Cyndi Lauper has released some new music. The singer just dropped the tune “Oh, Dolores,” which she wrote for the new Prime Video series The Horror of Dolores Roach, which is streaming now.
Lauper also has a role in show. The eight-episode series stars Justina Machado as the title character, a woman released from prison after an unjust 16-year sentence. She returns to her now-gentrified Washington Heights, New York, neighborhood, where she lives and works as a masseuse in the basement of her stoner friend Luis’ empanada shop.
The solo career of the late Pink Floyd guitarist and co-founder Syd Barrett is being celebrated by Jack White’s Third Man Records. The label, in conjunction with Sony Music, will release a three-LP set of Barrett’s solo work as the 57th installment of their Vault subscription series.
The Solo Works Of Syd Barrett will feature the albums from Barrett’s post-Pink Floyd career, including 1970’s The Madcap Laughs and Barrett,as well as 1988’s Opel, which features outtakes and previously unreleased material from 1968-1970. All of these albums have been out of print for almost 10 years.
The set, the first time the albums have been available together on vinyl, will be pressed on 180-gram vinyl, with each coming in a slipcase with new artwork. It also includes a very special seven-inch single featuring Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour covering Barrett’s “Dominoes” and “Dark Globe.”
Fans interested in the package have until July 31 at midnight CT to sign up for Third Man’s Vault program.
Five years after he first announced it, Elton John‘s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour finally comes to an end Saturday, July 8, in Stockholm, Sweden. It’s officially the highest-grossing tour of all time, taking in more than $900 million so far. By comparison, no previous tour had even hit $800 million. So, why has Elton’s tour reached this milestone? Chalk it up to a combination of length, location, setlist and, of course, the whole “farewell” thing.
“He announced in 2018 that it would run for three years, and that’s pretty much what it’s done, if you take COVID out of that,” explains Eric Frankenberg, Billboard‘s senior chart and data analyst for touring and global music. “So yeah, being able to tour for that long…really showcasing this incredible catalog that he has, that’s a big part of it.”
The other part, says Frankenberg, is the fact that Elton’s literally toured the world, selling out both arenas and stadiums in North America, Europe and Australia.
“It’s been a full world tour. I would say that and the length has really pushed it over the edge,” he notes.
Branding it as fans’ last chance to see Elton has also helped attract more than six millions fans to the tour as well, Frankenberg says.
“I really don’t know if he’s going to come back,” he points out. “…But they’ve definitely put a lot of stock into this being his farewell tour. So I wouldn’t be surprised if this is actually it.”
As incredible as his $900 million gross is, Elton’s record likely won’t stand for long. Frankenberg says Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour is “a big contender for this record … next year when she comes back for Australia and Europe.”
While Prince may be gone, he left behind a lot of music, and fans just got another taste of some of that unreleased material.
NPG Records has just shared two new tracks from the legendary Prince Vault: “All A Share Together Now,” which was recorded September 4, 2006, and “7 (E Flat Version),” a remix of the track “7″ from Prince’s 1992 album, Love Symbol.
Both tracks are now available on streaming services.
While this marks the first release of both songs, Prince fans who attended last month’s Paisley Park Celebration 2023 were given an early preview of the tunes on a special cassette-shaped USB key.
Prince fans can expect even more new music soon; NPG promises to announce some more releases in August.
The Live Earth concerts to battle climate change took place at various venues across the world, including New Jersey, Tokyo, Rome, London, Washington, D.C. and more.
The concerts featured more than 150 acts, with The Police closing the show at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. Other artists on that bill included Roger Waters, Bon Jovi, Dave Matthews Band, Melissa Etheridge and more.
Meanwhile, in London, FooFighters, Beastie Boys, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Duran Duran and more headlined the concert at Wembley Stadium.
Talking Heads is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the concerts that were filmed for their classic movie, Stop Making Sense — with a deluxe edition of the soundtrack featuring previously unreleased content.
Dropping August 18, the deluxe edition will feature the entire concert for the very first time, including two tracks that didn’t make the original album: “Cities” and “Big Business / I Zimbra.” The live version of “Cities,” which up until now was only included on the VHS/DVD of the movie, is out now.
Stop Making Sense (Deluxe Edition) is being released as a limited edition two-LP set as well as digitally, and there will also be a Dolby Atmos mix. The vinyl will come with a 28-page booklet with liner notes from all four band members and a series of previously unpublished photos.
“We had done a live album before this, but coupled with the film, and with the improved mixes and sound quality, this record reached a whole new audience,” frontman David Byrne writes in the liner notes. “As often happens, the songs got an added energy when we performed them live and were inspired by having an audience. In many ways, these versions are more exciting than the studio recordings, so maybe that’s why a lot of folks discovered us via this record.”
This isn’t the only way the film is being celebrated. A24 plans to release a newly restored 4K version of the movie to theaters later this year.
Directed by Jonathan Demme, Stop Making Sense is considered by many to be the greatest concert film of all time. In 2021, it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.
A concert movie featuring the final performance of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s late guitarist and founding member Gary Rossington is set to hit theaters on Saturday, July 8, and Skynyrd frontman Johnny Van Zant is excited fans are going to be able to see Gary in his element.
After undergoing heart surgery in 2021, Rossington was no longer touring with the band, but he did get to rejoin them for the concert featured in the movie, Skynyrd’s 50th anniversary show at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in November 2022. It turned out to be his final performance.
“I know if he was here to talk to me, he’d be, ‘That’s the way for me to go out,’” Johnny tells ABC Audio. “And I can’t wait for people to see it.”
Gary passed away in March, and Johnny says in addition to his family and the band, the legacy Gary leaves behind is “of course the music.”
He explains, “Gary told me one time, he goes, ‘Hey, man, I don’t do nothing but play guitar and write songs … so, the good Lord gave that to me and I’m so proud that I’ve been able to make some sort of, you know, impact on the music business and impact on the fans.’”
The 50th Anniversary of Lynyrd Skynyrd: An Exclusive Concert Film Experience will have a weeklong run in movie theaters, drive-ins and outdoor venues from July 8 to 14. Tickets are on sale now.
Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Byron Allen, Allen Media Group
Gladys Knight is scheduled to perform at the fourth annual Elizabeth Taylor Ball to End AIDS, an event that will honor Earvin “Magic” Johnson and his wife, Cookie Johnson, withthe Elizabeth Taylor Commitment to End AIDS Award.
“Cookie and I are so excited to announce that on the night we are being honored by The Elizabeth Taylor Ball to End AIDS, the ‘Empress of Soul,’ Gladys Knight will perform!” Magic shares. “We are thrilled to see our friend light up the stage. The great ones endure, and Gladys Knight is one of the greatest.”
Knight has been devoted to many causes throughout her career. She is the national spokesperson for the American Diabetes Foundation and has also devoted her time to causes like the American Cancer Society, the Minority AIDS Project and amFAR.
She was also part of the star-studded charity single “That’s What Friends Are For,” along with Dionne Warwick, Elton John and Stevie Wonder, which raised money for AIDS research and prevention.
The fourth annual Elizabeth Taylor Ball to End AIDSwill take place September 21 in Beverly Hills. More info can be found at ETAF.org.
Gov’t Mule has a busy touring schedule ahead of them this year, but frontman Warren Haynes is finding time to fit in a solo show.
The rocker just announced he’ll be playing The Clubhouse in East Hampton, New York, on August 25, which he’s billing as his only solo show of 2023.
“Solo shows are special to me, and I believe to the fans as well, because it allows me to explore my catalog in different and unique ways. I try to play at least a few each year,” he shares on Instagram. “With all my other touring for the remainder of the year, I’m only able to do this one solo show in East Hampton, NY at The Clubhouse on August 25th. Since this will be my only solo show for 2023, I’m going to make it count!”
Tickets for the show go on sale Friday, July 7, at 12 p.m. ET at murmrr.com.
As for Gov’t Mule, they kick off their Dark Side of the Mule tour on July 22 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The trek will feature the band playing a set of their own music, along with a tribute to Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon. A complete list of dates can be found at mule.net.
Ringo Starr says The Beatles were very amused at the big “Paul is dead” conspiracy theory of the late ’60s, which suggested Paul McCartney had died and was replaced by a lookalike.
“We only ever had one that stuck. That was ‘Paul is dead.’ And there were some songs people pointed out as being ‘secret,'” Ringo, who turns 83 on July 7, tells Vulture when asked to pick his favorite Beatles conspiracy theory. He explains that the whole “secret song” thing was just them being “silly.”
“John (Lennon), by accident, learned how to play a tape backwards, and we put that to full use. So we’d just do something silly at the end of a track and it’d be all over the newspapers and on the radio,” he explains. “They’re actually singing, ‘Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.’ It just made us all laugh.”
He notes, “All of those interesting things we said were not that interesting. We had a great laugh about that. Look at what they’re saying now.”
In the same piece, Ringo reveals that the band’s first song, “Love Me Do,” is the track he’d consider his “career-defining song,” even though session musician Andy White is featured on the album, while Ringo’s on the single.
“We were on vinyl. We made a record,” he says. “We were just blessed that George Martin took a chance on us because many record labels sent us down.” He adds that when they heard it on the radio “it was a really big moment. It was magic because we were on this piece of vinyl all to ourselves.”
