Classic Hits

Moody Blues singer/bassist John Lodge returned to touring Tuesday night in Norfolk, Connecticut, almost exactly two years after he was forced off the road because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lodge has a three-week U.S. trek lined up through a March 26 show in Dania Beach, Florida, leading up to his appearance on the 2022 edition of the Flower Power Cruise.

“I’ve never had two years off [from being on stage] since I was like 14,” the 76-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer tells ABC Audio. “So, yeah, I’m really looking forward to it.”

In January, Lodge released a new live album titled The Royal Affair and After featuring performances from John’s stint on the Yes-headlined 2019 Royal Affair Tour and from his subsequent U.S. headlining trek.

The album is mainly made up of renditions of classic Moody Blues songs, and includes guest appearances by current Yes frontman Jon Davison on two songs, with a set list that reflects the one Lodge showcased on his 2019 and 2020 headlining treks.

Davison, who is friends with Lodge, joined John as a special guest throughout his previous tour, and Lodge says the Yes singer also is taking part in the new trek.

“I said to Jon, ‘You’ve go to go on the road with me,’ and he is,” Lodge tells ABC Audio. “[W]e’re gonna go have a great time.”

Meanwhile, Lodge says the set for this year’s tour, while similar to the one he played before the pandemic, will feature a few changes.

“I’ve been rehearsing some deeper cuts from The Moody Blues…for this tour, so it will be different,” he reveals.

Lodge also says he’s “really looking forward to” the star-studded Flower Power Cruise, which sets sail from Miami on March 28.

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Things have not gone so fab for the recently launched “It Was Fifty Years Ago Today: A Tribute to The Beatles” tour: Five consecutive shows have been postponed after someone associated with the participating musicians tested positive for COVID-19.

As previously reported, the trek features Todd Rundgren, Christopher Cross, founding Moody Blues and Wings member Denny Laine, Badfinger‘s Joey Molland, and former Chicago singer/bassist Jason Scheff performing songs from The Beatles‘ Rubber Soul and Revolver albums, as well as select tunes from their own careers.

According to a post on Rundgren’s Facebook page, the concerts were postponed “out of an abundance of caution…due to an individual on the band’s team having tested positive for COVID.”

The affected shows had been scheduled for March 5 in Westbury, New York; March 7 in Red Bank, New Jersey; March 8 in Annapolis, Maryland; March 9 in Medford, Massachusetts; and March 10 in Derry, New Hampshire.

The concerts will be rescheduled and tickets that have been already purchased will be honored for the new dates. More details will be announced soon.

The next scheduled date on the tour is a March 11 show in Staten Island, New York. The trek currently is slated to wrap up on March 27 in Kansas, City, Missouri.

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After releasing their first new studio effort in over 17 years late last month, Tears for Fears is making an impact again on the U.S. charts.

The British new wave veterans’ new album, The Tipping Point, has debuted at #8 on the Billboard 200, tying the band’s second-highest chart position ever on the tally.

Tears for Fears previously topped the Billboard 200 in 1985 with Songs from the Big Chair, while their 1989 album The Seeds of Love also peaked at #8.

The Tipping Point also bowed at #1 on a number of Billboard charts, including the Top Album Sales tally, which is based on traditional album sales. The album sold 29,000 copies during the week ending March 3, according to MRC data. Of that 29,000 figure, 12,000 sales were for CDs and 9,500 were for vinyl LPs.

In addition, The Tipping Point currently is #1 on Billboard‘s Top Rock Albums, Top Alternative Albums, Top Album Sales and Top Current Album Sales charts.

Tears for Fears will launch a U.S. tour in support of The Tipping Point on May 20 in Cincinnati. The trek, which will feature veteran alt-rockers Garbage as the opening act, is mapped out through a June 25 show in Wantagh, New York.

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Many fans know that Stevie Nicks is very close with pop star Harry Styles, but now Harry has tapped one of Stevie’s Fleetwood Mac‘s band mates to star in the new campaign for his beauty and lifestyle brand, Pleasing.

Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood, 74, is starring in the campaign for Pleasing’s new Shroom Bloom line of products, out on March 15. According to Vogue, the line features face and nail products, including four new shades of polish, as well as limited-edition apparel. The campaign was shot at Fleetwood’s home in Maui, Hawaii, and even includes a guest appearance from his pet pig, Tilly.

Mick and Harry first met eight years ago when the drummer took his twin daughters, who were 12 at the time, to see One Direction and then backstage for a meet-and-greet. But since Mick is six-foot-five, he wasn’t exactly fading into the background, and Harry, a huge Fleetwood Mac, noticed him. That’s how their friendship started.

In the photos, Fleetwood is wearing theatrical, colorful outfits and different colors of nail polish. “Oh, I loved that. I kept the varnish on for two weeks!” Mick tells Vogue. “Back in the day in London, I used to wear nail polish and all sorts of stuff, and the attitude was, ‘so what?’ It didn’t have anything to do with sexuality. It’s not about that. It’s about having fun.”

As for why Styles chose Fleetwood for the campaign, he tells Vogue that the drummer “is a magical man,” adding, “Mick is someone who brings me — and countless others — great joy.” He continues, “I felt there couldn’t be a better embodiment of Pleasing, or a person who could so naturally capture the wizardry that we love.”

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Bob Dylan undoubtedly knows a thing or two about writing songs, having composed hundreds during his 60-plus-year career. Now the folk-rock legend will publish a new book later this year in which he examines what he’s learned about the craft.

The Philosophy of Modern Song, which will be released on November 8, will feature Dylan’s musings about various aspects of writing tunes, reflections on various musical genres, and more than 60 essays about songs written by other artists, spanning from Stephen Foster to Elvis Costello.

Topics Dylan touches on in the book include the use of easy rhymes, how adding a syllable can affect an entire tune and much more. The Philosophy of Modern Song also will include more than 150 photos.

The book, which Dylan began writing in 2010, is a follow-up to his best-selling 2004 memoir, Chronicles, Volume One, and is his first book since he became the first songwriter to be honored with the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016.

“The publication of Bob Dylan’s kaleidoscopically brilliant work will be an international celebration of songs by one of the greatest artists of our time,” says Simon & Schuster president and CEO Jonathan Karp. “The Philosophy of Modern Song could only have been written by Bob Dylan. His voice is unique, and his work conveys his deep appreciation and understanding of songs, the people who bring those songs to life, and what songs mean to all of us.”

An audiobook version of the publication will be partly narrated by Dylan, along with a mix of other readers.

The Philosophy of Modern Song can be pre-ordered now. For more information, visit SimonandSchuster.com.

Meanwhile,  Dylan recently launched a spring U.S. tour that runs through an April 14 show in Oklahoma City.

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Stevie Nicks and Green Day are set to headline the 2022 Sea.Hear.Now festival, taking place September 17-18 is Asbury Park, New Jersey. The Fleetwood Mac singer will top the bill on the event’s first day, while the veteran pop-punk group will close out the fest on the 18th.

The bill also includes Gary Clark Jr., Cage the Elephant, My Morning Jacket, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Skip Marley and Courtney Barnett, among others.

In addition to the music, Sea.Hear.Now festival-goers can also enjoy two-day surfing contest.

Tickets go on sale this Wednesday, March 9, at 10 a.m. ET. For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit SeaHearNowFestival.com.

Nicks is confirmed to perform at four other U.S. festivals this year — 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; and at the Sound on Sound festival, which is scheduled for September 24 and 25 in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Green Day, meanwhile, has three other U.S. festival appearances lined up this year — on March 19 at the Innings Festival in Tampa, Florida; April 29 at the Shaky Knees Music Festival in Atlanta; and September 24 at the Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware.

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A new lyric video for “999,” the lead track off Keith Richards‘ 1992 sophomore solo effort Main Offender, has premiered at the Rolling Stones guitarist’s official YouTube channel in advance of the March 18 release of the album’s 30th anniversary reissue.

The clip features archival footage of Richards performing with his solo backing band The X-Pensive Winos, with whom he recorded Main Offender. Keith co-wrote the song with two key Winos members — drummer Steve Jordan and guitarist Waddy Wachtel.

Richards also has posted a recent video clip of him playing a segment of “999” solo on an acoustic guitar at his social media pages.

As previously reported, the Main Offender reissue will be available in multiple formats and configurations, including a limited-edition super-deluxe box set featuring remastered CD and vinyl versions of the album, as well as a bonus live album on CD and two LPs.

The live album featured in the box set, titled Winos Live in London ’92, features Keith and his band playing select songs from Main Offender and Richards’ 1988 solo debut album, Talk Is Cheap, as well as renditions of The Stones’ “Gimme Shelter,” “Before They Make Me Run” and “Happy.”

The super deluxe collection also features an LP version Main Offender pressed on smoke-colored vinyl; an 88-page, leather-bound book offering rare photos and Keith’s handwritten lyrics; and collectibles including a guitar pick, a bumper sticker and posters.

You can pre-order the reissue now.

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1980s prog-rock supergroup Asia released its self-titled debut album 40 years ago today.

While all four band members had plenty of success with their respective previous groups — drummer Carl Palmer with Emerson, Lake & Palmer, guitarist Steve Howe with Yes, singer/bassist John Wetton with King Crimson and U.K., and keyboardist Geoff Downes with The Buggles and Yes — the Asia album was the first #1 album in the U.S. for any of them.

Asia spent nine weeks atop the Billboard 200, and yielded two hit singles — “Heat of the Moment” and “Only Time Will Tell,” which peaked at #4 and #17, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100. Asia wound up being the best-selling album in the States in 1982.

Palmer tells ABC Audio that he wasn’t surprised that the band members had immediate chemistry, since he, Howe and Wetton already were quite familiar with each other.

“The DNA between Steve and myself [and] John, all very close, you know,” Carl explains. “So from my point of view, it was a natural group…And obviously, Geoffrey, when he came in, having that success with The Buggles and [Yes]…all of that was great…And it worked immediately.”

Palmer says Asia’s success is all the more impressive because prog-rock wasn’t popular on radio during the early ’80s. Carl notes that the band realized that it needed to incorporate more mainstream-rock elements into its music if it wanted to get radio airplay, and it also successfully utilized music videos to promote the group as MTV was such a popular media outlet then.

Palmer says Asia was one of the few albums he recorded that he actually played “back to back several times at home,” noting, that “the melodies [of the hits] were so strong.”

Here’s Asia‘s full track list:

“Heat of the Moment”
“Only Time Will Tell”
“Sole Survivor”
“One Step Closer”
“Time Again”
“Wildest Dreams”
“Without You”
“Cutting It Fine”
“Here Comes the Feeling”

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In the past couple of years, Billy Joel‘s charity foundation has pivoted from funding music education programs to helping with pandemic-related causes, such as providing PPE for healthcare workers and helping with food insecurity.  Now, the Billy Joel Foundation is providing aid to the people of Ukraine.

Billy’s foundation is donating $250,000 to BStrong, a charity started by Bethenny Frankel that has been providing “direct and immediate aid to refugees at the Ukrainian/Polish border.”  The money will go to, among other things, survival supply kits, transportation, short and long-term shelter and food relief as the Russian military continues their invasion of the Eastern European nation.

In a statement, the Foundation notes it continues to monitor the situation to determine what will be needed in the coming weeks, and asks those who want to help to donate at Bethenny.com/BStrong.

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Chaka Khan is one of many female artists set to take part in a new festival that Mary J. Blige is launching in partnership with Pepsi and Live Nation Urban this spring that celebrates women and their achievements.

The inaugural Strength of a Woman Festival and Summit will take place in Atlanta over Mother’s Day weekend, from May 6 to May 8. It will feature performances by Mary J. and Khan, as well as by Kiana Ledè, City Girls, Xscape, Queen Naija, Ella Mai and more.

“The idea for the festival came to us after early listening sessions of my latest album with my family and friends and women in the industry,” Blige explains in a statement. “Each time, the people in the room would share a story, oftentimes of heartbreak or pain, but they always ended with joy and love and how their girlfriends or mom or sister helped them find their voice and strength.”

Mary adds that after two years stuck inside because to the pandemic, she felt women “deserved” this kind of experience.

“I’m so grateful to all of the performers, vendors, and participants for committing themselves to our inaugural event and I am so excited to do this in a city that has been rocking with me since the very beginning of my career,” she says. “I am proud to create this with my sisters and I look forward to an undeniably beautiful and special experience.”

Presale tickets will be available starting Tuesday, March 8, at 10 a.m. ET, with tickets going on sale to the general public on Thursday, March 10, at 10 a.m. ET at SoaWFestival.com.

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