Classic Hits

We are less than a month away from Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band kicking off their North American tour, and the band has taken their first steps toward getting ready. According to posts by E Street Band members Steven Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren, rehearsals for the trek started Monday.

“so it begins,” Nils tweeted along with a photo of his instruments. “Off to play in greatest band in the land. let’s rock.” He tagged The Boss in the post.

Little Steven also confirmed the rehearsal news. A fan asked, “can you give us an update on how rehearsals are going?” He joked, “So far they have been flawless perfection!” He added, “(We begin on Monday).”

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band’s tour, their first since 2016, kicks off February 1 in Tampa, Florida, with U.S. dates running through April 14 in Newark, New Jersey.

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Who can forget the classic cover of The Beatles’ 1969 album, Abbey Road, featuring the infamous photo of the band walking across the street? Well, apparently Sir Paul McCartney recently tried to recreate it — and it almost turned into a disaster.

While talking about her Abbey Road documentary If These Walls Could Sing, director Mary McCartney, Paul’s daughter, shared that her favorite part of shooting the film was when her dad walked across the iconic crosswalk again. But she says he almost got run over doing it.

“The bit where the car nearly ran him over on the zebra crossing, that was so funny,” she tells The Mirror. “As we were leaving [the studio], I said, ‘I’ll film you [on the crossing],’ and he went over and this car totally didn’t stop for him!” 

If These Walls Could Sing is currently streaming on Disney+.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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Bret Michaels is getting ready to share some new music. The Poison frontman is set to drop the new single “Back in the Day,” described as “a feel good, road trip anthem song that will help you beat the winter blues,” on January 18. 

The song will be accompanied by a music video, which is described as “a modern day MTV throwback video to the early days of the music TV network,” featuring never-before-seen images and photos. Bret will also host a Facebook Live event where fans can ask him questions.

The new music comes ahead of Bret’s upcoming Parti-Gras tour, featuring Jefferson Starship and Night Ranger, along with special appearances by ex-Journey singer Steve Augeri and Sugar Ray‘s Mark McGrath. It’s set to kick off July 13 in Clarkston, Michigan.

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The lineup for the 2023 Bottlerock Festival in Napa Valley, California is here, and it looks like it’s going to be a great weekend of music. 

This year’s festival, set for May 26 to 28, will feature artists like Duran Duran, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs, War and more. 

Other artists on the bill include Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Smashing Pumpkins, Lizzo, Post Malone, Lil Nas X, Leon Bridges, Sheryl Crow and The National.

 Three-day passes are set to go on sale Tuesday at noon PT. Check out the full lineup here.

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As previously reported, Gov’t Mule was forced to postpone their New Year’s concerts due to a medical emergency in the band. It turns out it was Warren Haynes who suffered that emergency and now he’s giving fans an update on his health. 

In a post on Instagram, Haynes shared that he is “doing OK,” but that he had been hospitalized for the past week “due to some pretty serious complications from COVID and influenza.” He is home now.

“I’m very sorry Gov’t Mule couldn’t do our New Year’s Eve run,” he writes. “Trust me when I say we were actually really excited for these shows and the band was raring to go.” He also assured fans they would be rescheduled. 

But in some more bad news, Haynes let fans know that he will not be able to attend Gov’t Mule’s annual Island Exodus in Jamaica, which kicks off January 15, because doctors say he needs more time to recuperate.

The four-day festival will go on, however, and it’s added Anders Osborne, Jackie Greene, John Scofield, Robert Randolph, Audley Freed, Rob Barraco, Robert Kearns and Jeff Sipe to the lineup, which already includes special guests Jimmy Vivino and Ron Holloway, as well as Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience, Duane Betts, Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country and Little Days.

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Elvis Presley would have turned 88 on Sunday and his birthday was celebrated at his Memphis estate, Graceland, with daughter Lisa Marie Presley on hand to welcome a huge crowd of fans.

“I can speak with some authority having been here every year for a lot of years,” Elvis Presley Enterprises CEO Jack Soden told the crowd. “This is unquestionably the largest crowd we’ve ever had. You all come from all over the world … and we love you for being here.”

The celebration included several Elvis-related events, including a birthday proclamation from the city of Memphis, an Aloha from Hawaii-themed cake to mark the concert’s 50th anniversary and an appearance by actor Alton Mason, who played Little Richard in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis film.

“Thank you. It’s been a while. I missed you,” Lisa Marie told the gathered crowd. “I keep saying you’re the only people that can bring me out of my house. I’m not kidding.”

She added, “Today, (Elvis) would’ve been 88 years old, it’s hard to believe. I think that he’d be proud. This year has been an incredible year,” referring to the renewed love of Elvis thanks to the film. She added, “It’s just so moving how every year you come from all over the world. It’s moving to me and my family … so thank you.” 

The celebration also marked the official opening of Graceland’s new The Making of Elvis exhibition featuring a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the 2022 film.

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David Bowie’s classic album Aladdin Sane turns 50 this year, and the milestone will be marked with two special vinyl releases.

On April 14, just one week before the actual anniversary, a special limited-edition 50th anniversary half-speed mastered LP of Aladdin Sane is coming out, along with a picture disc LP, which will be pressed from the same master. The new release was cut by John Webber at AIR Studios from the restored masters of the original master tapes, with no additional processing.

Aladdin Sane, Bowie’s sixth studio album, was released April 30, 1973, just ten months after The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. It featured such songs as “The Jean Genie” and “Drive-In Saturday Night,” and marked Bowie’s debut on the U.S. album charts, landing in the Top 20. It is probably best known for its classic album cover, featuring a photo by Brian Duffy of Bowie donning his iconic red and blue lightning bolt makeup.

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Looks like Journey is no longer dealing with at least one court case. While Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain are still at odds, former frontman Steve Perry has decided to drop a lawsuit he filed over the band’s trademarks.

Perry filed his suit back in September, asking a court to stop Schon and Cain’s company, Freedom JN LLC, from using Journey song trademarks on merchandise, clothing and more. He argued the three of them agreed that any business decisions on the matter required unanimous consent from all of them and he hadn’t given his. He argued Cain and Schon committed “fraud on the trademark office” by applying to register the song names without informing the office of the true status of the ownership of the songs.

But based on a tweet by Schon, that legal battle is behind them. He shared the document showing Perry withdrew his lawsuit on Friday, and when asked if that’s indeed what happened he replied, “yes he did. Now we can talk as we were.” 

Schon had previously blamed Cain for Perry filing the lawsuit, and in his tweet the guitarist noted, “So much for [Cain] trying to throw me under the bus as he claimed I was blatantly trying to rip off [Perry] while collecting the checks for the very diligent work my wife and I did to protect our Merch.”

Meanwhile, Schon and Cain are getting to hit the road for the band’s Freedom tour kicking off February 4 in Allentown, PA. When asked by a fan how they can share a stage together with all their fighting, he responded, “We’ve written great music. Gregg Rolie will be there also. Channel the great music. Honor it.”

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James Taylor is dipping into his archives to share a very special performance with fans. The singer just shared what he says is a “rarely seen” performance of his classic “You’ve Got A Friend.”

According to a post on Instagram, the performance is from the German TV program Live, which originally aired on October 14, 1993. 

“You’ve Got A Friend” was written by Carole King and appeared on her 1971 classic Tapestry. It also won her a Grammy for Song of the Year. Taylor’s version appeared on his 1971 album, Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and won him a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

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Looks like music fans are getting yet another chance to see Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks in concert together.

The two Rock & Roll Hall of Famers have just added another date on their co-headlining tour, which is billed as “two icons – one night.” The latest is set to go down November 10 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Tickets go on sale January 13 at 10 a.m. local time.

This is now the sixth concert Billy and Stevie have confirmed. The others are set for March 10 in Los Angeles, April 8 in Arlington, Texas, May 19 in Nashville, August 5 in Columbus, Ohio, and August 19 in Kansas City, Missouri.

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