Classic Rock News

The initial dates and lineups have been announced for the 2022 edition of Willie Nelson‘s Outlaw Music Festival Tour, which will feature ZZ Top at select events.

The trek is confirmed to visit 19 cities this year so far, beginning with a June 24 event in the St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights, Missouri, and scheduled through a September 23 performance in Philadelphia.

ZZ Top will be part of the lineup at six stops — in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, on July 29; Cincinnati on July 30; Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, on July 31; Gilford, New Hampshire, on August 12; Bethel, New York, on August 13; and Darien, New York, on August 14.

Gov’t Mule, the band fronted by former Allman Brothers Band singer/guitarist Warren Haynes, also will be performing on July 29, 30 and 31.

As usual, Nelson and his family band will headline all of the shows. Other artists on the various lineups include Chris Stapleton, The Avett Brothers, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Billy Strings, Brothers Osborne, Steve Earle & the Dukes, Larkin Poe and more.

Tickets go on sale to the general public this Friday, March 25, at 10 a.m. local time. VIP packages also will be available. Citi card members will be able to purchase presale tickets starting this Tuesday, March 22, at 10 a.m. local time; visit CitiEntertainment.com for more details.

“The Outlaw Music Festival Tour has always been about family and friends coming together for a great day of music and fun, and with the amazing group of artists joining us, this year promises to be our most special Outlaw Tour to date,” Willie says. “I just can’t wait to get back on the road again.”

More dates for the tour are expected to be added.

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Red Hot Chili Peppers hail from Los Angeles and now they will be honored in their home city with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame during a ceremony that will take place on Thursday, March 31.

The band had previously been announced to receive a Walk of Fame star in 2008 but never set a date to accept the honor.

“Our hometown Hollywood boys are finally coming to collect their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,” says Walk of Fame Producer Ana Martinez. “We have been waiting for them to break away from their busy schedules to dedicate their star and we are thrilled to welcome them to our Walk of Fame family.”

A number of celebrities will be on hand to help the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers unveil their star, including actor Woody Harrelson, funk legend George Clinton — who produced the Chili Pepers’ 1985 album Freaky Styley — and Thelonius Monster frontman and addiction counselor Bob Forrest. The ceremony will be livestreamed at WalkofFame.com.

On April 1, one day after the Red Hot Chili Peppers unveil their star, they will release their latest studio album, Unlimited Love.

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Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason‘s current band, Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets, has announced rescheduled dates for its 2022 North American tour, which originally was supposed to have taken place in January and February before being postponed because of “uncertainty surrounding the [COVID-19] pandemic.”

The rescheduled trek, dubbed The Echoes Tour, now will kick off on September 22 in Boston, and is mapped out through a November 1 concert in Vancouver, Canada.

The outing now features 28 dates, eight of which are taking place in the following newly added cities: Columbus, Ohio; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Detroit; Buffalo, New York; Indianapolis; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Austin, Texas; and Santa Barbara, California. Six previously announced dates won’t be rescheduled.

Tickets for the new shows go on sale to the general public this Friday, March 25, at 10 a.m. local time.

Previously purchased tickets for rescheduled concerts that will be held at the same venue that was originally announced will be valid for the new dates. Ticket holders for shows that are being moved to different venues will receive automatic refunds and also will be offered access to an exclusive pre-sale for tickets to the rescheduled date at the new venue. More information will be sent via email to ticket holders soon. For any other questions about ticketing inquiries, please contact the point of purchase.

“We are really looking forward to returning to North America and we’re happy to be able to now announce these new dates for later this year,” says Mason. “We wanted to make sure to come back when it’s safe for our fans, the band, and our crew.”

Saucerful of Secrets also will be touring from April through July this year in Ireland, the U.K. and mainland Europe.

Visit TheSaucerfulofSecrets.com for a full list of dates.

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Santana‘s latest studio album, the star-studded collaborative project Blessings and Miracles, was initially released on CD and digital formats in October of 2021, but the record now also has been issued as a two-LP vinyl set.

A standard black-vinyl edition can be purchased at various online music sellers, including Santana’s official online store, while limited-edition colored-vinyl versions are available at Target and Barnes & Noble. Target is selling a white, blue and yellow LP collection, while Barnes & Noble’s version is pressed on blue-and-yellow splatter vinyl.

In addition, Santana’s online store is offering a black-and-blue-colored LP set that will be shipped in April.

The vinyl versions of Blessings and Miracles include one bonus track, a song titled “Yo Estare” featuring guest vocals by ex-Fifth Harmony member Ally Brooke.

Among the album’s most noteworthy tracks is “Move,” which features Carlos Santana re-teaming with his “Smooth” collaborator Rob Thomas, as well as contributions from pop band American Authors.

Blessings and Miracles also features collaborations with Steve Winwood, Metallica‘s Kirk Hammett, Living Colour‘s Corey Glover, country star Chris Stapleton, late jazz legend Chick Corea, hit songwriter Diane Warren and more.

Santana will kick off a new North American tour in support of the album this Friday, March 25, in Kennewick, Washington. Th etrek runs through an April 16 show in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. The band’s upcoming 2022 schedule also includes Las Vegas residency performances in May, and a North American co-headlining tour with Earth, Wind & Fire running from June to August.

Here’s the full track list of the vinyl version of Blessings and Miracles:

Disc 1

Side A
“Ghost of Future Pull”/”New Light”
“Santana Celebration”
“Rumbalero” (featuring Salvador Santana & Asdru Sierra)
“Joy” (Carlos Santana & Chris Stapleton)
“Move” (Carlos Santana, Rob Thomas, Zac Barnett & American Authors)

Side B
“A Whiter Shade of Pale” (featuring Steve Winwood)
“Break” (featuring Ally Brooke)
“Yo Estare” (featuring Ally Brooke)
“She’s Fire” (Diane Warren, G-Eazy & Carlos Santana)

Disc 2

Side A
“Peace Power” (featuring Corey Glover)
“America for Sale” (featuring Kirk Hammett & Mark Osegueda)
“Breathing Underwater” (featuring Stella Santana, Avi Snow, MVCA)
“Mother Yes”

Side B
“Song for Cindy”
“Angel Choir” (featuring Gayle Moran Corea)/”All Together” (featuring Chick Corea)
“Ghost of Future Pull II”

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Surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were among the winners at 33rd annual Producers Guild Awards, which took place on Saturday, March 19, in Los Angeles.

Billboard reports that the producers for the Disney+ documentary series The Beatles: Get Back were honored with the award for outstanding producer of non-fiction television. McCartney and Starr, along with the respective widows of John Lennon and George Harrison — Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison — were part of the Get Back production team, as was series director Peter Jackson.

The Beatles: Get Back, which premiered last November as a three-part event on Disney+, focused on the January 1969 sessions that yielded the band’s Let It Be album and the group’s historic surprise rooftop concert in London.

Another honoree at the event was Peter Afterman, the producer of the documentary Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free: The Making of Wildflowers, who was presented with the award for outstanding producer of televised or streamed motion pictures.

The film, which looks at the recording of the late Tom Petty‘s 1994 solo album Wildflowers, got its worldwide premiere in November as a free streaming event on Petty’s official YouTube channel.

Another music-related film the producers of which were acknowledged at the ceremony was Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), which won the award for outstanding producer of documentary motion pictures.

That movie, which also is nominated this year for the Oscar for Documentary (Feature), focused on the 1969 New York City event The Harlem Cultural Festival, a six-week-long, star-studded series of concerts that included performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, The 5th Dimension, B.B. King and many others.

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Eagles bassist Timothy B. Schmit will release a new solo studio album titled Day by Day on May 6.

The 12-track collection features guest contributions from a variety of well-known artists, including Jackson Browne, Lindsey Buckingham, John Fogerty, longtime Tom Petty keyboardist Benmont Tench, Doobie Brothers multi-instrumentalist John McFee, blues-rocker Kenny Wayne Sheppard and acclaimed session drummer Jim Keltner.

Schmit has released the album’s lead track, “Simple Man,” as an advance digital single, while a companion music video has premiered at his official YouTube channel.

“Simple Man” is an introspective folk-rock tune featuring lead guitar from from Buckingham and harmony vocals from ex-Beach Boys touring members Chris Farmer and Matt Jardine — son of founding Beach Boy Al Jardine.

The video captures Schmit in and around his home studio in rural Los Angles County, and includes scenes where Timothy appears to be singing with two other versions of himself.

Day by Day also includes a song titled “Grinding Stone,” which features Schmit harmonizing with Browne and Fogerty.

Timothy’s daughter Jeddrah also sings backing vocals on the album.

Day by Day is Schmit’s seventh solo album overall, and his first since 2016’s Leap of Faith. It was recorded at his home studio during breaks on the Eagles’ tour schedule.

Reflecting on his songwriting, Timothy says, “I try to latch on to whatever’s floating my way through the ethers. I just want to make good music and put a smile on people’s faces. I love the process and feel extremely lucky to be able to make new music as an older guy, and this is very satisfying.”

CD and two-LP versions of the upcoming record can be pre-ordered now at Timothy’s online store.

Here’s the full Day by Day track list:

“Simple Man”
“The Next Rainbow”
“Heartbeat”
“Mr. X”
“Question of the Heart”
“Something You Should Know”
“I Come Alive”
“Feather in the Wind”
“Grinding Stone”
“Taste Like Candy”
“Conflicted”
“Where We Belong”

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As Asia celebrates its 40th anniversary, the prog-rock supergroup has revealed plans to release a deluxe box set on June 10 titled ASIA in Asia — Live at The Budokan, Tokyo, 1983, focusing on a historic concert the band played in Japan.

The centerpiece of the multi-disc collection is a December 6, 1983, performance that the group gave at Tokyo’s famous Budokan venue, the second of a three-show engagement Asia played there. The concert made history as the first live broadcast from Japan to MTV in the U.S. The band’s lineup for the shows feature Emerson, Lake & Palmer frontman Greg Lake stepping for founding Asia singer/bassist John Wetton, who had just left he group.

The box set will feature a Blu-ray containing video and high-res audio of the concert, as well as two CDs, two colored-vinyl LPs, a 40-page book, an Asia pin badge and various pieces of printed memorabilia.

The LPs and one of the CDs have the audio of the full show that aired on MTV plus a couple of songs that weren’t included in the original broadcast. The second CD boasts newly mastered audio of the concert that Asia played the previous night.

The video featured on the Blu-ray was only previously released on the VHS format.

ASIA in Asia, which you can pre-order now, also will be available as a a two-LP set in a gatefold sleeve, as well as a single CD and via digital formats.

Reflecting on the Tokyo performance with his fellow ELP alum fronting Asia, drummer Carl Palmer says, “Greg Lake did a great job jumping into John’s shoes. So many songs to sing, he did it so well. It was impressive.”

Here’s the ASIA in Asia track list:

Introduction from Mark Goodman (MTV)
“Time Again”
“The Heat Goes On”
“Here Comes the Feeling”
“Eye to Eye”
Steve Howe Solo (“Sketches in the Sun”)
“Only Time Will Tell”
“Open Your Eyes”
Geoffrey Downes Solo (“Ihiri – The Setting Sun”/”Bolero”)
“The Smile Has Left Your Eyes”
“Wildest Dreams”
Carl Palmer Solo
“Heat of the Moment”
“Sole Survivor”
“Cutting It Fine”
“Daylight”

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Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler makes a guest appearance on a new song by Finnish symphonic metal band Apocalyptica called “I’ll Get Through It.”

The track, which is available now via digital formats, features vocals by Franky Perez, who was a touring member of Apocalyptica from 2014 to 2016 and sang with the cello-led metal band on its 2015 album, Shadowmaker. Perez and Butler also were members of the short-lived band Deadland Ritual, as were longtime Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens and ex-Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum.

“I’ll Get Through It” was written by prolific hit songwriter Diane Warren, whose long list of credits include Aerosmith‘s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” Chicago‘s “Look Away,” Cher‘s “If I Could Turn Back Time,” and many, many others.

Apocalyptica will kick off a new U.S. tour, with Perez on vocals, on  April 7 in Atlanta.

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This Saturday, March 19, Queen will present a special online stream of a 2008 concert that the band played in Ukraine with founding Bad Company/Free singer Paul Rodgers, aimed at raising money for relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees in need because of Russia’s ongoing invasion of that country.

The concert, which took place in Freedom Square in the city of Kharkiv in September 2008, featured Queen and Rodgers performing a 28-song set that included a bevy of Queen classics and gems, select tunes by Free and Bad Company, and a few songs from The Cosmos Rocks, the then-new collaborative album by Queen + Paul Rodgers.

The band was invited by Ukraine’s Elena Pinchuk AntiAids Foundation to play a free AIDS-awareness concert dubbed “Life Must Go On.” The show was attended by more than 350,000 and was viewed by a TV audience of over 10 million people.

Remembering the event, the band says it was “an unforgettable experience…one of those rare things in life you know you will never forget. A meeting in music, but also a coming together to fight a common enemy.”

Queen has decided to revisit the show at a time when so many Ukrainians need humanitarian aid.

Queen + Paul Rodgers Live in Ukraine will stream at Queen’s official YouTube channel on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. ET. Fans are encouraged to make donations to UNHCR – The UN Refugee Agency.

Here’s the set list of the concert:

“One Vision”
“Tie Your Mother Down”
“The Show Must Go On”
“Fat Bottomed Girls”
“Another One Bites the Dust”
“Hammer to Fall”
“I Want It All”
“I Want to Break Free”
“Seagull”
“Love of My Life”
“39”
Drum Solo
“I’m In Love with My Car”
“Say It’s Not True”
“Shooting Star”
“Bad Company”
Guitar Solo
“Bijou”
“Last Horizon”
“Crazy Little Thing Called Love”
“C-lebrity”
“Feel Like Makin’ Love”
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“Cosmos Rockin'”
“All Right Now”
“We Will Rock You”
“We Are the Champions”
“God Save the Queen”

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Neil Young has unveiled plans to issue the fourth installment of his Official Release Series (ORS), a four-disc box set featuring three of his 1980s studio albums, plus the rare Eldorado EP, on April 29.

The ORS #4 collection, which can be pre-ordered now, will be available in both CD and vinyl formats. It features 1980’s folk- and country-influenced Hawks & Doves, 1981’s hard-rocking Crazy Horse collaboration Re•ac•tor, 1988’s foray into big-band blues This Note’s for You, and the aforementioned Eldorado, a five-track EP from 1989 that previously was only released in Japan and Australia.

Eldorado includes two songs, “Cocaine Eyes” and “Heavy Love,” that have never appeared on any other album. If you pre-order the box set, you receive an immediate download of “Cocaine Eyes.” The track also is available to purchase now as a digital single and via streaming services.

Hawks & Doves, Re•ac•tor and This Note’s for You reached $30, #27 and #61, respectively, on the Billboard 200. The Re•ac•tor song “Southern Pacific” peaked at #22 on Billboard‘s Top Rock Tracks tally, while This Note’s for You‘s title track and “Ten Workin’ Men” landed at #19 and #6 on the same chart.

The CD version of ORS #4 will be sold via all retailers, while the vinyl package will be available at independent record stores and at the Greedy Hand Store at Neil’s official website, NeilYoungArchives.com. All those who purchase ORS #4 box sets at the Greedy Hand Store will receive a free hi-res digital download of the collection from the Neil Young Archives’ Xstream Store.

Here’s the Hawks & Doves track list:

“Little Wing”
“The Old Homestead”
“Lost in Space”
“Captain Kennedy”
“Stayin’ Power”
“Coastline”
“Union Man”
“Comin’ Apart at Every Nail”
“Hawks & Doves”

Here’s the Re•ac•tor track list:

“Opera Star”
“Surfer Joe and Moe the Sleaze”
“T-Bone”
“Get Back on It”
“Southern Pacific”
“Motor City”
“Rapid Transit”
“Shots”

Here’s the This Note’s for You track list:

“Ten Men Workin'”
“This Note’s for You”
“Coupe de Ville”
“Life in the City”
“Twilight”
“Married Man”
“Sunny Inside”
“Can’t Believe Your Lyin'”
“Hey Hey”
“One Thing”

And here’s the Eldorado EP’s track list:

“Cocaine Eyes”
“Don’t Cry”
“Heavy Love”
“On Broadway”
“Eldorado”

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