Classic Rock News

Cheap Trick is revisiting their iconic live album Cheap Trick at Budukon, but fans won’t have to travel to Japan to experience it.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers announced two shows in Las Vegas where they will play the 1978 live record in its entirety, along with their other hits. Cheap Trick at Budokan – Live in Las Vegas will take place April 17 and 18, 2026, at The Venetian Theatre inside The Venetian Resort Las Vegas.

A ticket presale is underway, with tickets going on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m. PT.

Cheap Trick at Budokan was recorded April 28 and 30, 1978, at Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan. It was the band’s first live album, and featured performances of such classic tracks as “Surrender” and “I Want You To Want Me.” It went on to become the band’s bestselling album and has been certified triple Platinum by the RIAA. In 2019 it was chosen by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry.

The Vegas announcement comes just days after Cheap Trick released their 21st studio album, All Washed Up. It’s the band’s first album since 2021’s In Another World.

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Lynyrd Skynyrd and Foreigner are teaming up for a 2026 tour.

The Double Trouble Double Vision Tour will consist of 19 co-headlining dates next summer, kicking off July 23 in Atlanta and wrapping Aug 29 in Rogers, Arkansas.

“The energy the band has felt knowing we’ll be touring with Skynyrd this coming summer has been electric!” Foreigner’s Jeff Pilson says. “Two bands with plenty of iconic songs, dueling guitars, double trouble and double vision are gonna set each and every stage on fire! No question this will be THE go-to event of the summer!”

Skynyrd frontman Johnny Van Zant adds, “I’m excited to share the stage with Foreigner and hear all their amazing hits!” He notes, “I’ve always been a fan, and I believe the audience will love this tour. Lynyrd Skynyrd and Foreigner together — it doesn’t get much better than that.”

An artist presale for tickets begins Tuesday at 12 p.m. local time, with tickets going on sale to the general public starting Friday at 10 a.m. local time. A complete list of date can be found at foreigneronline.com or lynyrdskynyrd.com.

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On This Day, Nov. 17, 2010…

Rocker Patti Smith was awarded the National Book Award for her memoir Just Kids.

The book documented Smith’s relationship with late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the late ’60s and early ’70s New York art scene. The book was a New York Times bestseller and won several other awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Patti released her second memoir, Bread of Angels, on Nov. 4. Described as “the most intimate” of Smith’s memoirs, the book follows the musician through her childhood in Philadelphia and South Jersey, her teenage years “when the first glimmers of art and romance take hold,” her marriage to Fred “Sonic” Smith and their family life, and more.

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KISS returned to the stage for the first time since their final End of the Road World Tour concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden in December 2023. They performed Friday to Sunday at their KISS Kruise: Landlocked convention in Las Vegas.

The performances were the band’s first since the death of founding member Ace Frehley, who they paid tribute to at their first unmasked performance Friday, fan-shot footage posted to YouTube shows.

“Obviously, before we get going, and we’re going to have an awesome time … we just wanted to take a moment to think about somebody who was at the foundation of this band, and we’re talking about Ace,” Paul Stanley said. “We certainly had differences, but that’s what family is about.”

He then asked fans to take a moment of silence to honor Ace and “think about him looking down on us,” which was followed by chants of “Ace, Ace” from the crowd.

The KISS Kruise featured a reunion of the final KISS lineup: Paul, Gene Simmons, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer.

They played the tracks “Hard Luck Woman” and “Hide Your Heart” at their Friday acoustic performance for the first time since 2019, according to setlist.fm. The set also featured their classic ballad “Beth” and a cover of The Beatles’ “I’ll Be Back.”

The band broke out more KISS classics at their Saturday electric show, including “Detroit Rock City” and “Black Diamond,” as well as “Lick It Up” and “Rock and Roll All Nite” featuring former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick.

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Disney+ is bringing back The Beatles’ Anthology series in November, and now, they are giving fans a look at the project.

The streaming service has released a trailer for The Beatles Anthology, a restored and remastered version of ABC’s 1995 documentary that featured John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr telling stories of their life and career as The Beatles. The original series was made up of eight parts, but the new version has been expanded to include a ninth installment that features previously unseen footage of McCartney, Harrison and Starr in the ’90s as they created the original Anthology series and albums.

Episodes 1-2 of The Beatles Anthology will debut Nov. 27, with episodes 7-9 debuting Nov. 28.

The Beatles are also revisiting The Beatles Anthology music with the Nov. 21 release of the Anthology Collection, featuring the original three Anthology albums plus a new fourth installment, Anthology 4. It will be released digitally and as a 12-LP or eight-CD collection.

The collection includes “Free as a Bird,” which was part of Anthology 1, and “Real Love,” which was part of Anthology 2. Both tracks, which at the time were the first new songs from The Beatles in 25 years, have been remixed by original producer Jeff Lynne. The new set also includes the band’s 2023 release, “Now and Then.”

Anthology 4 will also be released on its own as a three-LP or two-CD set featuring 36 tracks, including 13 previously unreleased demos and session recordings, and other rare recordings.

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Soundgarden has been working on a new album featuring frontman Chris Cornell‘s final recordings since his death in 2017. Speaking with ABC Audio on the red carpet of the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, guitarist Kim Thayil shared an update on the record’s progress.

“We’re missing a member in making these judgements,” Thayil said, referring to Cornell. “We need to spend time to learn the material, reacquaint with it and think about the direction in which the material can go in order to make it the best that it can possibly be.”

Thayil is making those decisions alongside drummer Matt Cameron and bassist Ben Shepherd, as well as in collaboration with the producers the three are working with.

“We always think, ‘What would Chris like, what would he do, what do we like?'” Thayil said. “The producers’ input on that regard, ’cause they all have worked with Chris before, is very helpful.” (AUDIO IS ABC 1-ON-1) 

Thayil, Cameron and Shepherd performed together at the Rock Hall ceremony in honor of Soundgarden’s induction. They were joined by Pearl Jam‘s Mike McCready, Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, Taylor Momsen of The Pretty Reckless, Americana artist Brandi Carlile and original Soundgarden bassist Hiro Yamamoto. 

Highlights from the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will air as an ABC primetime special on Jan. 1.

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Robbie Robertson‘s final solo album, 2019’s Sinematic, features “Beautiful Madness,” a song inspired by the two years he and Martin Scorsese lived together after their respective marriages collapsed. That “madness” is now detailed in The Band guitarist’s brutally honest new book Insomnia, the sequel to his memoir, Testimony.

In Insomnia, Robertson and Scorsese are creatively on fire. As The Band dissolves, they work on The Last Waltz and Raging Bull; hang with Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel and Warren Beatty; travel the world; bed beautiful women and do ridiculous amounts of drugs, stopping only after Scorsese nearly dies. Their creative partnership, though, continued for decades.

“I think they both admired each other greatly … Robbie thought Marty was a genius filmmaker, and I think Marty thought Robbie was an amazing writer and an amazing storyteller,” Robertson’s longtime manager, Jared Levine, says of their relationship.

Levine says Robertson had wanted to tell the “origin story” of his friendship with Scorsese for years, but in the form of a movie, which David Fincher planned to direct. Dissatisfied with the screenplay, Levine says, “Robbie was like, ‘You know what? I need to write the story for this to be done properly.'” 

While Robertson completed Insomnia’s first draft prior to his unexpected 2023 death, Levine says, “We didn’t rush to release it” — in part because Robertson’s family was “ambivalent” about it. “They weren’t prepared for what this book was,” Levine notes.

“It’s so irreverent and so much about being a bad boy,” Levine says, noting the guitarist’s descriptions of his affairs with actresses and models “aren’t things that Robbie ever talked to his kids about.” He continues, “To read it after he had passed, it was even more so a difficult thing.”

Consequently, Insomnia includes an afterward by Robertson’s ex-wife and lifelong friend, Dominique Robertson, providing context for that period.

Filmworks: Insomnia, an LP collecting Robertson’s music for The Last Waltz, Raging Bull and his acting debut, Carny, arrives on Record Store Day Black Friday, happening Nov. 28.

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He wasn’t dancing, but Pete Townshend did appear onstage during Friday’s New York City premiere of Quadrophenia: A Rock Ballet, the latest iteration of The Who‘s 1973 concept album. The production, which debuted in London this past summer, is playing at New York’s City Center through Sunday.

Townshend strolled onstage nonchalantly with a guitar during the “I’m One” portion of the ballet to thunderous applause. He then sat down off to the side of the stage and played — or appeared to play — while Paris Fitzpatrick, who plays the central character of Jimmy, danced.

As the cast took their bows during the end of the show, Townshend made another appearance, sharing with the audience that he wanted the show to be a tribute to its choreographer, Paul Roberts, who died of cancer in September, after working on it right up until the end.

Referring to the ballet, Townshend said, “I brought it to New York out of my own pocket. You all know how I feel about the U.S. of A, but also this city, and I really wanted to bring it here for him and for his husband Phil, and everybody in the company.”

“Thanks for supporting us here,” he added. 

Directed by Rob Ashford, Quadrophenia: A Rock Ballet debuted in the U.K. in May. It features an orchestral version of the album by Townshend’s wife, Rachel Fuller. Like the album and the 1979 film, it focuses on Jimmy, a working class mod who yearns for a different life than his parents. 

In the ballet, Jimmy and the other characters — his childhood friend, the girl he loves, his parents, head mod Ace Face and rocker The Godfather — tell their story solely through dance, costumes and scenery. There are no lyrics or vocals.

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War has teamed up with Playing For Change, a multimedia project that aims to connect the world through music, to release a new version of their iconic tune “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” to mark the 50th anniversary of the song, and the album of the same name.

The new track features 30 musicians from around the world, including War founding member Lonnie Jordan and former band members Howard Scott, Harold Brown and Lee Oskar.

“Fifty years on, ‘Why Can’t We Be Friends?’ feels more powerful than ever,” says War’s longtime producer Jerry Goldstein. “It’s a beautiful message, and we’re grateful to share it with the world and bring people together through the music.”

Released in April 1975, “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” was a top-10 hit for War, peaking at #6 on the Hot 100 singles chart. The album of the same name, which also featured the iconic tune “Low Rider,” was also a top-10 hit, reaching #8.

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Billy Idol has just dropped the new song “Dying to Live,” featuring composer J. Ralph. The song appears at the end of his documentary, Billy Idol Should Be Dead, which had its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival in June.

The song’s accompanying video features photos and footage from Idol’s life and career, including home movies, performance clips and more, combined with animated segments.

“It’s quite something watching a documentary about your own life,” Idol says. “Seeing the landscape of my story all laid out inspired me to want to write a song for the end of the film that brings together what I saw in the film; all the strands of my life really.”

He adds, “It was thrilling to work together with J. Ralph. Symphonic music has a unique cinematic authenticity, we felt this was essential to capturing the range of emotions the climactic moment of the film called for.”

Billy Idol Should Be Dead, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, is expected to be released in theaters and on streaming services in early 2026.

Idol released the new album Dream Into It in April. It was his first full-length album since 2014’s Kings & Queens of the Underground.

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