Today's Day in Rock Stories

Van Halen Rocks Eruption For 40th Anniversary Video

The 22-song set featured three tunes the band haven't played in years, including the first appearance of "Play With Fire" since 1990, the "Goats Head Soup" track "Dancing With Mr. D" was last performed in 1973, and "Under My Thumb" won the fan song vote after last being heard in 2006.

The Stones opened their first show in almost a year with 1968's "Sympathy For The Devil", and played "Just Your Fool" and "Ride 'Em On Down" from 2016's blues covers record, "Blue & Lonesome", early in the evening.

Keith Richards took his usual lead role mid-set by delivering "Slipping Away" and "Happy" before the show kicked into overdrive with a string of iconic tunes - "Midnight Rambler", "Miss You", "Street Fighting Man", "Start Me Up" and "Brown Sugar" - and the main set wrapped up with "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."

Bennington took over as the frontman of Stone Temple Pilots from 2013 through most of 2015 before leaving the band to refocus on Linkin Park. "It's sad, really sad. I lost a great friend," DeLeo told Billboard. "We're part of the same community here. We took our kids to school and took our kids to baseball, and he was a great human being. He was there for us when we needed it. It's hard to talk about him in the past tense, still. He was a really great person, and I miss him every day. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about him and think about why he did what it did. Obviously it made sense to him, but I'm baffled by that. And always will be."

Kid Rock is currently preparing to open Detroit's new Little Caesar's Arena with a string of concerts. Rock will also leave a more indelible mark on the arena by opening his own "Made in Detroit" restaurant at the venue.

The band delivered the first appearance of the "Black" album track in four years during their September 2 gig in Copenhagen, Denmark on the opening night of their fall arena tour of Europe in support of "Hardwired�To Self-Destruct."

The first of two dates in Amsterdam made headlines when frontman James Hetfield fell into an open trap door in the stage during the 2016 track, "Now That We're Dead."

The rocker took a tumble into the stage where one of four rectangular percussion tables would soon appear, before being quickly assisted by crew members while continuing to play the song.

Many years ago I wrote and video taped a song live in my own rehearsal studio titled 'Amber Waves' It was originally another 'love song' type theme, a darker, brooding composition that eventually led itself away from the esoteric 'love lost' course. While singing the melody in the chorus I sang out randomly 'And this is for the stars�' followed by - so very automatically 'And this is for the stripes�' hence the song became a personal 'thank you' anthem to our American flag. This was in 2010.

The ending lyric is a salute, respect for those who gave their lives in order for the remaining people to live and enjoy life as they wish. I believe a sentiment that has sadly lost its value and meaning, increasingly so over the years.

While years later recording the FOUR BY FATE debut CD a fan of mine who's a veteran as well found the song on YouTube and begged me to record it for the new band. We did and consequently acquired more fans because of it - veterans and civilians. It is still waiting to be released as a single - video(s) done - I'm still hopeful, but not so much for the song but for the acknowledgement of just how the country struggled and for those who served and sacrificed so we all could live lives that other people only dream about.

When we play it live it still resonates with the meaning and passion that far surpasses the simple love tune.

The band delivered "Bullet The Blue Sky" from their 1987 album before Bono and The Edge joined the host to discuss the lead single from their forthcoming release, "Songs Of Experience", before playing it to close out the show.

"We call it a sort a punk-Motown," explains Bono. "It's like The Supremes, a punk Supremes. It's defiant joy, is what we call it. It's a love song to my Mrs., and in these difficult times it's important to tell your loved ones how you feel."

"I think," added The Edge, "maybe even more important than ever in these times, it's important to have that joy because that's the best response."

The group's best-selling studio record peaked at No. 3 on the US Billboard 200 on its way to worldwide sales of 6 million copies, including 4 million in the States alone. The set featured classic Queen singles like "We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions", "Spread Your Wings" and "It's Late."

The 40th anniversary reissue presents Bob Ludwig's 2011 remaster of the album alongside two discs of bonus tracks, a DVD of a new one-hour documentary, and a pure analogue re-cut of the original vinyl LP direct from the unmastered analogue master mix tapes.

The rocker was joined by singer Alfie Boe, house band The Roots and a small orchestra for the track from his 2015 CD, "Classic Quadrophenia", which delivered a new orchestral version of The Who's 1973 concept album based around lead character Jimmy's search for an identity amongst the mods and rockers in mid-60s Brighton.

Townshend, Boe and Billy Idol are currently bringing the project to fans on a five-show mini-tour of the US, with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder set to make a guest appearance during the Chicago, IL stop on September 13.

"Melding the contrasting sounds of Quadrophenia with a symphony has been a really unique and powerful way to reach a wide audience of classical and pop music lovers alike," says the guitarist. "I couldn't be more excited to see it continue in the U.S."

The core of the band is bassist/producer Fabrizio Grossi and Les Paul/Flying V/Firebird-toting guitarist/vocalist Lance Lopez, plus veteran drummer Kenny Aronoff. They are joined by the string of stellar guest guitarists. The new album was recorded at Fab's Lab in North Hollywood, California, and is the follow-up to 2016 debut West of Flushing, South of Frisco.

Fabrizio Grossi explains, "Lots of people have been saying to me 'why does Supersonic Blues Machine always bring guests around? You guys can stand your own ground?' And there are three answers to that: 1) we're all super friends and we're having a blast, 2) most of them don't give lessons and for us it's only way to learn their secret 'ways', and 3) because the inspiration and the challenge they bring to the table!"

The opening track on Pink Floyd's sixth album, "Meddle", was the only song Gilmour delivered in his 2016 series of shows at the Roman amphitheatre that was also performed by his former band in the same venue in 1971 for Adrian Maben's film, "Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii."

Due September 29 and directed by Gavin Elder, "Live At Pompeii" sees Gilmour mix solo tracks and Pink Floyd classics, including the rarely-played "The Great Gig In The Sky" from "The Dark Side Of The Moon."

"It's a magical place," explains Gilmour, "and coming back and seeing the stage and the arena was quite overwhelming. It's a place of ghosts and I couldn't help but think of playing there - with [late Pink Floyd keyboardist] Rick [Wright] - it's a sense of revisiting history.

"Oh hey look, we turned 'Too Dumb To Die' into a video, and it rules!," says the band. "Thanks to Joseba Elorza AKA MiraRuido for creating this masterpiece."

The group recently pledged $100,000 to Americares to assist those affected by Hurricane Harvey, in sync with a special September 5 live afternoon concert backstage in Tampa, FL that was streamed by hennemusic.

The event saw Green Day perform a series of rare tracks not regularly featured in their 2017 tour setlist, including material from their 1989 debut EP "1,000 Hours", 1990's "Slappy" EP, 1991's "Kerplunk!", and 1994's "Dookie", among others.