Classic Rock News

Fans of Elton John know he loves to shop, so it’s no surprise that he’s collaborating with one of the most famous department stores in the world for a good cause.

Elton has teamed up with Saks Fifth Avenue for a curated holiday collection, proceeds from which will go to The Elton John AIDS Foundation. The collection is available to shop now and includes items from Balmain, Versace, Louboutin, Dior, Burberry, Chopard, Gucci, Baccarat, Manolo Blahnik and Caroline Herrera.

In a statement, Elton says, “There are so many ways I enjoy expressing creativity—through my music, my fashion…and my gift-giving! I’m inspired by all the creativity we saw in the designers we partnered with for this collection. Better yet, they’re helping fuel the other great passion in my life, Elton John AIDS Foundation’s Rocket Fund, which helps provide care to those who need it most.”

As part of the deal, Saks will donate $1 million to Elton’s AIDS Foundation — including $500,000 worth of proceeds from the collection — regardless of how well it sells.

On December 6 at 12 p.m. ET, you can go to Saks Live and watch Elton sitting down with Gucci Creative Director Alessandro Michele for an intimate conversation.

Speaking to Saks for its website, Elton talked about how he celebrates the holidays.

“Christmas is a massive deal in our family as our eldest son Zachary was born on Christmas day,” he reveals. “We have a tradition of celebrating his birthday on Christmas Eve followed by a big Christmas celebration on the 25th…We love watching our favorite classic holiday movies and listening to great Christmas records.”

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Peter Gabriel recently told ABC Audio that his new album — on which he’s been working since 2002 — was “nearing completion.” Well, it now has an official title and will be supported by the artist’s first major tour in years.

Gabriel’s album was always rumored to be called i/o, but now it’s official. There’s no release date yet, but i/o The Tour will start May 18 in Krakow, Poland and run through June 25 in Dublin, Ireland. These will be Gabriel’s first dates outside North America in 14 years. 

Speaking of North America, he plans to tour there in the late summer or early fall of 2023. Tickets for the European dates go on sale Friday, November 11 via LiveNation, while ticket info for North America will be released at a later date. This will be his first North American tour since 2016.

“It’s been a while and I am now surrounded by a whole lot of new songs and am excited to be taking them out on the road for a spin,” the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer said in a statement. “Look forward to seeing you out there.”

For the tour, Gabriel will play material from the new album as well as hits, fan favorites and as his website puts it, “the unexpected.” He’ll be joined by his regular musical collaborators: Tony Levin, David Rhodes and Manu Katché. 

When i/o finally arrives, it’ll be Gabriel’s first studio album of all-original material since 2002’s Up.

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British hard rock veterans Uriah Heep have announced a new album, Chaos & Colour, which will be released on January 27. It’s available for pre-order now.

The first single “Save Me Tonight,” which comes with an animated video, is streaming now. Uriah Heep’s bass player Dave Rimmer, who co-wrote the track, says the song “comes from a place of frustration and helplessness, living through these unprecedented past couple of years but hanging on to this raging hope that we would all meet again!”

As for the album title, the band’s Mick Box explains that it refers to the pandemic lockdown and “all the chaos that was thrown into the world.” He notes, “As far as I could see it, the only color people had was through music. It helped so many people get through those difficult years, using that strength and power which music has, to make those bad times not quite so bad.”

The album will be available in black and colored vinyl, as a deluxe CD with a hardcover book and as a standard CD.

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Bruce Springsteen‘s regular fall gig — performing at Bob Woodruff‘s annual Stand Up For Heroes benefit — took place Monday night in New York City.

The annual event honors veterans and their families, and also raises funds for them and their caregivers. Along with Bruce, the bill included The Lumineers, Jewel, Jon Stewart, former Daily Show correspondent and comedian Hasan Minhaj and comedians Iliza Shlesinger and Jeff Ross.

Bruce played a four-song acoustic set that included “House of a Thousand Guitars” and “I’ll See You In My Dreams” from his 2020 album, A Letter To You, as well as “I’ll Work for Your Love” from his 2007 album, Magic, and “Dancing in the Dark.” He didn’t play anything from his upcoming album, Only the Strong Survive.

As has also become a tradition, Bruce told several dirty jokes while onstage, most of which fell into the “dad joke” category. We won’t repeat any of them here, but you can see fan-shot video of it on YouTube.

According to Setlist.fm, The Lumineers played four songs as well: “Cleopatra” and “Ophelia” from the 2016 album Cleopatra, as well as the title track of their new album, Brightside, and “Charlie Boy” from their 2012 self-titled debut.

The event raised more than $4.5 million for the Bob Woodruff Foundation.

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When the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony took place this past weekend in L.A., some wondered where Alanis Morissette was, as she’d been expected to join Olivia Rodrigo for a duet as part of Carly Simon‘s induction.  In fact Variety reports that she’d even shown up at rehearsals and ran through the duet of “You’re So Vain” with Olivia.  Now, Alanis is shedding light on why she dropped out of the ceremony.

In a lengthy note posted on her Instagram Story,  Alanis says she wants to clarify “misinformed rumblings,” but doesn’t give a specific reason for her absence. However, she hints that it was due to sexism that she apparently experienced on set.

“I have spent decades in an industry that is rife with an overarching anti-woman sentiment and have tolerated a lot of condescension and disrespectfulness, reduction, dismissiveness, contract-breaching, unsupportiveness, exploitation and psychological violence (and more) throughout my career,” she explains.

She goes on to note, “Thankfully, I am at a point in my life where there is no need for me to spend time in an environment that reduces women,” intimating that the Rock Hall ceremony’s “environment” did just that.

Alanis notes that she “adores” Carly Simon, as well as the female artists who took part in the show as either inductees or performers: Olivia, Dolly Parton, Janet Jackson, Pink, Pat Benatar, Sheryl Crow, Sara Bareilles and Brandi Carlile, as well as “all the amazing people and artists who were there.”

She concluded, “I have had countless incredible experiences with production teams with all genders throughout my life. So many, and so fun. There is nothing better than a team of diverse people coming together with one mission. I’ll continue to show up in those environments with bells on.”

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Founding Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna guitarist and singer Jorma Kaukonen has announced a solo tour for early 2023.

The dates kick off February 19 in Pontre Vedra, Florida, and are set to wrap up March 5 in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Two of the shows — February 21 in Atlanta and February 22 in Charleston — feature Kaukonen sharing a bill with the David Bromberg Quintet. For tickets, visit Kaukonen’s website.

Kaukonen, who’ll turn 82 in December, still has a number of dates on his schedule for 2022. Some are solo gigs, but most of them are with Hot Tuna Acoustic & Electric, for which he’ll be joined by bassist Jack Casady and drummer Justin Guip. Those shows wrap up December 15 in Sag Harbor, New York.

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Artists including Dead & Company, Bob Weir and newly-minted Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Annie Lennox are taking part in a new climate change social media campaign coinciding with the start of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP27, which began this week in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

The initiative, which is being spearheaded by the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance, hopes to “rally support for United Nations Human Rights climate justice goals” and for “the world leaders and dignitaries assembled in Sharm El Sheikh to view climate change through a human rights lens.”

Others participating include The Lumineers, Cher, Leonardo DiCaprio, Quincy Jones, Ellen DeGeneres, Edward Norton, Jack Black, LL Cool J and Joss Stone.

“By working together and supporting inclusive rights-based climate action for people and the planet, we can realize a better, more sustainable future for all,” DiCaprio says.

For more info, visit RightHereRightNow.global.

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The metaverse version of Ozzfest now has a lineup.

As previously reported, a virtual edition of Ozzy Osbourne‘s namesake festival will be held during the Metaverse Music Festival, put on by “virtual social world” Decentraland.

In addition to the Prince of Darkness, the bill includes Motörhead, Megadeth, Black Label Society and Skid Row.

Motörhead, of course, hasn’t performed since the 2015 death of frontman Lemmy. The exact nature of Motörhead’s performance hasn’t been revealed — perhaps it’ll be a restaging of archival footage — but the description for the Metaverse Music Festival notes that it will “be unconstrained by the boundaries of reality.”

The Metaverse Music Festival takes place November 10-13. For more info, visit TheMetaverseFestival.io.

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The Beatles‘ album Revolver, which first topped the Billboard 200 album chart in 1966, is back in the top five, thanks to a deluxe special edition reissue that came out October 28.

The special edition, which is available in a variety of formats, features demos, alternate versions, outtakes and different mixes of classics like “Yellow Submarine,” “Got to Get You Into My Life,” “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “Eleanor Rigby,” as well as different takes of the non-album tracks “Paperback Writer” and “Rain.” It sold 54,000 units, enough to reenter the chart at #4.

Revolver is the latest in an ongoing series of Beatles studio albums that are being reissued in expanded versions. It follows the releases of expanded reissues of Let It Be last year, Abbey Road in 2019, The Beatles aka The White Album in 2018 and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 2017.

As with Revolver, all the albums originally topped the Billboard chart and then returned to the top 10 after the special versions were released.

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The Black Crowes will be spending Super Bowl weekend in Las Vegas.

The band has booked two performances at the Pearl Concert Theater at Palms Casino Resort on Friday, February 10 and Saturday, February 11. Tickets go on sale this Friday, November 11 at 10 a.m. PT via ticketmaster.com.

Citi cardmembers can grab presale tickets starting Tuesday at 10 a.m. PT through the Citi Entertainment program. An artist presale starts on Wednesday, and there are also presales for members of various loyalty programs.

After those shows, as previously reported, the Black Crowes will play the 2023 Innings Festival, taking place February 25-26 in Tempe, Arizona. Also on the bill are Green Day, Eddie Vedder, Weezer and The Offspring.

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