Classic Rock News

Grateful Dead fans are going to get a lot of great music in the month of November. 

The band just launched 30 Days of Dead, in which every day fans will get an unreleased live Dead track from the vault. Each high-quality MP3 download has been selected by Dead archivist and producer David Lemieux.

And that’s not all. As each track is released, fans will have a chance to win prizes if they can correctly guess where and when the show it came from took place. Each day correct answers will be entered for a chance to win a 2024 Grateful Dead wall calendar. Correct answers will also be entered to win a grand prize of the Dead’s Here Comes Sunshine box set, which is currently sold out. 

30 Days of the Dead kicked off on Wednesday, November 1, with a performance of “Comes a Time,” a song that was first played in 1971 and played for the last time in 1994.

More information can be found at dead.net.

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Kate Bush is capping an eventful couple years with a new catalog reissue series.

The “Running Up That Hill” artist is reissuing each one of her albums on vinyl and CD. Her 1985 effort Hounds of Love, which includes “Running Up That Hill,” will also be available as a special edition Baskerville Edition, which comes with updated artwork and a solar-powered LED light, as well as the Lost at Sea box set, which relates to the themes of the album’s second half.

Bush has also shared an unboxing video for the Baskerville Edition, which calls back to the inspiration behind the Hounds of Love song “Cloudbusting.”

You can preorder your albums of choice now via Bush’s website, which has been newly updated in conjunction with the reissue series.

Bush saw renewed interest in her music after “Running Up That Hill” was used in the fourth season of Stranger Things. The resurgence of the single, which hit #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2022, was so huge that the normally press-shy Bush even gave a rare interview.

Meanwhile, Bush is among the 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees. The induction ceremony takes place on Friday, November 3, in Brooklyn, New York, though there’s been no announcement yet about whether Bush will attend.

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Elton John has found a buyer for his Atlanta home. People reports that the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has sold his 13,500-square-foot condo in the Buckhead area for $7,225,000. 

Elton bought a duplex in the building in 1992, then bought five more apartments over the next 20 years, combining them into one four-bedroom space. It has four full bathrooms, including a spa-like bathroom in the primary suite, which also has a sitting area and a huge closet. 

Serving as Elton’s touring base, as he could easily get to most places in the U.S. flying out of Dekalb-Peachtree Airport, the home also held his massive collection of photography and features views of the Atlanta skyline.

And it seems Elton made a hefty profit on the place. He originally had it on the market for just under $5 million.

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The Eagles bring The Long Goodbye tour to Atlanta this week, but Steely Dan is not making the trip, as frontman Donald Fagen is still dealing with health issues.

According to Live Nation, “As prescribed by his physician, Donald Fagen continues to recuperate, and Steely Dan will not be performing at the two Eagles shows in Atlanta on Thursday, November 2, and Saturday, November 4.”

Instead, Eagles fans will get to enjoy opener Tedeschi Trucks Band for both shows.

Steely Dan has been off the Eagles tour since October 6 due to Fagen’s health. Sheryl Crow, The Steve Miller Band and Vince Gill and the Nashville Band took the opening spots in their place.

A complete list of Eagles dates can be found at eagles.com.

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Former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley is getting ready to share some new music. In an interview with Nuvo, Frehley reveals that he’ll be releasing a new solo record next year.

“It’s probably the best record I’ve ever done,” he says. “I’m very excited about it.”

The album is expected to come out in February, with the title track “10,000 Volts” being released in November.

“I’m really excited to see the response I’m gonna get because I really think it’s, it’s gonna be positive, and people are gonna be very, very surprised because I think it’s one of my best records,” he shares.

Frehley’s former band is getting ready to say goodbye to the road in December, and while fans would probably love to see him join them onstage for their final shows at Madison Square Garden, that’s not going to happen. Frehley says he offered to play on the tour, and heard that both Gene Simmons and KISS manager Doc McGhee wanted him — but Paul Stanley nixed it.

“It’s pretty obvious he’s an egomaniac and wants all the spotlight. If [I] returned to the band, I’d get all the press,” Frehley says, adding that he’s surprised Stanley keeps saying negative things about him and former KISS drummer Peter Criss in the press.

“He just made a statement that if we played with them at Madison Square Garden, it would mar the performance. He’s basically shooting himself in the foot and making an a****** out of himself,” Frehley says. “When people hear those statements, they’re just gonna realize that he doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about and is probably just jealous.”

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Fans of The Beatles just got their first taste of the new song “Now and Then.” The band shared a 12-minute short film, Now And Then – The Last Beatles Song, which reveals what went into the making of the track.

The film recounts how the new song came about, using a cassette recording given to The Beatles in 1994 by Yoko Ono, featuring three songs John Lennon recorded in the ’70s. The film features archival footage of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the late George Harrison in the recording studio in 1995, along with new interviews with McCartney, Ringo and Sean Ono Lennon.

“Making good music in a band is all about chemistry. The way our four personalities combined in The Beatles was something very special,” McCartney says in the film. “When we lost John we knew that it was really over, but in 1994, an interesting opportunity arose: We could make more music together.”

Ringo adds, “We could use John and try and make a record, it was the closest we’ll ever come to having him back in the room.”

The doc explains why the song wasn’t completed in 1995 and how new technology helped director Peter Jackson extract John’s voice to finally complete the tune. 

“All of those memories come flooding back. My God how lucky was I to have those men in my life and to work with those men so intimately and to come up with such a body of music,” McCartney says. “To still be working on Beatles music in 2023, wow.”

“Now and Then” will be released Thursday, November 2, at 10 a.m. ET., with the video to follow on Friday, November 3, at 10 a.m. ET.

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The Rolling Stones appear to be teasing something on social media.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers posted an image of their lips logo in gold, along with the caption “crossfirehurricane.com.” When you go to the site the same logo appears, along with the signatures of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and a prompt to sign up to get “exclusive access for the latest project from The Rolling Stones.”

While that really doesn’t reveal much, fans are already speculating about what the band’s teasing … or at least what they hope they are teasing.

“A World Tour?!?!?!?!?!?” one fan commented, while another added, “Tour dates would be nice.”

Others are suggesting the band will be revisiting their 2012 documentary, Crossfire Hurricane.

“An updated version of the original documentary?!” one guessed, while another tagged the original film’s director, Brett Morgan.

The tease comes as The Stones are enjoying success with Hackney Diamonds, their first album of new songs in 18 years. The album has gone to #1 in over 18 countries and debuted at #3 in the U.S.

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The Zombies’ Rod Argent has thanked fans for their support following the band’s decision to cancel the remaining dates of their North American tour. The cancellation came after a member of the group had to be hospitalized. While they didn’t initially reveal who had been sick, Argent’s post on Instagram reveals it was him. 

“I really want to thank everyone, family and friends and fans for the kind words and feelings expressed since I was forced to withdraw from our recent U.S. tour due to ill health,” he writes, noting that medical tests revealed his ailments weren’t anything serious.

“Lack of sleep and a very heavy work schedule, jet lag, etc and I experienced symptoms of a visual migraine which were seriously worrying to all who were witness to the two episodes – followed by debilitating fatigue, exhaustion really,” he explains. “I just have to rest for some time.”

Argent says he’s disappointed to have let everyone down, noting that canceling was “the last thing we wanted to have happened.”   

The Zombies wound up canceling the remaining four dates of the tour, which included stops in Alexandria, Virginia; Beverly, Massachusetts, and New York City.

When they canceled, they let fans know that the tour featured “some of the most enjoyable shows of our career together.” They added, “we’re forever grateful to our fans.”

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Chicago is on board to help ring in the holiday season with a performance on The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Chicago, who has released three Christmas albums, is confirmed to perform on The Wondership by Wonder holiday float.

Other Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade performers include Cher, Bel Biv DeVoe, En Vogue, David Foster and Katharine McPhee, Pentatonix and the casts of the Broadway musicals & Juliet, Back to the Future: The Musical and Shucked.

Of course, there will also be plenty of floats and balloons. Seven new balloons will be making their debut, including Beagle Scout Snoopy, Kung Fu Panda’s Po and the Pillsbury Doughboy.

The parade kicks off Thursday, November 23, at 8:30 a.m. in all time zones, thirty minutes earlier than the usual start time. It’ll air on NBC and be simulcast on Peacock; an encore will telecast at 2 p.m ET/PT.

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Mick Mars bears no ill will toward John 5 for replacing him in Mötley Crüe.

John joined the “Kickstart My Heart” outfit after Mars retired from touring in October 2022. Said retirement has since led to a lawsuit over a financial dispute between Mars and his now-former band, but that hasn’t affected his opinion of John 5.

“Well, I’ve never disliked John, I’ve always liked him and still do,” Mars tells Guitar World. “He’s been a really good friend of mine for a long time.”

Mars adds that he feels Mötley “made a very, very wise choice with John.”

While he’s no longer in Mötley Crüe, Mars just dropped his debut solo single, “Loyal to the Lie,” on Halloween. He’ll drop an album, The Other Side of Mars, on February 23.

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