Classic Hits

Lindsey Buckingham has scrapped the remainder of his current European tour for medical reasons.

A statement on his Instagram feed reads, “Due to ongoing health issues, Lindsey Buckingham is regrettably having to cancel the remaining shows on his current European tour. Refunds will be available from the point of purchase. Lindsey sends his deepest apologies to all his fans who were planning to attend and hopes to return to Europe in the future.”

It’s not clear what those health issues are. Buckingham, 73, was originally supposed to do the shows in question earlier this year, but they were postponed after he and some of his touring party got COVID-19.

In 2019, the former Fleetwood Mac guitarist had a heart attack and underwent triple-bypass surgery. That procedure required the insertion of a breathing tube that damaged his vocal cords, but luckily, it was only temporary.

Buckingham’s tour was in support of his 2021 self-titled solo album.

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U2‘s Bono will support his forthcoming memoir with a 14-city world tour that kicks off November in New York City.

Bono’s memoir Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story will be released November 1. The first date of the tour is November 2 at New York’s Beacon Theatre. He’ll then visit Boston, Toronto, Chicago, Nashville, San Francisco and Los Angeles before heading overseas for appearances in the U.K., Ireland, Germany and France, and wrapping things up in Madrid, Spain on November 28.

The tour is described as “an evening of words, music and some mischief,” which means Bono won’t only be talking about his life, he’ll be singing about it too. In a statement, he says, “I miss being on stage and the closeness of U2’s audience. In these shows, I’ve got some stories to sing, and some songs to tell.”

He adds, “Plus, I want to have some fun presenting my ME-moir, Surrender, which is really more of a WE-moir, if I think of all the people who helped me get from there to here.”

Tickets for the book tour go on sale this Friday, October 7 at 10 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster, and each ticket comes with a copy of Bono’s book. There’s a two-ticket limit per person.

Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story has 40 chapters, each named after a U2 song. They tell Bono’s story from his days as a child growing up in Dublin, to the loss of his mother when he was 14, to the founding of U2 and their rise to global stardom. It also covers Bono’s activism, working to fight AIDS and extreme poverty. The singer’s also created 40 original drawings for the book.

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Last month, Talking Heads released new Dolby Atmos mixes of all eight of their studio album — Talking Heads: 77, More Songs About Buildings and Food, Fear of Music, Remain in Light, Speaking in Tongues, Little Creatures, True Stories and Naked.

Overseeing the project was Talking Heads guitarist/keyboardist Jerry Harrison, who tells ABC Audio that all of the band’s other members — frontman David Byrne, drummer Chris Frantz and bassist Tina Weymouth — okayed the mixes.

Harrison says his main collaborator on the Dolby Atmos mixes was engineer Eric Thorngren, who also worked on the original Little Creatures and True Stories sessions. Ed Stasium, who engineered Talking Heads’ 1977 debut album, also contributed to the updated mixes.

The Dolby Atmos format offers a three-dimensional audio experience, and Jerry notes that while listening to the mixes with high-tech Apple headphones is great, he prefers listening them on traditional speakers.

“[W]hen you’re in a really good room that has an Atmos system, then that’s really quite fabulous sounding,” he maintains.

Meanwhile, Harrison teamed up with ex-King Crimson singer/guitarist Adrian Belew and other musicians this past Thursday at Los Angeles’ Wiltern theater and Saturday at San Francisco’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival for their latest in a series of gigs celebrating the music of Talking Heads.

As previously reported, the shows were inspired by a 1980 concert Talking Heads played in Rome during the Remain in Light tour, when the band featured an expanded lineup that included Belew.

Harrison says he and Belew have plans to play more of these shows, but they probably won’t be until next year because of Adrian’s other touring commitments. Belew is taking part in the Celebrating David Bowie tribute trek, which runs from October 6 through November 13.

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The Who will launch the second North American leg of their 2022 The Who Hits Back! tour this Sunday, October 2, in Toronto.

The trek, which features 16 shows, runs through a November 4-5 stand at Las Vegas’ Dolby Live venue.

As with the first leg of The Who Hits Back! tour and the previous Moving On! trek, the new outing will feature the British rock legends accompanied by an orchestra at all shows.

Ex-Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page will serve as The Who’s support act at the tour’s first five shows, spanning from October 2 through October 12. Founding Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and his current band The Dirty Knobs will be the opener at the next nine dates, running from October 14 through a November 1 performance at Los Angeles’ famed Hollywood Bowl.

The Wild Things, a contemporary British rock band that Who guitarist Pete Townshend has been producing, will be the support act at the tour’s two-show finale in Las Vegas.

Joining The Who’s two surviving original members, Townshend and frontman Roger Daltrey, the band’s current touring lineup also features guitarist/backing singer Simon Townshend — Pete’s brother — drummer Zak Starkey, keyboardists Loren Gold and Emily Marshall, bassist Jon Button, and backing vocalist Billy Nicholls.

The orchestras will be conducted by Keith Levenson, while lead violinist Katie Jacoby and lead cellist Audrey Q. Snyder will perform at all of the shows.

Visit TheWho.com to check out the full list of tour dates.

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Want to own a handwritten copy of lyrics to famous songs by ZZ Top and Peter Frampton? Now’s your chance.

A variety of music artists, including ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons and Frampton, have contributed handwritten copies of their song lyrics that will go up for bid starting October 1 at JuliensLive.com as part of an online auction to benefit the Music Health Alliance charity.

Gibbons has donated a sheet with the lyrics to his band’s classic 1983 hit “Sharp Dressed Man,” and a doodle of a skeleton wearing a sombrero and sipping a beer. Frampton has offered up handwritten lyrics to his 1976 hit “Do You Feel Like I Do,” which he co-wrote with John Siomos, Mick Gallagher and Rick Wills.

Among the many other artists contributing to the auction are Train‘s Pat Monahan, Michael Martin Murphey, Vince Gill, Reba McEntire, Loudon Wainwright and George Strait.

This sale marks the third annual installment of the “Handwritten Song Lyrics Benefitting Music Health Alliance” sale, which is hosted by Julien’s Auctions. Bidding closes on October 24.

The Music Health Alliance is an organization that advocates for music industry members’ access to health care and financial support for medical procedures.

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 R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck and Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic guest on a new single from rising Cuban rock artist Hector Tellez Jr.

The track is called “Silver Blue Jellyfish” and is available now via digital outlets.

“‘Silver Blue Jellyfish’ is a song about hope and how powerful your life can be when you listen to the call of your deepest purpose and how you can inspire others to pursue their desire to lead a life of freedom, love and happiness,” Tellez says.

The collaboration came together after Tellez’s demo found its way to producer Barrett Martin, who played drums in Screaming Trees and the grunge supergroup Mad Season. Upon inviting Tellez to Seattle to record an album, Martin also recruited a few friends, including Buck and Novoselic, to take part, too.

Buck joined Tellez to perform “Silver Blue Jellyfish” during this year’s Hispanic Heritage Awards, which will air Friday on PBS.

Novoselic, meanwhile, performed at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert in Los Angeles earlier this week, joining his Nirvana bandmate Dave Grohl, members of Soundgarden and The Pretty Reckless‘ Taylor Momsen to play two Soundgarden songs.

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Sammy Hagar and current band The Circle‘s new studio album, Crazy Times, has just been released on CD and via digital formats.

The 10-song collection was recorded in Nashville with Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb, best known for his work with a variety of major country artists.

Cobb interviewed Hagar about the album for an episode of his Southern Accents Radio program, which will premiere October 1 at 7 p.m. ET on Apple Music.

Cobb enthused about getting to work with Hagar and The Circle’s members — drummer Jason Bonham, longtime Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and virtuoso guitarist Vic Johnson.

“Going into the studio, watching you guys play was so intimidating because I’m looking at heroes up there, but not only that, but just the fire that you guys have,” Cobb said. “When you sing, there’s a fire that very few people have and it was just so impressive to see the whole thing go down live. I’ll never forget it.”

Hagar responded by noting, “You got to admit, there is great chemistry in this band and as many bands as you’ve produced and dealt with, you can have the best musicians in the world, and without chemistry, it don’t work.”

The two also discussed the Crazy Times track “Father Time,” which Cobb said is the best song Hagar has ever written.

Sammy agreed, saying, “To me, it’s the best song of the album. Best song I’ve ever written. Maybe my best vocal performance … I’m happy with the whole record, but if I said, ‘Listen to one song on this record,’ I’d say listen to that song.”

Meanwhile, vinyl versions of Crazy Times will be released on October 28.

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Once again, Cher unexpectedly dropped in unannounced for a stint on Paris Fashion Week — this time for designer Rick Owens

ET Canada reports the Oscar winner made another surprise appearance on Thursday night, but she wasn’t there to strut the runway as she had done the night prior.

For the upscale event, Cher radiated a rock vibe with a stylish black velvet fedora, black zip-up sweater, leather fingerless gloves, black platform boots and a white, gray and black plaid skirt and pant ensemble.  

As previously reported, the legendary singer strutted the catwalk at the Balmain fashion show on Wednesday night. Cher donned a marbled spandex bodysuit with a daring plunging neckline, black fingerless gloves, and once again, those black platform boots as she walked along to her hit “Strong Enough.”  

As she walked arm-and-arm with designer Olivier Rousteing, Cher couldn’t help but mouth along to the words of her 1998 hit.

“JUST HAD BEST TIME, ON STAGE…FELT GREAT,” the 76-year-old Cher tweeted after the jubilant display. “SHOW WAS PROBABLY BEST FASHION SHOW ‘EVER.’MODELS WERE BEAUTY FROM ANOTHER UNIVERSE. CLOTHES 2 DIE 4…OLIVIER 2 DIE 4.”

Paris Fashion Week continues through October 4, so it is possible we’ll see more of Cher in the coming days.

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Putting on two massive tribute concerts to late drummer Taylor Hawkins this month was undoubtedly quite the undertaking, but Foo Fighters did have a guide to help out.

As Queen drummer Roger Taylor tells Billboard, Foo members Dave Grohl and Pat Smear told him they used the 1992 Freddie Mercury tribute concert as a “model.”

“I was very heavily involved in [the ’92 show], so that was sort of the model they built these shows on,” Taylor says. “Which is nice because we’ve always been tight with the Foo Fighters. We just love that band, like family.”

The Mercury concert was held several months after the iconic vocalist passed away in November 1991 and featured performances from the likes of Elton John, David Bowie, Guns N’ Roses, U2, George Michael and Def Leppard.

The Foos shows were no less star-studded, featuring names like Paul McCartney, AC/DC‘s Brian Johnson and Joan Jett, plus members of Rush, Led Zeppelin, The Pretenders, The Police, The Cars, Def Leppard, Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Taylor and Queen’s Brian May also performed at both concerts, which were held in London and Los Angeles. The drummer tells Billboard that the shows had “different” energies, partially because the London one was livestreamed.

“The one in London was more of seamless show with a lot of little filmed sequence in-between and so many acts,” Taylor says. “[Los Angeles] was more like a real rock parade. It was an emphasis on hard, heavy rock, and just one act after another and a parade of drummers like you’ve never seen, all the best rock ‘n’ roll drummers in the world.”

He adds, “It was a fantastic night, just a wonderful night for my great friend Taylor.”

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Today, September 30, marks the 25th anniversary of the release of Bob Dylan‘s lauded 30th studio album, Time Out of Mind.

The collection of 11 new original tunes was considered a return to form for the influential singer/songwriter, who hadn’t released an album of his own new compositions since 1990’s Under the Red Sky.

Time Out of Mind reached #10 on the Billboard 200, Dylan’s first studio album to break into the top 10 of the chart since 1979’s Slow Train Coming, which peaked at #3.

The album won a trio of Grammys in 1998 — including his first and only Album of the Year trophy, as well as awards for Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Rock Vocal Performance for the song “Cold Irons Bound.”

Time Out of Mind was produced by Daniel Lanois, who also worked with Dylan on his 1989 album Oh Mercy. Among the musicians who contributed to the record were acclaimed session drummer Jim Keltner, Augie Meyers of the Sir Douglas Quintet on keyboards, and guitarist Duke Robillard.

Standout tracks on the album included “Love Sick,” “Standing in the Doorway,” “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven” and the oft-covered “Make You Feel My Love.”

Among the notable versions of “Make You Feel My Love” were renditions by Billy Joel, Garth Brooks and Adele. Brooks scored a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1998.

Time Out of Mind has been certified Platinum by the RIAA for sales of 1 million copies in the U.S.

Here’s the album’s complete track list:

“Love Sick”
“Dirt Road Blues”
“Standing in the Doorway”
“Million Miles”
“Tryin’ to Get to Heaven”
“‘Til I Fell In Love with You”
“Not Dark Yet”
“Cold Irons Bound”
“Make You Feel My Love”
“Can’t Wait”
“Highlands”

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