Classic Hits

While many artists returned to the road in 2021, others decided to hold off until 2022. Now, Gametime, the app that specializes in last-minute tickets, has released its list of the most in-demand concerts for next year, and based on ticket sales, Elton John‘s rescheduled farewell tour is at #2 on the tally.

Elton was originally set to resume the Europe and U.K. legs of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour this year, but in September, he announced that he was moving those dates to 2023 because he had to have a hip operation. The next opportunity that fans will have to see Elton is January 19, 2022, when his North American tour — postponed from 2020 due to COVID-19 — begins in New Orleans.

Also on Gametime’s list are the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who are listed at #9 on the ranking. The veteran rockers plan to embark on a global tour starting in June, with a North American leg set to begin on July 23 in Denver. The trek will mark the group’s first full live outing since guitarist John Frusciante rejoined in late 2019.

Number one on the list is Latin superstar Bad Bunny, while other artists in the top 10 include Dead & Company collaborator John Mayer at #6. Mayer, who toured this year with Dead & Company, will launch his solo Sob Rock trek in February.

Here’s the app’s full list of the top-10 in-demand concerts for 2022:

1. Bad Bunny
2. Elton John tour
3. Billie Eilish
4. The Weeknd stadium tour
5. Justin Bieber
6. John Mayer
7. Dua Lipa
8. Tyler The Creator
9. Red Hot Chili Peppers
10. Tool

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Longtime David Bowie keyboardist Mike Garson is organizing a second annual star-studded virtual concert event celebrating the late rock legend on the January 8 anniversary of his birth.

The 2022 edition of the event, dubbed “Mike Garson’s A Bowie Celebration,” will take place on what would have been David’s 75th birthday, and will feature performances by Def Leppard, Duran Duran‘s Simon Le Bon and John Taylor, Living Colour, Rob Thomas, WALK THE MOON, and actors Gary Oldman and Evan Rachel Wood, among others.

In addition, Ricky Gervais will make a special appearance during the show, part of the proceeds from which will benefit the Save the Children charity.

Garson will lead a house band featuring musicians who toured and/or recorded with Bowie, including guitarists Earl Slick, Charlie Sexton and Gerry Leonard; drummers Alan Childs and Omar Hakim; sax players Steve Elson and Stan Harrison; and bassist Carmine Rojas.

Other guest singers will include longtime Bowie bassist Gail Ann Dorsey and Rolling Stones backing vocalist Bernard Fowler.

The event will be dedicated to legendary late photographer Mick Rock, and also will celebrate the 35th anniversary of Jim Henson fantasy film, Labyrinth, which starred Bowie as the Goblin King and featured five songs he wrote.

Tickets and ticket bundles for the event are available now at RollingLiveStudios.com/Bowie. Among the special extras included in some of the bundles are a Q&A with band members and an personal piano track recorded by Garson.

The presentation will begin at 9 p.m. ET on January 8 and will be available for 24 hours.

“It’s an honor to be able to continue to share David Bowie’s music with the world,” says Garson in a statement. “I’m excited for everyone to be able to experience this very special show.”

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The family of the late Jacqueline Avant has established a fund in her name.

The Jacqueline Avant Memorial Fund will benefit one of her favorite charities, the new MLK Children’s Center in South Los Angeles. The family also announced that a special celebration of life for Avant will be held following the holiday season, according to Billboard.

The wife of legendary music executive and recent Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Clarence Avant, Jacqueline Alberta Avant was a former Ebony Fashion Fair model known for her philanthropy. She served as president of the Neighbors of Watts, a support group for the South Central Community Child Care Center, and as an entertainment chairman of the NOW benefit auction and NOW membership, in addition to serving on the board of directors of the International Student Center at UCLA.

As previously reported, Aariel Maynor, 29, of Los Angeles, the suspect in Avant’s fatal shooting December 1 in her Beverly Hills home, has been charged with murder and other crimes.

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The Rolling Stones‘ Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, along with members of the band’s touring lineup, took part in an intimate tribute show to late drummer Charlie Watts at famed London jazz club Ronnie Scott’s on Monday, NME reports.

The show was emceed by former Squeeze keyboardist and TV host Jools Holland, who also led the show’s house band, which featured the surviving members of Watts’ side group, The ABC&D of Boogie Woogie — upright bassist Dave Green, and piano players Ben Waters and Axel Zwingenberger.

Jagger, Richards and Wood all hit the stage during a jam session at the end of the concert that featured performances of the R&B standards “Shame Shame Shame” and “Down the Road Apiece.”

Former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman was in attendance at the event, as were members of Charlie’s family.

Current Stones touring sax player Tim Ries and backing vocalist Bernard Fowler also performed, as did Lisa Fischer, who was a backing singer for the group’ for 26 years. Ries played an original tribute song called “Blues for Charlie,” while Fischer sang the blues standard “Trouble in Mind” and then was joined by Fowler for a rendition of the gospel tune “Up Above My Head.”

Watts died on August 24 at the age of 80. Prior to his passing, Charlie had chosen respected session drummer Steve Jordan to fill in for him on The Rolling Stones’ 2021 U.S. tour. The band dedicated the trek to Watts and played a video montage honoring him at the start of each show. The outing wrapped up with a November 23 concert in Hollywood, Florida.

Next year marks The Rolling Stones’ 60th anniversary, but it’s not known yet if the band plans to continue touring.

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An expanded version Zombies frontman Colin Blunstone‘s 1971 debut solo album, One Year, was released last month in honor.

The 50th anniversary reissue, which is available on CD, as a two-LP vinyl set, digitally and via streaming, features a newly mastered version of the original 10-track album, plus a 14-song collection of bonus recordings dubbed That Same Year.

Blunstone recorded One Year after The Zombies’ breakup, with his former band mates Rod Argent and Chris White co-producing the album and contributing three songs they co-wrote to the project.

“[I]t was a little bit like a Zombies reunion, really,” Colin tells ABC Audio, while noting that the members of Rod’s then-new band Argent were brought in to play on some of the initial tracks. As the sessions proceeded, a young classical British composer named Chris Gunning was tapped to create string arrangements for most of the songs.

While One Year had little success in the U.S., the album yielded a top-20 U.K. hit with Blunstone’s cover of the Denny Laine-penned “Say You Don’t Mind,” which Colin says was “a great song.”

The 14 bonus tracks have an interesting back story. Blunstone says White’s sons, while looking through their father’s archives recently, discovered some reel-to-reel tapes with demos Colin had written and recorded around the time of the One Year sessions but had completely forgotten about.

Studio versions of three of the demos appear on One Year, while Colin recorded another for his second solo album, 1972’s Ennismore, but most of tunes had never been released in any form.

“Hopefully, it will be illuminating to people to just see what I was doing in the way of songwriting at that time,” Blunstone says of the demos.

Here’s the One Year track list:

“She Loves The Way They Love Her”
“Misty Roses”
“Smokey Day”
“Caroline Goodbye”
“Though You Are Far Away”
“Mary Won’t You Warm My Bed”
“Her Song”
“I Can’t Live Without You”
“Let Me Come Closer to You”
“Say You Don’t Mind”

And here’s the That Same Year track list:

“Are You Ready”
“I’ve Always Had You”
“Sing Your Own Song”
“Caroline Goodbye”
“I’d Like to Get to Know You Better”
“Though You Are Far Away”
“Too Much Too Soon Last Night”
“I Wonder If You Know What You’ve Begun”
“I Won’t Let You Down”
“You Gave Me a Reason”
“I’m Coming Home”
“I Really Do Love You”
“Let Me Come Closer”
“You Really Were a Surprise”

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A never-before-heard full-length NFT “Always Love You” demo recording by 17-year-old Whitney Houston will be auctioned on December 13 with a starting bid of $117,000.

The winner of this “OneOf” item will have access to the recording in their OneOf Vault with a digital video utilizing archived photos of Houston created by 17-year-old artist Diana Sinclair.

“I’m excited to see Whitney’s legacy and her wonderful music expand into bold new technology of this era,” Whitney Houston Estate Executor Pat Houston says in a statement. “It was a joy partnering with 17-year-old Diana Sinclair and watching the artistry of Whitney’s music influence a new generation.”

Proceeds from the sales of the Houston NFT collection will go to the Whitney E. Houston Foundation, a non-profit which continues the work of the late six-time Grammy winner to empower, support, and inspire young people.

Interested bidders can apply on the OneOf website.

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A new edition of Cat Stevens‘ soundtrack to the 1971 cult classic Harold and Maude, in conjunction with the film’s 50th anniversary, will be released on February 11, 2022, on CD, digitally and as a 180-gram vinyl LP.

Harold and Maude tells the story of a suicide-obsessed teenager who learns to embrace life while falling in love with an eccentric, free-spirited 79-year-old woman. The darkly comedic film was directed by Hal Ashby, and starred Bud Cort as Harold and Ruth Gordon as Maude.

The movie’s soundtrack featured seven previously released songs by Stevens that first appeared on his then-recent studio albums Mona Bone Jakon and Tea for the Tillerman, and two new tunes Cat wrote specifically for the flick — “Don’t Be Shy” and “If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out.”

A soundtrack album was not released in conjunction with the film because Stevens, who is now known as Yusuf Islam, says he was worried at the time that it would be perceived as a greatest hits collection, and he felt that it was too early in his career to issue one.

The original version of the Harold and Maude soundtrack album was released in limited quantities in 2007 on Cameron Crowe‘s independent label, Vinyl Films, but that soon went out of print.

The new version features the nine Stevens songs that appeared in the film, coupled for the first time with dialogue segments from the movie.

The audio for the soundtrack has been remastered at London’s famed Abbey Road Studios. The album will boast enhanced packaging that includes liner notes, song lyrics, movie dialogue transcriptions and photos from the film.

You can pre-order the Harold and Maude soundtrack now.

Here’s the album’s full track list:

Side 1
“Don’t Be Shy”
“Dialogue 1 (I Go to Funerals)”
“On the Road to Find Out”
“I Wish, I Wish”
“Tchaikovsky’s Concerto No.1 in B”
“Dialogue 2 (How Many Suicides)”
“Marching Band”/”Dialogue 3 (Harold Meets Maude)”
“Miles from Nowhere”
“Tea for the Tillerman”

Side 2
“I Think I See the Light”
“Dialogue 4 (Sunflower)”
“Where Do the Children Play?”
“If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out” (Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort vocal)
“Strauss’ Blue Danube”
“Dialogue 5 (Somersaults)”
“If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out”
“Dialogue 6 (Harold Loves Maude)”
“Trouble”
“If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out” (ending)

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Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, ex-Allman Brothers Band guitarist Derek Trucks and Trucks’ wife and Tedeschi Trucks Band mate Susan Tedeschi are among the latest musicians to join the lineup for Peace Through Music: A Global Event for the Environment, a virtual concert event scheduled to premiere December 15 at 9 p.m. ET at the Playing for Change YouTube channel.

The streaming event, produced by the Playing for Change organization and the United Nations Population Fund, will focus on raising funds and awareness for environmental issues.

More than 200 artists from over 35 countries will take part in the presentation, along with world leaders and influencers. Documentaries also will be shown displaying the beauty of the planet and looking at its vulnerability to pollution and other environmental hazards.

Previously announced performers include Slash, Yusuf/Cat Stevens, The Grateful Dead‘s Mickey Hart, No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal, Taj Mahal, Rosanne Cash, Jack Johnson, Jane’s Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins, Ben Harper, Sara Bareilles, The Lumineers and Keb’ Mo’. Additionally, The Band‘s Robbie Robertson will be making a “special appearance” during the stream.

Peace Through Music previously raised $1 million for social justice charities with its 2020 stream, which featured artists including Ringo Starr, Gary Clark Jr., and Carlos and Cindy Blackman Santana.

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Sure, you’ve heard Rob Thomas‘ “Small Town Christmas” by now, but if you want to find out more about his latest album Something About Christmas Time, tune into Instagram Live tomorrow when he plans to spotlight another track on the album.

Rob will be joined by gospel music great Bebe Winans on Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET to discuss “That Spirit of Christmas,” the song they recorded together for Rob’s album.  The holiday tune, originally recorded by Ray Charles in 1985, is famously featured during the attic scene in the 1989 film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

As for how Bebe ended up on Rob’s album in the first place, Rob told ABC Audio that the gospel star has been one of his best friends for more than 20 years — Bebe even sang at his 1999 wedding to his wife Marisol.

 

 

 

 

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Instruments signed by Paul McCartney, Keith Richards and the late Tom Petty are among the interesting items that have been added to a recently announced memorabilia auction benefiting the MusiCares charity scheduled to take place January 30, one day before the 64th annual Grammy Awards ceremony.

The former Beatles icon has donated a signed Hofner violin bass guitar to the auction, which is estimated to fetch from $4,000 to $6,000.

The Rolling Stones legend has contributed an autographed ebony Gibson ES-335 electric guitar to the auction, while an NFT featuring a digital video of Richards signing the instruments also is included. The lot is estimated to bring in between $6,000 and $8,000.

A Gibson ES-355 Bigsby electric/acoustic guitar that Petty signed at the 2017 gala honoring him as MusiCares Person of the Year also is up for bid, along with a copy of the Ultra Deluxe version of Tom’s Wildflowers & All the Rest box set. The lot also is expected to sell for between $6,000 and $8,000.

Also added to the auction is U2 singer Bono‘s handwritten lyrics to his band’s new tune “Your Song Saved My Life,” which will be featured in the upcoming animated film Sing 2 that features Bono voicing one of the characters. The document is expected to sell for between $4,000 and $6,000.

In addition, a signed proof print of an oil painting of Jimi Hendrix by legendary singer/songwriter and 2022 MusiCares Person of the Year Joni Mitchell will be up for bid, valued at $2,000 to $4,000.

MusiCares provides medical, financial and personal assistance to in-need members of the music community. The sale, which is being hosted by Julien’s Auctions, will take place online and in Beverly Hills, California.

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