Classic Hits

It’s official: Red Hot Chili Peppers are giving fans another album, but first comes their new single, “Black Summer.”

After teasing the new track last week, the band released “Black Summer,” along with the music video, at midnight on Friday.  In the same breath, they revealed that their new album, called Unlimited Love, would be out April 1. 

Shortly after the news, RHCP said in a lengthy Instagram post, “Our only goal is to get lost in the music. We spent thousands of hours, collectively and individually, honing our craft and showing up for one another, to make the best album we could.”

“We yearn to shine a light in the world, to uplift, connect, and bring people together. Each of the songs on our new album UNLIMITED LOVE, is a facet of us, reflecting our view of the universe,” the post continued. “This is our life’s mission.” 

John Frusciante, Anthony Kiedis, Chad Smith and Flea signed off on the note by telling fans, “Thank you for listening, we hope you enjoy it.”

Unlimited Love will be RHCP’s first studio album since Frusciante rejoined the band in 2019. It’s currently available for pre-order. An exclusive colored vinyl of the album is available for pre-order as well. 

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This Monday, February 7, Julian Lennon will auction off six one-of-a-kind NFTs focusing on three prized Beatles-related items from his memorabilia collection and three guitars that his late dad, John Lennon, gave him as gifts.

The “Lennon Connection: The NFT Collection” sale is being presented by the NFT marketplace YellowHeart in partnership with Julien’s Auction, and will be held live in Beverly Hills and online at JuliensLive.com and YH.io.

The Fab Four memorabilia depicted in the NFTs are Paul McCartney‘s handwritten studio notes for the recording of “Hey Jude,” a black cape Julian’s father wore in the film Help!, and an Afghan coat John wore in the Magical Mystery Tour special.

Julian tells ABC Audio that to make the NFTs unique, he came up with the idea to animate the images of the items and record narration explaining why each piece is special to him.

He says the “Hey Jude” studio notes are meaningful because McCartney wrote the song to cheer him up when he was a boy at the time that his father and mother were separating.

Julian explains that the Help! cape is significant because he remembers his mother telling him about how she visited his dad during filming in Austria, where they both learned how to ski.

He says the Afghan coat has particular meaning to him because he spent lots of time with John while Magical Mystery Tour was being made. In addition, Julian notes, “I just loved [the] coat, regardless. I thought it was a beautiful, beautiful coat.”

Julian says an important aspect of the auction is that some proceeds will go to his White Feather Foundation, which will help fund the charity’s global work in such areas as clean water, health, education, conservation of life, and protection of indigenous cultures.

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In the wake of Tuesday’s announcement of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s nominees for induction in 2022, some of the artists shared their feelings about the good news on their social media pages or in interviews.

Pat Benatar, who previously was nominated for the honor in 2020, said in a joint statement with her husband and longtime guitarist and songwriting partner Neil Giraldo, “Thrilled to be nominated again for the RRHOF. Congratulations to all the nominees!”

Eurythmics, who were previously in the running for the honor in 2018, also notched their second nod this year. Singer Annie Lennox reacted to her group’s nomination by posting a still from the music video for their hit “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” along with a tongue-in-cheek message that reads, “Quote from Eurythmics Chapter ll Circa 1982…’Brethren! One day we will ALL be nominated into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame in the sky and wooden cased computers like these will be reduced to pocket sized devices.'”

Carly Simon received her first Rock Hall nod this year. The singer-songwriter responded with a simple message that reads, “Hello! I can’t thank you enough for all of your support. I am thrilled to be nominated.”

Devo received their third nomination this year. The veteran New Wave band’s lead singer, Mark Mothersbaugh, was interviewed by Billboard and said about the Rock Hall, “Somebody there must like us, there’s somebody tenacious over there. We’ll see what happens. It’s a nice honor if it would happen — but I look at all the other people [nominated this year] and I would vote for them, too.”

The 2022 Rock Hall inductees will be announced in May. Fans can vote at RockHall.com for their favorite nominees through April 29.

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Rod Stewart has announced that he’s hitting the road this summer for a series of shows in the U.S. and Canada, with special guests Cheap Trick.

In a video, Rod reveals that the tour will run from June through September and adds, “I really want you to come out, because we’ve had a bad time lately, and it’s really gonna be fun!”

At the moment, however, Rod’s website only reveals tour dates starting July 1 in Fort Worth, TX and wrapping September 3 in Tampa, Florida, but more dates will likely follow.

From May 13 to May 21, Rod is performing at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and he’ll return for a second round of shows there on September 23.

Rod’s most recent album, The Tears of Hercules, came out in November.

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Slash is one of the most recognizable people in rock today, but when he was growing up, he often pretended to be someone else. Specifically, someone old enough to get into rock clubs.

During an interview on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! Wednesday night, the Guns N’ Roses icon recalled creating fake IDs when he was a teenager. 

“I was pretty good at it,” Slash said. He then told a story of when he and his future GN’R band mate Steven Adler used fake IDs to get into a particular club, but while the doorman let Adler in, he rejected Slash.

“I was just crushed,” Slash shared. “So I went home, and I put on a bunch of makeup and put on some of my mom’s clothes — I was really drunk, you have to understand — and I went back up there. It was Ladies Night, so I went back and I got in.”

Slash’s initial thought was he was going to mess with Adler — “Steven would screw anything,” he joked — but soon realized that the drummer had since left the club.

“This whole black cloud of reality came down,” Slash remembered. “I felt the most vulnerable I’d ever felt, ever. Still to this day, I’ve never felt like that.”

After the interview, Slash and his solo band Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators performed their new single “The River Is Rising.” The track will appear on the upcoming Conspirators album 4, due out February 11.

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Founding Talking Heads frontman David Byrne has teamed up with author Mala Gaonkar to create an immersive sensory experience called Theater of the Mind, which will premiere August 31 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts Off-Center.

The production, which originally was scheduled to debut in 2020 but was postponed because of COVID-19, takes place in a 15,000-square-foot historic warehouse and, according to an official description, brings audience members on “an immersive journey of self-reflection, discovery, and imagination, inspired by and grounded in neuroscience.”

The show uses stories from Byrne’s and Gaokar’s own lives to shape a narrative that attendees will be able to see, feel, taste and hear.

At each show, 16 audience members will follow a “Guide” through various environments and will have the opportunity to try a number of sensory experiments devised to make attendees question how they perceive their own beliefs, memories and identities.

Byrne explains that Theater of the Mind was inspired by a series of neuroscience experiments in which both he and Gaonkar participated.

“We began referring to the project as a Neuro Funhouse, but as we worked on it we came to realize that it was evolving to be something more than that,” he notes. “It has made us rethink some of our own beliefs and assumptions, to see ourselves and the world in a different way, and we hope that it might have a similar effect on our audience.”

Theater of the Mind begins previews on August 31, and officially opens on Septmber 13. The production will run through December 18. Tickets will go on to the general public on May 20, while pre-sale tickets will be available to all Denver Center for the Performing Arts subscribers starting May 6.

Visit TheateroftheMindDenver.com for more details.

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Back in November, Journey announced plans for a lengthy U.S. trek this year dubbed the Freedom Tour 2022 featuring Billy Idol and Toto opening the first and second respective portions of the outing, but now comes word that Idol has dropped off the tour for health reasons.

Instead, Toto now will be the support act for Journey’s entire trek, which kicks off on February 22 in Pittsburgh and is mapped out through a May 11 show in Hartford, Connecticut. 

Idol’s departure from Journey’s Freedom Tour is due to a chronic sinus infection that will require surgery in the coming days.

“The last thing I ever want to do is cancel shows and I am absolutely gutted that I won’t be able to perform the upcoming dates with Journey as planned,” Idol says in a statement. “I wish Journey only the best on their tour and give thanks to TOTO for stepping in for me.”

The trek features a total of 40 concerts, including two newly added dates that are scheduled for March 4 in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and on March 6 in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Tickets for the two shows will go on sale to the public on Monday, February 7, at 10 a.m. ET. In addition, pre-sale tickets will be available via Ticketmaster starting today, February 3, at 10 a.m. ET. Visit JourneyMusic.com for more information.

Toto originally had been slated to join Journey’s tour in April, and had lined up a U.S. headlining trek that was to have run from February 25 through March 19, but now their own outing has been postponed until a later date.

A note on Toto’s official website advises that tickets purchased for the band’s headlining shows will be honored when the dates are rescheduled. Details about those shows will be announced soon.

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Steely Dan has unveiled dates for a 2022 U.S. trek called the Earth After Hours Tour.

The 23-city road trip gets underway on May 20 in Portland, Oregon and is mapped out through a July 3 show in Bethel, New York.

The tour originally was to have featured Steve Winwood as the opening act, but according to a message on SteelyDan.com, the former Traffic frontman “is no longer able to appear due to unforeseen circumstances.” Instead, contemporary jazz-rock ensemble Snarky Puppy will open most of the concerts from May 20 through June 19, while singer/songwriter Aimee Mann will serve as the support act from June 21 until the end of the trek.

Following the Earth After Hours Tour, Steely Dan will play a series of rescheduled U.S. dates from their postponed 2021 Absolutely Normal trek. Those shows run from a July 15 performance in Richmond, Virginia, through an August 4 concert in North Charleston, South Carolina.

Tickets for all dates are on sale now. Visit SteelyDan.com for the band’s full itinerary.

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Lionel Richie has posted his appreciation at the news that he’s now a nominee for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

On Twitter and Instagram, the chart-topping, Grammy and Oscar-winning star wrote, “I’m honored to be nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame alongside so many other incredibly talented artists. Congratulations to all the nominees!”

Lionel also reminded people that “Fan voting is open now and you can vote every day through April 29 at vote.rockhall.com.”  The top five vote-getters in that online poll will make up a “fan ballot,” which will then be included in the voting that will determine which artists will be inducted later this year.

Lionel is one of 17 acts who are nominated this year, including Duran Duran, Pat Benatar, Carly Simon, Dionne Warwick, Dolly Parton, Eurythmics and Devo.  Even if he doesn’t get in, he’s getting a nice consolation prize this year: On March 9th, he’ll receive the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize for Popular Music during an all-star tribute concert in Washington, D.C.  The event airs on PBS May 17.

Meanwhile, Lionel is gearing up for the debut of the 20th season of American Idol, which debuts February 27 on ABC.

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Tuesday, Graham Nash announced that he was removing his solo music from Spotify in solidarity with Neil Young over alleged COVID-19 misinformation hosted by the streaming service.  Now Graham and his Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young band mates David Crosby and Stephen Stills have joined together in support of Neil.

While its been years since they’ve collaborated, the members of Crosby, Stills & Nash have teamed up to ask their labels to pull all of their collective recordings from Spotify.

A statement from trio reads, “We support Neil and we agree with him that there is dangerous disinformation being aired on Spotify’s Joe Rogan podcast. While we always value alternate points of view, knowingly spreading disinformation during this global pandemic has deadly consequences. Until real action is taken to show that a concern for humanity must be balanced with commerce, we don’t want our music — or the music we made together — to be on the same platform.”

The request covers recordings by CSN, CSNY and Crosby & Nash, as well as David’s and Stephen’s solo projects.

Young recently announced that he was pulling his music from Spotify after he was alerted to an open letter signed by hundreds of scientists and medical professionals expressing concern that harmful misinformation was being circulated on some recent episodes of the popular podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, which is hosted exclusively by the streaming platform.

Neil had sent a letter to Spotify that basically gave them an ultimatum, and the service ended up removing his music rather than cutting ties with Rogan.

After Young exited Spotify, the company did announce that it will be adding content advisories before podcasts that discuss COVID-19.

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