well, it turns out they were right.

Blabbermouth.net reports Rolie made a guest appearance at the Moody Center ATX Wednesday night, performing early Journey tunes like “Just the Same Way,” “Of A Lifetime,” “Feeling That Way” and “Anytime.” 

Schon and Rolie, who both played in Santana, also teamed up for a cover of “Black Magic Woman,” the Fleetwood Mac song that Santana covered for his album Abraxas. The performance included a guest appearance by Steve Lukather of Toto, the tour’s opening act.

“I just wanna say: Fifty years?” Rolie told the crowd. “Fifty years of one band going through changes, but it’s like a runaway freight train that just keeps going with no brakes.” 

Rolie was Journey’s original lead singer and keyboardist back in 1973, when the group formed back in San Francisco; he appeared on their first six albums. In 1977, Rolie was replaced as lead singer by Steve Perry; he left the group in 1980.

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We are getting our first real look at the upcoming Disney+ docu-special about U2’s Bono and The Edge, featuring talk show host David Letterman. A trailer for Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming has just been released, with the special described as “part concert movie, part travel adventure plus a whole lot of Bono and The Edge, with Dave’s humor throughout.”

The trailer features clips of the two rockers walking through Dublin with Letterman, along with performance footage, clips of the two singing with others at a local pub and more. 

“Traditional storytelling part of Dublin,” Bono shares in the clip. “It’s in our music. Our songs, they’re still growing, they’re still emerging.”

In the trailer, Letterman asks the rockers about changing up the songs for their upcoming album, Songs of Surrender, dropping March 17. Bono notes, “We wanted to strip away the artifice that inevitably emerges when you’ve been around this long.”  

Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, directed by Morgan Neville, debuts March 17 on Disney+.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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As previously reported, a recent article in Variety claimed The Rolling Stones had collaborated with Paul McCartney for their upcoming album, with the Beatle allegedly laying down bass tracks recently at a studio in Los Angeles. Well, it turns out fans shouldn’t expect to hear McCartney on the entire record. 

ABC Audio has learned that McCartney does play bass on one track, and early reports, also by Variety, suggesting Ringo Starr was also part of the project are inaccurate.

As for the record itself, it is reportedly being produced by Ozzy Osbourne/Iggy Pop/Elton John producer Andrew Watt. So far, there’s no word on when The Stones’ album will come out, but whenever it does, it will be the band’s first album of original material since 2005’s A Bigger Bang. The last new album they released was the 2016’s blues covers album Blue & Lonesome.

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Elton John is making it even harder to break his record of having the highest-grossing tour of all time.

Last month, Billboard reported Sir Elton’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour became the first trek ever to earn more than $800 million, besting the previous record Ed Sheeran set in 2019 after his Divide tour made $776.4 million.

The outlet reports Sir Elton’s tour added an additional $40.9 million to its coffers in the month of January, during which he performed eight shows across Australia and New Zealand.

The numbers now extend his lead atop the Top Tours chart. Sir Elton is also #1 on the Top Boxscores chart for making $11.3 million after performing a pair of shows at Allianz Stadium in Sydney, Australia.

This marks the ninth time an artist has simultaneously ruled both charts, but the second time for Sir Elton. The only other act who ruled both charts twice is K-pop sensation BTS. 

Sir Elton’s pair of performance at AAMI Park in Melbourne, Australia, is #2 on the recent Boxscores chart after making $10.2 million. He also appears in fourth place, making $8.4 million for his two shows at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle, New South Wales.

Sir Elton’s farewell tour is scheduled to conclude on July 8 in Stockholm, Sweden.

As previously reported, Sir Elton’s career total when it comes to concerts stands at $1.863 billion grossed and 19.9 million tickets sold — the highest for any solo artist in Billboard Boxscore history.

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A new documentary on rock’s founding father Little Richard is heading to theaters in New York and LA on April 21.

Little Richard: I Am Everything premiered at Sundance. It details the life of the man born Richard Penniman, and how he pioneered a new form of gender-bending showmanship that was later adopted by everyone from Mick Jagger, Elton John and David Bowie to Prince and Harry Styles. 

His music, meanwhile, influenced generations, from The Beatles, Robert Plant and AC/DC, to Patti Smith and Michael Jackson, to Bruno Mars and Chris Cornell. 

Jagger is interviewed in the documentary about Richard’s influence, as is Emmy-winning actor and singer Billy Porter.

The documentary also covers Richard’s internal battle between rock and roll and religion, which led him to temporarily abandon secular music and switch to gospel in the late ’50s, and become ordained as a minister in 1970.

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Dave Grohl made a surprise appearance during Wednesday’s 2023 Pollstar Awards, which honors the biggest and best of the touring industry.

The Foo Fighters frontman introduced his longtime manager John Silva, who received the Personal Manager of the Year award.

“Over the years we’ve had some incredible triumphs and some devastating crises, but the one thing that has kept us together over the years is love,” Grohl said of Silva.”I truly believe that [Silva and I] are like family.”

Meanwhile, the Pollstar Award for Rock Tour of the Year went to Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard‘s co-headlining Stadium Tour. Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, who were among the openers on the trek, won Support/Special Guest Act of the Year.

Additionally, Billie Eilish won Pop Tour of the Year, and the Eagles were honored with the Milestone Award, which was accepted by drummer and vocalist Don Henley.

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On this Day, February 23, 2000…

Santana’s album Supernatural won nine Grammys, breaking the record held by Michael Jackson’s Thriller for most Grammys won by a single album in one night. Among the wins was Album of the Year, making Carlos Santana the first Hispanic artist to win that award. 

Supernatrual was a huge hit for Santana, landing at number one in eleven countries. It spent 12 non-consecutive weeks at number one in the U.S., and went on to be certified 15-times Platinum by the Recording Industry of America.

The album’s biggest hit was the song “Smooth,” featuring Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 weeks. On Grammy night the song won Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

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Yusuf/Cat Stevens is paying tribute to George Harrison, who would have turned 80 this coming Saturday, with a new cover of the late Beatle‘s classic “Here Comes the Sun.” 

“George Harrison has been an immense influence on me, spiritually, from the very beginning,” Yusuf/Stevens says. “He pioneered certain thoughts and ideas, which stretched way east, and that was very important.” He adds, “I’m happy to sing one of his songs, especially as it represents the returning of light and hope to a seriously dark and broken world.” 

The new release coincides with the news that Stevens has signed with Dark Horse Records, a record label founded by Harrison, that is currently operated by his son Dhani and David Zonshine, with a brand new album on the way.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Yusuf/Cat Stevens to the Dark Horse Records family,” Dhani Harrison shares. “Not only is Yusuf a great musical legend but his songs could not fit the Dark Horse mythos any better,” adding, “….Yusuf is without question one of the most influential singer-songwriters of all time, it is a great honor to be able to give his music a home on our humble yet historic label.”

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If you’re a David Bowie fan, start making plans now to visit London in 2025. The city’s Victoria and Albert museum has acquired the late rocker’s entire archive, in the largest donation of its kind in the museum’s history, reports The Telegraph.  Comprising 80,000 objects, the archive is so vast that it’ll take two years to catalog.

Among the items given to the museum from Bowie’s estate include his most famous stage outfits — including his Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane ensembles — as well as  handwritten lyrics to songs like “‘Heroes'” and “Ashes to Ashes,” and notebooks filled with ideas for projects that were never realized, such as his fabled musical adaptation of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, which was nixed by Orwell’s widow.

In addition, there are some 70,000 photos, as well as letters, sheet music, awards, album artwork, set designs and instruments, like the synthesizer used by Brian Eno on such Bowie albums as Low, “Heroes” and Lodger, and the Stylophone that was gifted to Bowie by Marc Bolan and used in the recording of “Space Oddity.”

The archive will be housed in the V&A’s new site at East London’s Olympic Park, in The David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performing Arts, set to open in 2025.

The Telegraph quotes a spokesman for the estate as saying, “With David’s life’s work becoming a part of the U.K.’s national collections, he takes his rightful place amongst many other cultural icons and artistic geniuses. We’re so pleased to be working closely with the V&A to continue to commemorate David’s enduring cultural influence.”

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The Joe Perry Project is getting back on the road.

The Aerosmith guitarist’s solo band has announced a spring U.S. tour, running from April 15 in Mashantucket, Connecticut, to April 26 in Los Angeles, California.

For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit JoePerry.com.

The Joe Perry Project first began after Perry left Aerosmith in 1979, and went on to release three records. When Perry rejoined the “Dream On” outfit in 1984, the JPP went on hiatus and eventually reformed in 2009.

Perry also has touring plans with The Hollywood Vampires, which also features Alice Cooper and actor Johnny Depp. The group launches a European trek in June.

Aerosmith, meanwhile, hasn’t performed live since last year, when they were forced to cancel the remaining dates on their Las Vegas residency due to health issues affecting frontman Steven Tyler.

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