Classic Rock News

Since the Black Album days, Metallica concerts have featured a “snake pit” section — a limited capacity, enclosed area right near the stage reserved for the luckiest of fans. As drummer Lars Ulrich tells Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Metallica wanted the “snake pit” to feel like an exclusive experience at a great restaurant.

“One of our managers back in New York in the late ’80s/early ’90s [had] the idea that when you would go to a restaurant, that the best seat in the restaurant was actually not in the house, but the best seat was in the kitchen,” Ulrich explains in a clip posted by RollingStone.com. “So in crazy, cool restaurants, if you could somehow get into the kitchen and eat in the kitchen, you were in there where all the action was.”

The interview took place as Ulrich walked Lowe through the empty stadium in Amsterdam where Metallica kicked off their M72 world tour in April.

“This is the most pristine large-scale concert production I’ve ever seen,” Lowe remarks. “This makes U2 look sloppy.”

The M72 tour, which supports Metallica’s new 72 Seasons album, comes to the U.S. in August.

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Last summer Joni Mitchell surprised the crowd at the Newport Folk Festival with her first live performance in 20 years — and now fans who didn’t catch the show will finally hear what went down.

The new live album At Newport, produced by Brandi Carlile, the artist responsible for getting Mitchell back on the stage, is being released July 28. It features songs from the onstage “Joni Jam,” with guest appearances by Carlile and her bandmates Phil and Tim Hanseroth, Wynonna Judd, Marcus Mumford, Celisse, Lucius’ Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith and more.

The album, with liner notes by Oscar-winning director Cameron Crowe, features performances of such Joni classics as “Big Yellow Taxi,” “A Case of You,” “Both Sides Now” and more. 

At Newport will be released in a variety of formats, including digitally, on CD and two-LP black vinyl, and in Dolby Atmos. There will also be a two-LP clear vinyl set sold at independent record stores and Barnes & Noble.

And Mitchell’s return to performing isn’t over. She’s set to headline a “Joni Jam” on June 10 at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Quincy, Washington, with Carlile as special guest. The show is the legendary singer’s first ticketed performance in 20 years, and it sold out almost immediately.

At Newport is available for preorder now. Here’s the track list:

Introduction by Brandi Carlile
“Big Yellow Taxi”
“A Case Of You”
“Amelia”
“Both Sides Now”
“Just Like This Train”
“Summertime”
“Carey”
“Help Me” – Celisse
“Come In From The Cold”
“Shine”
“The Circle Game”

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Pete Townshend‘s solo catalog is the latest to get the reissue treatment on half speed mastered vinyl.

The first two releases in the series are Rough Mix, Pete’s 1977 collaboration with late Small Faces bass player Ronnie Lane, and his 1980 solo album Empty Glass. Both will be available June 23 but can be preordered now.

Both albums have been mastered on limited edition black vinyl by noted producer and engineer Jon Astley, who’s also Pete’s former brother-in-law. The half speed mastering technique produces superior quality vinyl LPs. The albums have also been repackaged in their original sleeves; Empty Glass also comes with a 12-by-24-inch poster.

Rough Mix, whose best known track is “My Baby Gives It Away,” was recorded during The Who‘s hiatus after their 1976 tour. It features contributions from The Who’s John Entwistle, as well as Eric Clapton, who co-wrote the track “Annie,” and The Rolling Stones‘ Charlie Watts.

In addition to compositions by Townshend and Lane, the album features a cover of country star Don Williams‘ 1976 #1 hit “Til All the Rivers Run Dry.”

Empty Glass features one of Townshend’s biggest solo hits, “Let My Love Open the Door,” as well as the classic rock staple “Rough Boys.” Its songs were inspired by what Townshend was going through at the time, including substance abuse, problems in his marriage and his sadness over the 1978 death of Who drummer Keith Moon.

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On This Day, May 11, 1981 …

Reggae legend Bob Marley died from cancer at a hospital in Miami, Florida, at the age of 36.

In July 1977, Marley was diagnosed with a type of malignant melanoma under a toenail. By the fall of 1980, the cancer had spread to his brain, lungs and liver, and he played his final concert in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on September 23, 1980.

After the cancer spread throughout his body, he went to Germany to undergo an alternative cancer treatment, but during his flight home his health got worse and he was taken to the hospital in Miami, where he passed away.

He was laid to rest with a state funeral in Jamaica on May 21, 1981.

Marley is best known for his 1984 album Legend, which is the bestselling reggae album of all time. It features a live version of the Marley classic “No Woman No Cry,” along with other classics like “I Shot the Sheriff,” “One Love,” “Is This Love,” “Get Up Stand Up” and more. 

Marley was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

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The Pretenders are back with their first new album in three years. The rockers are set to drop the new studio album Relentless on September 1 and have shared the first single from the record, “Let The Sun Come In.”

In discussing the album’s title, frontwoman Chrissie Hynde shares, “I enjoy seeing the various meanings and origins of a word. And I liked the definition: ‘showing no abatement of intensity.’ So when it came to an album title, it seemed fitting. You know … to keep doing it.”

She adds, “I think anyone in a band is constantly questioning if they should keep going. It starts as a youthful pursuit and eventually, it makes you wonder, why am I doing this? It’s the life of the artist. You never retire. You become relentless.” 

Relentless is the follow-up to 2020’s Hate for Sale, and is the second consecutive album where Hynde and Pretenders guitarist James Walbourne collaborated on all the songwriting. The album’s closing track, “I Think About You Daily,” features Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, who provided the string arrangements for the tune.

“I met Jonny a couple of times and we’re obviously big fans of him because he’s done some incredible music over the years,” Hynde says, noting she was “thrilled and very surprised” when he said he wanted to do something together.

Relentless is available for preorder now.

Here is the track list for Relentless:
“Losing My Sense Of Taste”
“A Love”
“Domestic Silence”
“The Copa”
“Promise Of Love”
“Merry Widow”
“Let The Sun Come In”
“Look Away”
“Your House Is On Fire”
“Just Let It Go”
“Vainglorious”
“I Think About You Daily”

Next up, The Pretenders kick off a U.K. tour on Friday, May 12, in Brighton, England. They are set to open for Guns N’ Roses on their European tour starting in July. A complete list of dates can be found at thepretenders.com.

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August marks the 50th anniversary of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s debut album, (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd), and now a new coffee table book is looking at the band’s early history through photos.

Pronounced: A Photographic History of Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1973 to 1977 will be released by Rufus Publications this fall. Compiled by legendary photographer and longtime Skynyrd fan Ross Halfin, the book “is a true celebration of the band’s classic period.”

The book features more than 340 pages, with hundreds of rare and unseen images from photographers like Michael Zagaris, Tom Hill, Dick Polak, Barry Plummer and others, along with written contributions from Halfin, music journalist Pete Makowski and Sounds editor Geoff Barton. 

The book will be released in three different formats, including a standard edition and a deluxe collectors edition. Only 450 numbered copies will be available, each personally signed by Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington before his March 5 death. There’s also a leather and metal edition, limited to only 50 copies and also signed by Rossington, which is supersized, bound in recycled leather and enclosed in a metal slipcase.

Presales of Pronounced begin May 12, with the copies set to ship in October.

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While he’s most famous for being the drummer of The Rolling Stones, the late Charlie Watts recorded a lot of jazz music — and now that side of his career is being explored in a new collection from BMG.

Anthology, dropping June 30, will focus on Watts’ catalog of jazz recordings covering a span of close to 20 years. The collection features Watts’ drumming as part of a quartet, quintet, tentet and with an orchestra.

But it’s not Watts all alone, with the set featuring a variety of collaborators, including bassist Dave Green, saxophonists Peter King, Evan Parker and Courtney Pine, trumpeter Gerard Presencer, drummer Jim Keltner and vocalist Bernard Fowler, a member of the Rolling Stones’ live band.

Anthology will be released in double vinyl and double CD formats, with both including liner notes by music journalist Paul Sexton, who wrote Charlie’s Good Tonight: The Authorized Biography of Charlie Watts.

Anthology is available for preorder now.

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Folks still can’t get enough of The Beatles. The legendary band just became the latest to join Spotify’s Billions Club, thanks to their classic single “Here Comes The Sun.”

The song is the first Beatles track to make Spotify’s list, which features 405 other tunes. 

“Here Comes The Sun,” written by George Harrison, was featured on The Beatles’ 1969 album, Abbey Road. A remix of the song was released in 2019 to promote the Abbey Road 50th anniversary reissue.

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Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks played their final Genesis show back in March 2022, and Rutherford admits it was an emotional experience.

“The actual show felt bizarre,” Rutherford tells Classic Rock magazine of the concert at London’s O2 Arena. “I was kind of okay until I saw on my setlist that there were just four songs left. Seeing that in print made me emotional, but having got through all of the problems with Covid, it felt very good to see things through.”

Rutherford says it was nice to see fans’ reactions, noting, “I tend to forget how much the music means to people’s lives,” adding that seeing sold-out shows in cities they hadn’t played in years “proves what a lovely reach Genesis had.” 

“There was some sadness, but I thoroughly enjoyed our last tour,” he says. “It’s always a joy to be onstage with Phil and Tony.”

Rutherford is currently on a U.K. tour with his other band, Mike and the Mechanics. A complete list of tour dates can be found at mikeandthemechanics.com.

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The Who has added a new show to their European and U.K. tour, bringing their music to a very special venue. 

The band will bring their The Who Hits Back tour to the Eden Sessions at the Eden Project in Cornwall, England, on July 25. The location is the home of the world-famous Biomes, which house thousands of plant species. 

“We’re so thrilled to welcome legends The Who to Eden, in what will be a momentous moment in the Sessions history – and a great occasion for Cornwall,” Rita Broe, managing director of Eden Sessions Ltd, shares. “To see them grace our stage with a live orchestra will be one of the highlights of the summer: creating lasting memories. Don’t miss this!”

Tickets for the special show go on sale Monday, May 15, at 5:30 p.m. BST. More information can be found at edensessions.com.

The Who’s European and U.K. tour, which has them playing with an orchestra, is set to kick off June 14 in Barcelona, Spain. A complete list of dates can be found at thewho.com.

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