State Champ Radio

by DJ Frosty

Current track

Title

Artist

Current show
blank

Lunch Time Rewind

12:00 pm 1:00 pm

Current show
blank

Lunch Time Rewind

12:00 pm 1:00 pm


Rock

Page: 35

Due to staggering public demand for Oasis’ upcoming reunion tour, the band announced two additional dates for London’s Wembley Stadium, to take place on September 27 and 28, 2025.

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

For these shows, to make “amends” for disappointment, skyrocketed ticket prices and missed tickets due to a frustrating ticket platform queue, a special invitation-only ballot ticket sale strategy has been created for the two new shows. Applications to join the ballot will be opened first to the many fans who were unsuccessful in the initial on sale with Ticketmaster.

Last week, the “Live Forever” band confirmed a tour in 2025, plus a promise of an extended international run. “The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised,” the group wrote in a statement on social media.

Trending on Billboard

Oasis will hit the road for multiple dates across the British Isles, including Cardiff, Manchester, London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, for what will be their “only shows in Europe next year”. The official statement added that “plans are underway for OASIS LIVE ’25 to go to other continents outside of Europe later next year.”

The Gallagher brothers, Noel and Liam, split the band in 2009, and became estranged. Both artists formed successful musical careers away from the band that made them household names. The duo fanned the flames on social media in 2022 of a possible reunion, as they last performed onstage together in August 2009.

Noel had stated he was willing return to the band for £100 million ($135 million), to which Liam responded that he would reunite the band for free.

See below for the current full list of Oasis tour dates.

JULY 2025

4th – Cardiff, Principality Stadium5th – Cardiff, Principality Stadium 11th – Manchester, Heaton Park12th – Manchester, Heaton Park16th – Manchester, Heaton Park19th – Manchester, Heaton Park20th – Manchester, Heaton Park25th – London, Wembley Stadium 26th – London, Wembley Stadium 30th – London, Wembley Stadium

AUGUST 2025

2nd – London, Wembley Stadium 3rd – London, Wembley Stadium8th – Edinburgh, Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium 9th – Edinburgh, Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium 12th – Edinburgh, Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium16th – Dublin, Croke Park17th – Dublin, Croke Park

SEPTEMBER 2025

27th – London, Wembley Stadium28th – London, Wembley Stadium

Green Day are about to make a wish — or hundreds of wishes — come true thanks to their latest collaboration with Wheels For Wishes. The charitable organization that raises money to help children via the donation of used vehicles has teamed up with Green day on their sold-out Saviors stadium tour by announcing a […]

“My first few albums were all leading up to this in my mind,” says the English artist known as Rex Orange County, speaking of his intimate yet musically fierce forthcoming album. “This is exactly what I’ve always wanted to make.”

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

Aptly titled The Alexander Technique, out Sept. 6 on RCA, the album does indeed feel like a defining work. Rex (born Alexander O’Connor) started the project back in 2020, around the same time he was crafting his third album, Who Cares?, on which he worked almost exclusively with Dutch musician and songwriter Benny Sings.

For Alexander, the 26-year-old artist took an entirely different approach. Enlisting his “two best friends,” Jim Reed and Teo Halm, Rex welcomed more collaborators than ever before – particularly musicians, including bass player Pino Palladino, keys players Cory Henry, Finn Carter and Reuben James and pedal steel guitarist Henry Webb-Jenkins. “Particularly those first couple albums I was very like, ‘Please don’t touch this, I know how it should be,’” says Rex. “This was the first time that I had different people’s ideas flying around – and way more songs.”

Trending on Billboard

Eventually, he realized that Who Cares not only had to be released first, but that The Alexander Technique deserved much more time, saying it “was more ambitious as a whole.” As a result, the artist has emerged with his longest album yet, boasting a tracklist of 16 songs compared to his usual 10. “I never did that before,” he says of the “intense” experience – describing what sounds like a thorough emotional purge. “That’s why it’s the technique.”

“I had this weird thing for the first three years of my career where every song that came out was every song I’d ever written,” he continues. “I had no reason to create one that wasn’t gonna [make it]. I thought it would just confuse me. Which, I’ll admit, it does. But [this album] has evolved so much over such a long time. The deeper you dig, the more you find.”

Since the release of his critically acclaimed debut album, Apricot Princess, in 2017 – which established Rex Orange County as a brutally honest songwriter and well-versed musician – his formulaic approach to album building has worked just fine. His 2019 project Pony debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and placed him at the forefront of a generation that blended indie alternative-pop with raw writing. 

And while Who Cares? (which debuted at No. 5 on the tally) took bigger pop swings to support its more positive lyricism, Rex assures that The Alexander Technique is where his more emotional writing from that period of time ended up. (In the fall of 2022, the artist pleaded not guilty to six charges of sexual assault; by that December, all charges were dropped.) “It felt like this album was maybe more of a diary entry – what I was getting into and the level of emotional depth,” he says. 

Elsewhere, there’s a personal favorite, “Guitar Song,” which was the first track he made with Reed and Halm. (“The way it sounds is pretty much the way it sounded on the day we made it in 2021 – it’s free and the ending is mental,” he says). He calls “Look Me In the Eyes,” on which he collaborated with James Blake, “the most heartbreaking song I’ve ever heard.” And on standout “Therapy,” he speaks of entering the industry at 17 and therapy at 22 – “and no, I don’t regret a thing,” he sings. “I came up, I fell down, and then I found peace.”

Despite the lengthy runtime, clocking in at just over 50 minutes, Alexander is a masterclass in being succinct, with its opening song “Alexander” – the first song Rex wrote for this album – as the most perfect example. On the near-five-minute song, Rex speak-sings over the piano, as if filling time in between songs at an intimate, dim-lit jazz bar. (Stevie Wonder is a favorite of his.) 

“It was written quite quickly, and that doesn’t always happen for me,” he says of the song, in which he recounts the true story of a frustrating visit to the doctor’s office in 2019. While there, he complained of ongoing back pain, only to be told it was more likely stress and anger and an unsettled mind that was causing him to hurt. “In a weird way, I feel like maybe he was right/I may be using my back pain to distract from the pain of life/Feel it all externally when really it’s just inside,” sings Rex.

“I don’t want a whole album of five-minute stories of me talking over piano, but I do want every song to feel this concise and thoughtful,” he says. “So I was setting myself up for quite a task.”

Ultimately, “Alexander” helped set the tone of the entire album, down to its double entendre of a title. While there is an Alexander Technique – known to help with inner balance, both mentally and physically as a focus of the practice is posture – Rex says that writing this album was what ultimately made him stronger in the end. “As much as I really do still have terrible posture, it was more so being honest – that’s my actual Alexander Technique,” he says. “Me being myself rather than Rex Orange County.”

He plans to translate that shift to his upcoming tour, calling it (much like the album) his most ambitious show to date. He’s been rehearsing since June, sharing that “2008” – a thumping upbeat song with glitchy falsetto harmonies – has been especially fun to play live, while “New Years” has come the most naturally. He also teases plans to switch it up at each show – and while that could mean anything from a different set list to a surprise song à la Taylor Swift, he keeps most details private for now.

The trek will hit select theaters in cities including Chicago, Toronto, New York, Los Angeles and London for mini residencies – likely a one-off for this album, he says – allowing for a more involved set that will be “highly linked to one of the visual locations” seen in his music videos. “The stage is linked with where I’ve been wanting to transport you as a listener,” he says. “[To a] more relaxing state,” 

Considering how much of an artistic statement The Alexander Technique is, Rex admits it does “weirdly” feel like some sort of end. “You have a different perspective,” he says of being in his mid-20s and having worked in the industry for a near-decade. “It’s not the end of the era, but I definitely feel a different level of awareness and maturity, maybe,” he says. “I still love music and I want to keep making music – and I want to keep changing it up. That’s the most important thing to me.”

Seemingly tied for first place, however, is his newfound penchant for prioritizing himself. As he sings, succinctly as ever, on “Therapy”: “I recharged – and returned.”

Queen guitarist Brian May has revealed that he recently suffered a minor stroke that resulted in damage to his left arm. The 77-year-old rock icon described a “health hiccup” last week that made him temporarily unable to control the hand he uses to pick out chords on his guitar, even as he assured his fans […]

Knocked Loose frontman Bryan Garris is an ordinary-looking dude who screams all his lyrics. “I just can’t sing,” Garris tells me matter-of-factly. “I wish all the time that I could, but I probably wouldn’t utilize it for Knocked Loose. We just want to be an intense band. There’s never, ever been a conversation of softening.”

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

Even without toning down the mayhem, Garris and co. have scored one of 2024’s most commercially successful new rock albums from one of the genre’s most traditionally un-commercial corners. Knocked Loose play pummeling, metallic hardcore—the kind of stuff that’s forged in basements and DIY venues, fine-tuned for moshing and fan connection. 

You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To is 28 minutes of pure carnage, free from any commercial concessions. After dropping on May 10 through Pure Noise Records, the band’s third studio album debuted at No. 1 on three Billboard charts: Independent Albums, Hard Rock Albums and Indie Store Album Sales. The album earned nearly 24,000 units (including an impressive 18,000 in pure sales) in its first week, good for a No. 23 debut on the Billboard 200 dated May 25. Some context: it debuted ahead of a new studio album from Kings of Leon, a major label band with significantly more industry clout. (And among fast-rising newcomers, Knocked Loose came in five spots above Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess during that particular chart week.) 

Trending on Billboard

“People were excited to buy this record,” says James Vitalo, Knocked Loose’s manager for Gold Theory Artists. “They carry themselves so well and are so intentional with everything they do. People want to see them win.” 

Historically, heavy rock bands tend to forge commercial inroads by making their sound more palatable: think Metallica serving ballads on The Black Album, or Bring Me the Horizon ditching their MySpace deathcore roots and singing big, shiny choruses on 2013’s Sempiternal. Instead, Knocked Loose dug their heels into the sound that made them.

The five-piece (which also includes guitarists Isaac Hale and Nicko Calderon, bassist Kevin Otten, and drummer Kevin “Pacsun” Kaine) formed in 2013 in Louisville, Kentucky. “We were thrown into the deep end of DIY touring,” Garris recalls of the early days. “You’re trapped in a basement, either fighting or getting beat up. Louisville was never very violent. Then [we were] going to bigger cities, seeing how hard people mosh.” 

Knocked Loose became one of the hottest names in hardcore thanks to their 2014 EP, Pop Culture. They signed to Pure Noise Records, a young indie label best known for breaking pop-punk bands like State Champs and The Story So Far. The pairing was an immediate win for both sides: Pure Noise boosted its cred with a buzzy band outside its typical purview, and Knocked Loose got a label with strong independent distribution (the Orchard distributed You Won’t Go).

Their 2016 debut album Laugh Tracks solidified their national following, particularly with the minute-long tune “Counting Worms.” Its earthquaking breakdown — punctuated by Garris barking, “ARF ARF” — was memed across the alt-kid internet, and gave Knocked Loose an early signature song. Three years later, they’d built such a strong following that 2019 sophomore album A Different Shade of Blue debuted at No. 26 on the Billboard 200, more than 100 spots higher than Laugh Tracks, which started at No. 163 in 2016. 

[embedded content]

As Knocked Loose planned its third LP, 2023 brought them an unexpected invite: Coachella. “We immediately said yes,” says Garris. Then the anxious waiting set in: “What’s this going to be? It could be bad, and that would be fine. It’s Coachella. It’s not our normal stage.” 

April 16, as their 8:10 p.m. set time approached, the setting looked surprisingly… familiar. “We pull up, go to our stage, and there’s no barricade. This has to be a mistake, they’re probably still setting up. Then our stage manager comes over, he’s wearing a punk shirt, and immediately introduces himself: ‘We’re really excited to have you guys, we know what you’re about, blah, blah, blah.’ I was like, ‘Are you keeping the barricade down?’ He says yeah. I’m thinking, This is insane.”

It was. Seriously, watch this. This was at Coachella: 

New eyeballs were on Garris. “Someone said Tom DeLonge [was sidestage], someone said Ethel Cain, which was a big one for me, personally. Then the video came out of Billie Eilish watching us play. I was just like, This doesn’t feel real.”

As Knocked Loose garnered new fans (including some famous ones), Vitalo sensed new interest in Knocked Loose’s scene from various factions of the music industry. “I’ve been working with metal and hardcore bands for 10 years, and over the last two, there’s been a lot of people coming into a space that’s been neglected,” he says. “A lot of record labels, booking agents, and managers are paying attention to something they haven’t paid attention to before. I’m not saying it’s a good or a bad thing, but it’s noticeable. Not letting that go to their heads proves Knocked Loose’s character.” 

Knocked Loose capitalized on the Coachella momentum. Three weeks later, they unleashed Upon Loss Singles, a two-song collection featuring their first work with Grammy-nominated producer Drew Fulk (Lil Peep, A Day to Remember). This new strain of Knocked Loose — widescreen and hi-fi, while somehow even more brutal—would become fully realized on You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To. Take the ominous little coda of “Moss Covers All” that segues seamlessly into the beatdown opening of “Take Me Home,” or the guest appearance from goth-pop artist Poppy, who screams with Garris while Kaine drums a reggaeton rhythm on “Suffocate.” The lattermost track hit the top 10 on Spotify’s Viral 50 chart in May alongside the album drop, and became Knocked Loose’s first entry on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, reaching No. 46 in May.

[embedded content]

Knocked Loose christened the new album at L.A.’s Shrine Auditorium in May with over 6,000 fans, their largest headlining show yet. Bands that get bigger by getting heavier are rare – but starting in August, Knocked Loose began touring with one of them. 

“Knocked Loose slams so hard, they’re gonna have bone problems later in life,” says Slipknot percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan, recounting a conversation from the previous night’s gig. “When people say these things out loud, you know they’re doing it.”

Strong words, coming from the guy who’s been slamming kegs and custom drum kits with metal bats in a clown mask for the past three decades. Slipknot is touring behind the 25th anniversary of its self-titled 1999 debut, and Knocked Loose was hand-picked to open the entire trek. “A tour of this scale comes with its own new set of benefits for a band like us,” Garris says. “This is all uncharted territory.”

On Aug. 12, the tour came to New York’s Madison Square Garden. The place was sold out, and this was clearly the headliner’s crowd: parents rocking decades-old Slipknot gear, kids in youth-size tees and replica coveralls. Still, the seats were nearly full in time for Knocked Loose’s opening set, and as Knocked Loose raged, the crowd responded. Fans in the nosebleeds looked up from their nachos. The mosh pit didn’t get as big as it would for Slipknot, but it was livelier. 

“You see people who get there early and go straight to the barricade, saving their spot for Slipknot,” Garris tells me. “At the start of our set, they couldn’t care less. Slowly but surely, they start to bob their head, put their hands up. Watching that firsthand is super rewarding.” 

[embedded content]

Knocked Loose has a way of winning over the unconverted. Maybe it’s in Garris’ voice. The stereotypical hardcore frontman is some big dude with a deep, guttural scream who sounds like he’s looking for an excuse to beat you up. When Garris screams, he’s high-pitched and a bit unhinged. He sounds like he’s been through some real s–t, not simply here to play the punisher. 

“I just got done telling Bryan and those guys about understanding that you’re in the zone,” Clown says. “You need a good team. A family around you, checking for isolation, substance abuse, depression, ego. You can’t just go rock out. Sharon Osborne checked in on me. I had Deftones bass player Chi [Cheng], who’s passed. He would check on me, because we were both family men. I’m checking in on [Knocked Loose] because I understand the realities.” 

Music this physical is not easy to play night after night. The rigors of the road affect any popular artist, but Knocked Loose are regularly at risk of hockey-style injuries– and the kind of maladies you can’t see. “I’m definitely not a teenager anymore,” says Garris, who will turn 31 on Sept. 6. “I’m listening to myself and taking care of myself. I can’t do this if I’m not mentally healthy.” 

There’s a lot more ahead. After the Slipknot tour wraps Sept. 21, Knocked Loose will embark on a 22-date U.S. headlining tour Oct. 4. It’s a mix of large theaters, amphitheaters, and even arenas. There will be several chances to break that attendance record they set four months ago.

Knocked Loose’s success feels intensely singular, nearly impossible to duplicate. They’ve been fighting the good fight for over a decade, a top-tier band in a genre known for loyal, highly-engaged fans. Many probably see a bit of themselves in Garris. The band’s support team is well-connected. Can Knocked Loose get even bigger? 

If another legendary metal band takes them on tour, that wouldn’t hurt. The Grammys have nominated fresh blood like Turnstile, Code Orange, and Deafheaven in the best metal performance category in recent years, if that’s an item Knocked Loose is looking to cross off their list. But really, the core to all this is pushing the envelope with each release, then going out and slaying shows. It’s not that complicated. 

“Every time we headline,” muses Garris, “it’s like, Where can we take it now? What’s the next step?”

Next Summer’s Lollapalooza Chile, Lollapalooza Argentina and Lollapalooza Brasil will feature headlining sets from Justin Timberlake, Olivia Rodrigo and Shawn Mendes. The festivals announced the full lineups for their 2025 editions, which will also all include headliners Alanis Morissette, Tool and Rüfüs Du Sol.

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

Lollapalooza Chile will set up from March 21-23 at Parque Bicentenario de Cerrillos and also feature sets from Benson Boone, Foster the People, Tate McRae, Zedd, Charlotte De Witte, Parcels, Rawayana, Teddy Swims, James Hype, Los Tres, Mon Laferte, Fontaines D.C., Girl in Red, Inhaler, Sepultura and more; ticket information is here.

Lolla Argentina will take place on the same weekend in the Hippodromo de San Isidro in Buenos Aires with a similar lineup that will also include sets from Tan Bionica, Wos, La K’onga, Los Angeles Azules, Nathy Peluso, Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso, Caribou, Jpegmafia, San Holo and more; ticket information can be found here.

Trending on Billboard

Lolla Brazil will hit stages from March 28-30 in the Autódromo de Interlagos in São Paulo also with a similar lineup including Wave to Earth, Michael Kiwanuka, Barry Can’t Swim, Neil Frances, Zerb, Disco Lines, Kasablanca, Artemas, Nessa Barrett, DJ GBR, Ashibah, Marina Lima and many more; click here for ticket information.

The shows will represent the debut South American performances by Olivia Rodrigo and veteran hard rockers Tool and Timberlake’s first shows in Chile and Argentina. JT is in the midst of his Forget Tomorrow World Tour, which is kicking off a European leg on Wednesday (Sept. 4) before returning to North America in October and staying on the road across the country through a Dec. 20 gig at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, MO. Rodrigo wrapped her GUTS world tour on August 21 with the second of two shows at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, CA. Mendes will play Rock in Rio in September followed by a series of U.S. theater shows in October.

Check out the full lineups for all three festivals below.

If you were one of the millions of Oasis fans who spent the weekend furiously refreshing in an effort to score tickets to one of their first 17 UK reunion shows to no avail, there may be hope on the horizon. After brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher answered long-held prayers for their return after 15 […]

Six months after earning its first No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, Daughtry now has its second, as “Pieces” lifts to the top of the Sept. 7-dated tally. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Pieces” reigns following the one-week rule of “Artificial” in February. The […]

Cage the Elephant’s “Rainbow” leaps three spots to No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart dated Sept. 7. The six-piece adds its seventh leader and second in a row, after “Neon Pill” ruled for four weeks beginning in March. The group enters a four-way tie for the eighth-most No. 1s in the Adult Alternative […]

While fans continue the seemingly interminable wait for the proper follow-up to 2008’s 4:13 Dream, The Cure will slake their thirst for new music in October with the release of live versions of two new songs. After debuting some fresh tracks on the road over the past few years, the Robert Smith-led group will issue […]