Classic Rock News

U2 and the upcoming animated film Sing 2 have teamed up with the Education Through Music nonprofit to create a special music video for the Irish rockers’ new tune “Your Song Saved My Life” to promote the organization, which provides music classes to children in under-resourced schools throughout North America.

The video, which premiered today on U2’s YouTube channel, features several students and teachers from the Education Through Music (ETM) program, who, through interviews, voice-overs and subtitles, share why music has had such an important positive impact on their lives. The clip seeks to demonstrate the importance of ETM’s goal of making high-quality music education available to more young people across America.

You can support ETM and find out more about the program by visiting YourSongSavedMyLife.com and www.national.etmonline.org.

As previously reported, “Your Song Saved My Life,” which was released last week, will appear on the soundtrack album for Sing 2, which features Bono making his animated film debut as the voice of a rock-star lion character named Clay Calloway. The flick is scheduled to get its U.S. premiere on December 22.

The album, which will be released on December 17, also features Bono duetting with Sing 2 co-star Scarlett Johansson on a version of U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” as well as Johansson performing renditions of the band’s “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” and “Where the Streets Have No Name.” On the latter tune, Scarlett is joined by Sing 2 cast members Reese Witherspoon, Nick Kroll and Taron Egerton.

The 21-song soundtrack also includes tunes by Elton John, Whitney Houston, Billie Eilish, Pharrell Williams and more. You can pre-order the album now.

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A house in the Liverpool, U.K., suburb of Speke where George Harrison lived while growing up will be auctioned off on November 30 by the Omega Auctions company.

The residence, a three-bedroom council house where Harrison and his family resided from 1950 to 1962, is estimated to sell for between 160,000 and 200,000 pounds, or from about $217,000 to $271,000.

While living at the house, George met Paul McCartney and John Lennon and was asked to join their band The Quarrymen. That group and, later, The Beatles, frequently rehearsed at Harrison’s home.

A number of features dating back to when Harrison lived at the house remain intact, including a bath, a sink, some of the original doors and hanging rails in wardrobes, as well as a kitchen dresser unit found in one of the outbuildings in the property’s backyard.

Omega Auctions points out that the buyer would be able to apply for a blue plaque, which acknowledges that a site is of historic U.K. significance, starting this month.

The home will be available for viewing by appointment during the two weeks leading up to the auction.

A video featuring photos of the house, as well as vintage pics of Harrison taken in and around the home, has been posted on the Omega Auctions’ official YouTube channel.

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Josh Klinghoffer is feeling right at home with Pearl Jam.

The former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist made his debut as the grunge outfit’s newest touring member during their performance at New Jersey’s Sea.Hear.Now. Festival in September. As Klinghoffer tells Consequence, joining up with Eddie Vedder and company feels “enormously gratifying.”

“My bedroom wall when I was like 11, 12, 13 years old was all these people,” Klinghoffer says. “I feel like I’ve known these guys for 30 years already, I don’t know if that will make it work better or not.”

Describing his place in the live Pearl Jam setup, Klinghoffer says he’s “sort of doing a new role,” including providing percussion and background vocals for songs off the band’s new album, 2020’s Gigaton.

“Anything that’s an older song that has a harmony, extra little things that they sort of get by without, I have free range to add if it makes sense to,” Klinghoffer explains. “I generally don’t go up there for one little teeny part, I try to make my being onstage matter instead of just popping in and out for one little word.”

Klinghoffer adds that his new band mates have been “incredibly welcoming and generous.”

“[They] have just sort of let me find my place,” he says.

You’ll also be able to hear Klinghoffer on Vedder’s upcoming solo album, Earthling.

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Sammy Hagar & The Circle will team up with REO Speedwagon next year for a May 7 concert in Laughlin, Nevada, at the Laughlin Event Center.

Opening the show will be Sir, Please, a band featuring REO Speedwagon frontman Kevin Cronin‘s twin sons Josh and Shane.

Tickets go on sale to the general public on Wednesday, November 10, at 10 a.m. PT, while pre-sale tickets will be available starting today at 10 a.m. PT via Ticketmaster.com.

The concert is one of two performances Hagar and his current band have confirmed for 2022, along with a headlining appearance on July 8 at the Lakefront Music Fest in Prior Lake, Minnesota.

First up for Hagar, the Red Rocker will wrap up his 2021 “Sammy Hagar and Friends” residency at The Strat hotel and casino in Las Vegas with concerts this Friday, November 12, and Saturday, November 13.

Sammy’s Vegas gigs have featured various guest musicians joining him, including his friend Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead, who hit the stage with Hagar and his longtime backing group The Wabos this past Friday. They played three songs — covers of Buddy Holly‘s “Not Fade Away,” The Rascals‘ “Good Lovin’,” and Depeche Mode‘s “Personal Jesus.”

Meanwhile, Hagar and The Circle will head to the Lone Star State in December for the “A Toast to Texas” tour, a four-show outing that also will celebrate the recent launch of Sammy’s Beach Bar Cocktail Co., the Red Rocker’s new line of canned sparkling rum cocktails.

The tour will visit Fort Worth on December 3, San Antonio on December 4, Austin on December 6 and Houston on December 8.

Visit RedRocker.com for more details about Hagar’s itinerary.

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As Graham Nash prepares for the November 16 release of his new photo book A Life in Focus, which offers a career-spanning look at his photography, the 79-year-old folk-rock legend also has some interesting music projects on the horizon.

Nash tells ABC Audio that one project reunites him with his childhood friend and Hollies co-founder Allan Clarke.

“I’m actually working on an album with Allan Clarke, my friend since I was six years old,” he reveals. “We’ve been remotely recording. We’ve got eight tracks, and it’ll be a really fun album.”

Clarke, who was The Hollies’ lead singer, retired from the group in 1999, partly due to vocal-cord issues, but he returned to the music in 2019 with a new solo album, Resurgence.

“[Allan’s] singing…really, really well,” Nash says. “He’s a very underrated singer. He’s one of the most underrated lead singers in a pop band ever…He’s got a great voice, and it’s back.”

Meanwhile, Graham also reports that he’s continuing to work on a follow-up to his most recent solo album, 2016’s This Path Tonight.

Nash already had reported that he had seven songs left over from writing sessions for This Path Tonight that he plans to include on his next album, and now he tells ABC Audio that he’s continued to write during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has recorded five tracks remotely with his touring musicians.

As Graham explains, he records acoustic guitar and vocal tracks, which he sends to Shane Fontayne, who adds guitar and bass. The recordings are then sent to drummer Toby Caldwell and then Toby’s brother, keyboardist Todd Caldwell. After Todd records keys, he sends all the tracks back to Nash for mixing.

Graham says the process is “an interesting sonic journey.”

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After topping the charts in this native Britain, Elton John’s “Cold Heart” — his collaboration with Dua Lipa and Australia’s Pnau — has now hit number one in Australia, and it’s earned him yet another chart record.

As Billboard notes, Elton is now, at 74 years and seven months, the oldest person ever to top the official Australian singles chart.  The previous record-holder was Paul McCartney, who was 72 when he hit number one with the 2015 song “FourFiveSeconds,” a collaboration with Rihanna and Kanye West.

“Cold Heart” is also Elton’s first number-one in Australia since 1997’s “Something About the Way You Look Tonight”/”Candle in the Wind 1997.”  He’s had three there overall.  Meanwhile, it’s Dua’s first Australian number one, and the first for Pnau as well.

“Cold Heart” is from Elton’s album The Lockdown Sessions, which features collaborations with Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj and other artists.

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Jethro Tull has announced official details about its forthcoming studio album, The Zealot Gene, which will be released on January 28, 2022.

The 12-track collection of the first new studio album from the veteran prog-rock band led by singer/flutist Ian Anderson in more than 18 years.

Coinciding with the announcement, an advance track from the album, “Shoshana Smiling,” has been made available via digital formats, and a companion music video has premiered at the group’s official YouTube channel. The black-and-white clip features enigmatic masked stop-motion animated figures and shadow puppets.

Jethro Tull began work in The Zealot Gene in 2017, and the album includes a number of songs that incorporate biblical imagery while examining religious themes.

“While I have a spot of genuine fondness for the pomp and fairytale story-telling of the Holy Book, I still feel the need to question and draw sometimes unholy parallels from the text,” Anderson explains. “The good, the bad, and the downright ugly rear their heads throughout, but are punctuated with elements of love, respect, and tenderness.”

The Zealot Gene, which you can pre-order now, will be available in multiple formats and configurations, including a CD digipak, a two-LP/CD set, limited-edition two-CD/Blu-ray artbook, and a limited-edition deluxe three-LP/two-CD/Blu-ray artbook.

The limited-edition versions feature a second CD offering demos and recordings of early song ideas, as well as extended liner notes and a new interview with Ian. The deluxe edition’s LPs are pressed on white vinyl and one of the discs features the aforementioned demos.

The Blu-ray features a 5.1 surround sound mix of the album.

Here’s the full track list of The Zealot Gene:

“Mrs. Tibbets”
“Jacob’s Tales”
“Mine Is the Mountain”
“The Zealot Gene”
“Shoshana Sleeping”
“Sad City Sisters”
“Barren Beth, Wild Desert John”
“The Betrayal of Joshua Kynde”
“Where Did Saturday Go?”
“Three Loves, Three”
“In Brief Visitation”
“The Fisherman of Ephesus”

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KISS‘ Paul Stanley is mourning the death of his father, William Eisen, who has passed away at 101 years old.

“My dad William Eisen has left this earth after 101 years & 7 months,” Stanley tweeted Sunday alongside a photo of him and his dad.

“His thirst for knowledge never [waned],” the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer added. “He could speak on virtually any subject. His pride in my accomplishments was heartwarming as was seeing his love of my family. He said he’d always be with me and he will.”

Stanley, 69, and KISS are currently off the road after playing the KISS Kruise earlier this month. Their planned Las Vegas residency, which was scheduled to kick off in December, was recently canceled.

My dad William Eisen has left this earth after 101 years & 7 months. His thirst for knowledge never wained. He could speak on virtually any subject. His pride in my accomplishments was heartwarming as was seeing his love of my family. He said he’d always be with me and he will. pic.twitter.com/uKWHP9Okax

— Paul Stanley (@PaulStanleyLive) November 8, 2021

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Billy Joel announced last week that tickets for his show on September 23, 2022, at Houston’s Minute Maid Park would go on sale this Friday. However, those plans have now been put on hold following the tragedy at this weekend’s Astroworld festival, which left eight people dead and hundreds more injured.

“Out of respect for the Houston community after the events at Astroworld on Friday, organizers for the upcoming Billy Joel concert scheduled for Minute Maid Park in Houston…announced they are delaying the on sale until further notice,” reads a statement on Billy’s website. “Organizers will provide an update shortly on when ticket sales will begin.”

On Friday night in Houston, the Astroworld festival, organized by and featuring rap superstar Travis Scott, ended in disaster when the crowd of 50,000 surged forward; many fans were crushed or trampled and multiple people collapsed. 

The concert’s promoter reportedly agreed to halt the show, but Scott continued to play. Two concertgoers have already filed lawsuits in the festival’s aftermath as of early Monday. 

Scott has said he’ll pay funeral costs for the victims, and will provide refunds for anyone who bought tickets to the event.  He described himself as “absolutely devastated” by the tragedy, and said he is “working closely with everybody to get to the bottom of this.”

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So, The Beatles are the greatest band of all time, right? Not if you ask Paul McCartney.

Sir Paul himself feels that The Everly Brothers deserve the honor.

British newspaper the Daily Mail reports that, according to a passage in his new book The Lyrics, the former Beatle says he and band mate John Lennon were plenty inspired by the pioneering American rock ‘n’ roll duo.

“The biggest influence on John and me was The Everly Brothers. To this day, I just think they’re the greatest,” McCartney expressed. “And they were different.”

“You’d heard barbershop quartets, you’d heard [British pop trio] the Beverley Sisters — three girls — you’d all heard that. But just two guys, two good-looking guys? So we idolized them. We wanted to be them,” he remarked.

The Everly Brothers, comprised of brothers Don and Phil Everly, are credited for pioneering the country-rock genre.  The duo also experimented with infusing pop elements into their music, which include the hit singles “Bye Bye Love,” “Wake Up Little Susie” and many more. Other artists influenced by the duo included Simon & Garfunkel, The Beach Boys, The Bee Gees and The Hollies.

Don passed away in August of this year.  He was predeceased by Phil, who died on January 3, 2014.

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