Classic Rock News

The new archival Rolling Stones concert album Live at the El Mocambo, featuring performances from two shows that the British rock legends played at the famed Toronto club on March 4 and 5, 1977, was released today.

The album, which is available as a two-CD set, a four-LP collection on either black or neon vinyl, and digitally, features The Stones’ full March 5 concert plus three bonus performances from the previous night. The tracks are newly mixed by renowned studio engineer Bob Clearmountain.

The performances at the 300-capacity El Mocambo club were booked as secret gigs, attended by fans who’d won tickets to see what they thought were shows headlined by Canadian rockers April Wine. Billed as the support act for the two nights was an unknown band called The Cockroaches, who turned out to be the real headliners — the one and only Rolling Stones.

The Stones’ Mocambo set list included such covers as Muddy Waters‘ “Mannish Boy,” Bo Diddley‘s “Crackin’ Up,” Big Maceo‘s “Worried Life Blues” and Willie Dixon‘s “Little Red Rooster,” as well as classic originals like “Honky Tonk Women,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Let’s Spend the Night Together” and “Tumbling Dice.” The band also presented live of “Worried About You,” which later would be released on 1981’s Tattoo You.

Only four songs from the El Mocambo concerts had been officially released previously, appearing on 1977’s Love You Live album.

Live at the El Mocambo is available now.  Here’s the full track list for the two-CD version:

CD 1
“Honky Tonk Women”
“All Down the Line”
“Hand of Fate”
“Route 66”
“Fool to Cry”
“Crazy Mama”
“Mannish Boy”
“Crackin’ Up”
“Dance Little Sister”
“Around and Around”
“Tumbling Dice”

CD2
“Hot Stuff”
“Star Star”
“Let’s Spend the Night Together”
“Worried Life Blues”
“Little Red Rooster”
“It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It)”
“Rip This Joint”
“Brown Sugar”
“Jumpin’ Jack Flash”
“Melody”
“Luxury”
“Worried About You”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Elton John made a splash on The Nanny when he made a cameo in 1997 in the season five episode “First Date.”  Star Fran Descher revealed just how hard she worked to get the music great to appear on her sitcom.

“It took me a year or two get him on the show,” she told USA Today. “I was always an Elton John AIDS Foundation supporter and we were very warm to each other at all of his events.”

The episode was about Fran going on her first date with Maxwell Sheffield, played by Charles Shaughnessy, and hilariously pulling all the stops  to prevent Elton from recognizing her after a prior embarrassing run-in. 

As for how they got Elton to agree to appearing on the beloved sitcom, Drescher said it came down to good timing.

“When his documentary Tantrums & Tiaras was coming out, his publicist said, ‘Maybe this would be a good time to put him on the show to promote the documentary,'” she recalled.  “There’s a scene (in the film) where he throws a tantrum because he’s trying to play tennis and a fan starts saying, ‘Yoo-hoo! Yoo-hoo!’ So we thought it’d be funny if Fran was actually the ‘Yoo-hoo’ lady and gets in trouble when she has the opportunity to meet him through Mr. Sheffield.”

The sitcom star praised Sir Elton for being such a good sport. “That was an amazing episode and he couldn’t have been more gracious,” she said, adding that the cast came up with a special way to thank him. “We heard that he loves red roses, so we filled his dressing room with red roses.”

The Nanny ran for six seasons on CBS.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

In 2021, Rod Stewart announced that he’d extended his Rod Stewart: The Hits residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas into an 11th year. Those dates begin Friday, May 13, and run through May 21. What keeps the legendary singer coming back to Sin City? Well, the money, of course, but also, Rod just really, really likes the Colosseum.

“I do get paid rather nicely, to be honest,” Rod tells ABC Audio. However, he adds, “It’s probably the best venue in the world to see your favorite rock star. Or see anybody...your favorite juggler! Yeah, the seats are gorgeous, the best sound…it’s just a privilege to play there.”

Plus, Rod notes, “You only have to play for an hour and a half…you play any longer, they grab you by the neck and drag you off!”

Rod’s exaggerating, but it’s true that Las Vegas shows are generally kept somewhat short, for obvious reasons.

“They want to get everybody back into the casino, gambling,” Rod laughs. “‘Mr. Stewart, only 90 minutes, please!’ ‘Cause I sometimes go on for two hours!”

If you can’t see Stewart during this run, he’ll be back in Las Vegas from September 30 to October 1. But he’s also coming to you: His North American summer tour with Cheap Trick starts June 10 in Vancouver, Canada, and wraps up September 17 in Edmonton, Canada.

In between, Rod will play the Hollywood Bowl, as well as Denver, Phoenix, Nashville, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and other major cities. Visit RodStewart.com for the full itinerary.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Lindsey Buckingham was supposed to launch his first-ever solo tour of Europe in Dublin, Ireland, this Tuesday, May 17, but the former Fleetwood Mac singer/guitarist has had to postpone the trek because he recently contracted COVID-19 and hasn’t recorded yet.

A message on Buckingham’s social media sites shared the bad news, saying, “It is with great sadness that we are announcing the postponement of Lindsey’s European tour which had been due to begin next week. Along with other members of his band and crew, Lindsey contracted COVID-19 at the end of his latest North American tour, forcing that to end prematurely. Unfortunately he’s still recovering and has no choice but to move the upcoming tour to a later date.”

The note continues, “This is heartbreaking for Lindsey, he was so excited to come to Europe for the first time as a solo artist this spring. We’re currently working on rescheduling the dates and hope to have some news to share on that very soon.”

The 11-date tour had been scheduled to run through a June 2 performance at Denmark’s Heartland Festival 2022.

Late last month, Lindsey announced that the last few shows of his spring 2022 North American tour had to be canceled because of a COVID outbreak in his touring party, which we now know included him.

The canceled concerts included an April 28 show in Tysons, Virginia; and April 30 gig in Louisville, Kentucky; and a May 1 performance at the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, Tennessee.

Buckingham continues to promote his latest solo album, a self-titled collection that was released in July 2021.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine, the 2021 documentary about the Canadian power trio Triumph, gets its global streaming premiere via the nugs.net platform tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET. The event will begin with an exclusive live Q&A session with the band’s three members — singer/guitarist Rik Emmett, drummer/singer Gil Moore and bassist/keyboardist Mike Levine.

Levine tells ABC Audio that the Q&A will last about 25-to-30 minutes, and he, Emmett and Moore will be together at Gil’s Metalworks Studios near Toronto, where they’ll answer fan-submitted questions.

“[We’re going to] try and not laugh our way through, ’cause we’re really good at that when the three of us get together,” the 72-year-old rocker says. “We’re gonna try and be serious. I’m not sure it’ll work.”

The movie profiles the Toronto-based rockers’ rise to popularity during the late 1970s and ’80s, the fallout from Emmett’s unexpected split with the group in the late 1980s, and the band’s surprise 2019 reunion performance during a special invite-only event.

Part of the film is dedicated to some longtime Triumph fans who share their backstories as they prepare to attend the event, not knowing the band’s intends to perform.

Levine says he and his band mates were “really ecstatic” about how the movie turned out, noting, “[A]s opposed to just a straight documentary…I think it’s more of a film, myself, because it touches you emotionally. It’ll make you laugh or it’ll make you cry…and documentaries usually don’t do that kind of thing.”

Tickets for the event cost $19.95, and are available at nugs.net/Triumph. Those who purchase tickets can stream the documentary on demand for 48 hours after pressing “play.” On-demand access will be available through May 30.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

This Sunday, The Who will play their first concert in Cincinnati since the band’s infamous December 1979 show at the Riverfront Coliseum, where 11 young people lost their lives as fans rushed the doors of the venue before the event.

Sunday’s Who performance will be the first concert ever at Cincinnati’s new TQL Stadium, and the British rock legends have chosen a very special opening act for the show: a local band named Safe Passage, with a personal connection to the tragic 1979 event. Two of Safe Passage’s members, Walt Medlock and Mike Simkin, were friends with three of the victims of the tragedy — Stephan Preston, Jackie Eckerle and Karen Morrison — and attended the same high school, Finneytown.

Safe Passage performs at an annual benefit for the P.E.M. Memorial — named after Preston, Eckerle and Morrison — which helps fund three scholarships each year for graduating seniors at Finneytown High School.

In an interview with local ABC-TV affiliate WCPO, Medlock notes, “We will be the first band to perform ever at TQL Stadium,” while Simkin adds, laughing, “And we happen to be opening with a little band called The Who.”

Regarding his band being asked to perform with one of the world’s most famous groups, Simkin says, “It was an almost like Godzilla walking down your street, something that’s so unreal, it’s just hard to believe.”

Adds Melock, “This is an amazing chance to live that for 25-30 minutes, I’ve got to thank The Who management.”

Safe Passage, whose set list usually includes some Who songs, will be playing a mix of originals and covers on Sunday.

Meanwhile, The Who will donate some proceeds from the Cincinnati the concert to the P.E.M. Memorial.

First up for The Who will be a show on Friday, May 13, in Memphis, Tennessee.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Music festivals are coming to Hulu in a big way.

The Disney-partnered platform announced Thursday that it’ll be livestreaming the Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits festivals this year and in 2023. According to a press release, the news “marks the first time that a platform has had streaming rights to all three of these iconic live events.”

Hulu subscribers will be able to watch select sets from all three festivals live at no additional cost, as well as additional behind-the-scenes footage.

“Hulu and Live Nation are both committed to delivering exceptional entertainment to fans, so we are thrilled to be collaborating with them, again, as we expand our offering to include these three legendary festivals,” says Hulu president Joe Earley. “Each event is unique, but all three bring people together for incredible music, artistry, and experiences, which we are fortunate to be able to share with Hulu subscribers.”

The specific artists and livestream schedules will be announced in the weeks leading up to the festivals.

Bonnaroo takes place June 16-19 in Manchester, Tennessee, and its lineup includes Stevie Nicks among its headliners. Lollapalooza, which will be held July 28-31 in Chicago, will feature headlining sets from Green Day, Metallica and more. Red Hot Chili Peppers are among the headliners for Austin City Limits, which takes place October 7-9 and 14-16 in Austin, Texas.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Osbourne family will soon be adding a new member.

Kelly Osbourne, the daughter of Ozzy and Sharon, has announced that she’s expecting her first child.

“I know that I have been very quiet these past few months so I thought I would share with you all as to why,” Kelly, 37, writes in an Instagram post. “I am over the moon to announce that I am going to be a Mumma.”

“To say that I am happy does not quite cut it,” she adds. “I am ecstatic!”

Kelly’s post, which includes photos of her holding up images from an ultrasound, was also shared by her mom.

“My [heart] could not be more full!” Sharon writes. “So excited to share the beautiful journey ahead with you.”

Slipknot‘s Sid Wilson, who was confirmed to be in a relationship with Kelly earlier this year, posted an ultrasound photo, as well.

Kelly’s announcement is an especially bright bit of news amid a tough few weeks for the Osbourne family, which saw Ozzy, Sharon and Kelly herself test positive for COVID-19.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Fanny: The Right to Rock, a 2021 documentary about the pioneering all-female band Fanny that includes appearances by Def Leppard‘s Joe Elliott, Todd Rundgren and other rock stars, will be shown in select U.S. theaters in the coming weeks, starting on May 27 in New York City.

The film tells the story of Fanny, a group formed in the late 1960s in Sacramento, California, by two Filipina-American sisters, Jean and June Millington — who played bass and guitar, respectively — along with keyboardist Nickey Barclay and drummer Alice de Buhr. The documentary looks at the various obstacles that the band dealt with — including issues of race, gender and sexuality — as they worked to achieve success in the music business during the 1970s.

The movie includes interviews with the Millington sisters, de Buhr, and with later members Patti Quatro and Brie Darling, as well as with Elliott, Rundgren, Bonnie Raitt, ex-Doobie Brothers guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Go-Go’s bassist Kathy Valentine, The B-52s‘ Kate Pierson, The Lovin’ Spoonful‘s John Sebastian, Runaways singer Cherie Currie and David Bowie touring guitarist Earl Slick and bassist Gail Ann Dorsey.

Fanny released five studio albums between 1970 and 1975, including 1973’s Mothers Pride, which was produced by Rundgren. The band scored its biggest hit in 1975 with the single “Butter Boy,” written about Bowie, who was a big fan of the group. The song reached #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1975, although Fanny had broken up by that time.

A few years ago, the Millington sisters and Darling reunited to form a group called Fanny Walked the Earth, which released a self-titled album in 2018.

To check out a list of confirmed screenings of Fanny: The Right to Rock, visit FilmMovement.com.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A new limited-edition vinyl box set featuring reproductions of 18 singles and EPs that The Rolling Stones issued during the first few years of their career will be released on June 10 in commemoration of the band’s 60th anniversary this year.

The Rolling Stones Singles 1963-1966 boasts 18 seven-inch vinyl discs recreating singles and EPs originally released on the Decca and London Records labels in the U.K. and the U.S. The tracks were all remastered by Grammy -winning engineer Bob Ludwig, and each disc is housed in a “period-correct” picture sleeve.

The collection also includes a poster, five photos cards and a 32-page book with liner notes by Rolling Stones expert Nigel Williamson, as well as rare photos and other historic images.

The box set’s discs span from the band’s 1963 debut single, featuring a cover of Chuck Berry‘s “Come On,” through the U.S. version of the band’s 1966 hit single, “19th Nervous Breakdown.”

Other well-known Stones songs features on the single replicas include “I Wanna Be Your Man,” “Not Fade Away,” “It’s All Over Now” and “Time Is on My Side,” “Heart of Stone,” “The Last Time,” “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “Get Off of My Cloud” and “As Tears Go By.”

The box set also features three EPs — 1964’s The Rolling Stones and Five by Five, and 1965’s Got Live If You Want It! Five by Five features songs that The Stones recorded at Chicago’s famed Chess Studios, while Got Live If You Want It! was the band’s first collection of in-concert performances.

A companion vinyl box set, The Rolling Stones Singles 1966-1971, is due out next year.

You can pre-order The Rolling Stones Singles 1963-1966 box set now at ABKCO.com. Here’s the full track list:

“Come On” (released June 1963)
Side A: “Come On”
Side B: “I Want to Be Loved”

“I Wanna Be Your Man” (released November 1963)
Side A: “I Wanna Be Your Man”
Side B: “Stoned”

The Rolling Stones E.P. (released January 1964)
Side A: “Bye Bye Johnny,” “Money”
Side B: “You Better Move On,” “Poison Ivy”

“Not Fade Away” (released February 1964)
Side A: “Not Fade Away”
Side B: “Little by Little”

“Tell Me” (released June 1964)  
Side A: “Tell Me”
Side B: “I Just Wanna Make Love to You”

“It’s All Over Now” (released June 1964)
Side A: “It’s All Over Now”
Side B: “Good Times, Bad Times”

Five by Five E.P. (released August 1964)
Side A: “If You Need Me,” “Empty Heart,” “2120 South Michigan Avenue”
Side B: “Confessin’ the Blues,” “Around and Around”

“Time Is on My Side” (released September 1964)
Side A: “Time Is on My Side”
Side B: “Congratulations”

“Little Red Rooster” (released November 1964)
Side A: “Little Red Rooster”
Side B: “Off the Hook”

“Heart of Stone” (released December 1964)
Side A: “Heart of Stone”
Side B: “What a Shame”

“The Last Time” (released February 1965)
Side A: “The Last Time”
Side B: “Play with Fire”

Got Live If You Want It! E.P. (released June 1965)
Side A: “We Want The Stones,” “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love,” “Pain in My Heart” “Route 66”
Side B: “I’m Moving On,” “I’m Alright”

“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (U.S. version, originally released June 1965)
Side A: “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”
Side B: “The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man”

“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction)” (U.K. version, released August 1965)
Side A: “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”
Side B: “The Spider and the Fly”

“Get Off of My Cloud” (U.S. version, released September 1965)
Side A: “Get Off of My Cloud”
Side B: “I’m Free”

“Get Off of My Cloud” (U.K. version, released October 1965)
Side A: “Get Off of My Cloud”
Side B: “The Singer Not the Song”

“As Tears Go By” (released December 1965)
Side A: “As Tears Go By”
Side B: “Gotta Get Away”

“19th Nervous Breakdown” (U.S. version, released February 1966)
Side A: “19th Nervous Breakdown”
Side B: “Sad Day”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.