Classic Rock News

ZZ Top is headed overseas in 2026. The Texas rockers have announced dates for The Big One! tour, their first European trek in two years.

The 23-show tour will have them hitting 13 countries, with a mix of festival appearances and headlining dates. The tour starts June 13 in Estonia and hits Finland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland and France before wrapping July 25 in Cadiz, Spain, which is one of several shows in that country.

“We love playing for European audiences as they’re among the most energetic and enthusiastic we’ve encountered over the course of the past five decades,” ZZ Top frontman Billy F Gibbons says. 

He adds, “We predict a circumstance of direct communication because there’s no language barrier when the common parlance is to let it rock.”

A complete list of dates and ticket information can be found at ZZTop.com.

The announcement of the European shows follows the news that ZZ Top will be playing several dates in 2026 with country star Dwight Yoakam. Their Dos Amigos Tour kicks off March 26 in Brookings, South Dakota.

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Two of R.E.M.’s early releases are getting a sound upgrade.

The band’s debut EP, Chronic Town, and their debut album, Murmur, are being reissued as part of Interscope-Capitol Records’ Definitive Sound Series.

The albums will be released together as a two-LP, 180-gram high-definition vinyl set, with the upgraded audio sourced from the original analog master tapes. Mitch Easter, who produced both releases, and Don Dixon, who co-produced Murmur, were directly involved with the upgrade.

The set will be released Dec. 10 and is limited to a one-time-only pressing of 3,000 copies. It is available for preorder now.

Released in August 1982, Chronic Town was a five-track collection that was recorded following the success of their first single, “Radio Free Europe.” A demo of the EP helped land R.E.M. a record deal with I.R.S. records.

Their debut album, Murmur, was released in April 1983 and debuted at #36 on the Billboard Albums chart. It was a huge hit with critics and went on to be certified Gold by the RIAA.

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Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, best known his work with Deep Purple and Rainbow,  has postponed the rest of his tour with his medieval folk-rock band Blackmore’s Night.

“All Blackmore’s Night shows postponed at this point due to medical reasons,” read a post on the rocker’s social media. “We are sorry for any inconvenience.”

No other details regarding the reason for the postponement were released.

The tour was to consist of six shows, although the band only got to play two of them, Nov. 9 in Alexandria, Virginia and Nov. 13 in Lititz, Pennsylvania. They then postponed shows in Newton, New Jersey, and Wilmington, Delaware, before scrapping the rest of the tour, which was supposed to wrap Nov. 29 in Tarrytown, New York.

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While we have to wait a little longer to see if it gets any Oscar nominations, the Bruce Springsteen biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere has been recognized by at least one award show.

The film earned two nominations for this year’s Movies for Grownups Awards, put on by AARP. The awards honor “outstanding films and television projects that celebrate the voices and stories of the 50-plus,” according to a release.

Deliver Me From Nowhere, which follows Springsteen as he makes the 1982 solo album Nebraska, earned a best director nod for Scott Cooper, while the film was also nominated for best period film.

Also recognized this year is the Led Zeppelin doc Becoming Led Zeppelin, which is nominated for best documentary.

The annual Movies for Grownups Awards ceremony will take place on Jan. 10, 2026, in Los Angeles. Tony and Emmy winner Alan Cumming returns to host the awards show, which will be broadcast by Great Performances on PBS on Feb. 22.

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KISS fans have a chance to get their hands on a guitar previously owned by the late Ace Frehley.

The site Gotta Have Rock and Roll is auctioning off Ace’s Sunburst Gibson Les Paul “Smoker” guitar, which he used during KISS’ 1999 Psycho Circus tour and their 2000 Farewell tour.

The stage-used guitar, which is signed by Ace, is modified to produce the rocker’s signature “Smoking” effects and includes a letter of authenticity from Frehley. The description notes the instrument was part of the rocker’s personal collection and “represents a unique piece of rock history from an influential period of his career.”

Bidding on the guitar is open until Dec. 5, with a minimum bid of $100,000 required. The guitar is expected to sell for between $150,000 and $200,000.

Frehley, founding guitarist of KISS and a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, died Oct. 16 at the age of 74.

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America is hitting the road on a new tour in 2026.

The band, best known for such classic tracks as “A Horse with No Name” and “Sister Golden Hair,” has announced dates for The Happy Trails Tour 2026. The trek will kick off March 7 in Highland, California, and wrap May 23 in Modesto, California, with more dates to be added.

A complete list of dates and ticket information can be found at AmericaTheBand.com.

Original America member Dewey Bunnell is currently leading the group, following fellow original band member Gerry Beckley’s retirement from touring in 2024.

Bunnell and Beckley were announced as nominees for the 2026 class of the Songwriters Hall of Fame in October. Nominees become eligible 20 years after their first commercial release of a song. Inductees will be celebrated at a gala event in New York City next year.

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The Who is revisiting their 2017 performance of Tommy at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and they want their fans to join them.

The band has announced a Tommy: Live at Royal Albert Hall global watch party streaming Dec. 18 at 3 p.m. ET on Lounges.tv. Proceeds will benefit Teenage Cancer Trust, a nonprofit dedicated to providing specialized treatment and support for young people with cancer.

The stream will include a Q&A with frontman Roger Daltrey, and fans will have a chance to win prizes by answering questions in the chat. Prizes up for grabs include a five-seater box to a future Teenage Cancer Trust show at Royal Albert Hall, a pair of stalls tickets to one of the future shows and a Tommy poster autographed by Daltrey.

Tickets for the watch party are available now.

The Who performed Tommy at Royal Albert Hall on March 30 and April 1, 2017. While previous performances of Tommy left out a few songs, these shows marked the first time they performed the rock opera in its entirety.

Tommy: Live at the Royal Albert Hall, a recording of the April 1 show, was later released on DVD and Blu-ray, and as a two-CD and three-LP set.

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ZZ Top’s first shows of 2026 have been revealed.

The Texas rockers are set to hit the road with county star Dwight Yoakam on the Dos Amigos Tour, which will have them playing shows in the Midwest, South and East Coast.

The 15-date tour starts March 26 in Brookings, South Dakota, with stops in Nebraska, Kansas, Alabama, South Carolina and more, before wrapping May 23 in Huntington, West Virginia.

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

ZZ Top has four more shows left on their 2025 schedule and are set to play Wichita Falls, Texas, on Tuesday. The tour wraps Nov. 22 in Biloxi, Mississippi. Frontman Billy F Gibbons also has a trio of shows taking place Dec.18-20 at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, California.

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The late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury is the latest rock star to be honored by The Royal Mint with a U.K. coin.

The coin features an etching of Mercury midperformance, and the studs on the edge mimic the arm band he wore during Queen’s iconic Live Aid set. The coin also features a musical stave that spans from bass to treble, representing Mercury’s four-octave vocal range.

Freddie’s sister, Kashmira Bulsara, was at The Royal Mint to help strike the very first coin as they went into production, and she believes Freddie would have been happy with the honor.

“Striking the first coin at The Royal Mint was such an emotional and proud moment for me,” she said. “Freddie would have been absolutely delighted to see himself honored in this way and to know that his family was part of bringing this tribute to life.”

She added, “He always had such respect for British traditions and institutions, and to have The Royal Mint celebrate his legacy with such beautiful artistry would have meant the world to him. The coin perfectly captures his passion and the joy he brought to millions through his music.”

The coin comes in silver and gold proof, with some featuring the addition of the color yellow on Freddie’s jacket. It is now available for purchase on The Royal Mint website. A special gold proof version has been donated to Queen’s AIDs charity, the Mercury Phoenix Trust, and it will be auctioned off to support the organization.

Mercury’s coin is part of The Royal Mint’s Music Legends series, with artists like David Bowie, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney previously being honored with their own coin.

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David Byrne is out with a new single.

The Talking Heads frontman has released the new track “T Shirt,” which he co-wrote with producer Brian Eno. The song is described as “a classic piece of electro-pop wrapped in lightly humorous, but always earnest, political commentary.”

The video for the song features a drawing of a T-shirt with a variety of messages, including “well-behaved women seldom make history,” “you always have a choice,” “embrace differences” and “fight today for a better tomorrow.”

“T Shirt” is available now via digital outlets.

Byrne released the new studio album Who Is the Sky? in September, and while “T Shirt” isn’t on the album, he has been performing it during his current tour in support of the album.

He’s set to play the final night of a three-night stand in San Francisco on Tuesday. A complete list of dates can be found at DavidByrne.com.

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