Rock
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There are a few things you can count on from former and once-again Oasis singer Liam Gallagher: a sneering deliver and jokes. So many jokes. Just 120 days until the July 4 kick-off of one of the most anticipated rock reunions in ages, Gallagher hopped on X on Wednesday (March 5) to finally reveal who […]
Billie Joe Armstrong is Bay Area to the death. The Green Day frontman has long flown the flag of his hometown of Oakland, CA, and nothing has fired him up more than the heartbreaking loss over the past few years of the proud city’s professional sports franchises, the Oakland A’s and NFL’s Raiders.
Now he’s doing something about it.
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The Hollywood Reporter revealed on Wednesday (March 5) that Armstrong has joined fellow Oaktown legend rapper Too $hort as part of the ownership group of the Oakland Ballers, the new independent Pioneer League team that as of this year will be the Bay’s only professional baseball team; the A’s are playing in Sacramento for the next two years ahead of a planned move to Las Vegas in 2028 and the Raiders left in 2020 for Las Vegas.
“This is all about bringing families to a ball game,” Armstrong told THR. “After the A’s left, the town was heartbroken. The Ballers are going to bring good vibes back to Oakland and the broader East Bay.” The privately owned team played their first season in 2024 in the new 4,000-capacity Raimondi Park, which drew baseball lovers for its first season with a unique offer that allowed more than 2,200 fans to buy a share in the team and take seats on its board; the minimum buy-in is $510, a nod to the Bay Area’s area code.
$hort Dogg told THR that he thinks the Ballers are a shining example of what his city’s value proposition. “Oakland is the connection, it’s the diverse city of all walks of life and cultures. We respect each other’s originality, you can be you and with your people,” he said. “It’s ‘I f–k with you regardless.”
And, not for nothing, the “Blow the Whistle” MC — who said he worked as a vendor at the old Oakland Coliseum in high school — loves the name, too. “If I can’t brag on a big-league franchise I can brag on being a Baller,” he said of the team whose name is a pointed rejoinder to former MLB team the A’s. The two musicians bought in as part of the second round of community investment that opened this week, aimed at raising $2 million.
While the amount of Armstrong and Too $hort’s investment has not been revealed, one of the Ballers’ co-founders, Bryan Carmel, said their stake is not just another example of a celebrity swooping in to try and goose a team’s prospects, a la Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds’ purchase of revival of Welsh soccer team Wrexham, chronicled on the FX series Welcome to Wrexham.
Carmel said Armstrong’s relationship with the Ballers began when the rocker and his wife showed up at a game last year. “I looked over and there they were, sitting in front of my parents,” Carmel said. “And then I looked again and they were at the merch stand and Billie Joe was buying a T-shirt. It was crazy because we were playing Green Day songs earlier — not because he was there but just because we’re an Oakland club so we play Green Day songs.”
Armstrong spray-painted the Oakland B’s name over the Oakland A’s logo at the Rogers Center in Toronto last year.
“Sports in the Bay Area have been transforming over the last couple of years. We’ve had some emotional goodbyes to teams we grew up with, but recently there has been a major shift,” Armstrong told The Athletic. “The Oakland Ballers and the Oakland Roots and Soul represent everything I love and grew up on in the Bay Area. The welcoming atmosphere, DIY attitude and the people behind it make me proud to be an investor and support the next generation of teams kids in the Bay will be proud of.”
The Ballers hosted an open try-out last year that led to the signing of history-making right-handed pitcher Kelsie Whitmore, their first female player and, in 2022, the first woman to sign a professional contract with a Major League Baseball Partner League team. The team will kick off their second season on Mary 20.
Courtney Love delivered a surprise cover of Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” during an event in London earlier this week, adding to her growing repertoire of unexpected live covers.
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The Hole frontwoman performed the iconic 1965 track at the Royal Geographical Society on Tuesday (March 4) while appearing in conversation with actor-writer Todd Almond. The event celebrated Almond’s new oral history collection Slow Train Coming: Bob Dylan’s ‘Girl From the North Country’ and Broadway’s Rebirth.
Following their discussion, Love stepped onto the stage alongside an acoustic guitarist, delivering a raw and impassioned rendition of the classic song, with Almond providing backing vocals.
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The performance took place nearly 60 years after Dylan famously played “Like a Rolling Stone” at the Royal Albert Hall, just next door to the event venue.
During the evening, Love also addressed longstanding speculation about a Hole reunion—shutting down rumors once again. Despite previously hinting in early 2024 that the band might reunite, she reiterated that there are no current plans to bring the group back together.
Love’s choice of cover continues a recent trend of unexpected performances. In February, she appeared onstage alongside Green Day frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong, who was performing at the U.K. venue The Garage with his side-project covers band, The Coverups.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Courtney Love,” Armstrong said halfway through the show according to fan video of the moment the singer unexpectedly took the stage. “Thank you, Billie Joe. My name is Courtney Love – you may not remember me. I’ve been living in a cave in Birmingham for about nine years. We’ll give this a f–king try, right?”
Love then crashed through revved-up takes on Cheap Trick’s 1977 power pop classic “He’s a Whore” and the 1979 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers tune “Even the Losers” and, according to NME, came back for an encore of Cheap Trick’s iconic “Surrender.”
In 2021, she also surprised fans with a rendition of Britney Spears’ “Lucky,” and in 2017, she took on Selena Gomez’s “Hands to Myself.”
Love’s surprise cover comes as Dylan remains a focal point of discussion in music and film circles. The legendary singer-songwriter was recently reported to have declined an invitation to perform and present at the 2025 Oscars. His biopic A Complete Unknown received eight nominations but did not secure any wins.
California’s largest rock festival has released its lineup, featuring some of the biggest names in metal, hardcore and punk. 2025’s Aftershock Festival at Discover Park in Sacramento will include 115 bands, headlined by four of the biggest artists in the genre — pop-punk legends Blink 182, hard rock pioneering band Deftones, nu-metal veterans Korn and British hardcore legends Bring Me The Horizon.
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“Aftershock is the biggest rock, punk, and metal festival on the West Coast, and this year, it lined up perfectly for California fans. We’ve got legendary reunions, rare performances, and more California bands on this lineup than any Aftershock before,” said Aftershock promoter Danny Wimmer, who has staged the festival for 13 years, in a statement. “Year after year, we’ve broken attendance records, and this one is set to be the biggest yet. Trust me, you don’t want to miss it. I hope to see you there.”
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Other big names appearing at this year’s festival include pop-punkers Good Charlotte and All Time Low performing on the opening Thursday for Aftershock, Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan’s band A Perfect Circle and east coast hardcore outfit Turnstile performing Friday. Saturday will feature performances from Bad Omens and Gojira, while Sunday boasts sets by hard rock legends Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson.
This year’s festival features more than a dozen reunion shows, including the first West Coast performance for recently reunited East Coast hardcore band The Dillinger Escape Plan, as well as a 40th anniversary celebration for gross-out rock legends GWAR.
Tickets are on sale now at Aftershock’s website for both general admission and VIP. This year, Aftershock is continuing to offer layaway ticket purchases with just $1 down, as well as discounted four-day and single day passes to first responders, active duty military and medical professionals and nurses. A full lineup for this year’s festival can be found below:
Aftershock
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Less than 24 hours after Donald Trump upended the global alliance in support of Ukraine’s war against invader Russia, Green Day‘s Billie Joe Armstrong had a few thoughts on the shocking spectacle. At the kick-off the veteran punk provocateurs’ Australian tour on Saturday (March 1) at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium, Armstrong once again switched up the lyrics to one of the band’s songs to send a unequivocal, harsh message to the current American administration.
As the band continues its year-long anniversary celebration of the 20th anniversary of their career-peak punk rock opera American Idiot, Armstrong slipped some not-at-all-subtle commentary into the lyrics of “Jesus of Suburbia.” The move came a day after Trump and Vice President JD Vance attacked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office during a meeting meant to announce a deal on minerals aimed at ending the three-year war launched by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
“Am I retarded or am I just JD Vance,” Armstrong sang in a tweak to the original, politically incorrect-on-purpose line, “Am I retarded or am I just overjoyed?” Offered without any additional commentary, the diss of the Hillbilly Elegy author who repeatedly lashed out at the war-time Ukrainian leader for not being solicitous and thankful enough for U.S. aid during the shocking Oval Office ambush was in keeping with Armstrong’s unabashed disdain for the MAGA universe.
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Earlier in the song, Armstrong doubled-down on the band’s support for Ukraine, tweaking another line in the song from “We are the kids of war and peace/ From Anaheim to the Middle East” to “We are the kids of war and peace/ From Ukraine to the Middle East.”
In January, Armstrong took a swipe at another member of the MAGA-verse, unelected DOGE boss Elon Musk, whose slash-and-burn march through the federal government has sparked widespread criticism and fear among longtime civil servants whose jobs have been eliminated by the tens of thousands over the past month. Performing in the Tesla boss’ home country of South Africa, during a show in Cape Town Armstrong switched a favorite “American Idiot” lyric from “I’m not part of the redneck agenda” to “I’m not part of the Elon agenda.”
The singer pulled a similar move during their New Year’s Eve show in 2024, changing the line to “I’m not part of the MAGA agenda.” It was just one of several times the stridently anti-fascist, anti-hate speech band has taken on Trump. In 2019, at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas, they debuted the anti-MAGA “American Idiot” line and at the 2016 American Music Awards, Green Day took aim at the then president-elect while performing “Bang Bang,” with Armstrong chanting “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA,” in a nod to Trump’s endorsement by white supremacist group the KKK and the rise in racist attacks following his election.
Watch Green Day’s Vance reproach below.
Bring Me the Horizon has reacted to the unexpected support from Liam Gallagher after covering Oasis’ iconic “Wonderwall” for Spotify Singles earlier this year.
The band, who reworked the Britpop anthem into a heavier, more atmospheric version, admitted they were taken aback by Gallagher’s positive response.
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“It’s a good song, it’s actually one of my favorites. Top five,” frontman Oli Sykes said of the track while speaking to NME on the red carpet at the BRIT Awards 2025. “We always usually cover stuff that no one has ever heard of, so we were like, ‘Now let’s try to reimagine something that everyone knows. Make it easy for ourselves.’ It came out alright I think! It was crazy that Liam didn’t slag it off to the high heavens…”
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Drummer Mat Nicholls echoed the sentiment, acknowledging Oasis’ influence on their generation of British musicians.
“[We grew up] listening to them, definitely. It’s hard to ignore them, especially being our age, because Oasis are a British staple. We were expecting [Liam] to absolutely rinse us, but he said some actually nice things! It was cool and I think it went down as good as we wished it could.”
Gallagher had previously responded to the cover on social media, writing, “I f—ing LOVE it.” When a fan speculated that his brother Noel might be displeased, Liam doubled down: “I’m not, it’s absolutely incredible, made my day. I’m off out on my skateboard, f— y’all.”
The BRIT Awards marked another milestone for the band, who previously won Best Alternative/Rock Act in 2024. This year, they were nominated for Group of the Year but lost out to Ezra Collective.
The band is set to headline Reading & Leeds Festival 2025 alongside Travis Scott, Chappell Roan, and Hozier. It marks their second time topping the bill at the twin-site festival, following their 2022 co-headlining slot with Arctic Monkeys.
Souvenirs, Dan Fogelberg’s second album and the revered singer/songwriter’s commercial breakthrough, will be introduced to a new generation with a special vinyl reissue and digital remastered version to celebrate the album’s 50th anniversary.
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The Joe Walsh-produced album, originally released in October 1974, was Fogelberg’s first album to reach the top 20 on the Billboard 200 and has been certified double platinum by the RIAA. The upbeat, philosophical single, “Part of the Plan,” reached No. 31 on the Hot 100 and was also an adult contemporary hit, peaking at No. 22.
The digital version will include four bonus tracks via Sony’s Legacy Recordings, including previously unreleased tune, “I Know a Thief,” a delicate, yet intense song that will be available on all streamers today. Also included on the digital release, which will be available for streaming in full on April 4, are three other bonus tracks: early versions of “As the Raven Flies” and “Illinois” and the original demo of “There’s a Place in the World for a Gambler.” Sony found the recordings in their vaults as work began on the reissues.
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The 180-gram audiophile vinyl LP version, which can be pre-ordered here, will be limited to 3,000 numbered copies, and will ship on May 30. The Chris Bellman-remastered edition includes a 16-page booklet featuring previously unseen photographs by Henry Diltz, as well as liner notes from Charles L. Granata and exclusive interviews with many involved in the album’s creation, including Fogelberg’s friend and manager Irving Azoff, Full Moon Records executive Bryan Garofalo, Diltz, producer/engineer Bill Szymczyk and bassist Kenny Passarelli and Gerry Beckley of America.
DAN FOGELBERG
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Impex Records/Sony Music will release both projects in conjunction with Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group (IAG), which oversees Fogelberg’s legacy in partnership with his estate. Azoff and Fogelberg, who died in 2007 from cancer, dropped out of the University of Illinois together in the early 1970s to come to Los Angeles, moving into a one-bedroom apartment in West Hollywood from which Azoff oversaw Fogelberg’s nascent career.
Souvenirs, which was released on Azoff’s Epic Records-distributed Full Moon imprint, followed Fogelberg’s Norbert Putnam-produced Columbia Records debut, Home Free, which came out in 1972 but had not yielded any hits. With Souvenirs, he found his sound.
“When Dan made the first record, that was kind of the post-Neil Young After the Gold Rush era. He was inspired by a lot of the production on those records,” Azoff tells Billboard. “But he wanted to go more electric on the second album.”
Azoff had also begun managing the Eagles and Fogelberg opened for the band and struck up a friendship with Walsh, leading the Eagles guitarist to produce Souvenirs and record the set fully in Los Angeles. Eagles Don Henley and Glenn Frey also sang backing vocals on the set.
The album helped make Fogelberg a mainstay on adult contemporary radio for nearly 20 years, scoring such top 10 hits as “Longer,” “Heart Hotels,” “Same Old Lang Syne,” “Leader of the Band,” “Make Love Stay” and “Rhythm of the Rain.”
In 2023, IAG acquired the controlling interests in a broad range of Fogelberg’s rights, including name, image, likeness, sound recordings, audiovisual works and music publishing. His widow, Jean Fogelberg, controls the rest.
The hope is that the reissue will appeal to Fogelberg devotees, as well as introduce him to new listeners.
“We are always looking for a new generation of fans and I think his music will identify with younger people,” Azoff says. “There seems to be room now for sensitive lyrically relevant music. We are just happy to try to put his work in front of fans new and old.”
As significant anniversaries arise for subsequent Fogelberg albums, Azoff says, “I am sure we are looking forward to remarketing each album as they hit milestones.”
At this stage, though, there are no plans for visual components, such as a documentary. “I wish there enough footage for the right documentary but in those days, there just isn’t enough,” Azoff says.
Track Listing:
Part of the Plan
Illinois
Changing Horses
Better Change
Souvenirs
The Long Way
As The Raven Flies
Song from Half Mountain
Morning Sky
Someone’s Been Telling You Stories
There’s a Place in the World for a Gambler
BONUS TRACKS (Digital Only):
I Know a Thief (Never Before Heard)
As the Raven Flies (Early Version)
There’s a Place in the World for a Gambler (Original Demo Version)
Illinois (Early Version)
Reunited thrash metal icons Slayer announced a run of 2025 shows in the North America and Europe on Tuesday (March 4), with the gigs representing the band’s first U.K. and Canadian concerts in six years. As previously announced, the group — bassist/singer Tom Araya, guitarist Kerry King, drummer Paul Bostaph and guitarist Gary Holt — will also make an appearance at Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath’s final show on July 5.
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The run of shows will kick off on July 3 when Slayer hit the 35,000-capacity Blackweir Fields in Cardiff, Wales, with a line-up featuring support acts Amon Amarth, Anthrax, Mastodon, Hatebreed and Neckbreakker.
Their next stop will be the Back to the Beginning show with Black Sabbath at Villa Park in the Osbourne-led group’s hometown of Birmingham, where Slayer will join a galaxy of stars saluting the pioneering metal band that will include: Metallica, Pantera, Gojira, Halestorm, Alice in Chains, Lamb of God, Anthrax, Mastodon and a supergroup featuring Billy Corgan (The Smashing Pumpkins), David Draiman (Disturbed), Duff McKagan & Slash (Guns ‘n Roses), Frank Bello (Anthrax), Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit), Jake E Lee, Jonathan Davis (Korn), KK Downing, Lzzy Hale (Halestorm), Mike Bordin (Faith No More), Rudy Sarzo, Sammy Hagar, Scott Ian (Anthrax), Sleep Token ii (Sleep Token), Papa V Perpetua (Ghost), Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine), Wolfgang Van Halen and Zakk Wylde.
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“I am a Sabbath fan, and doing this show is an honor,” said Araya in a statement. “I was hanging out with my brother and his friends during my junior year in high school, and we would play Sabbath all the time, so I am a big fan. Black Sabbath were the originators, people call them ’the godfathers of metal music.’ I think it’s going to be an amazing experience, from the beginning to the end. I’m really, really honored to be a part of this, it’s going to be great.”
King added, “I remember when we played with Black Sabbath at Ozzfest in 2004. It was when Rob Halford came back to Judas Priest and we were third on the bill. You couldn’t give me a better bill, I’ll never forget that. As it stands now, Slayer plays a handful of gigs a year. But that’s how important this Sabbath date is, and it’s great we will get to play a longer set for our fans in Cardiff and London on this visit too. Being on the Sabbath bill means the world to me, because these are my uber-heroes. And to know that their camp thinks enough of us to offer us a spot is flattering and humbling.”
Following the Sabbath celebration, Slayer will move on to the 45,000-capacity Finsbury Park in London with the same roster of support acts before moving on to the Quebec Festival d’été in Québec City, Quebec with Mastodon on July 11. The final announced stop will be a Sept. 18 gig at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, KY, where they will share the stage with Rob Zombie, Lamb of God, Down, The Story So Far, Cannibal Corpse, Cavalera, Neck Deep, Exodus and Atreyu, among others.
Green Day were forced to cancel the final Australian stop on their global Saviors stadium tour on Wednesday (March 5) due to Tropical Cyclone Alfred. As citizens hunkered down in anticipation of imminent landfall, the veteran punk band informed fans that the show at CBUS Super Stadium had been called off amid severe weather warnings for Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
“Hey Australia, unfortunately due to circumstances out of our control, tomorrow’s Gold Coast show has been cancelled,” they wrote on their Instagram Stories. “With Cyclone Alfred bringing some seriously nasty weather, it’s just not possible to go ahead safely. We know this is a huge disappointment, as we’re just as bummed as you are. Stay safe out there!”
In a series of statements, the venue first warned ticket holders on Monday that they were monitoring forecasts calling for “windy and rainy” conditions, encouraging fans to keep an eye on the weather in the coming days. The bad news arrived on Tuesday evening (Australian time), when the venue wrote on X, “CBS Super Stadium has been advised that the the Green Day Saviors concert has been cancelled, due to the extreme weather conditions forecast.”
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It continued, “We know how excited fans were for the concert and we share your disappointment. Concert organisers explored every opportunity to go ahead with the event, but the safety and travel certainty of concert goers, performers and staff cannot be ensured under current conditions.”
Promoter Live Nation also posted about the show’s cancellation, writing, “We understand the immense disappointment surrounding the cancellation of tomorrow’s Green Day show on the Gold Coast due to Cyclone Alfred. This decision was made in close consultation with local authorities and with Green Day, prioritising the safety of all involved.”
LN also explained why the show was called off instead of postponed. “Due to Green Day’s international touring schedule it will not be possible to reschedule the Gold Coast show to a later date,” LN added, with ticket holders promised a full refund. Green Day — who last visited Australia in 2017 on their Revolution Radio tour — are slated to play Lollapalooza India on Sunday (March 9).
Cyclone Alfred is expected to be the first extreme storm to impact the Queensland area in more than half a century, with expected wind speeds exceeding 80 m.p.h. and up to 17 inches of rainfall over the next three days.
Brand New have announced their first public performances in several years, marking the band’s official return to the stage.
The band, led by Jesse Lacey, had previously played a secret “Friends and Family” show in Nashville in December to benefit Make Life Skate Life. Now, fans will finally get the chance to see Brand New on stage again, in their first publicly ticketed concerts since 2017.
Though the band’s social media profiles have remained mostly inactive—with their last Instagram post dating back to October 2017—fans began sharing screenshots of emails they received on March 3, containing presale information for the newly announced concerts, as per LambGoat. The band’s official website also lists the dates and presale details, confirming their long-speculated return.
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The trio of shows will kick off March 26 in Dallas, Texas, before heading to Newport, Kentucky, on March 28, and wrapping up in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 29.
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Lacey, who previously addressed the sexual misconduct allegations against him, admitted in 2017 that he had caused “pain and harm to a number of people.”
The fallout led to Brand New canceling all remaining tour dates, and the band largely disappeared from public view.
During a solo performance at Eastside Bowl in Nashville on March 2, Lacey also publicly spoke for the first time about the passing of his stepson Miles, who died in 2021. The intimate set featured a mix of Brand New tracks and solo material, including a new song titled “Death.”
“I’m not gonna talk too much about this, but me and my wife Andrea lost our son three years ago. His name was Miles, and it was as hard as you can imagine,” he told the crowd. “Grief is a very hard thing to navigate, and I have found that for me, music lessens the poison of it.”
The moment was met with quiet support from the audience, as Lacey expressed gratitude to those who have helped carry the weight of his grief.
In the wake of their loss, Jesse and Andrea Lacey also founded Moms Skate Club, a charity dedicated to supporting mothers in the skateboarding community. Donations to the organization can be made here.
While no word has been given on whether new music is in the works, Brand New’s upcoming shows suggest that the band is testing the waters for a more significant return. With their influence still felt across the alternative and emo scenes, their live comeback is certain to be a major talking point in the months ahead.
Back in 2017, Brand New scored their first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, displacing Kesha’s Rainbow. The group’s Science Fiction, their first new album in eight years.