Classic Hits

KISS has announced plans for the 11th annual installment of The KISS Kruise, which will take place October 29 to November 3 this fall. According to a message on the seagoing rock festival’s official website, this year’s cruise will be the last time that the band “will perform on the high seas.”

The five-day nautical extravaganza will be the first KISS Kruise to set sail from and visit sites on the West Coast, embarking from Los Angeles and stopping at Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada, Mexico, before returning to port.

You can sign up today at TheKISSKruise.com to have access to a pre-sale for the cruise. The KISS Kruise XI “Experience” will feature an unmasked concert by the band on deck, a full “masked” electric show in the ship’s Stardust Theater, an engraved commemorative gift, two activities with KISS, two activities with individual members of the group, an expo offering rare memorabilia, concerts by various other artists, autograph sessions with members of the cruise’s support acts, and more.

The lineup of acts joining KISS on the cruise is expected to be announced soon.

KISS frontman Paul Stanley appears in a video promoting this year’s KISS Kruise that been posted on the group’s YouTube channel.

“[W]e’re gonna have great bands. We’re gonna have a great time,” Stanley says in the clip, then teases, “Everybody says, ‘When is it gonna be the last one?’ Well, this is KISS Kruise XI, and you don’t want to miss it for a whole lot of reasons. I want you there. You deserve to be there. Be there!”

Meanwhile, KISS’ End of the Road farewell tour is scheduled to relaunch with a South American leg starting April 20 in Santiago, Chile. The trek likely will continue into 2023.

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Duran Duran will head to Los Angeles in the late summer for a special engagement at the famous Hollywood Bowl on September 9, 10 and 11.

The three-show stand, dubbed “Duran Duran: FUTURE PAST WEEKEND,” will celebrate the British band’s 40th anniversary and their latest studio album, 2021’s Future Past.

The concerts will feature various special guests joining Duran Duran, and a set list that will include songs from Future Past along with hits from throughout the group’s long career.

Tickets to the Hollywood Bowl gigs will go on sale to the general public on May 3 at 10 a.m. PT at HollywoodBowl.com. Pre-sale tickets will be available to members of Duran Duran’s VIP fan community starting Tuesday, April 26, at 10 a.m. PT. For more information, visit the pre-sale page at DuranDuranMusic.com as the pre-sale date approaches.

Duran Duran currently has shows lined up in a variety European countries in the spring and summer.

As previously reported, Future Past, which was released last October, includes guest appearances by Blur guitarist Graham Coxon, Swedish pop singer Tove Lo, German-born U.K. rapper Ivorian Doll, Japanese punk group CHAI and longtime David Bowie keyboardist Mike Garson.

Meanwhile, Duran Duran recently received its first-ever nomination for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and currently is leading the online fan poll hosted by the Rock Hall. As of Tuesday afternoon, the band was over 700 votes ahead of rapper Eminem, who’s in second place. You can vote for your favorite nominee or just check out the standings by visiting vote.rockhall.com.

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Elvis Costello and his longtime backing band The Imposters have unveiled plans for a 20-date North American summer tour in support of their recently released studio album, The Boy Named If.

So far, 15 shows have been confirmed for the trek, which has been dubbed “The Boy Named If & Other Favourites,” spanning from an August 6 concert in Huber Heights, Ohio, through a September 3 performance in Las Vegas.

Opening most of the shows will be Elvis’ old pal and collaborator Nick Lowe, who will be performing with the wrestling-mask-wearing surf-rock band Los Straightjackets. This will mark the first time since 1989 that Costello and Lowe have toured together. Singer/songwriter Nicole Atkins, who lends guest vocals to The Boy Named If track “My Most Beautiful Mistake,” will be the support act at the Huber Heights concert and an August 9 show in Buffalo, New York.

Lowe’s association with Costello dates back to the 1970s, and Nick produced Elvis’ first four studios albums and co-produced two others. Elvis also famously covered “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding,” which Nick wrote in 1974 for his early band, Brinsley Schwarz.

Playing with The Imposters on the upcoming trek will be guitarist Charley Sexton, a longtime member of Bob Dylan‘s touring band. Sexton also joined Costello and The Imposters on their 22-date “Hello Again” tour in 2021.

Tickets for the upcoming concerts is year’s outing go on sale to the general public starting this Friday, February 18. Pre-sale tickets for many of the shows also will be available. Visit ElvisCostello.com for more information. More dates will be announced soon.

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Lionel Richie has opened up about a scary moment in his life when he thought he had lost his singing voice.

Speaking to People, the “Hello” hitmaker recalled when he was struck by a mysterious throat illness during the height of his career and how he had to undergo multiple surgeries to treat it.  “You don’t want anybody fooling around down there. This is your identity,” he said of having doctors operate on his throat four separate times. “I never really thought that it would end.”

Lionel battled his throat condition amid his divorce from ex-wife Brenda Harvey and while grappling with the loss of his father, Lionel Brockman Richie Sr., who passed in 1990.  Lionel said during that time, he came “About as close as you ever would’ve come to a nervous breakdown.”

The 72-year-old Grammy winner recalled a chance meeting with a fan that put it all in perspective, saying an elderly Black man walked up to him while he was in Jamaica and told him, “You must survive because you are our beacon of hope…If you make it, we know we can make it. If you accomplish, we know we can accomplish.”  Lionel said he “was crying” as the man told him that.

Richie has since discovered it was diet-induced acid reflux that was causing his issues, and has made a full recovery.

Lionel shared the lesson his father taught him about maintaining a positive outlook on life, which is, “Aptitude plus attitude determines altitude.”

“If you happen to have both, sky’s the limit, but if you’re only blessed with one, have the right attitude because people will love to have you around,” Lionel shared.

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Stevie Nicks is among the artists who will headline the inaugural Sound on Sound festival, taking place September 24-25 at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

The other headliners for the event are Dave Matthews and The Lumineers. Matthews will be performing as a duo with his frequent collaborator, Tim Reynolds.

The bill, which features more than 20 acts in all, also includes Ziggy Marley, Spin Doctors, Gary Clark Jr., Brandi Carlile, Jenny Lewis and The National.

Sound on Sound is being put on by Founders Entertainment, the same company behind New York City’s annual Governors Ball Music Festival. For the full lineup and ticket info, visit SoundonSoundCT.com.

Nicks also is confirmed to perform at three other U.S. festivals this year — on May 7 at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival; on June 19 at Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee; and in early September at the JAS Aspen Snowmass event in Snowmass, Colorado.

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Billy Joel‘s mother Rosalind Nyman Joel would have been 100 years old today, and a restaurant where she and Billy used to eat when he was a kid is marking the occasion in a unique way.

DiMaggio’s Pizza of New York is a pizzeria across the street from where Billy was raised in Hicksville, New York, and when Billy was a kid, he and his mom would stop there to grab food after she took him for his music lessons.  At noon today, the restaurant will dedicate the “Roz Pie” in honor of Rosalind, who was born February 15, 1922.  The inspiration for Billy’s song “Rosalinda’s Eyes,” Rosalind passed away in 2014 at the age of 92.

DiMaggio’s will also host a singalong with civic and community leaders on Hicksville’s Village Green, which Billy immortalized in the lyrics of his song “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.”

There’s no word on whether Billy himself will stop by, but there’s a good chance he’ll be in the area: His next concert date isn’t until February 26 in Las Vegas.

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Crowds protesting the government’s mask and vaccine mandates in Wellington, New Zealand, have had to deal with something more unusual than police hassling them. Lawmakers are playing hits by Barry Manilow and Celine Dion, among other songs, on a loop in an attempt to get them to disperse.

Trevor Mallard, the speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, has been blasting Manilow’s greatest hits — as well as the 1990s Los del Rio chart-topper “Macarena” — through the speakers inside Parliament buildings in an attempt to break up the crowds of protestors, who have refused to budge for the past week. COVID-19 vaccine PSAs are also being played.

As the protests continued, other tunes were added to the playlist, including U.K. singer/songwriter James Blunt‘s 2005 smash “You’re Beautiful” and  an out-of-tune recorder rendition of Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.”

The tactic has made headlines around the world, and elicited mixed reactions.

Mallard told the New Zealand website Stuff over the weekend that surrounding residents had been consulted on the plan and were supportive. “And one of them is a Barry Manilow fan,” Mallard added.

So far, the protestors appear to be unbothered: They’ve been dancing along to the “Macarena,” singing along to “You’re Beautiful” and playing their own songs, like Twisted Sister‘s “We’re Not Gonna Take It.”

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Journey is gearing up for a lengthy U.S. trek with Toto dubbed the 2022 Freedom Tour that kicks off on February 22 in Pittsburgh.

Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain tells ABC Audio that the two bands have a familial connection, because his daughter Madison is engaged to Toto guitarist Steve Lukather‘s son Trevor. The couple is slated to be married early this year.

“It’s all in the family now,” Cain jokes.

Meanwhile, Jonathan notes that this will be the first time that his group and Toto will hit the road together, and he says he feels the two acts are a good pairing.

“We did one show with Toto years ago,” Cain recalls. “And, you know, both crowds seemed to dig each other’s music, so we thought, ‘Why not?'”

Journey and Toto both feature virtuoso rock guitarists — Neal Schon and Lukather — and Cain says there’s a good chance that the two musicians will hit the stage together to jam during the trek.

“I’m sure that will happen a bunch,” he notes. “Been buddies for a long time and looking forward to it.”

The 2022 Freedom Tour will mark Journey’s first full-length tour since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.

“We are pleased as heck to be in the arenas [again],” Jonathan declares. “It’s a risky deal, but we’re going to follow the [COVID] protocol precautions for safety for the crew and the band.”

The tour is plotted out through a May 11 show in Hartford, Connecticut. Billy Idol originally had been announced as opening act for the first portion of the trek. However, sinus issues forced Idol to bow out of the tour, so Toto now is opening the entire trek.

Visit JourneyMusic.com for the full list of tour dates.

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The Who recently announced dates for a new two-leg 2022 North American trek dubbed The Who Hits Back! tour, marking the British rock legends’ return to the road after their postponing tour plans multiple times because of COVID-19.

In a new Rolling Stone interview, guitarist/songwriter Pete Townshend, 76, notes that although the new outing is “not a farewell tour,” he is hoping to retire from the road at some point.

“I had a conversation with [singer] Roger [Daltrey]. I said to him, ‘I don’t want to be like one of these guys that dies on tour,'” Townshend notes. “I do want to retire. And by ‘retire’ I don’t mean retire from being a musician or artist or creator.”

He adds, “Roger is of the opinion that he wants to sing until he drops. That’s not my philosophy of life. There are other things that I want to do…and will do, I hope. I hope I’ll live long enough to do them.”

For now, Townshend says The Who are committed to keep touring at least through 2023, when he says the band will be rescheduling the U.K. trek they postponed.

Meanwhile, Townshend says he been “very, very busy” working on various music projects, both for himself and with other artists.  One project is music for a previously reported art installation connected to his 2019 novel, The Age of Anxiety.  Another is a charity project to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust that involves “old music that’s been re-recorded,” and “possibly a podcast.”

Pete also has been collaborating with U.K. folk artist Reg Meuross “on a podcast [and a song cycle] about Woody Guthrie called Fire and Dust,” as well as with a group called the Bookshop Band that “write songs about novels and fictional books.”

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Former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne‘s acclaimed stage production David Byrne’s American Utopia has announced dates for a final run of Broadway performances at the St. James Theatre.

The show’s engagement, which previously had been scheduled through March 6, now is scheduled to close after a performance on Sunday, April 3.

Six performances of the show are scheduled during a standard week — at 8 p.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Saturdays and at 3 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets can be purchased by visiting AmericanUtopiaBroadway.com/tickets.

In addition, a limited number of discounted $44 tickets are available via an online lottery at LuckySeat.com. Ticket requests are limited to one or two per entrant, and entries open at 10 a.m. ET on the Monday of the week prior to the performance. Those chosen to receive tickets will receive an email with digital tickets on the morning of the performance.

As previously reported, the American Utopia show features Byrne accompanied by 11 musicians, dancers and singers who move freely about an almost-empty stage. The production includes several Talking Heads songs, material from David’s 2018 American Utopia album, and other tunes from his solo catalog.

The show’s original Broadway run took place from October 2019 to February 2020 at the Hudson Theatre. After an 18-month layoff because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the production began a new run at the St. James Theatre in September of last year.

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