Classic Hits

Back in October, Don McLean announced the initial dates for a 2022 U.S. tour commemorating the 50th anniversary of his classic anthem “American Pie” and his studio album of the same name. Now the singer-songwriter has unveiled about 20 additional North American shows.

The new dates run from an April 29 concert in Kansas City, Missouri, through a July 9 performance in Phoenix, Arizona, and stops in other cities including Indianapolis, Toronto, Nashville, Atlanta, St. Louis, Boston, New York, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Denver, San Antonio and Houston.

“After spending the past 18 months at home, I am thrilled to be getting back on the road with my band,” says McLean in a statement. “2022 marks the 50th anniversary from when ‘American Pie’ landed at the #1 spot on the Billboard chart and we will be celebrating on tour all year long. We will be performing all the songs from the American Pie album plus many of the other hits that fans will be expecting to hear.”

As previously reported, McLean’s 2022 American Pie 50th Anniversary Tour kicks off with a three-show engagement, January 28-30, at The Blue Note club in Honolulu, and features several other U.S. concerts taking place in February.

Among the confirmed gigs is scheduled on February 3 at the historic Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. That of course is the venue where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper performed on February 3, 1959, before perishing in a plane crash later that evening. The tragic incident is now known as “The Day the Music Died,” and served as an inspiration for McLean to write “American Pie.”

Don also will perform on the 2022 Rock Legends Cruise, taking place February 14 to February 18.

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A revised and updated version of the authorized 1992 Queen biography Queen: As It Began, which told the story of the legendary British rock band through the 1991 death of frontman Freddie Mercury, will be published on March 24, 2022.

Queen: As It Began (Revised and Updated Edition) features new contributions from Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, including exclusive interviews with the two band mates, and adds to the story of the group through 1996.

The updated version of the book features a new foreword penned by May, as well as many additional photographs.

Queen: As It Began was co-written by respected Queen expert Jim Jenkins  and Jacky Smith, who has run the group’s official international fan club for 40 years.

The book offers an in-depth look at the band’s history, including the childhoods and early musical endeavors of its four members — Mercury, May, Taylor and bassist John Deacon — the band’s late 1960s origins as a group called Smile that initially featured May and Taylor, the emergence of Queen after the additions of Mercury and Deacon, the group’s path to global superstardom, Freddie’s tragic death at age 45 from AIDS, and its aftermath.

“A source of much pleasure to anyone who has an interest in the inside story of the making of that unusual phenomenon known as Queen,” May says of the book.

You can pre-order the updated version of Queen: As It Began now at the band’s official online store.

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Founded in 1969, Genesis has fans that range from those who discovered them in their early Peter Gabriel prog-rock years, to those who came onboard in their ’80s pop era. Since Genesis’ current The Last Domino? tour will reportedly be their last, it’s been crafted to please all segments of the band’s fandom.

The band’s Friday show at the shiny new UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y. saw Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks — ably assisted by longtime tour guitarist/bassist Daryl Stuermer, two backup singers and Collins’ 20-year-old son Nic on drums — take fans through every era of their career in a masterful display of musicianship, accompanied by stunning visuals and lights.

Collins, who for medical reasons has been performing seated, still played the part of the ringmaster, introducing songs, cracking jokes and encouraging audience participation. His insistence on calling Elmont, N.Y. “Elwood” became a running joke.  While some songs were slowed down to accommodate him, his voice seemed to get stronger as the night progressed.

Faced with the daunting task of handling his dad’s complex and strenuous drum parts, Nic Collins passed with flying colors, earning wild, sustained cheers and applause from the crowd.

Fans of Genesis’ pop era cheered for the hits, from their sole U.S. number one — “Invisible Touch” — to “That’s All,” “Follow You, Follow Me,” “Throwing It All Away” and early ’90s singles like “No Son of Mine.” 1986’s “Land of Confusion” is, sadly, still timely, and album cuts like “Mama,” “Home by the Sea” and “Domino” still rock.

Meanwhile, instrumental showcases like “Duke’s End,” “The Cinema Show” and “Firth of Fifth,” snippets of fan favorites like “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway,” and full performances of deep cuts like “Duchess” and “Afterglow” were warmly received by old-school fans.

If this truly is Genesis’ final go-round, The Last Domino? did its best to keep all the customers satisfied.

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Micky Dolenz, now the last living member of The Monkees, has taken to social media to mourn his late bandmate, Mike Nesmith, who died on Friday at the age of 78.

“I’m heartbroken. I’ve lost a dear friend and partner,” writes Dolenz, along with a recent photo of the two men embracing onstage. “I’m so grateful that we could spend the last couple of months together doing what we loved best – singing, laughing, and doing shtick. I’ll miss it all so much. Especially the shtick.”

“Rest in peace, Nez. All my love, Micky,” he finished.

Other celebrities who paid tribute to Nesmith included The Bangles‘ Susannah Hoffs, director Edgar Wright, comedian Patton Oswalt, magician Penn Jillette, the E Street Band’s Steve Van Zandt and “Cars” singer Gary Numan.

KISS’ Paul Stanley wrote, “WOW! Sometimes it’s hard to know why someone’s passing hits you a certain way but this is another one that hit me. I watch my world change as people that I thought to be timeless pass on, and that is sobering. Lives end and life goes on. RIP Mike Nesmith.”

And Beach Boy Brian Wilson wrote, “I’m sorry to hear about Mike Nesmith. The Monkees had some great songs, those were fun days. Love & Mercy to Mike’s family and friends.”

 

 

 

 

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Music videos weren’t a big thing when some beloved holiday songs were first recorded, but now a bunch of new animated clips have been created for those Christmas classics.

The Beach Boys‘ “The Man with All The Toys,” The Jackson 5‘s “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” and Marvin Gaye‘s “I Want to Come Home for Christmas” are among the holiday songs that have new videos this year.

Each video has a different feel and style: The Beach Boys’ clip is a lyric video that features a collage of images of the group along with Christmas imagery. The Jackson 5 video mixes puppets and traditional animation, with the Marvin Gaye video featuring more sepia-toned and artistic sketches, to match the somber lyrics about a prisoner of war longing to return home to his family.

Other songs getting animated videos this holiday season: Bing Crosby’s “The Little Drummer Boy,” Burl Ives‘ “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” Nat King Cole‘s “O Come All Ye Faithful,” Dean Martin‘s “Baby It’s Cold Outside” and Ella Fitzgerald‘s “Sleigh Ride.”

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It was surprising enough that Elton John scored a number-one single this year, but now he’s racked up two.

“Merry Christmas,” Elton’s duet with Ed Sheeran, has topped the U.K. singles chart. It’s Elton’s second song to lead that chart in 2021, following his Dua Lipa duet “Cold Heart.”

However, Elton and Ed may soon find themselves competing with themselves to hold onto the top spot on the chart.  The reason why is pretty complicated, but here goes.

It’s a huge deal in the U.K. to have the song that’s number-one on Christmas Day. Each year, the competition for the “Christmas Number One” slot is intense.

For the past three years, a husband-and-wife duo billed as LadBaby have scored the Christmas number one with novelty songs about food — specifically, sausage rolls.  They donate the proceeds from the songs to the Trussell Trust, a charity that’s trying to end hunger in the U.K.

Now, Ed and Elton have teamed up with LadBaby to record a new song and video called “Sausage Rolls for Everyone” — a reworking of “Merry Christmas” with food-based lyrics. As before, 100% of the song’s profits will go to charity.

The song comes out next Friday, and the U.K. Christmas Number One will be announced December 24, so it just may come down to a battle between Ed and Elton’s original, and “Sausage Rolls for Everyone”

LadBaby said in a statement to the U.K.’s Official Charts Company, “Ed and Elton are pop royalty and they’ve both had huge success at Christmas, so we’re honored and excited to be coming together to help families this Christmas.”

“It’s time to bring back some Christmas magic with the power of sausage rolls!” Elton notes.

 

 

 

 

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Rami Malek won the Oscar for playing Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, but when the project was first proposed back in 2010, it was Sacha Baron Cohen who was originally cast as Mercury in the film. Now, Queen drummer Roger Taylor says he thinks Cohen would have been terrible in the role.

Cohen exited the project in 2013 over creative differences, and Malek was eventually cast.  Now, Taylor tells Classic Rock magazine that he thinks Cohen would’ve been “utter s**t” in the role of Freddie.

“Sacha is pushy, if nothing else. He’s also six inches too tall,” Taylor continues. “But I watched his last five films and came to the conclusion he’s not a very good actor…I thought he was an utterly brilliant subversive comedian, that’s what he’s great at. Anyway, I think Rami did a brilliant job in an almost impossible role.”

“We kind of got it right in the end,” Taylor adds of Bohemian Rhapsody. “We wanted to take people on a journey, make them feel up and then down, then joyous at the end.”

The Academy might disagree with Taylor about Cohen’s acting abilities: He was nominated for an Oscar for his role in the 2020 movie The Trial of the Chicago 7.

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Most fans know that John Mellencamp is a talented painter, but it seems like his son is following in his footsteps.

On Friday, the rocker revealed that the painting on the cover of his new album Strictly a One-Eyed Jack — which shows him wearing an eyepatch — was done by his 26-year-old son, Speck Mellencamp.

Also on Friday, Mellencamp released another new song from the album, “Chasing Rainbows,” along with a lyric video. It’s the second song we’ve heard from the project, following the September release of a duet with Bruce Springsteen titled “Wasted Days.”

John also debuted a new acoustic tune from the album titled “I Always Lie to Strangers” during his performance at the 2021 Farm Aid concert in September.

Strictly a One-Eyed Jack will be released January 21.

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An Eddie Van Halen Funko Pop! is set to be released next year.

The late Van Halen icon is the latest rocker to be turned into one of the toy company’s ever-popular big-headed vinyl figures as part of its Pop! Rocks line. The Eddie Funko finds him jumping in the air while jamming on a mini recreation of his signature Frankenstrat guitar.

You can pre-order your own now ahead of its expected January release.

Other artists who’ve gotten the Funko Pop! treatment include Machine Gun Kelly, Metallica, Pearl Jam, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Green Day and Ozzy Osbourne.

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