Flannel undone: ’90s nostalgia festival canceled

August 10, 2022 by Classic Rock 93.9

The Flannel Nation festival is going back in its drawer.

The ’90s nostalgia concert, which was set to take place this Saturday, August 13, in San Pedro, California, with artists including Candlebox, Filter, Everclear, Soul Asylum, Sponge, Sugar Ray and Cracker, has been canceled.

In a statement posted to Facebook on Tuesday, Flannel Nation organizers wrote, “We regret to announce that due to ongoing problems and logistical setbacks, putting on Flannel Nation as intended has become infeasible.”

Presumably, those “ongoing problems” and “logistical setbacks” include several bands dropping off the lineup, including Everclear, who wrote in an Instagram post that the Flannel Nation organizers “do not have the adequate means to provide the level of experience our fans expect and deserve while attending an Everclear show.”

Filter and Candelbox also canceled their sets, both citing “unforeseen circumstances.”

Meanwhile, Flannel Nation plans to “retool” and “reschedule” to take place on a new date.

Blondie postpones one concert, cancels another because of “recent positive COVID test”

August 10, 2022 by Classic Rock 93.9

Blondie was scheduled to play a concert Wednesday night at the Paramount theater in Huntington, New York, but the show has now been postponed “[o]ut of an abundance of caution due to a recent positive COVID test,” according to a message on the band’s social media pages.

The performance has been moved to August 31, and a new show has been added at the same venue on September 1. Meanwhile, an August 12 concert at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, which was to have marked the launch of a new U.S. leg of Blondie’s Against the Odds Tour, has been canceled.

Tickets that were purchased online for the Foxwoods show will be automatically refunded within 30 days, while tickets bought at the box office can be returned there for an immediate refund.

Blondie’s trek is now slated to kick off on August 14 at Leader Bank Pavilion in Boston. Most of the band’s upcoming shows through an August 27 performance in Chicago will feature veteran British punk group The Damned as the support act.

The Against the Odds Tour gets its name from Blondie’s upcoming box set, Against the Odds: 1974-1982, an expansive collection that delves into the early part of the influential New Wave band’s career. The box set will be released on August 26 and can be preordered now.

Meanwhile, in celebration of the Against the Odds collection, Blondie has launched a contest offering the chance to win one of 30 prints of photos of singer Debbie Harry taken by guitarist Chris Stein, all of which have been signed by Debbie and Chris.

Steely Dan reveals plans to perform full albums at Capitol Theatre residency

August 10, 2022 by Classic Rock 93.9

Steely Dan winds down its current U.S. trek, The Earth After Hours Tour, with a three-show residency this week at the historic Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees have revealed that each of the shows, scheduled for Wednesday night, Friday and Saturday, will feature them playing a different album from their catalog in its entirety.

Wednesday night’s concert will include a full performance of Steely’s Dan’s sixth studio album, 1977’s Aja, which features such classic tunes as the title track, “Deacon Blues,” “Peg” and “Josie.”

The August 12 show will feature a performance of the group’s entire fifth album, 1976’s The Royal Scam, which includes “Kid Charlemagne” and “Haitian Divorce.”

Bringing the residency, and the tour, to a close, the August 13 concert will feature a performance of Steely Dan’s 2021 live album Northeast Corridor, which was recorded during recent tours by the band at four venues in the Northeastern U.S. The album showcases renditions of some of Steely Dan’s most popular tunes, including “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” “Hey Nineteen,” “Aja,” “Peg” and “Reelin’ in the Years.”

Opening all three shows with be jazz outfit The Dave Stryker Trio.

Visit TheCapitolTheatre.com to purchase tickets to the concerts and for more details.

Brian May, Rick Wakeman taking part in Starmus science and music festival

August 10, 2022 by Classic Rock 93.9

Queen‘s Brian May and ex-Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman are among the musicians who will participate in the 2022 Starmus festival, which is scheduled to take place in Yerevan, Armenia, from September 5 to September 10.

May co-founded the festival in 2011 with Dr. Garik Israelian, one of the world’s leading astrophysicists, who had helped Brian complete his PhD thesis in astrophysics in 2007. The event promotes science communication and music. It features speeches from Nobel laureates, astronauts, scientists and authors, as well as musical performances.

The festival seeks to inspire and educate a new generation of explorers and spark their interest in making new discoveries.

The sixth annual Starmus festival will mark May’s first visit to Armenia. In 1988, May participated in the Rock Aid Armenia campaign, a humanitarian project organized to help those affected by a devastating earthquake that hit the country.

Wakeman, who has taken part in several previous Starmus festivals, joins May on this year’s lineup of performers, which also includes contemporary prog-rock group Sons of Apollo and Armenian-American rock singer Serj Tankian of the band System of a Down.

For more information about the festival, visit Starmus.com.

Ex-Yes singer Jon Anderson says he’s considering potential tour with Yes cover group The Band Geeks

August 10, 2022 by Classic Rock 93.9

Former Yes frontman Jon Anderson just finished a U.S. tour with the Paul Green Rock Academy celebrating the 50th anniversary of his old band’s classic album Close to the Edge. Now the 77-year-old singer has revealed he’s got potential plans for a new trek with a different group of musicians.

Anderson tells ABC Audio that he recently discovered a group called The Band Geeks that he says “do very, very good interpretation[s] of Yes music.” The group is led by Richie Castellano, who’s been Blue Öyster Cult‘s bassist since 2004.

“It kind of freaked me out how good they were,” Anderson notes. “So last November, I got in touch with the bass player, and I said, ‘Guys, would you be interested in going out and doing epics and classics?’ And they said, ‘Yes! We would!'”

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer continues, “They actually sound just like Yes. It’s kind of wonderful and frightening at the same time. The bass player, perfect Chris Squire sound … [The] guitarist, perfect Steve Howe. And [the drummer sounds like] Alan White, Bill Bruford-y Alan White.”

Anderson says he’s hoping to put together a set that includes the epic “Close to the Edge,” as well as some lesser-known Yes songs, among them “The Ritual,” “The Gates of Delirium” and “Mind Drive.”

“These are really, to me, very special Yes pieces of music that got lost in the quagmire of life,” Anderson maintains. “And I think they’re brilliant.”

Anderson says he recently shot a video of him singing some Yes material with The Band Geeks that he’s planning to use “to promote the idea” of the tour. However, no official plans for the trek have been confirmed.

Find out more about The Band Geeks at RichieCastellano.com.

Blondie premieres unreleased 1978 song “Mr. Sightseer” from upcoming ‘Against the Odds’ box set

August 9, 2022 by Classic Rock 93.9

Blondie has debuted a 1978 home recording of a previously unreleased song called “Mr. Sightseer” as the latest advance track from the band’s expansive forthcoming box set, Blondie: Against the Odds 1974-1982, which is due out August 26.

The song was recorded on a four-track reel-to-reel machine in the bedroom of singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. It will be featured on the B-side of a 7-inch vinyl single that boasts Blondie’s recently rediscovered rendition of The Doors‘ “Moonlight Drive,” which previously was made available as an advance track.

Reflecting on “Mr. Sightseer,” Harry says, “The lyric is not good at all … The song’s not too bad. It’s just a little simplistic. It didn’t ever get really developed or finished.”

As previously reported, Against the Odds focuses on the influential New Wave band’s original heyday and is fully authorized by the group.

The retrospective, which can be preordered now, will be available in multiple formats and configurations, including an eight-CD set and a Super Deluxe Collectors’ Edition that features 10 12-inch vinyl LPs, a 10-inch LP and the aforementioned vinyl single.

The vinyl box set features 124 tracks, 36 of which are previously unreleased. The collection contains remastered versions of Blondie’s first six studio albums — 1976’s Blondie, 1977’s Plastic Letters, 1978’s Parallel Lines, 1979’s Eat to the Beat, 1980’s Autoamerican and 1982’s The Hunter — and four LPs of outtakes, demos, remixes, alternate versions, home recordings and other rarities.

The box set also includes extensive liner notes and track-by-track commentary from current and former Blondie members.

Blondie: Against the Odds will also be available as a four-LP package, a three-CD set and digitally.

Alice in Chains earns new RIAA Platinum certifications for ‘Dirt,’ ‘Facelift’ & more

August 9, 2022 by Classic Rock 93.9

Alice in Chains‘ discography just got a whole lot shinier, thanks to new Platinum certifications from the RIAA.

The grunge titans’ 1992 sophomore effort Dirt is now five-times Platinum in recognition of 5 million units certified, while their 1990 debut Facelift has been certified triple Platinum.

For Dirt, the new certification comes a month before the album will celebrate its 30th anniversary.

Meanwhile, AiC’s 1994 EP Jar of Flies has been certified four-times Platinum, and their 1996 Unplugged release is now double Platinum.

Additionally, a number of singles have earned new certifications, including the triple-Platinum “Man in the Box,” and the double-Platinum “Would?” and “Rooster.” The songs “Them Bones,” “Down in a Hole” and “Nutshell” have also been certified Platinum for the first time.

Alice in Chains’ most recent album is 2018’s Rainier Fog. The band is set to launch a U.S. tour this Wednesday, August 10, in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, alongside Breaking Benjamin and Bush.

Jon Bon Jovi gives Notre Dame players a pep talk: “Thank your parents”

August 9, 2022 by Classic Rock 93.9

Jon Bon Jovi and football have long gone hand in hand: He once owned Arena Football League champions Philadelphia Soul; he and others unsuccessfully tried to buy the Buffalo Bills in 2014; and he’s also a pal of Patriots owner Robert Kraft. So maybe it wasn’t so odd that he was seen at Notre Dame football training camp Sunday giving the first team a pep talk.

Jon, whose son Jesse Bongiovi once played for the Irish, gave the team some good advice, reports Notre Dame Insider. Senior lineback Jack Kiser told the publication, “Him being a Notre Dame parent, the first thing he said was, ‘Thank your parents.’ But then he just talked about, ‘Live in the moment. Don’t take this for granted. So, just enjoy every day, and the dog days of camp are not too bad.’”

Kiser also said that Jon reminded the players that never again will they “be around a group of 100 … guys that we consider our brothers, our closest friends.” Jesse, who was also there, echoed what his dad said and told the players, “Just keep those relationships going,” according to Kiser.

Jon also made a cameo in the video the team tweeted out, featuring the team attempting to sing “Livin’ on a Prayer.”

Anthrax cancels show on 40th anniversary tour because of “medical concern”

August 9, 2022 by Classic Rock 93.9

Anthrax canceled the band’s show Monday in Dallas as a result of a “medical concern.”

The thrash metallers have been touring in celebration of their 40th anniversary alongside Black Label Society and Hatebreed, who still performed at the Dallas concert.

“We’ve waited so long to be able to celebrate our 40th anniversary,” guitarist Scott Ian said in a statement. “[We] are so disappointed that we won’t be able to do so [Monday] — frankly, it blows.”

Ian added, “Thank you for your support and understanding, and stay safe.”

The tour is set to continue Tuesday in Austin, Texas.

Darryl Hunt, bassist for The Pogues, dead at 72

August 9, 2022 by Classic Rock 93.9

Darryl Hunt, bassist for the Celtic punk band The Pogues, has died. He was 72.

In a tweet posted Tuesday, the “Fairytale of New York” outfit writes, “We are saddened beyond words. Our Darryl passed away yesterday afternoon in London.”

The post also quotes the lyrics “I know you want to hear me catch my breath/I love you till the end” from the 1996 Pogues tune “Love You ‘Till the End,” which was written by Hunt.

Hunt joined The Pogues in 1986, four years after the group formed. He played with them throughout their initial run, which ended in 1996, and rejoined the group for their reunion in 2001 and through their most recent show, which took place in 2014.

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