Classic Hits

Patti Smith was in Detroit Thursday to accept a special honor. 

According to the Detroit Free Press, Smith and her late husband, MC5 guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith, were honored for being ambassadors for Detroit, along with Jack White and Slum Village. They all received pieces of marble from Michigan Central Station at a ceremony held ahead of the all-star concert, Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central, which celebrated the refurbishment and reopening of the historic train station.

“Fred loved the train station, and he would fantasize about it being restored and opened to the people. He really talked about it quite a bit, so I know that this would have made him very happy,” Smith told Billboard. “It means something to me that they’re honoring him, as he should be, and I’m happy to be included with him.”

“Some of the greatest and most important parts of my life have been in your great city,” Smith shared during her speech, which also had her reading aloud Eminem’s 2009 poem “Letter to Detroit.”

Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central featured performances by White, Eminem, Melissa Etheridge, Diana Ross and more. It streamed live on Peacock, and a one-hour special will air Sunday on NBC at 7 p.m.

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Back in April Jon Bon Jovi, who’s been married to his high school sweetheart, Dorothea Hurley, since 1989, suggested he may have stepped out on her during their marriage, but he’s now clarifying his comments. 

In the original interview with Michael Strahan, Jon said, “I’m a rock ‘n’ roll star. I’m not a saint. You know, I’m not saying that, that there weren’t a hundred girls in my life. I’m Jon Bon Jovi. It was pretty good.” But in a new interview with The Guardian, he’s indicating that he misspoke.

“That was an interesting moment where the brain and lips don’t connect,” he said when the comment was brought up. “What I meant to say was I’ve had a hundred women who have thrown themselves at me, but I didn’t finish the sentence so I really came off like an arrogant cliche.”  

Talking about his 35-year marriage, Jon noted, “I just got it right the first time. I was blessed to have known her since we were kids and I couldn’t have ever imagined life any differently.”

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Foghat has dropped a new video for the track “Black Days & Blue Nights” from their latest release, Sonic Mojo, which came out in November.

The clip is a live performance of the track, which is about the late Rod Price, the band’s original lead slide guitarist, who passed away in 2005.

“This song is our Ode to Rod Price,” founding member/drummer Roger Earl shares. “Rod was a complicated man. He was a beautiful soul, and we were good friends when he joined the band.”

Price left the group in 1980, with Roger noting that “after four or five years on the road, it started to wear on him. He was seeking a more peaceful existence. We were touring relentlessly and although Dave (Peverett) and I loved it, it was tough on Rod.”­­­

Singer Scott Holt adds, “Rod Price was the lynchpin of the guitars in Foghat. He was the lead guitar player and he created the sound that became Foghat. ‘Slow Ride’ doesn’t exist without that iconic drum intro and Rod Price’s slide playing.”

Foghat is currently on a U.S. tour. They hit Clearwater, Florida, on Friday. A complete list of dates can be found at foghat.com.

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Sammy Hagar is bringing his The Best of All Worlds tour to Japan.

The rocker took to Instagram to announce he’ll be playing Japan for the first time in over 20 years.

Calling it “the return of the Red Rocker Sammy Hagar in all of the rock glory,” Hagar revealed that the tour, featuring Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani, Jason Bonham and Rai Thistlethwayte, will kick off Sept. 20 in Nagoya, and hit Osaka on Sept. 22 and Tokyo on Sept. 23.

“It’s gonna be a party,” Hagar noted. “We’re gonna make up for all that missing time … can’t wait, I’m lovin’ it. The best set list on the planet.” He shared that it will include Hagar solo tunes, plus songs from Montrose, Chickenfoot and “a whole lot of Van Halen.”

As Hagar wrote in the post’s caption, he hasn’t played Japan since Van Halen’s Balance tour in 1995. 

The Japan dates will happen after Sammy finishes up the North American leg of tour, which kicks off July 13 in West Palm Beach, Florida. A complete list of dates can be found at redrocker.com.

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Bon Jovi‘s new album, FOREVER, their first since 2020, is out Friday. Jon Bon Jovi wrote many of the songs while recovering from his 2022 vocal surgery and says that in those songs, he found joy again after going through several negative experiences.

“My health concerns were certainly one of them,” he tells ABC Audio. “Another one was that our last album was written and released during COVID. So remember, we were all living in a much different time, and [this] was an opportunity to write a joyous record.” 

Jon adds, “This House Is Not For Sale, the album before that, was a ‘statement’ record. So it took me basically a decade to get back to this place.”

Calling an album FOREVER is a bold statement, even for a band marking their 40th anniversary this year. “It can mean different things to different people at the end of the day. I think that’s the bottom line,” Jon says. However, they did consider other titles.

“There were a few, but nothing moved anyone in the band emotionally,” he says. “I had had a couple that I was sort of pitching, to be honest with you, and even I wasn’t buying. So when this one came up, we thought it was fitting as a companion piece to the [Hulu] documentary.”

Jon’s ongoing recovery from vocal surgery means the band isn’t touring at the moment, but the album’s single, “Legendary,” has found a place on radio alongside the younger artists who Jon says he likes, like Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and Noah Kahan.

“I listen to lyrics, you know? I mean, it’s sort of my job,” he says. “I think that there’s some great storytellers out there who are all telling their truth.”

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E Street Band guitarist Stevie Van Zandt is the subject of a new documentary, Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple, which will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival in New York on Saturday, before premiering on Max June 22. 

After over 50 years in music, you’d think he’d be comfortable in the spotlight, but Van Zandt tells ABC Audio he initially wasn’t keen on the idea of seeing his life on film.

“I really am quite grateful and honored that somebody would care enough about my life to want to make a movie about it,” he shares. “But at the same time, you know, I’m always going to be a little bit uncomfortable about being the center of attention.”

Bill Teck, the film’s director, says Van Zandt was so uncomfortable that it took decades to get him to agree to the project.

“He wasn’t even in the movie at the beginning,” Teck says. “He wanted me to do [it] with file footage and podcasts, and finally we convinced him to sit.”

After the premiere Van Zandt heads back to Europe to resume the Bruce Springsteen summer tour, which was postponed for three shows after The Boss suffered vocal issues.

“He’s great,” Van Zandt says of Springsteen’s health, noting that since the three postponed shows have been moved to 2025, “we may have another summer added to the tour, which is wonderful.” 

And fans who catch the shows now will see a looser set than they did with the first leg.

“Bruce is going back to picking out signs out of the audience, you know, taking requests,” Van Zandt says, although he notes, “we usually do a wide range of emotions throughout the show and that will remain the same.” 

The tour returns to North America in August. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.net.

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The upcoming Totally Tubular festival, celebrating the music of the ’80s, has made a lineup change.

The festival, which kicks off June 25 in Seattle and runs through July 28 in Cleveland, has added The Tubes, remembered for their hit “She’s A Beauty,” to the lineup. They will be on the bill from opening night until July 14.

But that’s not the only change. Previously announced performers The Romantics, best known for their hit “What I Like About You,” have dropped off the fest “due to an unforeseen medical situation.” In addition, Wang Chung has been added to additional dates.

The rest of the lineup includes Thomas Dolby, Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey, Modern English, Men Without Hats, Bow Wow Wow and Tommy Tutone.

A full list of dates and lineups for each show can be found at totallytubularfestival.com.

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The ticket reselling platform StubHub is out with its annual list of the summer’s most in-demand tours, with The Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen making the cut this year.

The list is based on the global concert sales on StubHub and Viagogo as of June 3 for events taking place from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

While Taylor Swift tops the list year, The Stones’ Hackney Diamonds tour, which kicked off in April, lands at #3, right behind Coldplay at #2. This is The Stones’ first time on the in-demand list since 2019, when they were #1. 

Meanwhile, Springsteen’s tour with The E Street Band, which returns to the U.S. in August, ranks at #7, after landing at #6 in 2023. Foo Fighters are also on the list this year at #8.

As for the concerts that people from other countries are traveling to the U.S. to see this summer, The Stones once again land at #3, with Billy Joel, Metallica, Foo Fighters and The Killers also making the top 10.

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David Byrne and Devo’s contribution to the new compilation album Noise For Now Vol. 2, raising money to benefit abortion access and reproductive rights, has been released.

The track, “Empire,” was one of two songs Byrne recorded with Devo for the 1997 album Feelings, although it never made the record.

Byrne says the tune “is an ironic capitalist fascist anthem and, at the time, I thought our version was just too mean and caustic for release.”

“Well, times change, and it certainly resonates now in ways it maybe didn’t then,” he shares. “It was a joy to work with the Devo guys, they knew exactly what the song is about.”

Devo’s Gerald Casale adds, “We were on board working with the dark satire of David Byrne’s ‘Empire’ over 30 years ago. The song was prescient and we got it. Now it can be heard!” 

Put out by the nonprofit organization Noise for Now, the album also features songs from Courtney Barnett, The War On Drugs, Faye Webster and Big Freedia. It will be released digitally and on limited-edition vinyl on June 21 to coincide with the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Proceeds will benefit independent abortion providers in the country, with 90% of all money raised going directly to reproductive health, rights and justice organizations.

Noise For Now Vol. 2 is available for preorder now.

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Pete Townshend’s solo live performances will be chronicled in a new box set coming this summer.

Pete Townshend Live > In Concert 1985-2001, dropping July 26, will feature newly remastered versions of Pete’s live solo recordings, seven of which have been long out of print. The concerts were previously only available through Pete’s Eel Pie website. 

Shows featured on the release include Deep End Live at Brixton Academy in London recorded in 1985 and featuring Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour on guitar, plus shows recorded at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1993, San Francisco’s The Filmore in 1996, London’s Shepherds Bush Empire in 1998 and the La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, California, in 2001. There’s also a recording of two nights at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre, the only time Pete ever attempted a full Life House show.

Pete Townshend Live > In Concert 1985-2001 will be released digitally and as a 14-CD box set, with all the music newly remastered by Jon Astley. It’s the first time all these live albums have been available in one place. The set includes new art by Townshend collaborator Richard Evans, along with a 28-page hard cover book with a foreword by Pete and notes by Who archivist Matt Kent, along with rare photos and memorabilia.

Pete Townshend Live > In Concert 1985-2001 is available for preorder now.

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