Classic Hits

Bruce Springsteen wrapped his two-night stand at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum with a show that included four tour debuts and one special guest, Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello. 

According to setlist.fm, the 31-song set kicked off with the Nebraska track “Open All Night,” marking not only the song’s tour debut, but the first time Bruce has performed it since 2014. Later in the show, Springsteen took a sign request from the audience, performing The River track “Sherry Darling,” which was another tour debut.

Morello came out to join Springsteen for two songs: “American Skin (41 Shots)” and “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” both of which were tour debuts. It was the first time Bruce played “American Skin” with the E Street Band since 2017 and his first time playing “Tom Joad” with the band since 2016.

This isn’t the first time Morello has played with Springsteen. In fact, in 2013, he toured with The Boss on the Wrecking Ball tour, filling in for guitarist Steven Van Zandt, who was busy filming his TV show Lilyhammer. Morello is also quite familiar with “Tom Joad,” having covered it with Rage for their 2000 album, Renegades.

Springsteen and the E Street Band are now heading to the East Coast, with their next show happening April 12 in Uncasville, Connecticut. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.net. 

In other Springsteen news, The Boss made another Curb Your Enthusiasm cameo, this time on the series finale, which aired Sunday, April 7. The episode had Larry David on trial for violating Georgia’s Election Integrity Act, with The Boss testifying that Larry “maliciously” gave him COVID, which happened in last week’s episode.

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On This Day, April 8, 1975…

Aerosmith released their breakthrough album, Toys in the Attic, which featured future Aerosmith classics “Walk This Way,” “Sweet Emotion” and the album’s title track.

The album was the band’s third studio release, and it peaked at #11 on the Billboard Album chart, their highest charting album at that time.

Toys in the Attic went on to be certified nine-times Platinum by the RIAA.

“Walk this Way” was the second single from the album; it peaked at #10 on the chart in 1977 but saw renewed popularity when it was covered by Run-DMC for their 1986 album, Raising Hell. Aerosmith’s appearance on the cover helped the song hit #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first hip-hop single to reach the top five.

Both versions of the song have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

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KISS recently announced they’ve sold their music catalog, as well as their brand name and likeness rights, to Swedish entertainment company Pophouse. But Gene Simmons wants fans to know this doesn’t mean he and bandmate Paul Stanley will no longer be in control of what happens with the band.

“Nothing is being handed off,” the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer tells ABC Audio. “A mother may give birth to a child, but you never stop being a mother whether the child gets married or not.” He adds, “I’m proud to say that Paul and I have met kindred spirits in Pophouse. Creative dynamic visionaries, really.”

Pophouse is the company behind ABBA’s Voyages hologram show. It will be the company developing KISS’ upcoming avatar show, planned for 2027, and Simmons is confident fans will be blown away by the final product.

“Let me just say that we are at the forefront and are going to be doing things that are already in development, like nothing people have ever seen or heard,” he says. “You won’t believe, I’m telling you, no hype. You won’t believe what’s going to happen.”

And despite KISS saying goodbye to the road in December, Simmons insists there’s still a lot more fans can expect from the band. 

“I mean, the end of KISS is the beginning of KISS,” Gene says, noting that embracing all this technology is going to be a big part of keeping the legacy alive for old and new fans. 

He explains that the plan is to use artificial intelligence to “control and keep intact our personas,” sharing, “You don’t want the beginning of KISS in this new world to become something unrecognizable to what it originally was.”

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Loverboy is giving fans another preview of their upcoming live album, Live in ’82. 

The band just released “Lady Of The 80’s,” along with a live video of the track, recorded at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. This is the second track they’ve released from the album, following a live performance of “Turn Me Loose.”

You can listen to “Lady of the 80’s” via digital outlets and watch the video on YouTube. 

Live in ‘82 will be released June 7 as limited-edition CD + Blu-ray and LP + DVD sets. The footage has been restored from Loverboy guitarist Paul Dean‘s personal archive of 16mm film.

Loverboy’s Live in ’82 is available for preorder now.

Loverboy is set to hit the road this summer as a special guest on Sammy Hagar’s The Best of All Worlds tour, which kicks off July 13 in West Palm Beach, Florida. A complete list of Loverboy dates can be found at loverboyband.com.

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Billy Idol has shared another previously unreleased track from his upcoming 40th anniversary deluxe expanded edition of Rebel Yell. 

The latest is a demo of “Flesh For Fantasy,” which sounds quite different from the original song on the album. It follows the release of Idol’s previously unreleased cover of Rose Royce’s “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore.” 

You can listen to the “Flesh For Fantasy” demo now via digital outlets and on YouTube.

The Rebel Yell deluxe expanded edition, available for preorder now, will be released digitally, and as a two-LP and two-CD set on April 26. It will include the original album, and an album of previously unreleased songs and demos.

Idol has also just announced dates for a summer Canadian tour. The trek kicks off July 30 in Vancouver and wraps August 25 in St. John’s, Newfoundland. He kicks off a U.S. tour on May 3 in West Palm Beach, Florida. A complete list of Idol shows can be found at billyidol.net.

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If you’ve seen Wolfgang Van Halen perform live, you’ve probably seen him thank his dad, the late Eddie Van Halen, by pointing up to the sky. In an interview with People, Wolf shares, “The reason I do what I do is because of my dad.”

“If I didn’t or at least think about him throughout the process, I’d be doing a disservice to my existence,” Wolf says. “So I think it’s very important to establish that to thank my dad every night, every time I’m on stage. Just to thank my father and to know that he’s always there with me every night.”

Wolf also speaks about his relationship with his mother and Eddie’s ex-wife, Valerie Bertinelli.

“A big thing is that she’s the only parent I have, and so I think it’s important to be close to your family and to make that time count because it doesn’t last forever,” Wolf says. “It’s very important to spend every chance you can get with your family.”

“My parents raised me,” he adds. “I wish I could spend more time with my dad, but I can’t, but I can spend time with my mom and it’s the best. She’s the best.”

You can catch Wolf live with his band Mammoth WVH touring the U.S. beginning in May.

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A rare Prince B-side has been released to digital services for the first time to mark the 20th anniversary of the legendary singer’s 28th studio album, Musicology.

The song, “United States of Division,” was originally released in 2004 to Prince’s NPG Music Club as a virtual B-side for the song “Cinnamon Girl” and later as a bonus track for the U.K. CD single of the same song.

“United States of Division” is a protest tune written during the Iraq War era, and in it, Prince sings about his fears for the state of our nation.

“How far from heaven must we go? / Before the winds of change will blow and show,” Prince sings. “This world how it’s supposed to be / Land of peace and harmony.”

You can listen to “United States of Division” now on all digital outlets and on YouTube.

Musicology was handed out to fans who attended Prince’s Musicology Tour, which ran from March to September 2004. It was released in retail outlets in April of the same year.

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INXS frontman Michael Hutchence has been gone for nearly three decades, but his music lives on, and it turns out there’s even more music to enjoy.

A never-before-heard Hutchence solo single, “One Way,” has just been released, put together by his friend and producer/musician Danny Saber from previously unreleased material.

“’One Way’ is the culmination of nearly two decades of work,” Saber shares. “One of the fundamental reasons for releasing this music is to allow the fans to hear Michael’s voice on something new and fresh, offering a glimpse into what might have been, and, in turn, reawakening millions of people who may have simply forgotten about him.”

The unreleased material, including demos and song ideas, was discovered in a locker in London in 2006, with some of that material featured in the 2017 documentary about Hutchence, The Last Rockstar. 

“One of the best things for me personally is that through this journey, I have come to a better understanding of what happened to Michael and why,” Saber says. “I want to share that perspective as I really feel Michael’s story has so much relevance and value on so many levels, and along the way, hopefully we can shift the focus to how he lived and not how he died.”  

Finally, he notes, “Michael deserves to take his place in the pantheon of great frontmen and finally get the recognition he and the band deserve.”

Hutchence’s band INXS had a string of hits in the mid-’80s to early ’90s, including “Need You Tonight,” their only U.S. #1, “What You Need,” “Never Tear Us Apart,” “New Sensation” and “Suicide Blonde.”

Hutchence was found dead on November 22, 1997. His death was later ruled a suicide. He was 37.

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Lenny Kravitz has dropped the video for his latest single “Human,” from his upcoming album, Blue Electric Light.

The clip, directed by Joseph Kahn, kicks off with a bunch of people distracted by their phones, which are later pulled out of their hands and sucked into a large stack of speakers that surround Kravitz’s performance in the middle of the street. The music prompts folks to dance in the streets and even causes them, and the cars around them, to levitate into the air.

Lenny also does a bit of floating in the air and is suddenly shirtless, showing off his chiseled abs.

Blue Electric Light, Lenny’s first album since 2018’s Raise Vibration, is set to drop May 24, two days before the rocker’s 60 birthday. It is available for preorder now.

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U2 has launched a new digital series that will treat fans to live recordings and remixes that came out before we all enjoyed our music online.

The series, U2 To Love and Only Love – Deep Dives and B-Sides, kicked off Friday, April 5. The band plans to release 12 newly remastered collections throughout the year, made up of songs that until now were only available on vinyl, CD or cassette.

The first entry into the series looks at the Pop track “Discothèque,” with U2 releasing 10 different remixes of the song, including one that’s a whopping 10 minutes long. They also released two remixes of the B-side “Holy Joe.”

To coincide with the launch, U2 has released a limited-edition Discotheque vintage T-shirt, which is available to order now.

“Discothèque” was the opening track of U2’s 1997 album Pop and was a top 10 hit for the band in the U.S.; it went to #1 in the U.K., Ireland, New Zealand and several other countries. 

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