Classic Hits

Soccer fans, or football fans to the rest of the world, are about to see a familiar rock logo on the pitch.

The Rolling Stones are teaming with FC Barcelona and Spotify to help promote their new album Hackney Diamonds, which drops Friday, October 20. They’ve just announced a special edition Rolling Stones kit that features the band’s tongue and lips logo on the jersey.

FC Barcelona players will wear the jersey when they play Real Madrid October 28 at the El Clásico match. The women’s team, Barca Femení, will also wear the shirt at their F League match against Sevilla on November 5. 

“We are huge football fans and we are grateful that Spotify has brought our tongue and lips logo to the FC Barcelona shirt to celebrate the release of the Stones’ new album, Hackney Diamonds,” the band shares. “We will cheer on the players who will be on the field as well as the fans around the world who will tune in to this iconic match.”

Some lucky fans will be able to get their hands on these unique jerseys. Two exclusive editions will go on sale October 23: One is limited to 1,899 units and another, consisting of just 22 shirts, features the signatures of the starting players on the men and women’s teams.

This isn’t the first sports-related promotion The Stones are doing for Hackney Diamonds. The band has teamed with Major League Baseball for limited-edition white vinyl versions of the new album, which feature pocket jackets with custom art tailored to each of the 30 MLB baseball teams.  

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Onstage at her Celebration Tour stop October 17 in London, Madonna spoke out about the Israel/Hamas war and reminded her fans of the power people have to change the world.

The Queen of Pop also posted her speech on Instagram, calling the war heartbreaking and saying that she wants to vomit when she sees the atrocities that have been perpetuated against young people.

“What the f*** is going on in the world? How can human beings be so cruel to one another? It’s just getting worse. It frightens me,” she said. Paraphrasing the writer James Baldwin, she continued, “The children of the world belong to all of us, each and every one of them. I don’t care where they’re from, what their headdress is, what the color of their skin is, what their religion is – the children belong to us. And we are responsible for them.”

Madonna got emotional when she spoke about a 6-year-old boy in Chicago who was killed because he was Muslim. “We have to remember we are human beings here. We cannot lose our humanity,” she said. “Our hearts can be broken but our spirit cannot. No one can break our spirit.”

“You might look at what’s going on in the world and say, ‘What the f***? What can I do, I’m just one person, I’m helpless.’ No, you are not,” she continued. “Each and every one of you have the power and ability to turn light on in the world.”

“If we turn enough light on, if we light enough candles, the collective consciousness of generosity and unity will change,” she concluded. “No politicians, no laws, no sanctions, no land given or taken. We, with our consciousness, can change the … world.”

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U2 has decided to stick around Las Vegas a little while longer.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers are extending their U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere residency at The Venetian Resort into 2024, adding 11 new dates. Starting Friday, January 26, the new run includes two shows during Super Bowl weekend — Friday, February 9 and Saturday, February 10 — and comes to a close Sunday, February 18.  

As with the original dates, U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. will be sitting out the shows as Bram van den Berg fills in behind the drumkit.

There will be a U2 fan club presale kicking off Thursday, October 19, at 10 a.m. PT, with the general onsale happening Wednesday, October 25, at 11 a.m. PT.

U2 opened U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere Friday, September 29, to rave reviews. The band played their entire 1991 album, Achtung Baby, along with classics like “Where the Streets Have No Name,” “With or Without You,” “Elevation” and “Beautiful Day.”

U2’s next Sphere show is happening Friday, October 20. A complete list of dates can be found at U2.com.

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Paul McCartney kicked off the latest leg of his Got Back tour Wednesday, October 18, in Adelaide, Australia, treating the crowd to a song he hasn’t played in almost 20 years.

According to setlist.fm, early in the show, McCartney performed The Beatles track “She’s A Woman” for the first time since 2004. The tune was the B-side to the 1964 single “I Feel Fine.”

The rest of McCartney’s set was filled with fan favorites, including Beatles classics like “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “Love Me Do,” “Blackbird,” “Let It Be” and “Hey Jude.” He also performed “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” for the first time on this tour and “I’ve Got A Feeling,” in a virtual duet with late bandmate John Lennon. 

The show additionally featured The Quarrymen tune “In Spite of All The Danger,” several Wings hits, including “Let ‘Em In,” “Jet,” “Live and Let Die” and “Band on the Run,” and a few McCartney solo songs, like “Maybe I’m Amazed,” “Come On To Me” and “My Valentine.”

Next up, McCartney’s Got Back tour hits Melbourne, Australia, October 21. A complete list of dates can be found at paulmccartney.com.

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MusiCares, the charitable arm of the Recording Academy, has named Jon Bon Jovi its Person of the Year for 2024.

That means Jon will be the guest of honor at the MusiCares annual gala, which will takes place February 2 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, two nights before the Grammy Awards. At the event, a star-studded lineup is expected to perform Jon’s songs.

On social media, Jon offered his thanks and shared a video that his “dear friend” Paul McCartney made, telling him he’d be receiving the honor.

Laura Segura, executive director of MusiCares, says in a statement that Jon’s “remarkable contributions to rock and roll have not only left an indelible mark on the music industry, but also in the hearts of countless fans around the world.”

She also noted he’s getting the award for his philanthropic work as well, adding, “His long-standing commitment to serving food-insecure and unhoused individuals inspires us all. We’re looking forward to celebrating him and the many ways he has made a difference in this world.”

“Humbled” by the honor, Jon notes in a statement, “Philanthropic work has been a cornerstone of my life and has always run in tandem to my music career and achievements. I know this for sure: helping one’s community is helping one’s self.”

The money raised by the gala goes toward MusiCares’ programs that help those in the music community with physical and mental health, addiction recovery, preventive clinics, unforeseen personal emergencies and disaster relief.

Tickets to the event are available at personoftheyear.musicares.org.

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Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin is being celebrated with a brand new box set.

A Portrait of the Queen 1970-1974, dropping December 1, will feature five Aretha albums and bonus material, including alternative takes, outtakes, B-sides and demos. 

Making the set are 1970’s This Girl’s in Love with You and Spirit in the Dark, 1972’s Young, Gifted and Black, 1973’s Hey Now Hey (The Other Side Of the Sky) and 1974’s Let Me in Your Life. All albums on the five-CD/six-LP limited edition set are remastered. 

The CD set features the bonus material alongside their accompanying albums, while the LP set will contain a separate vinyl with a compilation of bonus track highlights.

Both formats come with new liner notes from Billboard’s Gail Mitchell and the British Ambassador of Soul, David Nathan.

A Portrait of the Queen 1970-1974 is available for preorder now.

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Billy Joel will turn 75 next year, and to celebrate the milestone, he’s doing the same thing he did when he turned 65.

Just like he did in 2014, Billy will spend his birthday — May 9 — onstage at Madison Square Garden. It’ll be the third-to-last show of his residency and his 148th lifetime show at the famous venue. However, this particular show is subject to change if it conflicts with a playoff game. 

Citi cardmembers will have access to a presale starting October 23 at 10 a.m ET via citientertainment.com. The general onsale starts October 27 at ticketmaster.com.

As previously reported, Billy will conclude his residency in July with his 150th career show at the Garden. Billy’s next show at the venue is Friday, October 20. He has two shows with Stevie Nicks left in 2023: November 10 in Minneapolis and December 8 in Phoenix. Billy will ring in 2024 with a New Year’s Eve show at USB Arena in Elmont, NY.

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On This Day, October 19, 1979…

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released their third album, Damn the Torpedoes.

The record became their first top 10 album, peaking at #2. It featured the band’s first top 20 singles,  “Don’t Do Me Like That,” which peaked at #10 and “Refugee,” which peaked at #15.  Two other songs,  “Here Comes My Girl” and “Even the Losers,” went on to become Petty classics.

The album’s title is a reference to an apocryphal quote by Admiral David Farragut, who, during a Civil War battle in 1864, allegedly said, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!”  

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On October 17 in Sydney, Australia, the surviving members of INXS reunited for the first time since 2017 — and were surprised with a special award commemorating four billion global streams of their hit-packed catalog — a number that sax player Kirk Pengilly says is almost too big for him to comprehend.

“We thought we were just getting together with the record company and some media … so it was a big surprise,” Kirk told ABC Audio after the ceremony.  “But it’s just hard to even fathom that — y’know, that’s half the world’s population!”

Kirk called the reunion “really lovely,” adding, “Hopefully we can do it a little more often!”  And there’s plenty going on in INXS land that might lead to that.

Out now is Calling All Nations — A Fan History of INXS, a book compiling testimonials from hundreds of fans around the world, detailing their devotion to the Aussie band who brought us “Need You Tonight,” “Never Tear Us Apart,” “New Sensation” and more.

Kirk loves the book because it’s from “the people that mattered: our fans.” He notes, “Reading through it is quite emotional … [to see] just how much we meant to so many of the fans.”

“I sort of forgot how much we did connect with our fans on a face-to-face level,” notes Kirk. As for why they were so chummy with their fans — handing out VIP passes and tickets and hanging with them for hours — Kirk laughs, “We’re Australian!”

But also, he says, “I think we spent so much time together, we ran out of things to talk about — so meeting fans was fun! New blood! New conversations!” 

Coming next: a limited-edition Record Store Day release, a Dolby Atmos 30th anniversary mix of Full Moon, Dirty Hearts, and a set of 12″ vinyl remixes.

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The new animated short film Peter & The Wolf reimagines Sergei Prokofiev’s classic symphony as a contemporary tale following 12-year-old Peter, who’s grieving the loss of a parent.

The film features music and narration by composer Gavin Friday and illustrations by U2’s Bono, based on their 2003 project for the Irish Hospice Foundation.

Friday, who spearheaded the project’s transition to the screen, is a longtime friend of Bono’s and was quite familiar with his artistic talent, but says it wasn’t easy to turn the rocker’s drawings into what fans will see in the film.

“The biggest challenge was how do you animate these drawings because they’re quite freeform and expressive,” Friday tells ABC Audio. 

Bono briefly appears in the film to help that transition, with the film’s co-director Elliot Dear explaining it was their goal to stick to the rocker’s mostly monochromatic look.

He shares, “We’ve kind of taken as much as we can from Bono’s lead on that stuff to try and maintain some fidelity to the original artwork.”

When it came to his narrator duties, Friday says he tried to imagine what the movie would’ve been like if Tim Burton directed it.

“It went all black and white in my head and it went sort of semi gothic,” he says. “In a fun way, almost like kids like to be sort of scared, but not totally scared. So that was the sentiment.”

On screen, Gavin’s narrator is a not-so-scary fly given the nickname Gavin Flyday.

“He’s the fly on the wall,” co-director Stephen McNally explains, with Friday adding, “We all found it quite tongue in cheek that this tiny little creature with wings has a deep and dark voice.”  

Peter & the Wolf premieres Thursday, October 19, on Max.

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