Classic Hits

The fifth annual Jam for Janie Grammy Awards Viewing Party, a benefit for Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler‘s Janie’s Fund, will be happening Sunday, February 4, at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles.

The star-studded event will feature a special live performance by The Black Crowes, with actress Zooey Deschanel serving as host.

Guests expected to attend the bash include Sammy Hagar, Sharon Stone, Matt Sorum, Bernie Taupin, Ava DuVernay, John Stamos, Jessica Simpson, Ashlee Simpson and Evan Ross. Elton John, Miley Cyrus, Scarlett Johansson, Alice Cooper and Mick Fleetwood are among the honorary chairs for the event.

Proceeds from the viewing party benefit Janie’s Fund, which, through the LifeSet program, supports young girls who have experienced abuse and neglect and age out of foster care. Since its launch in 2018, the party has raised more than $12.2 million for the organization. 

More information on Janie’s Fund can be found at janiesfund.org.

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Billy Joel has co-headlining dates on the books this year with Stevie Nicks and Sting, and now he’s set to share his stage with yet another big-name rock star – Rod Stewart.

Billy and Rod will headline Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio, on Friday, September 13, marking the first time the two Rock & Roll Hall of Famers have headlined a concert together.

A Citi ticket presale kicks off Monday, January 29, at 10 a.m., with tickets going on sale to the general public Friday, February 2, at 10 a.m.

Joel previously announced two new shows with Sting in Las Vegas and San Antonio, for a total of five dates together in 2024. He’s also set to headline two shows with Nicks in 2024, in Arlington, Texas, and Chicago.

A complete list of dates can be found at billyjoel.com.

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Gov’t Mule isn’t on the bill for New Orleans Jazz Fest this year, but they’ll head to the Big Easy to help festivalgoers keep the party going between weekends.

Warren Haynes and his band are set to headline what’s called Daze Between New Orleans, two days of music happening April 30 and May 1 at Faubourg Brewery.

They will headline the May 1 bill, bringing along special guests Chuck Leavell, John Scofield, Ivan Neville and more. Also performing at Daze Between are Lettuce, Galactic and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and more.

Tickets for Daze Between New Orleans go on sale Friday, January 26, at 10 a.m. More information and a complete lineup can be found at dazebetweennola.com.

As for Jazz Fest, which takes place April 25 – 28 and May 2 – 5, this year’s lineup features The Rolling Stones, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Bonnie Raitt, Foo Fighters and more.

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The cast of the Neil Diamond musical A Beautiful Noise has once again marked the legendary singer’s birthday in a big way. 

The singer turned 83 on Wednesday, January 24. Following a matinee of the show, the cast, including “American Idol” winner Nick Fradiani, Tony Award nominee Mark Jacoby and Amber Ardolino, led the audience in a rendition of “Happy Birthday,” with streamers and cake part of the celebration.

Diamond watched the whole thing via FaceTime and told the crowd, “I wish I was there with you.” He then stayed on the line as the cast led the audience in a rousing rendition of the Diamond classic “Sweet Caroline.” 

A Beautiful Noise – The Neil Diamond Musical is currently playing at the Broadhurst Theatre. It features a variety of Diamond’s biggest hits, including “Cracklin’ Rosie,” “I’m a Believer,” “Song Sung Blue” and “Sweet Caroline.” 

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Struggling to find a Valentine’s Day gift for the music fan in your life? Foreigner’s got you covered.

The band is releasing the limited edition compilation, Farewell – The Very Best of Foreigner (Hot Blooded Edition), on red vinyl, promoting it as a perfect Valentine’s gift for your loved ones. 

The album features many of the band’s biggest hits produced by Mick Jones with Jeff Pilson. Songs on the album include “Feels Like the First Time,” “Cold As Ice,” “Double Vision,” “Hot Blooded,” “I Want To Know What Love Is” and “Juke Box Hero.”

Only 5,000 individually numbered copies are being produced and they’re available to order now.

Fans still have a chance to listen to all those songs live. Foreigner is set to kick off the next leg of their Farewell tour on March 1 in Newkirk, Oklahoma. They currently have dates confirmed through November 9 in Las Vegas. A complete list of dates can be found at foreigneronline.com.

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Billy Joel and Sting are teaming up for more stadium shows in 2024. 

The rockers and friends are now set to co-headline the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, on Friday, October 25, and Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium on Saturday, November 9.  

The Vegas concert is Billy’s first Sin City show since he headlined Allegiant in February 2022. Sting also spent plenty time in Vegas, where he headlined his My Songs residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace from October 2021 through April 2023.

A Citi presale kicks off Monday, January 29, at 10 a.m. local time, and tickets will go on sale to the general public starting Friday, February 2, at 10 a.m. local time.

Billy and Sting are now set to co-headline five shows together in 2024, including concerts in Tampa, San Diego and St. Louis. A complete list of dates can be found at billyjoel.com.

The news comes as Billy is getting ready to debut “Turn the Lights Back On,” his first song with lyrics — sung by Billy himself — since his 2007 single “All My Life.”  The song will be released on Thursday, February 1, and he’ll perform it on the Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 4.

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The late Robbie Robertson and director Martin Scorsese, his good friend and collaborator, will be honored with the Society of Composers and Lyricists’ Spirit of Collaboration Award.

The award honors “a composer/director relationship which has created a prodigious body of work.” In addition to the Oscar-nominated score for Killers of the Flower Moon, Robertson and Scorsese have worked on 13 projects together, including movies like Gangs of New York, Raging Bull, Casino and The Color of Money.

Robertson’s Killers of the Flower Moon score has also been nominated by the SCL in the Original Score for a Studio Film category, where it will compete with the scores of Saltburn, The Boy and the Heron, Oppenheimer and American Fiction. 

Also earning an SCL nod is Lenny Kravitz, whose Rustin song “Road to Freedom” has been nominated in the Outstanding Original Song for a Drama or Documentary category. It is set to compete against songs from the movies The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, American Symphony, Carmen and Jacob the Baker.  

The fifth annual SCL Awards are set to take place Tuesday, Feb. 13, at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, California.

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On This Day, January 25, 1991…

Paul McCartney recorded an episode of MTV Unplugged at Limehouse Studios in Wembley, London.

The legendary Beatle took the name of the show literally, performing each song completely unplugged, unlike other artists who used acoustic instruments plugged into amplifiers.

The set list featured such songs as “Blackbird,” “We Can Work it Out,” “And I Love Her,” “Here, There and Everywhere” and more.

McCartney’s appearance on MTV Unplugged’s second season proved to be pivotal for the show. As one of the first A-list artists to do the show, he influenced other big name stars, including R.E.M., Eric Clapton and Rod Stewart, to follow suit.

The episode aired on April 3, 1991, and a live album of McCartney’s performance, Unplugged (The Official Bootleg), was released a month later, including three songs that were not featured on the program. He was the first artist to release a live album of the show.

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If you missed the chance to see Queen Rock Montreal in IMAX theaters last weekend, you now have a second chance.

The film’s IMAX release has been extended, with additional showings set to run from Friday, January 26, to Thursday, February 1.

The extension comes after the initial IMAX weekend brought in $4.1 million globally, to make it the biggest IMAX exclusive event opening ever. 

Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor caught a screening of the IMAX film, and in a new video they share what it was like to see the concert on such a big screen.

“I’ve never seen anything that makes you feel quite so involved with the performance,” Roger shares. “And the great surprise for me was how f****** good we were.” 

“The quality of the shots is amazing, really amazing, but the energy is there, my God there’s a lot of energy,” May adds. “As Roger said when we finished watching it, ‘Bloody hell, we weren’t bad were we?’” 

As for seeing the late Freddie Mercury onstage again, Brian notes, “It’s just something you really treasure these days. You want to see every breath he takes. … It makes us very emotional seeing that.”

“Fred was just the most inspiring frontman. I have no bad memories, just joy working with him,” Roger recalls. “I guess it’s a good snapshot of Freddie probably near the height of his powers.”

Tickets for Queen Rock Montreal are on sale now.

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Back to the Future fans probably couldn’t imagine the film without Christopher Lloyd playing Doc Brown, but it turns out he may not have been the first choice for the role.

While at the Sundance Film Festival, Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo told The Wrap he was originally offered the part by the film’s producer Steven Spielberg and director Robert Zemeckis.

Mothersbaugh says Spielberg and Zemeckis attended one of Devo’s shows, and at the end of the night they came up to him and said they wanted to talk to him about working on their film. He was convinced they were going to ask him to do the score, so he was totally surprised by their offer.

“I went into this meeting and they said, ‘Well, we love what you do on stage. We love the way your band looks. We want you to be sort of a crazy mad scientist in this film we’re doing,”’ he shared. When he asked them what they meant, they told him, “There’s a part in the film of a guy who runs around in a lab coat and he has a car that goes through time. We want you to play that part.” 

But Mothersbaugh had no interest, telling them, “I don’t want to act in a movie.” When they argued he already acts onstage, Mothersbaugh countered, “Well, we make that stuff up ourselves.”

And while Mothersbuagh didn’t do the film, a quick reference to Devo is featured in the movie: Marty, played by Michael J. Fox, comments, “What is this Devo?” when he sees Doc’s contamination suit. That clip now appears in the new documentary Devo, which had its debut at the Sundance Film Festival.

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