Classic Rock News

Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band launch their 2022 North American tour this Friday, May 27, in Rama, Canada.

The lineup of the former Beatles drummer’s group is slightly different than when they last hit the road in 2019, with veteran rocker Edgar Winter rejoining the All Starrs after a 2006-2011 stint with the band.

Interestingly, Winter released a star-studded tribute album in April called Brother Johnny — an homage to his late sibling, Johnny Winter — that features contributions from Ringo and two other All Starr Band members — Toto guitarist Steve Lukather and veteran session drummer Gregg Bissonette.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Edgar tells ABC Audio about touring with the All Starrs again. “And it’s perfect in that the album [has] just been released, and I get to see all my friends again…So it’s gonna be a beautiful reunion. I can’t wait!”

Winter, who is best known for his 1970s hits “Frankenstein” and “Free Ride,” says he’ll definitely play those songs on the new tour, and possibly a tune from Brother Johnny.

“Ringo…always wants your biggest hits. That’s the whole idea. And it’s a great model,” Edgar notes. “I love the All Starr Band. It’s unlike any tour. You know, I think of it as the ‘peace and love’ tour, because there’s just so much positive energy.”

Winter, who idolizes The Beatles, says it’s an honor to play with Starr.

“I have such respect for him, not only as a drummer, but…as a human being,” he declares. “He’s such a heartfelt advocate and spokesman for peace and love. And, you know, having played Woodstock and being an old hippie myself…peace and love is something the world can always use more of.”

Visit RingoStarr.com to check out the full tour schedule.

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As Def Leppard prepares to release its latest studio album, Diamond Star Halos, on Friday, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers will be featured as the musical guests on tonight’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which airs at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.

The band will also perform additional songs that won’t air on the Kimmel show but will be streamed on the program’s YouTube channel. According to information on the YouTube page, performances of four classic Def Leppard tunes will be shown online — “Rock of Ages,” “Photograph,” “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Hysteria.”

Meanwhile, as previously reported, Def Leppard will premiere the music video for the new song “Fire It Up,” the latest single from Diamond Star Halos, on Thursday, May 26, at 9 a.m. ET on the group’s YouTube channel. Following the clip’s debut, the band members will take part in an exclusive YouTube Premieres afterparty, during which they will discuss the new album. For more information on how to join the afterparty, visit YouTube.

After the premiere, the “Fire It Up” video will be available to view at Facebook Watch. You can check out a snippet of the clip now on Def Leppard’s Facebook page.

Diamond Star Halos is Def Leppard’s first album of new, original tunes since 2015’s self-titled effort. It can be preordered now and will be available as a deluxe package, on CD, as a two-LP set and digitally, among other configurations.

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Don McLean had been scheduled to perform at a concert event in Houston this Saturday celebrating the 150th anniversary of the National Rifle Association, aka the NRA, but the “America Pie” singer/songwriter has pulled out of the event in the wake of the recent mass shooting at a grade school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday.

Variety reports that McLean has issued a statement that reads, “In light of the recent events in Texas, I have decided it would be disrespectful and hurtful for me to perform for the NRA at their convention in Houston this week. I’m sure all the folks planning to attend this event are shocked and sickened by these events as well. After all, we are all Americans. I share the sorrow for this terrible, cruel loss with the rest of the nation.”

The show, dubbed NRA’s Grand Ole Night of Freedom Concert, takes place on the second day of the 2022 NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits, a three-day convention that’s also scheduled to feature speeches by former President Donald Trump, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, and “over 14 acres of guns and gear and 800 exhibitors.”

Performers still apparently on the bill for the concert include Lee Greenwood, Larry Gatlin, T. Graham Brown and Restless Heart singer Larry Stewart. Gatlin and Stewart both confirmed that they still planned to perform at the event.

Nineteen children and two adults were shot to death by 18-year-old Salvador Ramos on Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. Ramos was then killed by police.

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Stone Temple Pilots have canceled their performances at the last five shows of their U.S. tour with Halestorm and Black Stone Cherry because “a member of [their] touring party … tested positive” for COVID-19 during routine testing for the virus.

STP announced the news in a post on their social media sites: “Out of an abundance of caution, we must regretfully cancel the remaining shows on our tour with HALESTORM,” adding, “HALESTORM and BLACK STONE CHERRY will still be performing as scheduled.”

The five affected dates were last night’s show in Evansville, Indiana; tonight’s concert in Tulsa, Oklahoma; and performances on May 27 in Deadwood, South Dakota; May 28 in Moorhead, Minnesota; and May 30 in Missoula, Montana.

STP’s message concludes, “Thank you to everybody who has come out to see a show, and an extra special thank you to HALESTORM. We’ll be back out there as soon as we can.”

In November of last year, the band canceled the final two dates of their fall tour after someone in their organization tested positive for COVID-19, while the following month bassist Robert DeLeo announced that he had caught the virus.

Stone Temple Pilots’ next concert is scheduled for June 4 in Addison, Texas.

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A new studio version of Bob Dylan‘s classic folk song “Blowin’ in the Wind” will be sold at a Christie’s auction in London on July 7.

Billboard reports that Dylan recently recorded his new version of the tune with acclaimed producer T Bone Burnett using Burnett’s new ultra-high-definition Ionic Original audio format, details of which were unveiled last month.

The recording will be up for bid as part of Christie’s “Exceptional Sale,” and its value is estimated between $752,000 and $1.2 million. Prior to the auction, people will be able to listen to the Ionic Original disc by appointment at Christie’s locations in Los Angeles on June 8 and New York on June 15, and in conjunction with a public exhibition in London from July 2 to July 7.

The auction of the updated version of the tune coincides with the 60th anniversary of the original recording of “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

“Sixty years after Bob first wrote and recorded ‘Blowin’ in the Wind,’ he is giving us a new recording of his song; one that is both deeply relevant for our times and resonant with decades of the artist’s life and experience,” Burnett says in a statement. “We’re grateful to Christie’s for their belief in the ‘Ionic Original’ and for presenting Bob’s masterful recording to the world in a unique and meaningful way.”

The new rendition of “Blowin’ in the Wind” is the first recording to use the Ionic Original technology, which was developed by Burnett’s NeoFidelity Inc. company.

As reported last month by Variety, Dylan recorded a series of new versions of his well-known songs that will be released by NeoFidelity on a new Ionic Originals medium, which resembles a vinyl LP but is made of aluminum.

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The viral music collective Rockin’1000 has shared a rendition of the Foo Fighters classic “My Hero” in honor of the band’s late drummer, Taylor Hawkins.

The performance, which featured 1,000 musicians playing together simultaneously, took place during a Rockin’1000 concert in Paris earlier this month. You can watch it streaming now on YouTube.

Rockin’1000, of course, has a special connection to Foo Fighters. The project made its debut in 2015 by gathering 1,000 musicians to play the Foos song “Learn to Fly” in an effort to convince Dave Grohl and company to perform a concert in founder Fabio Zaffagnini‘s hometown of Cesena, Italy.

Video of the performance — which now has over 60 million views on YouTube — soon went viral and caught the attention of the Foos themselves; they played a show in Cesena later in 2015.

Rockin’1000 has continued over the past seven years performing concerts around the world and has collaborated with musicians including Courtney Love.

Hawkins passed away on March 25. He was 50 years old.

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A star-studded environmental-themed festival called Atlantis Concert for Earth that will feature live and virtual performances will be held July 22 and 23.

The live show will take place on the rim of a volcano crater on Sete Cidades in Portugal’s Azores islands. The concert will include a virtual performance by Sting, and the lineup also features Stone Temple Pilots, Bush, Julian Lennon, Mod Sun, Black Eyed Peas, Pitbull, Nicole Scherzinger and others. Scherzinger also will serve as host.

Atlantis Concert for Earth is a nonprofit event that will celebrate global conservation. In addition to the music performances, the show will highlight the work of a variety of conservationists and organizations focused on the environment, including Lennon’s White Feather Foundation.

On July 23, the event will be streamed for free at the Veeps platform, and viewers will be encouraged to donate money, 100 percent of which will benefit the organizations showcased by the festival.

The event was conceptualized in part by Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, who was born in the Azores and who recently collaborated with Julian on a cover of his late dad John Lennon‘s classic peace anthem, “Imagine.”

“These days, words Climate and Climate Crisis trigger so many different emotions from all walks of life,” said Bettencourt.

He adds, “[T]ogether during Concert for Earth we are taking our universal language and power of music to celebrate the Conservationists and Entrepreneurs from around the world who are game changers leading the way with real, tangible solutions to flip the current narrative of climate and conservation from blame, anger, and doom; to positivity and hope by shining a light on inspirational SOLUTIONS to get us back in balance with our planet.”

For more details about the event, visit AtlantisConcertforEarth.com.

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The San Francisco Giants baseball team is once again back to celebrating Metallica Night.

After a two-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual event returned Tuesday at SF’s Oracle Park. Like with previous years, frontman James Hetfield and guitarist Kirk Hammett took to the diamond to rock their shred-heavy instrumental rendition of the national anthem.

Hetfield also threw out the game’s ceremonial first pitch.

Perhaps the spirit of Metallica inspired the Giants players, who pulled out a thrilling 13-12 victory over the visiting New York Mets.

Along with the Giants, Metallica supports a number of other Bay Area sports teams, including the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and the NHL’s San Jose Sharks.

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Not only is John Mellencamp adept at painting a portrait of life in small town America with his words and music, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer also is literally a talented painter.

Now, a new book showcasing his artwork, titled John Mellencamp: American Paintings and Assemblages, is scheduled to be published on October 17. The 256-page volume, which the artist curated himself, features images of 170 pieces he created, including large-scale oil paintings and mixed-media assemblages.

The book includes self-portraits and portraits of such celebrities as Marlon Brando, Johnny Cash and Mellencamp’s one-time fiancee Meg Ryan, as well as an abstract homage to Martin Luther King Jr.

The book also features essays about Mellencamp’s art, penned by publisher Bob Guccione Jr. and acclaimed journalist and critic David L. Shirey.

“Although we may primarily know Mellencamp as a rock star, one of the highest-selling of all time and a Hall of Famer, he is also a great painter, as this book shows,” writes Guccione. “Not a musician who also paints … No, John legitimately belongs in the modern art pantheon.”

Mellencamp’s most recent studio album, Strictly a One-Eyed Jack, was released in January. It features three collaborations with Bruce Springsteen.

According to a post on his official website, he’s planning to return to touring in 2023.

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Judas Priest is having an eventful year that will see the band mount a lengthy, new European leg of its ongoing 50 Heavy Metal Years tour and will culminate with the veteran British rockers getting inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this November.

Beyond that, frontman Rob Halford reports that the band is continuing to work on a new album that will be a follow-up to their 2018 studio effort, Firepower.

“We’ve stopped kicking the tires and now we’re in tracking,” Halford tells ABC Audio about the status of the record.

He also reveals that he’s planning to add some new material to the project that, judging by his comments, will be based around unfinished archival recordings.

“You can never have enough songs when you’re making an album,” he notes. “Songs that you didn’t even know you had bits and pieces and fragments of, suddenly they become an incredibly important part of your record.”

Regarding the sound of the album, Rob notes, “The music that we’re making now is representative of where Priest is at this probably sixth decade of our existence when it comes out…It sounds great. I’m really pleased.”

He adds, “I’m really, really happy that…we’re not dropping the ball. Not that we ever have. But it’s good, because there are some elements in there that we’ve never…kind of discovered before.”

Asked if he thinks the album may be ready for release sometime next year, Halford responds cagily, “He raises his hands, he shrugs his shoulders and he goes, ‘Meh.'”

Judas Priest launches its 2022 European trek on May 31 in Berlin.

As previously reported, the band will be inducted into the Rock Hall in conjunction with receiving the Musical Excellence Award. The ceremony takes place November 5 in Los Angeles.

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