Classic Rock News

KISS’ Gene Simmons was supposed to headline a new fan expo in Las Vegas in September, but the event has now been moved to next year.

The Gene Simmons’ Legends of Rock Expo was supposed to take place Sept. 25-27 at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, but a post on the event’s Instagram account reveals that it’s been moved to May 14-16, 2027.

“Due to a major scheduling conflict, we have made the difficult decision to reschedule the Gene Simmons Legends of Rock Expo,” reads the post. “While we know this change may be disappointing, the additional time will allow us to make the Rock Experience even bigger and better, while fine-tuning an incredible celebrity lineup.”

In addition to Simmons performing with his Gene Simmons Band, the lineup for the Legends of Rock Expo includes Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler, The Police’s Stewart Copeland and The Kinks’ Dave Davies.

Tickets that were already purchased will be valid for the new dates. More info can be found at legendsofrockexpo.com.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant is set to receive the Americana Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes the artist’s “extraordinary contributions to Americana and American Roots music.”

“Robert Plant’s relationship with Americana music extends far beyond influence—it is one of genuine passion, stewardship and artistic curiosity,” said Jed Hilly, executive director of the Americana Music Association. “His willingness to immerse himself in the traditions of blues, folk, country and gospel, while continuing to push their boundaries, has expanded the audience for Americana around the world.”

“Few artists have done more to honor the music’s past while helping shape its future,” Hilly adds. “We are thrilled to recognize his extraordinary contributions with the Americana Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award.”

Following his years with Led Zeppelin, Plant has embraced roots and Americana music, most notably with his collaborations with singer Alison Krauss and producer T Bone Burnett. Their 2007 album, Raising Sand, won the Grammy for album of the year, while its follow-up, 2021’s Raise the Roof, won best Americana album at the Grammys. Plant’s more recent exploration of the genre resulted in the 2025 self-titled debut album from his band Saving Grace, with Suzi Dian.

Plant will be honored during the 25th annual Americana Honors & Awards on Sept. 16 at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. Tickets for the ceremony are on sale now.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Bob Dylan doesn’t appear to be taking a break from the road anytime soon.

The 85-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer just announced a set of fall tour dates that will take him to Europe and the U.K.

The European leg of the tour begins Oct. 17 in Oslo, Norway, and includes stops in Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy before wrapping Nov. 22 in Frankfurt, Germany.

The tour then hits the U.K. starting Nov. 25 in Bournemouth, England, and wraps with five nights at London’s Royal Festival Hall, Dec. 1-8.

Tickets for all shows go on sale July 22.

Dylan’s last tour of Europe and the U.K. took place in fall 2025.

Dylan is currently on a North American tour that hits Boston on Thursday. The tour wraps Aug. 1 in Nashville.
A complete list of dates can be found at BobDylan.com.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, July 16, 2008…

Billy Joel played the first of two nights at New York’s historic Shea Stadium, the venue’s final concerts before its demolition.

Held at the home of the New York Mets, the show saw Joel welcoming several guests, including Tony Bennett, Garth Brooks, Steven Tyler, Roger Daltrey and Paul McCartney. During the second concert, on July 18, McCartney was driven to the stage by the same groundskeeper who drove The Beatles onto the field when they played Shea Stadium in 1965.

Demolition on the venue began in October 2008.

A documentary of the shows, The Last Play at Shea, premiered in 2010 at the Tribeca Film Festival and later played at Citi Field, the stadium that replaced Shea. A CD and DVD of the shows were released in March 2011.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Rolling Stones have shared a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the artwork for their latest album, Foreign Tongues.

The album cover features a mashup of caricatures of the faces of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood. In the behind-the-scenes clip, the artist, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, paints the image while looking at a variety of different photos and drawings of the rockers.

“The Rolling Stones, they’re such an iconic band, even people who may not be avid fans of The Rolling Stones, they imagine those guys on the stage singing and performing,” Quinn says in the clip. “This is an image for an album cover, you know, it’s not like a work of art for a gallery or museum. It has to be an image that would be collectively embraced and digested by a wider public.”

He adds, “They don’t have to be art connoisseurs to like it.”

Foreign Tongues, The Rolling Stones’ 25th studio album, is out now.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Bon Jovi’s Forever Tour is bringing out the celebs.

After Paul McCartney showed up to take in the New Jersey band’s second night at Madison Square Garden on July 9, fellow Garden State rocker Bruce Springsteen was there to catch night four on Tuesday.

Jon Bon Jovi posted backstage photos of the band with The Boss. Like the band did with photos of McCartney, Jon captioned the Instagram post, “Did This really happen? Yes, it did.”

Bon Jovi has five more nights at Madison Square Garden, with the next show on Thursday. The Forever Tour then heads to the U.K. for shows in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Dublin, Ireland, before wrapping the tour with three nights in London.

And for fans who didn’t make it to MSG to see the shows, it seems they will eventually get to at least listen to them. The Bon Jovi website reveals that live recordings of the MSG shows, as well as shows from the Bon Jovi archives, are “coming soon.”

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A new photo exhibit dedicated to Ozzy Osbourne is set to debut in New Jersey.

Back to the Beginning: Remembering Ozzy Osbourne features photos from well-known rock photographer Mark Weiss. According to a press release, the exhibit celebrates “the remarkable 44 year visual journey of one of rock music’s greatest icons.”

It will feature photos from early in Ozzy’s career, including a 1981 portrait of the rocker on the roof of Convention Hall in Asbury Park, New Jersey. The photos document Ozzy’s rock ‘n’ roll stardom through his final concert with Black Sabbath at Villa Park in Birmingham, England.

“Mark is like a member of our family,” Ozzy once said. “He must have more photographs of me than any other photographer I’ve ever worked with. .. All Access Pass. He’s part of the team.”

The exhibit will be open at Art Spot in Asbury Park on July 23 and 24 and run through Aug. 17. Weiss will be on hand for the two-day event to interact with fans and sign copies of his book, The Decade That Rocked.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

KISS has announced more details about the second edition of their KISS fan convention, KISS Kruise: Land-locked in Vegas. They’ve also revealed details of the planned tribute to their late bandmate Ace Frehley, who died in October 2025 at 74.

The tribute is set to feature the current members of KISS — Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer — joined by special guests artists. Performers will be supported by the Ace Frehley Band, and the plan is for each of the current members to personally select and perform a song to honor Ace’s legacy. The tribute promises to feature music covering all eras of Ace’s career.

The weekend will also feature two unmasked KISS performances — one acoustic, one electric — as well as performances by Night Ranger, Bruce Kulick, Slaughter, Faster Pussycat, Keel, Enuff Z’Nuff and more.

There will also be band meet-and-greets, artists panels, Q&As and activities. Simmons will give fans a look at rare pieces of his personal memorabilia collection during Gene Simmons’ Private KISS Collection Show & Tell; Stanley will host a KISS Cook Off, where participants will be challenged to recreate one of his signature dishes.

“Another year of the KISS Kruise experience and the best one yet is on the way,” Stanley says. “Everything we’ve learned at sea and on land over the past years is going into making this the ultimate weekend with us. No ship?!? No problem!”

KISS Kruise: Land-locked in Vegas will be held Nov. 13-15 at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. A complete schedule rundown can be found at kisskruisevegas.com.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Grateful Dead is looking back at the summer of 1985 with a new 20-CD box set.

Summer Magic 1985, dropping Sept. 18, celebrates the band’s 20th anniversary tour. It features seven previously unreleased full concerts, including their three 20th anniversary shows at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California, June 14-16.

There are also recordings of concerts at Hershey Park Stadium in Hershey Park, Pennsylvania; Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga, New York; and Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. The set also includes a 96-page book with essays, photos and original artwork.

“The seven shows this box presents … offer a snapshot of the artistic process that was the Grateful Dead, making a powerful statement of the band’s project as they marked their 20th anniversary,” Nicholas G. Meriwether, executive director of the Grateful Dead Studies Association, writes in the set’s liner notes. “(T)his box not only lets us revisit what these shows sounded like at a peak of the band’s PA prowess, it lets us finally hear what these shows meant, the alchemy of time and memory finally revealing the gold of those concerts.”

And The Dead is giving fans a little taste of what to expect with the release of a performance of “Sugar Magnolia” from the Merriweather Post Pavilion show. It is now available via digital outlets.

Summer Magic 1985 is limited to just 10,000 numbered copies and is available for preorder now on Dead.net.

In addition to the box set, the Merriweather Post Pavilion show, which took place June 30, 1985, will be released as a standalone three-CD or four-CD set. It is also available for preorder now.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Phil Collins is revisiting his debut solo album, Face Value, with a new expanded reissue.

Face Value (Full Value), dropping Sept. 18, is a four-LP set that features a remastered version of the original album. It also comes with three LPs of bonus material, made up of rare and unreleased live recordings, demos and outtakes. It also includes a brand-new interview with Collins in the liner notes.

Face Value will also be released on Blu-ray, featuring upgraded audio, including 2026 Atmos, 5.1 and stereo mixes by producer Steven Wilson, as well as the 2016 remaster of the album.

And fans are getting a preview of that bonus material with the release of a previously unreleased performance of “You Know What I Mean,” which is now available via digital outlets. The performance was recorded in 1982, live at Perkins Palace in Pasadena, California.

Face Value (Full Value) is available for preorder now.

Face Value was recorded while Collins’ band Genesis was on a break. It was released in February 1981 and became an instant hit for the rocker, topping the chart in the U.K. and peaking at #3 in the U.S.

The album’s leadoff single, “In the Air Tonight,” peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It went on to be one of Collins’ signature songs, thanks in part to its iconic drum track. Another song, “I Missed Again,” also peaked at #19.

The new release comes as Collins is set to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in November. He was previously inducted as a member of Genesis in 2010.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.