Classic Rock News

ZZ Top star Billy F. Gibbons is turning his love of a good cigar into a new business venture. 

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has teamed with BandKandy to launch his first-ever cigar brand. He’s starting out with two new products: Virtu, an ultra premium cigar line developed in the Dominican Republic by Debonaire, and Twin Turbo, a two-pack rough-cut style cigar brand.

“I always enjoy seeing what a cigar brings to a party, even better when I’ve had my hands in the craftsmanship of my very own brands,” Gibbons shares. “Light up, enjoy, and have mercy, my friends.”

Virtu by Billy Gibbons will be available as a limited edition 5,000 piece collection, coming in a numbered high-end humidor that holds five hand-rolled cigars and a custom-designed Zippo lighter. Twin Turbo comes with two cigars in a foil pouch and will be available in three different aromatic profiles. 

Gibbons is a well known cigar fan who enjoys smoking one on stage and lighting one up just before a guitar solo. He is set to make a special appearance to promote his new cigar brand at the Global Tobacco booth at the Total Product Expo in Las Vegas on Thursday, February 1. 

As for Gibbons’ music, ZZ Top is set to kick off a new tour in Key West, Florida, on March 2. A complete list of dates can be found at zztop.com.

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Pink Floyd is releasing yet another version of The Dark Side of the Moon.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers just announced a 50th anniversary The Dark Side of the Moon Collector’s Edition, featuring the 2023 remastered version of the iconic album on crystal clear vinyl.

The two-LP, 180 gram set will feature UV artwork printing on the non-groove side of the LP, the first time they’ve used the UV printing process on vinyl. The artwork is of the iconic prism spectrum from the album’s cover, which can be seen through the playable side. 

The Dark Side of the Moon Collector’s Edition will be released April 16. It is available for preorder now.

Pink Floyd released The Dark Side of the Moon on March 1, 1973. It has gone on to be the band’s most commercially successful album, having been certified 15-times Platinum. In 2012, it was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress.

In 2023, in honor of the album’s 50th anniversary, Pink Floyd released a remastered version of the album along with an extensive box set that featured, among other things, a classic concert, The Dark Side of the Moon — Live at Wembley Empire Pool, London, 1974.

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Dead & Company have confirmed the rumors — they will be playing Las Vegas’ Sphere. 

The band announced the news on Instagram in a video, which reads, “In 2023, Dead & Company played their final tour. But there are other ways to make sure the music never stops. And it’s gonna be a ball.”

The video then cuts to the Sphere lit up with tie-dye images and the Dead’s skull logo, with a live version of “Not Fade Away” playing in the background. The word “forever” then flashes on the screen.

Back in December, the New York Post broke the news that Dead & Company — Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti — were in talks to play the Sphere, the state-of-the-art venue that currently houses U2’s residency, U2: UV Acthung Baby Live at Sphere. 

Dead & Company have yet to announce details regarding dates or ticket information for the shows, but Rolling Stone reports they’re planning for at least 15 shows.

The concerts will be the first Dead & Company shows since July, when the band wrapped what they announced would be their final tour with a three-night stand at San Francisco’s Oracle Park.

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Lenny Kravitz and Lionel Richie have been announced as presenters at Sunday’s 66th annual Grammy Awards.

The night’s other presenters include Oprah Winfrey, Christina Aguilera, Meryl Streep, Mark Ronson, Samara Joy, Maluma and Taylor Tomlinson, as well as “other surprise guests.”

And that’s just the beginning of the A-list talent scheduled for the event. Performers include Billy Joel, U2, Joni Mitchell and Billie Eilish.

The 66th annual Grammy Awards, hosted by Trevor Noah, are happening Sunday in Los Angeles. The show will be broadcast live on CBS at 8 p.m. ET.

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AC/DC is glad to be back in YouTube’s billion views club.

The rock legends’ video for “Back in Black” has officially hit the milestone, making it the second AC/DC clip with at least 1 billion views, following “Thunderstruck.”

The “Back in Black” video showcases a simple but powerful performance of the song as the camera pans across each member. The clip also showcased AC/DC’s then-new singer, Brian Johnson, who made his debut with the band on the 1980 Back in Black album in place of late vocalist Bon Scott.

AC/DC’s most recent album is 2020’s Power Up. The group played their first live show since 2016 at the 2023 Power Trip festival.

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Earlier this month, the studio A24 teased an upcoming tribute album dedicated to Talking Heads’ classic soundtrack Stop Making Sense — and now we finally have some details.

Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense features 16 reworked versions of the songs on the soundtrack, from artists like Paramore, The National, Miley Cyrus, Lorde, The Linda Lindas, girl in red and more.

The first single released from the record is Paramore’s take on the classic “Burning Down The House,” which is available now via digital outlets and on YouTube.

The tribute album is part of the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the movie and the soundtrack. The celebration kicked off with A24’s 4K restoration of the film debuting at the Toronto Film Festival last September, which included a Q&A with the reunited band. It streamed live at IMAX theaters across the country, selling out 25 theaters to become IMAX’s highest-grossing live event.

The film was also rereleased in theaters on January 27, with monthly screenings planned in cities like Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.

Considered by many to be the greatest concert film of all time, Stop Making Sense, directed by Jonathan Demme, was recorded over three shows at Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre in December 1983; the documentary came out the following October.

In addition to “Burning Down the House,” the soundtrack, released in September 1984, featured live performances of songs like “Psycho Killer,” “Once in a Lifetime” and “Take Me To the River.” 

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On This Day, February 1, 2009 …

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band headlined the halftime show at Super Bowl XLIII at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. 

The Boss performed four songs — “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” “Born to Run,” “Working on a Dream” and “Glory Days” — which were each edited to fit into the allotted 12-minute performance.

According to a video put out by the NFL, they had been trying to get Bruce to play the halftime show for years, but he was never interested. It was only after Tom Petty headlined Super Bowl XLII that Springsteen’s people called up and said “we think it’s maybe time to talk about this.”

Bringing the normal Bruce energy, the halftime show got the crowd on its feet. In fact, he brought so much energy to the performance that at one point, Bruce did a knee slide across the stage and smashed into a camera.

As for the game, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Arizona Cardinals 27-23.

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Renowned music photographer Henry Diltz is giving music fans a chance to get their hands on prints of some of his most iconic photographs.

The photographer has teamed up with lifestyle brand 12on12 to launch a limited-edition print collection, featuring five never-before-seen photos of The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards, The Beatles’ Ringo Starr, Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash and America, with each photo co-signed by Diltz and the artist.

The prints, plus limited-edition co-signed T-shirts, will be unveiled Thursday at Fred Segal Sunset in Los Angeles, where they’ll be on display until February 15. A portion of the proceeds from the sales will be donated to MusiCares, the Recording Academy’s charity arm, which provides health and human services to the music community. 

“For the first time in my life, I’m so pleased to be releasing this co-signed collection with some of my dearest friends,” Diltz shares. “I’ve known these musicians for many decades and I love that these moments captured in time can support such a great cause like MusiCares.” 

He adds, “I believe in the ‘divine plan,’ and how lucky are we that it led me here, able to share these moments and memories with everyone!”

Diltz is well known for his iconic photos from the 1960s and 1970s. He was the official photographer at Woodstock and shot 250 album covers, as well as publicity shots for such artists as Eagles, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, Crosby, Stills & Nash and more. In 2023 he was honored with the Recording Academy’s Special Merit Award and also received the Icon Award at the Abbey Road Studios Music Photography Awards.

More information on the collection can be found at 12on12.com.

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The Elton John AIDs Foundation has been recognized with an Anthem Award for its “Let Your Inner Elton Out” media campaign. 

The Anthem Awards, an offshoot of The Webby Awards, honor the people, organizations and brands that work to inspire others to take action to create change themselves. They’re presented in several categories, and the Elton John Aids Foundation won Best Campaign – Non-Profit in the Human & Civil Rights category.

The “Let Your Inner Elton Out” campaign asked fans to take to social media and dress like him to show their support of the organization’s The Rocket Fund initiative, which aims to raise $125 million toward the goal of ending HIV/AIDS by 2030. The campaign was so successful it helped raise $90.4 million.

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The Beach Boys‘ Brian Wilson is mourning the loss of his wife, Melinda, who passed away Tuesday, January 30, at the age of 77.

“My heart is broken. Melinda, my beloved wife of 28 years, passed away this morning,” he wrote on social media. “Our five children and I are just in tears. We are lost.”

“Melinda was more than my wife. She was my savior. She gave me the emotional security I needed to have a career,” he continued. “She encouraged me to make the music that was closest to my heart. She was my anchor. She was everything for us. Please say a prayer for her.” 

Wilson also shared his wife’s obituary in the post, in which she was described as “a force of nature and one of the strongest women you could come by.” It added, “[S]he was a woman empowered by her spirit with a mission to better everyone she touched.”

Wilson married Melinda Kae Ledbetter, a Cadillac salesperson, in February 1995, although they had previously dated from 1986 to 1989. She went on to become his manager, and the couple adopted five children together. She was credited with helping separate Wilson from his former psychologist, Eugene Landy, and was portrayed by Elizabeth Banks in the 2014 film Love and Mercy.

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