Classic Rock News

The lineup for the big Black Sabbath reunion/farewell concert is stacked with big names from metal and hard rock, including Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Tool and Slayer. One name that is conspicuously absent, though, is Rob Halford.

As the Judas Priest frontman tells Metal Hammer, he’s unable to perform at the concert due to a scheduling conflict, having already booked a show with Scorpions on the same day in Germany.

“It all got announced and was a big deal – Scorpions and Priest – and suddenly I get this phone call [from Sharon Osbourne],” Halford shares. “[She said,] ‘Robbie, I know you’ve got this gig with Scorpions, but could you consider coming over to do a thing with Ozzy and the guys, he’d love to see you.'”

While Sharon offered to fly Halford from Germany to the Sabbath show in Birmingham, England, Halford felt that the risk of something going wrong was too great.

“Even with a private plane, there’s a word called ‘technical,’ where something could go wrong, or the weather that time of year could cause problems,” Halford says. “I was absolutely gutted.”

Still, Halford is excited for Ozzy and his metal pals who are playing the show, and that it will celebrate the legacy of Birmingham, where both Priest and Sabbath were founded.

“All my mates are going to be there though, great bands and artists,” Halford says. “It’s a wonderful and epic moment for Sabbath and heavy metal – it re-emphasizes that Birmingham is where metal came from.”

The Sabbath concert takes place July 5 and will mark the final performance by original members Ozzy, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward. It’s also set to be Ozzy’s final performance of his career.

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Former Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten thinks The Rolling Stones should call it quits after all these years.

Lydon announced his own retirement after his wife Nora’s death in 2023 after a battle with Alzheimer’s, but changed his mind and now has dates planned with his band Public Image Ltd. During an appearance on Good Morning Britain, Lydon joked about his change of heart, noting, “That’s dementia for you, I forgot that bit.”

But then he explained his decision to perform again, which is when he took a dig at The Stones.

“As I indicated before, if I just sat back and retired, that’s not me. I’m not that kind of person,” the 69-year-old said. “By all means, The Rolling Stones should retire. I’m not short of a song idea or two, so there’s a difference.”

He then acknowledged, “I’ve offended music lovers.”

Lydon seems to be suggesting The Stones don’t have any good music left in them, although the band did release a new album, Hackney Diamonds, in 2023. The album went on to win a Grammy for best rock album.

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The Who just announced dates for their farewell tour of North America, but it sounds like the band isn’t too sure folks in the U.K. will get a similar goodbye.

During a press conference announcing the tour, both Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey expressed doubt they’ll bring the tour to the U.K., with Daltrey joking, “Let’s see if we survive this one.”

He then explained that it’s much easier to tour the U.S. than the U.K.

“For some reason or another, the U.K. has decided to make it as difficult as possible to go from A to B. In America, you seem to want to make it as easy as possible. But we are in the land of ‘no,'” Daltrey said. “I don’t want to say that there won’t be, but equally, I’m not confident in saying there will be.”

Townshend agreed with Daltrey’s assessment.

“I really enjoyed the last tour that we did, but it was a strange one. We played a lot of open-air gigs. We’d had an insurance problem, which meant that we couldn’t play some of the more classic places that one plays under a U.K. tour,” he said. “But the door is open to us. We could do a week at the O2, we could do a week, a couple of weeks maybe at the [Royal] Albert Hall, there are kinda things we could do.”

But he and Daltrey noted that they can’t do consecutive shows, which could make things more difficult.

The Song Is Over North American Farewell Tour will kick off Aug. 16 in Sunrise, Florida, and wrap Sept. 28 in Las Vegas. Tickets go on sale to the general public May 16 at 10 a.m. local time.

A full list of dates can be found at TheWho.com.

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Billy Idol’s latest album has landed on the Billboard charts.

The rocker’s Dream Into It, his first full-length album since 2014’s Kings & Queens of the Underground, debuted at #7 on the Billboard Top Album Sales chart. That marks his first album to ever land in the top 10 on that chart. 

According to the mag, 6,500 copies of Dream Into It were sold in the week ending May 1, consisting of about 2,500 vinyl records, 3,500 CDs and 500 digital downloads. All those vinyl copies were enough to land the album at #19 on the Billboard Vinyl Sales chart.

Prior to Dream Into It, Idol’s highest-ranking album on the Top Sales Chart was the 2021 EP The Roadside, which peaked at #12.

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Sammy Hagar was joined by a special guest for the latest show of his The Best of All Worlds residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas.

Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir, who is headlining his own Vegas residency at the Sphere with Dead & Company, joined Hagar Wednesday night for a performance of the Montrose track “Bad Motor Scooter.” According to setlist.fm, it was the first time Hagar’s played the song during his Best of All World shows.

Hagar posted photos with Weir on Instagram, calling Wednesday’s concert “my favorite show so far.”

“@bobweir joined us for the #1973 first song I ever wrote in my life #badmotorscooter from #montrose,” he added. “we took a long walk in the woods to say the least and found our way. #backhome.”

Hagar returns to Dolby Live for another show on Friday, with the residency wrapping May 17. A complete list of dates can be found at RedRocker.com.

Dead & Company’s Dead Forever residency returns to the Sphere on Friday, with the residency also wrapping on May 17. The full schedule can be found at DeadandCompany.com.

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A new musical featuring the music of Foreigner is set to open next year in Long Island, New York.

Feels Like The First Time – The Foreigner Musical is a collaboration between the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band, Tilles Center for the Performing Arts and Long Island University’s Post Theatre Company, featuring 14 of the band’s iconic hits.

Rent star Adam Pascal, who is the inaugural Artist-in-Residence at Long Island University, is on board to direct the musical, which will have workshops and staged readings this fall, before having its world premiere at LIU’s Little Theatre in April 2026.

“When I wrote ‘Feels Like The First Time,’ I had no idea how far that song would take Foreigner,” founder Mick Jones shares. “It is a personal thrill for me to know that the amazing Adam Pascal has elected to use it as the title of our new musical.”

He adds, “I am very confident that he and the whole team will create something very special, and I look forward to seeing the completed work in 2026, the 50th anniversary year of the founding of Foreigner.”

“As a Long Island native, it’s an honor to direct this new Foreigner musical and to serve as LIU’s first Artist-in-Residence,” Pascal adds. “I grew up on these hits and am excited to collaborate on bringing this production to life.”

Foreigner is confirmed to appear at an exclusive benefit concert, Foreigner: The Hits Unplugged, which will raise money for the production. Original lead singer Lou Gramm will host the concert, taking place Sept. 5 at Tilles Center. More info can be found at tillescenter.org/ForeignerBenefit.

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Eddie Vedder gave Jack White a nice shoutout during Pearl Jam‘s show in Nashville on Tuesday.

In footage from the concert, Vedder tells the crowd that he’s playing the “Seven Nation Army” rocker’s signature Fender TripleSonic guitar, which White had personally given to him.

“He’s just a great human,” Vedder said of White.

Speaking on White’s Third Man Records label, Vedder continued, “You wanna know the secret between having a quality product and making money? The secret is you won’t make money, but you’ll make people happy.”

“That’s what we’ve seen Jack do,” Vedder concluded. “I’m very proud to be his friend, and thank you Jack for my nice new guitar.”

Pearl Jam then launched into a rendition of their song “Green Disease.” White reposted fan-shot footage of Vedder’s speech and the performance on his Instagram.

There’s been a lot of mutual love between White and Vedder lately. In March, they performed a cover of Neil Young‘s “Rockin’ in the Free World” together during a show in Tokyo, and a few days later, White shared that Vedder had gifted him a Chicago Cubs jersey.

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Barry Keoghan is set to play Ringo Starr in Sam Mendes’ four films about The Beatles and the actor revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that he’s met the legendary rock drummer, sharing that he was “absolutely lovely.”

“I met Ringo the other day. I met him at his house, and he played the drums for me,” the Saltburn star said. “He asked me to play, but I wasn’t playing the drums for Ringo.”

Keoghan, who said he’s been learning the drums for the role, opened up about the nerves he experienced during the visit.

“You know just one of those moments where you’re just in awe and you just froze,” he said. “And when I was talking to him, I couldn’t look at him. I was nervous, like right now. But he’s like, ‘You can look at me.'”

As for how he’s approaching the role, Keoghan shared, “My job is to observe and take in kinda mannerisms and study him,” noting, “I want to humanize him and bring feelings to it and not just sort of imitate.”

Mendes’ Beatles films, titled The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event, will be released in April 2028. In addition to Keoghan they’ll star Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison.

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As speculated, The Who has announced dates for a new 2025 tour, which will be their final North American trek.

The Song Is Over North American Farewell Tour, named after a song on their 1971 album Who’s Next, will kick off Aug. 16 in Sunrise, Florida, and hit such big cities as Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle and New York, before wrapping Sept. 28 in Las Vegas.

The Who’s Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey announced the news at a press conference Thursday in London.

“The warmth of the American audiences over the years have been inspirational to me, and reflect the feeling I remember getting after hearing the first rock records coming across the radio. Musical freedom!” Daltrey shared. “To me, America has always been great. … It’s not easy to end the big part of my life that touring with The Who has been. Thanks for being there for us and look forward to seeing you one last time.”

“Well, all good things must come to an end,” Townshend added. “Roger and I are in a good place, despite our age, eager to throw our weight behind this fond farewell to all our faithful fans, and hopefully to new ones who might jump in to see what they have been missing for the last 57 years.” He notes, “This tour will be about fond memories, love and laughter. Make sure you join in.”

A Citi presale for tickets will go on sale May 13 through the band’s Wholigans fan club, with additional presales happening throughout the week. Tickets go on sale to the general public starting May 16 at 10 a.m. local time.

A full list of dates can be found at TheWho.com.

In addition to the tour, The Who announced a new live album, Live at the Oval 1971, recorded Sept. 18, 1971, in Kennington, South London. It will first be part of a Wholigan fan club bundle, that comes with presale access to tickets for the tour.

Live at The Oval will also be released Aug. 22 to digital services, as well as on CD, 2-LP vinyl and other various formats. It is available for preorder now.

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An exhibit of Bob Dylan’s artwork is set to open at London’s Halcyon Gallery on Friday.

The exhibit, Point Blank, will feature 97 paintings by the “Like A Rolling Stone” singer. The description notes that they “read like a glimpse into his visual journey,” adding, “[T]hey are a masterful expression of a dynamic imagination, emphasized via the eclectic swathe of subjects depicted.”

The exhibit will feature works that started out as Dylan sketches, created between 2021 and 2022, and were then painted over.

This isn’t the first time Dylan’s works have been displayed by the gallery. According to Time Out London, he has actually been working with it for close to 20 years.

“It is nearly 18 years since Halcyon first started working with Bob Dylan and it has been an extraordinary experience to watch this cultural icon develop into such a critically revered and important visual artist so closely,”, Halycon Gallery founder Paul Green shares. “This latest body of paintings feels like a more intimate connection to the artist than in any of his previous work and it is a great privilege to share them with the public for the first time.”

Point Blank is free and open to the public and runs through July 16.

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