Classic Rock News

As part of the ongoing 50th anniversary celebration of Pink Floyd‘s classic album The Dark Side of the Moon, the band is releasing a new 30-minute documentary, Eclipse, giving fans a look at the special Dark Side event they held in Australia that coincided with a rare solar eclipse.

The once-in-a-lifetime event took place at a secluded beach at Ningaloo (Nyinggulu) Marine Park in Exmouth, Western Australia, on April 20. A handful of fans won a trip to the beach, where they listened to Dark Side in full — timed so that the closing line, “but the sun is eclipsed by the moon,” would play at the exact moment of the eclipse.

Fans will be able to check out the documentary on Pink Floyd’s YouTube channel starting Friday, October 13, as part of Pink Floyd Fridays. A preview clip is available now on YouTube.

And the band hopes fans will continue the celebration with the upcoming annular solar eclipse, which will be visible in America on October 14. They are urging fans to listen to The Dark Side of the Moon while it’s happening, then share video and photos of the experience to social media using #pfeclipse. Pink Floyd will then share some of those posts on their social media accounts. 

Pink Floyd kicked off the 50th anniversary celebration of The Dark Side of the Moon earlier this year with the release of a new box set, featuring a remaster of the classic album and a whole host of extras. A stand-alone version of the newly remastered album will be released on CD, LP and Blu-ray on October 13.

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Monday, October 9, would have been the late John Lennon’s 83rd birthday, and in honor of the occasion a new deluxe and expanded version of Imagine (The Ultimate Collection) has just been released to stream and download.

The new release features the entire collection on Hi-Res Stereo and Spatial Audio/Dolby Atmos, with each of the five sets of songs – Ultimate, Elements, Evolution, Raw Studio and Out-Takes – released as separate albums instead of one long playlist.

Imagine: The Ultimate Collection was originally released in October 2018. It featured four CDs and two Blu-ray discs and included previously unheard demos, rare studio outtakes and more.

And that’s not the only way Lennon was remembered on his birthday. His former Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney marked the occasion on social media, sharing a photo of himself onstage, with Lennon’s image projected behind him, writing, “Celebrating the birthday of my wonderful friend and collaborator, @johnlennon.”

The late George Harrison’s estate also remembered Lennon, sharing a short video featuring pictures of both Harrison and Lennon, along with some drawings, captioning the clip, “Remembering John on his Birthday.”

And Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, marked both John and their son Sean Lennon’s birthday on social media, sharing a photo of them together with the caption, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEAN! i ii iii i love you.”

Lennon’s birthday is also being remembered with the new video “Dear John” from singer Sepp Osley. The track features Peter Frampton on guitar and British singer Mollie Marriott, with the video featuring cameos from the likes of Peter Gabriel, Matt Sorum, Geddy Lee, actor Martin Freeman, comedian Matt Lucas and more.

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The band Metal Allegiance — featuring ex-Megadeth bassist David Ellefson, former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick and bassist/songwriter Mark Menghi — has announced a concert celebrating their 10th anniversary.

The show will take place January 25, 2024, at the House of Blues in Anaheim, California.

“It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years since we started Metal Allegiance out on the Motörhead Motörboat Cruise,” Ellefson says. “But here we are, a couple of albums and a whole bunch of shows later, celebrating the strength and resilience of heavy metal together.”

Along with the core four Metal Allegiance members, the concert will feature guest performances by artists including Mastodon‘s Brann Dailor and Troy Sanders, Testament‘s Chuck Billy, Bad Wolves‘ Doc Coyle and Slayer‘s Gary Holt.

Tickets go on sale Friday, October 13. For more info, visit MetalAllegiance.com.

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Once Upon a One More Time, the Broadway show built around the songs of Britney Spears, may have closed in September, but a new musical built around the songs of Madonna recently opened in Paris.

The New York Times reports that the two-hour show, Holidays, is performed in French and features 15 Madonna classics, from “La Isla Bonita,” “Open Your Heart” and “Express Yourself” to “Papa Don’t Preach,” “Secret” and “Like a Prayer.” 

The Queen of Pop isn’t involved in the show, but its director, Nathan Guichet [gee-SHAY], says he was inspired to create it after seeing a 2012 interview in which Madonna said, “I would sanction my songs to be made into a musical, but I wouldn’t do it myself.”

The show, which is set to run through January 28, features just four performers and one set. Here’s the plot, according to the Times: Louise, an heiress who’s about to get married, invites three pals who she hasn’t seen in more than 10 years to her childhood home. In their youth, the four friends would gather every August 16 to celebrate Madonna’s birthday. Now they come together as adults in Louise’s old bedroom, which is a pink altar to Madonna. Louise’s doubts about her upcoming marriage and a secret gay romance between two of the four women help drive the plot.

In its review, The New York Times notes, “Holidays is a welcome reminder that Madonna’s catalog has rare staying power.” It concludes that until Madonna’s Celebration tour arrives in Paris in November, the show is “an entertainingly upbeat stand-in.”

Madonna kicks off the Celebration tour October 14 in London.

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Roger Waters took the stage at London’s Palladium on Sunday, October 8, to perform The Dark Side of the Moon Redux, his recently released reimagining of Pink Floyd’s classic album, but it turns out he had more in store for his audience. 

According to a review of the show by The Times of London critic Will Hodgkinson, Waters spent the first 30 minutes of the show ranting about Julian Assange and reading from his unpublished memoir.

“One story involved a duck that came to live in the family home,” Hodgkinson wrote. “Another began promisingly as a memory of Floyd’s original leader, Syd Barrett, but revealed nothing more than that Barrett wrote a lot of songs and had an innocent air about him.”

Hodgkinson noted that Waters only played two songs during the first half of the show and wound up getting heckled by the audience for his lack of performing, to which he responded like “a scary headmaster shouting down naughty kids at assembly, which simply had the effect of making everyone feel nervous and awkward.”

In addition to the readings, the show included a 20-minute film in which Waters described making The Dark Side of the Moon Redux.

“Roger Waters has suffered for his art,” the critic concluded. “That didn’t mean that the audience at the Palladium had to suffer for it too.”

Waters returns to the stage for a second show at the Palladium on Monday, October 9.

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Gov’t Mule will be celebrating their 30th anniversary next year, and no surprise, they’ll be doing it on the road. The band just announced dates for their 30 Years Strong Tour, marking three decades since the band first formed in 1994.

“Hard to believe it’s been 30 years and Gov’t Mule is playing with a newfound energy,” frontman Warren Haynes shares. “It’s going to be fun delving into our past for this tour while creating new music at the same time.”

The tour is set to kick off February 8 in Vancouver, Canada, hitting Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Austin and other cities before wrapping February 25 in Houston. 

A fan club ticket sale kicks off Wednesday, October 11, at 10 a.m. local time, with the general onsale happening Friday, October 13, at 10 a.m. local time. 

Gov’t Mule is currently on their Peace…Like A River tour and will play Shreveport, Louisiana, on Tuesday, October 10. A complete list of tour dates can be found at mule.net.

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Eric Clapton’s iconic “Fool” guitar is going up for auction.

The 1964 Gibson SG electric guitar, which Clapton first played onstage while touring the U.S. with his band Cream, will be available during an upcoming Julien’s Auctions event, taking place November 16-18. It is expected to sell for somewhere between $1-$2 million.

The guitar got its name because of its custom-painted psychedelic finish, courtesy of The Dutch art collective The Fool.

And it’s not the only iconic guitar that’s part of the auction. Also up for grabs is the axe Nirvana‘s Kurt Cobain played during his final show with the band on March 1, 1994, in Munich, Germany. The blue, left-handed Fender Mustang, also known as the Skystang I, is also estimated to sell for between $1-2 million.

A portion of the proceeds from both guitars will be donated to the Kicking the Stigma mental health initiative.

Both guitars are part of Julien’s “Played, Worn & Torn: Rock ‘n’ Roll Iconic Guitars and Memorabilia” auction, which also features items from Eddie Van Halen, The Beatles, The Who and others. More information can be found at juliensauctions.com.

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U2 was back in Las Vegas for weekend two of their U2: UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere residency and changed up the set list a bit in light of the ongoing violence in Israel, adding “Pride” to the show. 

“In the light of what’s happened in Israel and Gaza, a song about non-violence seems somewhat ridiculous, even laughable, but our prayers have always been for peace and for non-violence…,” Bono told the crowd ahead of the performance. “But our hearts and our anger, you know where that’s pointed. So, sing with us… and those beautiful kids at that music festival…”

Bono changed the opening lyrics to the song, singing, “Early morning, October 7/ as the sun is rising in the dessert sky/ Stars of David they took your life/but they could not take your pride.” 

This weekend’s shows also saw the residency debut of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” which was played during the acoustic portion of the show.

U2 is back at the Sphere for their next show on Wednesday, October 11. A complete list of dates can be found at U2.com.

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Guns N’ Roses are coming home for the final two shows of their U.S. tour. The rockers are set to headline the iconic Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on November 1 and 2, with special guests The Black Keys. 

The two concerts will mark Guns N’ Roses’ first Los Angeles shows since 2021 and their first time playing the Hollywood Bowl.  

The shows are also helping raise money for a good cause. They are in partnership with the Los Angeles County Parks Foundation (LACPF), with a portion of every ticket being donated to the organization. There will also be a special commemorative T-shirt sold exclusively at the Hollywood Bowl, with proceeds going to the LACPF.

A fan club and American Express presale kick off Tuesday, October 10, with the general onsale set for Friday, October 13, 10 a.m. local time.

Next up, Guns N’ Roses are set to play go in Phoenix, Arizona, on October 11. They wrap their entire tour on November 5 at the Hell & Heaven Festival in Mexico City. A complete list of dates can be found at gunsnroses.com.

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Man! She feels like a Foo!

Country-pop star Shania Twain made a surprise appearance during Foo Fighters‘ headlining set at the Austin City Limits Festival on Saturday, October 7, for a joint rendition of Dave Grohl and company’s “Best of You.”

“This was one off the bucket list for me!” Twain wrote in a social media post following the performance.
Firstly thank you to @foofighters for inviting me on stage – you are all so generous and ridiculously cool. I am a huge rock fan.”

“My first band [Longshot] was a rock band, my first big producer [Robert John “Mutt” Lange] was one of the worlds renowned rock producers, me and my son like to rock out,” she added. “Totally worth the adrenaline [fueled] run from my stage to yours Dave Grohl – you are a true friend and talent.”

Foo Fighters will return to ACL to headline the festival’s second weekend, taking place October 13-15.

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