Classic Hits

A four-CD box set gathering together recordings from various solo concerts that longtime Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman played during the mid-1970s will be released this Friday, May 13.

The Myths and Legends of Rick Wakeman features Wakeman showcasing songs from his first three solo concept albums — 1972’s The Six Wives of Henry VIII, 1974’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth and 1975’s The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

Disc one features performances from shows that Rick played in North America in 1974, disc two was recorded at a 1975 concert at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom, disc three captures a 1976 concert at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, and the final disc features a 1976 performance from the Farnham, U.K., venue The Maltings.

“It’s really lovely to see some of the music I’m most proud of, released in a new way and presented so well,” Wakeman says about the box set. “I’m still wondering though if I am more of a myth than a legend!!!”

The collection includes a 16-page booklet offering liner notes and archival photos. You can order the box set and check out its track list at CleoRecs.com.

Meanwhile, in a new update on his official website, Wakeman reports that he’s busy writing new material for his next album, which he’s planning to have finished by mid-June.

The 72-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer also reveals that he’s been “struggling with osteoarthritis and diabetes,” noting that he’s “slowly getting them under control.”

In addition, he reports that he has a new book coming out around Christmas time titled Ramblings of a Grumpy Old Rock Star, and is working on an official biography that he plans to complete “sometime next year.”

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The Beatles: Get Back documentary series just got a nomination for a 2022 MTV Movie & TV Award.

The docuseries, which premiered in November 2021 on the Disney+ streaming service, received a nod for the Best Music Documentary honor.  Other nominees in that category include Oasis‘ Knebworth 1996 concert film, and documentaries about Janet Jackson, Kanye West and Olivia Rodrigo. The award will be given out as part of the MTV Movie & TV Awards: UNSCRIPTED ceremony, a reality-focused spinoff of the original show.

Both the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards and the MTV Movie & TV Awards: UNSCRIPTED will air live from Los Angeles on June 5. You can vote for your favorites now via Vote.MTV.com.

As previously reported, The Beatles: Get Back is a three-part, seven-hours-plus event offering an in-depth look at the January 1969 recording sessions that yielded The Beatles‘ final studio album, Let It Be, as well as the band’s historic surprise concert on the rooftop of the London headquarters of the group’s Apple label.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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Mariah Carey can now call Atlanta, Georgia, her home, because she is the proud new owner of a multi-million-dollar mansion there.

Realtor.com reports the Grammy winner quietly bought the colonial estate for a cool $5.65 million last November in what appears to be an off-market deal.  

The impressive abode boasts more than 12,500 square feet for Mariah and her family to roam. It comes with eight bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a tennis court, guesthouse, home theater and private gym.

The home, which was constructed in 1992, was once rented by actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. For those who may have forgotten, Johnson famously ripped the gate off its hinges in 2020 to make it to a film shoot after a power outage knocked it out of service.  Realtor.com notes that, should the front gate malfunction, Mimi definitely knows who to call.

Mariah also owns homes in Beverly Hills and New York City.

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Bob Dylan‘s music catalog from his contributions to the super group the Traveling Wilburys has been acquired by the Primary Wave Music company, Variety revealed in an exclusive report.

According to the outlet, the deal includes Dylan’s “master royalties and neighboring rights royalties” for both of the band’s albums — 1988’s Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 and 1990’s Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 — as well as the 2007 box set The Traveling Wilburys Collection.

Traveling Wilburys initially consisted of Dylan, ex-Beatles guitarist George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Electric Light Orchestra frontman Jeff Lynne. Orbison died of a heart attack shortly after the release of the debut album, which featured the classic songs “Handle with Care” and “The End of the Line,” and peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200.

The group continued as a quartet and released one more album, Vol. 3, which reached #11 on the Billboard 200. The box set featured both albums, plus bonus tracks, as well as a DVD. Dylan is credited with co-writing all of the Wilburys’ original tunes along with the group’s other members.

During the past two years, Dylan has sold his recorded-music catalog and publishing rights, respectively, to Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group, respectively, for nine figures each. As Variety points out, “most people probably did not realize” that the folk-rock legend’s Traveling Wilburys catalog was included in those deals.

Primary Wave Music executive Samantha Rhulen said in a statement, “To acquire even a small portion of Bob Dylan’s work as part of Traveling Wilburys is exciting, to say the least. We’re honored to add this bit of history to our growing music catalog.”

Terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed.

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Here’s some disappointing news for Journey fans planning to see one of the last few shows of the band’s current North American tour — the final four concerts have been postponed because an unspecified member of the group has tested positive for COVID-19.

The affected dates were scheduled to take place last night in Washington, D.C.; tonight in Hartford, Connecticut; this Friday, May 13, in Toronto; and this Monday, May 16, in Quecbec City, Canada.

In a message posted on their social media pages, Journey says, “The shows will be rescheduled for a later date, more information will be provided on the band websites shortly. Please hold on to your tickets at this time.”

The concerts in Washington, D.C.; and Hartford were to have featured Toto as the opening act, while Heart‘s Ann Wilson was to have opened the two Canadian gigs.

Journey’s Freedom Tour 2022 kicked off on February 22 in Pittsburgh, with Toto as the featured support act throughout the U.S. leg.

As previously reported, Journey will release a new studio album titled Freedom on July 8. Two advance tracks from the album have been released so far — “The Way We Used to Be” and “You Got the Best of Me,” which debuted in June 2021 and last month, respectively. You can pre-order Freedom now.

Meanwhile, in a conversation thread on his official Facebook page, founding Journey guitarist Neal Schon revealed that a second leg of the Freedom tour is being organized and he hinted that Toto also will be involved as an opening act on the upcoming series of shows.

Journey’s touring lineup currently features Schon, longtime keyboardist/backing singer Jonathan Cain, lead singer Arnel Pineda, drummer/backing singer Deen Castronovo, keyboardist/backing vocalist Jason Derlatka, and bassist Todd Jensen.

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Many music fans planning to attend concerts this summer will be checking StubHub to see if they can score tickets to shows by their favorite acts. Now, the ticketing platform has revealed which artists boast the most in-demand shows scheduled between Memorial Day on May 30 and Labor Day on September 4.

Topping the list is the multi-act Stadium Tour co-headlined by Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe and also featuring Poison and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts.

The trek, which kicks off June 16 in Atlanta, includes 36 U.S. dates through Labor Day. Other tours by veteran artists in the top 10 of the tally include Elton John at #5, Paul McCartney at #7, Billy Joel at #8 and Red Hot Chili Peppers at #9.

Elton has just eight stateside shows scheduled between Memorial Day and Labor, McCartney and Joel have six, and the Chili Peppers have 14.

Of the top-10 acts on the list, McCartney boasts the highest average price of tickets sold to his concerts…$349.

StubHub also has listed the top-10 “trending” touring artists of the summer of ’22, a tally that’s based on the increase in average show sales since their 2019 shows. Topping the list is Doors guitarist Robby Krieger, who enjoyed an increase of 680%. Other artists on the tally include Taylor Dayne at #3 with a 570% increase, John Waite at #5 with a 410% jump, and The Wallflowers at #10 with a spike of 310%.

For more information visit StubHub.com.

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After being teased earlier this week, a reported collaboration between Diana Ross and the alternative-rock act Tame Impala has officially been announced.

The two artists will team up for a new song called “Turn Up the Sunshine,” which, as hypothesized, will appear on the soundtrack to the upcoming movie Minions: The Rise of Gru, the latest installment in the Despicable Me animated franchise.

The soundtrack will be produced by Jack Antonoff, and will also feature contributions from a variety of contemporary artists, including St. Vincent, Phoebe Bridgers, Bleachers and Alabama Shakes‘ Brittany Howard. The ’70s-themed compilation consists mostly of covers, including St. Vincent putting a spin on the Lipps Inc. disco classic “Funkytown,” and Howard teaming up with Earth, Wind & Fire‘s Verdine White for a new version of EW&F’s “Shining Star.”

You’ll be able to hear the full soundtrack on July 1, the same day Minions: The Rise of Gru hits theaters.

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Next Wednesday, May 18, marks the 10th anniversary of Santana‘s first Las Vegas residency show at the House of Blues inside Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, and coinciding with the occasion, the band will launch its latest engagement at the venue that night.

Carlos Santana and his group also have extended their An Intimate Evening with Santana: Greatest Hits Live Vegas residency into the fall of 2022 with two newly announced eight-date series of concerts, taking place in September and November.

Tickets for all of the new performances go on sale to the general public this Saturday, May 14, at 10 a.m. local time via HouseofBlues.com/Santana, MandalayBay.com and Ticketmaster.com, or by calling 800-745-3000.

Citi card members and Santana fan club members can buy pre-sale tickets starting Wednesday, May 11, at 10 a.m. PT; visit CitiPrivatePass.com and and Santana.com for more information. House of Blues, Live Nation, MGM Rewards and Ticketmaster pre-sales will begin Thursday, May 12, at 10 a.m. PT.

Part of the money from the tickets sold for Santana’s Las Vegas shows will benefit the Milagro Foundation, the charity Carlos co-founded that helps young people in impoverished communities around the world. Some of the proceeds also will be donated to the House of Blues’ Music Forward Foundation, which uses music to help young people develop life skills.

Besides the Vegas shows, Santana will be mounting a major joint trek with Earth, Wind & Fire this summer dubbed Miraculous Supernatural 2022 Tour. The outing is scheduled from a June 17 concert in Chula Vista, California, through an August 27 performance in Tampa, Florida.

Here are all of the dates of Santana’s upcoming Las Vegas residency dates:

May: 18, 20-22, 25, 27-29
September: 14, 16-18, 21, 23-25
November: 2, 4-6, 9, 11-13

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Madonna is the latest star to get into the NFT business, but she’s doing it for a good cause

She’s teamed with digital artist Beeple, aka Mike Winkelmann, who made headlines last year when one of his NFT‘s was auctioned off by Christie’s for $69,400,000.  The two have created a three-part digital artwork called Mother of Creation, which “explores the concept of birth via darkness and light in our modern world.” 

The three NFTs will be sold on SuperRare on May 11 with a starting price of one dollar. All the proceeds will go to three charities: The Voices of Children Foundation, The City of Joy Foundation and Black Mama’s Bail Out.

The three parts of the work include Mother of Nature, featuring a blooming tree and new text by Madonna; Mother of Evolution, which features butterflies, lyrics from Madonna’s hit “Justify My Love,” and original music by Igor Bardykin; and Mother of Technology, which depicts how science can illuminate the world and features the poetry of Rumi.

“When Mike and I decided to collaborate on this project a year ago, I was excited to have the opportunity to share my vision of the world as a mother and an artist with Mike’s own unique point of view,” Madonna says in a statement. “It’s been an amazing journey building this together from an intellectual idea to an emotional story, giving birth to art.”

She adds, “Most importantly we wanted to use this opportunity to benefit mothers and children who are most in need right now.”

Madonna and Beeple will be on SuperRare’s Twitter Spaces on May 11 at 7 p.m. ET to discuss the project.

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Red Hot Chili Peppers are the artists confirmed to headline the 2022 Austin City Limits Music Festival, which will take place October 7-9 and October 14-16 in Austin, Texas.

The event’s other headliners are Pink, The Chicks, Paramore, SZA, Kacey Musgraves, Flume and Lil Nas X.

The bill also features dozens of other acts, including Asleep at the Wheel, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Carly Rae Jepsen, James Blake, Phoenix, Spoon, Yungblud and many more.

Some of the artists on the undercard will only play one of the two weekends.

Tickets go on sale today at noon CT. For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit ACLFestival.com.

Red Hot Chili Peppers kick off a world tour in support of their new album, Unlimited Love, on June 4 in Seville, Spain. The North American leg of the trek gets underway July 23 in Denver.

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