Classic Rock News

Guns N’ Roses returned to the stage Thursday in Abu Dhabi and treated the crowd to some songs they haven’t played in a very long time.

According to setlist.fm, the band performed a trio of songs that haven’t been part of their set list since the ’90s. They include the Use Your Illusion I track “Bad Obsession,” which they haven’t performed since February 1993; Use Your Illusion II’s “Pretty Tied Up,” not played since April 1992; and Appetite for Destruction’s “Anything Goes,” last played in August 1988.

The set also included a performance of the band’s UK Subs cover “Down on the Farm,” from The Spaghetti Incident. They haven’t played that song since December 2006.

In total, GNR played a 32-song set and treated the crowd to plenty of hits, including “Welcome To The Jungle,” “Don’t Cry,” “November Rain,” “Paradise City,” “Patience” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine.”

Guns N’ Roses’ next show takes place June 5 in Tel Aviv, Israel. A complete list of dates can be found at gunsnroses.com.

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U2 is scheduled to open the new Las Vegas venue The MSG Sphere in September with their new residency, U2: UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere, and it appears Bono took it upon himself to check out the new digs.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports the band’s frontman was spotted visiting the venue last Saturday, while the band’s sound man of 45 years, Joe O’Herlihy, was spotted there Friday.

The outlet reports that Bono was there as they tested out the sound of the venue, with Madonna’s “Vogue” heard blasting through the sound system.

U2: UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere at The Venetian is set to kick off September 29 and run through December 16. A complete list of dates can be found at U2.com.

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Forbes is out with their list of America’s richest self-made women entrepreneurs, executives and entertainers, with Madonna, Dolly Parton and Barbra Streisand all nabbing spots on the list.

Madonna lands at #45 with $580 million, a number which is likely to increase with her upcoming Celebration tour, which kicks off July 15 in Vancouver.

Dolly, who last year was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, comes in at #59 with $440 million, while Babs, who in 2022 re-released her early live album Live at the Bon Soir, is close behind her at #61 with $430 mil.

The trio is just a handful of the famous names to make the list this year. Others include Oprah Winfrey at #13 with $2.5 billion, and Taylor Swift at #34 with $740 million.

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June 1 marks the 50th anniversary of Paul McCartney and Wings‘ classic “Live And Let Die,” and the milestone is not going unnoticed.

The anniversary is being celebrated with a new Dolby Atmos release of the song. It’s mixed by Steve Orchard and Giles Martin, son of Beatles producer George Martin, who produced the original song, and mastered by Oli Morgan.

“I think it sounds good, I’m really happy with it,” Giles tells ABC Audio. “It’s nice because it’s my dad’s arrangement and so that’s always quite a nice thing.” He adds, “I’m not trying to be too Martin biased on it, but it is an amazing arrangement.”

You can listen to “Live And Let Die” now via digital outlets.

“Live And Let Die” was the theme song for the 1973 James Bond film of the same name, with Roger Moore playing 007. The track marked a reunion of McCartney and The Beatles producer Martin, who also arranged the orchestra that appears on the track.  

The song, which didn’t appear on a McCartney album until 1978’s Wings Greatest compilation, went on to peak at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song, but lost to Barbra Streisand’s “The Way We Were.” 

In 1991 the song was famously covered by Guns N’ Roses for their Lose Your Illusion I album, which earned them a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance.

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Motörhead has shared a live video for the 1983 song “I Got Mine,” taken from the band’s upcoming live album, Live at Montreux Jazz Festival ’07.

The performance was recorded during the “Ace of Spades” outfit’s set at the famed Swiss festival in 2007.

You can watch the live “I Got Mine” video streaming now on YouTube.

Live at Montreux Jazz Festival ’07 will be released June 16. It also includes the first official release of Motörhead’s cover of Thin Lizzy‘s “Rosalie.”

While Motörhead disbanded in 2015 following the death of frontman Lemmy Kilmister, several archival pieces have been released since then. Most recently, an expanded version of the last Motörhead album, 2015’s Bad Magic, dropped earlier this year.

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KISS fans now have more chances to see the band before they say goodbye to the road for good. 

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers just added some more shows to their End of the Road Tour: October 19 in Cincinnati and October 22 in Cleveland.

A presale for the KISS Army begins Monday, June 5, at 10 a.m. local time, with the general on-sale happening Friday, June 9, 10 a.m. local time.

KISS is getting ready to kick off the U.K./European leg of their End of the Road Tour on June 5 in Birmingham, England. The tour is set to wrap for good on December 1 and 2 at New York’s Madison Square Garden. A complete list of KISS dates can be found at kissonline.com.

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Metallica has shared a new trailer for the Live from Texas concert film.

The two-day event will showcase the metal legends’ upcoming performances at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, taking place August 18 and 20, with live broadcasts in movie theaters across the world.

You can watch the trailer streaming now on YouTube.

The Live from Texas shows are part of Metallica’s global M72 tour supporting their new album, 72 Seasons. For each city on the tour, Metallica is playing two separate nights with completely different set lists.

The M72 tour is currently in Europe and will launch in the U.S. August 4 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

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The 50th anniversary celebration of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon continues, with a new box set looking at the visuals associated with the record. 

Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of The Moon – Super Deluxe Edition: A visual History by Glenn Povey features a slew of goodies for the Pink Floyd fan. It looks at the complete recording history of the record, along with documentation of all the live performances, with previously unpublished photos, plus reproductions of rare memorabilia from the time period. 

Each set is signed and numbered by Povey, described as one of the leading Floyd authorities. It also includes a CD featuring rare interviews from back in the day, including one with the whole band, recorded in 1972, and a longer one with the late Rick Wright. 

Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of The Moon – Super Deluxe Edition: A visual History by Glenn Povey will be released June 16. It is available for preorder now.

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Personal items belonging to Queen’s Freddie Mercury are set to go up for auction at Sotheby’s in September, and a preview exhibit in New York has revealed some interesting info about the band’s classic hit tune “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

The exhibit will feature some of Mercury’s previously unseen handwritten working drafts of songs, including that of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which spans 15 pages. The draft shows that Mercury originally planned to call it “Mongolian Rhapsody,” before crossing it out and replacing it with “Bohemian.”

The sheets also reveal possible alternative lyrics to the second verse, which begins “Mama, just killed a man.” The lyric sheet reveals Mercury originally intended to sing, “Mama, There’s a war began, I’ve got to leave tonight.” And, in addition to the well-known chants “Galileo,” “Fandango,” “Scaramouche” and “Thunderbolts and lightning,” the pages reveal the words “Matador” and “Belladonna” were almost included, as well.

The estimated value of those lyrics is between about $1 million and $1.5 million.

Also on display will be lyrics for such Queen classics as “Don’t Stop Me Now,” “Somebody to Love,” which spans 19 pages, “We Are the Champions” and more. Many are autographed by Mercury. 

The lyric sheets, along with early notebooks of lyrics, costumes and more, will be on display at Sotheby’s New York June 1-8, before moving to Los Angeles June 14-18 and Hong Kong from June 26-20. The full collection will be on display in London from August 4 to September 5.

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Brian May is revisiting his 1983 all-star collaboration, Brian May + Friends: Star Fleet Project, which featured Eddie Van Halen, Alan Gratzer, Phil Chen and Fred Mandel.

Recorded during a break from Queen, the mini album featured just three tracks: May’s reimagining of “Star Fleet,” a tune from a Japanese kid’s science fiction series; the tune “Let Me Out,” featuring guitar solos from May and Van Halen; and “Blues Breaker,” featuring 13 minutes of May and Van Halen trading guitar licks. 

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the project, a new deluxe box set will be released on July 14, featuring 23 tracks of previously unreleased material, including multiple takes of “Star Fleet” and “Let Me Out.” There are also newly remixed versions of all the songs, with “Star Fleet” out now. The set is made up of two CDs, one vinyl LP and a vinyl single, along with a badge and a booklet with extensive liner notes.

There will also be a separate 7-inch, double A-side single, which will also be released on CD, with the newly mixed versions of the two songs, as well as a red vinyl version exclusive to the Queen online store. 

“We are going to give you everything … every take of every song, the things that went wrong, the laughing, the finding new things to do,” May shares on the set’s sleeve notes. “But it won’t be just a remaster – we’ve rescued everything from the original multitracks, every detail magnificently remixed, and more! You’ll hear every take from the historic 1983 sessions plus fragments of conversations, outtakes and musical experimentation.”

Brian May + Friends: Star Fleet Project is available for preorder now.

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