Classic Rock News

David Byrne’s latest solo album, Who Is the Sky?, is making its mark on the charts.

According to Billboard, the record has landed in the top 10 on four separate Billboard album charts, although it debuted at #172 on the all-genre Billboard 200. It is his first solo album since 2018’s American Utopia.

The record had its best showing on the Indie Store Album Sales chart, where it debuted at #4, and the Vinyl Albums chart, where it debuted at #5.

The album also landed at #9 and #10 on the Top Current Album Sales and Top Albums Sales charts, respectively.

Byrne launched a tour in support of Who Is the Sky? on Tuesday in Pittsburgh. According to setlist.fm, his set included his first performance of the Talking Heads classic “Psycho Killer” since 2006. The tour hits Akron, Ohio, on Friday. A complete list of dates can be found at DavidByrne.com.

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U2 is set to be honored with the 2025 Woody Guthrie Prize.

Named after the late folk icon and presented by the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the award recognizes “a recipient who embodies the spirit of Woody Guthrie’s social consciousness and musical legacy.”

According to a press release, the Irish rockers “continue a tradition of using music as a force for social change, echoing Guthrie’s belief that songs can help make the world a fairer place.”

“U2 embodies the mission of the Woody Guthrie Prize, using music to confront injustice and inspire action,” Cady Shaw, senior director of the Woody Guthrie Center, says. “By presenting the 2025 Woody Guthrie Prize to U2, we honor a legacy of music that continues to challenge who we are and connect us the world over.”

U2’s Bono and The Edge will be on hand to accept this year’s prize at the ceremony on Oct. 21 at Tulsa’s Cain’s Ballroom. U2 previously played the venue in 1981 on their The Boy Tour.

Previous Woody Guthrie Prize winners include Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Joan Baez and Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello.

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Iron Maiden is going to be very busy in 2026.

The rockers just announced their first tour dates for next year, which will have them hitting Europe and the U.K.

The Run For Your Lives World Tour kicks off May 23 in Athens, Greece. The tour will also hit Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, France and Portugal. They’ve also announced a special U.K. show on July 11, although details will be coming at a later date.

According to a post on Instagram, the Paris show on June 22 will be “filmed for our fans and for posterity.” The post notes, “We chose an indoor stadium to see the best of the production and also a great audience which we know Paris is and always has been for us.”

While the band is asking fans to once again limit their phone use during shows, the Paris concert will actually be phone free, “guaranteeing the best possible environment for both fans and filming.”

Maiden adds that more dates will be announced.

“Rest assured we will be visiting as many of you as possible next year, before the band take a well-earned break from the road in 2027,” they write.

More info on tour dates can be found at IronMaiden.com.

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Brian Setzer is selling a bunch of his gear on Reverb.

The Stray Cats frontman is set to offer up dozens of pieces, including stage-played guitars and memorabilia, on his Official Brian Setzer Reverb Shop starting Sept. 24.

Among the guitars being offered is a 1959 D’angelico New Yorker; a hot red Flag Back that Setzer played on The Tonight Show; and a G Brand Gretsch Rancher acoustic guitar, played on Setzer’s Rockabilly tours.

Brian shows off some of the guitars being sold in a video on Instagram, playing a couple of them before ending the video with “and I’m selling this why?”

The shop will also be selling pedals, cabinets and stage-worn clothing, including red jackets worn on The Brian Setzer Orchestra Christmas Rocks! tour in 2016.

More information and a preview of what will be for sale can be found at Reverb.com.

The Stray Cats are set to kick off a new fall tour on Oct. 25 in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. The tour, which will feature original band members Setzer, Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom, wraps Nov. 23 in Wheatland, California.

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Aerosmith’s Joe Perry and Steven Tyler were back onstage together Tuesday night in California.

The Joe Perry Project — which also features Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford; Buck Johnson, who’s been part of Aerosmith’s touring band since 2014; The Black Crowes’ Chris Robinson; drummer Jason Sutter; and Stone Temple Pilots‘ Robert DeLeo — was the opening act for The Who’s Hollywood Bowl show, and Tyler turned up as a special guest.

“The Who fans got an extra special treat tonight in Los Angeles,” Live Nation wrote in an Instagram post, which was shared on Perry’s account. “As The Joe Perry Project got the party started, Joe brought out Steven Tyler for a set that we’ll be talking about for years!”

The post included a clip of Perry, Tyler and Robinson performing “Walk This Way” together, and they also teamed for the Aerosmith track “The Train Kept A Rollin’.”

The set also featured a guest appearance by Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash on Aerosmith’s “Mama Kin.”

Perry and Tyler’s onstage reunion happened on the same day Aerosmith announced a new collaborative EP with Yungblud, One More Time, which is due out Nov. 21. The EP’s first single, “My Only Angel,” will premiere on Friday.

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Queen is celebrating the 50th anniversary of their fourth studio album, A Night at the Opera, with vinyl reissues.

The album will be reissued on crystal-clear vinyl with gold labels on Oct. 17 in the U.S., with the release coming out in the U.K. on Oct. 18 for National Album Day. In addition, on Oct. 31, the album’s iconic single, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” will be released on transparent blue heavyweight 12-inch vinyl, as a 12-inch picture disc and as a blue cassette single.

“A Night At The Opera was a hugely important album for us,” says Queen guitarist Sir Brian May. “It opened up the world for us.”

“We were at the peak of our confidence,” adds drummer Roger Taylor. “It felt like there wasn’t anything we couldn’t do, and it shows on that album.”

Released in November 1975, A Night at the Opera was Queen’s first #1 on the U.K. album charts; in the U.S., it peaked at #4. In addition to “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which spent nine weeks at #1 in the U.K.,  the album includes the Queen classic “You’re My Best Friend,” as well as future live staples “Love of My Life” and “I’m in Love with My Car.”

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Paul McCartney wants fans to know that if they don’t hear about something from him, it’s likely not real.

The topic came up in McCartney’s latest “You Gave Me The Answer” Q&A on his website, which was focused on the topic of AI.

“With so much AI out there now how do you deal with the misinformation or AI created content that is supposedly you?” read the question from a fan. “How can we be sure what might be official?”

Paul started his response with a joke, writing, “How do I know if this question isn’t even AI generated? Ha!”

“Seriously though, there’s so much of it about and it can be hard to know what is real,” he shares. “I think most people can still tell the difference but some of it is getting pretty clever.”

McCartney says it’s not uncommon for friends to let him know about things he allegedly said or had done that were not true. “Or there are songs appearing with me apparently on them,” he adds. “Some of it is really wild!”

As for how fans can differentiate fact from fiction, McCartney has a simple answer.

“I always say that it’s best to check my website and my own social media accounts to see if it’s official, as that’s where we share news about what I’m up to,” he says. “If it’s not there then the chances are that it’s fake news!”’

Here’s something that is not fake news: McCartney is getting ready to hit the road on a new North American leg of his Get Back tour. After a warm-up show on Sept. 26 at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, California, he’ll kick off the tour on Sept. 29 in Palm Desert, California.

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Holiday classics from The Beach Boys, Elton John, John Lennon and Paul McCartney will be featured in a new Christmas-themed box set.

The Christmas Holiday Singles Box will include 14 7-inch colored vinyl singles, featuring 28 songs. Each single features a holiday classic on the A-side, paired with another festive tune from the same artist on the B-side.

Holiday staples featured in the set include The Beach Boys’ “Little Saint Nick”/“Old Lang Syne”; Elton’s “Step Into Christmas”/“Ho Ho Ho (Who’d Be a Turkey at Christmas)”; Lennon, Yoko Ono and The Plastic Ono Band’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”/“Listen the Snow Is Falling”; and McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime”/“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reggae.”

The set also includes Christmas classics from Brenda Lee, The Jackson 5, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Bobby Helms, Bing Crosby and more.

The Christmas Holiday Singles Box, dropping Oct. 31, will be housed in a red and white candy cane-inspired carrying case. It is available for preorder now.

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Bob Dylan has been added to Saturday’s Farm Aid lineup, organizers announced Wednesday.

This year’s event, which marks the 40th anniversary of Farm Aid, will take place at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

Dylan, who’s been touring on Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival this summer, joins a lineup that already includes Farm Aid board members Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Margo Price. Young will be performing with his band Chrome Hearts, while Matthews will perform with frequent collaborator Tim Reynolds.

The last time Dylan played Farm Aid was in 2023 as a surprise guest. That year’s event took place in Noblesville, Indiana.

For those who can’t make it to Minneapolis, Farm Aid 40 will be broadcast on CNN starting at 6 p.m. CT, and will also stream live on nugs.net and FarmAid.org.

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The BBC‘s Ozzy Osbourne documentary has a new release date.

The film, titled Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home, will debut on Oct. 2 after being delayed from its originally announced Aug. 18 premiere.

The BBC had pulled Coming Home from air just hours before it was set to broadcast without explanation. The network later said, “We are respecting the family’s wishes to wait a bit longer before airing this very special film.”

Coming Home was first announced on Aug. 7, just over two weeks after Ozzy’s death on July 22. It was originally conceived in 2022 as a reality series called Home to Roost before being reworked into a standalone film.

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