James Taylor performs onstage during The Rainforest Fund 30th Anniversary Benefit Concert Presents ‘We’ll Be Together Again’ at Beacon Theatre on December 09, 2019 in New York City. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Rainforest Fund)
James Taylor will be hopping across the pond in 2026.
The “Fire and Rain” artist has announced a run of international dates kicking off in July, consisting of four U.K. shows and one in Amsterdam. The outing includes a show at London’s famed O2 Arena on July 23.
Presales begin Wednesday at 10 a.m. local time. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit JamesTaylor.com.
The tour marks Taylor’s first scheduled live dates for 2026. He concluded a summer U.S. tour in September.
The U2 music documentary/concert film Rattle and Hum opened in theaters, following the Irish rockers as they recorded the hybrid live/studio album of the same name.
Directed by Phil Joanou, the film included concert footage from their fall 1987 Joshua Tree tour of North America, as well as footage of the band in the studio recording. It also followed them as they visited historical musical sites across the U.S., including Elvis Presley’s Graceland and Memphis’ Sun Studio.
The movie’s companion album of the same name featured future U2 classics “Angel of Harlem,” “Desire” and “When Love Comes To Town,” featuring B.B. King.
It also included live performances of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” “Pride (In the Name of Love),” “Bullet the Blue Sky” and “All I Want Is You,” as well as covers of The Beatles‘ “Helter Skelter” and Bob Dylan‘s “All Along The Watchtower.”
Ariana Grande is Glinda in ‘WICKED FOR GOOD,’ directed by Jon M. Chu. (Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures)
Too bad she didn’t have a floating bubble or magic broomstick. Ariana Grande will be missing the Brazil premiere of Wicked: For Good Tuesday due to issues with her flight.
The singer/actress, who plays in Glinda in the movie musical, posted a heartbroken Instagram message explaining the situation.
“Brazil, I can’t believe this is happening and I am beyond devastated to be sending this message,” she wrote. “A few hours ago, my team and I had to deplane our flight, as they had to do maintenance on the plane due to a safety issue and it will not be taking off until 1 a.m. tomorrow.”
“My team and Universal have tried every single thing possible to fix this,” she continued. “We’ve searched every other flight, overnight, early morning, connecting flights, commercial and also private options and absolutely nothing was available or possible that would get us there in time. Even in attempting a private option, there is a permit necessary in order to fly from here that takes time to attain.”
“I am so heartbroken that I’m unable to be there with you all,” she added. “We sincerely tried everything we could and I apologize from the bottom of my heart.”
The São Paulo premiere marks the first major international premiere for the film, which hits theaters Nov. 21. Variety reports the next premieres are scheduled for Paris on Nov. 7, London on Nov. 10 and Singapore on Nov. 13.
Rick Springfield on Hulu’s ‘All’s Fair’ (Disney/Ser Baffo)
Rick Springfield appears in Ryan Murphy’s new Hulu legal series, All’s Fair, where he plays a musician divorcing his wife, played by Jessica Simpson.
Being that he is a musician, you’d think the role wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for him. But the “Jessie’s Girl” singer tells ABC Audio not all musicians would necessarily be able to handle the part.
“It’s like you don’t hire a doctor to play a doctor, you hire an actor,” he says. “If it was just you had to be a musician to be good in the part, every musician would be working.”
Springfield says it’s also rare that he sees a musician written in a way that’s believable.
“The musician thing is a tough thing to pull off on written stuff, you know, I’ve never really seen a fictional one that you go, ‘Wow, they nailed it,'” he says. “Most of the written stuff you kind of look at and you go, ‘I wouldn’t do that.'”
He says that All’s Fair is different, because his role isn’t so much about being a musician, it’s about how he interacts with Simpson’s character.
And Springfield says working with Simpson was “great” because “she goes for it.”
“It was a lot of fun to work with her,” he says, “and certainly fun to work with the other actors.”
The series features an all-star female cast that includes Sarah Paulson, Glenn Close, Naomi Watts, KimKardashian and Niecy Nash-Betts. Springfield says being around all the actresses inspired him while acting.
“I ad-libbed a line … about estrogen overload or something like this walking through their offices,” he says. “I guess they liked it because they kept it.”
Melanie Pfirrman‘s song “Take Me Back” has become her breakout hit, and she’s about go to on tour — but not her own tour. Melanie also works as a backup dancer and singer, and she’ll be doing that as part of pop superstar Doja Cat‘s upcoming tour of Australia and New Zealand in November.
“It’s a little crazy to kind of figure out how to do both and how to make it work, but it’s going well so far,” she says. And how does Doja feel about competing on the charts with her backup singer?
“Oh my God, I haven’t told her any of that yet,” Melanie laughs. “I’ve been keeping it … professional, just keeping it about her. … But at some point I’m gonna start playing my song around her and see what she thinks.”
“Take Me Back” was inspired by Melanie’s first love, and she thinks the song is resonating because it’s so relatable.
“I think most people have an experience like that,” she tells ABC Audio. “I didn’t want it to be a mean breakup song because … it was a very pivotal moment in my life, and it taught me so much about myself and what I want in a relationship.”
“I think maybe that’s why people are connecting with it, because it’s a way to look back on the past with a smiling face rather than sad feelings.”
Plus, Melanie and that ex are still on good terms.
“I had to ask his permission to put his face on the cover. It’s a photo of us when we were 15 and 17. And he was really, really supportive. He has a wife and a family, and it was kind of a nice way to connect with him.” (AUDIO IS ABC 1-ON-1)
The Doors’ Jim Morrison, John Densmore, Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger pose for a portrait circa 1968 in Hollywood, California. (Edmund Teske/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
A new podcast dedicated to The Doors has been announced.
Really?? The Doors? will be hosted by The New Yorker writer Naomi Fry and aims to “use The Doors’ chaotic legend to ask what happens when myth overtakes meaning, and what that reveals about how we talk about American culture and about ourselves.”
Guests will include Billy Idol and Doors drummer John Densmore.
“I’ve been obsessed with The Doors even since I was a young teen,” says Fry. “Over the years, I’ve come to discover that a lot of people think that this obsession is maybe a little embarrassing, and that [frontman] Jim Morrison and The Doors aren’t a worthwhile object of love and curiosity. I’m interested in mining the gap between these perceptions, partly to understand why I’m still obsessed, partly to look at The Doors through a wider cultural lens.”
“This podcast isn’t a straightforward biographical podcast; it’s the work of enthusiasts rather than historians, or, as Morrison might put it, feelers rather than analysts,” Fry continues. “What it will offer are rich, varied, and funny conversations about a really significant if sometimes misunderstood band.”
Really?? The Doors? is set to premiere Nov. 12. That same day, Fry will host a live episode recording with Densmore in Los Angeles.
Now that AJR has wrapped their Somewhere in the Sky tour and released a new EP, What No One’s Thinking, the “Bang!” outfit has an opportunity to dive deeper into writing music for the upcoming Harold and the Purple Crayon Broadway show.
“It’s chugging along, honestly,” Jack Met tells ABC Audio of the project’s progress. “We have story being written, script being written, we have a bunch of songs already.”
AJR’s involvement in the Harold and the Purple Crayon musical, which adapts the 1955 children’s book of the same name, was first announced back in 2022.
“This stuff takes so long, there’s so many ups and downs and roadblocks you hit and stuff to get past,” Jack says. “But it’s very much in motion.”
Jack adds that he’s very happy with the material so far and that he’s “itching to show people stuff already.”
“We’re really excited,” Jack says.
If you’re already a fan of AJR, it sounds like their Harold and the Purple Crayon music will be right up your alley, too.
“The Broadway show is sounding more and more AJR-ish,” Ryan Met says. “We’re kinda thinking about it more and more like, ‘Hey, this is kinda the next AJR album.'”
Aaron Lewis of Staind performs at Pine Knob Music Theatre on August 09, 2023 in Clarkston, Michigan. (Scott Legato/Getty Images)
Staind, Drowning Pool and Buckcherry have joined the lineup for the 2026 Welcome to Rockville festival.
Other new additions include 10 Years, Sick Puppies and Fozzy.
As previously reported, My Chemical Romance and Bring Me the Horizon will headline Welcome to Rockville 2026. Other announced artists so far include The Offspring, Rise Against, All That Remains, Atreyu, Ice Nine Kills and Sevendust.
Welcome to Rockville 2026 takes place May 7-10 in Daytona Beach, Florida. For more info, visit WelcometoRockville.com.
Taye Diggs attends Love of a Lifetime Event at Harriet’s Rooftop on October 28, 2025, in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Lifetime)
Taye Diggs stars in the new Lifetime movie His, Hers & Ours, a film he says reignited his passion for acting and romantic comedies. He tells Peoplehe had gotten bored with acting and even considered taking a hiatus.
“I’ll be honest, there was a moment where I thought I just wanted to kind of take a break from acting and focus on maybe hosting or having a talk show, just because I had gotten kind of bored and I wasn’t feeling the excitement I usually get from acting,” Taye explains. “And then I did this movie and it sparked that flame again. I’d forgotten how much fun it is to do romantic comedies.”
His, Hers & Ours follows Taye’s character, Darius, a single father who slowly falls in love with the mother of his daughter’s boyfriend. It’s the latest release as part of Lifetime’s partnership with Terry McMillan, who is very dear to Taye’s heart.
“[Terry] has a very special place in my heart because she gave me my first real gig with How Stella Got Her Groove Back [in 1998]. She signed off on me. She made me realize how lucky I am, how much fun working on a movie can be and the importance of great writing,” Taye says. “I’ve made a good living off of romance and she was the one, the first one that took a risk on me. So I’m grateful.”
Kenny Chesney’s ‘Heart Life Music’ (William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)
Kenny Chesney’s new book, Heart Life Music, has officially been released.
The book, written with Holly Gleason, chronicles the East Tennessee native’s life, upbringing, rise to stardom, move to Nashville, music career and more.
When Kenny announced the book earlier this year, he said it is “not a memoir” but instead, “It is almost a love letter to people who shaped and inspired me, the fans who’ve been there from tiny bars, radio stations who believed when nobody else did, a team who just kept coming back, legends who gave me wisdom and opportunities and all the friends who’ve been there along the way.”
Kenny’s book tour kicked off with sold-out stops in Johnson City, Tennessee, on Saturday and Boston on Sunday. It hit Philadelphia on Monday and heads to Englewood, New Jersey, on Tuesday.
“I can’t believe people would come to hear me talk,” Kenny said of his first book events. “It’s one thing to come sing these songs with us, to throw your problems or your heart into the air with us for a few hours every summer, but this is a whole other thing.”
He added, “And to be honest, it’s way more fun than I would’ve ever imagined! So far, we’ve gone into the places we are, talked about the people they’d know – and come out on the other side having laughed a lot, cheered plenty and remembered even more about this wild, crazy magical carpet ride. I’m having the time of my life.”
For anyone not able to attend the events in person, Kenny added a virtual event on Nov. 14 where fans can watch his Friday appearance at Los Angeles’ Saban Theater. Tickets are on sale now.
