The complete lineup for Milwaukee Summerfest has been announced, with the additions of artists like Chicago, DEVO, George Thorogood and the Destroyers and more.
Both Def Leppard and James Taylor were previously announced as festival headliners, with both artists playing the first weekend, Def Leppard on June 19 and Taylor on June 21.
Milwaukee Summerfest takes place over three weekends — June 19-21, June 26-28 and July 3-5 — with shows at a variety of venues across the city. Other artists booked for the festival include Foghat, Allman Betts Band, Rick Springfield, The Isley Brothers, Sebastian Bach, Hozier and The Killers.
For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit Summerfest.com.
Metallica has announced the high school winners of their 2024 marching band competition.
Taking first place in the large high school category is Sonia Sotomayer High School in San Antonio, Texas. The medium high school winner is Freehold Township High School in Freehold, New Jersey, and the small high school prize went to South Range High School in Canfield, Ohio.
The first-, second- and third-place winners in each category earned a combined $115,000 in music equipment.
The competition also included college divisions, but Metallica notes that “an exciting new partner approached us with an opportunity for our collegiate competitors that we just couldn’t pass up.” It will now be extended through November 2025 for college participants.
Metallica launched the first marching band competition in 2023, challenging schools around the country to put their best twist on songs from the metal legends’ discography.
One day after reuniting for a performance at the 49th annual Grammy Awards, The Police held a press conference at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles, where they confirmed rumors they would be reuniting for a world tour.
The band performed at the press conference, which was also billed as a rehearsal. They played such classic tunes as “Message in a Bottle,” “Roxanne,” “Can’t Stand Losing You” and more.
The tour would be The Police’s first tour together in over 20 years years, and it marked the band’s 30th anniversary.
The reunion tour kicked off in Vancouver in May and featured four North American legs, as well as shows in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Latin America.
It wrapped in August 2008 at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Peter Frampton and The Doobie Brothers’ Michael McDonald are among the artists set to perform at the ninth annual Love Rocks NYC concert, taking place March 6 at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.
The concert will also feature Beck, Cher, The Struts’ Luke Spiller, Eric Burton of Black Pumas, Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart featuring Vanessa Amorosi, Alicia Keys, Mavis Staples, Phish’s Trey Anastasio, Jesse Malin, Kate Hudson, Grace Bowers and more.
All artists will be backed by a house band, led by bassist Will Lee, best known for being a member of the Late Showwith David Letterman band.
A ticket presale kicks off Thursday at 10 a.m., with tickets going on sale to the general public on Friday at 10 a.m.
Love Rocks NYC is a benefit for the nonprofit God’s Love We Deliver, which delivers meals to people who are too sick to prepare them themselves. This year the concert will also support Project Angel Food in Los Angeles to help those affected by the recent wildfires in the area.
The Love Rocks concerts first launched in 2017 and have gone on to raise $50 million, enough to fund 5 million meals for New Yorkers in need.
Dave Grohl has contributed a signed guitar, as well as the cape he wore during a 2023 Crown Royal Super Bowl commercial, to an auction raising funds for Los Angeles fire relief.
The guitar, a Pelham blue model of Grohl’s signature Epiphone DG-335, not only features the Foo Fighters frontman’s signature, but also his handwritten lyrics to the Foos songs “Rescued” and “These Days.”
The cape, meanwhile, is also signed by Grohl alongside an inscription that reads “Please wear responsibly.”
Both items are newly added to the previously announced Give a Frock auction, which also includes pieces donated by Beastie Boys, Garbage‘s Shirley Manson and Paramore‘s Hayley Williams. Bidding is open now through Feb. 25 at 10 a.m. PT via JuliensAuctions.com.
Grohl also helped out with LA fire relief by cooking for affected families, and performing alongside his former Nirvana bandmates Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear at January’s massive FireAid concert.
Paul McCartney surprised New Yorkers by playing New York City’s 575-capacity Bowery Ballroom in on Tuesday, and now he’s doing it again.
The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer just announced he’s returning to the venue on Wednesday, with tickets only available at the Bowery Ballroom box office.
According to setlist.fm, Tuesday night’s show lasted about 90 minutes, with Sir Paul opening with The Beatles’ classic “A Hard Day’s Night.” Other Beatles tunes in the 22-song set included “Got To Get You Into My Life,” “Blackbird,” the Grammy-winning “Now and Then,” “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” “Get Back,” “Lady Madonna,” “Let It Be” and “Hey Jude.”
He closed the show with the portion of the Abbey Road side two medley that comprises “Golden Slumbers,” “Carry That Weight” and “The End.”
The set also included the Wings tunes “Letting Go,” “Jet,” “Let Me Roll It,” and others, along with McCartney solo tracks “Maybe I’m Amazed,” “My Valentine” and “Come On To Me.”
The nominees for the 2025 class of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame have been revealed, with eight out of the 14 artists in the running getting a nomination for the very first time.
Among those first-times nominees are Bad Company,the supergroup featuring former Free members Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke, along with The Black Crowes, Billy Idol and Joe Cocker, plus “The Twist” singer Chubby Checker, rap duo Outkast, jam band Phish and Mexican rock band Maná.
The other six nominees, who’ve appeared on the ballot before, are Cyndi Lauper, Mariah Carey, Seattle rockers Soundgarden, garage rock duo The White Stripes, British rockers Oasis and new wave pioneers Joy Division/New Order.
To be eligible for nomination, an artist or band must have released their first commercial recording at least 25 years ago, though a number of these nominees have been eligible for much longer than that. For example, Bad Company’s been eligible since 1999, and Checker’s been eligible since 1985.
This year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class will be announced in April. The 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction is set to take place in Los Angeles this fall, although an exact date has yet to be announced.
Don Henley is being sued by one of the men who was accused of stealing his handwritten lyrics to several classic Eagles tunes.
Glenn Horowitz, one of three men to stand trial for the alleged theft, filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court against Henley and his manager Irving Azoff, claiming the pair always knew the lyrics in question were not stolen.
Horowitz, a rare books dealer, was tried alongside Craig Inciardi and rock memorabilia dealer Edward Kosinski, with the trio accused of trying to auction off the handwritten notes and lyrics for songs from the Eagles’ classic album Hotel California.
The trio claimed they got the sheets from writer Ed Sanders, who came into possession of the documents in the ’70s when he worked on Henley’s never-published biography. In 2005, Sanders sold the manuscripts to Horowitz, who then sold them to Inciardi and Kosinski. Henley has always maintained the manuscripts weren’t given to Sanders, so he had no right to sell them.
The case finally went to trial in February of 2024, but was dismissed due to a late disclosure of documents by Henley’s team.
In the new suit, lawyers for Horowitz argue Henley and Azoff, “knew that Ed Sanders had acquired and retained the handwritten lyrics legitimately and without theft or misappropriation.” The suit accuses the pair of malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress and more. Horowitz is seeking punitive damages.
In a statement provided to ABC Audio, Dan Petrocelli, attorney for Henley and Azoff, shared, “Don Henley was a witness and a victim in a criminal trial brought by the Manhattan District Attorney after a formal indictment of Glenn Horowitz by a New York grand jury,” adding, “The indictment highlighted the dark underbelly of the memorabilia business that exploited the brazen, unauthorized taking and selling of Mr. Henley’s handwritten lyrics. The only malicious prosecution involved here is the filing of this case by Mr. Horowitz.”
The long-lost Tom Petty documentary, Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party, is coming to streaming.
The film, which was the directorial debut of Oscar winner Cameron Crowe, was released in theaters back in October to coincide with Petty’s 74th birthday and will now stream on Paramount+ starting March 11.
The flick followed Petty and the Heartbreakers during their 1982-83 tour for the album Long After Dark. It originally aired on MTV in 1983, but, according to the description, “was deemed too experimental and abruptly pulled from the air.”
The newly restored version of the film includes a new intro from Crowe, along with 20 minutes of previously unreleased footage.
“Heartbreakers Beach Party occupies a special place in my heart,” said Crowe. “Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers leaned into the making of the film with a kind of hilarious music-filled honesty that still feels fresh forty years later.”
He adds, “I’m especially happy to add a postscript with the never-seen outtake footage I always treasured. The fact that the original film was yanked from MTV after only one airing shows that it was, and still is, an outlandish feast for fans in the best ways. Turn it up!!”
You’ll soon be able to watch the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown in the comfort of your own home.
The film, starring Timothée Chalamet as Dylan, will available on digital platforms starting Feb. 25, with never-before-seen bonus extras. It will also be released on 4K Ultra High Definition Blu-ray and High Definition Blu-ray on April 1.
A Complete Unknown is up for eight Oscars this year, including best picture, best actor for Chalamet, best supporting actor for Ed Norton, best supporting actress for Monica Barbaro and best director for James Mangold.
Meanwhile, Barbaro, who plays Joan Baez in the film, finally got to meet the legendary singer in real life. The actress shared photos of her with Baez on Instagram, writing, “A beautiful night in so many ways. Absolutely surreal. Joan. You’re a legend.”
Although she doesn’t say where the meeting took place, Barbaro previously said she was making plans to meet Baez at the A Night to Honor Joan Baez concert, which was held Saturday at Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco.
