Classic Rock News

This Saturday, Elton John is set to perform at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., but on Friday, while he’s in the neighborhood, he’ll be stopping by to visit the Bidens.

President Joe Biden and the first lady will host a performance by Elton on the South Lawn of the White House as part of an event called “A Night When Hope and History Rhyme.” Organized in collaboration with A+E Networks and The History Channel, the event will honor teachers, nurses, frontline workers, mental health advocates, students LGBTQ+ advocates and more.

It will also “celebrate the unifying and healing power of music” and pay tribute to Elton’s “life and work.”

The Bidens will deliver remarks at the event. The fact that A+E and The History Channel are involved seems to indicate that the whole thing will be televised at some point, but there are no details on that as of yet.

This week, Elton is also performing in Atlanta as part of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.

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The Smashing Pumpkins are coming back in a big way.

The alt-rock vets — now consisting of original members Billy Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin, plus longtime guitarist Jeff Schroeder — have announced a new album called Atum, a 33-track, three-act “rock opera” described as the sequel to the Pumpkins’ Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and Machina/Machine of God albums.

Your first preview of Atum is the song “Beguiled,” which is available now via digital outlets. The “Beguiled” video premieres Tuesday at 12:33 p.m. ET on YouTube, and you can catch the Pumpkins perform the track on NBC’s The Tonight Show this Friday.

Atum, the follow-up to 2020’s Cyr, will be released in three parts, with Act 1 dropping November 15. Acts 2 and 3 will follow in 2023 on January 31 and April 21, respectively.

Along the way, Corgan will be breaking down each song off of Atum on his new podcast, Thirty-Three with William Patrick Corgan. The first two episodes are out now.

If that’s not enough Smashing Pumpkins for you, a vinyl box set edition of Atum will be available on April 21 with 10 more bonus tracks.

Meanwhile, you can also catch The Smashing Pumpkins on the road on their Spirits on Fire tour alongside Jane’s Addiction. The outing launches October 2 in Dallas, Texas.

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Journey guitarist Neal Schon recently shared some details about his band’s concrete and potential touring plans for 2023 and beyond during pro wrestler/rock singer Chris Jericho‘s Talk Is Jericho podcast and in a separate interview with ABC Audio.

In July, Journey announced that four North American concerts that were postponed earlier this year had been moved to March 2023 and that their Freedom Tour 2022 support act Toto would be opening the rescheduled shows.

Schon revealed to Jericho that the makeup shows will be part of a full 2023 tour leg featuring Toto that will kick off in February and will include about 40 dates.

“[W]e’re gonna do the secondary markets in the United States and do some of the main markets that we didn’t hit this last time,” Neal explained.

He added that, after taking “a little break,” Journey and Toto will head to Europe and Japan, noting that Journey would open for Toto in Europe, where the latter group is more popular.

Meanwhile, Schon revealed to ABC Audio that he hoped to schedule a series of U.S. stadium shows in late 2023 that would feature Journey, Toto and Santana.

Neal, who was a member of Santana from 1971 to 1972, noted that with 2023 marking the 50th anniversary of Journey’s formation, “it makes total sense to do something with Carlos [Santana] … because that’s where I came from before I started Journey.”

Schon told ABC Audio that he talks to Carlos multiple times a week, and revealed that Santana wants to play shows with Journey, and that the guitarists have also discussed getting together to collaborate on some new music.

“[There’s] a lot of musical history there,” Neal said. “And of course … we love playing together too.”

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Alice in Chains is digging through the archives leading up to the 30th anniversary of the band’s 1992 album, Dirt.

The grunge rockers have unearthed video from their May 1993 appearance on the BBC’s Later…with Jools Holland program, including renditions of the Dirt tracks “Them Bones” and “Would?” You can watch video of performances streaming now on YouTube.

Dirt, Alice in Chains’ sophomore album, officially turns 30 on September 29. The five-times RIAA Platinum-certified record spawned singles including “Them Bones,” “Down an a Hole,” “Rooster,” “Would?” and “Angry Chair.”

AiC will be celebrating the milestone with a vinyl reissue of Dirt, due out September 23. They’re also collaborating with Funko to make a Dirt-themed collection of Pop! figures.

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The classic Journey hit ballad “Faithfully” will be featured on the premiere episode of ABC sitcom The Goldberg‘s 10th season, which airs this Wednesday, September 21, at 8:30 p.m. ET.

The song, which was written by Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain, was recorded 40 years ago and was the second single released from the band’s multi-Platinum 1983 studio album, Frontiers. “Faithfully” peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“It’s truly an honor for me and my bandmates to have ‘Faithfully’ featured in the season premiere of The Goldbergs,” says Cain. “We’re big fans of the show and hope our fans enjoy hearing one of our biggest hits in the episode. We’re looking forward to watching the episode.”

Jonathan began writing “Faithfully” while on Journey’s tour bus en route to a concert in Saratoga Springs, New York, starting with the lyrics “highway run into the midnight sun,” which he wrote down on a napkin. Cain finished composing the song the next day in just a half hour while sitting down at a grand piano backstage at Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

The Goldbergs is based on executive producer Adam F. Goldberg‘s own family and experiences coming of age during the 1980s.

The new episode, which is titled “If You Build It,” finds the Goldberg clan dealing with chaos as the entire family is back living at home, while daughter Erica is expecting a baby.

The Goldbergs is available for streaming on Hulu and ABC.com.

Meanwhile, Journey, whose new studio, Freedom, was released in July, will wind down their 2022 tour schedule in the coming weeks with five shows — on September 23 in San Juan, Puerto Rico; September 28 in Monterrey, Mexico; September 30 in Mexico City; and October 5-6 in Honolulu.

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Metallica has announced the ticket details for the band’s 2022 Helping Hands charity concert.

The general public on-sale begins this Friday, September 23 at 10 a.m. PT, while members of Metallica’s fan club will have access to a a pre-sale beginning this Wednesday, September 21.

For all ticket info, visit Metallica.com.

As previously reported, the concert will take place December 16 in Los Angeles. Along with the ticket details, Metallica has also revealed LA’s Microsoft Theater as the venue for the show, which will include an auction, as well.

Helping Hands, which supports Metallica’s All Within My Hands charity foundation, first launched in 2018. The second concert took place in late 2020 and streamed online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both shows featured rare acoustic Metallica sets.

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Elton John not only received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II, but he performed at multiple royal events and met the monarch a number of times during her 70 years on the throne. On Monday, he took to Instagram to reflect on his history with the queen as the world tuned in to watch her funeral.

“Today I’ll be joining the rest of the world in remembering Her Majesty The Queen,” Elton writes. “My own memories of her are filled with joy and admiration. The Queen honored me with a CBE, a knighthood and the Companion of Honor.”

He adds, “I was lucky enough to perform at three of her Jubilees. They were always joyous and humbling experiences. But it was the moments out of the public eye that I will most fondly remember her for: dancing together to ‘Rock Around the Clock’ at Windsor Castle or experiencing her great wit, warmth and humor first hand.”

“She served with grace and dedication,” he concludes, “and she will be sorely missed.”

He added two photos to his post: One of himself in the ’70s meeting the queen and one of them meeting in more recent times, with fellow musical British knights Tom Jones and Cliff Richard looking on.

Elton danced with the queen to Bill Haley‘s “Rock Around the Clock” at Prince Andrew‘s 21st birthday party in 1981. As Elton hilariously describes in his autobiography, Me, Princess Anne asked Elton to dance with her to Elvis Presley‘s “Hound Dog.” When the DJ segued from that into “Rock Around the Clock,” the queen appeared and asked if she could join them — which she did, still holding her handbag.

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The sixth annual edition of Joe Walsh‘s star-studded VetsAid benefit concert takes place November 13 in Columbus, Ohio, and will be livestreamed globally at 6 p.m ET via the Veeps platform.

Livestream passes and limited-edition merch bundles are available now at VetsAid.Veeps.com.

As previously reported, VetsAid 2022 will take place at Nationwide Arena and will feature performances by Walsh’s recently reunited James Gang, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, Nine Inch Nails, The Breeders and The Black Keys.

The James Gang will be joined by Grohl during their set, which is being billed as the group’s final performance, dubbed “One Last Ride.” 

All of the performers on this year’s VetsAid bill have connections to Ohio. Proceeds raised by the concert and livestream will be donated to charities that specifically support Ohio veterans and their families.

“The arena show sold so fast that we just had to find a way to share the James Gang reunion and this historic night of Ohio rock and roll with more fans across America and the world,” Walsh says about organizing the livestream. “We at VetsAid learned how to livestream over the past two years so I’m proud to partner again with Veeps to bring this show directly to fans … so that we can raise even more money for Ohio vets and their families.”

Meanwhile, VetsAid has launched a contest offering fans who donate to the campaign the chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to the concert that includes round-trip airfare, lodging, premium seats, access to the VIP lounge, dinner for two and a coffee date with Walsh the day before the show. Visit Fandiem.com/VetsAid to enter.

In addition, fans participating in the livestream will have the chance to donate funds during the event.

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An initial list of performers has been announced for the special tribute concert for late Yes drummer Alan White that’s scheduled to take place October 2 at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle.

The lineup includes all of Yes’ current members with the exception of guitarist Steve Howe — keyboardist Geoff Downes, singer Jon Davison, bassist Billy Sherwood and drummer Jay Schellen — plus former Yes guitarist Trevor Rabin.

The bill also includes the members of Alan’s solo band White, founding Santana drummer Michael Shrieve, Pearl Jam/Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron, longtime Queen touring musician Spike Edney, one-time Journey singer Jeff Scott Soto, and ex-Heart members Roger Fisher, Mike Derosier and Steve Fossen.

More performers will be announced soon.

As previously reported, the concert will feature performances of songs from throughout White’s long career, including renditions of tunes by Yes, John Lennon, George Harrison and more.

The event will be hosted by Alan’s longtime friend, retired U.S. radio personality Bob Rivers, and all proceeds from the show will benefit the WhyHunger charity.

Tickets for the concert are available now at Ticketmaster.

White was Yes’ drummer from 1972 until his death this past May at age 72. Prior to joining the famous British prog-rock band, Alan was a member of Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band, and he played on the 1969 album Live Peace in Toronto, John’s 1970 single “Instant Karma,” Lennon’s landmark 1971 album Imagine and 1972’s Some Time in New York City. He also contributed to Harrison’s All Things Must Pass album, including the chart-topping single “My Sweet Lord.”

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Ozzy Osbourne‘s Patient Number 9 debuts in upper reaches of the top 10 of this week’s Billboard 200.

The latest solo effort from the Prince of Darkness lands at #3 on the all-genre album chart with a total of 58,000 equivalent album units, 52,000 of which were traditional album sales. That latter figure makes Patient Number 9 the best-selling album of the week.

Patient Number 9 is, fittingly, Ozzy’s ninth top 10 release as a solo artist. He’s also notched two top 10 records with Black Sabbath, including a #1 with the metal legends’ 2013 swan song, 13.

Ozzy dropped Patient Number 9 on September 9. Like its predecessor, 2020’s Ordinary Man, PN9 features a whole host of guest contributors, including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi, Pearl Jam‘s Mike McCready, Black Label Society‘s Zakk Wylde, Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses, Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica‘s Robert Trujillo and late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.

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