Classic Hits

Fans of ’80s British new wave have something to look forward to this fall. Squeeze and The Psychedelic Furs are teaming up for a co-headlining tour that will hit North America this September.

The trek kicks off September 8 at New York’s Radio City Music Hall and wraps October 14 at The Pearl Theater in Las Vegas.  

Presale tickets go on sale Wednesday, May 17, at 10 a.m., with the general on sale set for Friday, May 19, at 10 a.m. A complete list of dates can be found at squeezeofficial.com and thepsychedelicfurs.com.

The Psychedelic Furs are just about to wrap a spring North American tour. They play Jacksonville, Florida, on May 16, with the tour ending May 20 in Miami Beach, Florida. Meanwhile, Squeeze is set to kick off a U.K. tour on June 17, playing the Sign of the Times Festival in Hertfordshire, England, with dates confirmed through September 3 in London.

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John Mellencamp is giving fans another taste of his upcoming album, Orpheus Descending. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer just shared the second single from the record, “The Eyes of Portland.”

The tune has Mellencamp singing about the problem of homelessness in America. He also highlights the crisis in the lyric video for the tune, with images of folks sleeping outside, asking for money, encampments on the street and more. 

“All of thesе homeless, where do they come from? In this land of plenty where nothing gets done,” Mellencamp sings. “To help those who are empty and unable to run/ Your tears and prayers won’t help the homeless.”

This is the second single Mellencamp has released from Orpheus Descending, following “Hey God.” The album drops June 2.

Mellencamp is currently on his Live and In Person tour. The trek hits Fort Wayne, Indiana, on Tuesday, May 16. A complete list of dates can be found at mellencamp.com.

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A British heart charity is almost $3,000 richer thanks to a rare copy of The Beatles self-titled 1968 album, better known as The White Album.

Natalie Langsford, shop manager of the British Heart Foundation’s Sutton Coldfield branch, tells BBC News a “generous donor” gifted the album to the organization, along with other items. After listing it on eBay, the album brought in over $2,900 for the charity.

So, what made this copy of The White Album worth all that money? Well, it was one of only 10,000 copies of the first version of the record that included a misprint. It was also in good condition and came with all the original inserts, as well as a foldout poster.

The charity’s area manager, Marcie Somel, said they were delighted by the “amazing amount” of money raised by the record, adding, “We were thrilled to have such a rare donation come into our shop.”

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Rick Wakeman is teasing a return to the U.S., and it sounds like fans may not want to miss the chance to see him live.

The Yes keyboardist shared on his website that he’s in the midst of planning a second leg of his piano and keyboard one-man show. But he notes that “this is likely to be the last one man show there, so miss ‘The Final Grump Tour’ at your peril as there will not be any more!”

Wakeman explains that arthritis is making it harder and harder for him to do the show. “I can still get through okay but back in the dressing room at the end, the hands are plunged into an ice bucket of ice and ice-cold water in order to get some relief,” he says. 

Wakeman isn’t giving up touring all together, though. He says in the future he’ll tour with either the English Rock Ensemble or other band members, sharing, “I will still continue to do the odd one man show, but these will be one offs and mainly for the charities I support.”

And speaking of touring with a band, Wakeman just announced a new U.K. leg of his The Return Of The Caped Crusader tour, which will feature the English Rock Ensemble. The tour kicks off February 15, 2024, in Glasgow, Scotland, and wraps February 28 in Bristol, England. The tour will have him playing new arrangements of classic Yes tunes, along with his 1974 album, Journey to the Centre of the Earth. A complete list of dates can be found at rwcc.com.

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On This Day, May 16, 1970…

Déjà Vu, Crosby, Stills & Nash’s first album with Neil Young, topped the Billboard album chart.

The album featured such classic songs as “Woodstock,” “Teach Your Children,” “Carry On,” and “Our House.”

The album went on to be certified seven-times Platinum by the RIAA and is the best-selling album to date by each of the group’s four members, Young, David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash.

In 2023, it was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.

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Legendary singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot passed away on May 1, but his music continues to live on. And now fans will be able to enjoy that music with a new live album.

Linus Entertainment is set to posthumously release Lightfoot’s final album, At Royal Albert Hall, on July 14. The double album was recorded live at the famed London venue on May 24, 2016, and features “every song performed in the order they were played, right down to the encore.”

The album includes performances of such hits as “If You Could Read My Mind” and “Sundown,” as well as tunes that have never before appeared on a live album like “Now and Then,” “All the Lovely Ladies,” “Beautiful,” “Waiting for You,” “The Watchman’s Gone” and more.

According to the press release, in his final weeks Lightfoot “insisted that this live album be released as soon as possible,” noting that he approved the cover and made it known that “no changes were to be made to the recording.”

At Royal Albert Hall is available for preorder now. Here’s the track list for the album:

Disc One

“The Watchman’s Gone”
“Sea of Tranquility”
“Now and Then”
“All the Lovely Ladies”
“Drifters”
“A Painter Passing Through”
“Christian Island”
“Rainy Day People”
“Shadows”
“Beautiful”
“Carefree Highway”
“Did She Mention My Name”
“Ribbon of Darkness”
“Sundown  

Disc Two

“Sweet Guinevere”
“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”
“Never Too Close”
“Don Quixote”
“Minstrel of the Dawn”
“I’d Rather Press On”
“Let It Ride”
“If You Could Read My Mind”
“Restless”
“Baby Step Back”
“Early Morning Rain”
“Waiting for You”

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Gene Simmons is reminiscing about the late guitar great Eddie Van Halen for a new piece published in Classic Rock magazine.

The KISS bassist and co-founder talks about the first time he saw Van Halen play in a Hollywood club in 1976 and says despite what some have said, he didn’t discover the band. “No, I didn’t. I did no such thing,” he says, “I just happened to be there and witness their greatness at what was still a very early stage.”

“I saw them that night and was left incredulous. I stood at the front of the stage and couldn’t believe my eyes and ears,” he adds. “What really intrigued me about Van Halen was that they came out of nowhere … to this day I’ve no clue where Van Halen came from.” 

Simmons calls Eddie, who passed away in 2020, “such a kind and beautiful soul.” He said he’s particularly upset that young people don’t know, and may never know, how truly great Eddie was.

“As much as his death was upsetting, it also made me a little furious that so many of our so-called ‘younger generation’ remain unaware of his talents,” he says. “For f***’s sake, parents should be slapping mobile phones out of their kids’ hands and telling them to check out this guy.”

He adds, “Our millennials need to know about the most important musician since Jimi Hendrix. There will never be another like him.”

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The Village People are not happy that Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort hired a lookalike group to play the venue. 

Billboard reports that after video surfaced on Twitter of what appeared to be the band playing an event at the estate, Trump was sent a cease-and-desist letter by lead singer Victor Willis‘ wife, Karen Willis, who manages the band.

The letter, which was sent to Trump’s lawyer Joseph Tacopina, argues that the tribute band violates the disco group’s federal trademark, noting the clip “has and continues to cause public confusion as to why Village People would even engage in such a performance. We did not.” Karen adds, “Though my husband has tolerated your client’s use of his Village People music, we cannot allow such use by him to cause public confusion as to endorsement.” 

Willis insists that the confusion makes it look like the band is endorsing Trump and that the band has threatened to sue to keep him from using “not only of the Village People trademarked image and trade dress, but of the music as well.” 

This isn’t the first time the Village People took issue with Trump’s use of their music. In June 2020 Victor, upset over Trump using police to clear protesters in Lafayette Square, used social media to ask the president not to use their songs at his events.

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Lately, Billy Joel, his wife, Alexis, and their two young daughters have been spending more time in Florida, so he’s movin’ out of his New York waterfront estate.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the 26-acre estate in “a town known as Oyster Bay, Long Island” — as he famously sang about in his song “The Ballad of Billy the Kid” — is on the market for $49 million. Billy paid $22.5 million for the first 14 acres and home back in 2002, but he’s since bought up adjoining plots of land to restore the estate to its original size.

The property, which sits on a small island called Centre Island, is known as Middlesea and features a 20,000-square-foot mansion, a beach house, two outdoor pools, a helipad, a bowling alley, a wine cellar, a floating dock and an indoor pool that Billy covered up so he could use it as a music room.

In 2015, Billy purchased an estate in Lantana, Florida, for $22 million, the Journal reports. But The New York Post reports that it, too, is for sale, for just under $70 million. The Post speculates that he’s looking for another property.

But Billy isn’t giving up all his ties to Long Island: He still has a home in ritzy Sag Harbor in the Hamptons.

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Rolling Stones fans may want to make a stop at Los Angeles’ Rockaway Records. The store has just acquired a new collection of Stones memorabilia, featuring over 10,000 items.

The collection, purchased from the estate of skateboarder Brad “Squeak” Blanck, a known figure in the Rolling Stones community, consists of an extensive collection of vinyl, with rare LPs and 45s, vintage T-shirts, concert posters and more.

Some of the items up for grabs include a copy of the rare “Beast of Burden” 45 with picture sleeve and an Andy Warhol-designed promotional display from 1977. One item no longer available is a rare set of 1978 U.K. promo posters for “Some Girls,” which has already been purchased by The Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson.

“We have bought many amazing collections over the past 45 years, but this is definitely the most exciting one in a long time!” Rockaway Records’ Wayne Johnson shares. 

More information on the collection can be found at rockaway.com.

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