Classic Rock News

In honor of the 50th anniversary of Billy Joel‘s solo career, a remixed and re-edited version of the Piano Man’s 1990 concert film Live at Yankee Stadium will be screened at select North American theaters in early October.

The screenings will take place October 5 and October 9 in the U.S. and October 5 and October 8 in Canada. Tickets will go on sale Wednesday, August 10, at 10 a.m. ET at BillyJoel.film.

Live at Yankee Stadium was shot at two shows that Joel played at the historic Bronx, New York, ballpark on June 22 and 23, 1990. The re-edited movie features 4K video and Dolby ATMOS audio newly mixed from the original tapes. The film version includes a previously unreleased performance of “Uptown Girl,” interviews with Joel and behind-the-scenes footage from the event.

Among the many other classic songs featured in the movie are “Piano Man,” “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” “New York State of Mind” and “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.”

As a preview from the film, a clip of Billy performing “We Didn’t Start the Fire” has debuted on YouTube.

Meanwhile, the updated version of Live at Yankee Stadium and its remixed companion album will be released on November 4 on Blu-ray, CD, as a two-LP vinyl set and digitally, and can be preordered now.

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Journey‘s first new studio album in 11 years, Freedom, was released last month.

The 15-track collection was recorded mostly remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, with guitarist Neal Schon overseeing the music with veteran drummer/producer Narada Michael Walden, and keyboardist Jonathan Cain penning just about all of the lyrics.

Cain is a devout Christian who’s released a series of faith-based solo albums in recent years, and he tells ABC Audio that his inspiration for Journey’s new tunes was the same as his spiritual compositions.

“People asked me the other day…’Where do you get your lyric inspiration from?’ I said, ‘God, Holy Spirit,'” Cain reveals. “[H]e’s like [Elton John lyricist] Bernie Taupin for me, you know? He’s right there whenever I need him…And we’ve got a relationship, so a lot of these lyrics on this Journey record, I think, are heaven sent. So, [I’m] happy to be able to crank ’em out.”

Explaining how he collaborated on the Freedom material with Schon and Walden, Jonathan says, “Narada and Neal had some titles they threw out at me…and they had the beginnings of some choruses. And…I just tried to weave them into a lyric and complete it.”

Cain notes that Schon and Walden were the driving creative forces on Freedom, which was fine with him.

“[T]his is pretty much their baby, I would say,” he tells ABC Audio. “[T]hey were pretty relentless with the music and the direction. And I thought, ‘If you’re on a roll, go for it.'”

Describing the sound of the album, Cain says it has moods reminiscent of three of Journey’s biggest albums — 1981’s Escape, 1983’s Frontiers and 1986’s Raised on the Radio — plus “a little bit of [1978’s] Infinity in places.”

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ZZ Top recently lined up three September concerts in their home state of Texas featuring guitar legend Jeff Beck and Heart‘s Ann Wilson as special guests. Now three more shows with just Beck have been announced, taking place later that month in Tennessee and Alabama.

The new concerts are scheduled for September 27 in Franklin, Tennessee; September 29 in Pelham, Alabama; and September 30 in Orange Beach, Alabama. Tickets for the shows will go on sale to the general public this Friday, August 5, at 10 a.m. local time, while presale tickets can be purchased now.

As previously reported, ZZ Top’s Texas concerts with both Beck and Wilson will be held September 23 in Del Valle, September 24 in Dallas and September 25 in the Houston suburb of The Woodlands.

All of the concerts are part of ZZ Top’s 2022 Raw Whisky Tour, which is mapped out through a November 13 gig in Pompano Beach, Florida. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame trio also has a Las Vegas residency scheduled for this December at The Venetian.

ZZ Top released its latest album, Raw, on July 22. The collection features intimate live versions of 12 songs from the group’s back catalog, recorded in 2019 in conjunction with the documentary That Little Ol’ Band from Texas.

As for Jeff, he released a collaborative album with actor/rocker Johnny Depp titled 18 on July 15.

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A variety of famous rock acts populate the top of Pollstar‘s new lists of the top touring artists by total box-office grosses and total ticket sales, based on information the concert-industry publication began collecting in 1980.

At #1 of top-grossing touring artists are The Rolling Stones, who have brought in a whopping $2.17 billion between July 7, 1980, and July 1, 2022.

Not far behind The Stones are U2, who landed in second place on the tally with $2.12 billion in concert grosses.

Other rock artists in the top 10 of the list are Elton John at #3 with $1.75 billion; Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band at #4 with $1.53 billion; Bon Jovi at #7 with $1.33 billion; the Eagles at #8 with $1.31 billion; Metallica at #9 with $1.22 billion; and Paul McCartney at #10 with $1.19 billion.

A bit lower on the tally are Billy Joel at #11, Roger Waters at #18 and Rod Stewart at #19.

The top touring artists by ticket sales are U2, with 26.2 million sold. The Stones are at #3 with 22.1 million, with Springsteen & the E Street Band at #4 with 20.8 million, Elton at #5 with 19.8 million, Metallica at #6 with 19.5 million, Bon Jovi at #7 with 17.8 million, Joel at #8 with 17 million and The Grateful Dead rounding out the top 10 with 15.5 million.

You can check out the full lists at Pollstar.com.

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Mo Ostin, the legendary record executive who headed the Warner Bros. Records label for over 30 years, died “peacefully in his sleep” on Sunday at age 95, according to a Warner Music Group press statement.

“Mo was one of the greatest record men of all time, and a prime architect of the modern music business,” Warner Records co-chairmen Tom Corson and Aaron Bay-Schuck said in a joint statement. “For Mo, it was always first and foremost about helping artists realize their vision … Mo lived an extraordinary life doing what he loved, and he will be deeply missed throughout the industry he helped create, and by the countless artists and colleagues whom he inspired to be their best selves.”

As explained in a Billboard obit, early in his career, Ostin was hired by Frank Sinatra to run the iconic singer’s Reprise Records in 1960. After Warner Bros. Records bought Reprise in 1963, Ostin signed artists like The Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young to the label.

Ostin began his tenure as president of Warner Bros. Records in 1970, became the company’s chairman and CEO in ’72, and oversaw saw the label and its Reprise imprint until he retired in 1994.

During his years with Warner Bros. Records, the company signed such famous artists as Van Halen, Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor, Paul Simon, ZZ Top, Don Henley, Tom Petty, R.E.M., The B-52s, Green Day, Dire Straits, Chaka Khan and Prince.

After retiring from Warner Bros., Ostin co-founded and ran the DreamWorks SKG’s music division from 1996 to 2004. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

A wide range of artists and other music-industry figures have shared tributes to Ostin, including Clive Davis, Neil Young, Nancy Sinatra, Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Flea, The Beach Boys‘ Al Jardine and Christopher Cross.

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Creedence Clearwater Revival has unveiled plans to issue a previously unreleased live album capturing a historic 1970 show the band played in London in conjunction with the recently announced concert film and documentary Travelin’ Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall.

The film, which includes footage of CCR’s entire April 14, 1970, concert at the Royal Albert Hall and is narrated by Jeff Bridges, will premiere internationally on September 14. The album will be released in multiple formats that same day.

Titled Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall, the album features renditions of all 12 songs performed by CCR at the show, including such classic as “Travelin’ Band,” “Fortunate Son,” “Bad Moon Rising” and “Proud Mary.”

The version of “Bad Moon Rising” is available now as an advance digital track.

The album, which can be preordered now, will be available on CD, cassette, 180-gram vinyl and via various digital formats. Select retailers, including Walmart and Target, are offering limited-edition colored-vinyl variants of the record.

Meanwhile, a super deluxe box set will be released on November 14 that features a Blu-ray of the Travelin’ Band film, two-LP 45-rpm versions of the live album and a bonus CD containing music that’s featured in the movie.

The Blu-ray also includes high-res digital audio versions of the album. In addition, the package boasts a reproduction of CCR’s 1970 tour program, a poster and a 16-page booklet that includes an excerpt from Bridges’ voice-over script for the flick.

As previously reported, Travelin’ Band features a treasure trove of rare and unseen footage, including recently rediscovered 16-mm film of the concert and behind-the-scenes clips of the band.

Here’s the album’s full track list:

“Born on the Bayou”
“Green River”
“Tombstone Shadow”
“Travelin’ Band”
“Fortunate Son”
“Commotion”
“Midnight Special”
“Bad Moon Rising”
“Proud Mary”
“The Night Time Is the Right Time”
“Good Golly Miss Molly”
“Keep On Chooglin'”

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In 2017 and 2018, founding Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm and the band’s other surviving original former members rejoined the group for several special reunion shows, but Gramm says it’s unlikely that he’ll play any more concerts with the veteran rockers.

In a recent Zoom interview with RockHistoryMusic.com, Gramm was asked if his association with Foreigner was over, and Lou responded, “I think so, yeah. I don’t want to be part of it.”

Lou, who’s 72, noted that two of the band’s six original members, multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald and bassist Ed Gagliardi, have passed away, while founding Foreigner guitarist and main songwriter Mick Jones “is in very poor health.”

“[W]hen the new Foreigner plays, I’ve heard that [Mick] comes on for one song and then waves and goes offstage,” Gramm said. “[Until fairly recently,] he would play the whole last half of the set. But then he was in the hospital again for weeks. He had some heart problems and his recovery time was very long and tedious. And I heard that he comes out for one song now…when he comes on.”

Lou adds, “Most of the time Foreigner has no original Foreigner members in it.”

Also during the interview, Gramm admitted that he wasn’t too enamored with the group’s current lead singer, Kelly Hansen.

“Kelly is all right,” Lou said. “He’s a good singer. But I think Mick really told Kelly, when he first got in the band, that he had to study me, because he sings those songs with the same musical innuendos and vocal licks and ad-libs as I have. He’s mimicking me.”

Gramm added, “I don’t take it as a compliment. You’re a singer with a big band like that — use your voice and your style. Don’t hang your coat on my hook.”

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Fourteen new dates have just been added to the 2022 edition of the star-studded Celebrating David Bowie tribute tour, which is scheduled to kick off October 6 in San Diego and run through a November 13 performance in Phoenix.

The newly added shows, which expands the previously announced North American trek from 15 to 29 dates, include an October 14 concert in Chicago, an October 24-25 stand in New York City and a second performance in Annapolis, Maryland, on November 1.

As previously reported, the lineup for the 2022 Celebrating David Bowie trek includes Todd Rundgren, ex-King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew, Spacehog‘s Royston Langdon, Fishbone frontman Angelo Moore and singer/songwriter Jeffrey Gaines. The tour was created by veteran guitarist and record producer Angelo Bundini, a.k.a. Scrote, who also will perform on the trek.

The Annapolis shows, scheduled for October 31 and November 1, will feature ’80s synth-pop star Thomas Dolby as a special guest.

Tickets for the new concerts will go on sale this Friday, August 5. Visit CelebratingDavidBowie.com for more details.

The trek will partner with Rundgren’s Spirit of Harmony Foundation to promote making music education more available for children. Volunteers will be on hand at all of the concerts to help share information about the organization and explain how people can get involved in promoting music education in their local communities.

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Billy Joel will headline the first day of the two-day ATLive festival, which will take place November 11-12 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Joining the Piano Man on the November 11 bill will be Lionel Richie and Sheryl Crow. Day two of the festival will be a country-themed show headlined by Chris Stapleton, featuring Miranda Lambert, Dwight Yoakam and Katie Pruitt.

Tickets for the third annual ATLive event go on sale Friday, August 12, at 10 a.m. ET at Ticketmaster.com, while presale tickets will be available starting this Wednesday, August 3, at 10 a.m. ET.

Joel currently has six other U.S. concerts lined up this year — August 11 in Pittsburgh; September 23 in Houston; and August 24, September 9, October 9 and November 23 at Madison Square Garden as part of his ongoing monthly residency at the famed New York City venue.

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Bruce Springsteen paid a visit to the Asbury Park, New Jersey club The Wonder Bar on Sunday to help the historic venue celebrate the 20th anniversary of its renovation and reopening.

NJ Advance Media reports that The Boss showed up at the club several hours before a concert by original E Street Band drummer Vini Lopez and his current group The Wonderful Winos.

A video posted on Wonder Bar manager Debbie DeLisa‘s social media sites shows Springsteen, with his arm around her, sending out a special message in honor of the milestone.

“It is the 20th anniversary of The Wonder Bar,” Bruce declares in the clip. “I just want to congratulate the Wonder Bar on being an Asbury Park institution and bringing so much love and character to our town.”

Springsteen then embraces DeLisa, who thanks Bruce “for everything that you do.”

Stan Goldstein, who gives Springsteen-related tours of the Jersey Shore, told NJ Advance Media that he spotted Springsteen hanging out at The Wonder Bar for a while on Sunday with late E Street Band sax player Clarence Clemons‘ son Jarod and also taking a stroll on the Asbury Park boardwalk.

“He hasn’t been around Asbury Park, it’s the first I’ve known of it happening in a few years,” Goldstein said. “It’s a big deal, that he’s hanging out in Asbury Park enjoying himself on a Sunday in the summer.”

Bruce has been known to occasionally give surprise performances at The Wonder Bar, the most recent being a July 2015 appearance at a show by his friends Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers, during which he played for nearly two hours.

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