Classic Rock News

The Police’s Andy Summers is taking his guitar on a global trek.

Variety reports that Summers will star in a new eight-part docuseries, Global Guitar, that will have the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer traveling around the world to learn about the global impact of the guitar through meetings with local musicians.

“This comes from a deeply authentic and personal space – an extension of something I’ve been doing my entire adult life,” Summers shares. “I’ve always been interested in the music of other cultures, and the guitar in particular.”

He adds, “It is absolutely the preeminent instrument in the world. Every culture has accessed it and made something of their own of it. It’s a very evolving instrument that just never seems to stop.”

Filming on the series is expected to take place in February and March 2026.

Next up for Summers, he’s set to kick off a fall leg of his The Cracked Lens + Missing String solo tour on Sept. 17 in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. A complete list of dates can be found at AndySummers.com.

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David Bowie was working on a new musical when he died in 2016, according to the BBC.

Handwritten notes on the project, called The Spectator, were donated to the V&A Museum, along with the rest of Bowie’s archives. They describe the show as an “18th century musical” set in London, with Bowie interested in weaving together the art and culture of the city during the time period with criminal gangs of the era.

The notes, which were made available to the BBC, were discovered in Bowie’s locked study by archivists tasked with cataloging the late rocker’s things. They will now be on display as part of the David Bowie Centre at the V&A East Storehouse, which opens Sept. 13.

The museum has been given access to over 90,000 items related to Bowie. The David Bowie Center will feature nine rotating displays, one of which has been curated by Nile Rodgers, who produced Bowie’s 1983 album Let’s Dance and 1993’s Black Tie White Noise.

There will also be an exhibit curated by British band The Last Dinner Party that features items from the 1970s that represent how Bowie continues to inspire new generations of artists.

Free tickets to visit the David Bowie Center will be available at vam.ac.uk.

David Bowie’s final project was the album Blackstar, which was released Jan. 8, 2016, on his 69th birthday. The rocker died two day later on Jan. 10, 2016.

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As part of the 50th anniversary celebration of their album Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin is releasing a new live EP, titled Live E.P., and now they’ve shared another preview.

The band just dropped a video for “In My Time of Dying,” featuring archival footage of their performance at London’s Earls Court in May 1975. The band previously shared a performance of “Trampled Underfoot,” also from Earls Court.

Live E.P. includes four live Led Zeppelin performances. In addition to the two Earls Court songs, there’s also “Sick Again” and “Kashmir,” both recorded at the Knebworth Festival in England in 1979.

In addition to the EP, the 50th anniversary of Physical Graffiti will be marked with the release of an update of 2015’s three-LP Physical Graffiti Deluxe Edition, which includes the remastered version of the album, the bonus album featuring rough mixes and early versions of songs, and a new replica Physical Graffiti poster.

Both releases are due out Sept. 12 and are available for preorder now.

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The Who is giving fans a preview of the bonus material that will be featured on the upcoming Who Are You super-deluxe edition, dropping Oct. 31.

The band has shared a previously unheard version of the track “New Song,” which is an early take on the tune featuring Pete Townshend laying down guide vocals for Roger Daltrey. The track is newly mixed by producer Steve Wilson.

“New Song (Pete Vocal Version)” is available now via digital outlets.

The new super-deluxe edition of Who Are You is a seven-CD/Blu-ray set that includes a newly remastered version of the original 1978 album, along with over 70 unreleased tracks. Bonus material includes the first mix of the album by producer Glyn Jones, which the band rejected, plus early run-throughs of songs, session outtakes, demos and live recordings.

In addition to the super-deluxe edition, there will be four-LP or two-CD deluxe editions, a limited-edition single LP and a limited-edition yellow colored vinyl.

All formats are available for preorder now.

In other Who news … the band has announced the rescheduled dates for the two shows of their farewell tour that they had to postpone due to illness. The Philadelphia show will now take place on Sept. 10, while the Atlantic City, New Jersey, concert is scheduled for Sept. 12. Tickets purchased for the original dates are valid for the new shows.

The Who’s The Song is Over North American Farewell tour hits Chicago on Sunday.

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Eric Clapton is revisiting his 1989 album Journeyman.

The three time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is set to release Journeyman: Deluxe Edition on Nov. 21, featuring a remastered version of the original album, along with four new bonus tracks, three of which are from the original Journeyman recording sessions.

One of those bonus tracks is the just released “Forever,” written by Jerry Williams, which is out now via digital outlets.

Journeyman: Deluxe Edition will be released digitally and on CD and LP and is available for preorder now.

Released on Nov. 6, 1989, Journeyman was Clapton’s 11th studio album, and featured guest appearances by such artists as George Harrison, Phil Collins, Chaka Khan, Daryl Hall and Robert Cray.

The album hit #1 on the Billboard Rock Albums chart and peaked at #16 on the Billboard 200. It featured singles like “Pretending” and “Bad Love,” which both hit #1 on the rock charts, with “Bad Love” earning Clapton a Grammy for best male rock vocal performance. The album went on to be certified double platinum by the RIAA.

Journeyman: Deluxe Edition is available for preorder now. Here is the track list:

“Pretending”
“Anything for Your Love”
“Bad Love”
“Running on Faith”
“Hard Times”
“Hound Dog”
“No Alibis”
“Run So Far”
“Old Love”
“Breaking Point”
“Lead Me On”
“Before You Accuse Me”
“Higher Power” (Bonus Track)
“Border Song” (Bonus Track)
“Forever” (Bonus Track)
“That Kind of Woman” (Bonus Track)

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Yungblud will perform alongside Aerosmith‘s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry in tribute to the late Ozzy Osbourne at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards.

The set, which will also feature Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme, will include a medley of the Prince of Darkness’ greatest hits, according to a press release.

The 2025 MTV VMAs will air live coast-to-coast Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and MTV, and will stream on Paramount+.

Yungblud, Tyler and Bettencourt all performed at the massive Back to the Beginning concert on July 5, which was announced ahead of time as the final live performance by Ozzy and the original Black Sabbath lineup. Ozzy died just over two weeks later on July 22.

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Guitar great Peter Frampton takes center stage for the latest installment in the public television series The Art of Music. The episode was filmed in front of a live audience at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Frampton is interviewed by Gov’t Mule founder Warren Haynes in the episode, with the pair teaming up for performances of such Frampton classics as “Do You Feel Like We Do,” “Baby I Love Your Way” and “Show Me the Way.”

“It was wonderful performing for The Art of Music series,” says Frampton. “It’s such a unique way of putting art and music together and to have done this at The Met, what an honor.”

Frampton’s episode of The Art of Music will debut Saturday on PBS stations, and will also stream on The Art of Music’s website and the PBS app.

Frampton is set to kick off a new leg of his Let’s Do It Again Tour on Oct. 17. A complete list of dates can be found at Frampton.com.

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Back in February 2024, Paul McCartney’s long-lost Höfner bass was returned to him after over 50 years, and now the story of how that happened will be told in a new documentary.

According to Variety, the mystery of the missing instrument will be the subject of the new doc The Beatle and the Bass from director Arthur Cary, with McCartney appearing in the flick.

The film, commissioned by BBC Arts, will feature interviews with others connected to the bass and its mystery, as well as fans, experts and collaborators. Also taking part are the journalists who launched The Lost Bass Project campaign, which helped recover the missing instrument and get it back to McCartney.

McCartney purchased the bass in Hamburg, Germany, in 1961 and used it to write such Beatles classics as “Love Me Do” and “She Loves You.” Initially it was believed to have last been seen in 1969, following the filming of Get Back. It was later revealed that it had actually been stolen in 1972 from a truck parked in Notting Hill, West London.

The Lost Bass Project launched its campaign to find McCartney’s bass in 2018, with the Beatle announcing in February 2024 that he had it back in his possession.

This isn’t the only documentary McCartney is taking part in. The new doc Man on the Run, about McCartney’s post-Beatles career, recently debuted at the Telluride Film Festival. It will be released in select theaters and then stream on Prime Video starting Feb. 25, 2026.

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Are you ready for some Foos news?

It certainly appears that Foo Fighters are about to announce something, judging from a new Instagram post from Dave Grohl and company encouraging you to sign up for their newsletter.

“Foo Fighters Assemble!!!” the post reads. “Make sure you’re subscribed to the newsletter for info you won’t want to miss… just sayin’…”

The post is accompanied by a photo showing a top-down view of each Foo Fighters member’s shoes, with their faces out of frame. We count six pairs of shoes, which suggests that one of the people in the photo is the band’s new drummer.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, that new drummer is Ilan Rubin, who long played with Nine Inch Nails, but that hasn’t been confirmed by the Foos. The last Foo Fighters drummer, Josh Freese, was let go from the band in May and has since rejoined NIN, whom he played with from 2005 to 2008.

Foo Fighters are currently set to return to the road in October for a tour of Asia. Those dates mark not only the Foos’ first live performances with their new drummer, but also their first since Grohl’s 2024 infidelity scandal.

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In celebration of the 30th anniversary of Tom Petty’s album Wildflowers, the late singer’s estate has teamed with Because Sound Matters to release the album as a limited-edition two-LP One-Step vinyl.

The first pressing will be released Oct. 10 and is limited to 6,000 numbered copies. The audio has been cut directly from the original master tapes, with the One-Step process offering what is described as “unparalleled sound fidelity.”

It is available for preorder now.

And that’s not the only way the Wildflowers anniversary is being celebrated.

The estate is planning to dip into the Wildflowers vault to share never-before-seen Petty footage from that era. The first release is a performance of “Crawling Back To You” from the 1995 Dogs with Wings tour rehearsals.

More archival footage is expected to be released in the coming months, and fans can get their first look at it by joining Tom Petty Nation, the rocker’s free, exclusive fan club.

But that’s not all. A new book about the making of Wildflowers is coming and is available for preorder now. Plus the documentary Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free: The Making of Wildflowers, directed by Mary Wharton, will be released on Blu-ray Sept. 12.

Released in November 1994, Wildflowers was the first of three Petty albums produced by Rick Rubin. Although credited to just Petty, Heartbreakers members Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and Howie Epstein played on the record, which peaked at #8 on the Billboard 200. It featured the singles “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” “You Wreck Me” and the title track.

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