Classic Hits

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New York’s Madison Square Garden is sometimes called the “world’s greatest arena,” but it’s definitely the world’s highest-earning arena, thanks in no small part to Billy Joel.

Over the past year, the Garden grossed $241.4 million and sold 1.8 million tickets, according to Billboard. That’s more than any other venue this year, including stadiums. It’s also the highest gross for any venue ever in a single year. 

Billy alone was responsible for $29.6 million of that total, and 205,000 of those tickets, thanks to his ongoing monthly residency at the famed arena. In 2022, he did 11 shows at the Garden: one each month, except for January, which was canceled due to a resurgence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Pop superstar Harry Styles also contributed to the gross: He played 15 shows at the venue, taking in just over $63 million and selling 277,000 tickets. That means Billy and Harry together accounted for 39% of the total haul.

The other top-grossing shows that helped the Garden set a new record included Phish, Rage Against the Machine, Elton John and Genesis.

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Poison‘s Bret Michaels is planning a touring music festival for next summer that promises nothin’ but a good time.

Scheduled for a limited run of 12 cities, Michaels’ 2023 Parti-Gras Tour is described as “a celebration of fans, bands, music and an all killer no filler night of hit songs.” Joining him on the road will be Jefferson Starship and Night Ranger, along with special appearances by ex-Journey singer Steve Augeri and Sugar Ray‘s Mark McGrath. On top of that, he’s promising “a nightly surprise guest to rock your world.”

The tour kicks off July 13 in Clarkston, Michigan, and is set to wrap up August 6 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Presale tickets will be available starting December 6 at 10 a.m. local time via LiveNation.com. The public on-sale date is December 9 at 10 a.m. local time.

In a statement, Michaels says of the tour, “I created Parti-Gras as a sincere and grateful thank you to the fans, friends, and family who have rocked with me over the years.”

He adds, “I promise to deliver positive energy, live, raw, real music, and all the bands will deliver sing-a-long hit after hit songs. Your voice will be hoarse after an epic, big, fun stage show.”

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The journey of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young will be detailed in an upcoming coffee table book called CSN&Y: Love the One You’re With.

Due for publication in June 2023, the book features 1,000 photographs and 34,000 words from 20 different contributors, plus an introduction penned by Graham Nash. Those contributors include Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Judy Collins, the late Glenn Frey, Grace Slick, Arlo Guthrie and notable behind-the-scenes music business figures.

The photos are courtesy of famed rock photographer Henry Diltz, who says in a statement, “I have known these guys my entire life as a photographer, way before they even formed a group, and so I have photographed them all separately and together for the past almost 60 years.”

Indeed, the book starts with Diltz’s photos of all four band members while they were in their previous bands: The Hollies, The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield. What follows is decades’ worth of photos of the artists at recording studios, concerts, album covers, benefit concerts and more.

In an excerpt from the book, Neil Young is quoted as saying, “People believe in CSN&Y. When they see CSN&Y, even if it is a nostalgia trip, I want them to believe that life is worth living, and that the rest of their life is going to be better than the first part. I want people to feel an energy from the band that makes you feel great.”

The book is available for preorder now via Genesis Publications: “Collector” copies are bound in vegan leather, signed by both Diltz and Nash, and are available in limited quantities.

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Christine McVie‘s untimely death last week seems to have led to some impressive sales figures at the auction of Fleetwood Mac instruments and memorabilia, held over the weekend by Julien’s Auctions.

According to the auction house, McVie’s maxi dress, which she wore on the back cover of Fleetwood Mac’s biggest album, Rumours, sold for $56,250 — five times its original estimate of $10,000. A dress she wore to the 1976 Rock Music Awards went for $31,250, while her two American Music Awards dresses from 1978 went for $16,000 and $12,800. Her piano accordion, which she used to perform “Tusk” live onstage, sold for just over $11,500.

In addition, McVie’s speaker and microphones sold for $37,500 — some 37 times their original estimate. Her two Hammond B3 Organs went for $28,125 and $18,750.

Items from John McVie and Mick Fleetwood were sold, as well. John’s custom fretless bass guitar, which he used to record the classic song “The Chain” and played live onstage from 1976 to 1980, sold for $100,000.

The star of the auction, though, was the set of wooden balls that Mick Fleetwood wore on the cover of Rumours. The balls were originally part of the pull chains on the toilets in a club the band played early on in his career, and Fleetwood stole them and took to wearing them onstage. The balls brought in $128,000.

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Sorry Aerosmith fans, the band has cancelled another Las Vegas show. 

The band was set to take the stage as part of their Deuces Are Wild residency at the city’s Dolby Live at Park MGM Monday, but backed out due to their lead singer Steven Tyler needing “more time to rest.” 

“Unfortunately tomorrow’s show, Monday December 5th, in Las Vegas has to be cancelled,” a statement posted to Twitter reads. “Steven Tyler said ‘on the advice of my doctor, I’m taking more time to rest… There is nowhere we’d rather be than on stage surrounded by the greatest fans in the world.'”

“We sincerely apologize,” the band concluded. 

Refunds will be automatically refunded for those who purchased through Ticketmaster.com, with all other refunds processed at point of purchase. 

This is the second show that the “Dream On” artists have cancelled in the last four days. They cancelled their Friday, Dec. 2 show last minute telling fans at the time, “It is with great disappointment that we are forced to cancel tonight’s show in Las Vegas due to Steven feeling unwell and and unable to perform.”

There was no mention on whether Aerosmith will make-up the dates. Their final two performances for the Deuces Are Wild residency are scheduled for Dec. 8 and Dec. 11.

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Now that Pat Benatar and her husband and musical partner Neil Giraldo have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they’re focusing on their pet project: Invincible, a musical featuring their songs. But if you see the show, don’t expect to hear much of Benatar’s signature hit.

The show, Invincible, had its official premiere Friday night in Beverly Hills, where it will run through December 18.  It’s a reimagining of Romeo & Juliet, and in addition to hits like “Heartbreaker,” “We Belong,” “Love Is a Battlefield” and “Shadows of the Night,” it also features some lesser-known songs, all of which have been, Giraldo tells Variety, “twisted…a little bit, to have more fun with it.”

“We didn’t wanna do a jukebox musical with the exact same songs the way they were,” he tells Variety.

As for “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” probably Benatar’s best-known song, she tells Variety, “We have one chorus of that that comes in the middle of another song, only as an homage to everyone who’s gonna go crazy if we don’t have it, but it’s literally in there for, like, 10 seconds.”

As previously reported, Benatar has stopped performing the song at her concerts as well, out of respect to the families of mass shooting victims.

Benatar, Giraldo and their collaborator Bradley Bredeweg hope to eventually bring their musical to Broadway. For a former musical theater kid like Benatar, the show is a “full-circle” moment, while Bredeweg says it’s fitting that these songs are retelling Shakespeare‘s famous tale of star-crossed lovers.

“Everyone used to say they were considered the Romeo and Juliet of the rock ’n’ roll industry,” he tells the New York Times of Benatar and Giraldo. “Everyone tried to break them up at every step along the way.”

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Neil Diamond‘s been out of the spotlight since he announced in 2018 that he was retiring from touring after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. But the legendary artist will hit the red carpet this weekend for an event that’s all about his music and his legacy.

A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical will have its gala opening night Sunday at New York City’s Broadhurst Theatre. The man himself will be attending, along with Frankie Valli, record mogul Clive Davis, Bernadette Peters, Camryn Manheim, Audra McDonald, Lea Michele and Bob Gaudio.

Gaudio, a member of the Four Seasons, produced six albums for Diamond, as well as his hit Barbra Streisand duet “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers.” He’s a producer of the new musical.

The show tells Diamond’s story using many of his most beloved hits, from “Love on the Rocks,” “Sweet Caroline,” “I’m a Believer” and “Red Red Wine” to “Cracklin’ Rosie,” “Song Sung Blue,” “America” and many more.

According to a press release, the opening night is set to feature an “unforgettable red-carpet entrance” by Diamond, 81, as well as a “never-to-be-seen-again, surprise moment with one of the recording industry’s greatest living legends.” Will he join the cast onstage for a rendition of “Sweet Caroline”? Stay tuned.

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Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle recently came together for a great cause. The two living legends headlined the AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s annual World AIDS Day Concert, held Wednesday at the The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

At the event, which posthumously honored the late Princess Diana, a longtime humanitarian and AIDS advocate, Gladys took the stage to perform a medley of hits, including “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination,” “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “Midnight Train to Georgia.”

Patti, who headlined the concert when it was held in LA back in 2016, also sang a medley of hits, including “Love, Need and Want You,” “On My Own” and “Lady Marmalade,” during her set.

Previous headliners include Mariah Carey, DJ Khaled and Ne-Yo, who performed in 2017; Diana Ross,Teyana Taylor and Keke Wyatt, who hit the stage in 2019; and Jennifer Hudson and Christina Aguilera, who headlined the LA concert in 2021, produced by Debbie Allen.

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December 7 will mark what would have been the late Harry Chapin‘s 80th birthday, and that milestone is being celebrated with a worldwide screening of a star-studded documentary about the singer, songwriter and activist.

The 2020 documentary, called Harry Chapin: When In Doubt, Do Something, will be shown in movie theaters around the world on December 7 at 8 p.m. local time, with all ticket proceeds going to The Harry Chapin Foundation, Long Island Cares and WhyHunger, the nonprofit organization that Chapin co-founded.

The documentary features interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Graham Nash, Pat Benatar, Chicago‘s Robert Lamm, Sir Bob Geldof, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of Run-DMC and the late artists Pete Seeger, Richie Havens and Harry Belafonte. It focuses on Chapin’s impact on the world, not only through his hits like “Taxi” and “Cat’s In the Cradle,” but also through his tireless work in ending world hunger.

In addition to the documentary, the screening will include 15 minutes of never-before-seen live footage from a recent Chapin Family concert. Some of those same family members will also participate in a live chat that will take place as part of the screening.

Chapin’s son Jason helped produce the documentary and says in a statement, “My family is incredibly excited and grateful for the special event … to celebrate my father’s 80th birthday, 50th anniversary of his first hit ‘Taxi’ and his lasting legacy as a musician and humanitarian. We’re also thrilled that proceeds will benefit three charities that carry on his mission to help end hunger.”

For tickets, visit Kinema.com or ChapinEvent.com.

Chapin was killed in July 1981 in an auto accident en route to a benefit concert on Long Island, New York. He was 38.

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