Classic Hits

On This Day, April 1, 2008…

The Rolling Stones released Shine A Light, the soundtrack to their Martin Scorsese-directed concert film of the same name.

The concert doc featured performances from the band’s two-night stand at the intimate Beacon Theatre in New York, which took place October 29 and November 1, 2006. The shows took place during their A Bigger Bang Tour.

The movie featured special guests Jack White, Buddy Guy and Christina Aguilera performing with the Stones; they also appeared on the soundtrack.

Performances on the release included “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Symphony for the Devil,” “Brown Sugar” and “Start Me Up.” 

The Rolling Stones are getting ready to hit the road once again later this month. They’ll kick off their Hackney Diamonds tour on April 28 in Houston, Texas.

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Guitarist Joe Satriani is set to join Sammy Hagar on his Best of All Worlds tour this summer, where they’ll be playing, among other things, songs from the Van Halen catalog. And despite his expertise with the instrument, Satriani doesn’t expect it to be easy.

“My task right now is trying to unravel the mystery of Eddie Van Halen‘s strange guitar playing,” Satriani tells Classic Rock in a new interview. “I spent decades avoiding how to learn this stuff so I wouldn’t copy it, and now all of a sudden I’m doing a crash course on the idiosyncrasies and the genius of his guitar work.”

He adds, “I know these songs but I’ve never actually played them. It’s a task.”

And while it won’t be easy, Satriani is happy to do it, sharing, “I can’t think of a (Van Halen) song that doesn’t put a smile on my face – it’s just a question of figuring out how to play them.”

Satriani says he can guarantee that fans who come to the shows will “see someone who’s hell-bent on being the most respectful guitar player to the legacy of Eddie and his playing.” 

He adds, “I have every intention of nailing everything, and when I can’t I’ll wink to the audience and they’re gonna know that one’s just gonna slip by.”

Sammy Hagar’s Best of All Worlds tour, which also features Van Halen’s Michael Anthony on bass and Jason Bonham on drums, kicks off July 13 in West Palm Beach, Florida. A complete list of dates can be found at redrocker.com.

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The Zombies, former Eagles guitarist Don Felder and Foghat are among the artists booked to perform on the Rock Legends Cruise XII.

The trip is happening February 13-17, 2025, on Royal Caribbean’s Independence from the Sea, departing from Miami.

Other musicians ready to set sail on the cruise include the Gregg Rolie Band, Guess Who’s Burton Cummings and Procul Harum’s Robin Trower. 

Information on the itinerary and how to book a cabin can be found at rocklegendscruise.com.

The 2024 Rock Legends Cruise took place last February, with a lineup that included Sammy Hagar, ZZ Top‘s Billy F Gibbons and The Immediate Family.

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Paul McCartney’s rep is disputing a claim by an artist who suggested that a portrait he made of The Beatle legend was banned for being unflattering.

As previously reported, London artist Wilfrid Wood created a sculpture of McCartney’s face for the cover art for “Pipes of Peace,” McCartney’s contribution to War Child U.K.’s annual Secret 7” auction, but shared on Instagram that it was “BANNED by Macca and the gang because it was TOO UNFLATTERING.”

McCartney’s spokesperson has since denied Wood’s claim, telling NME the two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer “never saw this artwork.”

In the end, a positive thing did wind up coming from the portrait. Wood sold it on eBay for over $1,700 and plans to donate all proceeds to War Child U.K. in their mission to help children affected by conflict in various war zones, including Gaza and the Ukraine.

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In a recent Billboard article, Billie Eilish spoke out against artists who release multiple vinyl variants of their new albums without thinking about the environmental consequences, but not everyone agrees with her stance.

Sean Ono Lennon, son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, took to social media to share his opposing views. 

“The vinyl record industry is a tiny shadow of what it once was. LPs and 45s are NOT disposable single use plastics,” he writes. “Everyone complaining about vinyl records from an environmental perspective are doing so with their cellphones and their computers and their blue jeans and their sneakers and their bulls***.” 

Lennon doesn’t mention Eilish by name but insists he’s not trying to disrespect her. “The main artist speaking on this is brilliant and talented at music,” he shares. “I love them very much actually.”

He continues, “But coming out against a tiny niche market in an industry that has already been gutted by streaming services, is not the win you think it is. We literally only have a tiny handful of factories globally that can even print vinyl anymore.” 

“Leave us boomers alone. We like our music to sound good. Let us have our records in the physical world. You can stream all you want to pay a tiny handful of CEOs. But we like vinyl” the 48-year-old Lennon warns, signing off, “From my cold dead hands!”

In her interview, Eilish said it’s “wasteful” to release multiple vinyl variants just to sell more records. “It’s irritating to me that we’re still at a point where you care that much about your numbers and you care that much about making money — and it’s all your favorite artists doing that s***,” she noted.

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Peter Frampton fans will now be able to appreciate his classic live album Frampton Comes A Live even more, as it’s streaming on Dolby Atmos for the first time.

“This is the definitive version of the album; audio was sourced from the original 1975 masters by Doug Sax,” Frampton shares on Instagram, adding, “and it sounds better than ever.”

Released in January 1976, Frampton Comes Alive was the guitar great’s first double live album. It went to #1 on the Billboard 200 thanks to performances of such songs as “Show Me the Way,” “Baby I Love Your Way” and “Do You Feel Like We Do,” and spent 10 nonconsecutive weeks in the top spot.

The album went on to become one of the bestselling live albums of all time and has been certified eight-times Platinum by the RIAA.

Frampton, who was nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year, is currently on his Never Ever Say Never tour. It hits Waukegan, Illinois, on Saturday, March 30. A complete list of dates can be found at frampton.com.

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The viral music collective Rockin’1000 has taken on yet another rock classic. 

The collective just shared a recent performance of Pink Floyd‘s iconic tune “Another Brick in the Wall (Part Two),” featuring 1,000 musicians playing the track in Cesena, Italy, to a stadium filled with fans. The performance also includes a guitar solo from Enrico Drigo Salvi of the Italian rock band Negrita.

Rockin’1000 is the same group responsible for the viral performance of Foo Fighters‘ “Learn To Fly” in Cesena in 2015. It also featured 1,000 musicians playing the song. After the video went viral, the Foos got wind of it and decided to play a show in Cesena later that year.

“Another Brick in the Wall (Part Two)” from Pink Floyd’s 1979 album, The Wall, is the band’s only #1 single in the U.S. It also topped the charts in 13 other countries, including the U.K. and Canada. It has sold over 4 million copies worldwide.

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Billy Joel played the 100th show of his Madison Square Garden residency in New York on Thursday, March 28, and brought out some very special guests to help him with the celebration.

Fan-shot footage of the evening shows fellow Long Islander Jerry Seinfeld making a surprise appearance to help raise a banner marking Billy’s 100th consecutive sell-out residency show and the most lifetime performances by any artist at the arena.

Calling the residency “the most beautiful medallion on this magnificent career,” Seinfeld discussed how Billy’s music has touched people, particularly those from Long Island and New York.

“He is like the companion that we have gone through our whole lives with,” Jerry said. “His music is like our best friend for our whole life. I don’t even think he can understand how much his music means to us, being from where we are.”

The night’s other special guest was Sting, who came out to join Billy for The Bridge track “Big Man on Mulberry Street” as well as The Police classic “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.” Billy and Sting previously performed these two songs together at their co-headlining date in Tampa, Florida, last month. Their next show together is on April 13 at Petco Park in San Diego.  

Fans who didn’t make it to New York City to catch the 100th show in person will still get to enjoy the concert. CBS is set to air 100th: Billy Joel At Madison Square Garden – The Greatest Arena Run Of All Time on April 14.

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Foreigner’s Lou Gramm seems impressed by producer Mark Ronson’s efforts to get the band into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year. 

In February, Ronson, stepson of Foreigner’s Mick Jones, shared a star-studded video featuring artists like Dave Grohl and Slash declaring their love of the band to try to get them inducted.

“I think he’s a pretty creative guy, and there hasn’t been anything too boisterous or outlandish,” Gramm tells Billboard. “It’s telling the story the way he sees it, from his vantage point with his stepdad. It makes sense.”  

Ronson even got Paul McCartney to film a clip, with The Beatles member using some colorful language to express his shock that Foreigner isn’t already in the Hall of Fame. Gramm calls it awesome.

“That one I certainly didn’t expect, and if you just see it once you know it was completely off the cuff for him,” he says. “He said what needed to be said and that was it. I was very impressed and very thankful.” 

Gramm tells the mag he “had given up” on Foreigner ever getting nominated, sharing, “I was not feeling good that our peers were in years ago and we were completely neglected.” 

And while Gramm believes “things look pretty good” they’ll make it in this year, he’s trying not to get his hopes up. He notes, “I’m patiently waiting to see what happens.” 

The Hall of Fame fan vote is open until April 26 and winners will be announced later that month. The 2024 induction ceremony will take place in Cleveland in the fall.

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Mick Jagger‘s recent Instagram post in which he’s dancing to the tune “Moves Like Jagger” has not gone unnoticed by Maroon 5, the band that made the track a hit. 

The Rolling Stones frontman, 80, shared his video on Wednesday, March 27. In the clip he’s seen busting some moves while laughing and smiling, adding the caption, “Moves like who!” It appears the video was taken at one of the rock icon’s favorite island destinations, Mustique.

Well, Maroon 5 caught wind of the clip and reposted it to their Instagram Story, captioning it with an animated “GOAT” — “Greatest of All Time” — graphic. 

“Moves Like Jagger,” featuring Christina Aguilera, came out in 2011 and became Maroon 5’s second #1 hit, as well as one of the bestselling singles of all time.  

And those Jagger moves will be on full display in just one month, when The Stones kick off their Hackney Diamonds tour on April 28 in Houston, Texas. A complete list of dates can be found at rollingstones.com.

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