Big Rig ROCK Report 2.5

Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath to play final show in Birmingham

Black Sabbath has announced a final concert, Back to the Beginning, to celebrate Ozzy Osbourne's last live performance with a reunion of the band's original members. The show will take place July 5 at Aston Villa, featuring all four original members performing together for the first time in 20 years. Tom Morello will serve as music director for the event, with a star-studded lineup of guests including Billy Corgan, Slash, Sammy Hagar, and more. All profits from the show will benefit charities, and tickets go on sale on Feb. 14.

Dave Grohl Added To SNL 50th Anniversary Concert

Dave Grohl is being added to the list of performers for the upcoming celebration of the 50th anniversary of "Saturday Night Live.""SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert" is part of the show's ongoing birthday celebrations. Some previously announced artists include Bad Bunny, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, Jelly Roll and the Backstreet Boys. The homecoming concert is taking place at radio City Music Hall in New York City on February 14th. The show will be available to stream on Peacock at 8 p.m. Easter.  

FireAid Has Raised More Than $100M Far To Help With LA Wildfire Relief

The FireAid benefit shows to support the victims of the Los Angeles area wildfires is expected to bring in over 100-million dollars. In a statement, the event's organizers said the concerts at L.A. Intuit Dome and Kia Forum drew over 50-million viewers across 28 streaming platforms. The estimated money raised comes from donations from the public, merchandise sales, sponsorships ticket sales and private gifts. Billie Eilish, Green Day, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Peso Pluma and Tate McRae were just a few of the many artists that performed. Before the shows began, FireAid announced it had already raised over 60-million dollars. Fundraising is still going on and the first grants are said to roll out in the middle of February.  

Def Leppard Releases "Stand By Me" Cover For FireAid

Another classic cover is being used to raise funds for the wildfire recovery. Def Leppard announced the release of the 1961 Ben E. King hit "Stand By Me."Frontman Joe Elliott says Los Angeles has a special place in the band's heart as the city "where we played our first-ever American gig." Proceeds from sales of the record will go to FireAid, which held a pair of star-studded concerts at two Inglewood venues last Thursday.

R.E.M, DEATH CAB, THE WAR ON DRUGS: L.A. Fire Relief benefit Album

R.E.M., Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service, The War on Drugs and Soul Asylum are among the acts contributing unreleased tracks to a Los Angeles wildfire relief album. Good Music To Lift Up Los Angeles will be available on Friday through Bandcamp and be up for sale for just 24 hours. All of the net proceeds from 90-track benefit compilation will go to the California Community Foundation’s Wildfire Recovery Fund and the LA Food Bank. And Bandcamp will donate all their share of the album sales to MusiCares. Other acts appearing on the album incude Cold War Kids, Courtney Barnett, Dawes, The Heavy Heavy, Interpol, Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit, Jeff Tweedy, Local Natives, Lucius, Manchester Orchestra, MJ Lenderman,

Modest Mouse, My Morning Jacket, Silversun Pickups and Soccer Mommy.

FLEETWOOD MAC: Still Dreaming

Mick Fleetwood continues to hold out hope that Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks can bury the hatchet. He shared his feelings on Sunday while walking the red carpet at Steven Tyler's Janie’s Fund Grammy Awards viewing party. “I always have a fantasy that [Stevie] and Lindsay would pal up a bit more and just say everything’s OK for them both. But we’ve had such an incredible career. “But I’ll say, personally, I would love to see a healing between them – and that doesn’t have to take the shape of a tour, necessarily.”

Buckingham was fired from Fleetwood Mac in 2018 after Stevie said either he goes or she does. She of course then said, "I did not demand he be fired. Frankly, I fired myself. I proactively removed myself from the band and a situation I considered to be toxic to my well-being. I was done. If the band went on without me, so be it.” The only time since then that the two have any contact was at the memorial service for Christine McVie in 2023. Stevie says they spoke for about three minutes, adding that she "dealt with Lindsey for as long as I could. You could not say that I did not give him more than 300 million chances.”

Buckingham is willing to mend fences and rejoin the band, but Stevie feels "there’s no reason” to continue without Christine. Fleetwood Mac's last show was a benefit in San Francisco in 2019. Fleetwood Mac released Rumours, their second album with Buckingham and Nicks, on this day 48 years ago yesterday (Tuesday) in 1977.

ALEX VAN HALEN: Honored

Alex Van Halen recently received the Buddy Rich Award at the Drumeo Awards. In accepting the award via video, he said "It means a lot to me. Buddy Rich was actually a very humble man who challenged himself until the very end, which I think is important in the spirit of this award. I think it's important to remember that you got to aim high, and even if you aim high and miss, it's better than aiming low and achieving it. "We're all built on the shoulders of giants, so we're just a link in the chain if you will." Alex ended his speech by remembering his brother, saying, "Ed, dinner at 7. Bring buddy if you'd." Eddie Van Halen passed in 2020 at 65, and Buddy Rich preceded him in 1987 at 69.

The Eddie Van Halen Collaboration That Never Happened

Joe Satriani reveals in a recent interview that he made multiple attempts to have Eddie Van Halen join his G3 tour, but never received a response. Satriani also shares that a potential collaboration with Jeff Beck and Billy Gibbons fell through at the last minute. Despite these missed opportunities, the original G3 lineup reunited in early 2024 for shows and are now working on an album as SatchVai. G3 Reunion Live, featuring Satriani, Eric Johnson, and Steve Vai was released on multiple formats including vinyl last week.

THE BEATLES: Now and Then and Again

The Beatles have followed up their Grammy win Sunday for Best Rock Performance for "Now and Then" by posting on their YouTube page a short video looking back at the song's release in 2023. It shows shots of their native Liverpool, people buying the album, adverts and billboards around the world touting the release, fans discussing the song on social media, press clippings and more. The Beatles also released a statement saying, "'Now and Then' was the last Beatles song -- written and sung by John Lennon, developed and worked on by Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, and finished by Paul and Ringo over four decades later.

“Its release became a cultural moment in history, uniting listeners around the world in a shared music experience as the band released their final single.” "Now and Then" is the third and final Lennon cassette demo that Yoko Ono gave to Paul, George and Ringo in the mid-'90s for them to add instruments and vocals to -- along with "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" -- for inclusion on their Anthology collection in 1995 and '96." Now and Then" was paired on a double-A side single along with their 1962 debut U.K. single, “Love Me Do” for release on seven- and 12-inch vinyl, as well as cassette and digitally, on November 2nd, 2023.

ELTON JOHN: New Song

Elton John will release a new song, "Who Believes in Angels?", this Wednesday at Noon ET this Wednesday. It's another collaboration with his longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin, along with Brandi Carlile, following the title track to his latest documentary, Never Too Late.

There is a photo on YouTube counting down to the premiere that shows Elton, Brandi and Bernie in the studio with who appears to be producer Andrew Watt, who produced "Never Too Late," as well as being one of the producers on his last album, 2021's The Lockdown Sessions.

BRIAN MAY: About That Stroke

Brian May has opened up more about what he went through last September when he had a minor stroke. In the latest issue of Guitarist, he says, "When I suddenly couldn’t control this left arm, it was quite scary. I had no idea what was going on. “I phoned my doctor and she said, ‘Okay, I think you’re having a minor stroke. Dial 999, get in the ambulance and I’ll see you there.’ But even at the worst time, although I couldn’t control where the arm was, I could control my fingers. So I thought, ‘I’m probably not really in danger.’ I’m all right now. I’m just taking it slow.” Since 2012, May, who is 77, has had a heart attack, two torn discs in his back, a knee replacement, and surgeries on his left calf and left eye.

Photo Of "Breakfast In America" Actress Goes Viral

A photo of an actress decades after she appeared on an iconic album cover has gone viral. Kate Murtagh was 59-years-old when she posed as Libby the waitress on Supertramp's 1979 blockbuster album "Breakfast in America." The photo making the rounds on social media is of Murtagh at the age of 95 holding the album cover. Murtagh died in 2017, a year after the photo was taken.

David Bowie Live Album To Be Released On Record Store Day

A live David Bowie performance from 2003 is getting a special release. A new vinyl, “Ready, Set, Go! (Live, Riverside Studios ’03),” features Bowie’s concert in London on September 8, 2003. That concert was actually broadcast live at the time to 86 theaters across 26 countries, making it one of the biggest live interactive music satellite events in history. At the concert, Bowie performed his “Reality” album in full, a week before its official release. He also performed encore songs “Hallo Spaceboy,” “Afraid,” and a cover of the Pixies’ “Cactus.” “Ready, Set, Go! (Live, Riverside Studios ’03)” will be available as a special limited-edition two-LP vinyl set, as well as on CD. It is being released for Record Store Day 2025 on April 12th.

IN OTHER NEWS

ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd will perform at the three-day country-heavy Field & Stream Music Fest in Winnsboro, South Carolina in October. ZZ will headline on the 3rd and Skynyrd on the 4th. 

Cheap Trick will headline the Pure Imagination festival at Watson Lake in Prescott, Arizona on May 17th.

Ozzy Osbourne and Billy Morrison's single "Gods of Rock n' Roll" will be released to streaming services on February 14th, along with a video for the track.

Alice in Chains fans who catch Jerry Cantrell on his solo tour will get a treat. He's playing "Hate to Feel" from Dirt for the first time since 1993. Cantrell's tour continues tonight in Boston.

Bob Weir has posted photos on his socials of himself and his wife Natascha with Taylor Swift at the Grammy Awards on Sunday.

Joe Walsh has commented on the death last month of The Band’s Garth Hudson, saying, “I only knew him a little but time with Garth Hudson was always well-spent as he was humble, kind and totally unique. His addition to any song or piece of music was imaginative, special and methodical. He was a great electrical engineer. He was an even greater artist who deserves tremendous respect and appreciation. May he rest in peace.” Hudson, the last surviving member of The Band, was 87.