Classic Rock News

Sir Rod Stewart celebrated his 78th birthday on Tuesday and shared a hilarious video proving just how happy he was to blow out another birthday candle.

The legendary singer took to Instagram to show the moment his family turned out the lights and began singing to him. Instead of a cake, Stewart is handed a white plate with “Happy Birthday” written in chocolate in fancy cursive. As for the candle, it’s wedged between a few strawberry slices.

The hitmaker, who’s singing along, makes a few exaggerated expressions before blowing out his candle, which causes his family to laugh hysterically. The video ends with him taking a moment to consider his wish before blowing out the candle.

“Lovely day,” he captioned the sweet video and included a red heart emoji.

Stewart also shared a few birthday tributes to his Instagram Story, with several coming from his children. Ruby Stewart, who is expecting her first child, sent her love to “Grandpapa Stew.” Sean Stewart, Rod’s child with model Alana Stewart, also sent his father some birthday love.

Some of his pals paid tributes by sharing throwback photos of the legendary hitmaker, such as Rolling Stones member Ronnie Wood, who shared a black-and-white photo of his old band Small Faces hanging out with Stewart in 1970.

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Elton John was a close friend of the late Princess Diana and is also close to her sons, Prince Harry and Prince William. But in his new memoir, Spare, Harry details a couple of disagreements the two have had over the years.

In the book, as reported by The Huffington Post UK, Harry recalls watching Elton perform a rewritten version of “Candle in the Wind” at his mother’s funeral in 1997, writing, “I do have one pure, indisputable memory of the song climaxing and my eyes starting to sting and tears nearly falling. Nearly.” 

But according to Harry, when he asked Elton to play the song in 2007 at the Concert for Diana, held on the 10th anniversary of his mother’s passing, Elton declined, fearing it would be too “morbid.” Instead, he played “Your Song,” which, Harry writes, he sang with “a twinkle and a smile, aglow with good memories.”

Another time the two had a difference of opinion, Harry writes, was in 2019, when Harry, his wife, Meghan, and their son, Archie, were visiting Elton at his home in France.

During the visit, Elton said he was going to serialize his autobiography, Me, in the British tabloid The Daily Mail, which Elton, Harry and Meghan had sued for defamatory stories. When Harry asked Elton why he’d chosen a paper that had made his life “miserable,” Elton explained that he “wanted people to read” the book.

Harry then notes that he decided not to push the matter further, writing, “I loved him. I’ll always love him. And I also didn’t want to spoil the holiday.”

Following that visit, Elton publicly defended Harry and Meghan after they were slammed by the British press for using a private jet to fly to France to visit him.

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Def Leppard’s Rick Allen is taking a short break from rocking with the band to help share his art.

The drummer is set to appear at the Wentworth Galleries inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on February 11 to support his latest collection. The appearance will take place from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. ahead of Def Leppard’s second of two shows with Mötley Crüe at the Hard Rock’s Arena that night.

Rick’s latest collection includes his painted drum series, mixed media originals and his first works on metal. It also features his “Legends Series,” which includes portraits of such late artists as Charlie Watts, Eddie Van Halen, Kurt Cobain and Johnny Cash, as well as his “Wings of Hope” series.

“Painting has been a passion of mine for quite a while and I was inspired to branch out and try some new techniques,” Allen shares. “One that I particularly enjoyed was working with metal as a medium. I’m really proud of how these new works turned out and I can’t wait to share them at the upcoming Wentworth Gallery Show.” 

The event is free and open to the public, and a portion of the sales proceeds will go to Allen’s Project Resiliency, which helps war veterans.

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Blondie is set to make a trek out to the desert this spring. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers are booked to play Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, taking place in Indio, California, April 14 to 16 and April 21 to 23.

Blondie is confirmed to play opening night of both weekends, which will be headlined by Bad Bunny and also feature Gorillaz, Chemical Brothers and more. The weekend’s other headliners include BLACKPINK on the Saturday shows and Frank Ocean closing out both weekends.

The Coachella date is one of only two U.S. shows Blondie has scheduled for 2023. The other is happening March 16 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 

Presale tickets go on sale Friday at 11 a.m. PT, although there is a “very limited” amount of passes available for weekend one. For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit Coachella.com.

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The life of Christine McVie was celebrated in Los Angeles Monday night. TMZ reports that a memorial service for the late Fleetwood Mac star took place at Little Beach House in Malibu.

Paparazzi photos show that several of Christine’s bandmates were in attendance to celebrate her life, including Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks, as well as former bandmate Lindsey Buckingham.

As previously reported, McVie passed away November 30 at the age of 79 following a short illness. The band released a statement following news of her death, sharing, “There are no words to describe our sadness at the passing of Christine McVie,” calling her the “best musician anyone could have in their band and the best friend anyone could have in their life.”

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Eddie Vedder is performing at an upcoming tribute concert in honor of the late actor, comedian and musician Leslie Jordan, taking place February 19 at the historic Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville.

The Pearl Jam frontman will be joined on the bill by country artists Maren Morris, Brothers Osborne, Ashley McBryde and Jelly Roll. Additionally, actors Jim Parsons, Mayim Bialik and Max Greenfield will be making special appearances, along with comedian Margaret Cho.

Proceeds raised from the concert will be donated to the EB Research Partnership, which Vedder and his wife, Jill Vedder, co-founded to support efforts to cure epidermolysis bullosa, a rare genetic skin disorder. Tickets go on sale this Friday, January 13, at 10 a.m. local time.

For more info, visit Opry.com.

Jordan died last October at age 67. In addition to his work on shows including Will & Grace, American Horror Story and Call Me Cat, Jordan released an album called Company’s Comin’ in 2021, which featured Vedder on the song “The One Who Hideth Me.”

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U2 is set to release a new album of old material. The Irish rockers just announced they’re dropping Songs Of Surrender, featuring “40 Songs. Reimagined and rerecorded,” on March 17, just in time for St. Patrick’s Day.

The album appears to be inspired by Bono’s recently released biography, Surrender: 40 Songs; One Story. Based on the clip of “Beautiful Day” they shared with the announcement, it will feature reworked versions of U2 classics.

U2 fans began getting hints of the new project earlier this week, with folks on Twitter sharing pictures of a  handwritten note from Edge they received in the mail. 

“So what happens when a voice develops and experience and maturity give it additional resonance?” he writes. “U2 have been around long enough to know what that is like. It’s true for us all, but it’s particularly true for Bono,” adding that since the band wrote many of the songs as “very young men,” they “mean something quite different to us now.”

He shares, “Music allows you to time travel and so we started to imagine what it would be like to bring these songs back with us to the present day and give them the benefit or otherwise, of a 21st century re-imagining. What started as an experiment quickly became a personal obsession as so many early U2 songs yielded to a new interpretation.”

Finally, he writes, “Once we surrendered our reverence for the original version each song started to open up to a new authentic voice of this time, of the people we are, and particularly the singer Bono has become.”

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Poison’s Rikki Rockett is sharing some great health news with fans. The drummer revealed on social media that he’s celebrating his seventh year of being cancer-free.

“Almost 7 years cancer free thanks to the best Dr. in the world, Ezra Cohen,” he shared on social media with a photo of him and his doctor. “Today is a good day!!! Thanks to God and modern medicine!”

Rikki first revealed that he was battling throat cancer in 2015. In July 2016 he shared the news that he was cancer-free.

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Foo Fighters‘ 2023 schedule is filling up.

After announcing earlier Tuesday that they’d be headlining the 2023 Boston Calling festival in May, Dave Grohl and company have revealed they’ll be leading the lineup for this year’s Bonnaroo and Sonic Temple festivals, as well.

The festivals mark the first live Foo Fighters performances since the band’s New Year’s Eve announcement that they intend to continue following the 2022 death of drummer Taylor Hawkins.

There’s no word yet on who will be playing drums with the Foos for the shows. During their two tribute concerts to Hawkins last September, the “Everlong” rockers were joined by a number of guest drummers, including Blink-182‘s Travis Barker, Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers, prolific session drummer Josh Freese and Hawkins’ teenage son, Shane.

Bonnaroo takes place June 15-18 in Manchester, Tennessee, and also features Paramore, Korn, Portugal. the Man, Marcus Mumford, Pixies, My Morning Jacket, girl in red, The Revivalists, Franz Ferdinand, AFI, Fleet Foxes, Odesza and Kendrick Lamar.

The lineup for Sonic Temple, which will be held May 25-28 in Columbus, Ohio, also includes Tool, KISS, Avenged Sevenfold, Godsmack, Rob Zombie, Queens of the Stone Age, Deftones, Falling in Reverse, Chevelle, Puscifer, Sublime with Rome and The Pretty Reckless.

Tickets for Bonnaroo go on early access sale this Thursday, January 12, at 10 a.m. CT. A presale for Sonic Temple tickets begins Wednesday, January 11, at 10 a.m. ET.

For the full lineups and all ticket info, visit Bonnaroo.com and SonicTempleFestival.com.

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After revealing that they plan to continue on as a band following the 2022 death of drummer Taylor Hawkins, Foo Fighters have announced their first show of 2023.

Dave Grohl and company will headline this year’s Boston Calling festival, taking place May 26-28 at Beantown’s Harvard Athletic Complex.

There’s no word yet on who will be playing drums with the Foos for the show. During their two tribute concerts to Hawkins last September, the “Everlong” rockers were joined by a number of guest drummers, including Blink-182‘s Travis Barker, Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers, prolific session drummer Josh Freese and Hawkins’ teenage son, Shane.

In a statement posted New Year’s Eve, Foo Fighters wrote, “Without Taylor, we never would have become the band that we were — and without Taylor, we know that we’re going to be a different band going forward.”

The 2023 Boston Calling bill also includes Paramore, Queens of the Stone Age, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Lumineers, Alanis Morissette, The National, Bleachers, The Linda Lindas and The Flaming Lips. Presale begins this Thursday, January 12, at 10 a.m. ET.

For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit BostonCalling.com.

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