Classic Hits

Elton John‘s final show on British soil comes June 25, when he’ll rock the U.K.’s prestigious Glastonbury Festival for the very first time — and he says it won’t be the same show fans have been seeing during his Farewell tour.

Speaking to BBC Radio 2, Elton said it’s the first time he’s been asked to play the gig, noting, “But it’s just come at the right time … this is the most wonderful way to sign off in Great Britain.”

He then teased, “I’ve built a different set list … it’s gonna be much different. I’ve got guests who — I can’t tell you who they are — but it’s gonna be wonderful. I’m really looking forward to it.”

At Elton’s last U.S. show, which took place at Dodger Stadium, he also had special guests —Kiki Dee, Brandi Carlile and Dua Lipa — but presumably, his Glastonbury guests will be different.

Elton’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which started way back in 2018, will finally come to an end in July in Stockholm, Sweden. When asked by BBC Radio 2’s Scott Mills if he thinks he’ll miss it when it’s all over, Elton laughed, “No way! I do not wanna fly anywhere. I don’t wanna go anywhere. I just wanna be still for a few months, thank you.”  

Elton says after the tour wraps he’ll take a vacation for a few months, then he has no plans. However, he hasn’t ruled out live performances entirely, though they’ll be “sporadic.” 

“I really don’t want to tour again,” Elton, 76, said firmly. “Doing a theater thing for two or three weeks might be appealing, but honestly, that’s in the distant future. I’m not going back to Vegas. If I do anything, it will be here [in England].”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Hollywood Vampires have put their tour on pause to let Johnny Depp recover from an ankle injury.

The band, which also includes Aerosmith’s Joe Perry, Alice Cooper and Tommy Henriksen, announced they are postponing three tour dates this week to give Depp time to heal.  

“Johnny has sustained a painful injury to his ankle following his recent appearances and has been advised by his doctor not to travel,” reads the band’s announcement. “He is devastated by this turn of events, but looks forward to resting up so all four Vampires can bring their absolute best to the tour in Europe.” 

The three shows — in Boston; Manchester, New Hampshire; and Bethel, New York — have all been moved to July.

Hollywood Vampires kick off their European tour in Bucharest, Romania, on June 8. A complete list of tour dates can be found at HollywoodVampires.com.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Roger Waters has commented on the controversy surrounding his concert in Berlin earlier this month.

As previously reported, Waters faced backlash for using images of Anne Frank and a pig with a Star of David on it, as well as what looked like an SS soldier costume. It even sparked a criminal investigation, with the police looking into “the suspicion of incitement of the people.”

But in an Instagram post, Waters calls the controversy “bad faith attacks from those who want to smear and silence me because they disagree with my political views and moral principles.”

“The elements of my performance that have been questioned are quite clearly a statement in opposition to fascism, injustice, and bigotry in all its forms,” he writes. “Attempts to portray those elements as something else are disingenuous and politically motivated,” noting they’ve been in his shows since the ’80s.

Waters says he’s spent his life “speaking out against authoritarianism and oppression wherever I see it” and doesn’t plan to stop. He notes, “Regardless of the consequences of the attacks against me, I will continue to condemn injustice and all those who perpetrate it.”

Waters also shared a clip from his recent Frankfurt show in which he told the audience he was leaving out certain elements because the venue is the site of where over 3,000 Jews were detained and abused in November 1938 before being sent to concentration camps,

“So, that is why I’m making this small, but I hope significant, gesture tonight,” he says. “It is to show that I can’t possibly understand the feelings of the relatives of those men, or what it was like in 1938 in Frankfurt all over the rest of Germany, but I do know the history and my heart is beating hard now.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Rod Stewart was all set to become the latest rock legend to cash in by selling off his music catalog, but he’s now called off the deal.

Music Week reports that Rod, 78, had been negotiating with Hipgnosis Songs, which has purchased the catalogs, publishing rights or significant stakes in the catalogs of Justin Timberlake, Fleetwood Mac‘s Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie, Soundgarden‘s Chris Cornell, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Neil Young and dozens of other artists, writers and producer.

However, he’s now opted to retain ownership of his catalog and terminated the sale. In a statement provided to Music Week, Sir Rod says, “This catalogue represents my life’s work. And it became abundantly clear after much time and due diligence that this was not the right company to manage my song catalogue, career or legacy.”

Rod’s recorded music output includes not just his solo work, but his recordings with The Faces and Jeff Beck Group. 

The U.S. leg of Rod’s current tour starts July 29 in Sparks, Nevada.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, May 30, 1987 …

Rocker David Bowie kicked off his Glass Spider tour in support of his album Never Let Me Down.

The tour was known for its elaborate set design, which included what looked like a giant spider with light-up legs. It was described at the time as “the largest touring set ever.” It took 43 trucks to move and weighed an estimated 360 tons.

Bowie was joined by Peter Frampton on the tour, along with dancers choreographed by Toni Basil.

In addition to songs from Never Let Me Down, the set list included such Bowie classics as “China Girl,” “Fashion,” “Heroes,” “Let’s Dance,” “Fame” and “Modern Love.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Kansas kicks off their 50th anniversary tour on June 2 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and guitarist and founding member Richard Williams is certainly excited to be celebrating such a big milestone.

“Fifty, it’s a big number, it’s half a century,” Williams tells ABC Audio. “Suddenly there’s like a ‘whoa’ moment that’s, like, ‘Wow, 50 years, that’s a lot.’” He described the tour as “a celebration of the entire career.”

Williams says when Kansas first got together, their biggest dream was simply “to record an album and then get it played on the radio if we were lucky,” and then possibly get to open for some big national acts.  

“We couldn’t imagine dreaming beyond that,” he says. “You know, the world stage and being a headlining act and continuing to make records and all that was so distant that it wasn’t even a thought. That wasn’t a dream. … the last 49 years have been all gravy.”

And at 73, Williams has no plans of slowing down anytime soon. He insists fans shouldn’t expect to hear news of a retirement tour, noting, “What’s the point, unless it’s a money grab.” 

Williams adds, “It’s really more a matter of how long can I do it. According to my doctors, I’m in great shape. Barring, you know, illness or death, I’m here. I’m going to be doing this until I can’t.” 

Kansas currently has dates confirmed through January 28, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. A complete tour schedule can be found at kansasband.com.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

As part of the ongoing 50th anniversary celebration of The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd recently held a special event that coincided with a rare solar eclipse. That event is now being turned into a documentary, and the band is giving fans their first peek at it.

The rockers just released a teaser trailer for Pink Floyd – The Dark Side Of The Moon 50th Ningaloo Eclipse, which lets fans experience the once-in-a-lifetime event at a secluded beach at Ningaloo (Nyinggulu) Marine Park in Exmouth, Western Australia, in April. 

A handful of fans won a trip to the beach, where they listened to Dark Side in full — timed so that the closing line, “but the sun is eclipsed by the moon,” would play at the exact moment of the eclipse.

So far the documentary doesn’t have an exact release date, but it is expected to be out sometime in September.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Lenny Kravitz has always been one of the more stylish rockers out there, but early on some friends questioned his style choices. 

Discussing a black skirt a former girlfriend made him when he was a teenager, Kravitz tells the latest issue of Highsnobiety, “My friends were like, ‘Your mom’s going to freak.’ We were all nervous.”

But it turns out there was no real need to worry. He says that his mother, The Jeffersons star Roxie Roker, looked him “up and down” and then gave him some advice, sharing, “If you’re gonna wear that skirt, you got to change them shoes.”

He adds, “One thing about my mother, she never judged anybody. She just loved.” 

Kravitz discusses how his background, being both Caribbean-American and Jewish-Ukrainian, helped influence his style. He shares, “Growing up between cultures and religions and types of people in my family, by virtue of me being multiracial … I grew up in the middle of all this beauty.”

But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have some regrets about his style choices. “It happens all the time,” although he says now he has more of a “who cares?” attitude about it.

“You’re not going to grow if everything’s perfect all the time,” he says.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

For many, Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer, and in addition to fun things like the beach and barbecues, lots of people look forward to summer concerts. Well, according to a new StubHub report, some concerts are more popular than others this season. 

While Taylor Swift is the top In-Demand Global Artist of the summer based on sales, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band’s summer tour ranks high up there at #4, thanks to his 31 tour stops, which kick off August 9 and 10 at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. Metallica also lands in the top 10 at #8.

The ranking was determined by cumulative global ticket sales on StubHub and viagogo for concerts taking place between Memorial Day, May 29, and Labor Day, September 4.

Meanwhile, Dead & Company land at #2 on the Top Group Acts for summer list, with Metallica at #3 and Guns N’ Roses landing at #8.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Asia is celebrating their reunion album Phoenix with a new reissue. BMG Music has just released a special double vinyl edition of the 2008 studio record, the first time it’s ever been available on vinyl.

Phoenix was released two years after the band’s four original members — John Wetton, Carl Palmer, Geoff Downes and Steve Howe — reunited for a 2006 sold-out world tour.

Phoenix was the first album with all four original members since Wetton’s departure in 1983, and the foursome reconvened for two more records after that, 2010’s Omega and 2012’s XXX, before Howe left to concentrate on his work with Yes.

The Phoenix double vinyl, which is available now, comes with an exclusive CD-sized art card, signed by Palmer and Downes, while supplies last.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.