Classic Hits

Neil Young is set to play two shows in September to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the West Hollywood venue The Roxy, and he’ll be backed by his band Crazy Horse. But one longtime member of Crazy Horse won’t be able to make it, and Young has just revealed his replacement.

Crazy Horse guitarist Nils Lofgren will have to sit out the two shows because he’ll be busy on the Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band stadium tour. Instead, Neil announced that Willie Nelson‘s son Micah Nelson will be filling in.

According jambands.com, Neil shared the news on his Neil Young Archives site in response to a letter from a fan. The fan wrote to Neil, “Just letting you know if you need a rhythm guitar player I know all the songs,” to which Neil simply replied, “Thanks, Michah’s got it.”

Young and Crazy Horse will headline The Roxy in Los Angeles on September 20 and 21, almost 50 years to the day Young first performed for the venue’s opening. Both shows will benefit The Painted Turtle, a camp for children with serious medical conditions, and The Bridge School, which educates children with severe speech and physical impairments.

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Bruce Springsteen has rescheduled the two Philadelphia shows he postponed earlier this month — and fans are going to have to wait a whole year to see The Boss.

The concerts at Citizens Bank Park will now take place August 21 and 23, 2024. They were originally supposed to happen August 16 and 18, 2023, but were postponed because Springsteen had “taken ill.”

Fans who want to go to the new dates simply have to hold on to their tickets. Those who can’t make it, or simply don’t want to wait that long, have 30 days starting August 30 to request a refund through Phillies.com/Springsteen. Refunds for tickets purchased through a secondary site must go through that site.

While a yearlong wait is certainly a bummer, some fans may be happy by the announcement since it suggests Springsteen will be touring in 2024.

Next up, Springsteen comes home to the Garden State, with a three-night stand at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, August 30, September 1 and September 3. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.net.

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U2 is getting ready to launch their Las Vegas residency, U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere, and now they’re giving fans who will be coming to the show something else to look forward to.

The band just announced a new immersive pop-up, Zoo Station: A U2:UV Experience, opening September 28 at the Venetian Resort, the only hotel with direct access to the residency’s venue, The Sphere. It will be a two-floor exhibit featuring more than 12,000 square feet of interactive experiences, all developed with the input of the band’s creative director, Gavin Friday.

The exhibit will take fans behind the scenes of the album Achtung Baby, which inspired Zoo Station. There will also be a Zoo TV Cinema curated by The Edge, with five film screenings daily of rare U2 concert footage, as well as original content. Plus, fans can enjoy an Anton Corbijn Gallery, featuring photos from his five decades working with the band; a U2 pop-up shop, featuring limited-edition merch; an Ultra Violet lounge, with more chances to enjoy music and shopping; and a Fly Bar, where fans can relax and enjoy a cocktail. 

Admission to Zoo Station is free and open to the public, although tickets will be needed for the Zoo Cinema. A schedule and ticket information will be available soon. The exhibit will be open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere at The Venetian will kick off September 29, with the band playing 25 shows that run through December 16. A complete list of dates can be found at U2.com.

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Michael Jackson’s daughter, Paris Jackson, paid tribute to her father on what would have been his 65th birthday Tuesday, August 29.

She posted some videos to her Instagram Story, acknowledging that her dad didn’t like celebrating his birthday.

“That being said, social media is apparently how people express their love and affection these days and if you don’t wish someone a ‘Happy Birthday’ via social media, it apparently means that you don’t love them, that you don’t care about them,” she said.

Paris posted a clip from her show in Colorado on Tuesday, where she spoke about her dad. “He put 50 years of blood, sweat and tears and love and passion into doing what he did, so that I can stand up here on stage in front of you and scream into a microphone. So, I owe everything to him,” she told the audience.

Her siblings, Prince and Bigi, also honored their dad’s birthday with a rare public appearance at Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson ONE show in Las Vegas.

Michael died in 2009 at the age of 50.

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Pink Floyd is continuing the 50th anniversary celebration of their iconic album The Dark Side of the Moon with the October 13 release of a standalone remastered version of the album on vinyl, CD and Blu-ray.

The remastered version was previously only available as part of The Dark Side of the Moon 50th Anniversary box set, which was released in March. The new Blu-ray version features the album in Dolby Atmos, with 5.1 Surround mix and includes commemorative postcards, stickers and a 24-page booklet.

The remastered The Dark Side of the Moon is available for preorder now. 

And the anniversary celebration will continue. The band is still holding a contest in which they’re asking fans to create animated music videos for any of the songs on the album. Entries are due by November 30 and animators can enter up to 10 videos, although only one per song. The winner will be selected by a panel of experts, which includes Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason. PinkFloyd.com has more info.

Plus, Roger Waters is set to release his new take on the album, The Dark Side of the Moon Redux, on October 6.

Pink Floyd released The Dark Side of the Moon on March 1, 1973. It has gone on to be the band’s most commercially successful album, having been certified 15-times Platinum. In 2012 it was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress.

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It may still be summer, but Duran Duran wants to get you in the mood for Halloween: they’ve released their new single, “Danse Macabre,” which is the title track off their new album, dropping October 27.  

The album will feature three new songs, along with covers and new takes on old Duran Duran tracks. The new single features former Duran Duran guitarist Warren Cuccurullo collaborating with the band for the first time since 2001.

The album also sees the band reuniting with original guitarist Andy Taylor, as well as collaborating with producer Nile Rodgers.

Danse Macabre was inspired by the band’s Las Vegas Halloween show in 2022, with keyboardist Nick Rhodes explaining, “We had decided to seize the moment to create a unique, special event. … The temptation of using glorious gothic visuals set to a dark soundtrack of horror and humor was simply irresistible.”

To keep with the spooky mood, the album features the band’s take on such songs as Talking Heads‘ “Psycho Killer,” featuring Måneskin’s Victoria De Angelis; The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black”; the Rick James-inspired “Super Lonely Freak”; and Billie Eilish‘s “Bury a Friend.”

“It’s about a crazy Halloween party,” frontman Simon LeBon says of the record. “It’s supposed to be fun!”

Bassist John Taylor says the new album is an “interesting insight into the personality of the band,” with drummer Roger Taylor adding, “Maybe, you’ll leave with a deeper understanding of how Duran Duran got to this moment in time.”

Danse Macabre is available for preorder now.

Here is the track list for Danse Macabre:

“Nightboat”
“Black Moonlight”
“Love Voudou”
“Bury A Friend”
“Supernature”
“Danse Macabre”
“Secret Oktober 31st”
“Ghost Town”
“Paint It Black”
“Super Lonely Freak”
“Spellbound”
“Psycho Killer (feat. Victoria De Angelis)”
“Confession in the Afterlife”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

It may still be summer, but Duran Duran wants to get you in the mood for Halloween: they’ve released their new single, “Danse Macabre,” which is the title track off their new album, dropping October 27.  

The album will feature three new songs, along with covers and new takes on old Duran Duran tracks. The new single features former Duran Duran guitarist Warren Cuccurullo collaborating with the band for the first time since 2001.

The album also sees the band reuniting with original guitarist Andy Taylor, as well as collaborating with producer Nile Rodgers.

Danse Macabre was inspired by the band’s Las Vegas Halloween show in 2022, with keyboardist Nick Rhodes explaining, “We had decided to seize the moment to create a unique, special event. … The temptation of using glorious gothic visuals set to a dark soundtrack of horror and humor was simply irresistible.”

To keep with the spooky mood, the album features the band’s take on such songs as Talking Heads‘ “Psycho Killer,” featuring Måneskin’s Victoria De Angelis; The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black”; the Rick James-inspired “Super Lonely Freak”; and Billie Eilish‘s “Bury a Friend.”

“It’s about a crazy Halloween party,” frontman Simon LeBon says of the record. “It’s supposed to be fun!”

Bassist John Taylor says the new album is an “interesting insight into the personality of the band,” with drummer Roger Taylor adding, “Maybe, you’ll leave with a deeper understanding of how Duran Duran got to this moment in time.”

Danse Macabre is available for preorder now.

Here is the track list for Danse Macabre:

“Nightboat”
“Black Moonlight”
“Love Voudou”
“Bury A Friend”
“Supernature”
“Danse Macabre”
“Secret Oktober 31st”
“Ghost Town”
“Paint It Black”
“Super Lonely Freak”
“Spellbound”
“Psycho Killer (feat. Victoria De Angelis)”
“Confession in the Afterlife”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, August 30, 1986 …

Steve Winwood landed his first Billboard Hot 100 #1 with “Higher Love,” from his fourth solo album, Back in the High Life.

The song, featuring backing vocals by Chaka Khan, spent one week on top of the chart. It went on to win Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Male Vocal Performance.

Winwood’s second and only other #1 single came less than two years later when “Roll With It” topped the chart in July 1988.

Whitney Houston covered “Higher Love” in 1990, which was released on the Japanese version of her hit album I’m Your Baby Tonight. In 2019, Norwegian DJ Kygo released a remix of that version, which hit #1 on the Dance Club Songs chart.

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The special guests who join Billy Joel onstage during his Madison Square Garden residency shows tend to be fellow rock stars like Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Jon Bon Jovi or John Mellencamp. But at Billy’s August 29 show, he welcomed a guy who’s better known as an actor: Kevin Bacon.

In addition to starring in classics like Footloose, A Few Good Men and Diner, Bacon is an accomplished musician who’s recorded nine albums with his band The Bacon Brothers, so perhaps it wasn’t surprising to see him stroll onstage with a guitar in hand to join Billy for a rendition of his 1974 track “The Entertainer.” He and Billy also duetted on Billy’s 1980 classic “You May Be Right.”

Billy’s next Madison Square Garden show is September 10. He also has a handful of stadium shows with Stevie Nicks throughout the fall. Their final date together — so far — will be March 9 in Arlington, Texas. That show is a rescheduled date; the original show was canceled due to an illness in Stevie’s band.

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It looks like fans of The Rolling Stones won’t have to wait much longer for news on their upcoming album.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers continue to tease the album, which looks to be called Hackney Diamonds. They’ve launched a new website, which just reads “Welcome to Hackney Diamonds,” along with the caution “warning weak glass” and a picture of a hammer. 

After clicking on the site a few times, The Stones’ lips logo, all broken up like glass, appears, along with a countdown that ends Wednesday, September 6. 

On social media, the band also posted a series of photos of the cracked lips logo projected onto several iconic locations in New York, Paris, Madrid and Berlin.

The Stones first started teasing a new album earlier this month with a cryptic newspaper ad in the British paper the Hackney Gazette. Although they didn’t confirm they were behind it, many fans picked up on the connection because the band’s hits, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “Gimme Shelter” and “Shattered” were mentioned in the text. The “I” in Diamonds was also dotted with the lips logo. 

And there’s no doubt fans have been waiting a long time for an album from The Stones. It will be their first record since 2016’s Blue and Lonesome, which was an album of blues covers. Their last album of original songs was 2005’s A Bigger Bang.

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