Kelsea Ballerini‘s touring year has come to a close with her Saturday night show Down Under.
“Brisbane, i couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the year and this life changing tour,” she posted on Monday. “thank you to all 11,000 of you for being one of the best crowds we had the honor to play for this year, and thank you for having cute animals to sit in parks with on off days.”
Of course, “I Sit in Parks” is the lead single from Kelsea’s new Mount Pleasant EP. One of the photos included in her post shows her on a green lawn in an area filled with kangaroos.
Kelsea went on to express her grief over the Sunday shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that left 15 dead and more than 40 injured.
“also want to say how truly heartbroken i am at the horrific attack at Bondi,” Kelsea’s post continues. “there just aren’t the right words, but my heart is with the families grieving the loss of their loved ones, and the hundreds of people grieving the loss of what once felt safe. praying for our world.”
So far, we don’t know much about Kelsea’s plans for 2026, as she hasn’t announced any tour plans beyond a couple shows in June.
You can check out her just-released video for the Mount Pleasant track “Emerald City” on YouTube now.
Janelle Monáe arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of Netflix’s ‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’ at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on November 17, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Maya Dehlin Spach/WireImage)
Nonprofit Freedom Forum will launch the inaugural Freely Festival in April, and it has tapped T-Pain and Janelle Monáe, among others, to take the stage.
The festival will “celebrate the power of music and the constitutional rights that make creative expression possible,” according to a press release, via “purposeful entertainment, artist storytelling, and interactive experiences that bring free expression to life in a way that feels relevant and resonant.”
It will take place April 8, 2026, at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, also featuring performances by The Killers, Dominic Fike and Avery Anna. A presale for the show begins Thursday at FreelyFest.org, with a general sale to follow if tickets remain.
Freedom Forum is “one of the nation’s leading voices on the First Amendment and the five freedoms it protects,” as per the website.
Olivia Rodrigo attends the 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction (Disney/Michael J. Le Brecht II)
Since she became a pop superstar, there have been many times that Olivia Rodrigo has gotten to meet some of her heroes — but she says one celebrity encounter in particular is probably her #1 “WTF moment.”
Olivia is the guest on the Dec. 16 episode of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s new Music Makes Us podcast, hosted by Kathleen Hanna of legendary riot grrrl band Bikini Kill. When Kathleen asks Olivia about her “WTF” moments, Olivia mentions having Lorde in the audience when she appeared on Saturday Night Live and performing with The Cure‘s Robert Smith at the Glastonbury Festival this year.
“Kinda the biggest one is, I used to write One Direction fan fiction when I was in elementary school,” Olivia said. “Many years later, I hung out with Harry Styles and we, like, got tea and we, like, walked around. And I got home and I was like, ‘What the f***?’ I feel like I, like, wrote that in a fan fiction and now I like lived it, like that is so crazy how that can happen in your life.”
“He’s so sweet,” she added. “If I told 10-year-old Olivia, she’d be like, ‘Shut the f*** up, you’re lying!'”
During the interview, Olivia also said that the album she goes back to when she needs to “reconnect” with herself is Alanis Morissette‘s Jagged Little Pill.
“For some reason that album, just, like, every part of what makes a human being a human being, it feels like it’s encapsulated in that record,” she said. “There’s so much anger and spite and jealousy but also so much joy and hope, all like intertwined into each other in such a beautiful way.”
Bon Scott performs with AC/DC at the Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, Illinois, September 22, 1978. (Paul Natkin/Getty Images)
Queens of the Stone Age‘s Josh Homme and KISS‘ Gene Simmons are among the artists playing a tribute show to late AC/DC singer Bon Scott.
The concert will take place Feb. 3 at the Avalon Hollywood in Los Angeles. It doubles as a 60th birthday celebration for comedian Dean Delray, who will be hosting the night and also handling lead vocals.
Other performers include Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk, Primus guitarist Larry “Ler” LaLonde, Alice in Chains bassist Mike Inez, former Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman and former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Jake E. Lee.
Scott died in 1980 at age 33. AC/DC then recruited vocalist Brian Johnson for their next album, 1980’s Back in Black. Johnson remains AC/DC’s singer today.
Emily Blunt in ‘Disclosure Day,’ directed by Steven Spielberg. (Niko Tavernise/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)
The title and official teaser trailer for Steven Spielberg‘s newest film have been released.
Universal Pictures announced Tuesday the movie will be called Disclosure Day. The studio also shared the film’s first trailer.
Disclosure Day, which returns Spielberg to his extraterrestrial roots, arrives in theaters on June 12, 2026.
Emily Blunt stars as a TV weather woman from Kansas City in the upcoming film. The trailer finds her unable to hold herself together while broadcasting live on air as she is seemingly possessed by something.
Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson and Colman Domingo also star in the thriller, which is based on a story by Spielberg.
“If you found out we weren’t alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you?” the film’s official logline asks. “This summer, the truth belongs to seven billion people. We are coming close to … Disclosure Day.”
David Koepp, the writer of Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds and Indiana Jonesand the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, wrote the screenplay for this new movie.
“People keep wondering. Encountering the unknown. They are starved for the truth!” Domingo’s character says in the teaser.
Spielberg is the top-grossing director of all time. He previously explored stories about extraterrestrial life in the films E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and War of the Worlds.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns visits Ahmed al Ahmed, who was identified as the bystander who seized a rifle from one of the gunmen during the deadly shooting at Bondi Beach on Sunday, at a hospital in Sydney, Dec. 15, 2025. (@ChrisMinnsMP/X)
(SYDNEY) — A Sydney man is being praised as a hero for disarming one of the alleged shooters in the Hanukkah attack that left 15 dead and 42 injured at Australia’s Bondi Beach on Sunday, as seen in video obtained by ABC News
The video shows a man, identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed, 43, running towards one of the alleged shooters. He’s then seen disarming the alleged gunman before pointing his weapon back at him, prompting him to walk away.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited al-Ahmed in the hospital and told him “your courage is inspiring,” according to video of the visit posted to social media.
“Ahmed, you are an Australian hero. You put yourself at risk to save others, running towards danger on Bondi Beach and disarming a terrorist. In the worst of times, we see the best of Australians. And that’s exactly what we saw on Sunday night. On behalf of every Australian, I say thank you,” Albanese said on X.
The fruit seller was having lunch in the area with a friend when the shooting unfolded and he intervened, according to his brother, Huthaifa.
“I’m really proud about my brother,” he told ABC News.
“He’s a good man. He’s brave,” he said.
The father of two was taken to a hospital, where he was treated for bullet wounds. His brother said he is recovering in the hospital, but is not 100% yet.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns called him a “real-life hero.”
“Last night, his incredible bravery no doubt saved countless lives when he disarmed a terrorist at enormous personal risk,” Minns posted on Instagram while sharing a photo with al-Ahmed in the hospital.
“It was an honour to spend time with him just now and to pass on the thanks of people across NSW. There is no doubt that more lives would have been lost if not for Ahmed’s selfless courage,” he added.
At Sunday night’s National Menorah Lighting in Washington, D.C., Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the director of advocacy group American Friends of Lubavitch, praised al-Ahmed’s heroism and asked for prayers for his recovery.
“I ask all those across the community and beyond — here, and around the world — to please pray for the recovery of Ahmed al-Ahmed, someone who is not a member of the Jewish community, but gave up his safety and wellbeing to stop one of the gunmen and thus prevent even further loss of life. May he recover speedy and fully,” Shemtov said.
A GoFundMe page for al-Ahmed has raised almost $1.5 million with thousands of donations.
“We’re seeing an outpouring of love for Ahmed al Ahmed following his heroic actions at Bondi Beach,” the site posted on X.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman also shared the fundraiser on his X account Sunday, donating $99,999.
Mohamed Fateh al-Ahmed told reporters that his son is “a hero.”
“He served in the police, he has the passion to defend people,” he said.
The victims of Sunday’s mass shooting ranged in ages 10 to 87, and the alleged gunmen are father and son, aged 50 and 24, officials said. Their names have not been released, but authorities said the father is dead and the son was hospitalized.
Six firearms were collected from the scene alongside two improvised explosives, according to officials.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the attack “an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism” and “an act of terrorism,” in a video shared on his Instagram account.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles looks on during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and President of Argentina Javier Milei in the Cabinet Room at the White House on October 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — In candid interviews with Vanity Fair, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles opened up about President Donald Trump and his Cabinet over the first year of Trump’s second term.
Wiles took part in 11 interviews that occurred in real time. Two parts of those interviews were published on Tuesday.
In them, Wiles offered unreserved descriptions of top figures in the administration — including Trump, who she said has an “alcoholic’s personality.”
Wiles said Trump, who has repeatedly said he doesn’t drink alcohol, said he “operates [with] a view that there’s nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, nothing.”
She called Vice President JD Vance a “conspiracy theorist for a decade” and White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought “a right-wing absolute zealot.” Billionaire Elon Musk, she said, was an “odd duck” and “avowed ketamine [user].”
Wiles also weighed in on Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, Musk’s slashing of federal government agencies and programs, the chaotic rollout of Trump’s tariff plans, the administration’s aims for Venezuela and more.
Wiles, responding to Vanity Fair’s articles, said it is a “disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history.”
“The truth is the Trump White House has already accomplished more in eleven months than any other President has accomplished in eight years and that is due to the unmatched leadership and vision of President Trump, for whom I have been honored to work for the better part of a decade,” Wiles wrote on X.
“Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story. I assume, after reading it, that this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team,” Wiles added.
ABC News has reached out to Condé Nast, Vanity Fair’s parent company, for comment on Wiles’ criticism.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Wiles on X.
“Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has helped President Trump achieve the most successful first 11 months in office of any President in American history. President Trump has no greater or more loyal advisor than Susie. The entire Administration is grateful for her steady leadership and united fully behind her,” Leavitt wrote in a post responding to Wiles’ criticism of the articles.
Trump, Bondi and Musk have not publicly responded to the Vanity Fair articles.
Vance, at an event Tuesday in Pennsylvania, said he hadn’t read the Vanity Fair article but responded to Wiles’ remark that he’s been a “conspiracy theorist for the past decade.” Wiles made the comment on Vance while discussing the Epstein files.
“I haven’t looked at the article. I, of course, have heard about it. But conspiracy theorist, sometimes I am a conspiracy theorist but I only believe in the conspiracy theories that are true,” Vance told reporters.
“And by the way, Susie and I have joked in private and in public about that for a long time,” he added.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Foreigner’s Lou Gramm at the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction (Disney/Michael Le Brecht) II
Foreigner has announced some new 2026 tour dates with original frontman Lou Gramm.
The band is set to reunite with Gramm for a string of Florida shows that kick off April 17 in St. Augustine, wrapping April 23 in Key West.
Foreigner played several dates with Gramm in December. According to setlist.fm, Gramm joined the band for five songs, including “I Want to Know What Love Is,” “Hot Blooded” and “Urgent.”
Foreigner also has several 2026 dates planned without Gramm. They launch a string of unplugged shows on Feb. 25 in Beaver Creek, Colorado, and then hit Las Vegas for an orchestral residency at The Venetian Theatre on March 6.
They are also touring this summer with Lynyrd Skynyrd on the Double Trouble Double Vision Tour, which starts July 23 in Atlanta.
Rapper Nelly reacts to his surprise birthday celebration at Your 3rd Spot on November 2, 2025, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
Nelly hosted his annual Black and White Ball on Sunday in St. Louis, celebrating his hometown while raising funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and scholarships for students at Harris-Stowe State University.
The black-tie event featured the presentation of a Disney World trip to 4-year-old Make-A-Wish patient Elijah Gilligan and his family, who were in attendance. It also included a full scholarship for Te’Ron Moore, covering tuition and books for his time at Harris-Stowe State.
Olympic champion Jackie Joyner-Kersee was honored with the Black and White Ball Legend Award. And Nelly was surprised with Make-A-Wish Missouri & Kansas’ highest honor, the Wish Icon Award. Performances included headliners Busta Rhymes and Doug E. Fresh, while Nelly, Ashanti, Jermaine Dupri, Bryan-Michael Cox, DJ Irie, Polow Da Don and St. Lunatics —who Nelly announced are dropping a Metro Boomin-produced album in 2026 — also took the stage.
“I’m truly humbled by the incredible support from the St. Louis community,” Nelly said in a statement. “From our sponsors and partners to the performers and celebrity friends who showed up with heart, everyone came together for a shared purpose—granting scholarships and fulfilling wishes. We’re deeply grateful for the continued support that allows us to invest in and uplift our youth.”
The Killers at 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. (Disney/Cristian Lopez)
The Killers are among the headliners for the inaugural Freely Fest, a concert “celebrating the power of music and the freedoms protected by the First Amendment.”
Freely Fest, presented by the organization Freedom Forum, takes place April 8 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. The lineup also includes T-Pain, Dominic Fike, Janelle Monáe and Avery Anna.
“Freely Fest will blend musical performances, artists’ stories about the power of free expression, and interactive experiences that highlight the importance of our First Amendment freedoms — onstage and off,” a press release reads.
A presale begins Thursday at 10 a.m. CT. A public sale will follow if tickets remain.
![Kelsea Ballerini closes 2025 as she “Sit[s] in Parks” with kangaroos](https://s3.amazonaws.com/syndication.abcaudio.com/files/2025-12-16/M_KelseaBalleriniCMAAwardsSwing2025ABC.jpg "Kelsea Ballerini closes 2025 as she “Sit[s] in Parks” with kangaroos")
