DEF LEPPARD: Back to the Sheds
Def Leppard have announced a tour of mostly medium and small markets starting with two shows in May – the 15th in San Juan, Puerto Rico and the 17th at the Boardwalk Rock 2025
festival in Ocean City, Maryland. Then the tour officially gets under way on June 19th in Milwaukee with 22 shows, including five in Canada, through August 31st in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Bret Michaels will open four shows -- Rogers, Arkansas; Birmingham, Alabama; Saratoga Springs, New York; and Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Struts open two -- Bangor,
Maine and Bethel, New York. Extreme will play at the finale in Virginia Beach. Tickets go on sale Friday. Full list of dates and tickets at defleppard.com.
LIVE & COLLECTIVE SOUL: Summer Tour
Live and Collective Soul are teaming up for their first tour together since 2008. The Summer Unity Tour will hit 30 cities between July 8th in Auburn, Washington and August 29th in Grantville, Pennsylvania.
Live's Ed Kowalczyk says, "Live is thrilled to be joining forces with the amazing Collective Soul! The great vibes between our two bands on and offstage is something we have both enjoyed for years, and here we come in 2025! This will be a very special night of music for all of the fans; I know everyone is gonna get rocked and uplifted right along with us… Come on out!”
And Collective Soul's Ed Roland adds, "It was August 1994, and we, Collective Soul, were on our way to Woodstock '94. As our van pulled up to the grounds, another one pulled up beside us and out jumped the band Live. We became immediate friends, exchanging guitar picks with each other as soon as we met. Since that day, the Ed and Ed show has been nothing but pure, genuine friendship, and rock and roll. We’re excited that 31 years later, we still not only enjoy each other’s company, but enjoy playing music. It’s going to be a fun summer sharing it with fans, friends and Live.”
The special guests on the entire tour are Our Lady Peace and Greylin James Rue. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10 a.m. local time at LiveNation.com.
NEIL YOUNG: He's Cured
Neil Young is no longer offering Platinum tickets to his shows. Taking a cue from The Cure's Robert Smith, who did away with it, Young says, “It’s the story of the bad thing that has happened to concerts worldwide. It’s this story that really helped me to realize that I have a choice to make and can make a difference for my music loving friends. My management and agent have always tried to cover my back on the road, getting me the best deals they could.
“They have tried to protect me and my fans from the scalpers who buy the best tickets and resell them at huge increases for their own profits. Ticketmaster’s high priced Platinum tickets were introduced to the areas where scalpers were buying the most tickets for resale. The money went to me. That did not feel right.” “I have decided to let the people work this out. Buy aggressively when the tickets come out or tickets will cost a lot more in a secondary market.” Young starts his tour with The Chrome Hearts on June 18th in Sweden with U.S. dates getting underway on August 8th in Charlotte.
REO SPEEDWAGON: One Last Show
REO Speedwagon has had more than 20 members since forming in 1967, and on June 14th, six of them will come together for a "retrospective" concert in their hometown of Champaign, Illinois. Back Where It All Began will feature band founder and keyboardist Neal Doughty, drummer Alan Gratzer, bassist Bruce Hall, guitarist Steve Scorfina, and singers Terry Luttrell and Mike Murphy, with an ‘in memoriam’ segment for guitarist Gary Richrath and bassist Gregg Philbin.
Bruce Hall, who along with Neal Doughty and Kevin Cronin, owns the name REO Speedwagon, says, "So excited for this ONE night only event, back where it all began, in MY hometown! Looking forward to reminiscing, rockin' with the founding fathers and saying a proper goodbye. Most importantly, this celebration benefits the REO Speedwagon Foundation for rare GU cancer research at Moffitt Cancer Center. I truly believe Gary is proud and smiling down on us. Let's rock!" Cronin, who now tours as The Kevin Cronin Band, will be performing that night in Bend, Oregon as part of the Brotherhood of Rock tour with Styx and Don Felder.
Hall was asked on Facebook about why the band won't do a farewell tour. "I'm grateful to have this opportunity. I still would love a true REO farewell tour and will always hope that can happen...but as I've stated over and over...Kevin would also need to be a part of that to happen." The decision to retire the REO name came about after Cronin wanted to continue without Hall, who was sidelined with a back injury that required surgery. Doughty and Hall voted against Cronin's continuing under that name unless Hall was part of the lineup.
RUSH: More Sadness
More sadness to report from the extended Rush family. The late Neil Peart's younger brother, Danny Peart, passed away last Thursday, March 13th, from the same brain cancer that killed Neil in 2020 -- glioblastoma. He was 71. Danny was an accomplished writer and a member of the League of Canadian Poets, and their sister Nancy says they will “be planting a tree at Lakeside Park in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada beside our Father's tree and Neil's pavilion and will have a new award starting at this year's golf tournament for 'Sportsmanship' as this was his true self. It is ironic that his golf team has repeatedly come in 2nd place!"
Neil wrote the foreword to Danny's 2016 book, Stark Naked in a Laundromat.
JESSE COLIN YOUNG: Dies at 83
Jesse Colin Young died on Sunday from a heart attack at his home in Aiken, South Carolina.
His spokesman says, "As the frontman of The Youngbloods, he immortalized the ideals of the Woodstock generation with "Get Together," an international hit that called for peace and brotherhood during the turbulent 1960s. During the decades that followed, Young expanded both his audience and his artistic range, releasing a string of solo albums that mixed socially conscious lyrics with top-tier guitar skills and gorgeous vocals.
"An acclaimed songwriter, singer, instrumentalist, producer, label owner, podcast host and longtime social/environmental activist, he has established a permanent place in America's musical landscape -- while continuing to make modern music that's every bit as vital as his work during the counterculture era." Young, born Perry Miller on November 22nd, 1941 in Queens, New York, was 83. He leaves behind his second wife and manager Connie, and four children -- two from each marriage.
ROCK HALL: Fan Vote Recap - Week Five
For the second week in a row Bad Company have moved up in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's Fan Vote, this time overtaking Billy Idol for second place. Also moving up are The White Stripes as they skip by Outkast for 11th place. With close to 1.6-million votes cast, the
complete order and number of votes, rounded up, is as follows:
1.Phish - 225,000
2.Bad Company - 158,000
3.Billy Idol - 157,000
4.Soundgarden - 143,500
5.Cyndi Lauper - 140,000
6.Joe Cocker - 136,000
7.Chubby Checker - 120,000
8.Black Crowes - 103,000
9.Mariah Carey - 95,000
10.Joy Division + New Order - 77,000
11.The White Stripes - 72,500
12.Outkast - 71,000
13.Oasis - 68,000
14.Mana - 25,500
You can vote once a day through April 21st at RockHall.com. The top five artists selected by the public will comprise a “fans’ ballot” that will be tallied along with the other ballots to determine the 2025 Inductees. The Class of 2025 will be announced in late April with the ceremony set for the fall in Los Angeles.
IN OTHER NEWS
Steve Miller has announced six Northeast dates in August – the 15th in Bethel, New York through the 30th in Salamanca, New York with stops in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, New Jersey and one more in New Jersey in between.
Kevin Cronin celebrated St. Patrick’s Day (Monday) by rummaging through his attic, where, he says, he dug out Irish sweatshirts – “Cronin’s” – and “a bunch of vintage REO Speedwagon
merch and some of my old stage clothes. We saved some, and dropped off the rest at our local music store, Instrumental Music. Felt good to share this stuff with the young musicians who work and teach at this cool independent music shop. So, Happy St Paddy’s to everyone, and Happy Birthday to my Dad who would have been 100 years old today!” He posted a photo of the sweatshirts on Instagram.
The Moody Blues’ Justin Hayward has released a cover of Dream Academy’s “Life in a Northern Town” backed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The digital single also includes a live performance of Hayward doing the 1991 Moodies’ song “Hope and Pray” in Kent, Ohio.
Marianne Faithfull has been gone less than two months and we already have the first posthumous release. The four-track EP Burning Moonlight will be available as a limited-edition vinyl disc on Record Store Day, April 12th, with a digital EP to follow on June 6th. Her son Nicholas Dunbar says his mom recorded the songs last year. He says the title track, which is streaming now, was “inspired by the opening line of her debut single ‘As Tears Go By,'” which was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Marianne Faithfull died this past January 30th at 78.
Robert Plant has announced a European tour backed by Saving Grace starting on May 3rd in Brussels, Belgium through July 30th in Barcelona, Spain.
Rod Stewart has added six more dates to The Encore Shows, his Las Vegas residency at Caesars Palace – September 24th through October 4th.