Classic Hits

After launching their co-headlining tour in football stadiums this year, Billy Joel and Sting will continue the party into 2025 by performing in four football stadiums — but they just announced a one-off show for next year in the more “intimate” surroundings of a baseball stadium.

The two Rock & Roll Hall of Famers will perform April 26 at the Milwaukee Brewers’ American Family Field, in what the The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports will be their only baseball stadium show of 2025. It’ll be Billy’s first show in Milwaukee since 2019 and Sting’s first show there since 2016.

American Family Field has a capacity of 41,900. By comparison, a football stadium, like the one they’re performing in on Nov. 9 in Las Vegas, can hold 72,000 fans.

Tickets go on sale Nov. 15 at 10 a.m. local time via livenation.com and ticketmaster.com. Citi cardholders will be able to access a presale beginning Nov. 11 at 10 a.m. local time.

Following the joint concert with Sting Nov. 9, Billy has two more shows left in 2024: a Nov. 23 solo date in Hollywood, Florida, and a New Year’s Eve show at UBS Arena in Belmont Park, New York, on Dec. 31. As for Sting, his Sting 3.0 tour with his power trio continues through November and ends Dec. 7. 

Billy and Sting’s first show together in 2025 comes on Feb. 8 in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, then Sting resumes his solo tour on Valentine’s Day in South America.

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You wouldn’t think that Madonna would need any help making a love connection, especially back in her heyday. But according to Rosie Perez, she’s the reason that the Queen of Pop ended up having a romance with one of the most influential rappers of all time.

When Perez appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show on Nov. 6, she related a story of how, just half an hour before she was due to leave for the Soul Train Music Awards, her date bailed on her. She was furious, so when her friend Tupac Shakur called minutes later, she told him what was going on.

“And he said, ‘You know what, I’m gonna go with you, we’re gonna walk up in there, we’re gonna act like we’re on a date, and he’s going to die,‘” Perez recalls Tupac telling her. Then, at the awards show, Madonna approached her and asked if she and Tupac were an item.

“She was there and she came up to me and she was like, ‘Yo, what’s up? Y’all are together?'” Perez told Barrymore. “And I said, ‘No.’ She goes, ‘Really?’ I go, ‘Yeah.’ She goes, ‘Hook me up.’ I said, ‘You got it.'”

Madonna and Tupac ended up secretly dating from 1993 to 1994. They broke up, but while Tupac was in prison in 1995 he wrote Madonna a letter apologizing for their split. He was released from prison in October 1995, but was murdered a year later. He was 25.

You can watch the clip of Perez telling the story on EW.com.

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Peter Gabriel, who sang about Native Americans in his song “San Jacinto,” has now become involved in a documentary highlighting the struggles of Canada’s First Nation indigenous peoples.

According The Hollywood Reporter, Gabriel is executive producing New Blood, which focuses on the historical trauma faced by First Nations people. The documentary shares its name with Gabriel’s 2011 album, which featured him performing some of his songs, including “San Jacinto,” with an orchestra.

Gabriel first became involved with the project when he allowed music from that album to be used in an Alberta, Canada, high school dance production inspired by the true story of a First Nation chief named Vincent Yellow Old Woman.

The documentary focuses on the fact that until the 1990s, the Canadian government funded so-called “residential schools” run by the Catholic Church, where indigenous children were taken from their families and sent to be assimilated. In 2021, Canada underwent a national reckoning after the remains of hundreds of indigenous children — students in those schools — were discovered in unmarked graves.

The New Blood documentary chronicles Chief Vincent’s own experience in a residential school, which led to him becoming a drug addict and then, later in life, becoming chief of Siksiká Nation, one of the four nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy. 

The film will air on Canada’s CBC on Nov. 22.

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On This Day, Nov. 7, 1943 …

Joni Mitchell was born in Alberta, Canada.

Born Roberta Joan “Joni” Anderson, Mitchell’s rise to fame began in the ’60s and ’70s with such classic songs as “Big Yellow Taxi,” “Chelsea Morning,” “River” and “Both Sides Now.” She also wrote “Woodstock,” which later became a huge hit for her friends Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

Mitchell has released 19 studio albums over the course of her career, but it’s her fourth album, 1971’s Blue, that is considered by many to be one of the best pop and rock albums in history.

In 2015 Mitchell suffered a brain aneurysm. She once revealed that she had to learn to walk again following the medical emergency. She made few public appearances after that and hadn’t performed live in 20 years when, in 2022, she surprised audiences at the Newport Folk Festival, joining Brandi Carlile for a guest-filled Joni Jam.

Since 2022, Mitchell has played a few more Joni Jams, and performed on the Grammys in 2024. She most recently headlined two nights at the Hollywood Bowl in California in October, with Elton John joining her onstage during one of the shows.

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The new Bruce Springsteen documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band is streaming now on Hulu and Disney+, and while the movie gives fans insight into the band’s live show, it also turns the camera on Bruce’s dedicated fans.

The film’s director, Thom Zimny, tells ABC Audio that he’s always felt welcomed by the fans, noting that for many, coming to a concert is about more than just getting to see Bruce play some songs.

“When I was interviewing the fans, the beautiful thing I encountered was this universal connection to the music,” he says. “And it goes beyond fandom.” 

“I really talked to the people at length and found, to have simple stories of their connection to be a really powerful thing,” he says. “It wasn’t being obsessed with celebrity or chasing a rock god. It’s more that they’ve taken this positive thing in their life, made a community out of it and it reinforces ideas for them that bring joy in their life.”

He adds, “That silent communication that you see in people’s faces with the music and the band, it’s something that I abstractly wanted to try to get across. It’s really hard to put into words.” 

Zimny himself is one of those fans, and when asked to pick his favorite Springsteen album, he had a hard time choosing.  

“For me, every day there’s an opportunity to step into a Springsteen album. … Every day you can find an album to start at the beginning and play straight through till the end,” he says. “The narrative arc and the journeys on these albums are flawless and they stay with me in a timeless way.” 

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Get ready for a new take on a holiday classic.

Bing Crosby‘s beloved yuletide song “White Christmas” is getting a new version featuring V from BTS.

“White Christmas (with V of BTS)” arrives just in time for the holiday season on Dec. 6. It comes in partnership with the Bing Crosby Estate, Primary Wave Music and Geffen Records, and arrives after V’s long-standing admiration for Crosby.

“I’m so grateful to have had the chance to be featured in a song with my all time favorite jazz artist, Bing Crosby. I grew up listening to his song ‘It’s Been a Long, Long Time’ countless times a day, and I feel incredibly fortunate and honored to have sung along on ‘White Christmas’ with the voice of someone I consider an idol,” V said in a press release. “Being a huge fan of his, I sang with the utmost sincerity and admiration for him, and I hope many people enjoy it as much as I enjoyed singing it. Lastly, I wish a lovely holiday season to everyone listening to the song.”

Mary Crosby, Bing Crosby’s daughter, said that her family is thrilled to have V singing with her father on the song.

“We are incredibly excited about V joining Dad for the duet of ‘White Christmas,'” Harry Crosby, Bing Crosby’s son, added. “We are happy that V will help share the joy of this timeless Christmas song.”

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Elton John’s documentary Never Too Late and the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown have received multiple nominations at this year’s Hollywood Music in Media Awards.

The HMMAs recognize musical achievements in the movies in multiple categories, including documentaries, features, songs, on-screen performances and more.

Elton’s documentary, which will debut on Disney+ on Dec. 13, is nominated for Music Documentary – Special Program. Some of the other nominees include The Greatest Night in Pop, about the making of the all-star charity song “We Are the World”; and One to One: John and Yoko, which documents the couple’s move to New York City in the ’70s and their subsequent musical performances there.

In the category of Song – Documentary Film, the track “Never Too Late,” which is performed by Elton John and Brandi Carlile in the documentary, is nominated.

A Complete Unknown is nominated in the category of Music Themed Film, Biopic or Musical, where its competition includes Wicked, Bob Marley: One Love and the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black.

In the category of Song – Onscreen Performance (Film), Timothée Chalamet, who’s playing Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, is nominated for his onscreen performance of “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

The HMMA Awards will be held Nov. 20. As previously reported, Elton’s lyricist Bernie Taupin will receive the Outstanding Career Achievement Award.

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After canceling his live dates in September due to what he called an “urgent heart condition,” Dave Mason has now given fans a major health update.

On Instagram, the ex-Traffic rocker reveals that he’s going to have heart valve replacement surgery on Nov. 11. He says specifically, he’ll be having a kind of surgery called TAVR, or transcatheter aortic valve replacement. It’s a minimally invasive procedure that Mason points out has already yielded great results in another rock legend.

“Mick Jagger has had the same surgery, and we’ve all been lucky to have him continue to entertain us,” the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer writes. “They say I should feel significantly better in 30 days, and fully rocking in 90, given a smooth operation.”

Mason says that he and his wife are “looking forward to getting my health back and feeling better than I have in quite a while.” He adds, “We’re feeling great about the future. Music is my life, and it means the world to me to be able to share it with you … I’ll update you all again soon. Until then, take care of yourselves and each other.”

The 78-year-old Mason, who recently released his memoir, Only You Know and I Know, originally had dates booked through Oct. 12 on his Traffic Jam 2024 tour.  When he canceled in September, he said that “doctors detected a serious heart condition during a routine appointment that requires immediate medical attention.”

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Jackson 5 member Tito Jackson has been laid to rest at the same cemetery where his brother Michael Jackson is buried.

According to the Associated Press, Tito was buried Nov. 4 in a private ceremony at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. In addition to Michael, who died in 2009, Jackson patriarch Joe Jackson, who died in 2018, is also buried there.

Tito’s siblings La Toya and Marlon Jackson attended the ceremony, as did Michael’s children Paris and Bigi, aka Blanket.

Tito’s sons announced his death on Sept. 16. He was 70. His final show was with the Jacksons on Sept. 10, 2024 in Munich, Germany.

Tito was the third eldest of the nine Jackson siblings. He’s survived by Jackson matriarch Katherine, 94, and siblings Janet, Jermaine, Randy, Marlon, Jackie, Rebbie and La Toya.  

After Tito’s death, Janet wrote on an Instagram Story, “May you rest in eternal peace. I will miss you so much.”

On Oct. 15, which would have been Tito’s 71st birthday, his three sons wrote on Instagram, “His presence will always be deeply missed, but his music, kindness, and love will forever live on in our hearts. Tito brought so much joy to the world, both as a member of The Jackson 5 and The Jacksons, and as an amazing father, brother, son, uncle and friend who touched the lives of many.”

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On This Day, Nov. 6, 1993 …

Meat Loaf scored his one and only #1 song with the track “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That),” from his multi-Platinum album Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, the sequel to his 1977 debut, Bat Out Of Hell.

The track, written by Jim Steinman, who penned Meat Loaf’s other classic tunes “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” and “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad,” featured singer Lorraine Crosby and had an album run time of over 12 minutes.

The song went to #1 in 28 countries and was certified Platinum in the United States. It also earned Meat Loaf a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo.

The song’s lyric “I’d do anything for love, but I won’t do that” left fans wondering what the “that” was, with Meat Loaf saying it was one of the most common questions he was asked. He later explained it was just a repetition of the things he said he’d never do earlier in the song.

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