Classic Rock News

On This Day, October 20, 2001…

The Concert for New York City was held at Madison Square Garden to honor the city’s NYPD and NYFD first responders in the wake of the September 11 attacks. 

Alongside many of the first responders, victims’ families and colleagues attended the concert, which raised $35 million.

The concert, organized by Paul McCartney, featured performances by The Who, Elton John, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, David Bowie and Billy Joel, among others.

The Who’s set — their final one with bassist John Entwistle, who died eight months later — was among the best-received.

New York native Joel performed his classic “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out On Broadway),” telling the crowd that when he wrote it 25 years ago, “I thought it was gonna be a science fiction song. I never thought it would really happen.” He added, “But unlike the end of that song … we ain’t going anywhere.” 

The concert was broadcast on VH1, and an album and DVD of the event were released in January 2002.

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Green Day‘s last-minute club show in Las Vegas Thursday, October 19, featured the live premiere of their upcoming new single, “The American Dream Is Killing Me.”

The set, which the “American Idiot” trio announced with just a day’s notice, also included a full-album performance of 1994’s Dookie, which was recently reissued in honor of its forthcoming 30th anniversary.

“We just played Dookie in full, thank you for that Las Vegas AND our new single ‘The American Dream Is Killing Me’ comes out October 24th!” Green Day writes in a Facebook post. “Set those wake up calls, ya hear??”

Over the past couple weeks, Green Day had been posting video teasers on the website TheAmericanDreamIsKillingMe.com, one of which featured Billie Joe Armstrong waking up in a bed and looking at a calendar with the date October 24 circled.

“The American Dream Is Killing Me” is set to be the first single off Green Day’s next album, the follow-up to 2020’s Father of All… The group also has big tour plans in the works. As Rolling Stone reports, Armstrong announced during the Vegas show that Green Day will be hitting the road alongside The Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid and The Linda Lindas.

An official tour schedule is still forthcoming. Perhaps, we’ll find that out when “The American Dream Is Killing Me” drops Tuesday.

Before that, though, Green Day will headline Vegas’ When We Were Young festival, taking place October 21-22.

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For episode 38 of their weekly YouTube series, Queen the Greatest Live, Queen is looking back at their iconic performance at Brazil’s inaugural Rock In Rio festival in 1985.

The band is specifically sharing archival footage of their performance of the acoustic classic “Love of My Life,” showing how they could make even a massive show in front of 400,000 fans feel intimate to those in attendance.

The clip shows guitarist Brian May asking the audience if they want to sing along, to which they oblige, and Freddie Mercury conducting them to much delight. 

“I think it’s the moment we first realized they knew ‘Love of My Life,” May had previously shared. “Not only knew it but would sing it. And not only would they sing it but would sing it with a passion that brought tears to our eyes.” 

Next week on Queen The Greatest Live: “A Kind of Magic.”

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The album release party for the Rolling Stones‘ latest album Hackney Diamonds on Thursday evening had some major surprises for fans in attendance at New York City’s venue Racket NYC: Mick Jagger and the boys took to the stage.

The Stones played from the band’s first album of new material in 18 years — and Lady Gaga joined them to perform their single “Sweet Sounds of Heaven,” to boot.

Questlove acted as house DJ for the event, which drew famous fans including Chris Rock, Jimmy Fallon, Daniel Craig and his Oscar winning actress wife Rachel Weisz, Elvis Costello, Mary Kate Olsen, Diana Krall, Trevor Noah, and others.

The Stones played seven songs from the new album as well as classics. They shredded through “Shattered,” “Angry,” “Whole Wide World,” “Tumbling Dice,” “Bite My Head Off,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” and their shared track with Gaga.

The 12-track album features two tracks from late drummer Charlie Watts — “Mess It Up” and “Live By the Sword,” the latter of which has former Stones member Bill Wyman on bass.

“Sweet Sounds” also features keys and piano from Stevie Wonder, “Get Close” and “Live By the Sword” features piano from Elton John, while “Bite My Head Off” has a bassline from Paul McCartney.

Here’s the track listing for Hackney Diamonds, which is available now:

“Angry”
“Get Close”
“Depending On You”
“Bite My Head Off”
“Whole Wide World”
“Dreamy Skies”
“Mess It Up”
“Live by the Sword”
“Driving Me Too Hard”
“Tell Me Straight”
“Sweet Sounds of Heaven”
“Rolling Stone Blues”

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Elton John played The Pinball Wizard in the 1975 movie of The Who‘s Tommy and now, almost 50 years later, he’s the inspiration for a new line of pinball machines.

Elton John Pinball, from Jersey Jack Pinball, gives fan a front row experience of a live Elton concert, complete with plenty of callbacks to Elton’s career. The machines, developed with Elton’s input, include 16 full-length Elton tracks, including “Rocketman,” “Tiny Dancer” and “Benny and the Jets.”

Each game features footage from Elton’s career, with additions like a piano-playing interactive Elton sculpture, a “Tiny Dancer” sculpture, “Rocketman” ball launcher and more. They come with over 1,000 interactive LED lights, plus LCD displays, animation and more. There’s even a “Superstar” topper, with dual 10-inch LCD screens and an interactive laser light show. 

Elton John Pinball machines are available to purchase now, but they don’t come cheap. They range in price from $12,000 to $15,000, not including shipping.

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Neil Young, Stephen Stills and Keith Richards are among the artists set to appear on the upcoming live release Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90 Live At The Hollywood Bowl, dropping December 15. 

The live album features performances from Willie’s star-studded 90th birthday bash, which took place April 29 and 30, at the famed Los Angeles venue. Other artists featured on Long Story Short include Bobby Weir, Warren Haynes, Dave Matthews, Beck, Sheryl Crow, Jack Johnson, Snoop Dog, Tom Jones, Lyle Lovett, Lumineers, Chris Stapleton and Kris Kristofferson.

And music fans are getting their first preview of the set with the release of Dave Matthews’ cover of “Funny How Time Slips Away.” It is available now via digital outlets and on YouTube. 

Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90 Live At The Hollywood Bowl will be released in a variety of formats, including two-CD + Blu-ray and digital sets, featuring 39 audio tracks and three hours of video performances. There will also be a two-LP vinyl set with select highlights. 

All formats are available for preorder now.

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A new documentary giving fans insight into some of the legendary session musicians of the 1970s is getting a theatrical release. 

Magnolia Pictures will screen the doc, Immediate Family, in theaters across the country on December 12, with a digital release to follow on December 15. 

The film is the follow-up to director Denny Tedesco’s 2008 documentary, The Wrecking Crew, which focused on session musicians of the 1960s. Immediate Family tells the story of Danny Kortchmar, Leland Sklar, Russ Kunkel and Waddy Wachtel, featuring new interviews with the musicians.

It also includes interviews with some of the A-list artists they played with, including James Taylor, Keith Richards, Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, Jackson Browne, David Crosby, Carole King, Phil Collins and Linda Ronstadt.

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In his song “The Ballad of Billy the Kid,” Billy Joel sang about coming “from a town known as Oyster Bay, Long Island.” On October 19, that town named a street after him.

WABC-TV reports that The Piano Man received a key to the Town of Oyster Bay and was on hand for the unveiling of Billy Joel Way, with the street located in front of his motorcycle shop, 20th Century Cycles. Billy grew up in Hicksville, a hamlet within the town.

During the ceremony, Billy was serenaded by a band made up of kids from the local grade school. He also met with a group of veterans.

“It’s a beautiful day, just a little overwhelming,” Billy told reporters. “I just never figured on this when I was living here.” Calling the experience surreal, he noted, “Who could’ve predicted this? My mom would’ve been thrilled.”  

But when asked what it was like for him to see the street sign for the first time, he said he didn’t know, because the sun was shining in his eyes.

As WABC notes, Billy’s charity The Joel Foundation recently donated funds to erect a memorial in honor of the baymen who work in Oyster Bay Harbor. Long Island’s baymen inspired Billy’s hit “The Downeaster ‘Alexa.‘” The foundation also announced the continuation of its long-term investment in Long Island High School for the Arts.

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Billy Joel and Sting have announced another co-headlining date. The two Rock & Roll Hall of Famers will team up to play San Diego’s Petco Park on Saturday, April 13. 

A Citi ticket presale kicks off Monday, October 23, at 10 a.m. local time, with the general onsale set for Friday, October 27, at 10 a.m. local time.

This is the second co-headlining date Billy and Sting have announced. Their first is happening February 24 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. It will mark the first time the rock star friends have headlined a concert together.

But this isn’t the first time Billy has shared a stage at a stadium show. He has toured with Elton John several times and is currently doing co-headlining shows with Stevie Nicks. The two artists next play Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 10.

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Soccer fans, or football fans to the rest of the world, are about to see a familiar rock logo on the pitch.

The Rolling Stones are teaming with FC Barcelona and Spotify to help promote their new album Hackney Diamonds, which drops Friday, October 20. They’ve just announced a special edition Rolling Stones kit that features the band’s tongue and lips logo on the jersey.

FC Barcelona players will wear the jersey when they play Real Madrid October 28 at the El Clásico match. The women’s team, Barca Femení, will also wear the shirt at their F League match against Sevilla on November 5. 

“We are huge football fans and we are grateful that Spotify has brought our tongue and lips logo to the FC Barcelona shirt to celebrate the release of the Stones’ new album, Hackney Diamonds,” the band shares. “We will cheer on the players who will be on the field as well as the fans around the world who will tune in to this iconic match.”

Some lucky fans will be able to get their hands on these unique jerseys. Two exclusive editions will go on sale October 23: One is limited to 1,899 units and another, consisting of just 22 shirts, features the signatures of the starting players on the men and women’s teams.

This isn’t the first sports-related promotion The Stones are doing for Hackney Diamonds. The band has teamed with Major League Baseball for limited-edition white vinyl versions of the new album, which feature pocket jackets with custom art tailored to each of the 30 MLB baseball teams.  

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