A movie based on Pink Floyd’s classic album The Wall opened at The Empire, Leicester Square in London, England. Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Nick Mason all attended the premiere, as did fellow musicians The Who’s Pete Townshend, Queen’s Roger Taylor, The Police’s Sting and Andy Summers, and more.
Directed by Alan Parker, with a screenplay by Waters, the film starred The Boomtown Rats’ Bob Geldof as a depressed rocker dealing with the pressures of stardom and more. In order to protect himself, he constructs both a physical and emotional wall around himself.
The movie didn’t premiere in the U.S. until that August; it went on to earn $22 million at the box office worldwide.
Billy Joel performs at Allegiant Stadium on November 09, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Billy Joel recently sat down for an interview with YouTube personality Rick Beato, where they discussed songwriting, touching on such Joel hits as “Piano Man,” “Allentown” and “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”
Discussing his first big hit, “Just the Way You Are,” Joel revealed that he almost didn’t put the song on his album The Stranger because he thought it was “too mushy.” He credits Linda Ronstadt for changing his mind, explaining that he played the song for her and Phoebe Snow in the studio.
“I said, ‘I don’t like this song that much.’ Linda Ronstadt goes, ‘Are you out of your mind? That’s a hit record. You got to put that on the album. That’s a great song,'” he said. “She talked me into it. So, I have to thank Linda Ronstadt for that song.”
Beato notes that in Joel’s HBO documentary And So It Goes, Paul McCartney said “Just the Way You Are” was one of the only songs he wished he had written.
“That blew me away. He’s like the melodic king,” Joel said. “He can do no wrong with melody.”
Released in 1977, “Just the Way You Are” was Joel’s first top-10 hit in the U.S., peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. It went on to win two Grammys, record of the year and song of the year.
The Rolling Stones’ ‘Foreign Tongues’ (Capitol Records)
Looks like The Rolling Stones may nab another #1 in the U.K.
According to the U.K. Official Chart, the band’s latest album, Foreign Tongues, is currently the front-runner to top the U.K. Official Albums Chart.
If the album does indeed wind up on top, it will be The Stones’ 15th U.K. #1 album.
The Stones last topped the U.K. albums chart in 2023 with their Grammy-winning record Hackney Diamonds. They earned their first #1 in 1964 with their self-titled debut.
Foreign Tongues, produced by Andrew Watt, is The Rolling Stones’ 25th studio album. It features guest appearances by Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood, The Cure’s Robert Smith and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith.
It also features an appearance by the band’s late drummer, Charlie Watts, taken from one of his final recording sessions before his death in 2021.
Tico Torres, John Shanks, Jon Bon Jovi, David Bryan, Everett Bradley and Phil X attend the Forever Tour Kick Off – New York at Madison Square Garden on July 07, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Bon Jovi)
Bon Jovi broke out two classic ballads on the third night of their nine-show Forever Tour stand at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
According to setlist.fm, halfway into the concert the New Jersey rockers performed the Keep the Faith track “Bed of Roses,” marking the tour debut for the song. It is also the first time they performed the track live since 2019.
But that wasn’t the only tour debut of the night. For the final song of the evening, the band performed the Cross Roads ballad “Always,” a song they also haven’t performed since 2019.
The rest of the 22-song set was filled with plenty of Bon Jovi classics, including “Livin’ on a Prayer,” “You Give Love a Bad Name,” “I’ll Be There for You,” “Wanted Dead or Alive” and “Bad Medicine.”
Meanwhile, night two of the Forever Tour on Thursday had one very special A-list guest in the audience. The Beatles’ Paul McCartney took in the show and later posed with the band for a photo; the band posted the photo with the caption, “Did this really happen??? Yes, it did.”
Bon Jovi returns to MSG on Tuesday, with the run concluding June 26. They then head to the U.K. for shows in Scotland, Dublin and London. A complete list of dates can be found at BonJovi.com.
Mick Jagger attends the inaugural British Museum Ball at The British Museum on October 18, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Lia Toby/Getty Images)
The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger is reflecting on getting older in a new interview with The New York Times.
When asked about how it feels to be getting older, the 82-year-old rock legend simply replied, “there’s nothing good about it.”
When the interviewer suggested that wisdom is a benefit of aging, Jagger shot that down.
“I forgot all my wisdom. I might have had a couple of pearls drop, but I’ve already forgotten what they are,” he said with a laugh. “So, no, it’s not particularly pleasant.”
“You can’t do things as quickly as you want to,” he continued. “Physically you’ve got to be more careful. You know, when you’re playing football, they put you in goal a lot. I’m not very good at it!”
Jagger also touched upon the future of The Stones on the road, saying that he hopes another world-spanning tour will happen. “I’m up for doing it,” he said.
Mick added that he doesn’t think he’ll ever know when he’s played his last Stones show.
“Maybe I have! I could get run over by a bus outside of my house. You never really know, do you?” he explained. “You don’t know what’s going to happen to you in life. But I personally hope to be able to tour. I like going places. I like meeting people. I like to go to weird countries to do shows.”
Mick’s interview coincides with the release of The Rolling Stones’ new album, Foreign Tongues, which is out now. The band released visualizer videos for each track, shot in different locations around the world. The videos are now available on The Stones’ YouTube channel.
The star-studded Live Aid charity concerts were held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.
Organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, the concerts featured performances by Queen, David Bowie, U2, Sting, The Who, Elton John, Paul McCartney and many others in London, while the Philadelphia lineup included Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Mick Jagger and a Led Zeppelin reunion.
Phil Collins performed at both venues, flying aboard the Concorde from London to Philadelphia, and traveling to and from each stadium by helicopter.
Together, the concerts raised money for African famine relief. They were broadcast around the world to an estimated audience of more than 1 billion people across 150 nations.
Madonna has achieved her 10th #1 album on the Billboard 200 Albums chart.
Confessions II debuts atop the tally, giving the Queen of Pop her biggest streaming week ever for an album and her largest pure album sales week in more than a decade, according to Billboard.
The album, featuring the Sabrina Carpenter collab “Bring Your Love,” is Madonna’s first #1 in the 2020s. It also makes her the first act with a #1 in the 2020s to have also claimed the #1 spot in three other decades. She’s had three #1 albums in the 1980s, four in the 2000s and two in the 2010s.
Confessions II is the long-awaited sequel to Madonna’s 2005 album, Confessions on a Dance Floor, which also reached #1 on the chart.
Last week, Confessions II topped the U.K. Official Albums Chart, making it her 13th U.K. chart-topper.
Peter Buck, of R.E.M., performs onstage during the 2024 Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Gala June 13, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Songwriters Hall Of Fame)
R.E.M. guitarist and co-founder Peter Buck has released new music with his latest band, Drink The Sea.
The band also features Screaming Trees’ Barrett Martin, Eleven’s Alain Johannes and others. It just released the track “Oh Desire,” written by Buck and Johannes, with Johannes on vocals.
The song will appear on the band’s upcoming album, Drink the Sea III, which will be released Oct. 2. Drink The Sea’s first two albums, Drink the Sea I and Drink the Sea II, came out in 2025.
Drink The Sea is hitting the road on a U.S. tour starting Aug. 30 in Vashon Island, Washington, with dates confirmed through Sept. 24 in Kirkland, Washington. They also have European shows booked in September and October.
Phil Collins of Genesis performs on the opening night of their North American “The Last Domino?” tour at the United Center on November 15, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Timothy Hiatt/Getty Images)
Phil Collins is set to make a new podcast appearance.
The team behind the Sodajerker On Songwriting podcast announced on Instagram that the Genesis frontman will appear on their show next week.
“Coming to Sodajerker On Songwriting next week: the one and only @officialphilcollins!” read the post. “We had the true honour of spending a fascinating hour with Phil in London recently; he was in terrific form & we can’t wait to share our conversation.”
The podcast is hosted by musicians Simon Barber and Brian O’Connor, who didn’t reveal the exact date Collins’ appearance will go live. They did encourage fans to “go out and spread the word to the Phil fans in your life.”
This is a big year for the 75-year-old Collins. He is set to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist on Nov. 14 in Los Angeles. This will be his second induction; he was previously inducted as a member of Genesis in 2010.
Steve Winwood speaks on stage during the Coronation Concert on May 07, 2023 in Windsor, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Steve Winwood is a special guest on The Rolling Stones’ just-released album Foreign Tongues, and he’s revealing how he got involved in the project in a new Instagram post.
“I think Ronnie Wood called me first, when they were cutting ‘Hackney Diamonds’. He said, ‘Hi, man. Come and play a track.’ I said, ‘Yeah, sure, just let me know where and when,’” Winwood writes. “I think I was asked just to play on one song, then they said, ‘There’s another couple you can do.’ I did a couple more and then they said, ‘Come next week and do some more.’’
Winwood then explains why he thinks they wanted him on the record.
“Nicky Hopkins and I were on a similar journey, in a way,” he writes, referring to the legendary pianist who contributed to some of the Stones’ biggest hits and briefly toured with the band. “I think the Stones knew that, and I suspect that they wanted that sort of feel.”
“Everything they do has this wonderful vintage Stones thing going on,” Winwood continues. “Much of the album was done with everyone playing together, which is a rarity these days and adds some magic and temperament.”
Foreign Tongues, the Stones’ 25th studio album, is out now.
