Red Hot Chili Peppers are keeping the love going into 2024.
The “Under the Bridge” outfit has announced another U.S. leg of their Unlimited Love tour, running from May 28 in Ridgefield, Washington, to July 30 in St. Louis. Kid Cudi and Ice Cube are among the openers on select dates.
Tickets go on sale Friday, December 8, at 10 a.m. local time, with various presales throughout the week. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit RedHotChiliPeppers.com.
The Unlimited Love tour supports RHCP’s two 2022 albums, Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen, which marked their first records with guitarist John Frusciante since 2006’s Stadium Arcadium.
December 5 marks 50 years of Paul McCartney & Wings’ classic album Band on the Run, and McCartney is celebrating the occasion with a new 50th anniversary expanded edition of the album.
In addition to the release of a half-speed remastered single LP vinyl, the milestone celebration will be marked with a special two-LP vinyl set compromising the half-speed remastered original album and an additional LP, Underdubbed Mixes Edition, featuring the album’s nine songs without any orchestral overdubs.
The set also comes with two Linda McCartney Polaroid posters and a two-CD version of the release, featuring the original album and Underdubbed.
“This is Band on the Run in a way you’ve never heard before,” McCartney shares. “When you are making a song and putting on additional parts, like an extra guitar, that’s an overdub. Well, this version of the album is the opposite, underdubbed.”
Underdubbed will also be released digitally, while Band on the Run will get its first digital release in Dolby Atmos, newly mixed by Giles Martin and Steve Orchard.
Band on the Run was the third album released by Paul McCartney & Wings and McCartney’s fifth post-Beatles release. It featured such classic songs as the title track, “Jet” and “Bluebird.” The album went to #1 in the U.S. and the U.K., and has been certified triple Platinum by the RIAA.
The Kinks are in the midst of a two-year celebration of their 60th anniversary, which includes two box sets: The Journey — Part 1, which came out in March, and the recently releasedThe Journey — Part 2.
The sets feature Kinks hits, as well as deep cuts and more, and The Kinks’ Dave Davies tells ABC Audio he’s “quite pleased with the way it turned out.”
“I think there’s a lot of really important music on it,” he says. “It gives a chance for people who aren’t that familiar with the non-hits” to discover the tunes. He notes, “They all work nicely on a compilation like this.”
Dave says he was happy to see the song “Lincoln County” make it on Part 2, along with “God’s Children,” written by his brother Ray Davies. “I’ve always loved it, the lyric, and the melody, the whole concept,” he shares.
The sets also feature live tracks and B-sides; Dave suggests there’s even more unreleased music to be heard, even if the songs aren’t perfect.
“I don’t know if they’ll ever see the light of day but over the years I’ve become less critical,” he says. “Songs have foibles and weird s*** and I think it’s all important aspects of recording. We’ve been doing it for so long it’s kinda nice to hear the nuances.”
As for whether fans will be hearing new music from The Kinks anytime soon, Dave seems hopeful it’ll happen.
“I don’t know but me and Ray played on tracks that’ve been sitting around, that we didn’t quite finish and are too good to just shelve,” he says, “so it’s very possible.”
KISS said goodbye to the road Saturday, December 2, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, but they’re not going away for good and have already revealed what’s next for the group.
After playing the final song, “Rock and Roll All Nite,” the band introduced the crowd, and the public watching at home via pay-per-view, to their KISS avatars, with holograms of Demon, the Starchild, Catman, and Spaceman performing “God Gave Rock ‘N’ Roll to You II.”
“The end of the road is the beginning of another road,” Paul Stanley told the crowd, according to Rolling Stone. “We’re not going anywhere. You’ll see us in all different things all the time. We’ll see you in your dreams.”
According to Fast Company, the KISS avatars come courtesy of San Francisco-based Industrial Light & Magic, with the band sharing some behind-the-scenes video of the making their holograms, captioning the clip, “A NEW ERA BEGINS.”
“The future is so exciting,” Gene Simmons says in the clip, with Stanley adding, “We can live on eternally.”
Bruce Springsteen has paid tribute to the late Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan, who passed away November 30 at the age of 65.
“Over here on E Street, we are heartbroken over the death of Shane MacGowan,” reads Springsteen’s Instagram post. “Shane was one of my all-time favorite writers. The passion and deep intensity of his music and lyrics is unmatched by all but the very best in the rock and roll canon.”
Springsteen then recalled visiting Shane and his wife, Victoria, when he was playing shows in Dublin last May.
“He was very ill, but still beautifully present in his heart and spirit,” Springsteen writes. “His music is timeless and eternal. I don’t know about the rest of us, but they’ll be singing Shane’s songs 100 years from now.”
The Beatles are back at #1: The band’s new single, “Now and Then,” tops the Billboard Adult Alternative Airplay chart for the very first time.
The Adult Alternative Airplay chart launched in 1996, and The Beatles have landed on it one other time — when 1996’s “Free as a Bird” peaked at #11. They now hold the record for the longest time between their first appearance on the AAA chart and their first #1.
In other Beatles news … Sir Patrick Stewart recounted a sweet story of meeting Paul McCartney during an appearance on Live with Kelly & Mark.
He was in Bristol working in an acting company with McCartney’s then-girlfriend Jane Asher and during lunch one day they were playing a game where they shared what they’d buy if they had 1 million pounds; Stewart chose an Aston Martin. Two weeks later, McCartney showed up at Stewart’s dressing room.
“The door opened and there was Paul McCartney and he said, ‘Jane tells me that you like Aston Martins. Here, drive this,’” Stewart recalled, noting he was in his underwear at the time. “He threw me a bunch of keys.” Stewart said they went out on a joyride in the middle of the night and drove about 18 miles together to Bath, England.
“All I could think was if I crash this car it’s the only thing I’ll be remembered for,” Stewart said. “This is the man who killed Paul McCartney.”
Stewart also recalled bumping into McCartney, who was with Ringo Starr, in a restaurant years later. McCartney introduced Stewart to Ringo, noting they were all “Sirs.”
Stewart said McCartney put his arms around both him and Ringo, declaring, “We are Knights of the Round Table.”
These days, thanks to technology like holograms, bands don’t necessarily have to disappear when they decide to stop touring or making music. But that’s not something The Who’s Pete Townshend is interested in.
Townshend and Roger Daltrey are the only two surviving members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band and they still tour together. When they eventually decide to put an end to touring, Townshend says fans shouldn’t expect to see a Who avatar show like Voyage, the show made famous by ABBA.
“Apparently Mick [Jagger] has said, ‘Yeah, The Rolling Stones will definitely do an ABBA,’” he tells the Financial Times, referring to recent comments Jagger made to WSJ magazine. Townshend then made a face and ruled it out for The Who, noting, “Oh f***, no, no, no.”
While The Who don’t currently have dates on the books, they did play several shows in the U.K. last summer. Their last gig was August 28 in Sandringham, England.
Jeff Kravitz/MTV VMAs 2021/Getty Images for MTV/ViacomCBS
David Lee Roth is reinterpreting another Van Halen classic.
The rocker just shared his reimagined solo version of “Jump,” off Van Halen’s sixth studio album, 1984. The new take was recorded live at Henson Studios in Los Angeles.
This is the eighth Van Halen song that has been given the solo treatment by Roth. He previously released ”Atomic Punk,” “Unchained,” “You Really Got Me,” “Dance The Night Away,” “Panama,” “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” and “Everybody Wants Some!!”
He’s also shared two previously unreleased tracks, “Manda Bala” and “Wash and Fold.”
Released as a single in December 1983, “Jump” went on to be a huge hit for Van Halen, becoming the band’s only #1 tune on the Billboard Hot 100.
Bruce Springsteen just released another edition of his Live Series, and while we know Bruce is a great guitar player, the latest playlist focuses on his piano prowess.
The Live Series: Songs On Keys, available on most streaming services, is a playlist of solo piano performances by The Boss, recorded around the world between 1975 and 2016.
The playlist is made up of 15 performances, including “For You,” live at CW Post College in Greenvale, New York, on December 12, 1975; “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out,” live at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on January 16, 1990; “Drive All Night,” live at Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey, on January 22, 2005; and “Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street,” live at London’s Wembley Stadium on June 5, 2016.
Springsteen is currently recovering from peptic ulcer disease, which forced the postponement of the remainder of his 2023 tour. He is due back out on the road with the E Street Band in 2024, with dates kicking off March 19 in Phoenix, Arizona. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.net.
Former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett has shared the first single from his upcoming solo album, The Circus And The Nightwhale. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has released the album’s opening track, “People of the Smoke.”
“’People of the Smoke’ spins us all back in time to 1950, when bustling post-war London was stifled with smog from trains, chimneys, industry and smokers,” Hackett shares. “I was born into that world! This song kicks off an album following my life’s journey both literally and metaphorically.”
The Circus and the Nightwhale is Hackett’s first album of new material since 2021’s instrumental album Under A Mediterranean Sky. It will be released February 16 and is available for preorder now.
