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More than 20 years since it became required listening for any mid-aughts music fan, the artists featured on the soundtrack to acclaimed indie film Garden State have come together in Los Angeles for a one-night only affair.
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Initially released in July 2004, Garden State served as the directorial debut for Scrubs star Zach Braff, and earned itself a nomination for the grand jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Though it avoided much of the Hollywood glitz and glamor, the film developed a cult following, thanks in part to its eclectic soundtrack.
Equally influential and acclaimed, the soundtrack collected names such as The Shins, Coldplay, and Iron & Wine as something of a snapshot of the era’s indie landscape. Ultimately, the soundtrack peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard 200 and won the 2005 Grammy for best compilation soundtrack for visual media.
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In October 2024, it was announced a special concert celebration would take place at Los Angeles’ Greek Theater on March 29, with proceeds from the affair going to benefit The Midnight Mission, a homeless shelter and services provider founded in L.A. in 1914.
Promotion for the event promised appearances from (almost) every artist featured on the soundtrack, along with “very special guests” by way of cast member appearances, and on Saturday (March 29), the full anniversary concert came to fruition.
Artists such as The Shins were on hand to perform the likes of “Caring is Creepy” and “New Slang” (which attained widespread fame thanks to Natalie Portman’s character insisting the song will “change your life; I swear”), while Cary Brothers, Bonnie Somerville, Colin Hay, Thievery Corporation, Cary Brothers, and Sophie Barker of Zero 7 also appeared to perform their respective cuts.
A handful of notable absences did alter the dream lineup, however. While pop heavyweights Coldplay weren’t on hand to perform “Don’t Panic,” neither were Simon & Garfunkel available to run through “The Only Living Boy in New York.” In their absence, Laufey and The Milk Carton Kids got up onstage to cover their songs, respectively. Likewise, Iron & Wine paid tribute to the late Nick Drake by adding a rendition of “One of These Things First” to his scheduled performance.
The event also resulted in a couple of rare performances from the likes of Frou Frou and Remy Zero. While Imogen Heap and Guy Sigsworth of Frou Frou have been active again since 2017, the pair had not performed live since 2019, with the Garden State concert seeing them appear onstage once again.
Remy Zero, meanwhile, broke up in 2010 and reformed exclusively for the Saturday concert. The band largely reunited to play their 1998 track “Fair,” though they also used the opportunity to provide fans with a chance to hear the track “Save Me,” which found fame as the theme to Smallville from 2001 to 2011.
On the non-musical front, the event also featured appearances from both Braff and Portman, while Danny DeVito (an executive producer on the original film), and Braff’s former Scrubs co-stars Donald Faison and Sarah Chalke took to the stage to partake in the festivities and the fundraising efforts.
For those that missed out on the event, the concert will be available to purchase for streaming from April 6. Proceeds from the stream will also be donated to The Midnight Mission.
Longtime REO Speedwagon vocalist Kevin Cronin has taken to social media to share his thoughts on his lack of inclusion in an upcoming one-off reunion event.
Cronin, who has been touring with his own Kevin Cronin Band, addressed a fan on Facebook who noted the singer’s absence from REO Speedwagon’s forthcoming concert in Champaign, Illinois on June 14, responding that organizers of the event could have picked a date when many of the band’s former members were readily available to attend.
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“Instead they chose June 14, 2025, a date where it was public knowledge that I was previously committed to perform with Styx and Kevin Cronin Band in Bend, Oregon,” Cronin wrote. “Bottom line, I am being asked to participate in an event on a date when I can’t possibly be there in-person. And then being falsely accused of turning down the invitation. I am deeply disturbed and hurt by all of this.
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“After all I have done to help build the legacy of REO Speedwagon, I feel I have earned and deserve to be included in any event honoring that legacy. Instead, I have been knowingly excluded.”
Cronin joined REO Speedwagon in early 1972, taking over from Terry Luttrell who reportedly left due to personal issues with guitarist Gary Richrath. Though Cronin was himself briefly replaced by Mike Murphy the following year, he returned in 1976 and remained in the band until their end, performing on tracks such as their two Hot 100 chart-toppers “Keep On Loving You” and “Can’t Fight This Feeling.”
In late 2024, REO Speedwagon announced that they would cease touring as of Jan. 1, 2025. In a note shared to fans, the group explained that bassist Bruce Hall had not recovered sufficiently from previous back surgery and his inability to tour led to “irreconcilable differences” between Hall and Cronin.
REO Speedwagon played their final live performance on Dec. 21 at The Venetian Theatre in Las Vegas, but in March announced they would be playing a special one-off show at the State Farm Center in their hometown of Champaign, Illinois on June 14. Officially titled as an event ‘Honoring the Legacy of REO Speedwagon,’ the show is described as a “concert retrospective featuring special guests & former members.”
Indeed, Hall and Neal Doughty from the final REO Speedwagon lineup are confirmed to attend, as are previous vocalists Luttrell and Murphy. Founding drummer Alan Gratzer and 1969 guitarist Steve Scorfina are also listed as appearing, while a special tribute will be held to late members Gary Richrath and Gregg Philbin.
In his social media comment, Cronin also claimed that the remaining members of the band’s final lineup – who currently perform alongside him in the Kevin Cronin Band – weren’t given the option of appearing at the forthcoming show. “35-year REO veterans Dave Amato and Bryan Hitt were not even shown the respect of being invited to the Champaign event,” he added.
Cronin spoke to Billboard ahead of REO Speedwagon’s final show in December, explaining that the circumstances behind the band’s ending were less than ideal, and admitted there is still a level of acrimony between he and Hall. “It’s kind of like a divorce of sorts,” he explained, “and during a divorce things get a little muddy and things get a little sticky. I wish it could’ve been more amicable, but the minute attorneys get involved it just changes the atmosphere of things.”
“I think it’s unfortunate that some fans were kind of brought into something that I really feel should’ve been kept as a private, personal matter,” he continued. “It’s never thrilling when things are said that are inaccurate and hurtful. My hope is that there will come a time where the dust will have settled. My intention is to ask forgiveness for anything that I’ve done or any hurt that I have caused Bruce. I don’t like to have grudges with people. I like to forgive and be forgiven.”
Congratulations are in order for Dave Navarro and Vanessa DuBasso, who tied the knot in Scotland on Saturday (March 29).
The 57-year-old Jane’s Addiction guitarist and 31-year-old actress and fashion designer exchanged vows at Dunskey Estate in Stranraer, Scotland, People reports. The couple’s gothic-inspired ceremony took place within a castle nestled at the secluded coastal estate, surrounded by lush greenery and views of the sea.
“It exudes a moody, ethereal charm,” DuBasso told the publication. “Surrounded by a towering forest, a serene lake and the ruins of a castle along the shoreline, it felt like stepping into a fairytale.”
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Navarro added, “We wanted our wedding to feel like a dream. It was important to us to find a place that felt unlike anywhere we had ever been, a place that embraced nature and transported us to another world. We wanted our loved ones to share in this intimate experience.”
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The pair exchanged handwritten vows in a forest ceremony officiated by Dunskey Estate owner Ali Orr Ewing. Among the guests was comedian Pete Davidson. It’s unclear if any members of Jane’s Addiction were in attendance.
The Grammy-nominated guitarist, who also played with the Red Hot Chili Peppers from in the 1990s, shared glimpses of the magical weekend on his Instagram Stories the following day. Among the behind-the-scenes moments were photos of the couple skeet shooting in the countryside, a heartwarming video of them exchanging smiles during a candlelit dinner, and a stunning clip of a fireworks display.
Navarro and DuBasso met eight years ago after the veteran musician saw a movie trailer featuring the actress. Navarro reached out to the film’s director, a friend of his, asking if DuBasso would be interested in going on a date with him, according to People.
This marks Navarro’s fourth marriage. He was previously married to Tania Goddard in the early ’90s, followed by a brief marriage to Rhian Gittins in the mid-’90s, and then to Carmen Electra in the early 2000s.
Looks like running — and playing Forrest Gump — runs in the Hanks family. In the “You Better Run” music video for Chet Hanks’ band Something Out West, the singer tapped his famous father Tom Hanks to re-create scenes from Forrest Gump more than 30 years after the actor starred in the iconic film. The […]
Lola Young reigns for the first time on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart, as “Messy” jumps two places to No. 1 on the April 5-dated tally.
“Messy” rules concurrent with its third week at No. 1 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, thanks to 4.7 million audience impressions in the week ending March 27, according to Luminate.
Young tops Alternative Airplay with her first entry on the list, becoming the second act in a row to do so, after Balu Brigada’s “So Cold” reached No. 1 the week before. Five acts, via four songs, have earned first Alternative Airplay No. 1s as lead acts in 2025. Prior to Young and Balu Brigada, Justice and Tame Impala on their collaboration “Neverender” and Almost Monday with “Can’t Slow Down” led for the first time.
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Comparatively, just two acts notched first Alternative Airplay No. 1s in 2024. Five newcomers at the top spot as lead acts this year, and as of March, for that matter, mark the most in a single year since six in 2021 (I Dont Know How But They Found Me’s “Leave Me Alone,” Cannons‘ “Fire for You,” Machine Gun Kelly and Blackbear’s “My Ex’s Best Friend,” Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” and Måneskin’s “Beggin’”).
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“Messy” ranks at No. 7 on Adult Alternative Airplay, after reaching No. 5 earlier in March. It also rises 9-8 on Pop Airplay, bullets at its No. 10 best on Adult Pop Airplay and debuts at No. 30 on Adult Contemporary.
On the most recently published, multimetric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, dated March 29, reflecting data March 14-20, “Messy” placed at No. 2. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 9.7 million official U.S. streams and sold 3,000 downloads in that span.
“Messy” parent album This Wasn’t Meant for You Anyway ranked at No. 32, after reaching No. 11, on the March 29 Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart with 9,000 equivalent album units. It has earned 211,000 units to date.
All Billboard charts dated April 5 will update on Tuesday, April 1.
Leigh band The Lottery Winners has bagged its second No. 1 on the U.K. Albums Chart. KOKO follows their previous LP Anxiety Replacement Therapy, which achieved the feat in 2023.
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The indie-rockers praised their hometown of Leigh in Greater Manchester when celebrating the news, and toasted the local scene and small venues where they learned their craft. Speaking to the Official Charts Company, the four-piece said, “This is for grassroots music. This is for the working class. This is for Leigh. This is for anybody who has a dream — go out there and get it. Make it happen!”
It continues the group’s upward momentum on the Official Albums Chart over the past few years following the band’s 2020 debut, The Lottery Winners (No. 23), its 2020 follow-up Sounds of Isolation (No. 61) and 2021’s Something to Leave the House For (No. 11).
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The group has played at festivals including Glastonbury, and supported British pop icon Robbie Williams on tour. KOKO’s guest vocalists include Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger, Britpop band Shed Seven and more.
Elsewhere, Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet completes the week at No. 2, while Scottish band Deacon Blue’s 11th studio album, The Great Western Road, lands at No. 3, and gives the group its seventh top 10 U.K. album.
Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco’s joint LP, I Said I Love You First, debuts at No. 4 and is Gomez’s second U.K. top 10 album, following 2020’s Rare (No. 2). It’s the first top 10 LP for her fiancé Blanco, who has a number of U.K. No. 1 singles to his name as a writer and producer, including Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream.”
Lady Gaga’s MAYHEM finishes at No. 5, Playboi Carti’s Music falls from the top spot to No. 7, while The Horrors’ first album in eight years, Night Life, enters the charts at No. 16.
Mumford & Sons announced an extensive summer 2025 North American tour on Friday (March 28) in support of their just-released Rushmere album. To celebrate the folk rockers’ first LP in seven years, Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett and Ted Dwane will launch a summer tour of arenas and amphitheaters beginning on June 5 at the Hayden Homes Amphitheater in Bend, OR.
The run will feature stops in California, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Ontario, Montana, Colorado, Georgia and Alabama during the summer, before the group return in October for a second string of dates in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Quebec, Tennessee, Texas and Oklahoma, winding down at the CHI Health Center Arena in Omaha, NE on Oct. 26.
The new album — named for the spot in Wimbledon, U.K. where the band members first met — was produced in collaboration with Grammy-winner Dave Cobb and recorded in Nashville, Savannah, GA and Devon, England. The upcoming run of dates will expand on a series of intimate shows the group performed this month in Europe, Australia and the U.S., culminating with a gig on Wednesday (March 26) in Brooklyn.
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Tickets for the North American shows will go on sale on April 4; click here for information on pre-sale and on-sales. Mumford & Sons has teamed with PLUS 1 to support War Child, with $1 from every ticket sold going to the organization to help and protect children affected by war.
Check out the tour dates for Mumford & Sons’ 2025 North American tour (and their European swing) below.
June 5: Bend, OR @ Hayden Homes Amphitheater*
June 9: Berkeley, CA @ The Greek Theatre*
June 12: Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl†
June 14: West Valley City, UT @ Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre†
June 17: Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center†
June 18: Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center†
June 20: Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center†
June 21: Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center‡
June 22: Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion†
June 24: Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage†
July 18: Quincy, WA @ The Gorge Amphitheatre§
July 19: Whitefish, MT @ Under The Big Sky Festival
July 21: Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre^
July 22: Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre^
July 24: Bonner Springs, KS @ Azura Amphitheater#
July 26: Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheatre#
July 27: Charleston, SC @ Credit One Stadium#
July 29: Raleigh, NC @ Coastal Credit Union Music Park||
July 31: Huntsville, AL @ Orion Amphitheater||
August 8: Forest Hills, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium~
Oct. 8: Chicago, IL @ United Center**
Oct. 9: St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center**
Oct. 11: Milwaukee, WI @ Fiserv Forum**
Oct. 12: Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena**
Oct. 14: Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center**
Oct. 16: Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center**
Oct. 17: Montréal, QC @ Centre Bell**
Oct. 19: Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena**
Oct. 20: Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena**
Oct. 22: Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena††
Oct. 24: Austin, TX @ Moody Center††
Oct. 25: Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center††
Oct. 26: Omaha, NE @ CHI Health Center Arena††
2025 European tour dates
July 4: Dublin, Ireland @ Malahide Castle
July 7: Verona, Italy @ Arena di Verona
Nov. 6: Stockholm, Sweden @ Avicii Arena
Nov. 8: Copenhagen, Denmark @ Royal Arena
Nov. 10: Berlin, Germany @ Uber Arena
Nov. 12: Cologne, Germany @ Lanxess Arena
Nov. 13: Antwerp, Belgium @ Sportpaleis
Nov. 14: Paris, France @ Adidas Arena
Nov. 16: Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg @ Rockhal
Nov. 17: Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Ziggo Dome
Nov. 19: Bologna, Italy @ Unipol Arena
Nov. 20: Zurich, Switzerland @ Hallenstadion
Nov. 21: Milan, Italy @ Unipol Forum
Nov. 23: Barcelona, Spain @ Palau Sant Jordi
Nov. 25: Lisbon, Portugal @ Sagres Campo Pequeno
Nov. 29: Newcastle, U.K. @ Utilita Arena††
Nov. 30: Leeds, U.K. @ First Direct Arena††
Dec. 2: Glasgow, U.K. @ OVO Hyrdo††
Dec. 3: Manchester, U.K. @ Co-op Live††
Dec. 5: Sheffield, U.K. @ Utilita Arena††
Dec. 7: Birmingham, U.K. @ Utilita Arena††
Dec. 8: Cardiff, U.K. @ Utilita Arena††
Dec. 10: London, U.K. @ The O2††
Dec. 11: London, U.K. @ The O2††
*with Divorce
†with Good Neighbours
‡with Gigi Perez
§with Japanese Breakfast
^with Madison Cunningham
#with Gregory Alan Isakov
||with Margo Price
~with Lucius
**with Michael Kiwanuka
††with Sierra Ferrell
Bachman-Turner Overdrive is takin’ care of business again with “60 Years Ago,” the Canadian stalwart’s first new material in more than 25 years. And there’s more where that came from.
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The sentimental single, releasing formally on Friday, March 28, was first written by Randy Bachman and his son Tal during their pandemic YouTube show Bachman & Bachman Friday Night Train Wreck and is part of a father-son album that has not yet been released. But after hearing that a highway section in Randy Bachman’s native Winnipeg was to be renamed the Bachman-Turner Overpass – with the dedication on April 18, the day before BTO plays there – inspired the Bachmans to revise the song and make the song public.
“I thought, ‘I’ll go and get “60 Years Ago,” and I’ll give it back to Winnipeg as a thank-you,’” Randy Bachman tells Billboard via Zoom from his current home in Victoria, B.C.. “There was no great plan for this song, y’know. But maybe they’ll play it on Winnipeg radio, and if you live in Winnipeg maybe you’ll want to download it and drive around singing ’60 years ago, so damn cold, so much snow’ and that kind of stuff. And I have a million BTO fans, followers on Instagram and my web site, so maybe some of them will download it.
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“I have a lot of people asking me, always, ‘Is there anything new? Is there anything new?’ So now… yes, there is.”
With its remembrances of the Winnipeg music scene of the mid-’60s, Bachman further torqued up “60 Years Ago” with some appropriate guests – childhood friend and fellow Winnipegian Neil Young, whose guitar solo can be heard at the end, and BTO co-founder Fred Turner who, despite spates of bad health, contributed vocals to the song. Both men are name-checked in the lyrics, along with Bachman’s Guess Who partner Burton Cummings and, as Bachman notes, Winnipeg’s frigid climate.
“I sent it to Neil Young and said, ‘Here’s a song about us and Winnipeg,’” Bachman says. “And he said, ‘I love this. I’ll scream something and play my solo at the end of the track.’ So we did that.” Turner’s part took a bit more doing, however.
“Fred Turner has suffered a lot in the last three years, from Covid, from his own illness. He lost his wife, that was depressing. He lost his voice,” Bachman explains. “When I sent him [the song] I said, ‘Just put this on your computer… put on headphones and sing to it. I just want your voice, Fred.’ He said, ‘I haven’t sang in two and a half years, but I gave it a shot. But I lost my voice in the second verse.’ But because of digital (technology) now you can get a little, tiny sound and make it big, so we managed to get a great vocal on him throughout the song.
“This wasn’t planned to be a single targeting the charts or anything like that. If we have success with this, it’ll be stunning. But people who hear it are saying to me, ‘You’ve done a great thing here. It sounds like BTO in 1976,’ which is great. The new [Rolling] Stones album doesn’t sound like the Stones, right? But this sounds like BTO.”
“60 Years Ago” comes as BTO prepares to hit the road for an extensive Canadian tour that kicks off an extensive, 22-date tour of Canada, followed by summer dates in the U.S., both on its own and with the Marshall Tucker Band, Jefferson Starship and the Outlaws. Bachman is also preparing a BTO live album from 1976 shows at the Budokan in Tokyo for release, and he’s hoping that Takin’ Care of Business, a documentary about finding his stolen Gretsch 6120 guitar while in the midst of a serious cancer battle a couple of years back will see wider release after running on the film festival circuit.
Bachman says more new BTO songs may be in the offing as well, including one called “Rock ‘n’ Roll is the Only Way Out.”
“Rock ‘n’ roll is the only way out of rap and all this crazy pop stuff that’s going on,” Bachman says, “and all this weird country stuff…everybody’s trying to get on the country bandwagon because they still sell CDs.” He’s also collaborating with Turner on other new songs.
“When we were doing [’60 Years Ago’] I said, ‘Have you got any songs, Fred? People are asking for new BTO,’” Bachman recalls. “And he says, ‘Yeah, here’s a couple of old songs. You want to do something new with ’em?’ All he’s got are little cassette tapes, but with AI I can lift off his vocal and get them reformatted and rewrite them and do this and that. I just get a BPM, tick-tick-tick and match his vocal to it. I play guitar. My son Tal plays guitar, drums, bass, flutes, everything. Then we’ll send it back to Fred and get him to sing once it’s a good demo and we’ve got the new groove and new feel. So I am working on new BTO stuff, which is amazing.”
Bachman is also looking forward to a return to the Guess Who now that he and Cummings have successfully wrested control of the trademarks and copyrights from former bandmates Jim Kale and Gary Peterson, who operated the band with other musicians – which Bachman calls “the clones” – until last July. The guitarist says he and Cummings – who have toured together since Bachman’s 1970 departure, including under the Guess Who moniker during the early 2000s – plan to be on the road together during 2026 playing the band’s material along with BTO and Cummings’ solo hits.
“We’re gonna really have an incredible show, about two hours,” Bachman says. “It’ll be a celebration of the Guess Who. The fans have been wanting it. We’ve already got offers for gigs – really big gigs, really good money. We’re just dealing with them all and working out who’s gonna be in the band – but definitely me and Burton. It’s like Joe Perry and Steven Tyler; you get a rhythm section, and as long as you have those two, you still get Aerosmith. With me and Burton, it’s still the Guess Who.”
BTO’s upcoming tour dates include:
Canada 2025 Tour Dates
April 1 – Save On Foods Memorial Centre, Victoria, BCApril 3 – Abbotsford Centre, Abbotsford, BCApril 4 – South Okanagan Event Centre, Penticton, BCApril 6 – Western Financial Place, Cranbrook, BCApril 8 – CN Centre, Prince George, BCApril 9 – Bonnetts Energy Centre, Grand Prairie, ABApril 11 – Event Centre at Grey Eagle Casino, Calgary, ABApril 12 – Event Centre at Grey Eagle Casino, Calgary, ABApril 13 – VisitLethbridge.com Arena, Lethbridge, ABApril 15 – Brandt Centre, Regina, SKApril 17 – Westoba Place at Keystone Centre, Brandon, MBApril 19 – Canada Life Centre, Winnipeg, MBApril 24 – The Aud (Kitchener Memorial Auditorium), Kitchener, ONApril 26 – Great Canadian Resort Toronto, Toronto, ONApril 28 – Meridian Centre, St. Catharines, ONApril 29 – Peterborough Memorial Centre, Peterborough, ONMay 1 – Canada Life Place, London, ONMay 2 – The Arena at TD Place, Ottawa, ONMay 4 – Sudbury Arena, Sudbury, ONMay 5 – Place Bell, Laval, QCMay 7 – TD Station, Saint John, NBMay 8 – Scotiabank Centre, Halifax, NS
US Tour Dates with The Marshall Tucker Band and Jefferson Starship
July 18 – Harrah’s Stir Cove, Council Bluffs, IAJuly 19 – Treasure Island Casino, Welch, MNJuly 20 – Scheels Arena, Fargo, NDJuly 22 – Kresge Auditorium, Interlochen, MIJuly 24 – Neuroscience Group Field, Appleton, WIJuly 25 – The Mill Terre Haute, Terre Haute, INJuly 26 – Rose Music Center, Huber Heights, OHAug. 1 – Lucky Star Casino, El Reno, OK#
# Outlaws replacing Jefferson Starship as special guest
US Tour Dates – BTO only
July 28 – Bloomington Center For The Performing Art, Bloomington, ILJuly 29 – The Village Green at the Charles Zettek Municipal Complex, Elk Grove Village, ILJuly 31 – MU Health Care Capital Region Amphitheater, Jefferson City, MOAug. 15 – Peppermill Casino, Wendover, NVAug. 16 – Vilar PAC, Beaver Creek, COAug. 18 – Western Idaho Fair, Boise, IDAug. 21 – Pala Casino, Pala, CAAug. 22 – We-Ko-Pa Casino, Ft. McDowell, AZ
Just over two years since the arrival of their last record, English virtual band Gorillaz have confirmed that a new album will be arriving in 2025.
Word of the forthcoming LP was shared by frontman Damon Albarn in a nascent interview with French publication Les Inrockuptibles, where the prolific artist also touched on the premiere of his new opera, The Magic Flute II: La Malédiction, alongside his plans for the rest of the year.
“I’m finishing a new Gorillaz album,” Albarn explained. “One opera and one new Gorillaz album seems like enough for 2025! Unless someone accuses me of taking my foot off the gas!”
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Albarn’s Gorillaz collaborator Jamie Hewlett reportedly confirmed the news, with an Instagram account focused on the band sharing a DM from the musician in which he stated, “Yes, the new album is coming out this year.” That same post also noted that Albarn confirmed to a French podcast the record would be completed in “6 more weeks.”
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The current influx of French press from Albarn shouldn’t come as a surprise, especially given that his new opera premiered at Paris’ Théâtre du Lido on Thursday (March 27), and will run until Sunday (March 30). The production is a rather ambitious one, with The Magic Flute II: La Malédiction serving as the sequel to Mozart’s 1791 opera, The Magic Flute.
“The idea of me writing an opera and for it to be a continuation of The Magic Flute sounds ridiculous, it was and is, not only was I grappling with the genius of Mozart but I had Goethe to contend with too!!” Albarn said in a statement. “I suppose I took a relatively reductionist approach to the question, how the fuck do I do this? The answer came from a surprising source but one no less brilliant, Kraftwerk.”
Gorillaz last released a new album in 2023, with Cracker Island serving as their eighth record. It peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and was nominated for best alternative music album at the 2024 Grammys.
Albarn has remained busy since the release of the latest Gorillaz record, with Blur releasing The Ballad of Darren – their first album in eight years – in July 2023. It peaked at No. 94 on the Billboard 200 (their lowest-charting release since 1995) and hit No. 5 on the Top Alternative Albums chart, and would become their seventh consecutive release to top the U.K. charts.
Meanwhile, neither Gorillaz nor Blur have not made their return to the stage for some time, with the former not appearing live since the 2023 edition of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California, and the latter not performing since the 2024 edition of the same event.
Carlos Santana likes to ascribe metaphors to his music. And in the case of his new album, Sentient, that would be floral arrangements.
“When I go to the lobby in hotels in Europe, they always have these incredible flower arrangements,” the San Francisco Bay Area-based guitar hero tells Billboard. “They hire some people to come in and arrange the flowers in the lobby. That’s how this album was made — that’s how I make all my albums. I feel like a florist who is trying to combine the right colors and textures and create a beautiful ornament. That’s what Sentient is, an ornament of flower arrangements — colors, passions, textures, emotions.”
Variety is certainly the hallmark of the 11-track set, which comes out March 28 and is the follow-up to 2021’s Blessings and Miracles. It includes three previously unreleased tracks, while the rest are remastered songs drawn from various points in Santana’s career, including collaborations with friends living (Smokey Robinson, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and his wife Cindy Blackman Santana) and deceased (Michael Jackson, Miles Davis). The selections might appear random, but Santana promises there’s a unity when they’re brought together.
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“The theme of the story is to bring God out of people,” he explains. “There’s too much fear, there’s too much anger, too much harmony. There’s too much doubt, and the opposite of compassion. I’ve played music since the beginning — and now more than ever — to bring kindness, compassion, generosity, gratitude and divine attributes…elements to take make this world and life more delicious. I trust and believe that God wants something incredible for me to share with people, and that thing is to remind everyone that everyone is worthy of their own divinity and their own light. That’s the message.”
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He adds that featuring collaborations with some of his late friends (“Whatever Happens” from Jackson’s 2001 album Invincible, “Get On” and “Rastafario” with Davis from their collaborations with Italian pianist Paolo Rustichelli for his 1996 album Mystic Man) help illustrate that idea.
“Miles Davis is not here and Michael Jackson’s not here, but they’re in my heart, and it makes me very grateful,” Santana says. “I learned very well from them. I am one of them. It may sound a little this or that, but I’m immortal like them. Like Bob Marley and Bob Dylan, I am here to do the same thing they’re doing, which is to invite people to have a deep sense of self-worth, to look at yourself in the mirror and say ‘I am worth God’s grace. I can create blessings and miracles myself, with my grace.’ That’s the highest thing you do as a musician, to bring God out of people instead of the devil.”
Other tracks include “I’ll Be Waiting” from the Santana band’s Moonflower live album in 1977 and the title track from 1987’s Blues For Salvador, which netted Santana his first Grammy Award, for best rock instrumental performance, the following year. “Please Don’t Take Your Love,” meanwhile, is an earlier take of a track from Robinson’s 2009 album Time Flies When You’re Having Fun, while “Coherence” is a trio track with Blackman Santana and bassist Matt Garrison that’s intended as a preview of the drummer’s own next album.
Santana invokes Jackson again in an unreleased instrumental version of his “Stranger in Moscow,” which Santana recorded with Narada Michael Walden and his band during a club gig in San Rafael, Calif. “We played that on the spot, no rehearsal, and it felt really good,” Santana says. “I had been listening to that particular song for awhile. When I play ‘Stranger in Moscow’ I become Michael Jackson. My fingers become Michael Jackson; I was imagining how he would phrase, how he would sing it, so my guitar became his voice and I learned how to articulate the language, the phrasing. I learned all this from Aretha Franklin, because I play that album, Lady Soul, over and over. I play that album so much I learned the bass, the drums, how to hear her voice.”
After Sentient‘s release Santana will begin a nine-date Oneness Tour beginning April 16 in Highland, Calif., and wrapping May 1 at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. His next residency at the House of Blues Las Vegas runs May 14-25, and a European Oneness Tour leg begins June 9 in Poland and runs through Aug. 11 in Copenhagen.
Santana is working on another performance idea as well — a multi-day, multi-act worldwide festival with the utopian perspective of Woodstock. “With everything that’s happening with this planet, with fear of nuclear war and Korea and China and Russia, the Middle East, I want to create a global concert that goes around the world and (promotes) unity, harmony, oneness,” says Santana, who envisions sites such as San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, New York’s Central Park and Hyde Park in London. “It’ll keep going in Asia, Japan, Singapore, all the way to Australia and New Zealand and end up with a concert in Honolulu,” he says.
No dates or solid details have yet been determined, but Santana says he’s already reached out to some acts to participate, including Eric Clapton, Metallica, Earth, Wind & Fire and others. “Everybody I talked to, they want to do it,” he says. “It starts and begins with me. This is my vision. This is my aspiration, and I’m not afraid to manifest what I learned from Bill Graham and (Woodstock co-producer) Michael Lang and Clive Davis. I’ve learned from the best, and I believe it’s not impossible to create a global event of this magnitude…and celebrate, celebrate, celebrate. Instead of fear. Celebrate — with joy.”