Classic Rock News

Two concerts held in tribute to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins will take place this September in London and in Los Angeles, the band announced Wednesday.

The announcement reads, in part, “Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear and Rami Jaffee will come together with the Hawkins family to celebrate the life, music and love of their husband, father, brother and bandmate with The Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concerts.” 

One show will be held at London’s Wembley Stadium on September 3; the other is set for September 27 at The Kia Forum in LA.  Tickets go on sale June 17, with the lineups for each show to be announced “shortly,” the band said.

The statement goes on to note that “several” of the musicians Hawkins idolized, who offered “passionate and sincere tributes” in the wake of his death on March 25, will appear at the shows, along with the Hawkins family and the band. The shows will feature Hawkins’ “bandmates and his inspirations playing the songs that he fell in love with, and the ones he brought to life.”

You can sign up for a mailing list to receive information on “timings, ticketing links and on sale dates.”

Hawkins died when the band was on tour in Colombia.  Though there has been much speculation regarding his cause of death, no official cause has yet been publicly revealed.

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A new biographical book about Creedence Clearwater Revival titled A Song for Everyone that charts the band’s history and the examines how its music reflected the cultural landscape of its time, will be published on August 9.

Described as “the definitive biography” of the group, the book follows the band — featuring brothers John and Tom Fogerty, Stu Cook and Doug Clifford — from its formation in El Cerrito, California, in 1959 as The Blue Velvets through its mid-1960s  incarnation The Golliwogs and its rise to fame in the late ’60s after changing its name to Creedence Clearwater Revival to its 1972 breakup.

In just three years, from 1969 to 1972, CCR released nine singles that reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, among them “Proud Mary,” “Bad Moon Rising,” “Fortunate Son,” “Travelin’ Band,” “Who’ll Stop the Rain” and “Have You Ever Seen the Rain.” Many of those songs are considered timeless classics that continue to be embraced by generations of music fans.

A Song for Everyone was penned by author John Lingan, who has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Pitchfork and The Oxford American. The book was put together utilizing extensive interviews with CCR members and associates of the group, unpublished memoirs from people who were close to the band, and in-depth research focusing the musical and social developments that occurred from 1959 to 1972.

You can pre-order A Song for Everyone now. Visit HachetteBooks.com for more information.

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Jon Anderson has released a music video for a new song called “So Limitless,” which he recently recorded with some of the young musicians from the Paul Green Rock Academy touring band, with whom the founding Yes frontman will be hitting the road in July.

The video, which you can watch now on YouTube, was shot in April in Orlando, Florida, during Anderson’s spring tour with the Paul Green Rock Academy. The clip features footage of Jon, and the various young musicians and singers filmed separately.

The track was recorded at Solar Studios in Orlando and was produced by Michael Franklin, who also produced Anderson’s recent solo album 1000 Hands.

“So Limitless” was co-written by Anderson and Harry Bricklin, a member of the Paul Green Rock Academy band.

“Here we go making new music with the Rock Academy teens,” Jon says in a statement. “‘So Limitless’ … Because we are limitless in all our living, being and dreaming.”

As previously reported, Anderson’s upcoming summer tour leg with the Paul Green Rock Academy currently features 13 dates and is mapped out from a July 7 concert in Plymouth, New Hampshire, through an August 6 show in Albany, New York.

The new tour will feature Anderson and the young musicians performing Yes’ 1972 album, Close to the Edge, in its entirety in honor of the its 50th anniversary, plus other classic tunes and deep cuts by the legendary prog-rock band, as well as tunes from Anderson’s solo catalog, mash-ups and more.

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On Saturday, Queen + Adam Lambert rocked the crowds in front of Buckingham Palace to kick off the star-studded Party at the Palace concert celebrating Queen Elizabeth II‘s 70 years on the throne.

Shortly before the event, Queen drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May shared an exciting tidbit of news during a BBC Radio 2 interview, revealing that a previously unheard track by the band featuring late frontman Freddie Mercury is scheduled to be released in September.

“We did find a little gem from Freddie that we’d kind of forgotten about,” Taylor told BBC host Zoe Ball. “And it’s wonderful. Actually, it was a real discovery.”

Taylor also revealed that the track came from the sessions for Queen’s 1989 album The Miracle, which was the next-to-last record Mercury made with the band before his death from AIDS in 1991.

“It was kind of hiding in plain sight,” May told Ball. “We looked at it many times and thought, ‘Well, no, we can’t really rescue that.’ But in fact, we went in there again and our wonderful engineering team went, ‘OK, we can do this and this.'”

He added, “It’s like stitching bits together. But it’s beautiful. It’s a very touching piece from Freddie.”

Taylor concurred, calling the track a “very passionate piece [that] turned out beautifully.”

According to Deadline, the title of the track is “Face It Alone.”

Queen + Adam Lambert recently launched a 2022 European leg of their Rhapsody Tour, which continues Wednesday, June 8, with one of a series of shows that the band is playing at London’s O2 arena.

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The lineup has been announced for the 11th annual installment of The KISS Kruise, a two-part event scheduled for October 24-29 and October 29-November 3.

Both cruises, which will feature what’s billed as KISS’ “final onboard performances,” set sail from Los Angeles and will stop at Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada, Mexico, before returning to port.

Week one of the 2022 KISS Kruise will also include performances by Dokken, featuring a reunion with founding guitarist George Lynch; Warrant; L.A. Guns; former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick; Heart by Heart, a group featuring Heart‘s original rhythm section; and an “All Hands on Deck Super Jam” featuring Lita Ford and other guests.

The bill for the cruise’s second week includes Black Label Society, Buckcherry, Kulick, Stryper, Vixen, and an “All Hands on Deck Super Jam” featuring ex-Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach and other musicians.

During both weeks, KISS will play multiple concerts, including an unmasked pool-deck set for all KISS Navy members and a masked electric indoor concert.

Those who purchase tickets for The KISS Kruise XI will receive engraved commemorative gifts, and will get to take part in two on-board activities with KISS and two on-board activities with each of the band’s members.

Other activities and attractions include a KISS memorabilia exhibit, autograph sessions with some of the performers and themed costume parties.

KISS fans who purchases tickets for both weeks will be rewarded with “an exclusive laminate, a poster signed by KISS, happy hour … with KISS, and an exclusive KISS Kruise XI two-timer t-shirt.”

Week two of this year’s KISS Kruise, which was announced first, is sold out. As for the October 24-29 cruise, presale tickets will be available starting June 16, one day before the public on-sale date.

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Original Beach Boys member Brian Wilson and his solo band kick off a summer co-headlining tour with Chicago tonight in Phoenix. The 25-date U.S. trek is mapped out through a July 26 concert in the Detroit suburb of Clarkston, Michigan.

As has been the case for the last several years, Wilson’s band will include two other Beach Boys alums, co-founding singer/guitarist Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin, who sang and played guitar with the band in 1972 and ’73.

“It’s gonna be a big, big tour, and it’ll be a lot of fun,” Jardine tells ABC Audio. “I encourage people to come out and see it. It’s gonna be a great show.”

Al, who’s best known for singing lead vocals on The Beach Boys’ 1965 chart-topper “Help Me, Rhonda,” says that with Wilson sharing headlining duties with Chicago, Brian’s set will focus mainly on their old group’s best-known tunes.

“Yeah, it’s gonna more of a hits-driven performance,” Jardine notes, adding with a laugh, “And that’s…for the new generation. They want to hear the hits…and the old farts, too.”

After the tour with Chicago, Wilson — with Jardine and Chaplin — will play three headlining shows in Tennessee this September.

Prior to Wilson’s trek with Chicago, Al toured with his “Al Jardine’s Family & Friends” show, which featured Jardine performing with his son, Matt, and Wilson’s two daughters — Carnie and Wendy Wilson of Wilson Phillips fame. There are two more “Family & Friends” currently scheduled for 2022 — on July 29 in Paso Robles, California, and October 21 in Cerritos, California.

Visit AlJardine.com to see a full list of concerts that Al will be playing this year.

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Journey has just released a fourth advance track from their upcoming studio album, Freedom, a soaring and soulful rock tune called “Don’t Give Up on Us.”

The track is available now via digital formats, and you also can check out a visualizer video for the song at Journey’s official YouTube channel.

“It is a very melodic song,” founding Journey guitarist Neal Schon says of “Don’t Give Up on Us.” “It’s soulful, coming more from that R&B place and a little more Motown sounding but it definitely rocks. I feel like it’s got Journey all over it.”

Freedom will be released on July 8 and can be preordered now.

The three other advance songs released from the 15-track collection are “The Way We Used to Be,” “You Got the Best of Me,” and “Let It Rain,” which debuted in June 2021, April 2022 and last month, respectively.

As previously reported, following Freedom‘s release, Journey will play four special symphonic concerts in Las Vegas — on July 15, 16, 22 and 23. The band also has several other concerts lined up around the U.S. this summer. Visit JourneyMusic.com for their full confirmed schedule.

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As Chicago prepares to launch a new headlining tour Tuesday night with Beach Boys legend Brian Wilson, the band has announced plans to release its 38th studio album, Born for This Moment, on July 15.

The 14-track collection includes “If This Is Goodbye,” which Chicago released last month as a digital single. Fans who preorder Born for This Moment now will also receive access to a second track from the album, the funky, soulful “Firecracker,” which was made available to digital platforms Tuesday.

In addition, a visualizer video for “Firecracker” has debuted at Chicago’s official YouTube channel.

“I hope that, 55 years from now, listeners will actually feel something about our music and our lyrics,” says founding Chicago singer/keyboardist Robert Lamm. “I mean, we’re all human. We all go through some variation of the same pain and joy at some point in our lives, and there’s a commonality to that. I hope listeners in the future will actually get all those feelings while listening to our music.”

Adds Chicago trumpet player Lee Loughnane, “One of the big reasons this album works so well is that when you put it on and play it, you hear something you’re not quite expecting to hear, and it immediately pulls you in musically and emotionally.”

Chicago trombone player James Pankow notes, “The very nature of these new tracks makes them very performable, and I’m looking forward to playing some fresh material onstage.”

Chicago’s tour with Wilson runs from Tuesday night’s performance in Phoenix through a July 26 concert in the Detroit suburb of Clarkston, Michigan. The band also has a series of North American headlining shows scheduled for late August and September. Visit ChicagoTheBand.com to check out all the dates.

Here’s the full Born for This Moment track list:

“Born for This Moment”
“If This Is Goodbye”
“Firecracker”
“Someone Needed Me the Most”
“Our New York Time”
“Safer Harbours”
“Crazy Idea”
“Make a Man Outta Me”
“She’s Right”
“‘The Mermaid’ Sereia Do Mar”
“You’ve Got to Believe”
“For the Love”
“If This Isn’t Love”
“House on the Hill”

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A new commercial soundtracked to Phil Collins‘ signature solo hit really sucks — literally.

The ad, featuring Phil’s 1981 hit “In the Air Tonight,” is for LG’s CordZero All in One Auto Empty Cordless Stick Vacuum, which comes with a special docking station.  That station stores the vacuum, charges it and — most impressively — actually empties the dust bin for you. 

So, where does Phil’s song come in?  In the ad, we hear him singing, “I can feel it coming in the air tonight” as dust particles float all around a family’s house, covering their screens and annoying the dog.  The source of the dust? It’s dad, emptying a “regular” vacuum into a garbage can.  The idea is that with the new CordZero vacuum, all the dust remains contained.

The vacuum can be yours for the low, low price of $999.

“In the Air Tonight” has been used in many commercials over the years, from Michelob in 1987, to Mountain Dew MDX in 2006, to Dodge in 2015. It’s also been featured in the iconic ’80s TV series Miami Vice and equally iconic ’80s movie Risky Business.

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Today marks the 40th anniversary of the release of the Stray Cats‘ debut U.S. album, Built for Speed.

The 12-track collection, which remains the rockabilly trio’s most successful album to date, actually is a compilation featuring highlights from the Long Island, New York, group’s first two U.K. studio efforts — 1981’s Stray Cats and Gonna Ball — along with one previously unreleased tune, “Built for Speed.”

The Built for Speed album peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 and was kept out of the top spot by Michael Jackon‘s Thriller. The record yielded two of the Stray Cats’ signature tunes, “Stray Cat Strut” and “Rock This Town,” which reached #3 and #9, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100.

The Stray Cats — singer/guitarist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker and drummer Slim Jim Phantom — formed in Massapequa, New York, in 1979. After the band relocated to the U.K. in 1980, their authentic retro-rockabilly sound and style quickly gained them a following there.

Rocker tells ABC Audio that The Rolling Stones were “really integral” to getting his band media attention “before we even had a record deal.”

As Lee recalls, “They were showing up at these little gigs we were doing in London, and, as you can imagine …right behind them was a cadre of photographers and press people. So they helped shine a light.”

The Stones even invited The Stray Cats to open for them during their 1981 tour. The trio soon headed back to the U.S. and, after Built for Speed‘s release, the band’s popularity soared, thanks in part to MTV putting videos for “Stray Cat Strut” and “Rock This Town” into heavy rotation.

Built for Speed went on to sell over 1 million copies in the U.S. Here’s the album’s full track list:

“Rock This Town”
“Built for Speed”
“Rev It Up & Go”
“Stray Cat Strut”
“Little Miss Prissy”
“Rumble in Brighton”
“Runaway Boys”    
“Lonely Summer Nights”
“Double Talkin’ Baby”
“You Don’t Believe Me”
“Jeanie, Jeanie, Jeanie”
“Baby Blue Eyes”

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