Classic Hits

After 13 years, Rod Stewart is finally saying goodbye to Las Vegas.

Sir Rod has announced that the final shows of Rod Stewart – The Hits at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace will take place in July and August of 2024, with four dates in July and three in August. The final show, August 7, will be the 200th Rod has played at the Colosseum since his residency started in 2011.

In 2022, Rod told ABC Audio why he loves playing in Vegas. “Well, I do get paid rather nicely, to be honest,” he said. “It’s probably the best venue in the world to see your favorite rock star … the seats are gorgeous, [it has] the best sound.”

He added, “It’s just a privilege to play there, and you only have to play for an hour and a half. You play any longer, they grab you by the neck and drag you off.”

A fan club presale starts November 7 at 10 a.m. PT; a Citi cardmember presale begins at that same time via citientertainment.com. Members of Caesars Entertainment’s loyalty program, as well as Live Nation and Ticketmaster customers, can access their own presale on November 8 at 10 a.m. PT.  Tickets go on sale to the general public on November 10 at 10 a.m. PT via ticketmaster.com/rodstewartvegas.

There are also tickets still available for the shows Rod has left this year in November.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, November 6, 1993 …

Meat Loaf scored his one and only #1 song with the track “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That),” from his multi-Platinum album Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, the sequel to his 1977 debut, Bat Out Of Hell.

The track, written by Jim Steinman, who penned Meat Loaf’s other classic tunes “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” and “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad,” featured singer Lorraine Crosby and had an album run time of over 12 minutes.

The song went to #1 in 28 countries and was certified Platinum in the United States. It also earned Meat Loaf a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Billed as The Beatles‘ last song, “Now and Then,” which was released last week, features vocal and instrumental contributions from all four members of the group, including the late John Lennon and George Harrison. Speaking to the BBC, Paul McCartney called the experience of recording the song joyful, lovely and magic.

“Now and Then” was a song Lennon had recorded on cassette prior to his death in 1980. Harrison, McCartney and Ringo Starr tried to record it in the ’90s, but the sound had degraded too much for them to make it work. However, thanks to the new technology that director Peter Jackson developed to make The Beatles: Get Back documentary, Lennon’s vocal and piano parts were able to be repaired enough to be used on the track.

“You could imagine he was just in the next room in a vocal booth or something, and we were just working with him again,” McCartney told the BBC about Lennon’s vocals. “And it was joyful. It was really lovely because we hadn’t experienced that for a long time, obviously. And then suddenly, here we were, working with our Johnny.”

“It’s very special for me to be singing with John again,” McCartney added.

And while Paul noted that he finds some forms of AI — like the ones online where people make his voice sing songs he never recorded — “sort of creepy,” he said, “What we were doing was just cleaning up John’s voice.”

In the U.K., “Now and Then” is on track to top the British charts. If it does, it would be the group’s first #1 in their home country since “The Ballad of John and Yoko” back in 1969.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

In addition to a surprise appearance by Jimmy Page, the 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony featured guitar heroics from Peter Frampton, who performed alongside inductee Sheryl Crow.

Speaking with ABC Audio backstage during the event, Frampton shared why he felt Crow, who actually saw the “Baby, I Love Your Way” artist at her first-ever concert, is a worthy entrant into the Rock Hall.

“She keeps writing these amazing pieces of music,” Frampton said. “Her words are just very powerful … she’s the whole deal.”

Frampton performed while sitting down — in 2019, he announced he’d been diagnosed with degenerative muscular disease. However, he still feels the call of the live stage.

“I can still play and enjoy playing,” Frampton said. “Maybe I can’t play like I played in the ’90s or whatever … I put it, ‘Less notes, but more feel.’ That’s what I do, I love to play.”

Page, meanwhile, showed up to perform “Rumble,” the signature instrumental from late guitar pioneer Link Wray, who was honored with the Musical Influence Award. In addition to its wide sonic influence, “Rumble” became infamous for getting banned from radio despite being an instrumental song.

“How do you get an instrumental song banned on the radio?” E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt laughed while speaking to ABC Audio on the red carpet. “That’s quite a rock ‘n’ roll accomplishment right there. So he deserved to be in just for that alone.

“He just embodied the whole rock ‘n’ roll sensibility,” Van Zandt added of Wray. “So happy he got in.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

“Everyday Is a Winding Road” for Sheryl Crow, but on November 3, it led her to the Rock & Roll of Fame induction ceremony, where she was ushered into the Hall along with the late George Michael, Willie Nelson, Chaka Khan, Elton John‘s co-writer Bernie Taupin and more.

Sheryl opened the show by performing her hit “If It Makes You Happy” with Olivia Rodrigo. After her good friend Laura Dern inducted her, Sheryl told the crowd, “When I think about the years playing music and my journey I could not have dreamed my life. … Yes, for me there have been ups and downs along this journey. But mine is a story of infinite possibility for any young person setting out on the musical journey.”

Sheryl also performed “Strong Enough” with her friend and idol Stevie Nicks, and brought ’70s rock legend Peter Frampton out to play guitar on “Everyday Is a Winding Road.”  

George Michael’s Wham partner Andrew Ridgeley inducted the late singer/songwriter, and then Maroon 5‘s Adam Levine, Carrie Underwood and Miguel delivered renditions of, respectively, “Faith,” “One More Try” and “Careless Whisper.”

Chaka Khan took the stage with Sia to perform her hits “I Feel For You,” “Ain’t Nobody,” “Sweet Thing” and “I’m Every Woman.” She received the award for Musical Excellence, as did Bernie Taupin, who was inducted by Elton John. Elton surprised the audience by revealing that he and Bernie finished a new album “three days ago,” then took the stage to perform “Tiny Dancer.” 

Seventies R&B vocal group The Spinners, known for hits like “I’ll Be Around” and “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love,” were saluted by New Edition. Complete with matching outfits and choreography, they performed a medley of Spinners songs on a massive set inspired by Soul Train — that show’s creator, Don Cornelius, was also inducted.

Country music icon Willie Nelson was ushered into the Hall by Dave Matthews; despite being 90 years old, Willie sang and played several songs with country star Chris Stapleton and Crow, including “On the Road Again.”

Other inductees included “Running Up that Hill” singer Kate Bush, who didn’t attend the ceremony; guitar legend Link Wray; “father of hip hop” DJ Kool Herc; Blood, Sweat & Tears founder and songwriter/producer Al Kooper; political rockers Rage Against the Machine; and closing the show, Missy Elliott, the first female rapper to be inducted.

ABC will air highlights of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s induction ceremony on January 1.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Kate Bush will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Friday, but she won’t be on hand to accept her honor.

Ahead of the ceremony at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, the singer shared a statement on her website revealing that she is skipping the festivities.

“I am completely blown away by this huge honour – an award that sits in the big beating heart of the American music industry,” she writes. “Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me. I never imagined I would be given this wonderful accolade.” 

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to attend the ceremony tonight, but for me the real honour is knowing that you felt I deserved it. The RRHOF has welcomed me into the most extraordinary rostrum of overwhelming talent,” she adds. 

Bush also wrote of her love of Elton John growing up and how special it is that she’ll be inducted alongside his writing partner Bernie Taupin, who’ll receive the Musical Excellence Award.

“Congratulations Bernie! Congratulations to everyone who is being inducted tonight!” she writes. “Music is at the core of who I am and, like all musicians, being on the journey of trying to create something musically interesting is rife with feelings of doubt and insecurity.”

Finally, she notes, “I’m only five foot three, but today I feel a little taller.”

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will stream live on Disney+ starting at 8 p.m. ET and will be available for viewing afterward on the platform.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

There were a lot of shocked fans this summer when Paul McCartney suggested in a June interview that artificial intelligence was used to extract John Lennon’s voice for The Beatles‘ just-released final song, “Now and Then.” 

Although McCartney later clarified his statement, Giles Martin, who produced the new track alongside McCartney, is also setting the record straight: he says AI was not used on the song.

Discussing the fact that backing vocals from earlier Beatles tunes were used on “Now and Then,” Martin tells Variety, “No, it’s not artificial or intelligent. No, it’s the same process that I used, as you say so rightly, in Love,” referring to the soundtrack to the Las Vegas Beatles show. 

Martin, son of former Beatles producer George Martin, says McCartney was conflicted about this process, but he argued his case.

“My thought was this: that I really thought this needs to sound like The Beatles,” he explains. “The band would have probably sang ‘ahhhhs’ in those things, but they’re not around anymore. So I’m not using AI to recreate their voices in any way. I’m literally taking the multitrack tapes of ‘Eleanor Rigby,’ some stuff from ‘Because’ and ‘Here, There, and Everywhere,’ just in the same way The Beatles are splicing that in.”

He adds, “They feel like they’re from The Beatles, and they are from The Beatles. I think if they were from some machine learning program, they wouldn’t sound right.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

War wants to get you in the holiday spirit. The ’60s legends just released their first holiday tune, “(Yes It’s) Christmas,” with a Dolby Atmos mix.

You can listen to “(Yes It’s) Christmas” now via digital outlets and on YouTube.

The new release comes as War celebrates the 50th anniversary of their bestselling album The War Is A Ghetto, which went to number one on the Billboard album chart.

On November 24, they will release The World Is a Ghetto: 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition as part of Record Store Day Black Friday. The five-LP boxed set features a newly remastered version of the original album, unreleased session outtakes and more. Only 4,000 copies will be available at independent record stores across the country.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Brenda Lee is celebrating the 65th anniversary of her classic holiday tune “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by releasing the first-ever official music video for the song. 

“This song has been so special to me – I never thought it would be my signature song, but I love that it is because it brings so much joy,” Lee shares. “I remember the day I recorded this wonderful Johnny Marks song, and here we are 65 years later and I’m only here because of you.” 

She adds, “I won’t ever meet all of you, but I know you are there and have been since I was a little girl – so Thank You and I wish everyone a Merry Christmas!”

Originally released in 1958, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” has gone on to sell over 25 million copies around the world. It peaked as high as #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the 2019 holiday season.

The video release coincides with a new holiday EP from Lee, A Rockin’ Christmas with Brenda Lee, which features a reimagined version of her classic, along with other holiday favorites, like “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” and “Jingle Bell Rock.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Jimmy Buffett’s final album, Equal Strain on All Parts, is out now. Speaking to Billboard, the album’s co-producer Mac McAnally says even though Buffett was sick, he never let on that it could possibly be his final release.

“I wasn’t necessarily thinking in terms of this being the last thing he had to say, but I think, in retrospect, he probably was,” says McAnally, who produced the record with fellow Coral Reefer Band member Michael Utley. “But he never let on. He never surrendered to what was actually happening.” 

McAnally says Buffett was deliberate about the order in which the songs appear on the album, noting it begins with “University of Bourbon Street,” about his career start in New Orleans, and ends with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Mozambique,” a place Buffett had wanted to visit.

“When he heard the whole album in sequence, he was so proud of this one in a way that I’ve never seen him be,” McAnally shares. “And that may be because he knew it was the last one and he got it right.”

Equal Strain on All Parts may not be the last music we hear from Buffett. While McAnally says it will be “the final complete project,” there are other songs that could see the light of day, including a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Amelia,” which McAnally describes as “gorgeous.”

Buffett passed away on September 1. McAnally says few people he worked with knew he was sick. “He didn’t want anybody feeling sorry for him. He just wanted to be this big ray of positivity that he always was,” says McAnally. “When I went and said goodbye to him the night before he died, he was still smiling just wider than his face.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.