Classic Hits

A variety of famous veteran acts populate the top of Pollstar‘s new lists of the top touring artists by total box-office grosses and total ticket sales, based on information the concert-industry publication began collecting in 1980.

At #1 of top-grossing touring artists are The Rolling Stones, who have brought in a whopping $2.17 billion between July 7, 1980, and July 1, 2022.

Not far behind The Stones are U2, who landed in second place on the tally with $2.12 billion in concert grosses.

Other artists in the top 10 of the list are Elton John at #3 with $1.75 billion; Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band at #4 with $1.53 billion; Madonna at #5 with $1.39 billion; Celine Dion at #6 with $1.35 billion; Bon Jovi at #7 with $1.33 billion; the Eagles at #8 with $1.31 billion; and Paul McCartney at #10 with $1.19 billion.

A bit lower on the tally are Billy Joel at #11, Pink Floyd‘s Roger Waters at #18 and Rod Stewart at #19.

The top touring artists by ticket sales are U2, with 26.2 million sold. The Stones are in third place at #3 with 22.1 million, with Springsteen & the E Street Band at #4 with 20.8 million, Elton at #5 with 19.8 million, Bon Jovi at #7 with 17.8 million, Joel at #8 with 17 million and The Grateful Dead rounding out the top 10 with 15.5 million.

You can check out the full lists at Pollstar.com.

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Mo Ostin, the legendary record executive who headed the Warner Bros. Records label for over 30 years, died “peacefully in his sleep” on Sunday at age 95, according to a Warner Music Group press statement.

“Mo was one of the greatest record men of all time, and a prime architect of the modern music business,” Warner Records co-chairmen Tom Corson and Aaron Bay-Schuck said in a joint statement. “For Mo, it was always first and foremost about helping artists realize their vision … Mo lived an extraordinary life doing what he loved, and he will be deeply missed throughout the industry he helped create, and by the countless artists and colleagues whom he inspired to be their best selves.”

As explained in a Billboard obit, early in his career, Ostin was hired by Frank Sinatra to run the iconic singer’s Reprise Records in 1960. After Warner Bros. Records bought Reprise in 1963, Ostin signed artists like The Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young to the label.

Ostin began his tenure as president of Warner Bros. Records in 1970, became the company’s chairman and CEO in ’72, and oversaw saw the label and its Reprise imprint until he retired in 1994.

During his years with Warner Bros. Records, the company signed such famous artists as Van Halen, Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor, Paul Simon, ZZ Top, Don Henley, Tom Petty, R.E.M., The B-52s, Green Day, Dire Straits, Chaka Khan and Prince.

After retiring from Warner Bros., Ostin co-founded and ran the DreamWorks SKG’s music division from 1996 to 2004. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

A wide range of artists and other music-industry figures have shared tributes to Ostin, including Clive Davis, Neil Young, Nancy Sinatra, Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Flea, The Beach Boys‘ Al Jardine and Christopher Cross.

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Creedence Clearwater Revival has unveiled plans to issue a previously unreleased live album capturing a historic 1970 show the band played in London in conjunction with the recently announced concert film and documentary Travelin’ Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall.

The film, which includes footage of CCR’s entire April 14, 1970, concert at the Royal Albert Hall and is narrated by Jeff Bridges, will premiere internationally on September 14. The album will be released in multiple formats that same day.

Titled Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall, the album features renditions of all 12 songs performed by CCR at the show, including such classic as “Travelin’ Band,” “Fortunate Son,” “Bad Moon Rising” and “Proud Mary.”

The version of “Bad Moon Rising” is available now as an advance digital track.

The album, which can be preordered now, will be available on CD, cassette, 180-gram vinyl and via various digital formats. Select retailers, including Walmart and Target, are offering limited-edition colored-vinyl variants of the record.

Meanwhile, a super deluxe box set will be released on November 14 that features a Blu-ray of the Travelin’ Band film, two-LP 45-rpm versions of the live album and a bonus CD containing music that’s featured in the movie.

The Blu-ray also includes high-res digital audio versions of the album. In addition, the package boasts a reproduction of CCR’s 1970 tour program, a poster and a 16-page booklet that includes an excerpt from Bridges’ voice-over script for the flick.

As previously reported, Travelin’ Band features a treasure trove of rare and unseen footage, including recently rediscovered 16-mm film of the concert and behind-the-scenes clips of the band.

Here’s the album’s full track list:

“Born on the Bayou”
“Green River”
“Tombstone Shadow”
“Travelin’ Band”
“Fortunate Son”
“Commotion”
“Midnight Special”
“Bad Moon Rising”
“Proud Mary”
“The Night Time Is the Right Time”
“Good Golly Miss Molly”
“Keep On Chooglin'”

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In 2017 and 2018, founding Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm and the band’s other surviving original former members rejoined the group for several special reunion shows, but Gramm says it’s unlikely that he’ll play any more concerts with the veteran rockers.

In a recent Zoom interview with RockHistoryMusic.com, Gramm was asked if his association with Foreigner was over, and Lou responded, “I think so, yeah. I don’t want to be part of it.”

Lou, who’s 72, noted that two of the band’s six original members, multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald and bassist Ed Gagliardi, have passed away, while founding Foreigner guitarist and main songwriter Mick Jones “is in very poor health.”

“[W]hen the new Foreigner plays, I’ve heard that [Mick] comes on for one song and then waves and goes offstage,” Gramm said. “[Until fairly recently,] he would play the whole last half of the set. But then he was in the hospital again for weeks. He had some heart problems and his recovery time was very long and tedious. And I heard that he comes out for one song now…when he comes on.”

Lou adds, “Most of the time Foreigner has no original Foreigner members in it.”

Also during the interview, Gramm admitted that he wasn’t too enamored with the group’s current lead singer, Kelly Hansen.

“Kelly is all right,” Lou said. “He’s a good singer. But I think Mick really told Kelly, when he first got in the band, that he had to study me, because he sings those songs with the same musical innuendos and vocal licks and ad-libs as I have. He’s mimicking me.”

Gramm added, “I don’t take it as a compliment. You’re a singer with a big band like that — use your voice and your style. Don’t hang your coat on my hook.”

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Billy Joel will headline the first day of the two-day ATLive festival, which will take place November 11-12 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Joining the Piano Man on the November 11 bill will be Lionel Richie and Sheryl Crow. Day two of the festival will be a country-themed show headlined by Chris Stapleton, featuring Miranda Lambert, Dwight Yoakam and Katie Pruitt.

Tickets for the third annual ATLive event go on sale Friday, August 12, at 10 a.m. ET at Ticketmaster.com, while presale tickets will be available starting this Wednesday, August 3, at 10 a.m. ET.

Joel currently has six other U.S. concerts lined up this year — August 11 in Pittsburgh; September 23 in Houston; and August 24, September 9, October 9 and November 23 at Madison Square Garden as part of his ongoing monthly residency at the famed New York City venue.

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Bruce Springsteen paid a visit to the Asbury Park, New Jersey club The Wonder Bar on Sunday to help the historic venue celebrate the 20th anniversary of its renovation and reopening.

NJ Advance Media reports that The Boss showed up at the club several hours before a concert by original E Street Band drummer Vini Lopez and his current group The Wonderful Winos.

A video posted on Wonder Bar manager Debbie DeLisa‘s social media sites shows Springsteen, with his arm around her, sending out a special message in honor of the milestone.

“It is the 20th anniversary of The Wonder Bar,” Bruce declares in the clip. “I just want to congratulate the Wonder Bar on being an Asbury Park institution and bringing so much love and character to our town.”

Springsteen then embraces DeLisa, who thanks Bruce “for everything that you do.”

Stan Goldstein, who gives Springsteen-related tours of the Jersey Shore, told NJ Advance Media that he spotted Springsteen hanging out at The Wonder Bar for a while on Sunday with late E Street Band sax player Clarence Clemons‘ son Jarod and also taking a stroll on the Asbury Park boardwalk.

“He hasn’t been around Asbury Park, it’s the first I’ve known of it happening in a few years,” Goldstein said. “It’s a big deal, that he’s hanging out in Asbury Park enjoying himself on a Sunday in the summer.”

Bruce has been known to occasionally give surprise performances at The Wonder Bar, the most recent being a July 2015 appearance at a show by his friends Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers, during which he played for nearly two hours.

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Joe Walsh‘s sixth annual VetsAid benefit concert is scheduled for November 13 in Columbus, Ohio and will feature a reunion of his old band James Gang — with drummer Jim Fox and bassist Dale Peters — for what’s being billed as their final performance or “One Last Ride.”

The event’s lineup also features Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, Nine Inch Nails, The Breeders and The Black Keys.

Walsh, who spent part of his youth growing up in Columbus and went to college at Ohio’s Kent State University, wanted to create an all-Ohio bill for the concert, which this year will specifically support Ohio veterans and their families.

The James Gang and NIN formed in Cleveland, The Black Keys are from Akron, The Breeders hail from Dayton, and Grohl was born in Warren.

“It all started in Ohio,” says Walsh. “Picking up my first guitar as a kid in Columbus set me on a musical journey to Kent State, Cleveland and then the world. Now it is a great privilege and humbling opportunity for me to share the stage once again with my original James Gang buddies and with this absolutely incredible group of Ohio rock legends.”

The 2022 VetsAid concert will be held at Nationwide Arena in Columbus. Tickets go on sale this Friday, August 5 at 10 a.m. ET atTicketmaster.com. Pre-sale tickets will be available on Wednesday, August 3, starting at 10 a.m. ET. For more info, visitVetsAid.org.

This marks the first time since 2019 that the show will be held live and in person after being aired as a streaming event in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

So far, VetsAid has distributed $2 million in grants to charities that support veterans and their families.

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Over the years, Melissa Etheridge has flirted with Broadway: In 2011, she played the role of St. Jimmy in the musical American Idiot, and in 2019, it was reported that she was writing the music for a stage version of the movie Mystic Pizza. It turns out, she’s also got plans to bring her own songs and story to the Great White Way.

Unlike, say, Jersey Boys, which tells the story of The Four Seasons through the group’s songs, or Mamma Mia!, which uses ABBA‘s songs as part of an original story, Melissa tells ABC Audio that what she has in mind was inspired by something one of her musical heroes did.

“The first thing will be more like Springsteen on Broadway,” Melissa says, referring to the hugely successful run of shows Bruce Springsteen did on and off from 2017 to 2021. “It will be me. It’ll be my songs and my story.”

So, did Melissa just go to see Bruce and figure, “I can do that?” She laughs, “Exactly. I went, ‘I can do that, and I can do it my own way.'”

She explains, “I mean, he did a very specific thing and my story is certainly different. And the way that I would unfold it is going to be different too.”

Melissa has shows scheduled through September — including her destination festival Etheridge Island over Labor Day weekend — but the Broadway plan is looming.

“There might be something at the end of this year; we’ll see,” she teases.

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August 1 marks what would have been late Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia‘s 80th birthday.

The singer/guitarist was the de facto leader of The Dead, inspiring an entire subculture of “Deadheads” who’ve embraced the San Francisco area group’s mix of rootsy, laid-back music and psychedelic jams, as well as the counterculture lifestyle the band espoused.

Garcia co-wrote most of The Dead’s songs, usually in collaboration with lyricist Robert Hunter, including well-known tunes like “Casey Jones,” “Ripple,” “Friend of the Devil,” “Truckin’,” “Bertha,” “Alabama Getaway” and “Touch of Grey.”

Outside of The Grateful Dead, Garcia was involved in a variety of solo and side projects, including the Jerry Garcia Band, the bluegrass group Old and in the Way and as a duo with mandolinist David Grisman. He also lent his talents to many other artists’ recordings.

Garcia was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Grateful Dead in 1994. When he declined to attend the ceremony, his bandmates jokingly brought a life-size cutout of him to the event.

Jerry died of a heart attack on August 9, 1995, at age 53. Since his passing, Garcia’s surviving Dead bandmates have carried on his legacy by continuing to perform and record — together, individually and in varying combinations.

In 2015, Garcia was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame alongside Hunter, who died in 2019 at age 78.

A variety of events have been scheduled to commemorate Garcia’s milestone birthday. Among them, three Major League Baseball teams will be hosting Jerry Garcia-themed celebrations at their home games in the coming days — the New York Yankees on Monday, the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday and the Boston Red Sox on August 9.

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Jimy Sohns, lead singer of the 1960s garage-rock band The Shadows of Knight, died Friday after suffering a stroke earlier in the week. He was 75.

Sohns’ death was announced by the band’s official Facebook page, which shared a note from Sohn’s daughter, Rachael, that reads, “My dads is gone at 5:10pm! He wired for me to go outside and left us! Fly high my rock n roll [ruler].”

Conor Mahoney, who manages the Shadows of Knight Facebook page, added, “Absolutely devastated. My thoughts go out to Jimy’s family and friends at this time. My best friend is gone, and I will miss running this page with him. His legend will live on forever.”

The Shadows of Knight are best known for their hit cover of the Van Morrison-penned 1964 Them classic “Gloria,” which reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966. The Chicago-based band also scored a top-40 hit with their follow-up single, a cover of Bo Diddley‘s “Oh Yeah.”

The band released three albums during its original 1960s heyday. Sohns continued to lead various lineups of the group over the years.

In 2006, The Shadows of Knight took part in the “Little Steven” Van Zandt-organized Underground Garage Tour with The Romantics and also released a new studio album called A Knight to Remember.

In 2020, The Shadows of Knight released a new single — “Wild man”/”I Ain’t Got You” — on Little Steven’s Wicked Cool Records label that featured Sohns recording with the band’s early guitarist Jerry McGeorge for the first time since the ’60s.

In March, Sohns released his first solo single, a collaboration with former Pretty Things keyboardist Jon Povey and the Italian psychedelic group Technicolour Dream.

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