Michael Stipe performs with Aaron Dessner during Democracy Now! 30th Anniversary Event at Riverside Church on March 23, 2026 in New York City. (Rob Kim/Getty Images)
The R.E.M. frontman played the song “No Time For Love Like Now,” which he recorded with The National’s Aaron Dessner and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon for their Big Red Machine project. Dessner also joined Stipe for the performance.
Other performers included Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith.
The night ended with all the musicians coming on stage for a rendition of Smith’s “People Have the Power.”
Bruce Springsteen performs during Democracy Now! 30th Anniversary Event at Riverside Church on March 23, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images)
Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith and Michael Stipe were among the performers at Democracy Now!’s 30th anniversary event at Riverside Church in New York City Monday night.
Springsteen was a surprise guest and treated the audience to a performance of his new protest song “Streets of Minneapolis.”
“This past winter when federal troops brought death and terror into the streets of Minneapolis they picked the wrong city,” Springsteen said. “The power and the solidarity of the people of Minneapolis was an inspiration to the entire country. Their strength and their commitment told us that this is still America and the reactionary nightmare and the invasion of an American city will not stand,” he added. “Their strength gave us hope. They gave us courage.”
“And for those who gave their lives,” he continued, mentioning Renée Good and Alex Pretti — two Minneapolis residents who were fatally shot by federal agents — “their bravery their sacrifice and their names will not be forgotten.”
Following the song, Springsteen was asked about his upcoming Land of Hope and Dreams American tour, sharing that he’s going to hit cities that “had to deal with ICE.” With the trek ending in Washington, D.C., he added he has a “few words to say to the f***** White House.”
Elsewhere during the evening, Stipe was joined by The National’s Aaron Dessner to perform the track “No Time For Love Like Now,” originally recorded with Big Red Machine and featuring Justin Vernon. Smith, joined by her daughter, Jesse Smith, and guitarist Tony Shanahan, read a passage from her book Bread of Angels and performed “Peaceable Kingdom,” along with a part of her iconic tune “People Have the Power.”
The night ended with all the musicians coming on stage for an encore of Smith’s “People Have The Power.”
Forty years ago, Van Halen released their seventh studio album, 5150, which was their first record with new lead singer Sammy Hagar, following the departure of original frontman David Lee Roth.
5150 is named after guitarist Eddie Van Halen’s home studio and is also a reference to the California law that allows a mentally disturbed person to be placed on an involuntary psychiatric hold. It went on to become the band’s first #1 album and contained three pop hits: “Dreams,” “Why Can’t This Be Love” and “Love Walks In.”
5150 went on to be certified six-times Platinum by the RIAA.
On Friday, Van Halen will release a special 40th anniversary expanded edition of 5150, featuring a remastered version of the album as well as bonus 7-inch single edits and extended 12-inch tracks.
There’s also a CD featuring unreleased live recordings from Van Halen’s Aug. 27, 1986, concert at New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum in New Haven, Connecticut, and a Blu-ray with the band’s 1986 concert video Live Without a Net, recorded during the same New Haven show, upgraded to HD for the first time.
Barry Manilow, ‘What A Time’ album. (STILETTO Entertainment)
Barry Manilow feels lucky to be alive after receiving a diagnosis of stage 1 lung cancer followed by surgery.
In his new People magazine cover story, Manilow reveals that he went to the doctor in November for an unrelated problem, but his doctor ordered an MRI for his lungs after learning that he’d had bronchitis twice recently.
“If he hadn’t done that, man … He saved my life, because there’s no symptoms for what I had. I could go on, nothing hurt — but they found the dot in my lung,” Manilow tells People. “They called me and said, ‘Could be cancer.’ That’s a bad word. ‘Not me. F*** you. I can’t have cancer.’”
But he did.
“They don’t even know how long I had this thing sitting on me. It could have been years,” Manilow says. “If it had gone any further, then I would be up s***’s creek. It just so happened that it hadn’t spread, and boy oh boy, I thought I might be dying.”
Manilow eventually had a lobectomy to remove part of his lung, and then spent a week in the ICU. He tells People, “I don’t remember it, thank goodness, because it was a nightmare.”
But, he adds, “I’m one of the lucky ones; I don’t have to have chemo, radiation and all that stuff.”
However, Manilow, whose new album is coming out in June, says the experience certainly made him “take stock of my life.”
“This made me stop and think about: Have I done what I wanted to do, and have I made people happy? Have I been a good friend? All of those cornball things that I’ve read for all of my life, I started to think about that, too,” he says.
“And the answers are yes. And as a matter of fact, there are more yeses than I ever thought.”
Newcomer Zach John King is currently enjoying his very first hit on the Billboard Country Airplay chart with “Get to Drinkin’.”
“The story behind ‘Get to Drinkin” is about a relationship that I had in the past that, after a few Jack & Cokes, I started to paint it with rose-colored glasses, started to act like it wasn’t my fault for letting things get so bad,” he says. “I think everybody feels that way at some point in a relationship.”
“It’s a song that covers a sad topic with really upbeat and fun music,” he adds.
While we wait for Zach’s debut album, he has some high-profile gigs on the horizon, heading out on tour with Morgan Wallen for a second year in a row on April 18. He will also open for Jon Pardi, Luke Bryan, Riley Green and Thomas Rhett.
Cover of The Black Crowes’ ‘A Pound of Feathers’ (Silver Arrow Records)
The Black Crowes are giving fans some insight into the music that inspired their recently released album, A Pound of Feathers.
The band has released a new Spotify playlist, Feathers and Lead, which they describe on Instagram as “The songs that shaped A Pound of Feathers.”
They add that the playlist highlights the “records that inspired the writing, the feel and the freedom behind this chapter from The Black Crowes.”
The playlist includes such songs as “I’m Not Talking” by The Yardbirds with Jeff Beck on lead guitar; “Popcorn” by Ike & Tina Turner; “Evil” by Howlin’ Wolf; “Knocking ‘Em Down (In the City)” by Iggy Pop; “Girl I Love You” by Eddie Floyd; “Elephant Man” by Bo Diddley; and “I Bet You” by Funkadelic.
A Pound of Feathers, the 10th studio album from The Black Crowes, is the follow-up to their 2023 release, Happiness Bastards, which was their first album of new material since 2009.
The Black Crowes will kick off The Southern Hospitality tour, with country rock band Whiskey Myers, on May 17 in Austin, Texas. Before that they will tour Australia and Japan.
Ella Langley performs on ABC’s ‘CMA Fest presented by SoFi’ (Disney/Connie Chornuk)
Ella Langley’s hit “Choosin’ Texas” has been #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks and has now broken a record set by Taylor Swift — but that may not be the most interesting thing about it.
“Choosin’ Texas” now holds the record for the most weeks ever spent at #1 on the Hot 100 by a song that was also #1 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart. The previous record was three, which Taylor held with 2012’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.”
Now, for the interesting part. Ella co-wrote “Choosin’ Texas” with country superstar Miranda Lambert during a writers retreat. While there, she asked Miranda about something a mutual friend once told her: that Miranda used to own a kangaroo.
“As a fellow animal lover, I had so many questions about that,” Ella told ABC Audio. So after they’d written a song together, Ella said, “I was like, ‘Why don’t you tell me about that kangaroo?’ And she tells me the whole story.”
“At the end of the story, she got pulled over with the kangaroo in the passenger seat. [The] kangaroo got her out of a ticket, [it] really did,” Ella noted.
After Miranda mentioned that she had Texas plates on her car at the time, Ella said, “I was like, ‘Well, he’s probably like, “She’s from Texas, I can tell.”‘”
“And just literally that right there, the melody kind of just fell out,” she continued. “I went, ‘She’s from Texas, I can tell by the way he’s two-stepping ’round the room.’ Just like that.”
“And she’s like, ‘She’s from Texas, like the one he went with!’ And, I mean, [within] 30, 45 minutes that song was written.”
She laughs, “People are like, ‘Where do you get your inspiration from?’ I’m like, ‘Baby, it comes from everywhere and anywhere.'”
The Format on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ (Disney/Randy Holmes)
Ever since The Format broke up in 2008, bandmates Nate Ruess and Sam Means have fielded questions about whether they would ever reunite. Even still, they didn’t expect the overwhelming reaction to their first show back in 2025.
“Surprised is an understatement,” Means tells ABC Audio. “We were just absolutely … our faces were melted by just, like, what was going on.”
That comeback show took place in a basketball arena in The Format’s hometown of Phoenix and marked the band’s biggest headlining performance of their career.
“I don’t even know if fun. ever played a headlining show that big,” Means laughs, referring to Ruess’ former band. “So it was wild to come back after so much time and play in a basketball arena. The energy that night was just unmatched.”
The Format had initially planned to reunite in 2020 for a run of shows, but those were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The five years in between allowed The Format to make a new album, Boycott Heaven, which marked their first record in 20 years.
“The 2020 stuff, I’m sad that that never happened,” Means says. “But in hindsight, I think, this is a much better situation.”
Boycott Heaven is out now, and The Format will launch a full reunion tour in support of it Thursday in Boston.
“We’re going to be playing a lot of new stuff, obviously playing a ton of old stuff, but we like to do a different set list every show,” Means says. “Nate is really famous for the last-second set list before the show, so people will get a good variety.”
Live Nation Urban and Black Women Photographers team to select Black women photographers and videographers to shoot upcoming festivals. (Live Nation Urban/Black Women Photographers)
Live Nation Urban has teamed with the Black Women Photographers organization for its fifth year of giving Black female photographers the paid opportunity to shoot at some upcoming festivals.
Festivals include Black on the Block in DC and Dallas; Keith Lee’s Familee Day; Roots Picnic in Philadelphia; A Roots Picnic Experience in LA; One Music Fest; and Broccoli City Fest.
“As a Black woman who continues to navigate the music industry, this work feels deeply personal to me,” Christina Woodson, Live Nation Urban’s tour and festival marketing manager, said in a statement. “Creating paid opportunities for Black women and non-binary creatives to shoot our festivals and concerts is about more than access — it’s about representation. This partnership ensures we are not only in the room but shaping the narrative and capturing our culture from within our own community.”
“Five years in, our partnership with Live Nation Urban continues to prove what’s possible when access meets intention. Together, we’ve opened doors for Black and African women creatives to not only enter the music industry, but to thrive within it,” Black Women Photographers founder Polly Irungu added. “The next time you’re at a show, take a look at who’s behind the lens — that visibility is impact in action. Together, we’re not just opening doors. We’re redefining the landscape of music storytelling.”
May 1 is the deadline to submit applications, which are reviewed on a rolling basis.
Bruce Springsteen performs at the Defend Minnesota! benefit concert at First Avenue in Minneapolis, Minn. on Friday, January 30, 2026. (Photo by Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images)
Bruce Springsteen is set to kick off his Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour on March 31 in Minneapolis, but that won’t be his only performance in Minnesota.
The Boss has confirmed to the Minnesota Star Tribune that he will perform his new protest song, “Streets of Minneapolis,” at the No Kings rally, which is scheduled for Saturday at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul.
“You want to try to meet the moment,” Springsteen told the paper. “The No Kings movement is of great import right now.”
“When you have the opportunity to sing something where the timing is essential and if you have something powerful to sing, it elevates the moment, it elevates your job to another level,” he added. “And I’m always in search of that.”
Springsteen released “Streets of Minneapolis” on January 28, explaining that he wrote it “in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis.” He dedicated it to “the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good,” the two Minneapolis residents who were fatally shot by federal agents.
He previously performed the song live at Rage Against the Machineguitarist Tom Morello’s January 30 protest concert at First Ave, a downtown Minneapolis venue.
Also attending the No Kings rally in St. Paul on Saturday will be Sen. Bernie Sanders, Jane Fonda and singers Joan Baez and Maggie Rogers.
