Classic Hits

On the heels of the release of their new studio album, Freedom, Journey kicks off a series of four orchestral concerts Friday night in Las Vegas at the new Resorts World Theatre, a 4,700-seat venue with a modern sound system.

“We’re definitely looking very much forward to playing these first shows … at [concert promoter] AEG’s new venue,” Journey guitarist Neal Schon tells ABC Audio. “It is supposed to be a complete state-of-the-art venue, from what I’ve heard from everyone that’s been there … It’s gonna sound amazing in there.”

Back in December, Journey played a one-off concert with an orchestra at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, but Schon says the new shows — which are scheduled for July 15, 16, 22 and 23 — will feature some different songs, including some tunes from Freedom.

“It’s gonna be a nice little stay there,” Schon offers.

Schon says the band likely will perform the songs from the new album without orchestral accompaniment, noting, “I think we’re gonna leave those raw and just lay it on the audience.”

According to Schon, among the new tunes from Journey’s back catalog that will be performed with the symphony are “Winds of March” and “City of Hope.”

Meanwhile, Schon says he actually likes the way Journey’s harder-rocking songs sound with an orchestra more than the ballads.

“It’s like the ballads, you can imagine what the symphony sounds like, ’cause they already sound like they’re orchestrated … on the album, with keys and sometimes real strings,” he explains. “But the rock stuff [combined with a symphony] adds a whole different dimension.”

Besides the four Vegas performances, Journey has eight nonsymphonic concerts lined up around the U.S. this year. Visit JourneyMusic.com to check out the band’s full schedule.

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Founding Toto keyboardist/singer David Paich has released a second advance track from his forthcoming debut solo EP, Forgotten Toys, which is due out August 19.

“Queen Charade” is available now via digital platforms, and you also can check it out on Toto’s official YouTube channel. The track features ex-Eagles member Don Felder on slide guitar, as well as Toto guitarist Steve Lukather and current Rolling Stones drummer Steve Jordan.

The song was inspired by the opera Queen of Spades and tells the story of a manipulative woman who beguiles men with her skill at playing cards.

Paich says, “This song, about an obsessed gambler and a cunning duchess, was inspired after I worked on Keith [Richards‘ 2015] solo record [Crosseyed Heart].”

As previously reported, Forgotten Toys is a seven-track EP that Paich co-produced with Toto frontman Joseph Williams and features contributions from a variety of well-known music artists, including Williams, Michael McDonald, Brian Eno, Elton John guitarist Davey Johnstone, Ray Parker Jr. and the aforementioned Felder, Lukather and Jordan.

The first advance track from the EP was a song titled “Spirit of the Moonrise,” which Paich co-wrote with Williams. That song also features Williams and McDonald on backing vocals, and lead guitar from Lukather.

You can preorder Forgotten Toys now.

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After guitarist Nita Strauss announced earlier this week that she was exiting Alice Cooper‘s touring band, the shock rocker has revealed that he’s “welcoming back” Kane Roberts for his September and October tour dates.

The 60-year-old Roberts previously played with Cooper from 1985 to 1988. He lent his talents to a pair of Alice’s studio albums, 1986’s Constrictor and 1987’s Raise Your Fist and Yell, as well as to one track on Cooper’s hit 1989 album, Trash.

“We’ve been friends all this time, and [Kane has] always been one of my favorite guitarists,” Cooper says in a statement. “He’s bringing more muscle to the Detroit Muscle Tour. We’ve always had a swinging door policy where players can come and go, so it’s very exciting to get back on stage with Kane. The fans are in for a real treat at these shows. It’s gonna be a blast.”

Roberts make up a three-guitar attack that also includes Ryan Roxie and Tommy Henriksen.

Strauss, who began playing with Cooper in 2014, announced Monday in a social media post that she was leaving his group and that she also was canceling her solo plans for the rest of the year.

“There is no drama whatsoever and my touring year is still VERY full,” she wrote. “In fact, I’m on a flight straight into the next adventure as I post this, and I’ll be on stage again much sooner than you think! But that’s news for another day.”

Cooper’s U.S. tour kicks off September 7 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and runs through an October 8 show in Henderson, Nevada.

Alice also will be appearing at the Comicpalooza event this Saturday and Sunday in Houston, where he’ll take part in a panel, sign autographs and more.

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After announcing dates for a 2023 U.S. tour leg earlier this week, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band have unveiled plans to play four concerts in the United Kingdom as part of their previously announced late-spring/early-summer European trek.

The newly added shows will take place May 30 in Edinburgh, Scotland; June 16 in Birmingham, England; and July 6 and July 8 in London’s Hyde Park. Tickets for the U.K. concerts go on sale Thursday, July 21, at 9 a.m. local time. Tickets for the Edinburgh show will be available at LiveNation.co.uk, while tickets for the Birmingham gig can be purchased at AXS.com and for the London concerts at BST-HydePark.com.

Springsteen and The E Street Band’s 2023 U.S. outing is mapped out from a February 1 concert in Tampa, Florida, through an April 14 performance in Newark, New Jersey. The European leg kicks off April 28 in Barcelona, Spain, and runs through a July 25 show in Monza, Italy.

Visit BruceSpringsteen.net to check out the Boss and his group’s full schedule.

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The official trailer for the recently announced four-part Rolling Stones docuseries My Life as a Rolling Stone has debuted on the EPIX network’s YouTube channel.

As previously reported, the series, which celebrates the British rock legends’ 60th anniversary, premieres August 7. Each hour-long episode will focus on one of the band’s four main members — singer Mick Jagger, guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood and late drummer Charlie Watts.

The trailer features a montage of film clips of The Stones playing live at different periods throughout their career, as well as a variety of archival footage capturing the band members behind the scenes and being interviewed. The promo also includes segments or voiceovers of Jagger, Richards and Wood discussing their bandmates.

At one point, Richards comments, “Mick Jagger is Mick Jagger, a very honorable man…under all that crap.”

We also hear Jagger say, “Keith’s got a reputation as a hell raiser. He’d play The Beatles all the time. [It’d] drive me batty!”

Wood then appears and says about himself, “Number one is learn how to laugh at yourself,” followed by Richards commenting about Watts, “Charlie was the best drummer England has ever produced.”

Near the end of the trailer, Richards declares, “Turning people on for 60 years, we must be doing something right.”

My Life as a Rolling Stone also will feature Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, Chrissie Hynde, Jon Bon Jovi, Joe Walsh, AC/DC‘s Brian Johnson, Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich, Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, Tom Waits, Dan Aykroyd and more. Actress Sienna Miller narrates the series.

The first episode will profile Jagger and will be available to watch for free via various cable and streaming services. The Richards, Wood and Watts episodes will debut on EPIX on August 14, August 21 and August 28, respectively.

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Buying a t-shirt as a concert souvenir is so 2021 — wouldn’t you rather buy an NFT?  Goo Goo Dolls are hoping the answer is yes.

In connection with their 2022 summer tour, the band is rolling out an NFT collection: There are 44 different designs, each commemorating a city they’ll be playing in.  Each animated NFT is based on the cover design of their upcoming album Chaos in Bloom, but has the name of the city instead of the title — such as “Chaos in Portland” or “Chaos in Kansas City” — plus the venue. 

There are 50 NFTs available per city, and they cost $25 each.  You can check them out, or purchase one, at the website Fanaply.

The band’s tour kicks off Friday, July 15 and is scheduled to wrap up September 24 in the band’s hometown of Buffalo, NY.  Chaos in Bloom arrives August 12.

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Jim Messina is set to reunite with his 1970s musical partner Kenny Loggins for a pair of shows this Friday and Saturday at the famed Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

The concerts are billed as “Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin’ In,” a play on the titled of the duo’s 1971 debut album, Sittin’ In, and Messina tells ABC Audio that the shows will begin with Loggins doing an hour of his solo material followed by the duo performing a set of their music.

Messina says he and Loggins will “give people a potpourri” from their catalog, adding that they will focus on “more of the earlier Loggins and Messina, which I think people are most familiar with.”

Among the songs Jim says he and Kenny likely will perform are “House at Pooh Corner,” “Danny’s Song,” “Trilogy,” “Angry Eyes,” “Vahevela” and their biggest hit, “Your Mama Don’t Dance.”

Loggins and Messina only performed together once before at the Hollywood Bowl, in August 1972. The shows also are part the venue’s 100 birthday festivities.

Meanwhil, a recent USA Today article reported that Loggins confirmed these two shows will be the last time that he and Messina will perform together. However, Jim tells ABC Audio that he’d be open to playing more concerts with Kenny, and he suggests this week’s events could help gauge as to whether that’s a good idea.

“[W]e can see if we’re having fun, and if we are, then [we could] do some more,” he notes. “If not, then, you know, we gave it the old college try, right?”

Asked what he’s looking forward to about the concerts, Messina says, “I think most of all is feeling the experience of our two voices working together.”

Tickets for the shows are available at HollywoodBowl.com.

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From 1969 to 1989, CREEM magazine was an essential read for any music fan, showcasing the work of legendary writers like Lester Bangs, Cameron Crowe, Patti Smith and Robert Christgau. On September 15, CREEM returns after 33 years out of print as a subscription-only quarterly with an issue that includes features on Slash, The Who and new artists like punk act Special Interest. And ABC Audio has a first look at one of its exclusive feature stories.

The Who feature is an excerpt from an unpublished book by late legendary tour manager Richard Cole, probably best known for working with Led Zeppelin during their most debauched years — yes, he was an active participant in the infamous incident with a groupie and a mud shark. But before Zeppelin, he worked for The Who, and soon learned the drawbacks of working for a band whose drummer loved blowing things up.

In CREEM’s except from Cole’s book, the year is 1965, and Cole and The Who have just arrived at a beautiful hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland. He’s confused as to why drummer Keith Moon asked them to stop so he could purchase some weed killer and several bags of sugar — and why bass player John Entwistle is so amused by the request.  At the hotel, the band settles in, Cole orders some food…and then all hell breaks loose:

As soon as I had taken the first bite out of my ham and cheese sandwich, I heard the almighty blaring of the fire alarms going off. When I looked over at [my assistant] Alan, he had this big stupid grin on his face, as though he knew something I didn’t. When I opened the door, I was shocked to see smoke steaming out of the emergency-exit door. I then looked the other way and saw the grinning faces of Moon and Entwistle peering around their room door.

As I closed the door behind me, the phone started ringing. I answered it to the irate voice of the hotel manager requesting my presence at the front desk immediately. Alan, who had started up with the band before I came around, was still smirking on his bed when I left the room. To him, it was just another day on the road with the Who.

The fire brigade was just leaving when I walked across the hall to the front desk. The manager had made out our bills, but there were no room charges: just a bill for my sandwiches and the fire brigade. We were then given instructions to get out of his hotel immediately before he called the police to throw us out.

To read even more of Cole’s exploits with The Who, subscribe to get CREEM’s new issue when it becomes available in September.  Digital-only subscriptions are also available.

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The Rolling Stones are in the midst of the first leg of their SIXTY tour, commemorating their 60th anniversary, and frontman Mick Jagger recently chatted with Apple Music’s Matt Wilkinson about the trek.

The current tour leg, which finds The Stones visiting a variety of European cities, is the second the band has played with drummer Steve Jordan, who stepped in for longtime drummer Charlie Watts after Watts passed away last August at age 80.

Jagger tells Wilkinson that Jordan has fit in well with the group, and he feels that’s least partly because Steve shares some important attributes with Charlie.

“If you introduce someone else into a band of people, it’s always going to change the dynamic, but Steve, he’s a great drummer,” Mick notes. “[B]ut also…like Charlie was, he’s a student of drumming. [He’s] not just a ‘wang bash’ drummer, or even just a great drummer. He’s also a student of drumming.”

Jagger adds, “He can listen to Charlie’s performances on record, and live, obviously, and take those and keep the essence of what Charlie did in those songs without changing it very much. Of course, he will interpret them slightly differently, but he’ll keep the great things that Charlie did, and add his own thing to it.”

Meanwhile, Mick says he feels that The Rolling Stones have generally become “a much more consistent performing band” during over the last two decades.

“We always set a standard and try to hit that,” the 78-year-old rock legend maintains. “Of course, some shows are better than others for whatever reason…and they’re different. Maybe they’re not as good in some ways, maybe they’re better than others. You know, every show is a different animal.”

The Stones next show takes place this Friday, July 15, in Vienna.

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Elvis Presley‘s famous Memphis mansion, Graceland, has announced plans for the virtual edition of this year’s Elvis Week event, which coincides annually with the anniversary of the late King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s death.

Fans who can’t attend the August 9-17 celebration in person will be able to enjoy an online experience that features a variety of events, including tribute concerts and other performances, conversations with Presley-related guests, Elvis impersonator contests, a virtual prerecorded tour of Graceland and more.

Among the scheduled shows is the “Elvis Presley in Concert” event, which features footage of Elvis on the big screen accompanied by a live group, including guitarist James Burton, piano player Glen Hardin and bassist Jerry Scheff of Elvis’ TCB Band, plus a special appearance by Presley’s ex-wife, Priscilla Presley.

There will also be two “Conversations on Elvis” interview sessions, featuring such special guests as I Dream of Jeannie‘s Barbara Eden, who appeared with Presley in the 1960 film Flaming Star, and Elvis’ Memphis Mafia  entourage member Jerry Schilling.

Three different packages are available for Virtual Elvis Week, offering access to various events. You can purchase the packages at VirtualElvisWeek.com, while tickets to the in-person Elvis Week festivities are available at Graceland.com.

Elvis Week also will feature the traditional candlelight vigil held on the eve of the anniversary of Elvis’ August 15, 1977, death and running until the morning hours of August 16. As usual, the vigil will be streamed live for free at Livestream.com.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of Elvis’ passing.

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