George Thorogood performs at Spark Arena on May 17, 2025 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Dave Simpson/Getty Images)
George Thorogood & the Destroyers have announced a 2026 North American leg for their Baddest Show on Earth tour.
The trek launches March 6 in Highland, California, and will conclude up in Canada on April 4 in Ottawa.
“When we decided to call this tour ‘The Baddest Show on Earth,’ we had no doubt we could back it up night after night,” the “Bad to the Bone” rocker says. “We’re playing great venues in some of our favorite markets, and it’s guaranteed we can make you feel like a teenager again. Time to get on the bus, hit the highway and bring the rock party to the people for 2026.”
Slash and Axl Rose of Guns and Roses perform, during a show as part of the ‘Hell & Heaven 2023’ at Foro Pegaso on November 5, 2023 in Toluca, Mexico. (Luis Gutierrez/Norte Photo/Getty Images)
Guns N’ Roses, Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit are headlining the 2026 edition of England’s Download Festival.
The bill also includes Bad Omens, Trivium, Architects, Halestorm, Ice Nine Kills, BABYMETAL, The Pretty Reckless, Black Veil Brides, Mastodon, The All-American Rejects and Static-X.
Download 2026 takes place June 10-14. It’s self-described as “the U.K.’s premier rock festival.”
Donna Jean Godchaux performs during the “Move Me Brightly” 70th Birthday Tribute for Jerry Garcia at TRI Studios on August 3, 2012 in San Rafael, California. (C Flanigan/WireImage)
Former Grateful Dead vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay has died. She was 78.
“It is with heavy hearts that we mourn the loss of Donna Jean Godchaux,” reads a post on the Dead’s Instagram. “Her unmistakable voice and radiant spirit touched the lives of countless fans and immeasurably enriched the Grateful Dead family.”
“Her contributions will forever remain part of the tapestry that continues to be woven,” the post continues. “We send our deepest condolences to her loved ones and ask for privacy for her family during this time.”
Godchaux-MacKay was a member of the Dead from 1971 to 1979, and sang on albums including 1974’s From the Mars Hotel and 1977’s Terrapin Station, as well as the 1972 live album Europe ’72. Her then-husband, Keith Godchaux, played piano in the band during that time.
Upon leaving the Dead, the Godchauxs formed the Heart of Gold Band before Godchaux was killed in a car accident in 1980. Both Godchaux-MacKay and Godchaux were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with Grateful Dead in 1994.
Outside of her work with the Dead, Godchaux-MacKay was known for providing backup vocals on hits including Elvis Presley‘s “Suspicious Minds” and Percy Sledge‘s “When a Man Loves a Woman.” She also contributed to albums by artists such as Cher and Boz Scaggs.
In 2007, Godchaux-MacKay formed her namesake Donna Jean Godchaux Band.
Paul Rodgers performs onstage during the 2023 CMT Music Awards at Moody Center on April 02, 2023 in Austin, Texas. (Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images for CMT)
Paul Rodgers will no longer be attending Bad Company‘s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Rodgers was set to reunite with former bandmate Simon Kirke, the only other surviving member of the original Bad Co. lineup, at the ceremony, with Kirke recently confirming that they will perform together. However, Rodgers says in a Facebook post published Monday that he won’t be taking part due to health reasons.
“My hope was [to] be at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and to perform for the fans, but at this time I have to prioritize my health,” Rodgers, who’s had multiple strokes over the years, writes. “I have no problem singing, it’s the stress of everything else. Thank you for understanding.”
He adds, “Simon along with some outstanding musicians will be stepping in for me – guaranteed to rock.”
Bad Company last performed live in 2019.
The 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place Nov. 8 in Los Angeles and will stream live on Disney+. The other inductees include Joe Cocker, Warren Zevon, Soundgarden, The White Stripes, Cyndi Lauper, Outkast and Chubby Checker.
‘Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run’ book cover. (Liveright, an imprint of W.W. Norton & Company)
Paul McCartney looks back at the infamous rumors that he’d died in the 1960s in his upcoming new book, Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run.
As the story went, conspiracy theorists alleged that the Beatles member had actually died in the mid-’60s and had been replaced by a lookalike. As a piece of evidence, they claimed that John Lennon said the phrase “I buried Paul” in the Beatles song “Strawberry Fields Forever,” though Lennon maintained he was actually singing “cranberry sauce.”
In an excerpt from Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run published in The Guardian, McCartney writes, “The strangest rumor started floating around just as the Beatles were breaking up – that I was dead.”
“We had heard it long before, but suddenly, in that autumn of 1969, stirred up by a DJ in America, it took on a force all its own, so that millions of fans around the world believed I was actually gone,” McCartney continues.
While certainly not dead, McCartney writes that he’s now come to realize that he’d indeed lost a part of himself at the time.
“Now that over a half century has passed since those truly crazy times, I’m beginning to think that the rumors were more accurate than one might have thought at the time,” McCartney writes. “In so many ways, I was dead … A 27-year-old about-to-become-ex-Beatle, drowning in a sea of legal and personal rows that were sapping my energy, in need of a complete life makeover.”
Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run is due out Tuesday.
Sting on ‘Live with Kelly and Mark.’ (Disney/LORENZO BEVILAQUA)
Sting has announced a 2026 leg of his Sting 3.0 tour.
The newly added dates run from May 9 in Durant, Oklahoma, to May 25 in Richmond, Virginia. Members of the Sting fan club will have access to a presale beginning Tuesday. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday at 10 a.m. local time.
For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit Sting.com.
On the Sting 3.0 tour, the ex-Police frontman performs alongside guitarist and longtime collaborator Dominic Miller and drummer Chris Maas. A live album recorded on an earlier leg of the tour was released in April.
You can also catch the end of the 2025 U.S. Sting 3.0 tour, running through November.
Metallica on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ (ABC/Randy Holmes)
Exit light, enter … trespassers?
Two attendees of Metallica’s show at Optus Stadium in Perth, Australia, on Saturday were arrested after allegedly climbing a tower at the venue, News.com.au reports.
According to the publication, a police spokesperson says, “It will be alleged the men climbed up the central tower inside the bowl at the Metallica concert held at Optus Stadium on Saturday.”
The two men, aged 20 and 23, have been charged with trespassing.
Saturday’s concert marked the first on Metallica’s 2025 M72 tour of Australia and New Zealand. During the show’s soundcheck, frontman James Hetfielddressed as a kangaroo in honor of Halloween.
The Grateful Dead, Santana and a reunited Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were among the artists who performed at Laughter, Love and Music, a free concert at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park to honor the late music producer Bill Graham.
Graham, known for booking such venues as the Fillmore and the Winterland Ballroom, died in a helicopter crash on Oct. 25, 1991, on the way home from a Huey Lewis and the News concert.
An estimated 30,000 people attended the concert, which also featured performances by John Fogerty, Jackson Browne,Journey and Joan Baez.
Brian Johnson and Angus Young from AC/DC performs on stage at the Bjerke Travbane on August 05, 2025 in Oslo, Norway. (Per Ole Hagen/Redferns)
AC/DC is powering up for a return stateside.
The “Back in Black” rockers have announced a 2026 U.S. leg of their Power Up tour, running from July 11 in Charlotte, North Carolina, to Sep. 29 in Philadelphia.
Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. local time with the exception of the dates in Denver, Las Vegas and Philadelphia, which go on sale Friday at noon local time.
For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit ACDC.com.
The Power Up tour, which takes its name from AC/DC’s 2020 comeback album, launched in 2024 before coming to the U.S. in 2025.
The band lineup for the 2026 dates will feature guitarist Angus Young and vocalist Brian Johnson, plus guitarist Stevie Young, drummer Matt Laug and bassist Chris Chaney.
Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ (ABC/Randy Holmes)
Foo Fighters turned some Korn cosplay into a surprise show announcement.
On Saturday, Dave Grohlposted a photo of him wearing a Korn-branded adidas tracksuit, which the “Freak on a Leash” metallers are famous for wearing. They then announced a last-minute concert taking place on Monday in Korn’s hometown of Bakersfield, California.
“This time of year always makes me think of Kornfields,” Grohl wrote in the initial post. Korn frontman Jonathan Davis then responded, “[I’ll] send you one of mine” along with a heart and laughing emoji.
The Foos played a run of pop-up concerts in September, marking their first live shows with new drummer Ilan Rubin. They’ll launch a full North American stadium tour in 2026.
