Classic Rock News

Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe kick off the U.K./European leg of their Stadium tour on Monday, May 22, in the band’s hometown of Sheffield, England, and while the tour has already played the U.S. and Latin America, guitarist Phil Collen is particularly excited about their upcoming shows.

“I’m a bit of a tourist,” he tells ABC Audio, noting that he’s looking forward to visiting cities like Prague and Milan. He’s also excited to play London’s Wembley Stadium, which he says is “a big deal.” And he’s even more stoked for opening night at Bramall Lane, home of frontman Joe Elliott‘s favorite football club, Sheffield United, which Collen says is “a huge deal for us.”

Collen also can’t wait to be back on tour with his buddies in Mötley Crüe. “It’s been like being at school with your best friends, only you’re on a 787 jumbo jet,” he says. “I mean, it’s ridiculous.” 

The new leg of the Stadium tour runs through July 6 in Glasgow, Scotland, and then returns to the U.S. on August 5 in Syracuse, New York. A complete list of Def Leppard/Mötley Crüe tour dates can be found at defleppard.com.

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Foo Fighters held a streaming concert Sunday, during which they revealed who will be the band’s new drummer following the death of Taylor Hawkins in March 2022.

Showing that they haven’t lost their sense of humor following what they’ve called “the most difficult and tragic year that our band has ever known,” the Foos began the stream faking out viewers with a trio of big-name drummers — Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Chad Smith, Mötley Crüe‘s Tommy Lee and Tool‘s Danny Carey — showing up at the studio for a quick chat before leaving. The camera then turned around to reveal the true new Foos drummer sitting behind the kit: Josh Freese.

An acclaimed and prolific session drummer, Freese has played with bands including Nine Inch Nails, Guns N’ Roses, A Perfect Circle and The Offspring. He also was one of the many guest drummers to sit in with the Foos during their massive tribute concerts to Hawkins last September.

The set for the stream featured the live debut of “Rescued,” “Under You,” “Nothing At All,” songs off the upcoming Foos album But Here We Are, their first record since Hawkins’ death. They also played classics including “All My Life” and “Monkey Wrench,” and closed with “Aurora,” which was Hawkins’ favorite Foo Fighters song.

But Here We Are drops June 2. Foos will launch a U.S. tour May 24 in Gilford, New Hampshire.

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After years of estrangement, Graham Nash has said he and his former Crosby, Stills and Nash bandmate David Crosby were approaching reconciliation when Crosby died in January. Now, he’s planning two releases that will celebrate their work together.

According to Billboard, Nash plans to release a compilation of other artists’ songs on which he and Crosby made guest appearances. He also wants to put out a recording from a concert they did in Padua, Italy, in 2011 that he says “knocks me on my a**.”

Nash, whose new album, Now, is out Friday, tells Billboard, “It’s all sad, but I choose to only try to remember the good stuff, the good times we had, the good music that we made, ’cause the rest is just s*****, silly teenage stuff.”

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is touring a show he calls Sixty Years of Songs and Stories, with West Coast dates set for next month and more North American dates in the fall.

“I just want people to know you can still rock at 81,” Nash says. “I’ve made some fine music in my life, with my fantastic musical partners. And I feel there’s still more of it coming.”

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Many artists have covered The Beach Boys over the years, but one artist has completely taken the group’s music apart and put it back together again.

Superstar DJ and producer Steve Aoki has remixed the band’s 1964 top five hit “Fun Fun Fun” and turned it into something you’d be more likely to hear in a club at 1 a.m. versus cruising in a car listening to AM radio.

“I’ve been a huge fan of The Beach Boys all of my life. Growing up in California, I heard their music all around me,” says Aoki in a statement.

“The Beach Boys are musical geniuses and visionaries in the world of rock n’ roll. I continue to be inspired by their music to this day. It’s an honor to come together for the ‘Fun, Fun, Fun’ remix, and I can’t wait to share it with all of our fans all summer long.”

Aoki shared the remix with fans at one of his recent shows and, according to a press release, “the crowd went wild.”

A statement from The Beach Boys reads, “It’s both gratifying and a whole lot of fun, fun, fun to have Steve Aoki – fun personified – reimagine one of our most enduring crowd-pleasers! As we cruise into summer, Steve (Aoki)’s ‘Fun, Fun, Fun’ remix drives like an ace.”

If you prefer the original version, it was recently featured in the trailer for the upcoming movie Barbie.

In honor of their 60th anniversary, The Beach Boys are currently working on a documentary, as well as some other projects.

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If you’ve got lots of money and are tired of the usual rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia, listen up.

In addition to guitars, the late Eddie Van Halen also loved cars, and one of his favorites is going under the hammer Saturday, May 20, in Indianapolis.

Mecum Auctions is selling Eddie’s 2016 silver Porsche 2016 911 GT3 RS, which he custom ordered and then raved about to Car and Driver magazine. In addition to being a Porsche, the car is special because it comes with a signed certificate of authenticity, as well as custom carbon fiber door sill plates with an illuminated Van Halen logo.

As an extra bonus, the phone-dialing software in the dashboard hasn’t been erased and displays “Edward Van Halen’s iPhone” as one of the device choices.

According to Inside Hook, Eddie sold the car in July 2020, just three months before his death. When he sold it, the odometer read just over 15,000 miles; the current owner has put another thousand on it.

The car is estimated to bring between $200,000 and $225,000.

The Porsche was just one of several luxury and sports cars Eddie owned: a Lamborghini Miura can be heard revving on Van Halen’s 1984 hit “Panama.”

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Not every band that came up in the ’80s can brag that they’re still filling stadiums, but Def Leppard can: The U.K./European leg of their Stadium tour with Mötley Crüe starts on Monday. Guitarist Phil Collen says they’re still touring at this level because of some inspiration from KISS — and Beyoncé.

“Rolling with the punches and moving with the times … you have to go with it, you have to roll with it,” Collen tells Music Radar. He explains, “We keep raising the bar with our vocals and playing, and the way that we present the show. And I think you have to do that.”

“We learned something when we went out with KISS; the show is more important than anything, and you take the ego out and the crews work together and everything is the show,” Collen notes.

“Beyoncé just did a thing a few months ago in Dubai and it was so over-the-top. And that’s what you’re competing with … so you keep having to raise the bar, and you keep having to get better.”

“The minute you go out there and you’re not really into doing it, you’re turning your back on the audience,” he adds. “So I think there’s a constant thing of striving to be better, especially with the show.”

And Collen says Beyoncé isn’t the only pop star other rock artists can learn a lesson from: Ed Sheeran‘s another. Collen says he was “very impressed” that when Sheeran was first starting out, he’d play multiple shows a day in different venues.

As Collen notes, “If you can’t do that then you ain’t got a chance. … Whether you like him or not, that’s the role model.”

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Queen is back with the latest installment of their weekly YouTube series Queen The Greatest Live. In this week’s episode, “Opening Magic,” they revisit their legendary July 1986 concert in Budapest, which came as part of their Magic Tour.

Specifically, the Budapest show is held up as an example of how Queen were masters at staging an exciting, energy-filled opening to their concerts. At this one, they started with “One Vision,” then went right into “Tie Your Mother Down.” You can see performances of both those songs in this new episode.

The Magic Tour was notable for the fact that Queen completely revamped their set list and added the most elaborate lighting setup they’d ever used; the entire tour was their most expensive production overall.

At the time of the tour, drummer Roger Taylor said, “I think we’re probably the best live band in the world at the moment, and we’re going to prove it. No one who comes to see us will be disappointed.”

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You’ve heard of limited-edition vinyl and premium vinyl — now get ready for limited-edition premium vinyl with super high fidelity and exclusive new content.

The vinyl series, Rhino High Fidelity, launches Friday with The Cars‘ 1978 self-titled debut, which is available for $39.98 at Rhino.com. The pressing, featuring a high quality glossy cover, is limited to 5,000 individually numbered copies.

With the album, you’ll get a new interview with Cars guitarist Elliott Easton and producer Roy Thomas Baker‘s notes on one of the album’s hits, “Good Times Roll.”

In a statement, Easton says when he heard the new pressing of the album, “It just blew mind … it’s like listening to a studio playback.”

The Cars’ debut was chock-full of songs that are now classics, including “My Best Friend’s Girl,” “Just What I Needed,” “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight” and “Bye Bye Love,” as well as the beloved deep cut “Moving in Stereo.”

Easton says, “We felt like we were doing something that hadn’t been done before. We felt like we were breaking some ground and making some sounds that hadn’t been recorded before.”

“That was very exciting. It was just completely the chemistry of the five of us,” he adds. “It’s nothing you can calculate or plan. It just either happens or doesn’t. It’s magic.”

The Rhino High Fidelity series will release two albums quarterly. In addition to The Cars, jazz legend John Coltrane‘s 1964 album Coltrane’s Sound is also available. The next round of releases will be announced soon.

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The only performing artists to make the U.K.’s Sunday Times’ Rich List 2023 this year are pretty much the ones you’d expect: Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Elton John.

On the list of the 350 richest people in the U.K., McCartney ranks #175, but that’s including the fortune of his wife, Nancy Shevell, whose family owns a freight transportation business. The Times estimates the couple’s net worth at a bit over $1.18 billion, up from $1.075 billion last year. 

The Times notes that last year, McCartney’s Got Back tour grossed over $130 million from just 16 shows — and that was on top of his regular income from The Beatles songs, solo songs and the songwriting copyrights of other songs he owns.

As for Elton, he’s got a ways to go before he gets near McCartney’s billions — he’s “only” worth about $560 million. However, that’s enough to make him a new entry on the list: He ranks #309. He didn’t even make the list last year.

The thing that put Elton over the top was, of course, his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which has become the highest-grossing tour ever, earning $800 million as of January.

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On This Day, May 19, 1945 …

Future Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Pete Townshend was born in Chiswick, West London.

Co-founder, guitarist, main songwriter and co-vocalist of legendary British rockers The Who, Townshend is responsible for writing over 100 songs from the band’s catalog, including songs like “My Generation,” “I Can’t Explain” and “Substitute,” as well as the band’s rock operas Tommy and Quadrophenia. 

Townshend has also had a successful solo career, releasing seven solo albums, with songs like the top 10 hit “Let My Love Open the Door,” as well as “A Little Is Enough” and “Rough Boys.”

Townshend was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with The Who in 1990; they also received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. The band received a Kennedy Center Honors in 2008, and in 2016, Townshend and The Who’s frontman, Roger Daltrey, were awarded the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement at UCLA.

Townshend also won a Tony for the Broadway adaption of The Who’s Tommy.

Earlier this year, Townshend released the tune “Can’t Outrun The Truth,” which was his first solo single in 29 years. The Who kick off a European tour June 14 in Barcelona, Spain.

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