Classic Hits

Paul McCartney wrapped the latest leg of his Got Back tour on Sunday with a performance at the Corona Capitol Festival in Mexico City, and he brought out a couple of special guests to end the evening.

Fan-shot footage posted to YouTube shows McCartney performing The Beatles track “The End” with the help of rockers Jack White and St. Vincent on guitar. Both White and St. Vincent were on the Corona Capitol bill, as well.

St. Vincent, who appeared on the remix album of McCartney’s 2021 solo release, McCartney III, also joined The Beatle earlier in the set for the classic “Get Back.”

As for the rest of the set, according to setlist.fm, as he’s done most of the tour, McCartney performed a mix of solo, Beatles and Wings classics, once again including the most recent Beatles tune, “Now and Then,” along with “Maybe I’m Amazed,” “Love Me Do,” “Blackbird,” “Jet,” “Band on the Run” and “Hey Jude.”

McCartney kicked off this latest leg of the tour in Uruguay in October. He launches a European leg on Dec. 4 in Paris, wrapping with a show Dec. 19 in London. A complete list of dates can be found at paulmccartney.com.

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Rod Stewart will be hitting the road in 2025.

The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer will launch his One Last Time Tour with special guest Cheap Trick on March 7 in Austin, Texas, and wrap up Aug. 15 in St. Louis, Missouri. Rod and Cheap Trick last toured together in 2022.

A fan club presale starts Nov. 19 at 10 a.m. via RodStewart.com. Citi cardmembers can get tickets starting Nov. 19 at 10 a.m. via citientertainment.com. Tickets go on sale to the general public Nov. 22 at 10 a.m.

In addition to the tour, Rod will return to the Colosseum at Caesars Palace for his residency show, Rod Stewart: The Encore Shows, which will run on and off between March 12 and June 8.

Despite the tour’s name, this isn’t being described as Rod’s final tour.

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As he recently teased, Sammy Hagar is doing more The Best of All Worlds shows, and this time he’s heading  to Las Vegas.

The rocker just announced dates for The Best of All Worlds Tour – The Residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM. The Vegas residency consists of nine shows, running from April 30 to May 17.

Joining Sammy will once again be Michael Anthony and Joe Satriani, with Kenny Aaronoff handling drums in place of Jason Bonham. In fact, Bonham recently confirmed he wouldn’t be back, after he announced his own shows and a fan asked him if he’d be back with Sammy. He replied in the comments, “Sammy has decided to carry on with Kenny so Sadly no.”

“I’m so looking forward to this residency and being able to stay in one place so we can get the sound and production completely dialed in,” said Sammy. “It also allows the band to experiment with the setlist every night – that’s why it’s going to be exclusive to Las Vegas.”

He adds, “I plan on digging deeper into the Van Halen catalog, and my solo career, Montrose and Chickenfoot, as well. The fans are in for a lot of surprises.” 

Various presales kick off Tuesday, with tickets going on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m. PT. A complete list of dates can be found at redrocker.com.

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On This Day, Nov. 18, 1991 …

U2 released their seventh studio album, Achtung Baby, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 Album chart, making it the band’s third #1 album.

Produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, the band began recording the album in Germany, although the sessions were marred by tension within the band. The record was eventually finished in Dublin.

The album took influences from alternative rock, electronic dance and industrial music, and featured such hits as “One,” “The Fly” and “Mysterious Ways.”

Achtung Baby was a huge success for U2, selling over 18 million copies worldwide. It also earned them a Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group.

U2 celebrated Achtung Baby’s 30th anniversary, albeit a bit late, by playing the album in its entirety during their U2: UV Achtung Baby residency at the Las Vegas Sphere, which kicked off in September 2023.
 

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Def Leppard is getting ready to go country … in Canada.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers are set to headline the Saskatchewan edition of the Country Thunder festival, taking place July 10-13. 

Def Leppard is the only rock band on the bill; country stars Bailey Zimmerman and Jason Aldean are the other two headliners, with Nate Smith, Tyler Hubbard and Kip Moore also part of the lineup.

A full lineup and ticket information can be found at countrythunder.com.

Country Thunder is one of only a few shows Def Leppard currently has booked for 2025. They’re also headlining the Harvest Nights Festival in January and playing the Illinois State Fair in August. They also have their own headlining show in Puerto Rico in May. A complete list of dates can be found at defleppard.com. 

Meanwhile, Def Leppard is also helping fans get into the holiday spirit this year. They just launched a new holiday merch collection, which includes a Def Leppard snow globe, a logo tree topper, a duffel bag and more.

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While KISS may have said goodbye to the road in 2023, Paul Stanley says it doesn’t necessarily mean we will never see the band play live again.

In a new interview with the Daily Times, Stanley says he’d be open to playing with his bandmates again for some kind of one-off performance.

“Anything’s possible,” he says. “KISS is so far from over, though KISS as we know it is done. But, having our hands and our ideas and our fingers in what KISS continues as makes all the sense in the world.”

He adds, “So, I look forward to whatever comes next without knowing what comes next. But I’m open to it all.”

In the meantime, Stanley is focusing on his art; he’ll be making appearances at Wentworth Gallery locations in Atlantic City and Short Hills,  New Jersey, on Friday and Saturday, respectively. He’s also getting ready to play again with his soul/oldies side project Soul Station. 

“We’re just lining up shows and tours now nationally and internationally,” he says. “It’s financially daunting to take a band of that size out, but selfishly, it’s so rewarding for me because those songs mean so much to me.”

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An animated video for the previously unreleased Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers song “Never Be You” has just been released.

The clip, directed and animated by Jeff Scher, features hand-drawn images of Petty and the band, cut with similarly drawn visuals of couples kissing, various women and even an alligator. 

Petty and the Heartbreakers’ version of “Never Be You” appears on the recently released Long After Dark (Deluxe Edition) reissue. The song was originally recorded by Rosanne Cash, appearing on her 1985 album, Rhythm & Romance.

Long After Dark (Deluxe Edition) was released in October and featured the remastered original album, plus 12 bonus tracks, including “Never Be You” and “Ways to Be Wicked,” as well as tracks taken from sessions for French TV. 

Originally released in 1982, Long After Dark featured the Petty classic “You Got Lucky,” along with “Change of Heart” and “Straight Into Darkness.” It was the first to feature new Heartbreaker Howie Epstein on bass and was a top-10 record for the band.

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The Righteous Brothers’ Bill Medley is dropping a new album, Straight from The Heart, next year, marking his first new album in more than a decade.

The 12-track album, dropping Feb. 14, features special guests Michael McDonald, Vince Gill, Keb’ Mo’ and Shawn Colvin, helping Medley cover classic country ballads.

Medley previously teased the record with the release of “These Days,” featuring Gill, and now he’s sharing another track, “(Since You’ve) Gone,” featuring Keb’ Mo’. The tune was originally recorded in the 1950s by Ferlin Husky.

“(Since You’ve) Gone” is available now via digital outlets.

“I’ve always had a deep love and appreciation for country music and at its core, a pure country ballad is the blues,” Medley shares. “Straight From The Heart allowed me to pay tribute to the incredible country singers and writers that I admire, and at the same time, honor who I am in my soul.”

Straight From The Heart is available for preorder now. Here is the track list for the album:
“Crying Time” (ft. Michael McDonald)
“The Dance”
“Please Help I’m Falling”
“Sunday Morning Coming Down”
“(Since You’ve) Gone” (ft. Keb’ Mo’)
“Lay Down Beside Me”
“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” (ft. Shawn Colvin)
“Whenever You Come Around”
“He Stopped Loving Her Today”
“Sweet Music Man”
“These Days” (ft. Vince Gill)
“Let It Be Me”

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A court in Switzerland has ruled that a watch Yoko Ono gave John Lennon shortly before his 1980 death does in fact belong to Ono, and not a watch collector who claimed he legitimately purchased the item.

According to Bloomberg, the Patek Philippe watch in question was stolen by Ono’s chauffeur, and the collector purchased it in Germany in 2014. The collector argued the watch was his because of the purchase, but the Swiss Federal Court just ruled the sale wasn’t legitimate because the chauffeur wasn’t the watch’s actual owner. 

According to the ruling, “[T]here was no evidence to show that Yoko Ono intended to donate to the driver something as special as the watch, engraved with an inscription, that she had given to John Lennon two months before his death.”

Rolling Stone reports the watch included the inscription “(Just Like)/Starting Over/Love Yoko/ 10·9·1980/N.Y.C.,” a reference to the song “(Just Like) Starting Over,” from Lennon’s album Double Fantasy, which he was released just a month before his death.

Ono has been battling the collector over the watch for quite some time. According to lawyers, the watch could be worth $4.5 million, but the fact that it was owned by Lennon means it could be worth even more.

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The new 50th anniversary reissue of George Harrison’s solo album Living in the Material World is out now, and to coincide with the release, the legendary rocker’s estate has shared another previously unheard recording.

The latest is an all-star recording of “Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond),” featuring Harrison’s Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr, along with Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Rick Danko from The Band.

“Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond)” is available now via digital outlets.

A 7-inch of the song is included in the limited-edition super deluxe edition of the reissue, which also includes two LPs and two CDs, featuring the newly remixed album, plus a separate disc with previously unreleased session outtakes with early editions of each song on the album. There’s also a Blu-ray featuring the album in Dolby Atmos.

In addition to the super deluxe edition, the reissue was released in two-LP and two-CD deluxe editions that include the session outtakes. It was also released as a single CD and LP, with limited-edition color vinyl variants available at various retailers, including a purple color vinyl from the Harrison online store.

Released in May 1973, Living in the Material World, Harrison’s second solo album of original material, was his second solo album to hit #1.

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