Classic Hits

The Who will return to late-night TV when they make an appearance this Friday, April 15, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which airs at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS.

The British rock legends will be performing in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Teen Cancer America charity, which Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend co-founded in 2012. The organization raises money to fund programs and create designated social and recreational areas in U.S. hospitals geared specifically toward adolescents and young adults with cancer.

In conjunction with the anniversary, Teen Cancer America has launched a campaign encouraging people to donate $10 to the cause to mark the milestone. Visit GiveButter.com/TCA10for10 if you’d like to contribute.

The Who’s Late Show appearance is scheduled to take place one week before the band kicks off its The Who Hits Back! 2022 North American tour with an April 22 concert in Hollywood, Florida. Check out the group’s full schedule at TheWho.com.

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The Black Crowes will release a six-track EP titled 1972 that finds the band celebrating the 50th anniversary of some of their favorite songs.

The EP, which you can pre-order now, will be available digitally exclusively via Amazon Music on May 4, and will get a wide release on CD and vinyl on May 6.

1972 includes covers of six tunes selected by the band in collaboration with Amazon Music. The songs, which were recorded this past January at Los Angeles’ historic Sunset Sound studio, are renditions of The Rolling Stones‘ “Rocks Off,” T. Rex‘s “The Slider,” Rod Stewart‘s “You Wear It Well,” Little Feat‘s “Easy to Slip,” David Bowie‘s “Moonage Daydream,” and The Temptations‘ “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone.”

The “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” was released as an advance digital single today via Amazon Music.

“The year 1972 was a watershed moment, some of the greatest rock and roll songs ever made came out of that year,” Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson says. “To get our band back together in the studio, it had to be a celebration of rock and roll. This record is about love and devotion to something that makes us feel good. We hope that it makes fans around the world feel the same.”

The Black Crowes will celebrate the EP’s release with a special performance taking place May 4 at 10 p.m. ET at the famed LA-area club the Whiskey a Go-Go that will be livestreamed at Amazon Music’s channel on Twitch.

During the streaming event, physical copies of the 1972 EP and exclusive merchandise will be available for purchase.

Meanwhile, a behind-the-scenes video focusing on the 1972 sessions has been posted at The Black Crowes’ YouTube channel.

(Video includes uncensored profanity.)

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Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Unlimited Love is the best-selling rock album in over a year.

The record debuts at number one on the Billboard 200 with a total of 97,500 equivalent album units, 82,500 of which were traditional album sales. The last rock artist to beat that figure was Beatles legend Paul McCartney, whose 2020 solo effort McCartney III moved 107,000 units — 104,000 of which were album sales — upon its chart debut in January 2021.

Surprisingly, Unlimited Love is only the second RHCP album to top the Billboard 200. The first was 2006’s Stadium Arcadium, which was notably the last album to feature guitarist John Frusciante before he left the Peppers in 2009. Unlimited Love marks the band’s first album with Frusciante back in the fold since he returned in late 2019.

Red Hot Chili Peppers will launch a global stadium tour in support of Unlimited Love beginning with a European run in June, followed by a U.S. leg kicking off in July.

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Stevie Nicks is among the artists who will headline the 2022 edition of the Ohana Festival, founded by Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder.

Nicks will be the headliner for the first day of the three-day event, which takes place from September 30 to October 2 at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, California.

Vedder and ex-White Stripes frontman Jack White will headline the second day of the fest, while pop superstar Pink will close things out on October 2.

The lineup also includes founding Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and his current band The Dirty Knobs, who will be performing on October 1. Other artists on the bill include St. Vincent, Britanny Howard, Grouplove, St. Paul & the  Broken Bones and Billy Strings.

A pre-sale starts Wednesday, April 13, at 10 a.m. PT for fans who sign up for early access at OhanaFest.com. Any tickets left over go on sale to the general public on April 14 at 10 a.m. PT. Options include single day or weekend passes, and there are VIP options available as well. The website has all the information.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Doheny State Beach Foundation and the San Onofre Parks Foundation.

Ohana is the latest in a series of U.S. festivals at which Nicks will be performing this year. She’s also confirmed to appear on May 7 at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival; on June 19 at Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee; in early September at the JAS Aspen Snowmass event in Snowmass, Colorado; on September 17 at the Sea.Hear.Now Festival in Asbury Park, New Jersey; and on September 24 at the inaugural Sound on Sound festival in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Check out her full schedule at StevieNicksOfficial.com.

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Julian Lennon, the older son of John Lennon, has shared his first-ever public performance of his late father’s classic song “Imagine” as part of the Global Citizen organization’s recently launched Stand Up for Ukraine campaign.

On Friday, Julian posted a video on his official YouTube channel of him singing the 1971 peace anthem, with Extreme‘s Nuno Bettencourt joining him on acoustic guitar and backing vocals.

In a message accompanying the video, Julian writes, “The War on Ukraine is an unimaginable tragedy…As a human, and as an artist, I felt compelled to respond in the most significant way I could. So…for the first time ever, I publicly performed my Dad’s song, IMAGINE.”

He continues, “Why now, after all these years? — I had always said, that the only time I would ever consider singing ‘IMAGINE’ would be if it was the ‘End of the World’…But also because his lyrics reflect our collective desire for peace worldwide. Because within this song, we’re transported to a space, where love and togetherness become our reality, if but for a moment in time…The song reflects the light at the end of the tunnel, that we are all hoping for…”

Julian concludes, “As a result of the ongoing murderous violence, millions of innocent families, have been forced to leave the comfort of their homes, to seek asylum elsewhere. I’m calling on world leaders and everyone who believes in the sentiment of IMAGINE, to stand up for refugees everywhere! Please advocate and donate from the heart. #StandUpForUkraine”

As previously reported, Global Citizen’s Stand Up for Ukraine saw a wide variety of music stars taking to social media on Friday and directing their attention to Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s ongoing military invasion of the country.

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America‘s Gerry Beckley has debuted a second advance song from his upcoming solo album, Aurora, a tune called “Tickets from the Past” that he co-wrote with his co-founding America band mate Dewey Bunnell, who also sings on the track.

“Tickets from the Past” is the first song that Beckley and Bunnell wrote together that won’t make its debut appearance on an America album. The track is available now via streaming services, and you can check out a video of Gerry and Dewey talking about the song now at Blue Élan Records’ official YouTube channel.

Bunnell says in the clip, “It’s been a pleasure working with Gerry on this solo project of his. It’s a little different from America projects, but very much the same. Been there before, but great song, Ger. I love Aurora, and I love singing on it.”

As previously reported, Aurora will be released on June 17. It’s an 11-song collection that Gerry recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic at his two home studios, in Sydney, Australia, and Venice, California.

The tracks on Aurora include tunes that began as unfinished demos and scratch recordings that date back as far as the early 1970s, as well as brand-new songs written during the past two years.

“Tickets from the Past” was preceded by “Friends Are Hard to Find,” which was released as a streaming single last month. You can pre-order Aurora now.

America currently is on tour in the U.S., and has almost 20 upcoming dates on its 2022 schedule. The band’s next concert is this Friday, April 15, in Houston. Visit VenturaHighway.com for a full list of shows.

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Envy of None, Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson‘s new band, released its self-titled debut album on Friday, April 8.

The project came together after Andy Curran, veteran Canadian band Coney Hatch‘s bassist and a longtime musical associate of Lifeson, began working with a young Oregon-based singer-songwriter named Maiah Wynne and asked Alex if he’d lend his guitar talents to a track.

“I sent it over to him, and he was floored,” Curran tells ABC Audio. “He said, ‘Andy, I think we’ve found a diamond in the rough here. This girl is a secret weapon.’ And that was the beginning of it all.”

Envy of None is quite a departure from Rush, with songs influenced by a variety of genres, including alternative rock, synth pop, Euro pop and industrial rock.

Lifeson tells ABC Audio, “I think what connects all of these different styles of music is [Maiah’s] voice. Her voice always sits right on top of what chaos the music is creating.”

The 68-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer says Wynne, 25, basically became his “muse” for the Envy of None project.

“[H]er sensibilities and her skill [are] such that she’s…very, very, very talented at a very early age,” he maintains. “[E]very song [she contributed to] had something that I wasn’t quite expecting.”

The album ends with the introspective instrumental “Western Sunset” that’s dedicated to late Rush drummer Neil Peart, whom Alex calls his “brother…good friend [and] working partner.”

Lifeson says he was inspired to compose the tune while watching the sunset during visits to an ailing Peart at his California home.

“It gives you a chance to catch your breath after listening to all this pretty intense material,” Alex notes of the song, “and just puts you in a very…contemplative mode.”

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Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ new album, Unlimited Love, has debuted at number one in the U.K. and in Australia.

The record gives the “Under the Bridge” outfit their fifth chart-topper across the pond, and their seventh Down Under.

Unlimited Love‘s U.S. debut on the Billboard 200 is expected to be announced on Sunday. The Peppers have hit number one on the Billboard 200 just once in their career, with 2006’s Stadium Arcadium.

Lead single “Black Summer” currently sits at number one on Billboard‘s Alternative Airplay chart, and number two on the Mainstream Rock Airplay ranking.

Unlimited Love is RHCP’s first album since 2016’s The Getaway, and their first with guitarist John Frusciante back in the band since Stadium Arcadium. They’ll launch a worldwide stadium tour in support of the record beginning with a European run in June, followed by a U.S. leg beginning in July.

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Earlier today, Rolling Stone reported that unspecified sources had confirmed that Grateful Dead spin-off group Dead & Company were planning to stop touring after 2022, but now one of the group’s main members, Bob Weir, posted a note on his Twitter feed suggesting that the report wasn’t true.

“News to me…,” the 74-year-old singer/guitarist wrote, and included a link to the Rolling Stone story.

The band, which includes three core Grateful Dead members — Weir and drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart — as well as popular singer/guitarist John Mayer, recently announced a U.S. summer trek running from June 11 through July 16. Tickets for the shows are available now at the group’s official website.

Last year, Kreutzmann missed some Dead & Company concerts because of heart-related issues, which also led him withdraw from his planned appearances at the group’s Playing in the Sand destination festival in Mexico this past January. The festival wound up being canceled because of COVID-related issues.

Dead & Company formed in 2015 and have been a very popular touring act ever since. The band’s other members are ex-Allman Brothers Band bassist Oteil Burbridge, and RatDog keyboardist Jeff Chimenti.

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Artists across social media took part in the Stand Up for Ukraine outreach effort on Friday to raise awareness about the toll of Russia’s war on that country.

Among those joining Global Citizen’s movement were Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Stevie Nicks, U2 and Elton John. The effort tasked A-listers to suspend normal social media posts and direct their attention on Ukraine, which continues to try to fend off Russia’s invasion that began February 24.

Springsteen posted a video message in which he stated, “Refugees in Ukraine and around the world need our help now. Join all of us on E Street and Global Citizen as we Stand Up for Ukraine, and stand up for those displaced globally, because everyone deserves safe and humane living conditions.”

Jon Bon Jovi also rallied for Ukraine, expressing, “We need you to answer the call from activists and advocates working to support refugees and take immediate action to help displaced people from Ukraine and around the world.” He also shared a video of his band performing “We Don’t Run” at a recent benefit concert.

Nicks shared an impassioned letter in support of Ukraine, writing, “At 73 years old I never thought I would see in my lifetime flashes of things my mother and father told me about World War II.” Stevie also said she feels she’s an “honorary Ukrainian,” noting that she “fell in love with their great spirit and incredible bravery,” adding, “I stand with them now and forever.”

U2 posted a video of Bono and The Edge performing an acoustic version of “Walk On,” and told fans, “The brave people of Ukraine are fighting for their freedom — and for ours — in the face of unspeakable violence and an unjust invasion. More than 4 million people, mostly women and children, have had to flee for their lives — a population nearly the size of Ireland.”

Elton shared footage of a 2007 concert in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, and wrote, “We are devastated to see the suffering of people in Ukraine as this conflict unfolds.”

Other artists who also have posted messages as part of the campaign include Annie Lennox, Carole King, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Green Day.

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