Classic Hits

Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen and his wife, Lauren Monroe, are putting on a concert in New York City in March to benefit the city’s firefighters.

The couple’s Raven Drum Foundation is behind the special show taking place March 14, at The Cutting Room, with the pair scheduled to perform a special set featuring Monroe’s original music.

The concert will also include an all-star jam featuring such well-known drummers as KISS’ Peter Criss, Bad Company’s Simon Kirke, Billy Joel‘s former drummer Liberty DeVitto, Widespread Panic’s Duane Trucks and more. The band will also feature Paul Shaffer and Will Lee from The Late Show with David Letterman. 

For the concert, Raven Drum Foundation has teamed up with the nonprofit Friends of Firefighters, an organization established after September 11, 2001, to provide active and retired FDNY firefighters and their families with free, independent and confidential mental health counseling and wellness.

“Friends of Firefighters aligns with our mission by offering mental health support and access to alternative medicine to NYC firefighters at no cost,” Allen and Monroe share. “We’re honored by our legendary artist community’s support for Raven Drum’s first event at The Cutting Room. We’re excited to play in New York, creating a fantastic night of music, strengthening our community bonds, and raising funds and awareness for this vital cause!”

Tickets for the concert are on sale now. VIP tickets are also available, which include a reception, artist meet and greet and an auction. Items up for grabs at the auction include Def Leppard summer tour tickets and meet and greet packages, as well as a fire helmet signed by actor Steve Buscemi.

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Def Leppard is getting ready to share a classic live concert with fans.

The band announced they will premiere their full 2022 Whisky a Go Go concert on their YouTube channel on Friday, February 16. The stream will begin at 10 a.m. PT and will be available for 24 hours.

The May 2022 concert saw the band play a rare club show, treating fans to such classic Def Leppard tracks as “Animal,” “Love Bites,” “Photograph,” “Rock of Ages,” “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and more.

Def Leppard is getting ready to hit the road again this summer. They’ll kick off a stadium tour with Journey July 6 in St. Louis, Missouri. The tour features special guests Steve Miller Band, Cheap Trick and Heart on select dates. A complete list of dates can be found at defleppard.com.

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Rod Stewart has released a new song and video from his upcoming album, Swing Fever, a collaboration with former Squeeze keyboard player Jools Holland.

The song is “Pennies from Heaven,” a standard first introduced by Bing Crosby in the 1936 movie of the same name. In the video, Rod, wearing sparkly shoes and a shiny blazer, sings the song with Holland’s big band, which includes another former member of Squeeze, drummer Gilson Lavis.

As they perform the upbeat tune, a couple comes out and dances the jive. Then Rod’s wife, Penny Lancaster, appears and begins dancing with the male dancer. The song ends with Rod’s arm around Penny, as confetti rains down and a banner reading “In Rod We Trust” is unfurled.

Swing Fever arrives February 23.

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In October, Robert Plant performed the Led Zeppelin classic “Stairway to Heaven” for the first time in 16 years at a charity event in Oxfordshire, England, and it sounds like it was quite an experience for the rocker. 

“It was cathartic,” Plant tells Rolling Stone of the performance. “People go, ‘Oh, that’s good. He never was going to do that.’ But I didn’t really do it! I just blurted it out.” 

Explaining that the song was an important one for him during the time in his life with his Led Zeppelin bandmates Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham, Plant adds, “So on that night, it was what it was. It was a trial by fire, but I felt better at the end than at the beginning.”

Unfortunately, fans may never see him perform the tune again. When asked if he thinks it will be his last performance of the song, Plant replied, “Yeah, I think you’re probably right.”

“Who knows? Something could change somewhere,” he says. “Spirit and heart could come back in the soul.” But he notes, “It’s a long song. Who can remember all those words?”

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It’s a year late, but the 30th anniversary of What’s Love Got to Do With It, the soundtrack of the Tina Turner biopic of the same name starring Angela Bassett as Tina, is being celebrated with a series of special releases coming April 26.

The album, originally released June 15, 1993, featured songs Tina had rerecorded from the early part of her career with her ex-husband, Ike Turner. There were also five new songs, including the top 10 hit “I Don’t Wanna Fight,” plus two songs from Tina’s hit album Private Dancer and Tina’s cover of The Trammps‘ “Disco Inferno.”

The special releases include a four-CD/one DVD box set with the original remastered album plus a CD of edits, remixes and a cappella versions, and two CDs documenting Tina’s 1993 concert in San Bernadino, California. The DVD includes the concert, plus three music videos. The set comes with a poster and a 24-page booklet.

The package will also be available as a double-CD set, as a single vinyl LP and digitally.

Among the songs on the album: “Rock Me Baby,” “Proud Mary,” “Nutbush City Limits,” “A Fool In Love,” a rerecorded version of “I Might Have Been Queen” and, of course, “What’s Love Got to Do With It?”

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On This Day, February 14, 1987…

New Jersey rockers Bon Jovi scored their second #1 single when “Livin’ on a Prayer” topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Released in October 1986, the track was the second hit single from their third album, Slippery When Wet. The first, “You Give Love a Bad Name,” hit #1 in November, 1986.

“Livin’ on a Prayer,” written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Desmond Child, was also the band’s first #1 on the Mainstream Rock chart.  

The video for the track, directed by Wayne Isham, played in heavy rotation on MTV, and in January of 2023 hit one billion views on YouTube.

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Lionel Richie and Diana Ross, who had a #1 hit together with 1981’s “Endless Love,” are set to team up again for a brand new love-themed festival coming to the Los Angeles area. 

The two superstars are set to headline the inaugural Fool in Love festival, happening August 31 in Hollywood Park, on the grounds adjacent to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

Artists joining them on the bill include Nile Rodgers & Chic, Al Green, Gladys Knight, Santana, Chaka Khan, Dionne Warwick, Eric Burdon & The Animals, War, The Isley Brothers, The Spinners and The O’Jays.

A ticket presale kicks off Friday, February 16, at 10 a.m. PT, with the general sale set for the same day at 2 p.m. PT. A complete lineup can be found at foolinlove.com.

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A new Jimi Hendrix graphic novel is coming this summer. 

Titan Comics is set to release Jimi Hendrix: Purple Haze on July 30, written by Mellow Brown and DJ BenHaMeen, with artwork by Tom Mandrake.

The graphic novel is described as a “psychedelic space odyssey that captures the magic, hope and rebellion that Jimi’s legendary music is known for.” It will follow the guitar legend as he searches for a magical talisman that will help free a population starved of rock and roll by a controlling intergalactic force that’s out to silence music and enslave everyone. 

A Facebook post by Titan revealed some of the artwork for the graphic novel, including two covers with Jimi playing guitar. It notes the novel is “a pure rock and roll space opera featuring the legendary Jimi Hendrix as you’ve never seen him before.”

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A country album Brian Wilson started producing nearly five decades ago is finally set to see the light of day. 

According to Rolling Stone, Cows in the Pasture, which Wilson started in 1970 with Beach Boys‘ manager Fred Vail on vocals, is expected out sometime next year.  

Wilson and Vail worked on the record in April 1970 while the Beach Boys were recording their 16th studio album, Sunflower, but Wilson chose to abandon the project in the middle of recording.

“We never did any keeper vocals,” Vail tells the mag. “They were mostly just scratch vocals that we never completed. There were no background vocals and no harmonies. It was a lot instrumentation. And when Brian lost interest, I just moved on. It was kind of like, ‘Out of sight, out of mind.’ I didn’t figure anything would ever be done with them.”

Now, the album is finally being finished, thanks to producer Sam Parker and a series of yet-to-be revealed guest stars. It’s expected out in 2025, with a docuseries also in the works covering a now 79-year-old Vail’s life story and the completion of the album. Wilson is executive producing the new record and will also appear on it.  

“Fred always loved country music, and he was a big rodeo guy,” Wilson tells the mag. “He’s a hell of a guy, one hell of a promoter, and I’m glad his album is coming out.”

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Pretenders have been forced to postpone their upcoming U.K. tour so frontwoman Chrissie Hynde can recover from an injury.

“We’re champing at the bit to get back on the road, but looks like we’re gonna have to hold tight for a while. I have a knee injury which will have to be dealt with first,” Chrissie writes on Instagram. “I was hoping I could limp through the next 6 weeks, but it’s just getting worse. (I’ll spare you the gory details…)”

The tour was supposed to kick off February 24 but will now start on October 11 in Portsmouth and run through October 28 in Manchester. A complete list of dates can be found at thepretenders.com. 

Tickets purchased for the original shows will be valid for the rescheduled dates, with refunds available to anyone who can’t make the new dates.

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