Classic Rock News

Here’s the story of a lovely Smashing Pumpkins show, which featured two surprise guests, including a member of The Brady Bunch.

Barry Williams, who played the eldest Brady son Greg Brady in the classic ’70s sitcom, joined Billy Corgan and company onstage during their pre-Lollapalooza concert in Chicago on Wednesday. They rocked a rendition of the very Brady classic “It’s a Sunshine Day” with Williams on lead vocals.

The collaboration comes after Williams guested on an episode of Corgan’s podcast, The Magnificent Others. And that’s the way they became the Smashing Bunch-kins.

As for the concert’s other guest, that would be former Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf der Maur, who reunited with the band to play “The Everlasting Gaze,” a track off their 2000 album, Machina/The Machines of God.

Auf der Maur played in the Pumpkins from 1999 to 2000 following the departure of original bassist D’arcy Wretzky. She previously reunited with Corgan during his 2025 Machines of God tour.

The Smashing Pumpkins will perform a headlining set at Lollapalooza on Friday night, marking the first time they’ve played the festival since it moved permanently to the band’s hometown of Chicago in 2005. You can watch their performance via the Lollapalooza livestream on Hulu and Disney+. 

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Paul McCartney’s latest album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, has been nominated for the 2026 Mercury Prize, which recognizes the best albums from a British or Irish artist.

“What a brilliant and exciting surprise to be part of such an incredible list @mercuryprize,” McCartney writes on Instagram. “To have ‘The Boys of Dungeon Lane’ recognised alongside so many brilliant artists and albums is a huge honour for me.”

“Thank you to everyone who continues to support and enjoy the album,” he adds. “We have been having so much fun along the way. From making it with @thisiswatt to getting it out there for people to hear. I must say the reaction has been really special. So this news has just totally blown me away.”

The Boys of Dungeon Lane is one of 12 records shortlisted for the 2026 Mercury Prize. Also nominated is Florence + The Machine’s Everybody Scream and the charity compilation HELP(2), as well as albums by RAYE, Olivia Dean, Suede and more.

The 2026 Mercury Prize will be presented Oct. 22 at a ceremony held at Utilita Arena in Newcastle, U.K. The winner receives a trophy and a cash prize of about $33,000.

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It took a couple decades, but The Smashing Pumpkins are finally headlining Lollapalooza in their hometown of Chicago.

While the “1979” outfit previously performed at Lolla back in 1994 when it was a touring festival, they have never played it since it permanently moved to Chicago in 2005. Not only that, but the Pumpkins have never performed at the festival’s site, Grant Park, either.

“We were banned by the mayor of Chicago at the time, Richie Daley, who basically banned us from playing the park, ever,” frontman Billy Corgan tells ABC Audio.

That will finally change when the Pumpkins take the stage at Grant Park during Lolla 2026 as a Friday night headliner.  

“For us, it’s very meaningful,” Corgan says of the set. “We’ve had a lot of ups and downs and it’s gonna be really a beautiful night in our incredible, crazy, up-and-down history.” 

Lollapalooza 2026 takes place Thursday through Sunday. You can watch the Pumpkins’ set and many others streaming live via Hulu and Disney+.

Disney is the parent company of Hulu and ABC News. 

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Queen has had another video reach 1 billion views on YouTube.

The latest is the performance video for the track “Don’t Stop Me Now,” from their 1978 album Jazz. The song, written by frontman Freddie Mercury, also appeared on the band’s 1981 Greatest Hits compilation.

The clip is Queen’s second video to join the Billion Views Club. The first was 1975’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which went on to reach 2 billion views back in December 2025, making it the oldest song to ever reach such a milestone.

In other Queen news … The new Freddy Mercury book A Life in Lyrics: The Official Creative Legacy of Freddy Mercury is now available for preorder. The book is described as “the definitive creative record of one of the greatest songwriters of all time.”

A Life in Lyrics features material from Mercury’s notebooks, some of which has never been published before. It will be released Sept. 1, four days ahead of what would have been the late Queen frontman’s 80th birthday.

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Ozzy Osbourne will be haunting Universal Studios this spooky season.

The theme park has announced an attraction inspired by the late Prince of Darkness as part of the 2026 edition of its annual Halloween Horror Nights program.

“It’s not just Ozzy’s heavy metal hits that will haunt you,” a description reads. “Bow at the throne of the Prince of Darkness in this haunted house inspired by the twisted mind of one of rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest legends.”

“[Ozzy’s] music throughout every room is at the heart of it all,” Sharon Osbourne tells EW of the attraction. “Fans will also see scenes inspired by Ozzy’s journey, from his early days as a little boy growing up in Birmingham, England, riding the train to and from London, to the iconic imagery and characters from across his career.”

Halloween Horror Nights will be open Aug. 28 to Nov. 1 at Universal’s Orlando location and Sept. 3 to Nov. 1 at Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles.

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Bono and Bruce Springsteen are among the artists paying tribute to Oscar-winning Irish singer Glen Hansard, who died Wednesday in a motorcycle accident in Dublin. He was 56.

Bono would often take part in Hansard’s Christmas Eve Busk in Dublin, which raised money for the homeless community. He shared his thoughts on Instagram Wednesday, alongside a video of him performing “Invisible” with Hansard.

“Sometimes I would wonder if Glen Hansard really existed,” Bono wrote. “Seriously, he was such an angelic presence… not otherworldly…in fact, very present this presence… A smiling rascal if you needed him to be… this most musical and mischievous archangel of Ballymun… no airs, plenty of graces.”

Bono ended his lengthy post with, “[A]nd I’m telling myself this morning that if he never existed, then he can never cease to exist. For me, he will always be everywhere I see a coin spinning into an open guitar case. May you rest in the peace you gave to so many.”

“Here on E Street, we are heartbroken over the death of Glen Hansard,” Springsteen wrote in his tribute on Instagram. “We met in Ireland many years ago and he was always nothing but a great musician, a good friend and a generous and gracious man. Always positive, smiling and ready to sing. God bless him and his loved ones.”

The day before his death, Hansard’s social media posted a video of him performing “Drive All Night” with Springsteen in Ireland.

“This week in 2013 Glen had the honor of joining Bruce @springsteen & the E Street Band on stage in Kilkenny for ‘Drive All Night’, which Glen released his own version of later that year,” the post read. “Were you there?”

Hansard’s version, which featured backing vocals by Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and saxophone from The E Street Band’s Jake Clemons, appeared on Hansard’s 2013 EP, also titled Drive All Night.

Others paying tribute to Hansard include Ed Sheeran, Finneas, Lin-Manuel Miranda, actress Rachel Zegler, and The War and Treaty.

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Bon Jovi wrapped their nine-show Forever Tour stint at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday, and frontman Jon Bon Jovi is reflecting on what he calls the “imperfectly perfect” experience.

The shows were the band’s first since 2022 and the first since Jon underwent vocal cord surgery that same year.

“First, I can not thank you all enough for your friendship, your kindness and your support,” Jon writes on Instagram. “We all shared in a very special experience, something unique to this moment but that’s been building for a decade.”

“Second, I woke up thinking these two words, IMPERFECTLY PERFECT. 9 nights, it was beautiful. It was real, it was human,” he continues. “I looked at each of my bandmates and at as many of you as I could see and I felt that resonance. That connection that can’t be described or felt unless it was experienced in person – to be written about or viewed. I know what happened. If you were there, so do you. It was special.”

“I’ll sleep tonight knowing that a decade of our journey, the highs and the lows, led me to these 9 nights,” he adds. “My reward is that I know I get to shine a light on so many people. All human in their existence, all just looking to find something in common, some connection… I know what it is. It’s light, it’s love. Imperfectly perfect… And I have figured out that somehow I’m lucky enough to still work here.”

Jon ends the post, “I couldn’t be more grateful.”

Bon Jovi next brings their Forever Tour to Edinburgh, Scotland, on Aug. 28. After a show in Dublin on Aug. 30, the tour wraps with three nights at London’s Wembley Stadium Sept. 4-9.

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Peter Gabriel has released yet another track from his upcoming album, o/i.

The latest is the song “One by One,” which Gabriel says is part of a side project he’s talked about in the past, a show “with the brain as the central core.”

The song features a character called Mozo, which Gabriel says he introduced several years ago. He notes, “I thought, well, let’s give him another blast here. He’s been brought back from the dead.”

“One by One (Bright-Side Remix)” is available now via digital outlets.

As he did with his 2023 album i/o, Gabriel is releasing a new song from o/i with each full moon of the year. The entire album will be released by the end of 2026, along with Dark-Side and Bright-Side mixes handled by Tchad Blake and Mark “Spike” Stent, respectively.

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Noah Kahan is the latest musician to express his displeasure over the White House’s use of his music in a social media post.

The administration posted video and photos on Instagram and TikTok documenting President Donald Trump’s visit to an auto plant in Michigan to promote U.S.-made cars. The posts were set to Noah’s song “American Cars,” from his current album, The Great Divide.

Noah commented on the Instagram post — on which the music seems to have been disabled — “Would never approve of my music being used in support of you or this administration.” His comment had received close to 33,000 likes at press time. The music is still part of the TikTok post.

The co-writer of “American Cars,” Noah Levine, wrote in an Instagram comment that has since been deleted but was captured by fans, “You fat f*** this song isn’t for you.”

As in other instances of musicians complaining about their music being used in this way, the White House has doubled down: Kaelan Dorr, deputy assistant to the president, reposted a story about Noah Kahan’s comment and wrote, “Symptoms of [Trump Derangement Syndrome] apparently include having a northern attitude.”

Other musicians who’ve spoken out over the use of their music by the Trump administration without permission in social media videos and on the campaign trail include Foo Fighters, Guns N’ Roses, Jack White, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, Neil Young, Olivia Rodrigo, Rihanna, Adele, Beyoncé and the late Ozzy Osbourne.

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Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi has announced a new solo album called From the Dark.

The record is due out Oct. 23 and marks Iommi’s first solo effort in over 20 years. It was recorded with vocalist Jorn Lande, bassist Becky Baldwin and drummer Karl Brazil.

“It’s an album we’ve really enjoyed making,” Iommi says in a statement. “We’re not trying to prove anything – it’s a great album, it rocks!”

The first single, called “World Alone,” is out now alongside a video, which you can watch streaming on YouTube.

Since last putting out a solo album in 2005, Iommi and Black Sabbath put out a final record, 2013’s 13, and wrapped up a farewell tour in 2017. The original Sabbath lineup — Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward — reunited for one final show at the 2025 Back to the Beginning concert. Ozzy passed away just over two weeks later.

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