Classic Rock News

Foo Fighters are returning to the stage, and some lucky fans in California won’t have to wait very long to see them.

Dave Grohl and the gang announced on social media that they’ll be playing a surprise show Saturday at the historic Fremont Theater in San Luis Obispo, California.

Tickets for the show will be sold at the box office only, with a two-ticket limit per person. Sales begin at about 8 a.m. PT, with doors opening for the show at 7 p.m. PT.

The news comes about a week after Foo Fighters teased some upcoming news on social media, telling fans “Make sure you’re subscribed to the newsletter for info you won’t want to miss… just sayin’…” They also posted several pictures from the studio.

The Fremont show will be the band’s first with their new drummer. According to The Hollywood Reporter, sitting behind the drum kit will be Ilan Rubin, who previously played with Nine Inch Nails, but that hasn’t been confirmed by the Foos.

The previous Foo Fighters drummer, Josh Freese, was let go from the band in May and has since rejoined NIN, with whom he played from 2005 to 2008. The concert will also be the band’s first since Grohl’s 2024 infidelity scandal.

So far, the San Luis Obispo concert is the only U.S. show on the Foo’s schedule for 2025. They are due to kick off a tour of Asia in October.

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The Tom Petty estate has shared another previously unseen clip from his Wildflowers era.

The estate has been dipping into the Wildflowers vault in celebration of the album’s 30th anniversary. The latest clip is a performance of the album’s title track, with a post on Instagram describing it as a “bird’s-eye view of a soundstage rehearsal for the Dogs With Wings Tour in 1995.”

More archival footage is expected to be released in the coming months, and fans can get their first look at it by joining Tom Petty Nation, the rocker’s free, exclusive fan club.

The video’s release coincides with Friday’s Blu-ray release of the documentary Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free: The Making of Wildflowers, directed by Mary Wharton.

The film, originally released on YouTube, follows Petty as he works on Wildflowers with producer Rick Rubin. It features archival footage of the pair in the studio, which was unearthed following Petty’s death in 2017.

Released in November 1994, Wildflowers was the first of three Petty albums produced by Rubin. The album peaked at #8 on the Billboard 200. It featured the singles “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” “You Wreck Me” and the title track.

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Lenny Kravitz’s fourth studio album, Circus, is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and to mark the occasion, the rocker is set to release a digital deluxe edition of the album.

“Circus was a pivotal and incredibly dynamic time in my life,” says Lenny. “My experiences were expanding in so many directions which directly influenced the music.”

Dropping Sept. 19, Circus (Digital Deluxe Edition) will feature 13 bonus tracks that were previously unavailable for streaming. Included among the bonus material is a previously unreleased acoustic version of the album’s title track and a trio of songs — “Another Life,” “Confused” and “Is It Me, Is It You?” — that were previously only available on a limited-edition 10-inch EP and the 2018 vinyl pressing of the album.

The reissue also features nine live recordings, including performances of non-Circus hits “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” “Let Love Rule” and “Always on the Run.”

Circus (Digital Deluxe Edition) is available for preorder now.

Released Sept. 12, 1995, Circus peaked at #10 on the Billboard 200 Album chart, becoming Kravitz’s first top-10 album in the U.S. It also hit #5 in the U.K.

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While scrolling through Instagram on Friday, you may have gotten upset when you saw a photo of Elton John in a hospital bed with both his legs in casts, as well as a brace around his neck. But don’t worry, it was just movie magic.

In the photo, Elton is lying in a hospital bed, surrounded by flowers, get-well cards and balloons. His husband, David Furnish, is standing next to him, talking to some people. But as Elton explains in the caption, “Rocked too hard… ended up in a cast! Backstage with Spinal Tap.”

He continues, “The new film, Spinal Tap II, and [soundtrack] album are out today, featuring me on ‘Listen To The Flower People’ and ‘Stonehenge’. Thanks for having me be a part of it!” Those two songs were in the original This Is Spinal Tap movie back in 1984, but these are new versions featuring Elton. He also appears in the film, duetting with the fictitious band onstage as they perform “Stonehenge.”

If you scroll through the post, you’ll see close-ups of Elton’s fake casts, which are completely bedazzled with rhinestones, and include motifs like a yellow brick road and piano keys.

Plotwise, it’s not clear how Elton ends up in the hospital; you’ll just have to watch the film to find out. Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks and other famous musicians also appear in it.

Many fans were fooled by the hospital image, though. One wrote in the comments, “i’m at the airport and my heart sank so quickly.” Another wrote, “You scared me for a second. It took me a hot second to realize that this is for spinal tap 2.” Another wrote, “I ALMOST HAD A HEART ATTACK THINKING IT WAS REAL.” Even Elton’s pal Charlie Puth wrote in all caps, “YOU SCARED ME.”

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The Who has added one more date to their The Song Is Over North American Farewell Tour, and it will be the last show of the trek.

The new show is scheduled for Oct. 1 at the Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, California. In a post on Instagram the band calls it “The Final Public Show.”

Tickets for the final date go on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m. local time.

In other tour news, The Who announced that The Offspring will be opening their Sept. 19 show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

The Song Is Over North American Farewell Tour kicked off Aug. 16 in Sunrise, Florida. It hits Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Friday. A complete list of dates can be found at TheWho.com.

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Mötley Crüe will finally kick off their Las Vegas residency on Friday at the Dolby Live at Park MGM. The residency was supposed to launch in March, but was postponed after frontman Vince Neil had to have an undisclosed medical procedure — and now Neil is opening up about his health issues.

In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Neil reveals that he suffered a stroke the day after Christmas, noting, “My whole left side went out.”

He adds that the stroke happened while he was sleeping.

“I had to learn to walk again, and that was tough,” he says. “The doctors said they didn’t think I’d be able to go back on stage again. I go, ‘No, no, I’m gonna do it. Watch and see.’”

Neil had to undergo months of physical therapy at his home in Nashville, and it wasn’t easy.

“I went from people carrying me to the bathroom, because I couldn’t walk myself, finally to a wheelchair,” Neil says. “I graduated to a walker, and then I had a cane. Now I don’t need anything. But it’s like a full-time job getting back to where you feel good again.”

Mötley Crüe’s 10-show residency runs through Oct. 3. A complete list of dates can be found at motley.com.

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The Silverlake Conservatory of Music, the music education organization cofounded by Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, has released a new EP, this time paying tribute to Flea’s own band.

Our Loving Tribute to Red Hot Chili Peppers, produced by Flea and Merck Mercuriadis, features four songs: “Subway to Venus,” from 1989’s Mother’s Milk; “Sick Love,” from 2016’s The Getaway; “Hump de Bump,” from 2006’s Stadium Arcadium; and “Soul to Squeeze,” from their 2003 Greatest Hits album. 

All songs on the EP are performed by the SCM All-Stars, described as the “Conservatory’s ensemble of outstanding student musicians.”

“The kids! I’m so grateful that our music can be a vehicle for their spirits to fly. This is what music is for. I am so proud of them,” Flea says. Frontman Anthony Kiedis adds, “I can’t think of anyone I’d rather be tributized by. Student musicians are the best. Let’s all take a listen to how they interpret these tunes.”

Our Loving Tribute to Red Hot Chili Peppers is available now to stream or download, with proceeds benefiting the Silverlake Conservatory.

The Chili Peppers EP is the third and final EP to be released by the organization this year. Previous EPs paid tribute to the Pretenders and Neil Young.

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Neil Young has announced the four albums that will make up the sixth installment in his Official Release Series.

The latest edition will include discs 26, 27, 28 and 29 in the series, and will feature 1992’s Harvest Moon, featuring the iconic title track; 1993’s Unplugged, recorded for the MTV series; 1994’s Sleep With Angels, which includes the 14-minute song “Change Your Mind”; and 1995’s double album Mirror Ball, which he recorded with Seattle rockers Pearl Jam.

Official Release Series Volume 6, dropping Oct. 24, will be released as a limited-edition numbered vinyl box set, with each album issued as a double vinyl. There will also be a CD box, with one CD for each title.

Both sets will be available at the Greedy Hand Store at the Neil Young Archives, as well as music retailers. The set will also be available in high-res digital audio at Neil Young Archives and on most digital services. All formats are available for preorder now.

Young is currently on his Love Earth tour with his band the Chrome Hearts. The tour hits Mountain View, California, on Friday.

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Smashing Pumpkins are taking off with the release of a song called “Chrome Jets.”

The track was originally recorded during the sessions for their 2024 album, Aghori Mhori Mei, and is billed as a “special release for fans.”

In addition to listening to the song digitally, you can preorder a 12-inch vinyl featuring “Chrome Jets” on one side and a live cover of U2‘s song “Zoo Station” from a show in Berlin in 2024 on the other through Billy Corgan‘s Madame Zuzu’s tea shop. Only 1,500 copies are available.

The Pumpkins will start their Rock Invasion tour Sept. 15 in Japan.

As previously reported, in November Corgan will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Pumpkins’ classic Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by performing what’s described as a “new sonic and visual experience” at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

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Pink Floyd is celebrating the 50th anniversary of their ninth studio album, Wish You Were Here, by reissuing the album with a whole host of bonus material.

Wish You Were Here 50 will be released in a variety of formats, including a digital release that features the original album mixed in Dolby Atmos. It will include 25 bonus tracks, with nine studio rarities, including six tracks that have never been released before.

The bonus material also includes 16 live bootleg recordings from a concert at the Los Angeles Sports Arena on April 26, 1975, which are getting their first-ever official release. The audio has been restored and remastered by producer Steven Wilson.

Wish You Were Here 50 will also be released as a three-LP or two-CD set, with the original album and the rarities; a Blu-ray with Dolby Atmos and 5.1 Surround mixes of the album; three concert films from the band’s 1975 tour; and a short film by famed art designer and Hipgnosis co-founder Storm Thorgerson.

And there will be a deluxe box set that includes all the material on the two-CD or three-LP editions (in clear vinyl), as well as the Blu-ray, an additional clear vinyl LP with a 1974 Live at Wembley concert, a replica Japanese 7-inch single of “Have A Cigar”/”Welcome to the Machine,” a hard cover book and more.

As a preview of the bonus material on Wish You Were Here 50, Pink Floyd has released “The Machine Song,” a previously unheard demo of what would go on to become the album’s track “Welcome to the Machine.”

All formats will be released Dec. 12 and are available for preorder now.

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