UB40 to return to the US for fourth consecutive year

UB40 to return to the US for fourth consecutive year
UB40 to return to the US for fourth consecutive year
Photo credit: Radski

UB40 is returning to America this summer.

The band, best known for their hits “Red Red Wine” and “(I Can’t Help) Can’t Help Falling In Love With You,” has announced dates for their Relentless tour, marking the fourth consecutive year they’ve toured the U.S.

The trek has them playing amphitheaters and performing arts centers across the country, starting Aug. 17 in Atlanta and wrapping Oct. 5 in Las Vegas.

“We always look forward to returning to the U.S.,” guitarist Robin Campbell shares. “Traveling coast-to-coast with over 30 dates, visiting some of our favorite places with great support acts, we can’t wait.”

“American audiences are so much fun to play to and are so loud in their appreciation that it is one of the most rewarding countries to tour,” drummer Jimmy Brown adds. “We’ve toured the U.S. every year for the last three years, this being the fourth, and it gets better every time.”

A complete list of dates and ticket information can be found at ub40.com.

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Kevin Cronin responds to reports he snubbed REO Speedwagon reunion

Kevin Cronin responds to reports he snubbed REO Speedwagon reunion
Kevin Cronin responds to reports he snubbed REO Speedwagon reunion
Disney/Randy Holmes

Former REO Speedwagon frontman Kevin Cronin wants fans to know he isn’t deliberately skipping out on a planned REO Speedwagon reunion.

The event in question, Honoring the Legacy of REO Speedwagon – A Concert Event – Back Where it All Began, is happening June 14 in the band’s hometown of Champaign, Illinois, and includes REO’s Bruce Hall and Neal Doughty, as well as original drummer Alan Gratzer, guitarist Steve Scorfina, rhythm guitarist Mike Murphy and original frontman Terry Luttrell.

When a fan noted on Facebook he thought it “would be nice” for Cronin to attend the concert, Cronin set the record straight about why he wasn’t going to be there.

“The organizers of the Champaign event could have picked a date when all of the former members of REO were available to participate,” he commented. “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.”

“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,” he added. “I am deeply disturbed and hurt by all of this.”

Finally, Cronin noted, “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.”

Hall then responded to Cronin’s comments insisting everyone in REO was invited to participate, and while Kevin says he was “falsely accused” of snubbing the event, Hall notes, “I’ve seen no where it’s been said he turned it down and I know he’s been asked to participate virtually. I truly hope he does.”

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Carlos Santana talks new career-spanning album, ‘Sentient’

Carlos Santana talks new career-spanning album, ‘Sentient’
Carlos Santana talks new career-spanning album, ‘Sentient’
Candid Records

Carlos Santana’s new career-spanning album, Sentient, is out now. It features 11 tracks, including three previously unreleased songs.

The album features collaborations with artists like Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Miles Davis, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Cindy Blackman Santana and more, and Santana tells ABC Audio it wasn’t any one thing, or person, that inspired him to make the album.

“Someone orchestrates all of these things to happen for me and with me,” he says. “All I have to do is listen to that inner voice and be true to it.”

Carlos says the title of the album came from the idea of a sentient being, someone who he says has “graduated from the animal kingdom” and now “thinks more, like, angelic.”

“’Sentient’ to me is a very, very powerful word. I believe that we all have it,” he says. “We have to learn how to manifest it daily.”

The album features new versions of the Jackson songs “Whatever Happens” and “Stranger in Moscow.” While Santana wasn’t in the studio with Michael, there was no way he was turning down the opportunity to be on a Jackson song.

“Like I’m going to say, ‘No, of course not,’” he says. “I’m an absolute thousand percent, million percent Michael Jackson fan. So I’m very honored that Michael would, his spirit would, invite me to partake with his incredible song.”

And Carlos is hoping that with their inclusion on Sentient, “Whatever Happens” and the Smokey tune “Don’t Take Your Love Away” will now reach a wider audience.

“I became the recipient of something that didn’t get the fullest of attention,” he says. “It is now on my album and we’re creating a lot of traction for Michael Jackson and Smokey. And I get to be part of this incredible offering.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Gene Simmons defends KISS’ new Vegas performance: ‘We will hold true to the promise’

Gene Simmons defends KISS’ new Vegas performance: ‘We will hold true to the promise’
Gene Simmons defends KISS’ new Vegas performance: ‘We will hold true to the promise’
Disney/Eric McCandless

Gene Simmons wants KISS fans to know they weren’t lying when they played what they said were their “farewell” shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden in December 2023.

The band recently announcement that Simmons and Paul Stanley will be headlining an “unmasked” KISS performance at November’s KISS Army Storms Vegas event, which will be their first show since those farewell gigs. In a new interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Simmons appears to fire back at critics of the new performance, noting the Vegas gig won’t be a usual KISS production.

“We will not do the makeup. We will hold true to the promise,” Simmons said. “There’s no stage show. There’s no crew. We won’t have 60 people levitating drum sets and all that stuff.”

He adds, “This is [a] more personal gathering of the tribes, where we meet them, greet them, maybe have a Q&A.”

As for what fans should expect from the event, Simmons notes, “There might be some KISS tribute bands, almost like a convention, if you will. So it’s much more personal. And of course, we can’t get by without playing, so we’ll get up and do some tunes. What they are, how long, I don’t know.”

KISS Army Storms Vegas will be held Nov. 14-16 at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. More info, including ticket information, can be found at kissarmystormsvegas.com.

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Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason weighs in on Roger Waters’ reimagined ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’

Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason weighs in on Roger Waters’ reimagined ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’
Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason weighs in on Roger Waters’ reimagined ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’
Frank Hoensch/Redferns

Back in October 2023, Roger Waters released The Dark Side of the Moon Redux, a reimagined version of Pink Floyd’s classic album The Dark Side of the Moon. Now one of his former bandmates is revealing what he thought about it.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason says he thinks many people had the wrong idea about Roger’s motivations behind the release, which coincided with Dark Side‘s 50th anniversary.

“I really liked it,” he says of the album. “There was a lot of talk about whether he’s trying to spoil it for the anniversary and stuff like that, and it was so not that. It was, ‘Let’s have another look at it from a different perspective.’”

He adds, “No one’s going to go, ‘I’m going to buy that one, I’m not going to buy that one.’ They’re interesting enough for everyone to go, ‘I’ll have both.’”

When it comes to Dark Side, Mason says one of his big regrets is that Pink Floyd didn’t spend more time touring on the album and that they didn’t film themselves performing it live.

“If one could play the whole thing back all over again, we probably should have taken longer, we should have spent more time playing Dark Side live and not worried about going back into the studio to make Wish You Were Here,” he says. “We actually spent quite a long time in the studio having not a great time when we could have just actually drawn things out a bit longer, done more live work and filmed it.”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

INXS releases demo of ‘Kiss the Dirt’ from ‘Listen Like Thieves (40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)’

INXS releases demo of ‘Kiss the Dirt’ from ‘Listen Like Thieves (40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)’
INXS releases demo of ‘Kiss the Dirt’ from ‘Listen Like Thieves (40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)’
Rhino

INXS has offered up another preview of their upcoming 40th anniversary deluxe edition of their album Listen Like Thieves.

The latest taste is a previously unreleased studio demo of the song “Kiss the Dirt.” It is the second track released from the deluxe edition, following a live performance of “Biting Bullets.”

Listen Like Thieves (40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) will feature a brand-new remix of the album by Giles Martin and Paul Hicks, along with unreleased outtakes and demos. There will also be a new interview with the band, plus a newly unearthed BBC recording, Live From The Royal Albert Hall, London, 1986.

In addition to the three-CD/LP deluxe edition, there will be a two-CD extended edition, which includes the new mix and the CD of B-sides, remixes and live recordings, as well as a single LP edition with just the remix.

All versions will be released May 9 and are available for preorder now.

INXS — Michael Hutchence, brothers AndrewJon and Tim Farriss, and Garry Gary Beers — released Listen Like Thieves on Oct. 14, 1985. It was the band’s fifth studio album and was considered to be their international breakthrough. It featured the Aussie rockers’ first top-five single, “What You Need,” with the album reaching #11 in the U.S.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ringo Starr releases all-star ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ to benefit LA wildfire relief efforts

Ringo Starr releases all-star ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ to benefit LA wildfire relief efforts
Ringo Starr releases all-star ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ to benefit LA wildfire relief efforts
Universal Music Group

Ringo Starr has released an all-star rendition of The Beatles’ classic “With A Little Help From My Friends,” with proceeds going to help California wildfire relief efforts.

The song was recorded live during Ringo’s January shows at the Ryman Auditorium. It features the superstar guests who joined him for the concerts, including Sheryl Crow, The White StripesJack White, Mickey Guyton, Emmylou Harris, Brenda Lee and Billy String.

“With A Little Help My Friends” is available now via digital outlets. Starr will donate 100% of the song’s proceeds from now until March 27, 2026, to the American Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity ReBUILD LA.

“I love LA and have lived there for many years, and while we were recording this in Nashville, many of us had family and friends who were dealing with the wildfires in Los Angeles,” said Ringo. “It was so great performing this song with these incredible artists and we all wanted to do something to help. I think the song says it all really, ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ and we send it to all those affected by the fires with Peace and Love.”

The two-hour special Ringo & Friends at the Ryman, filmed during his two-night stand in Nashville, aired in early March on CBS. It is now streaming on Paramount+.

Next up, Ringo and his All-Starr Band are set to kick off a new tour on June 12 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. They’ll also return to Las Vegas this fall, with dates at the Venetian Theatre inside The Venetian Resort starting Sept. 17 and wrapping Sept. 24.

A complete list of dates can be found at RingoStarr.com.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Who breaks out the hits, reveals ailments, at London charity concert

The Who breaks out the hits, reveals ailments, at London charity concert
The Who breaks out the hits, reveals ailments, at London charity concert
Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images

The Who returned to the stage Thursday night, performing the first of two concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall to benefit Teenage Cancer Trust.

According to setlist.fm, the band blew through plenty of Who hits, including “Who Are You,” “Pinball Wizard,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” “My Generation” and “Baba O’Riley.” They even surprised the crowd with a performance of the Who’s Next song “Love Ain’t for Keeping,” the first time they’ve performed the song since 2004.

Mojo reports that during the show, Pete Townshend revealed he is recovering from knee replacement surgery.

“I had a complete knee replacement four and a half weeks ago,” the 79-year-old Townshend shared. “But because I’m Superman, I’m here! Maybe I should auction off the old one.” He added, “Elton John had one done, and he wears his as a bracelet. Unfortunately, mine’s in three bits.”

And Pete isn’t the only one dealing with ailments. Roger Daltrey, who has been open about his hearing issues, shared that he’s now having trouble with his eyesight.

“The problem with this job is that you go deaf, and now I’ve been told I am going blind,” the 81-year-old told the audience, according to Planet Rock. “Thank God I’ve still got my voice. If I lose that I’ll go full Tommy,” a reference to the “deaf, dumb and blind” main character in The Who’s rock opera Tommy.

The Who returns to Royal Albert Hall for a second and final Teenage Cancer Trust show on Sunday.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, March 28, 1976: Phil Collins made his US live debut as Genesis lead singer

On This Day, March 28, 1976: Phil Collins made his US live debut as Genesis lead singer
On This Day, March 28, 1976: Phil Collins made his US live debut as Genesis lead singer

On This Day, March 28, 1976 … 

Phil Collins made his U.S. live debut as Genesis’ lead singer on the band’s first tour since Peter Gabriel‘s departure.

Gabriel announced his departure from Genesis in August 1975, following the tour in support of their sixth studio album, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. The first tour without him was in support of The Trick of Tail, with Genesis performing across North America and Europe.

Interestingly, on March 28, 1996, exactly 20 years after he made his live debut as frontman, Collins announced he too was leaving Genesis to focus on solo work and movie soundtracks.

That break lasted almost nine years, with Genesis launching a reunion tour in 2007. The band wrapped their final tour, The Last Domino? tour, on March 26, 2022, in London.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Bachman-Turner Overdrive drops first new song in over 25 years

Bachman-Turner Overdrive drops first new song in over 25 years
Bachman-Turner Overdrive drops first new song in over 25 years
Hit Wonder Canada LTD

Bachman-Turner Overdrive has dropped their first new single in over 25 years.

The Canadian band, led by Randy Bachman, has released the new track “60 Years Ago,” which features Randy’s sons Tal and Koko Bachman, with BTO’s Fred Turner on vocals, and a guitar solo from Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, and fellow Canadian, Neil Young.

“As a thank-you to Winnipeg, the city that shaped us, I wrote a song called ‘60 Years Ago,’” Bachman shares. “This song is our tribute to Winnipeg, the place where we grew up as teenagers in the ’60s, a time when the city’s music scene was exploding. It was the Liverpool of North America, a melting pot of incredible talents.”

“60 Years Ago” is available now via digital outlets. Proceeds from the song will go to The Bridge to Nowhere charity bike ride, which helps raise money to end chronic homelessness in Winnipeg, Canada.

Bachman-Turner Overdrive is set to kick off a Canadian tour on Tuesday in Victoria, British Columbia. They will hit the States this summer with The Marshall Tucker Band and Jefferson Starship. The tour kicks off July 18 in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

A complete list of dates can be found at btoband.com.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.