Classic Hits

Paul McCartney’s band Wings is celebrating the 50th anniversary of their fourth studio album, Venus and Mars.

The milestone will be marked with a new half-speed master reissue of the album, dropping March 21. The remaster was created by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios using the original master recordings from 1975 and will feature a reproduction of the original U.K. pressing, and a recreation of the original artwork by Hipgnosis.

The album will also get its first-ever Dolby Atmos release, with Giles Martin and Steve Orchard behind the new mix.

The follow-up to the hit album Band on the Run, Venus and Mars, released May 30, 1975, hit #1 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. It featured the #1 single “Listen to What the Man Said.”

Venus and Mars (50th Anniversary) is available for preorder now.

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Rush is looking back at their career with a new box set.

Rush 50, dropping March 21, is a 50-track anthology that spans from the band’s 1973 debut single and ends with the last song they ever played together live.

The anthology includes select songs from every studio album, as well as seven previously unreleased tracks, including the first ever CD and LP reissue of their first single, 1973’s “Not Fade Away,” as well as “You Can’t Fight It.” There’s also Vault Editions of 1974’s “Working Man” and 1978’s “The Trees,” featuring alternative guitar solos from Alex Lifeson. Both songs were previously only available digitally.

Rush 50 also includes five unreleased live songs, two of which come from the band’s earliest live shows. The set’s final track is a recording of their last live performance together, at their final show in 2015 at The Forum in Los Angeles: “What You’re Doing,” “Working Man” and “Garden Road.”

“50? Is that all?” frontman Geddy Lee shares, “…seriously…it’s a cool collection…but look at all those songs – I’m exhausted just reading the effin list!”

Rush 50 will be released in a variety of formats including a 7-LP Deluxe Edition, a 4-CD Deluxe Edition and a digital edition. There’s also a 4-CD/7-LP Super Deluxe Edition and a Rush Store Exclusive Super Deluxe Edition.

All formats are available for preorder now.

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The music of Grateful Dead founder Jerry Garcia will be celebrated this spring by the Boston Pops.

On June 3 and June 4, the Pops will host the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration, conducted by Keith Lockhart, with an all-star lineup including Jerry Garcia Band members Melvin Seals and Jackyln LaBranch, Dead & Company and Allman Brothers Band bassist Oteil Burbridge and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead member Tom Hamilton Jr.

According to the announcement, the concerts will celebrate “60 years of the Grateful Dead and Garcia’s enduring legacy.”

Tickets for both shows go on sale Feb. 4 at 10 a.m. at BostonPops.org.

In other Dead-related news, in celebration of the band’s 60th anniversary, ANALOGr has launched a new Dark Star Palace auction, with over 8,000 Grateful Dead items becoming available throughout the year, including backstage passes, posters, books, artwork and recordings.

Some of the items in the auction include Phil Lesh’s original #5 Dual Showman Bass Amplifier, an early replica of Garcia’s “Alligator” guitar and a 35-foot tie-dyed stage backdrop.

More info on the auction can be found at analogr.com.

Coming up next, the members of the Grateful Dead will be honored as the Recording Academy’s MusiCares Person of the Year on Friday. The gala, taking place at the Los Angeles Convention Center, will feature performances by such artists as Fleetwood Mac’s Mick Fleetwood, The Police’s Stewart Copeland, Sammy Hagar and Dave Matthews, as well as Dead & Company, which includes Dead members Bobby Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann along with John Mayer, Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti.

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Bob Dylan has been in the news more than ever thanks to the biopic A Complete Unknown, and if that makes people want to go see him live, there’s now a chance to make that happen. 

Dylan has announced three new shows for 2025: March 29 in Wichita, Kansas; April 4 in Mankato, Minnesota; and April 6 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Still being billed as Dylan’s Rough & Rowdy Ways Tour, which originally launched in November 2021, the 2025 trek kicks off March 25 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the same city that houses the Bob Dylan Center.

Tickets for the new shows go on sale Friday.

A complete list of dates can be found at bobdylan.com.

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Dion is back with a new tune, “New York Minute,” which has the rocker paying tribute to the city of his birth, as well as his wife of 62 years.

“The song ‘New York Minute’ expresses my love for my city, New York, and my wife Susan,” Dion shares. “When I first saw Susan, I could not think of anything else. I went to school but didn’t hear one word the teacher said. All I could think about was her! Where is she now? What is she doing? I wanna look at her. I wanna talk to her. I wanna get close to her any way I can. My mind was on a loop.”

“New York Minute” is available now via digital outlets, with an accompanying video on YouTube.

The song follows the January release of Dion’s book Dion: The Rock ‘n’ Roll Philosopher, described as “an intimate glimpse into Dion’s remarkable seven-decade journey through rock ‘n’ roll history.” The book, co-written with recovery and performance coach Adam Jablin, features contributions from Eric Clapton, Paul Simon, Steven Van Zandt and others.

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David Lee Roth, former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach, and Stephen Pearcy and Warren DeMartini performing Ratt are the rockers set to headline the annual M3 Rock Festival at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.

The 16th edition of the hard rock festival is happening May 2-4, with a lineup that also includes Winger, Slaughter, former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley, Warrant, Great White and Lita Ford.

The Roth performance will be the former Van Halen frontman’s first live performance since March 2020. He was supposed to play a Las Vegas residency in December 2021/January 2022, which was billed as his final shows, but they it was canceled and he retired from performing.

Tickets for the festival go on sale Friday at 12 p.m. ET. A complete schedule and lineup can be found at m3rockfest.com.

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Earth, Wind & Fire are heading back out on the road this summer.

The legendary R&B group will kick off a new North American tour starting June 14 in Denver, wrapping Aug. 10 in Waite Park, Minnesota. The trek includes a three-night stand at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, July 2-4.

An artist presale in most cities kicks off Wednesday at 10 a.m., with tickets going on sale to the general public starting Friday at 10 a.m.

Earth, Wind & Fire are next scheduled to perform at the all-star FireAid benefit at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. 

A complete list of dates can be found at earthwindandfire.com.

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The Totally Tubular Festival, celebrating music of the ’80s, will return for a second year this summer, with a lineup that includes Men Without Hats and The Tubes returning to the tour for a second year, along with Right Said Fred, Haircut100, The Motels, Animotion, The Escape Club and Musical Youth.

The tour marks the first time Right Said Fred, best known for their song “I’m Too Sexy,” has toured the U.S. since the early ’90s.

The Totally Tubular Festival will kick off June 27 in San Jose, hitting such cities as Los Angeles, Denver, Dallas, New York, Boston, Detroit and more before wrapping July 24 in Indianapolis.

Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. local time.

A complete list of dates, and specific lineups, can be found at totallytubularfestival.com.

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Sunday, Jan. 26, would have been guitarist Eddie Van Halen’s 70th birthday, and his family and bandmates marked the occasion on social media.

The late rocker’s son, Mammoth WVH frontman Wolfgang Van Halen, shared a photo of his dad with his finger up his nose, captioning the shot, “70. That’s a lot of candles. Happy Birthday, Pop. Love and miss you more than you could ever know.”

Former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar posted a tribute to Eddie with a photo of them rocking together onstage.

“happy 70th birthday, my brother wherever you are,” he wrote. “i will love and miss you and what we did together forever,” adding that he and Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony “will keep it live, and alive.”

Anthony also posted a series of photos with Eddie, with the message, “Happy Heavenly Birthday Ed, miss ya.”

Eddie Van Halen passed away Oct. 6, 2020, at age 65 following a long battle with cancer.

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On This Day, Jan 27, 1970…

John Lennon wrote and recorded the single “Instant Karma” in one day, at one point telling reporters he “wrote it for breakfast, recorded it for lunch, and we’re putting it out for dinner.”

The song, produced by Phil Spector, featured his Beatles bandmate George Harrison on acoustic guitar and piano, with Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono and Billy Preston contributing background vocals.

The inspiration for the tune came to Lennon during a visit he and Yoko took to Denmark, where they met up with Yoko’s former husband Tony Cox. Cox’s then wife Melinde Kendell used the term in conversation.

“Instant Karma,” Lennon’s third solo single, wound up being a hit for the rocker, peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

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