Classic Rock News

Sheryl Crow was just announced as one of this year’s inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and it sounds like Stevie Nicks had a feeling it was going to happen. 

“Yes, you can call me psychic,” the two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer writes on Instagram, noting she had been listening to Crow’s music for the past four days.

Nicks then congratulated Crow on the honor, sharing, “I am so proud of you. It’s a very elite club for us women.” She added, “I found out at 4 o’clock this morning and had to dance around my room for you.”

The post prompted a response from Crow, who gave Nicks credit for her honor.

“If it were not for you, Stevie Nicks, there would be no me,” she commented. “You inspire me and you make me want to inspire others. I love you and I’m blessed to know you.” 

Nicks is the first woman to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice. She was inducted in 1998 as a member of Fleetwood Mac and then again in 2019 as a solo artist.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, May 4, 1989 …

Stevie Ray Vaughan kicked off his In Step Tour, which would turn out to be his final tour ever.

The trek, with his band Double Trouble, launched at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia, and was supposed to consist of six legs. It was cut short after Vaughan and four others died in a helicopter crash following his East Troy, Wisconsin, concert on August 27, 1990. 

Vaughan’s musical legacy lived on following his death, with a series of posthumous releases contributing to sales of over 15 million albums in the U.S. He and Double Trouble were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

We’re constantly hearing about how concert tickets are way too pricey these days, but Live Nation is now offering fans a chance to see their favorite artists at a bargain price.

The concert promoter will launch its annual Concert Week next week, offering up $25 all-in tickets to over 3,800 shows this summer.

Music fans will have a whole host of concerts to choose from, including shows from artists like Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe, Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart, Bret Michaels’ Parti-Gras, The Doobie Brothers, Elvis Costello & The Imposters, Foreigner, Gov’t Mule, Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top, Santana and more.

Concert Week ticket sales run from May 10 to 16, or while supplies last. There will also be Verizon and Rakuten presales beginning May 9 at 10 a.m. To purchase tickets, fans can go to LiveNation.com/ConcertWeek, search for their show and then look for “Concert Week Promotion.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Who’s rock opera, Tommy, was turned into a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical in the early ’90s, and now it’s going to hit the stage yet again.

A new reimagining of Tommy, featuring a cast of 28, a nine-piece band and brand new staging, is set to open at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre in June. The new production is being reimagined by the creators of the original production, director Des McAnuff and The Who’s Pete Townshend. 

“It’s at once an honor and a joy to again collaborate with Pete to realize the power and pertinence of The Who’s Tommy today,” McAnuff shares. “While the music remains as glorious as ever, our world years later is unimaginably and irrevocably changed. As a result, there’s so much more we all can recognize—and celebrate—in our protagonist’s evolution, as a collective deeper understanding of mental health has sharpened our lens.” 

He adds, “Tommy Walker’s triumph over devastating childhood trauma, to enlightened leadership, to ultimately recognizing the folly in which he’s surrounded himself is an amazing journey to discover anew.”

Rehearsals for the new production have already started, with previews set to begin June 13 and opening night set for June 26. The production runs through July 23. Tickets are on sale now.

Based on The Who’s 1969 album and 1975 film, the original production of Tommy opened at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California, on July 1, 1992. It opened on Broadway on April 22, 1993, and closed on June 17, 1995. It won five Tony Awards, including Best Direction for McAnuff and Best Original Score for Townshend.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Pearl Jam has made Record Store Day history.

The grunge group’s contribution to this year’s event, the live album Give Way, sold close to 20,000 copies, making it the biggest-selling rock album released for Record Store Day since it began in 2007.

“We’re always excited to be part of RSD,” says guitarist Mike McCready, who spent the day at Seattle’s Easy Street Records performing with his side band The Rockfords. “It’s just so important to support the Mom and Pop shops around the world. They are more than just stores, they’re communities.”

Give Way, which was available on vinyl and CD, captures a 1998 Pearl Jam concert in Australia during the Yield tour.

While Give Way is the biggest rock Record Store Day release of all time, Taylor Swift has the biggest Record Store Day release, period. The pop superstar’s folklore: the long pond studio sessions, which also dropped during RSD 2023, sold 75,000 copies and debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 — the highest for any Record Store Day exclusive.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Elton John’s songwriting partner Bernie Taupin is being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Excellence category this year, and he is feeling “blessed” by the inclusion.

“And they said, ‘Welcome to the club.’ 2023 is a time to shake a lot of hands and thank several sincere souls who had my back,” he writes on Instagram. “Being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame may include a modicum of cynicism on some people’s parts, but in the long run gratitude overrides questionability.”

Taupin says he’s happy to be inducted this year, especially since the 2023 class also includes Willie Nelson and Link Ray.  

He adds, “Who would of thought a country kid, corn fed on Little Richard, Willie Dixon, the Everly Brothers and Muddy Waters, would end up living in the same four walls. Blessed indeed.” 

And Elton, who was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, is happily welcoming his partner into the club, offering up his congratulations to Taupin on his Instagram Story.

The 38th annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony returns to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center this year, with the event going down November 3.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ozzy Osbourne sure doesn’t sound like someone who’s retired from touring.

Earlier this year, the Prince of Darkness canceled his 2023 tour of the U.K. and Europe due to health reasons, adding, “Never would I have imagined that my touring days would have ended this way.”

Ozzy’s since announced that he’ll be playing the much-hyped Power Trip festival this fall, and he now tells Metal Hammer he’s “determined” to continue to perform live.

“I’ve gotta do more gigs if I have to get someone to wheel me out there,” Ozzy says. “I mean, you can’t retire from this game. It’s not a job, it’s a f****** passion. I don’t know how to do anything else.”

“The thought of sitting in my house all day … I’m a road dog, you know?” the metal legend continues. “I’ve been doing it f****** 55 years. It’s the best thing to have ever happened to me.”

Power Trip takes place October 6-8 in Indio, California, on the same site as Coachella. The stacked bill also includes AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Iron Maiden and Tool.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Mickey Hart will certainly be busy this summer with Dead & Company’s final tour, but he’s making time in his schedule to help show off his art.

The rocker is set to make two rare in-person art gallery appearances to promote his latest art collection, the Art of Mickey Hart. The first will take place at the Wentworth Gallery at Tysons Galleria in McLean, Virginia, on June 4 at 2 p.m., followed by an appearance at the Wentworth Gallery at Short Hills Mall in New Jersey on June 23 at 6:30 p.m.

“These visual representations from my sonic-driven world are snapshots into the music I am making,” Mickey shares. “The basis of all life is vibratory, from the cosmos to human organism to the rhythms of nature and the music that come from what we make, from what we call culture. These are the worlds of rhythm that envelop us on a daily basis. Understanding these rhythms is essential in our daily lives.” 

He adds, “These works have been drummed, vibrated into existence. This technique is essential in the creation of my art.”  

More info on Mickey’s appearances can be found at wentworthgallery.com.

But up next for Mickey, he and the rest of Dead & Company will headline New Orleans Jazz Fest on May 6. They’ll launch their final tour with a two-night stand in Los Angeles, California, May 19 and 20. A complete list of dates can be found at deadandcompany.com.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The late Tom Petty is getting a new title this week. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer can soon be referred to as doctor, now that he’s being awarded a posthumous doctorate by the University of Florida School of Music.

A member of Petty’s family will be on hand to accept the Gainesville native’s Doctor of Music degree during the UF spring doctoral ceremony on Thursday, May 4.

“We in the UF School of Music and College of the Arts are privileged to honor Tom Petty with an honorary doctorate degree in Music, celebrating not only his extraordinary achievements as an artist, but the ways in which his music has and continues to unite us as a community,” UF School of Music director Kevin Orr shares.

To celebrate the honor, the Petty family has established the Tom Petty Endowment for Guitars & Innovation at UF College of the Arts, pledging $100,000 to expand the school’s guitar program. It will also go toward the new Music Business & Entrepreneurship program. 

“It is so incredible for everyone in the family that UF is honoring our dad in his hometown this way,” Petty’s daughter Adria says. “He loved the Gators, and he loved Gainesville. He always talked about wanting a doctorate from UF and he would have been totally blown away by all this.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

In the latest instance of artificial intelligence messing with music, People reports that a YouTube user has used artificial intelligence to transform solo songs by Paul McCartney and John Lennon into full blown Beatles songs. 

The videos were posted by a user named Dae Lims, who reimagined McCartney’s 2013 track “New” and the 1983 posthumous Lennon release “Grow Old with Me” as complete band songs. The McCartney song features an AI version of Lennon singing along in the chorus, while “Grow Old With Me” adds McCartney’s voice to the song.

And fans seem to be digging the reimagined tracks. “This is unbelievable, just like a new Beatles song,” one person commented about “New.” “Thank you so much for making this.” Another called “Grow Old With Me” a masterpiece, describing it as “truly stunning!”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.