Classic Hits

U2 will play the first concerts ever at the MSG Sphere, a high-tech arena that’s being built at the Las Vegas resort The Venetian and that’s scheduled to open next year, Billboard reports, according to multiple sources.

The Irish rockers’ performances at the MSG Sphere reportedly will be part of a residency that will feature a series of shows held on non-consecutive days and will take place over the course of several months.

The MSG Sphere, which is being built by Madison Square Garden Entertainment chairman James Dolan, is being touted as “the largest spherical structure on Earth.” According to press information, the venue has a 20,000 guest capacity, and will offer a multisensory experience that features a 160,000-square-foot immersive video screen with 4D capability, and state-of-the-art spatialized audio.

The structure also will feature an exterior whose look will be changeable thanks to LED technology.

The MSG Square at The Venetian was initially scheduled to open in 2021, but plans were delayed until 2023 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. A second MSG Sphere also is being planned for London.

U2 currently has no confirmed concerts scheduled. The band’s last performance to date took place in December 2019 in Mumbai, India. Meanwhile, as was announced last week, U2 will be among the artists saluted at the 2022 Kennedy Center Honors this December.

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Gilbert O’Sullivan, the Irish-born U.K. pop veteran best known for his 1972 chart-topping ballad “Alone Again (Naturally),” released his 20th studio album, Driven, on Friday.

The 13-track collection includes a pair of duets — “Take Love” with Scottish singer/songwriter KT Tunstall and “Let Bygones Be Bygones” with Simply Red frontman Mick Hucknall — and was produced by Andy Wright, whose previous projects include albums by Simply Red, Simple Minds and Echo and the Bunnymen.

Driven is a follow-up to O’Sullivan’s 2018 self-titled album. It’s available now on CD, on cassette, via digital formats and as an LP pressed on either standard black vinyl or limited-edition clear vinyl.

In advance of Driven‘s release, O’Sullivan debuted music videos for three of the album’s tracks — “Take Love,” “You Can’t Say I Didn’t Try” and “Let Me Know.” You can check out all of the clips on Gilbert’s official YouTube channel.

O’Sullivan is set to launch a new series of tour dates that will see him visit venues in the U.K., Ireland and mainland Europe. The trek kicks off Saturday, July 23 in Chatham, U.K. and is plotted out through a December 12 concert in Birmingham, U.K. Check out all the dates at GilbertOSullivan.co.uk.

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All-star hard-rock band The Dead Daisies will release their sixth studio album, Radiance, on September 30.

The 10-track collection was recorded by the group’s current lineup of former singer/bassist Glenn Hughes, guitarists Doug Aldrich and David Lowy and drummer Brian Tichy. All of the songs were co-written by Hughes, Aldrich and Lowy.

“We had a great time composing and recording the record and I’m very excited for you all to hear what we put together,” says Aldrich, who played with such groups as Whitesnake and Dio prior to joining The Dead Daisies in 2016. “Definitely a heavy album but with some cool twists and turns! Hope you all like it.”

Radiance can be preordered now and will be available as a Digipak CD with a sticker, a vinyl LP in a gatefold sleeve and digitally.

Tichy, who rejoined The Dead Daisies earlier this year after previously playing with the group in 2013 and from 2015 to 2017, describes Radiance as “another slab of butt-kicking rock!”

He adds, “The guys all brought their A-Game and a tight, powerful record was created! I’m looking forward to everyone hearing it and playing more of these songs live in the near future!”

Fans have already been treated to two advance songs from Radiance, the title track and “Shine On,” which were released in June and earlier this month, respectively.

The Dead Daisies are currently on tour in Europe, where they’re opening for Judas Priest on select dates, as well as playing some festivals and headlining shows, through early August. The band also has a brief U.S. trek lined up in September. Check out their full schedule at TheDeadDaisies.com.

Here’s Radiance‘s full track list:

“Face Your Fear”
“Hypnotize Yourself”
“Shine On”
“Radiance”
“Born to Fly”
“Kiss the Sun”
“Courageous”
“Cascade”
“Not Human”
“Roll On”

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The summer is a little less cruel today, as Bananarama has just released its latest studio album, Masquerade.

The 11-track collection arrives as the British dance act celebrates 40 years of making music together. Bananarama, which is made up of two of the group’s three original members, Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward, originally intended Masquerade to be an EP, but the project expanded to a full-length album as the duo continued writing new songs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I love writing songs, it’s probably my favourite part, says Dallin. “Shutting myself away and coming up with ideas and then telling a story in less than 4 minutes, it really is quite an art.”

Adds Woodward, “Arranging the music, vocals and harmonies really is our forte.”

Nine of the album’s 11 tunes were written in collaboration with producer Ian Masterson. Masquerade also includes covers of two songs co-written by Sara’s daughter, Alice Dallin-Walker.

You can check out a music video for the album’s title track on the group’s official YouTube channel.

Bananarama will be performing this Sunday at the star-studded 1980s-themed Rewind Festival in Perth, Scotland. The duo will then celebrate Masquerade‘s release at two special shows in London on August 2 and 3. Visit Bananarama.co.uk for their full concert schedule.

Bananarama enjoyed its biggest success with their chart-topping 1986 cover of Shocking Blue‘s “Venus.” The group also scored top-10 hits in the U.S. in 1983 with “Cruel Summer” and 1987 with “I Heard a Rumour.”

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Jethro Tull has debuted a new music video for “Mine Is the Mountain,” a song from the band’s latest studio album, The Zealot Gene.

In a post on the group’s Facebook page, frontman Ian Anderson explains, “‘Mine Is the Mountain’ is, perhaps, a late-life partner to the Aqualung album song ‘My God.’ I had, as usual, a strong visual reference at the core of the lyrics. A miserable, committed trudge up Mount Sinai by Moses to face an angry maker before he must deliver the goods to his followers below is a powerful image, best imagined unless you are a wilderness trekker and much younger than I.”

The black-and-white clip, which has been posted on Jethro Tull’s official YouTube channel, uses a mix of stop-motion and live footage to depict an enigmatic game between two masked men who roll marbles toward holes on a wooden board and use roughly carved wooden tablets and figurines to build what appears to be a model of Moses ascending Mount Sinai.

The video was created and directed by Thomas Hicks, who previously worked on the clip for another song from The Zealot Gene: “Shoshana Sleeping.” Jethro Tull has also released videos for two other tunes from the album — the title track and “Sad City Sisters.”

Jethro Tull currently is on tour in Europe. Visit JethroTull.com to check out the band’s full itinerary.

Meanwhile, as previously reported, the group will release a 50th-anniversary vinyl reissue of its classic 1972 concept album Thick as a Brick next Friday, July 29. It can be preordered now.

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As part of Aerosmith‘s ongoing 50th-anniversary festivities, the band has unveiled plans for a new streaming concert series: 50 Years Live!: From the Aerosmith Vaults will kick off Friday, July 29, and will run for five consecutive weeks.

Each week, a new archival “official bootleg” concert film featuring never-before-seen footage will debut at Aerosmith.com and the band’s official YouTube channel. Each flick captures Aerosmith during a different decade and was filmed by multiple cameras.

The first installment, titled Live from The Summit, Houston, TX, 1977, features remastered footage from a two-night stand that the band played at the Houston venue in June ’77. It will air on July 29 at 3 p.m. ET and will be viewable for up to one week.

The other concert films in the series are as follows: Live from The Capital Centre, Landover, MD, 1989 will premiere August 5; Live from the Coca-Cola Star Lake Amphitheatre, Pittsburgh, PA, 1993 drops August 12; Live from Comerica Park, Detroit, MI, 2003 comes out August 19; and Live from Arena Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico City, 2016 arrives on August 26.

One day after each premiere, highlight clips from the respective films will also be added to Aerosmith’s YouTube channel.

As previously reported, Aerosmith has anniversary concerts scheduled on September 4 in Bangor, Maine and September 8 at Boston’s Fenway Park. They also have two eight-date Las Vegas residencies at the Dolby Live at Park MGM, running from September 14 to October 5 and November 19 to December 11.

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ZZ Top‘s latest album, Raw, hit stores Friday.

As previously reported, the stripped-down collection of live performances is dedicated to the band’s longtime bassist, Dusty Hill, who died in July 2021 at age 72.

“I think nothing could be a more fitting tribute [than] to release something that was so telling of how ZZ Top actually came about,” singer/guitarist frontman Billy Gibbons tells ABC Audio.

The 11-track album was recorded live at historic Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, Texas, in conjunction with the famed blues-rock trio’s 2019 documentary That Little Ol’ Band from Texas.

The album features ZZ Top’s classic lineup — Gibbons, Hill and drummer Frank Beard — playing versions of various songs from their back catalog, including hits like “Legs” and “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” and as well two tunes from the band’s 1971 debut album: “Brown Sugar” and “Certified Blues.”

Gibbons says the performance was unplanned, noting the film’s director had invited ZZ Top to Gruene Hall for what the band thought was just a photo shoot.

“Upon arrival, we discovered that some wires had been crossed,” Gibbons notes. “The ZZ Top equipment crew had not been told it was just a photo session. They set up the entire backline. We had guitars, amps, drums, the works.”

Gibbons says the trio proceeded to play a bunch of songs, and while footage of some performances were featured in the movie, Billy maintains he wasn’t aware that audio of the full set had been recorded until an engineer informed him a few months later.

“Upon listening to it, we all took a shine,” Gibbons notes, “and said, ‘Gee whiz, this sounds like the ZZ Top we’ve always known. That’s how we started.'”

Here’s Raw‘s full track list:

“Brown Sugar”
“Just Got Paid”
“Heard It on the X”
“La Grange”
“Tush”
“Thunderbird”
“I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide”
“Gimme All Your Lovin'”
“Blue Jean Blues”
“Certified Blues”
“Tube Snake Boogie”

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The Beatles‘ Ringo Starr, The Police‘s Stewart Copeland, and The Grateful Dead‘s Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann are among the famous musicians featured in an upcoming documentary titled Let There Be Drums!, according to Deadline.

The film, which aims to “examine the essential role drumming plays in great bands and how music passes from generation to generation,” will also feature interviews with Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Chad Smith, ex-Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum, Jane’s Addiction‘s Stephen Perkins and late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.

Hawkins’ appearance in the film marks, as Deadline puts it, “what may have been the final filmed interview” he gave prior to his unexpected death earlier this year.

Let There Be Drums! was directed by Kreutzmann’s son, Justin, who told Deadline the project gave him the opportunity “to talk to the world’s most influential drummers in hopes of better understanding his father and the instrument that defined his life.”

Let There Be Drums! is set to premiere in theaters October 28. Hart and Bill Kreutzmann are serving as executive producers on the movie.

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Another project about The Beatles may be on the way.

In a recent interview, Peter Jackson, the director behind the Disney+ three-part docuseries The Beatles: Get Back, revealed that he’s in talks with surviving members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr about a new endeavor.

“I’m talking to The Beatles about another project, something very, very different than Get Back,” Jackson told Deadline. “We’re seeing what the possibilities are, but it’s another project with them. It’s not really a documentary … and that’s all I can really say.”

Get Back, which hit Disney+ in November 2021, was created from dozens of hours of previously unseen footage that focuses on the January 1969 sessions that yielded the band’s Let It Be album.

The docuseries recently scored five Emmy nominations, in categories honoring outstanding documentary, directing, picture editing, sound editing and sound mixing.

Jackson told Deadline that he’s especially happy about the nominations in the sound-related categories.

“Get Back is all about the sound, and restoring the sound and developing the AI things to separate the musical tracks,” Peter notes. “We did a lot of groundbreaking work, so it’s really great that the guys who did that work are part of the Emmy nominations.”

The Beatles: Get Back is available now on DVD and Blu-ray.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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The Zombies will be playing a sold-out show tonight at the intimate Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace venue in Pioneertown, California, but if you can’t make it to the concert in person, the event will be streamed live via the Veeps.com platform.

Tickets for the virtual event are available now for $17.99, and you’ll be able to view the concert on demand for 72 hours after the live performance takes place. The show starts at 11 .m. ET/8 p.m. PT. Opening for the British Invasion legends will be veteran U.S. alternative rock band Rooney.

In a recent interview with DesertLocalNews.com, Zombies lead singer Colin Blunstone said about getting the chance to play at Pappy & Harriet’s, “I have heard of the reputation of this place and how unusual it is. I’m very much looking forward to going there.” The famous venue, located in the Califonia desert, hosted a concert by Paul McCartney back in 2016.

Meanwhile, Blunstone also revealed that The Zombies have “completely finished” recording their next studio album, which will be a followup to 2015’s Still Got That Hunger.

“I don’t have a release date and I don’t even have a title,” notes Colin about the upcoming record.

The Zombies will wind down the North American summer leg of their Life Is a Merry-Go-Round Tour with a three-night stand, July 28-30, in Park City, Utah.

The band also has a series of shows in mainland Europe scheduled from early September to early October, followed by a U.K. leg that will take place in April and May of 2023.

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