Classic Rock News

Steve Winwood is the latest performer ready to celebrate England’s new king. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has been added to King Charles’ The Coronation Concert, taking place Sunday, May 7, on the grounds of Windsor Castle.

“I was alive and just about remember the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and I, together with millions and millions of other people all around the globe, am a lifelong monarchist,” Winwood shares. “So to be included in the Coronation celebrations of Their Majesties King Charles and Queen Camilla is for me a lifetime achievement for which I’m extremely humbled and honored.”

And Winwood will be getting some help with his performance. He’ll be joined by the Commonwealth virtual choir, made up of choirs and individuals from over 40 Commonwealth countries.

In addition to Winwood, The Coronation Concert will include performances by Lionel Richie, Katy Perry,  Paloma Faith, Nicole Scherzinger, Take That, Andrea Bocelli, Sir Bryn Terfel and Freya Ridings. 

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Bonnie Raitt is dealing with a health situation that is causing her to change up her touring schedule. 

“Bonnie has a medical situation that requires surgery to address,” reads a post on social media. “The doctors say that in order for her to heal properly, they recommend she not perform for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, this overlaps our five tour dates in May.” 

Bonnie has postponed four of the shows: concerts in Athens, Georgia, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, were moved to sometime in 2024, while her show in Louisville, Kentucky, was moved to June 20 and an Indianapolis, Indiana, concert was moved to July 1. Unfortunately, the change in plans has forced Raitt to cancel her appearance at Brandi Carlile’s Mothership Weekend on May 14. 

“It’s always upsetting to have to disappoint her fans, band, crew and our promoters, but sometimes unforeseen things just happen. Thankfully, Bonnie’s in great hands,” the post notes.  

It adds, “Thank you for your well wishes and understanding, and we very much appreciate your respecting her request for privacy at this healing time.”

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John Fogerty launched his Celebration Tour in Uncasville, Connecticut, Thursday, marking his first tour since regaining the worldwide rights to the songs he wrote for Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Not surprisingly, Fogerty’s set was filled with CCR classics, with SetList.fm reporting he opened with “Bad Moon Rising,” one of 18 CCR songs in the set. Others included “Up Around The Bend,” “Born on the Bayou,” “Who’ll Stop The Rain,” “Travelin’ Band” and “Have You Ever Seen The Rain.”

He also closed the show with three CCR tunes, “Fortunate Son,” “Down on the Corner” and “Proud Mary.”

But his solo work was not forgotten, with Fogerty also performing his classic “Centerfield,” “The Old Man Down The Road” and more.

John Fogerty’s Celebration Tour continues with a show at New York’s Radio City Music Hall on Friday, April 28. A complete list of dates can be found at JohnFogerty.com.

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John Fogerty launched his Celebration Tour in Uncasville, Connecticut, Thursday, marking his first tour since regaining the worldwide rights to the songs he wrote for Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Not surprisingly, Fogerty’s set was filled with CCR classics, with SetList.fm reporting he opened with “Bad Moon Rising,” one of 18 CCR songs in the set. Others included “Up Around The Bend,” “Born on the Bayou,” “Who’ll Stop The Rain,” “Travelin’ Band” and “Have You Ever Seen The Rain.”

He also closed the show with three CCR tunes, “Fortunate Son,” “Down on the Corner” and “Proud Mary.”

But his solo work was not forgotten, with Fogerty also performing his classic “Centerfield,” “The Old Man Down The Road” and more.

John Fogerty’s Celebration Tour continues with a show at New York’s Radio City Music Hall on Friday, April 28. A complete list of dates can be found at JohnFogerty.com.

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Rehearsals have begun for the upcoming Black Sabbath ballet, and guitarist Tony Iommi is still pretty shocked it’s happening. 

“I wouldn’t have believed them really, to be honest,” he tells Birmingham World when asked if he ever imagined Black Sabbath’s music could be turned into a ballet. “I’m looking at our music differently now with this, because it is being interpreted in a different way.”

He adds, “I never thought for a minute, we would have people dancing to Black Sabbath and ‘War Pigs’ and ‘Iron Man.’ But here we are, you know.”

While the music is being interpreted for ballet, Iommi says it hasn’t changed so much that fans can’t recognize the tunes, noting he’s “very happy” with how things are going.  

As for whether he thinks heavy metal fans will embrace ballet after this, he says, “I certainly hope so. I mean, it is a strange combination, but you’ve got to push the boat out.” 

The Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Black Sabbath – The Ballet is set to run from September 23 to September 30 at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Theatre Weekly reports that it will then move to London’s Sadler’s Wells from October 18 to 21, with tickets going on sale May 22.

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Former Journey frontman Steve Perry is featured on a new single, “The Streets of Kinsale,” by the Irish folk group The High Kings.

Perry first heard the song through his friendship with The Script drummer Glen Power, who wrote the tune.

“I thought the song was beautiful and the more I listened to it the more fascinated I became, so I went to my home studio and started stacking some vocal harmonies against what was already there,” Perry tells Classic Rock. “The band really loved the results, so I ended up singing on the master-track.”

The High Kings’ Darren Holden adds, “When we heard what Steve had done to our song, I had to sit down. … It was so astonishing my jaw hit the floor; there were tears in my eyes. It’s something that only Steve can do with that tone that the world loves and knows.” 

In the same interview, Perry confirms that he has collaborated with Dolly Parton for a cover of Journey’s “Open Arms,” which will appear on her upcoming album, Rock Star. He tells Classic Rock the song “sounds great,” adding, “she killed it. Dolly is singing her tush off.”

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On This Day, April 28, 1979…

Blondie landed their first number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with “Heart of Glass,” which was also their first Hot 100 entry. 

The song, written by Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, was featured on the band’s third album, Parallel Lines.

Blondie went on to have three more number one singles, the 1980 tracks “Call Me” and “The Tide Is High” and 1981’s “Rapture.”

They’ve gone on to sell over 40 million records worldwide and were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. 

And they haven’t stopped. Blondie released their most recent album Pollinator in 2017, and have a U.K. tour scheduled for June.

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Bruce Springsteen‘s 1982 solo album, Nebraska, is the subject of a new book, Deliver Me From Nowhere, by author Warren Zanes. In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, The Boss reveals just how important that album is to him.

“If I had to pick out one album and say, ‘This is going to represent you 50 years from now,’ I’d pick Nebraska,’” Springsteen shares.

In a teaser clip of the interview, Springsteen says at the time he made the album he was struggling with where he was in his life.  

“I think in your 20s, a lot of things work for you,” he says. “But in your 30s, your 30s is … where you start to become an adult. And suddenly I looked around and said, ‘Where is everything? Where is my home? Where is my partner? Where are the sons and daughters that I thought I might have someday?’ … I realized none of those things are there, none of them.”

He adds, “So I said, ‘OK, the first thing I’ve gotta do as soon as I get home is remind myself of who I am and where I came from … and what I want to do … and where I’m going.’”

CBS Sunday Morning airs at 9 a.m. ET on CBS.  

As for Springsteen, he and the E Street Band kick off the European leg of their tour in Barcelona, Spain, on Friday, April 28. A complete list of dates can be found at BruceSpringsteen.net.

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Queen continues their in depth look at their iconic stage wear in episode 15 of their weekly YouTube series, Queen The Greatest Live.

This week the band focuses on three classic performances of the Roger Taylor-penned track “Sheer Heart Attack,” showing the evolution of frontman Freddie Mercury’s style in the ’70s and ’80s.

The first clip was shot in December, 1977 at Houston’s The Summit, with Mercury rocking a silver sequin catsuit with an opening down to the navel. That’s followed by a December, 1979 performance at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, with Freddie in red leather pants. It ends at the Montreal Forum in November, 1981, with Freddie donning tiny white shorts and a red neckerchief.

Coming up next week – “Under Pressure.”

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Def Leppard fans recently got a peak behind the scenes at the making of Def’s new album, Drastic Symphonies, which reworks 15 of their songs with the Royal Philharmonic. The band shared a trailer for the album, which drops May 19, featuring footage of them with the Philharmonic at Abbey Road Studios.

And while some bands may have just given the Philharmonic free range with their music, guitarist Phil Collen says that simply wasn’t the case with their band.

“We didn’t want to do it like everyone else,” he tells ABC Audio. “We wanted to be involved in it. We thought what a great opportunity, you know, the Royal Philharmonic, and it’s like a massive thing, and we have songs that we’re so proud of, so we didn’t want to mess it up.”

Collen says the process of picking the songs for the album was really easy. They were so serious about getting it right that some of their biggest hits, like “Rock of Ages,” “Photograph” and “Let’s Get Rocked,” didn’t make the album because they “didn’t work.” 

One hit that did make it is “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” although Collen says the original sounds “ridiculous” with an orchestra. But instead of leaving it off, they adapted a version they heard years ago by a Canadian singer named Emm Gryner, making it a duet with frontman Joe Elliott. 

And for Collen, one of the highlights of the project was getting to hear the Royal Philharmonic perform their songs at Abbey Road Studios. He notes, “It far exceeded our expectations. It was pretty amazing.” 

Drastic Symphonies is available for preorder now.

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