Classic Hits

Ever since he stopped doing joint tours with Elton John a while back, Billy Joel has rarely shared the stage with anyone: It’s unusual for him to even have an opening act.  But next year, he plans to team up for a double bill with a performer as equally legendary as he is.

Billy will perform a show on April 8, 2023 with none other than Stevie Nicks. The pairing will take place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX.  The show is appropriately billed as “Two Icons, One Night.”  Tickets will go on sale November 11 at 10 a.m. LiveNation.com or SeatGeek.com.

On Instagram, Stevie wrote, “excited to hit the road with the amazing @billyjoel in 2023.”  Her use of the phrase “hit the road” makes it sound as though they might perform together at additional dates, but so far, this is the only one that’s been announced.

The show is Stevie’s first announced performance for 2023; she’ll complete her fall tour this weekend. As for Billy, he’ll continue his Madison Square Garden residency, and next year, he has additional dates booked in Atlanta, Florida, London, New Zealand and Australia.

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Rick Springfield is coming to Las Vegas for his own residency this spring.

The hitmaker will take over The STRAT Hotel, Casino & SkyPod theater for a pair of weekend dates on Friday, March 24, and Saturday, March 25. More dates are expected to be announced at a later time.

According to an official release, the shows will “focus on Rick’s anthemic hits and deep cuts.” A few songs slated to appear on Rick’s set list include “Jessie’s Girl,” “Don’t Talk to Strangers,” “Love Somebody” and “State of the Heart.”

Fans can start buying tickets on Thursday, November 3, at 10 a.m. PT on the venue’s official website. VIP packages will also be available.

Prices start at $75, and the venue accommodates up to 900 people.

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Some of country music’s biggest stars will pay tribute to one of rock’s legendary bands on their 60th anniversary with Stoned Cold Country, an album celebrating The Rolling Stones.

Hit-making acts including Little Big Town, Eric Church, Maren Morris, outlaw country legend Steve Earle and many others provide country-influenced interpretations of some of the Stones’ biggest hits.

Though the album doesn’t drop until next year, you can get a taste now of Brothers Osborne’s country-funk take on “It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll (But I Like It),” with help from Americana husband and wife duo The War and Treaty. That track drops this coming Friday, November 4.

Here’s the Stoned Cold Country track list:

“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” — Ashley McBryde
“Honky Tonk Women” — Brooks & Dunn
“Dead Flowers — Maren Morris
“It’s Only Rock N’ Roll (But I Like It)” — Brothers Osborne & The War and Treaty
“Miss You” — Jimmie Allen
“Tumbling Dice” — Elle King
“Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” — Marcus King
“Wild Horses” — Little Big Town
“Paint It Black” — Zac Brown Band
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” — Lainey Wilson
“Sympathy for the Devil” — Elvie Shane
“Angie” — Steve Earle
“Gimme Shelter” — Eric Church
“Shine a Light” — Koe Wetzel

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AC/DC lead singer Brian Johnson‘s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But the 75-year-old says there was a time he had all but given up on music — until another rock legend gave him some life-changing advice.

Speaking with The West Australian newspaper about his just-released autobiography, The Lives of Brian, Johnson recalls his life before joining AC/DC, when he quit his job as an engineer to focus on music. He fronted a band named Geordie that scored a single top-ten hit, enough to convince Johnson that he was on his way to stardom — until the bottom fell out.

“At the age of 28, I’d lost everything. My marriage, my career, my house,” Johnson recalls, adding, “I’d had my shot and blown it.”

Even so, Johnson formed another band, working non-music jobs, including installing car windshields, to help pay the bills. But it was while he was living with the other band members in a single apartment that The Who‘s Roger Daltrey, already a rock legend, invited them over to dinner at his country manor.

“He said, ‘I’m going to give you one piece of advice, Brian,” Johnson recalls. “Never give up. Do you understand me? Never, ever give up’.”

“And I really took that to heart,” says Johnson. “He’s probably forgotten that he said that, but I didn’t.”

Not long after that, Johnson was invited to audition for the AC/DC frontman spot after original lead singer Bon Scott‘s death. And the rest, as we all know, is rock and roll history.

The Lives of Brian is available everywhere now.

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You don’t generally hear a lot of good being said about being a commuter in New York City, but if you happened to be in Grand Central Terminal in April of 1995, you would’ve been one of the lucky few to see Carly Simon and her band delivering an unannounced concert in the middle of the main terminal. The performance was released on VHS later that year but now, it’s finally coming to Blu-ray.

Live at Grand Central, available January 27, features remixed audio and newly digitized HD video and will be available in all the usual audio and video formats, including CD, vinyl, digital and streaming. You can also purchase a limited-edition colored vinyl version, as well as a bundle that includes the Blu-ray DVD, the colored vinyl edition and a CD. You can order all of the different versions now at CarlySimon.com.

To whet your appetite for the release, Simon’s released the concert track and video for “Like a River,” which you can watch and stream now.

Simon’s got even more to be excited about: Her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame happens this coming Saturday, November 5 at LA’s Microsoft Theater, along with fellow new inductees Pat Benatar, Duran Duran, Eminem, Eurythmics, Dolly Parton and Lionel Richie.

Here’s the Live at Grand Central track list:

“Touched by the Sun”
“Anticipation”
“I’ve Got to Have You”
“We Have No Secrets”
“Haven’t Got Time for the Pain”
“Jesse”
“That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be”
“Letters Never Sent”
“Legend in Your Own Time”
“De Bat (Fly In My Face)”
“Davy”
“Halfway Around the World”
“Like a River”
“Coming Around Again”
“Let the River Run”

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Over three years ago, during a guest appearance with David Crosby to promote the documentary David Crosby: Remember My Name, which he produced, Almost Famous writer/director Cameron Crowe promised Jimmy Fallon that when his musical adaptation of the film opened on Broadway, Fallon had an open invitation to reprise his role as Dennis Hope, the future manager of the film’s fictitious band, Stillwater.

Crowe made good on that offer on Tuesday’s Tonight Show.

“My dream has always been to have you come and be the link between the two casts, the cast of the musical…and the movie, Crowe shared. “So, I would like you to come on the Broadway stage and play your part again of Dennis Hope.”

“I’m in!” Fallon exclaimed, in the not-so-surprising moment.

It’s not clear when and how often Fallon will appear, but he’s already grown a beard to be ready.

Fallon isn’t the only special guest performer in Almost Famous. Crowe told Deadline that MSNBC journalist John Heilemann has expressed interest in making occasional appearances as David Felton, the Rolling Stone reporter played in the film by Rainn Wilson. No dates have been announced as yet, but it reportedly will happen.

The stage roles of Hope and the reporter are usually played respectively by Jakeim Hart and Van Hughes.

Almost Famous is based in part on Crowe’s time as a teen reporter for Rolling Stone in the 1970s. Currently in previews, the Broadway musical officially opens Thursday, November 3.

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Neil Young started the ’90s by rocking out on the album Ragged Glory, and subsequent 1991 live albums Arc and Weld. But when 1992 rolled around, Young, who was suffering from tinnitus, decided to mellow out a bit. The result was Harvest Moon, which marks its 30th anniversary Wednesday.

Like Young’s classic ’70s albums Harvest and Comes a Time, Harvest Moon featured acoustic guitar, piano and banjo, rather than screaming electric guitar. Neil was accompanied on Harvest Moon by backing band The Stray Gators, which also had played on Harvest, but with a slightly different lineup. On Harvest Moon, three of the group’s original members — pedal steel guitarist Ben Keith, bassist Tim Drummond and drummer Kenny Buttrey — were joined by famed songwriter and session keyboardist Spooner Oldham.

Also returning were Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor on backing vocals. The two, along with Crosby, Stills & Nash, had sung backups on Harvest, as well. In addition, Nicolette Larson and Neil’s sister, Astrid Young, lent their backing-vocal talents to Harvest Moon.

Featuring memorable songs like “Unknown Legend,” “From Hank to Hendrix,” “War of Man” and the title track, Harvest Moon was a huge success, reaching the top 10 in both the United Kindgom and Young’s home country of Canada; in the U.S., it made the top 20. It’s been RIAA-certified double Platinum for sales of 2 million copies.

Harvest Moon was also named Album of the Year at Canada’s Juno Awards, and outsold both Ragged Glory and its predecessor, 1989’s Freedom. A concert album from the Harvest Moon tour called Dreamin’ Man Live ’92 was released in 2009 as part of Young’s ongoing Archives series.

Here’s the album’s full track list:

“Unknown Legend”
“From Hank to Hendrix”
“You and Me”
“Harvest Moon”
“War of Man”
“One of These Days”
“Such a Woman”
“Old King”
“Dreamin’ Man”
“Natural Beauty”

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Billy Joel has donated $250,000 to Hurricane Ian relief via his charity, The Joel Foundation.

Ian was the fifth strongest hurricane ever to hit the continental U.S. Residents of Fort Myers and Southwest Florida will benefit from the donation to the Lee County Strong Hurricane Ian Relief Fund. The money will go toward rebuilding efforts, as well as to the local maritime community and school music programs.

In a statement, the Piano Man and his wife, Alexis, note that Florida is their “winter home” and that living through their own experience with Superstorm Sandy a decade ago has motivated them to “help those less fortunate.”

Over the years, The Joel Foundation has pledged and made over $7 million in charitable donations.

Billy has a scheduled show in Florida in early 2023: He’ll play at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, on January 27.

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Over his storied career, Bob Dylan has been inspired by many things — but who knew two of those things were coffee and Munchkins?

On the dedication page of the legendary singer/songwriter’s new book, The Philosophy of Modern Song, Dylan offers a “special thanks” to “all the crew at Dunkin’ Donuts.” The Boston Globe reports that Dylan’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, has confirmed images of the page that have been circulating are legit, telling the paper, “The line ‘all the crew at Dunkin’ Donuts’ appears on the dedication page. We can offer no further insight.”

According to The Globe, the book has been in the works since 2010. The paper speculates that’s why the 81-year-old artist referred to the chain as Dunkin’ Donuts and not as its current name, Dunkin’, which it adopted in 2018.

The Globe also notes that Dylan primarily lives in Malibu, California, when he’s not on the road, and there are a number of Dunkin’ locations nearby. And, The Globe notes, “Dylan spends much of the year on tour, where he has presumably sampled Dunkin’ brews around the globe (of which there are many).”

But like so many other facts about Bob Dylan, the details of his Dunkin’ order — black coffee? A dozen Munchkins? Pumpkin Spice cold brew? — will remain a mystery for now.

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It’s only country music, but they like it … and rock ‘n’ roll, too.

A tribute to The Rolling Stones will be part of this year’s Country Music Association Awards, airing on ABC November 9. During the three-hour show, award-winning country duo Brothers Osborne will team up with Americana husband-and-wife duo The War & Treaty to sing “It’s Only Rock & Roll (But I Like It).”

The performance is in recognition of a new album called Stoned Cold Country, which features some of country’s biggest artists performing classic Stones songs, including “Wild Horses,” “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and “Dead Flowers.” 

The Brothers Osborne/War & Treaty duet is being released as a single November 4, with the album to follow next year. Other participating artists include Zac Brown Band, Elle King, Steve Earle, Eric Church, Maren Morris and Brooks & Dunn.

Other Rock & Roll Hall of Famers who’ll be saluted at the CMA Awards include the late Jerry Lee Lewis: King will perform “Great Balls of Fire” with The Black Keys in his memory.  

And finally, Linda Ronstadt will be honored as country stars Ashley McBryde, Caylee Hammack and Brandy Clark, joined by Joan Osborne, take the stage to sing the version of The Everly Brothers‘ “When Will I Be Loved” that was made famous by Ronstadt in 1975.

The CMA Awards air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena November 9 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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