Classic Rock News

President Joe Biden is sending along his congratulations to Sir Elton John, who on Monday, January 15, became the 19th entertainer to earn a competitive EGOT, when his Disney+ special, Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium, won an Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special (Live). 

“Sir Elton John has been a tidal wave throughout his career to help people rise up and make hope and history rhyme,” Biden shared on social media. “Six Grammy Awards. Two Oscars. One Tony. And now, one Emmy. Congratulations Elton — a singer and songwriter of our time, for all time.”

Biden previously revealed a special connection he and his family have to Elton’s music in his book Promise Me Dad, sharing that as a young, single dad, he and his two sons, Hunter and Beau, would sing “Crocodile Rock” on their way to school each day. In 2015, when Beau was dying of brain cancer, Biden sat at his bedside and sang “Crocodile Rock” to him. 

In 2022, Biden honored Elton with the National Humanities Medal, telling the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, “On behalf of the American people, thank you — and I sincerely mean this — for moving the soul of the nation.”

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Bush has announced a U.S. tour celebrating the band’s greatest hits.

The summer outing launches July 26 in Bend, Oregon, and wraps up September 15 in Los Angeles. Alice in Chains‘ Jerry Cantrell will provide support, as will Candlebox, who launched a farewell tour in 2023.

Tickets will be available on presale beginning Tuesday, January 16, at noon ET, followed by the general onsale on Friday, January 19, at 10 a.m. local time. A select amount of tickets will be sold for just $19.94 in honor of the release year of Bush’s 1994 debut album, Sixteen Stone, which turns 30 in December.

For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit BushOfficial.com.

Bush just put out a greatest hits compilation, Loaded, in November. Along with singles including “Glycerine,” “Everything Zen,” “Machinehead” and “Swallowed,” the set includes the new song “Nowhere to Go but Everywhere.”

For a preview of the tour, you can catch Bush perform “Glycerine” Tuesday on NBC’s The Tonight Show.

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On This Day, January 16, 1992…

Eric Clapton recorded an episode of MTV Unplugged in front of a small audience at Bray Film Studios in Windsor England.

The taping featured performances of such songs as “Tears in Heaven,” about the death of his four-year-old son, Conor, and an acoustic version of “Layla.”

Clapton released a live album of the show in August 1992 to critical acclaim. The album went to #1 on the Billboard 200 chart and won three Grammy Awards, including Record and Song of the Year for “Tears In Heaven.”

The album sold 26 million copies worldwide to become the bestselling live album of all time.

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The Doors’ Robby Krieger is still on a search to find one of his Doors-era guitars, which was stolen almost 60 years ago.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer initially put out a plea to find the missing early ’60s red Gibson SG Special back in 2021, revealing that it was the guitar he used to audition for The Doors and the one he wrote their classic tune “Light My Fire” on. It was stolen from the band’s rehearsal space in 1967.

While it’s been awhile since his initial plea, in a new interview with Guitar World Krieger says he’s still searching for it and is asking anyone who owns a 1963/1964 model of the guitar to check and see if the serial number matches the one from his missing axe, 88779, and contact him at FindRobbysGuitar@gmail.com.

Krieger tells the mag he was initially inspired to buy the guitar after catching Chuck Berry play a Gibson at a show in Santa Monica, California.

“He played this beautiful cherry red Gibson ES-335,” he explains. “Next day I decided to trade in one of my flamenco guitars for an ES-335. But as it turned out, the ES-335 was too expensive, and the only guitar I could afford was a Gibson SG.”

As for what he liked about it, Krieger mentions its “smoother sound compared to the Fender guitars of the day.”

“The Fender stuff was twangier, and I never was a fan of that,” he says. “I always have gone for smoother sounds, which I could get with the Gibson.”

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While reading the nominees for the Emmys Variety Special (Live) on Monday night, January 15, presenter Amy Poehler said of nominee Elton John, “EGOT to be excited about this.” That’s because a win would give the rock legend that much-coveted awards milestone — and whaddya know: It did.

Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium, the live Disney+ special documenting Elton’s final North American concert, won the Emmy, making Elton an EGOT.  He now has one Emmy, two Oscars, a Tony Award and six Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Grammy.

Or perhaps we should say he has a “KNEEGOT”?  At the podium, executive producer Ben Winston said that Elton wasn’t able to make it to the ceremony because he had to have a knee operation — he’s fine, though.  Winston gave a special shout-out to Elton’s husband David Furnish, crediting him for having the “creative vision” for the live special, and praised Elton as “all of our heroes.”

Elton is the 19th person ever to achieve a competitive EGOT. Others who’ve done it include John Legend, Jennifer Hudson, Viola Davis, Rita Moreno and Whoopi Goldberg.  Six additional people have won an EGOT with noncompetitive or honorary awards.

In a statement, Elton said, “I am incredibly humbled to be joining the unbelievably talented group of EGOT winners tonight. The journey to this moment has been filled with passion, dedication, and the unwavering support of my fans all around the world.”

He added, “Tonight is a testament to the power of the arts and the joy that it brings to all our lives. Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout my career, I am incredibly grateful.”

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Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong is the latest guest on comedian Marc Maron‘s popular WTF podcast.

According to the episode’s description, the pair discusses “melodies, power pop, R.E.M., the Bay, [Armstrong’s] bandmates, and how he’s still learning songs on YouTube.”

“Sometimes ya just gotta say WTF?!” Green Day adds. “And that’s exactly what Billie’s doing with Marc Maron, go listen to the podcast.”

Green Day is set to release a new album, Saviors, on Friday, January 19. They’ll launch a U.S. tour with support from The Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid and The Linda Lindas in July.

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Bruce Springsteen has marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day by sharing an emotional performance on social media.

The rocker posted video of him performing the gospel song “We Shall Overcome,” a tune commonly associated with the Civil Rights Movement. According to the Asbury Park Press, the performance took place at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 2006. 

“There’s the beautiful quote by Dr. King that says the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice…,” Springsteen wrote next to the video. “I’ve lived long enough to see that in action and to put some faith in it… I’ve also lived long enough to know that arc doesn’t bend on its own. It needs all of us leaning on it, nudging it in the right direction day after day.”

Springsteen and The E Street Band are gearing up to return to the road later this year. They’ll kick off their 2024 tour on March 19 in Phoenix, Arizona. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.net.

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Lenny Kravitz recently commented that he feels “blessed” by his daughter Zoë Kravitz’s engagement to actor Channing Tatum. And while there’s no word on when they plan to actually tie the knot, Kravitz says when the day comes, he doesn’t expect he’ll spend much time writing a father of the bride speech.

“It just comes at the moment. I don’t rehearse those things,” he told Entertainment Tonight at the 2024 Critics Choice Awards, adding it will just be a speech “from the heart.”

Zoë, 35, who has starred in such films as The Batman and The Divergent series, is Lenny’s daughter with ex-wife Lisa Bonet. She and Tatum, 43, reportedly got engaged back in October after more than two years of dating. They met on the set of the 2021 film P**** Island.

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Robert Plant has announced a new U.K. tour with his acoustic band, Saving Grace, featuring Suzi Dian. 

The 16-date trek, with special guest Taylor McCall, kicks off March 13 at the Bristol Beacon in Bristol and wraps July 24 at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking. A complete list of dates can be found at robertplant.com. 

Tickets for all shows go on sale Friday, July 19, at 10 a.m.

Plant and Saving Grace are also booked to play London’s Royal Albert Hall for the upcoming Teenage Cancer Trust charity concerts. They are part of the Ovation, a Celebration of 24 Years of Gigs for TCT show on March 24, which also features The Who’s Roger Daltrey, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, Stereophonics’ Kelly Jones and Paul Weller.

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The upcoming Linda Ronstadt biopic has found a director. Variety has confirmed a report in Showbiz 411 that Oscar-nominated director David O. Russell, best known for such films as Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle and The Fighter, will direct the film, which will star Selena Gomez as the legendary singer. 

The movie, currently in preproduction, is being produced by Ronstadt’s manager, John Boylan, and James Keach, who produced a 2019 documentary about Ronstadt called The Sound of My Voice.

Gomez’s casting was revealed earlier this month; the Only Murders in the Building star initially teased the news by posting a photo of Ronstadt’s memoir Simple Dreams to her Instagram Story.

An 11-time Grammy winner, with 10 top 10 hits, Ronstadt was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and awarded the National Medal of the Arts and Humanities in 2014. She also received the Kennedy Center Honors award in 2019.

Ronstadt announced her retirement in 2011. In 2013, she revealed she had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which prevented her from singing. She later shared that her diagnosis had been changed to progressive supranuclear palsy.

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