Music

Volbeat drummer Jon Larsen will miss four of the band’s upcoming shows on their ongoing tour.

“Unfortunately Jon has a family commitment back home and won’t be able to join us,” the Danish rockers share in a Facebook post.

The affected dates include Wednesday in Charlotte, North Carolina, Thursday in Bristow, Virginia, Saturday in Camden, New Jersey, and Sunday in Holmdel, New Jersey.

“Fortunately for us, our dear friend Jon Dette has answered the call once again and will be lending us his talent for those four shows,” Volbeat says.

Dette, who’s played with bands including Slayer and Anthrax, previously filled in for Larsen in 2022 when Larsen tested positive for COVID-19.

Larsen is set to return to Volbeat’s tour starting Aug. 12 in Bangor, Maine.

Volbeat is touring in support of their new album, God of Angels Trust, which dropped in June. Halestorm is also on the bill.

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Tucker Wetmore, newcomer Carter Faith, songwriter Ashley Gorley and R&B star K. Michelle are the new additions to the performance lineup at the upcoming 18th ACM Honors.

Russell Dickerson and Carly Pearce will host the Aug. 20 show at The Pinnacle at Nashville Yards and sing as well. Luke Bryan, Little Big Town‘s Karen Fairchild, Amy Grant and Ashley McBryde are also among the previously announced performers. 

Eric Church, Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, Cody Johnson, Randy Travis and Lainey Wilson will all be honored at the show, which is an extension of the Academy of Country Music Awards, which were held in May in Texas. 

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The Outside Lands festival has announced its 2025 livestreaming lineup.

You’ll be able to watch performances by artists including Hozier, Vampire Weekend, Glass Animals, Bleachers, Wallows, Royel Otis and almost monday via Prime Video and the Amazon Music Twitch channel.

Outside Lands 2025 takes place Friday through Sunday in San Francisco. 

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Is it November yet? The sequel Wicked: For Good is still months away, but there’s now a new peek at the highly anticipated Ariana Grande/Cynthia Erivo film to whet your appetite.

First, a character poster has been revealed showing Ari as Glinda in a pink gown with green edging, standing on a pink carpet. There’s one for Cynthia as Elphaba, as well, showing her standing on a cliff with flying monkeys in the background. Plus, there’s a behind-the-scenes featurette with Ariana, Cynthia and director Jon M. Chu talking about the sequel.

“It’s a much more mature, emotional journey about the consequences of the hard choices that you make,” Chu says. “It’s really about [Glinda and Elphaba] trying to get back together in some way, even if the fates don’t allow that.”

“We really just get to see how far we can push this friendship,” says Ariana. “There is nuance. There is hurt. There’s forgiveness.” “It’s wild,” adds Cynthia. 

Plus, Wicked: For Good will show us another side of the story we’ve known since childhood from watching the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Ariana says, “We get to see how these characters like the Tin Man and the Scarecrow and the Lion come to be. We see, truly, the origin story of the witches of Oz.”

Describing the film as “an epic conclusion of the journey,” Chu notes, “You get to the guts of what Wicked is all about.”

Wicked: For Good arrives Nov. 21. The previous film earned both Ariana and Cynthia Oscar nominations.

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Emmylou Harris, Brad Paisley, Jim Lauderdale, Don Cook, Steve Bogard and Tony Martin are the 2025 inductees into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Already in the Country Music Hall of Fame, Emmylou wrote the autobiographical “Boulder to Birmingham,” while Brad is known for penning hits like “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song)” and “Letter to Me.”

Jim wrote “Halfway Down” and “You Don’t Seem to Miss Me” for Patty Loveless, while Don was responsible for Brooks & Dunn hits like “My Next Broken Heart” and “You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone.”

Steve is the man behind both Dierks Bentley‘s “Every Mile a Memory” and George Strait‘s “Carrying Your Love with Me.” Tony crafted both Tim McGraw‘s “Just to See You Smile” and Lee Ann Womack‘s “I’ll Think of a Reason Later.” 

The 2025 class will officially be inducted during the 55th anniversary Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame gala 
Oct. 6 at Music City Center.

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T-Pain and Ne-Yo will be going head-to-head, and we’re not talking about on Verzuz. The two will compete as part of SZN Zero, the debut season of competitions in the Global Gaming League. GGL is a live-action gaming entertainment league for professional gamers, casual players and influencers.

Alongside three other players on their respective teams, Team Nappy Boy Grizzlies (T-Pain) and Gentleman’s Gaming Team (Ne-Yo) will face off in four rounds of video games covering various genres.

“Gaming is just as important as music or any other sport, to me” T-Pain, GGL’s director of strategy, said in a statement. “Ne-Yo had some words for me on socials, I heard enough of what he had to say and felt it was time to show him that I actually do this. But honestly I’m just ready to have some fun with my friend, because bottom line, that’s what gaming is all about.”

“Honestly, I was trying to connect with T-Pain to maybe be part of his team but when he kept blowing me off and then I saw that video of him talking about my lips, I decided the only way to get his attention would be to call him out,” Ne-Yo responded. “Now, we’ll see just how good he really is – or isn’t – when we go head to head.”

The SZN Zero launch event will take place in Las Vegas on Aug. 23.

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Wolf Alice has shared a new song called “White Horses,” a track off the band’s upcoming album, The Clearing.

“White Horses” begins with lead vocals from drummer Joel Amey before frontwoman Ellie Rowsell‘s voice comes in.

“It’s about discovering your own version of home and the different forms ‘family’ can take,” reads a post on Wolf Alice’s Instagram. “I wanted a way to say thank you to the people around me and the only way to do that is on a rock song with ya best mates.”

You can watch the “White Horses” lyric video on YouTube.

The Clearing, the follow-up to 2021’s Blue Weekend, is due out Aug. 22. It also includes the single “Bloom Baby Bloom.”

Wolf Alice will launch a U.S. tour in September.

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Mgk launched his music career almost 20 years ago and has a new album, Lost Americana, coming out on Friday. It’s not a bad track record for someone who, if you listen to online talk, seems to be universally hated. But the singer tells People that at this point, the hate is — just like the title of his current single — a “cliché.”

“I became so hated for, what has become apparent to me, no reason … just because I artistically express myself, through fashion, music, whatever — because I choose to not stay contained into a societal box,” he tells People. “The hate for me has become so pop culture that it’s almost like that’s automatically what you say to fit in.”

“I’ve realized they’re the conformists — you don’t even hate me for a reason that you can actually think of because all I do is entertain, and entertainment can’t be that serious.”

Mgk also believes that most of his haters are men.

“I think men let their insecurity rule their entirety,” he says. “I think to them, they’re like, ‘He’s supposed to be like this, because this is this carnal, archaic way of what men are…’ I’m like, ‘Look, we can be protectors, and all these other things that we’re supposed to be, and also be expressive and vulnerable and emotional, and we can dress how we want, look how we want.'”

Mgk hopes the new album might change people’s opinions of him.

“Maybe this time they’ll get to know the man-slash-broken-boy behind the moniker MGK,” he tells People. “Vulnerability is how I was able to hold on to the fan base I’ve had for so many years. The human behind the music has to show the human side.”

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