Classic Hits

Joni Mitchell has won another Grammy. The 80-year-old took home Best Folk Album during Sunday’s award ceremony for Joni Mitchell at Newport Live, a recording of her 2022 comeback concert at the Newport Folk Festival. 

Joni now has 12 Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award; she performed at the Grammys for the first time Sunday, the classic “Both Sides Now” with the help of Brandi Carlile and others. 

Other winners Sunday included The Beatles’ animated video for the Revolver track “I’m Only Sleeping” for Best Music Video, the David Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream for Best Music Film and Metallica‘s 72 Seasons for Best Metal Performance.

And Joni wasn’t the only knockout performance of the evening.

U2 gave fans a taste of their Sphere residency, rocking out to their latest single, “Atomic City,” marking the first televised broadcast from the Las Vegas venue.  

Tracy Chapman joined Luke Combs for her classic “Fast Car.” It came 35 years after she first performed the song at the Grammys. 

Remembering the artists we lost this year, the in memoriam kicked off with Stevie Wonder performing a duet of “For Once In My Life” with a video of Tony Bennett, followed by Stevie’s take of “The Best is Yet To Come.” 

Annie Lennox paid tribute to Sinéad O’Connor with a rendition of “Noting Compares 2 U,” although she ended her performance on a controversial note, shouting, “Artists for cease-fire! Peace in the world!”

The segment wrapped with a tribute to Tina Turner, introduced by Oprah Winfrey. Fantasia Barrino brought the house down with her performance of “Proud Mary,” which got the audience up and dancing. 

And finally, Billy Joel brought his new single, “Turn the Lights Back on,” to the Grammys and closed the show with his classic “You May Be Right.”

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Jon Bon Jovi was honored on February 2 in Los Angeles as the Recording Academy’s MusiCares Person of the Year — with a whole host of A-listers on hand to celebrate the rocker for his philanthropic work.

Bruce Springsteen‘s appearance seemed to be up in the air following the news of his mother Adele’s passing on January 31, but he still attended, which meant a lot to Jon.

“I want to thank my hero, my friend, my mentor Bruce Springsteen,” he said, according to Forbes. “Bruce’s mom passed two days ago. When I first got the news, he was already on the airplane on the way here. But he wanted to be here tonight for MusiCares. And he wanted to be here tonight for me, and I’m forever grateful to you.”

The night kicked off with Bon Jovi performing “Legendary,” a song from their upcoming album, although despite rumors original guitarist Richie Sambora would join the festivities, he was a no-show. The band was then joined by Springsteen for “Who Says You Can’t Go Home” and Springsteen’s “The Promised Land.”

Among the night’s other performances: Melissa Etheridge and Larkin Poe performed “Blaze of Glory”; Jelly Roll performed “Bad Medicine”; Maneskin‘s Damiano David sang “Keep the Faith”; Mammoth WVH played “Have a Nice Day”; Sammy Hagar performed “You Give Love A Bad Name,” and Shania Twain sang “Bed of Roses.”

In addition to the performers, Paul McCartney was in the house for the celebration, with Lenny Kravitz, Gayle King, and Kylie Minogue acting as presenters. Jon also got video wishes from the likes of John Mayer, Pink, Ed Sheeran and others. 

The night ended with Bon Jovi back on the stage, joined by many of the night’s performers, for a finale of the Jersey rockers’ biggest hit, “Livin’ On A Prayer.”

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A painting created by all four members of The Beatles has sold at auction for a little over $1.7 million. 

The untitled piece of art, which has become known as Images of a Woman, was completed in 1966 by Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison as they were holed up at Tokyo’s Hilton Hotel during their five-night stand at Nippon Budokan that June and July. Each Beatle painted one corner of the canvas, working their way toward the middle.

The auction took place at Christie’s on Thursday, with the auction house calling it “the only known substantial piece of art made by the four Beatles in their years together.”

And it was certainly a hot item, selling well above the initial estimate of between $400,000 and $600,000.

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Dead & Company recently announced they’ll be doing a residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas, and now drummer Bill Kreutzmann has shared his thoughts on the shows in a new Instagram post.

“Historically, it was always a psychedelic circus when the Grateful Dead pulled into Las Vegas,” he writes. “There’s a pulsing beneath those neon lights that Mickey (Hart) and I tapped into while Jerry (Garcia) led us on a wild carpet ride over the Aladdin Theater in the 1980s and down into the bowl of the Sam Boyd Stadium for 14 memorable nights in the 1990s.”

He notes that Grateful Dead shows have always been “about transformative experiences, so now, as our legacy evolves and as we continue to shape-shift into several different forms at once it’s great that that part of the tradition continues, with Dead & Company taking up residence in a transformative venue.”

Kreutzmann sat out Dead & Company’s final tour in 2023, with the band explaining at the time it was the “culmination of a shift in creative direction as we keep these songs alive and breathing in ways that we each feel is best to continue to honor the legacy of the Grateful Dead.” 

While he hasn’t confirmed whether or not he’ll be doing the Vegas shows, he did end his post with a statement that could be interpreted as saying he won’t. He offered, “To all those who make it there, have a blast, my friends.”

Dead Forever – Live at Sphere will consist of 18 shows over six consecutive weeks, starting May 16. Fans can now register for the presale, which starts February 5 at 10 a.m. PT. The general on-sale starts February 9 at 10 a.m. PT.

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Billy Joel told his audience on New Year’s Eve that he’d be spending more time in Florida in the future — but apparently, he doesn’t want to spend that time in his Palm Beach-area mansion.

The Palm Beach Daily News reports that Billy has put the mansion, located in Manalapan, near Palm Beach, up for sale for $54.7 million. If that sounds like a lot, keep in mind that he originally listed it in late 2022 for $64.9 million. The listing expired in August 2023, so now it’s back on the market at this lower price.

Billy’s owned the oceanfront mansion on 1.6 acres since 2015, when he bought it for just over $22 million. It has nine bedrooms, a two-bedroom guest house and a 10-car garage, as well as a wine cellar and theater.

As for where Billy plans to live once he sells this house, the paper reports that he bought a $9 million townhouse in Palm Beach in 2021. Other artists who have homes in Palm Beach include Jon Bon Jovi and Rod Stewart, with whom Billy will be touring this year.

Billy will be performing on the Grammy Awards Sunday night, singing his new song, “Turn the Lights Back On,” and one of his classic hits.

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KISS guitarist Ace Frehley has dropped the video for his latest single, “Walkin’ on The Moon,” from his upcoming album, 10,000 Volts.

The clip has Frehley landing on the moon, where he’s met by an alien who hands him a guitar. He then performs the song with the help of some alien bandmates. It ends with him waking up to realize it was all a dream.

“Walkin’ on The Moon” is the second single Frehley has released from 10,000 Volts, following the album’s title track. The record, Frehley’s first solo release since 2020’s Origins Vol. 2, comes out February 23.

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The documentary Kiss the Future, featuring Irish rockers U2, is set to open exclusively in AMC theaters in the U.S. starting February 23, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Kiss the Future, directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain and produced by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Sarah Anthony, is based on Bill Carter’s memoir Fools Rush In. It follows a group of underground musicians and creatives during the siege of Sarajevo, which lasted from April 1992 to February 1996. The doc includes footage of U2’s memorable 1997 concert at Koševo Stadium celebrating the country’s liberation, along with interviews with Bono, The Edge and Adam Clayton.

In addition to the theatrical release, AMC will host an early screening of the film on February 21, which will include a conversation with The Edge and Clayton.

The film received its world premiere in February 2023 at the Berlin Film Festival and also opened New York’s Tribeca Festival in June. It also screened at Sarajevo Film Festival’s Open Air program, with Bono and The Edge surprising the crowd with an a cappella rendition of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.”

Following the AMC run, Kiss the Future will stream on Paramount+ later in the year.

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The Beatles final song, “Now and Then,” appears in the new movie Argylle. It turns out director Matthew Vaughn actually got the tune for the film before anyone knew it even existed.

During an appearance on the Kyle Meredith With… podcast, Vaughn shares that he was having a hard time finding a perfect song for the film when Giles Martin, Argylle’s music producer and the co-producer on “Now and Then,” spilled the beans on The Beatles song.

“Over a year and a half ago, I was with him and I said, ‘I’m really struggling to find what I call the romantic song of the movie, ’cause I need it to be sad, but hopeful…’ And he said, ‘Do you want to hear a new Beatles song?’” Vaughn shares. “And Giles has got a hell of a sense of humor, so I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah. Whatever.’ And he goes, ‘No, I’m being deadly serious.’” 

Vaughn notes, “He played it to me, and it was as if (John) Lennon had seen the film … We just slapped it on the movie, and we didn’t have to edit anything — it just fitted the picture.”

“Now and Then” was released in November. It features vocals Lennon recorded on a demo in the late ’70s along with new recordings from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and guitar parts Harrison recorded in the ’90s during the sessions for their Anthology series.

Argylle is in theaters now.

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The world lost a number of well-known musicians in the year since the last Grammy Awards, including Tina Turner, who will be honored at the 2024 event. One of the show’s executive producers hint that Beyoncé may be involved in the tribute.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Raj Kapoor says this year’s in memoriam segment will include 16 minutes of performances and reveals there have been discussions about Bey being part of the Tina portion.

“We’ve definitely had conversations, and we know how much Tina and Beyoncé loved each other,” Kapoor says. While he didn’t confirm or deny that such a tribute would take place, he adds, “The Tina Turner tribute will be amazing. We are really excited. It may be a little unexpected, but it’s going to be absolutely amazing.”

This wouldn’t be the first time Beyoncé helped celebrate Tina. In 2005, she performed “Proud Mary” in tribute to Tina at the Kennedy Center Honors, and in 2008, they performed the song together on the 50th Grammy Awards.

In addition to Turner, music legends who died since the last Grammys include Tony Bennett, Jimmy Buffett, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Gary Rossington, Sinéad O’Connor, Gordon Lightfoot and the Eagles‘ Randy Meisner.

Kapoor also confirmed that Billy Joel will perform his new single, “Turn the Lights Back On” — his first in 17 years — and at least one of his classic hits. Additionally, Joni Mitchell will be joined by frequent collaborator Brandi Carlile as well as Jacob Collier, Allison Russell, SistaStrings, Lucius and Blake Mills.

The Grammy Awards air Sunday, February 4, on CBS.

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On This Day, February 2, 1942…

Singer/songwriter Graham Nash was born in Blackpool, England. He first gained fame in the early ’60s as a member of the Hollies, and then in 1968 he teamed with Stephen Stills and David Crosby to form Crosby, Stills & Nash, with Neil Young joining them a year later. They performed their second-ever gig together at Woodstock. Their first album as a foursome, 1970’s Déjà Vu, went to number one.

Nash has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: as a member of Crosby, Stills, & Nash in 1997, and again as a member of the Hollies in 2010. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours List for services to music and to charity.

Nash released his most recent album, Now, in May of 2023. He’s set to kick off a tour of Australia and New Zealand on March 1.

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