Classic Hits

Pink Floyd is continuing the 50th anniversary celebration of their classic album The Dark Side of the Moon with a very special event. Unfortunately for U.S. fans, it’s in Australia.

The band has announced a listening event on April 20 on a remote peninsula off the coast of Western Australia to coincide with the Ningaloo Eclipse. The plan is to hit play on the album at 10:16:54 a.m. so the line “… but the sun is eclipsed by the moon” will sync exactly when the total solar eclipse happens.

The band is holding a contest that will give eight lucky Australian fans a chance to experience this unique listening opportunity. Those interested just have to submit a 30-second video by April 7 explaining why they should be picked.

The winners will then be filmed, with video of the experience featured on Pink Floyd’s social media pages.

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Night Ranger fans are going to have to wait a few extra weeks to see the band back on the stage. The “Sister Christian” rockers just announced that two more shows have been affected by singer/bassist Jack Blades’ recent hospitalization.

The band revealed on social media that their April 14 show in Chandler, Arizona, has been postponed, while their April 22 appearance at the Rock From The Heart concert in Baltimore, Maryland, has been canceled. The Arizona show is expected to be rescheduled, and those with tickets to the Rock From The Heart concert will receive refunds.

“After consultation with Jack’s medical team, a few extra weeks recuperation before hitting the stage was advised,” the band shares. “Please do not fret, he is in great shape and excited to rock!”

Night Ranger announced Blades’ hospitalization earlier this month, explaining he was suffering from heart irregularities and needed to undergo a procedure. They initially postponed three shows due to his condition. The band’s next scheduled concert is supposed to happen May 13 in Dodge City, Kansas. A complete list of dates can be found at nightranger.com.

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The upcoming Jeff Beck tribute concert has added even more talent.

A Tribute to Jeff Beck by Eric Clapton & Friends is set to go down May 22 and 23 at London’s Royal Albert Hall, and now the Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood and Aerosmith’s Joe Perry have been added the lineup. 

The two guitar greats join an already impressive group of guests, including Rod Stewart, ZZ Top’s Billy F. Gibbons, Johnny Depp, Gary Clark Jr., Robert Randolph, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, Joss Stone, Doyle Bramhall, Imelda May, John McLaughlin and Olivia Safe, along with Jeff Beck Band members Rhonda Smith, Anika Nilles and Robert Stevenson.

The concerts are already sold out, and any surplus proceeds from the shows will benefit the Folly Wildlife Rescue based in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, which is “dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of injured, orphaned and distressed wild animals and birds” in their area.

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The CMT Music Awards have added an other special tribute to Sunday night’s broadcast.

The network just announced that Gary Clark Jr. has been added to the show for a special tribute to the late guitar great Stevie Ray Vaughan. In addition, another guitar legend, Peter Frampton, has been added to the show as a presenter.

As previously reported, in addition to the Vaughan tribute, the show will feature a special tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd, featuring Guns N’ Roses’ Slash, ZZ Top’s Billy F. Gibbons, Gov’t Mule’s Warren Haynes, Bad Company’s Paul Rodgers and more. The Black Crowes are also scheduled to team up with Darius Rucker for a performance of their Shake Your Money Maker classic “She Talks to Angels.”

The 2023 CMT Music Awards air Sunday, April 2, on CBS live from the Moody Center in Austin, Texas.

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On This Day, March 31, 1992…

Bruce Springsteen released two albums, Human Touch and Lucky Town, both made following the breakup of the E Street Band.

Human Touch was the first album The Boss recorded, with E Streeter Roy Bittan and several studio musicians including Randy Jackson on bass guitar and Toto’s Jeff Porcaro on drums. It was supposed to be released in 1991 but he held it back and began working on Lucky Town, and then decided to release them both on the same day.

Human Touch was the more popular of the two albums, peaking at two on the Billboard album chart, while Lucky Town peaked at three. The title track of Human Touch, which was paired with the Lucky Town song “Better Days,” reached number one on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts.

Both Human Touch and Lucky Town went on to be certified Platinum by the RIAA.

Springsteen’s breakup with the E Street Band was only temporary. He reunited the band in 1997 to record some songs for a Greatest Hits album, and then in 1999 they got back together again for an extensive Reunion Tour, and have recorded several albums together since then. Earlier this year they kicked off another tour together, which hits New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

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Queen is back with episode 11 of their weekly YouTube series Queen The Greatest Live, where this time the band gives fans a look at their epic set closer, “We Are The Champions.”

The clip features footage from the end of their 1977 News of the World U.S. tour, where they first introduced the song as their “grand finale,” featuring the band bathed in a cloud of dry ice.

“We Are The Champions” is very triumphal,” Brian May has said about the tune. “It fits the occasion, whatever the occasion might be,” adding, “We always end our show with it because it’s the best last song we know.”

Coming next week: “Queen – Who Wants to Live Forever.”

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Earlier this month Joni Mitchell was honored in Washington, D.C., with the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, and music fans are finally going to get to see what went down at the event.

Joni Mitchell: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song is set to air on PBS Friday, March 31. It will feature performances by Joni, James Taylor, Graham Nash, Annie Lennox, Brandi Carlile, Cyndi Lauper and more. Mitchell’s visual art will also be highlighted during the show.

The night’s performances and performers include:

“Summertime”- Joni Mitchell
“California” – James Taylor
“Both Sides Now” – Annie Lennox
“Big Yellow Taxi” – Brandi Carlile, Angélique Kidjo, Cyndi Lauper, Annie Lennox, Ledisi, Lucius
“Carey” – Marcus Mumford
“River” – Herbie Hancock & Ledisi
“Shine” – Brandi Carlile & Lucius
“Blue” – Cyndi Lauper
“A Case of You” – Graham Nash
“Help Me” – Angélique Kidjo
“For the Roses” – Diana Krall  

The Gershwin Prize has been handed out since 2007, with Paul Simon the first honoree. Last year Lionel Richie received the award, with Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, Carole King and Stevie Wonder among the previous honorees. 

Joni Mitchell: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song will debut at 9 p.m. ET on PBS, and will also be broadcast on PBS.org and on the PBS app. 

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Lionel Richie wrote Kenny Rogers‘ classic song “Lady,” and he just revealed on The Drew Barrymore Show that he finished the tune in a very unlikely place — the bathroom.

“I’m working with Kenny Rogers — this is back in the day — and so Kenny calls and says, ‘I want you to write a song for me,'” Richie shared on the show. “And, of course, I wrote ‘Lady.'”

Richie explains that at Kenny’s request he also prepared a second song, “Goin’ Back to Alabama,” but midway through writing it, Rogers decided he wanted to record “Lady” first.

“Now, what he didn’t know was I only had written the first verse of ‘Lady,’” Richie revealed. “So, I said, ‘Excuse me for a minute. Let me, uh, go to the bathroom.’ I’m sitting in the stall writing the second verse to ‘Lady.'”

Barrymore couldn’t believe Richie was able to finish the classic tune in such a short period of time, but he noted, “You will do some amazing things when you’re scared to death.” He added, “The idea of telling Mr. Rogers, ‘I don’t have the second verse,’ was not going to happen in my lifetime.”

“Lady,” released in 1980, became a number one hit for Rogers, spending six weeks on top of the chart. As for “Goin’ Back to Alabama,” Rogers did eventually record it for his 1981 album, Share Your Love.

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The music of Lynyrd Skynyrd will be celebrated with an all-star tribute performance at Sunday’s CMT Music Awards.

The segment will feature a who’s who of guitarists, including Guns N’ Roses’ Slash, ZZ Top’s Billy F. Gibbons and Gov’t Mule’s Warren Haynes. The performance will also feature Bad Company’s Paul Rodgers and country star Cody Johnson on vocals, along with the Rolling Stones’ keyboardist Chuck Leavell, and Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band members Ethan Pilzer on bass and Rich Redmond on drums.

Wynonna Judd and LeAnn Rimes are also on board to provide harmonies, filling in for Skynyrd’s backup singers, The Honkettes.

So far there’s no word on what songs they will be performing, but the segment will serve as a tribute to founding member Gary Rossington, who passed away earlier this month, as well as the 50th anniversary of the band’s debut album.

And all this will be happening in front of current Lynyrd Skynyrd members Johnny Van Zant and Rickey Medlock, who will be in attendance at the show, as will Rossington’s widow, Dale Krantz Rossington. 

The 2023 CMT Music Awards air Sunday, April 2, on CBS live from the Moody Center in Austin, Texas.

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Photographs taken by Paul McCartney during the height of Beatlemania will be the subject of a new exhibit at London’s National Portrait Gallery, as previously reported, and now the gallery is giving fans a peek at what they can expect.

The Portrait Gallery has shared some new photos from the exhibit on Instagram, including a self-portrait of McCartney, one of Paul with John Lennon, a photo of a smiling Ringo Starr and another of George Harrison being handed a drink by a girl in a yellow bikini.

“Looking at these photos now, decades after they were taken, I find there’s a sort of innocence about them,” McCartney shares. “Everything was new to us at this point. But I like to think I wouldn’t take them any differently today.”

Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm is set to run from June 28 to October 1 and feature more than 250 never-before-seen photographs taken by McCartney. The portraits that will be on display are from McCartney’s own archive and were taken between December 1963 and February 1964, giving fans an insight into his point of view as The Beatles were becoming international superstars.

Tickets to the McCartney exhibit are available for preorder now.

McCartney is also releasing a book of the photographs, 1964: Eyes of the Storm, on June 13. It is available for preorder now.

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