Metallica’s residency at the Las Vegas Sphere is the live event of the year – and they kicked it off in epic style.

A 17,000-capacity crowd watched the band play the first of 24 sold-out shows at the futuristic venue last night (October 1), where they were treated to a 16-song setlist - including the first performance of 1988’s …And Justice For All in 12 years.

The band are due to play the second show at the venue on October 3, and it follows the same ‘no repeats’ format as their blockbusting M72 tour – meaning it will be a completely different sets.

Metallica fans have taken to social media to give their verdict on the opening night - not least the show’s incredible visuals, which are projected onto a 15,000m² wraparound video screens.

Read some of the comments below – and watch video from the first show.

Metallica have completed the first show of their eagerly anticipated Life Burns Faster residency with a retina-searing display at the revolutionary Sphere in Las Vegas.

"It's gonna be challenging," drummer Lars Ulrich said in July. "It's overwhelming and fucking intimidating. But hopefully when we step out on stage that first night, we'll have it somewhat together."

That mission, it seems, has been accomplished, and the band, who first announced an eight-date schedule at the 20,000-capacity venue in February before swiftly adding another 16 nights, kicked off their first set with the classic Master Of Puppets opener Battery.

Their 16-song set was heavy on staples such as Creeping Death (deployed as the second song), Sad But True, Wherever I May Roam, Nothing Else Matters and The Call Of Ktulu, the latter dedicated to late Metallica bassist Cliff Burton.

But the band also dropped in a few 21st century anthems, including Now That We’re Dead, The Day The Never Comes and Lux Æterna.

They rounded off the show with a run of classics, including Ride The Lightning, The Memory Remains, Seek & Destroy and Master Of Puppets.

While there were no surprises in the set, they did dust down the title track of 1988’s …And Justice For All for the first time since 2014.

Last month, Metallica announced 12 new North American shows on their ongoing M72 tour, which began in March 2023. Full dates – including the Las Vegas dates – are listed below.

Metallica setlist: Sphere, Las Vegas, October 1

Battery
Creeping Death
Now That We're Dead
Sad but True
The Shortest Straw
Wherever I May Roam
The Day That Never Comes
...And Justice for All
Kirk and Rob Doodle (Sleepwalk My Life Away)
Nothing Else Matters
The Call of Ktulu
Lux Æterna
Ride the Lightning
The Memory Remains
Seek & Destroy
Master of Puppets

Metallica live shows 2026/27

Oct 01: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Oct 03: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Oct 08: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Oct 10: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Oct 15: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Oct 17: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Oct 22: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Oct 24: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Oct 29: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Oct 31: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Nov 05: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Nov 07: Las Vegas Sphere, NV

Nov 19: Uncasville Mohegan Sun Arena, CT
Nov 21: Uncasville Mohegan Sun Arena, CT

Jan 28: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Jan 30: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Feb 04: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Feb 06: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Feb 18: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Feb 20: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Feb 25: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Feb 27: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Mar 04: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Mar 06: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Mar 11: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Mar 13: Las Vegas Sphere, NV

May 08: Vancouver BC Place, BC
May 13: San Diego Snapdragon Stadium, CA
May 18: El Paso Sun Bowl Stadium, TX
May 22: San Antonio Alamodome, TX
May 26: Fayetteville Razorback Stadium, AR
May 29: Kansas City Arrowhead Stadium, MO
Jun 02: Raleigh Carter-Finley Stadium, NC
Jun 05: Indianapolis Lucas Oil Stadium, IN
Jun 08: Buffalo Highmark Stadium, NY
Jun 12: Madison Camp Randall Stadium, WI
Jun 15: Cleveland Huntington Bank Field, OH
Jun 19: Salt Lake City Rice-Eccles Stadium, UT

Find Metallica tickets.

Slam Dunk and ArcTanGent festival have revealed details of their 2027 events.

Bowling For Soup, Killswitch Engage, Simple Plan, Sleeping With Sirens, Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake, The Interrupters, The Used, Hot Milk, Four Year Strong and Beartooth are among the acts who'll appear at Slam Dunk on the weekend of May 29 (Leeds Temple Newsam) and 30 (Hatfield Park).

More artists will be announce in the coming weeks. Pre-sale tickets are available now via the Slam Dunk app for up to 48 hours (subject to availability) from 10am on Friday, October 2, with remaining tickets on sale from 10am on Monday, October 5.

Go here for more details.

Neurosis and Blood Incantation have been confirmed as two of the headline bands for ArcTanGent 2027, which is set to take place on August 18-21 at its new location in the Cotswolds. Also newly announced for the festival are Slift, The Ocean, Messa, Conjurer, The Wildhearts (playing a special progressive set), Holy Fawn, Møl, Employed To Serve, Lowen and more.

"There’s no better way to kickstart the new chapter of ArcTanGent, for the first year at our new location in the Cotswolds, than with two of our most requested headliners," says booker, James Scarlett. "Both bands are absolutely solid gold headliners - anyone that listens to 2 Promoters, 1 Pod will likely be sick of hearing me wax lyrical about the new Neurosis album. To have them along with Blood Incantation - a band it’s frankly criminal they haven’t played before - is the dream way to kick off a new edition of ArcTanGent.

"We’re also unleashing the vast majority of our Wednesday line-up, bringing back some of the most exciting acts from previous years. There are a lot of bands here that stood out with huge crowds in 2026, so we’re stoked that they want to return and help us kick off the early entry day of ATG 2027. As always, this announcement is simply a list of artists I’m extremely excited about from top to bottom and can’t wait to watch live at our new Cotswolds home."

For the full line-up and ticket details go here.

Slipknot have announced a 2027 world tour that will see them headline the biggest venues of their entire thirty-year career. Taking place from July to September, the tour will fill stadiums in cities around the world including London, Toronto, Nashville, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Santiago and Bogotá.

Dubbed, the (sic)est Stadium Tour, support at the shows will come from the likes of Bring Me The Horizon, Lorna Shore, Acid Bath, Lamb Of God, Polyphia and Motionless In White. The first show of the tour is scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 3 at the biggest concert venue in the UK, London's Wembley Stadium, with a special fan event taking place in the area to mark the announcement of the show this afternoon.

Supporting Slipknot at Wembley Stadium will be Marilyn Manson, rising deathcore heavyweights Lorna Shore and metalcore veterans Hatebreed.

See the full list of Slipknot's 2027 tour dates and supports below. For all ticket details, head to the official Slipknot website.

The tour announcement follows the recent surprise-release of brand new Slipknot single Arsenal, the band's first new song in four years. Last month, the Iowan metal icons confirmed that longtime DJ Sid Wilson has left the band.

Manson's appearances on the Slipknot tour will mark some of his biggest shows since the wave of sexual assault and abuse allegations against him that emerged in 2020, with the singer having been embroiled in numerous lawsuits related to the allegations over recent years. He is currently scheduled to stand trial in November 2027 as part of a sexual assault and battery lawsuit involving his former assistant, Ashley Walters. Manson has categorically denied any wrongdoing in relation to all allegations.

Slipknot 2027 (sic)est stadium tour dates

Jul 03: London, Wembley Stadium, UK

Jul 16: Washington, DC Nationals Park ~%
Jul 18: Queens Citi Field, NY ~%
Jul 21: Montréal Parc Jean Drapeau, QC ~^@
Jul 23: Toronto Rogers Stadium, ON ~^
Jul 25: Chicago Soldier Field, IL ~$
Jul 28: Hershey Hersheypark Stadium, PA ~!
Jul 31: Boston Fenway Park, MA ~!
Aug 03: Nashville FirstBank Stadium, TN ~^
Aug 06 Houston Daikin Park, TX ~+
Aug 09 Commerce City Dick's Sporting Goods Park, CO ~=
Aug 13 Inglewood SoFi Stadium, CA ~=
Aug 15 San Francisco Golden Gate Park, CA ~&=
Aug 18 Phoenix Chase Field, AZ ~&

Sep 4 São Paulo The Town, Brazil*
Sep 8 Buenos Aires Estadio Huracán, Argentina #
Sep 12 Santiago Estadio Nacional, Chile #
Sep 14 Lima Estadio Nacional, Peru #*
Sep 16 Bogotá Vive Claro, Colombia #

# Marilyn Manson and Hatebreed supporting
~ Bring Me The Horizon supporting
% Acid Bath supporting
! Lorna Shore supporting
^ Kublai Khan TX supporting
@ Vended supporting
$ Lamb of God supporting
+ Polyphia supporting
= Loathe supporting
& Motionless in White supporting

Rock icon Rod Stewart has announced that he is retiring from touring for good, with his final shows due to take place next year. Taking in shows across the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe, Rod's farewell tour - dubbed The Final Encore - will kick off on April 23 in Dublin, before finishing up on July 24 in Hannover.

“My dear friends, The time has come to say farewell to life on the road," says the man himself in a statement accompanying the news. "After more than six decades, The Final Encore will most definitely be my last. I’ve been singing the music I love since I was 19 years old, and I’ve had the privilege of taking it around the world to all of you.

"It has given me a life beyond anything I could ever have imagined, and I hope I’ve given you some fond memories in return. So, may I take this opportunity to thank you for making this extraordinary life possible. I hope you’ll join me.

The announcement comes a few weeks after Rod was forced to cancel all remaining shows on his most recent tour after undergoing a routine coronary stent procedure. The Faces frontman had already cancelled some previous shows on the tour due to health issues.

See the full list of dates for Rod Stewart's Final Encore tour below. Support on UK and Ireland dates will come from Howard Jones. Tickets for the shows will go on sale first via a Fanclub presale on Tuesday, 29 September, followed by local presales and then, finally, a general sale on Friday October 2. Information on all tickets can be found at Rod Stewart's official website.

Rod Stewart Final Encore tour dates 2027

Apr 23: Dublin 3Arena, Ireland
Apr 27: Belfast SSE Arena, UK
Apr 29: Glasgow OVO Hydro, UK
May 04: Birmingham Utilita Arena, UK
May 06: Manchester Co-op Live, UK
May 11: London The O2, UK
May 28: Amsterdam Ziggo Dome, Netherlands
May 29: Antwerp AFAS Dome, Belgium
Jun 01: Berlin Uber Arena, Germany
Jun 03: Düsseldorf PSD Bank Dome, Germany
Jun 06: Copenhagen Royal Arena, Denmark
Jun 09: Helsinki Veikkaus Arena, Finland
Jun 11: Rättvik Dalhalla, Sweden
Jun 13: Trondheim Sverresboro, Norway
Jun 15: Bergen Plenen, Norway
Jun 18: Budapest Sportsarena, Hungary
Jun 20: Munich Olympiahalle, Germany
Jun 22 Pula Arena, Croatia
Jun 24: O2 Arena, Prague, Czech Republic
Jul 20: Kraków Tauron Arena, Poland
Jul 24: Hannover ZAG Arena, Germany

Slipknot are teasing a mystery announcement – and it looks like being revealed imminently .

Iconic London venue Wembley Stadium posted an image of the band’s logo together with the date .09.28.26 on its official Instagram page. The post also features the words:“If you’re 555…” – a lyrics from the band’s classic 2001 song The Heretic Anthem.

While there are no clues as to what the announcement is about, the date – September 28 – suggests it will be revealed tomorrow (Monday).

Earlier this week, cryptic Slipknot posters appeared across Euopre, North, Central and South America, possibly hinting at a new tour from the Iowa nu metal outfit.

Posters promoting the masked band have been spotted in at least 10 cities in the UK, US, Canada, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina and posted onto social media.

They feature the URL unlock.slipknot1.com, which leads to a website urging users to input their details, then displays the date 09.28 – the same date as the Wembley post.

While the signs point to a tour, there has been other activity in the Slipknot world in the last few weeks. The band recently returned with their polarising single Arsenal, while guitarist Jim Root says that they have been working with Faith No More and Slayer producer Matt Wallace.

Arsenal was the first song the band released following the departure of longtime DJ Sid Wilson earlier this month and percussionist Craig Jones in 2023, as well as the first song they’ve released since drummer Eloy Casagrande replaced Jay Weinberg in 2024.

Linkin Park teamed up with America’s Got Talent winner Nene Royal for a performance of 2024 single The Emptiness Machine during the results show of the US talent competition last night.

16-year-old Royal performed with the Diamond-selling nu metal icons shortly before being named as the winner of this year’s series at the end of the show. She also joined The Warning onstage and jammed the Mexican alt-rockers’ song Kerosene. Watch both performances below.

Royal, the first Thai woman to ever win America’s Got Talent, became a fan-favourite through the series thanks to her vocal and guitar covers of such rock and heavy metal acts as The Cranberries, Soundgarden and Muse. Her winning performance took place at the grand final on Tuesday, when she covered The White Stripes’ signature track Seven Nation Army.

Linkin Park’s appearance precedes the theatrical release of their new documentary/concert film, Unshatter, next week. Directed by band member Joe Hahn, the film follows the band’s return from their extended hiatus, which began shortly after lead singer Chester Bennington died in July 2017, aged 41. It features archival recordings, clips from the sessions for their 2024 comeback album, From Zero, and footage from a show in São Paulo, Brazil on their 2024 tour.

From Zero was released on November 15, 2024, and was the band’s first album to feature Emily Armstrong, who replaced Bennington, and drummer Colin Brittain, replacing co-founder Rob Bourdon. The album topped charts worldwide and has already sold more than 1,600,000 units or equivalent.

In June, Linkin Park became the first band with a female vocalist to headline Download at Donington Race Track, the largest rock and heavy metal festival in the UK. Vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Mike Shinoda responded to the distinction during a BBC interview that weekend.

“So, I’ll start with the fact that I don’t feel like I should be answering the question, that Emily should be answering, so I went and asked her, because she can’t be here right now,” he said.

“I asked her and she said: ‘If it wasn’t us, it would’ve just been someone else, because there are so many great female-fronted bands.’ But, she’s so grateful, she wanted you guys to know, she’s so grateful that she is the one and that she’ll remember it forever.”

The band have no future live shows announced at time of publication.

Well, isn’t this snug? The last two times Judas Priest played the capital, they topped the bill at Wembley Arena and co-headlined the O2 with Alice Cooper. The final date of their Faithkeepers tour at the 5,300-cap Hammersmith Apollo is pokey by comparison. Maybe the self-anointed metal gods want to treat the true believers, or maybe, having headlined Bloodstock six weeks ago, they’re scared of saturating the market. Either way, tonight is sold out, and West London is strewn with enough vintage rock t-shirts to overstuff a warehouse.

A hearty “NEVERMORE!” chant breaks out and the building is already full for the opener. Reactivated following a 15-year hiatus, the prog/power metal beloveds initially wrestle tech troubles and a muddy mix. However, once they hit their stride, you’d never guess that three-fifths of their lineup is brand-new. Singer Berzan Önen has the particularly unenviable job of filling in for late powerhouse Warrel Dane, but he holds his own with a majestic set of pipes.

JUDAS PRIEST are promoting a recent best-of compilation, so they waste no time in unleashing the hits. Opening with You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’, then continuing through Metal Gods, Breaking The Law, The Ripper and The Sentinel, they reiterate how they became defenders of the true metal faith. The guitars scream constantly, while 75-year-old frontman Rob Halford still has the mercurial voice which rocketed them through the 70s and 80s. He’s also retained the same, genre-defining wardrobe, going full leather grandaddy with an added splash of Father Christmas: probably as bearded, easily as adored.

Although this isn’t the same Priest who released those classic tracks, as founding bassist Ian Hill has sustained an arm injury and been temporarily replaced by Uriah Heep’s Davey Rimmer, each of the lineup understands their assignments. Much like Hill, Rimmer stays near drummer Scott Travis and locks the fuck in. ‘New’ guitarists Richie Faulkner and Andy Sneap are far more animated, matching the material’s flamboyance with their wide smiles and broad stances. Their shimmying alongside Halford during Breaking The Law is unabashedly joyous.

Of course, London knows almost all the words all night, even as the odd deep cut and newer song permeate the show. Lightning Strike and No Surrender, from 2018’s Firepower, demonstrate that the band have still got it as songwriters as well as performers. Panic Attack is the only offering from latest album Invincible Shield, pushing Halford to the limit of his glass-shattering falsetto.

Things end with Priest once again going all in on the classics. The drum fill of Painkiller lands like a meteor strike, before Electric Eye flaunts one of their loudest riffs and catchiest choruses. Halford rides out on his Harley-Davison, riding crop in hand, for the triumphant salvo of Hell Bent For Leather and Living After Midnight. ‘Living after midnight! Rocking till the dawn! Lovin’ till the morning! Then I’m gone!’ the singer cries during the chorus, thousands of Londoners joining in. It’s one last declaration of the band’s heavy metal ethos – which, based on tonight, is the same now as it was in 1980.

Judas Priest setlist: Eventim Apollo, London – September 21, 2026

1. You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
2. Metal Gods
3. Breaking The Law
4. The Ripper
5. The Sentinel
6. Desert Plains
7. Lightning Strike
8. Turbo Lover
9. Steeler
10. Delivering The Goods
11. Panic Attack
12. Victim Of Changes
13. No Surrender
14. Painkiller
15. Electric Eye
16. Hell Bent For Leather
17. Living After Midnight

Ozzfest will return to the US in 2027.

The reactivating heavy metal festival, founded by Sharon Osbourne and her late husband Ozzy in the mid-90s, has confirmed that it will make its way Stateside next year.

The news follows the announcement of a UK edition for 2027, which will take place at Villa Park in Ozzy’s hometown of Birmingham, where he played his last show before his death in July 2025. No performers have been announced for either edition at time of publication.

Sharon, 73, has spoken multiple times about bringing Ozzfest back following her husband’s death last July, aged 76. Talking to Hammer earlier this year, she said that the upcoming UK edition will be one or two days long, depending on fan interest. She promised more details “soon”.

In addition, she told Billboard in January that the event will return with a lineup that transcends its past niche of rock and metal, with a focus on young talent.

“It was something Ozzy was very passionate about: giving young talent a stage in front of a lot of people,” she said. “We really started metal festivals in this country. It was [replicated but] never done with the spirit of what ours was, because ours was a place for new talent. It was like summer camp for kids.”

The Osbournes started Ozzfest after fellow travelling festival Lollapalooza refused to give Ozzy a spot on their lineup. The inaugural edition was a two-day tour with dates in Phoenix, Arizona and San Bernardino, California. Ozzy headlined with support from Slayer, Danzig, Biohazard, Sepultura and more.

As nu metal began to gather steam in the late 90s, Ozzfest became famous for putting up-and-coming artists on its bill. Such acts as Slipknot, Limp Bizkit and System Of A Down performed at the festival around the release of their debut albums.

Ozzfest expanded to have international offshoots in markets including the UK, Germany, Belgium and Japan before hosting its final incarnation – a single show in Inglewood, California – in 2018.

In 2023, Sharon explained why Ozzfest went away, saying on her family podcast The Osbournes that other managers got greedy.

“It was a very weird beast,” she said, “because all the bands were our mates, but the managers were greedy, and for some reason they thought that we were making billions on it and we weren’t. We made a profit. But it was not like – we couldn’t retire on it. And managers and agents wanted more and more and more, and it just wasn’t cost-effective anymore. We stopped because it just wasn’t cost-effective.”

However, the following year, she added that “of course” Ozzfest can return one day. “You can do it for a baby stage, but you still need the headliners,” she said. “It’s always great to have the baby stage, I mean, that’s what it’s all about – breaking new bands. That’s why we did it.”

Ozzy’s retirement show, Back To The Beginning, took place at a sold-out Villa Park and was live-streamed by more than five million people worldwide. Ozzy performed both with his solo band and Black Sabbath: the heavy metal pioneers’ first show since 2017, and their first with their all-original lineup since 2005. The support lineup included Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Tool, Gojira, Anthrax and Mastodon. Proceeds from the event went to the charities Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity and Acorns Children’s Hospice.

A Back To The Beginning concert film will hit cinema screens later this year.

“We’re at the beginning of a new journey now, and we’re approaching it with curiosity”: The Ocean’s Robin Staps can’t wait for Be Prog! My Friend. This is our official preview…

The German proggers and Soen top a bill alongside some of modern prog’s brightest stars. Taking place at Barcelona’s most unique venue, it’s set to be a celebration of all things of the genre we love

Modern prog is in rude health, and the 2026 edition of Barcelona’s sun-dappled knees-up, Be Prog! My Friend is, is here to prove it. In its organiser’s own words, its latest line-up is “diverse, daring and deeply emotional.” It also typifies what the festival is all about.

Prog royalty, from Steven Wilson, Jethro Tull and Steve Hackett have headlined the intimate and intruiging festival in the past. This year, the focus is on championing the next generation of acts taking the genre to bold new places.

Germany’s heavy and ambient proggers, The Ocean, and Sweden’s visceral, vintage-modern aces Soen top the bill. Below them is an eclectic array of contemporary acts that are proving, each in their own fascinating way, just how large a scope the genre has.

It takes place under the Wembley-goes-sci-fi-like arches of the quirky Poble Espanyol, an open-air architectural museum. It’s just a stone's throw from the Fountains of Montjuïc and, in late September, the weather is still pleasingly warm – an escape from autumn as it begins to blanket Blightly.

Everything about the festival is intimate and focused, and therein lays its charm. Be Prog! does is remain focused on quality over quantity; there’s little in the way of distractions as the organisers, Madness Live, put 10 bands it thinks are worthy of your attention centre stage. Some acts will be new to many punters, and they’ll get just as much love as those they came to see. That sense of community permeates across the unusual – but wholly fitting – venue.

The first night, on Friday 25^th September, coincides with the release of The Ocean’s epic new concept album, Solaris, and it’s set to give day one an extra special sheen.

“I see like a lot of classic prog elements in Solaris,” says founding guitarist Robin Staps. “It’s got some of the proggiest tracks we’ve ever done, but at the same time, there’s a heaviness that connects with earlier Ocean albums.”

The album is intense, but in prog’s truest form, it’s meant to get mental cogs turning.

“Every great record I have discovered was initially a bit difficult for me to get into,” he continues. “But there was some black magic that kept me going back to it; that’s how I see the Ocean.”

It’s a truly immersive concept record that captures the essence of both the book and the film, and features Tangerine Dream’s Thorsten Quaeschning on modular synthesisers. It finds the group synthesising vintage prog flavours with atmospheric turns and gut-punching crescendos. But they aren’t the only band to get excited about…

Friday 25th September

After Lapse

The Madrid outfit has enough cut and thrust to get the Be Prog! 2026 party started with a bang, but beneath their muscle is a classic-leaning sound that stylishly nods to Queensrÿche and Dream Theater. It’s a sound where their technical excellence has space to shine, but without ever getting in the way of solid, hooky songwriting.

Agent Fresco

The sparkling Icelandic math rockers are the only Be Prog! alumnus reappearing in 2026. More importantly, it comes during their summer of grand returns, after a seven-year hiatus. Their Arctangent set was a triumph of emotionally vulnerable, but musically watertight contemporary prog, and they’re sure to bring tears – both happy and sad – to the eyes of many. Their music is as complex as it is charming, and they’re not to be missed.

Einar Solberg

Few vocalists in the contemporary prog scene are as enigmatic and virtuosic as Leprous’ powerhouse. Revitalised as a solo act on the orchestra-powered Vox Occulta, while there are naturally echoes of Solberg’s main outfit here, the live experience is altogether different.

He blends a traditional live rock band with cello and keys – the latter from his Leprous bandmate, Harrison White – to recreate the album’s sweeping, cinematic songcraft, while reimagining cuts from his debut solo offering, 16. It’s a very different side to the beloved musician, and is no less barnstorming.

The Dear Hunter

After sadly pulling out late on last year, Prog would like to wager on the Dear Hunter as this year’s dark horse. Why? Well, nestling on the inventive indie side of the music spectrum, Casey Crescenzo’s band are one of those bands that are impossible to pigeonhole. They’ve written a raft of concept albums based on everything from colours to post-apocalyptic dystopias; their imagination is off the scale, and they’ve enough songwriting craft and leftfield thinking within their ranks to pull off their ambitious projects time and again.

They’re a highly narrative-driven band; prepare for tales of wickedness, trickery, and majesty told to tunes from sparkling clean guitars, strings, horns, and genre-bending aplenty. It’s going to be pure cinema.

The Ocean

“This will be an experimental show for us,” says guitarist Robin Staps, with the band only two shows into bedding in their new line-up. That includes two new vocalists, Lane Shi and Enrico Tiberi.

“It’s us stepping our feet into this new water, and we’re approaching it with curiosity,” he adds. “People almost expect from us that we do something different with every record now, and with this line-up, everything feels really new, and really great. It was important for the band to have new people, approaches, and inspirations; I need that as an artist. So we’re at the beginning of a new journey now.”

Expect songs from their stunning new concept record, while their new vocalist pairing – who both also play keyboards live – gives fan favourite tracks a new lease of life.

“It’s also record release day for us,” Staps adds with a cheeky smile, “So it’s kind of an unofficial record release party as well. It’s going to be fun!”

Saturday 26th September

Separis Project

Kicking off day two, the Bareclonanians stand out for their deft balance of minimalism and minimalism. This is a band that, with gentle acoustic passages and classical-styled refrains, can be whisper quiet. In the same song, Kristina Vega’s expansive vocals can send it soaring, while a barrage of ultra-complex heaviness acts as an indelible punctuation mark. Life is about balance, and Separis Project have theirs nailed.

Iotunn

The Danish/Faroese band has thrown the kitchen sink at their 2024 album, Kinship, and they’ve rightly been hailed for it. Lyrically, it follows a prehistoric tribesman’s life and afterlife, while exploring everything from nature to individuality and the interconnectedness of everything. Musically, it’s a brooding storm of space rock, melodeath and power metal, with their palette kept broad in the name of storytelling. They’re a fine pick.

Rendezvous Point

The second Leprous offshoot of the weekend, Rendezvous Point most notably features the impossibly talented drummer, Baard Kolstad. The shared musical DNA is clear, but the band also has a more Muse-tinted alt-rock edge, and some truly phenomenal vocals.

But don’t take our word for it - speaking to Prog in 2024, keyboardist Nicolay Tangen Svennæs described their sound as “melodic prog rock with some fast guitars and odd time signatures,” while explaining how they enjoy the freedom “to break the limits of the genre.” Expect plenty of plot twists.

Green Carnation

The Norwegian troupe are currently promoting the final part of a three-album trilogy exploring abusive childhoods and loved ones in crisis. Yet, as harrowing as it sounds, the way they balance their foreboding goth and doom metal influences with ethereal, folky turns makes the A Dark Poem saga special.

They make the marriage of their genres feel natural, and have found themselves at the forefront of modern prog by moving with the times without forgetting the majesty of the classics. Don’t be surprised to see them headlining in future editions. For now, bask in their harmonious darkness... likely in gorgeous, juxtaposing weather.

Soen

The Swedes have long since unshackled themselves from their supergroup tag to become a fine vintage-modern prog in their own unequivocal right. They’re equally as inspired by Judas Priest, Pink Floyd and Yes as they are Tool, djent, and maybe even a dash of Sleep Token on their fierce and finessed new album, Reliance.

Most importantly, they’re a towering presence on stage, and have a near-faultless back catalogue to pull from. Between Joel Ekelöf’s incredibly emotive voice and probing lyrics, tackling everything from personal grief to rallying against corrupt authorities, and former Opeth drummer Martín López’s uncompromising yet always accessible approach to rhythm, the band have something very unique. Under the cover of darkness, the Be Prog! stage is the perfect place for them to shine.

KEY INFO

The venue is now located in the far corner of Poble Espanyol, occupying a quant and well-signposted 1,000 capacity spot. The line-up features five bands per day, with one stage, meaning there are no clashes and running about between tents.

Doors open at 3pm each day, and the first band due to start at 4.00pm. The headline shows will conclude by midnight.

LINE-UP FRIDAY 25 SEPTEMBER (Doors at 3pm) After Lapse, Agent Fresco, Einar Solberg, The Dear Hunter, The Ocean

LINE-UP SATURDAY 26 SEPTEMBER (Doors at 3pm) Separis Project, Iotunn, Rendezvous Project, Green Carnatrion, Soen

LOCATION: The festival takes place at Poble Espanyol, Av Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, 13, 08038, Barcelona, Spain. It’s a 30 minute walk from the characterful Las Ramblas street and is easily accessible via public transport.

TRAVEL: Barcelona is 7.5 miles away. Public transport is recommended to reach the festival site. The closest metro station is Espanya, a 10 minute walk from the venue. The nearest bus stop is called Poble. There is also ample private parking.

DISABLED ACCESS: There’s a disabled viewing area at the event.

OTHER ATTRACTIONS: With the festival site opening at 3pm each day, there’s time to explore the city beforehand. Food and drinks can be purchased within the venue too, with a wide range catering for all diets.

ACCOMMODATION: Please note that Be Prog! is not a camping festival. Instead, try local hotels or Airbnb for a place to rest your music filled head.

ABOUT THE LOCATION: Built in 1929, Poble Espanyol is designed to look like a historic Spanish village, with replicas of buildings from different regions. Its village plays host to craft workshops, bars and restaurants. Please note: Museu Fran Daurel art gallery will be closed during the Be Prog! Festival.

DON’T FORGET TO PACK: Sun cream, sunglasses, water and ear protectors. There’s also be a merch stand for, so don’t forget to bring a few extra Euros to show your support to the bands performing.

Disclaimer: All details are correct at time of press. Visit the Be Prog! website for the latest info.

Be Prog! My Friend

In just four years, Spiritbox have gone from playing the 800-capacity O2 Academy in Islington to headlining the UK's biggest arena. Granted, Manchester's Co-Op Live isn't being used to its full capacity - curtains cover the upper decks and the room is maybe half-open, but the Canadians have managed to speedrun a progression that took Sleep Token six years - seven if we're talking full arena tours - Ghost nine years and Bring Me The Horizon a decade.

It's also their first real test as potential torchbearers for metal's future. With a supporting line-up of hot, rising acts, Spiritbox have at least avoided the pipeline of dragging out legacy bands to bolster bigger tours. You'd need to get in early if you hoped to see openers Dying Wish, but as the clock ticks towards 8pm Jinjer are greeted by a full floor.

Back in 2019, the Ukrainians seemingly couldn't play anywhere without being greeted by big SOLD OUT signs across the board, so their jump up to arena-sized stages has been a long time coming. But their biggest obstacle comes in translating their technical, acrobatic prog metal to bigger rooms. Perennial arrives with all the ferocity and violence of a Great White ram-raiding a seal, while Call Me A Symbol offers an apocalyptic death metal bluster. But there's also a distinct lack of big hooks, and impressive as Tatiana Shmayluk's range is - her voice rapidly switching between off-kilter melodies and throaty snarls - there's few moments for the crowd to roar along in rapturous release.

With limited production, Jinjer are still adjusting to the space they're playing. The rest of the band's all-black ensemble means they often seem to disappear into the background and while it sets a stark contrast against Tatiana's all-silver get-up that lends her the air of a rampaging crusader, it means they also feel lacking in presence. Still, the set picks up nicely in its second half, I Speak Astronomy earning an excitable pit, while Judgement & Punishment chucks up some careening force. But it's still breakthrough single Pisces that feels like the centrepiece of the set, its swinging dynamics bringing to mind the impressive sonic dexterity of Opeth.

From their incendiary Download Festival debut to the massive Alexandra Palace gig that tied a bow on their Eternal Blue era, it's been obvious Spiritbox are eyeing up the upper echelons of the metal world. The Tsunami Sea tour could well be the crucial stepping stone to getting them to the top. It's not a flawless transition, mind.

Silhouetted behind a giant curtain, there's a nice sense of drama to how Spiritbox arrive to the stage, Courtney's shimmying form projected as a colossal figure before the curtain drops and they kick out an impressively furious one-two of Fata Morgana and Black Rainbow. Intense as those tracks are, it feels like the band only fully arrive with Perfect Soul, the pay-off of having a big anthem helping to boost the energy in the room, Keep Sweet keeping that joyous spirit going and Soft Spine is introduced with an almighty roar of "You all deserve each other!", streamers blasted out over the crowd as the riff drops.

It's not quite Parkway Drive or Sabaton, but things like that, the shimmering light show and a bubble machine that sprays for Tsunami Sea add nice little touches to the set that show Spiritbox are thinking about how they want to enhance their live shows.

By their own admission, the biggest obstacle is working out their sequencing. These shows feel almost like a send-off for Tsunami Sea to clear the path for what comes next. While it's definitely great to hear so much of the album - eight of the record's eleven tracks - it feels like some obvious massive tunes from their debut - Hurt You, Secret Garden - could've served the big room well.

It becomes most obvious towards the end of the set. Introducing the next track, Courtney acknowledges that Holy Roller was the song that changed everything for Spiritbox. But rather than being the big finish, it and Circle With Me arrive as something of a premature climax - a powerful one-two, but also an all-too early peak with four more songs to go. We spot a few bodies making a tactical early exit - it is a school night, after all - and while there's seldom a good spot for a drum solo in the set, the fact it comes so late in the game just adds to the weird, post-orgasmic lull.

There's still a couple of highlights. Crystal Roses goes full trance to the point we're half-expecting Maxi Jazz (RIP) to drop a bar, and new single Mourning yields some Deftones-like crashing waves. But its obvious that Spiritbox need something bigger to really bring everything back home again.

In many ways though, that's a great problem to have: anecdotally, Metallica wrote The Black Album after realising the more complex arrangements of Justice For All didn't work in the massive rooms they were playing, and Ghost came up with Square Hammer to give them a big, orgiastic conclusion. If this is what Spiritbox can do without that big, all-conquering anthem, just imagine what they'll do next.

In another, better, universe, Moonspell would be absolutely massive. Granted, they've not done badly for themselves - five number one records and a Gold Certification in their home country of Portugal for 2006's Memorial - but as a band who've been namechecked by HIM as an influence and were part of the 90s goth metal boom, they certainly deserve better than the smattering of support slots that's consistuted their UK tours this decade thus far.

So, we've sacked the UK off and come to Portugal to see them on home turf. Ish. Playing up the road from their homebase of Lisbon in the mountainous region of Sintra, Moonspell are playing the first gig of its kind in the grounds of a stately home. There's a couple thousand fans milling around, only its all gone tits up.

Partway through opener Cross Your Heart, everything cuts out and everything is plunged into darkness. It takes a good 35 minutes before Moonspell return to the stage - we're later told one of the production hires for the gig had inadvertently plugged a light into an amp, causing a blowout - but thankfully the crowd is an eager (if somewhat captive) audience and grumbling is kept to a bare minimum. When they do return, Moonspell show what they're made of.

Portugal's biggest metal band, they take to the occasion with a sense of pomp and theatricality that is begging for TikTok take off. Hey, if it can happen for Crowbar, it can happen for anyone. Not that there's any novelty production: the papier-mâché bats have been left in the belfry and Moonspell are letting their songs do the talking, reaching an appropriately vampiric, otherworldly peak on the likes of Mephisto and Vampiria. Playing new album Far From God in its entirety, they chuck in the vast majority of 1996's Irreligious (only intro Peverse... Almost Religious and dancey interlude Subversion skipped) as an added bonus.

Early on, new songs Cross Your Heart and Far From God prove fine additions to the Moonspell catalogue, easily as hooky and slick as fan-favourites like Opium or Alma Mater (which thankfully gets an inclusion in the set, even with the focus on other records). Elsewhere, there's the stomping heft of For A Taste Of Eternity that hints towards their extreme metal past, and even a headlong plunge into 80s synthpop territory on For The Love Of Mortals and Raven Claws, the latter seeing vocalist Mariangela Demurtas hop on for the most satisfying new romantics revival this side of Paradise Lost's Smalltown Boy cover.

Set against the dramatic backdrop of Quinta da Ribafria and with a light show that would do Jeff Wayne proud, the show has a genuine sense of occasion. Moonspell might still be goth metal's best kept secret, but for one night in Portugal, they feel like the kings of lusty, dark allure.

Moonspell setlist @ Quinta da Ribafria, Sintra September 12 2026

1. Cross Your Heart
2. Far From God
3. Biblical
4. Opium
5. Awake!
6. For A Taste Of Eternity
7. The Great Wolf In The Sky
8. Your Promise Of Light
9. For The Love Of Mortals
10. Ruin & Mortals
11. A Poisoned Gift
12. Raven Claws
13. Mephisto
14. Herr Spiegelmann
15. Our Freedom To Fall
16. Reconquista
17. Vampiria
18. Alma Mater
19. Full Moon Madness

Fans have clamoured for Amy Lee, Courtney LaPlante and Poppy to tour together since last year's End Of You collab broke the internet, and it's finally happened - albeit a little split up, with Evanescence taking Spiritbox with them on some dates of their ongoing world tour, and Poppy jumping on for others.

It's Poppy joining the fun at the O2 in London tonight, alongside alt singer-songwriter K.Flay K.Flay has featured on a myriad of other artists’ songs, though it seems she’s never quite carved out a proper niche of her own; sited somewhere between indie, grunge and pop rock with fuzzed-out bass and laid back vocal delivery, it’s not an immediately obvious fit for an Evanescence crowd, but the room filling out and front rows nodding along indicates it’s at least going down reasonably well.

Poppy strides onstage confidently as her band opens with the arena-sized metalcore of Have You Had Enough. The equally mammoth The Cost of Giving Up follows, both polished bangers greeted by a horde of phones filming up front.

The famously reticent singer doesn’t initially speak much between songs, though it seems less like the robotic Poppy character of old, rather that the music is left to speak for her. Gone are the prerecorded, vocoder-laden interludes; instead she packs the set with as many songs from her recent two albums as she can, though an early Scary Mask is a glimpse into the more experimental artist she used to be as it flits from bubblegum pop ballad to searing metal to electronica.

It takes until VAN for the first pit to appear but, to Poppy's credit, she manages to incite a much larger one for finale New Way Out that finally sees her own stage energy levels returned by the crowd. By the end of her 50-minute set, she’s clearly having a blast.

Three decades into a career and over two since smash hit 2003 debut Fallen, Evanescence could well have spent the time since resting on their laurels and touring the hits. It’s to their credit that tonight’s setlist includes the entirety of new album Sanctuary woven through it.

Opening with its title track and Tell Me When You’ve Had Enough, it’s gratifying to see a crowd so up for new material despite Fallen’s long shadow. It barely needs saying but Amy Lee sounds phenomenal: a generational, immediately recognisable voice that’s propelled the band to legendary status.

Perhaps it’s an indication of this crowd’s average age now but they’re strangely immobile for the headline act, heads nodding and one small pit present, but little else. Despite this, everyone's enjoying themselves - plenty are bellowing choruses back. Naturally, the older material still gets the biggest reactions, with Going Under receiving deafening cheers, while the venomous Call Me When You’re Sober offers a sumptuous light show at odds with its restrained fury.

The band is joined by K.Flay for rebellious, feminist anthem Fight Like A Girl, while End Of You has lashings of pyro and a surprise guest spot not only from Poppy but Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante herself, the trio greeted by screams of adoration.

It’s easily the highlight of the set in terms of sheer spectacle and the huge audience pop, but Evanescence are on top form throughout tonight. The arena lights up with phone torches for the tender My Immortal, creating an air of melodramatic splendour, and while there's a noticeable number of people leaving during final song Wide Open Heart, it's still ultimately been a triumph of an evening, driven by some of rock’s most enduring, iconic songs.

Satyricon vocalist Sigurd “Satyr” Wongraven has looked back on the strange night his diabolical black metal band played at a Norwegian fashion show.

The Oslo duo performed their 2006 single K.I.N.G. on the catwalk at the 2011 edition of the Nordic World Ski Championships, playing the snarling metal track as models walked past in high-end dresses. Looking back during an interview with Metal Hammer, Wongraven, 50, calls the booking “bizarre” and admits he still has no clue who came up with the idea.

“The production was done by NRK, which is Norway’s equivalent to the BBC,” he explains. “And if you do anything with NRK, they will do it exactly the way that they want to. They’re not gonna sit down with a band and go, ‘How do you want it, guys?’”

The only theory Wongraven can come up with is that the organisers wanted to blend skiing, something “deeply rooted in our [Norwegian] sporting culture”, with black metal, “something else that is uniquely Norwegian”, and “show it to the world”. But, “I have no idea who came up with the idea to blend it with a fashion show!”

Elsewhere in the interview, Wongraven talks further about the creation of K.I.N.G., the lead single from his band’s 2006 album, Now, Diabolical. The heavy, groovy track – sometimes referred to as ‘black’n’roll’, a term Satyricon reject – saw the band remove keyboards and technical drum parts from their sound.

“Now, Diabolical was trusting more that a song could be more powerful if we strip it of unnecessary elements,” Wongraven recalls. “When you think of Iron Man by Black Sabbath or Let There Be Rock by AC/DC, you think of the signature riff, and when you have a riff that can carry a whole song on its shoulders, everything from this point onwards is about what complements that part.”

Upon release in April 2006, Now, Diabolical was the band’s biggest commercial hit, reaching number two on the Norwegian charts. It also charted in Finland, Sweden and the UK. K.I.N.G. became their biggest song: at time of publication, it has 19,800,000 Spotify streams, more than double their next-biggest track, 2002’s Black Crow On A Tombstone.

Satyricon’s last album, 2022’s Satyricon & Munch, marked a stark departure from their black metal sound. It was a single, hour-long, atmospheric song, designed to soundtrack the art exhibition of the same name that the band put on at Oslo’s Edvard Munch Museum. In 2024, Wongraven said that Satyricon’s next album will be “more conventional” but “very, very varied”.

The band will tour Europe from September to November. The first show will take place at the Floyd venue in Athens, Greece on September 18. On October 31, they’ll support Dimmu Borgir at Oslo Spektrum in their hometown, with Enslaved opening. They’re also booked to headline Damnation festival in Manchester on November 8.

A man has accepted a charge of outraging public decency at Leicester Magistrates Court after being seen having sex on a Ferris wheel at Download Festival in June.

Nottinghamshire man Innes Miller, 33, pleaded guilty to the offence following the incident at the festival on June 13.

Footage of the encounter, which took place shortly before headliners Guns N’ Roses took the main stage on the Saturday evening was widely circulated over social media after the festival. And it was reported in court that Miller learned of the public outcry after his boss rang him to tell him, 'You’re all over the internet'."

Miller had initially refused to comment when questioned by police, but pleaded guilty during his court appearance yesterday, September 10.

The complaint against Miller was made by a woman who had taken her son for a ride on the Ferris wheel at the same time.

The Nottingham Post reports that prosecutor Sally Bedford told the court, "At lunchtime on the Saturday, [the witness] decided to take her young son on the Ferris wheel.

"Her son, who has autism, looked round and said, 'Oh my God, what are they doing?'

"She looked and could see the woman standing up but bent over, and her head was hanging to the side, and the man was behind, and they were clearly engaging in sexual intercourse.

"Other people with children were having picnics, and a number of people's attention was drawn to what was going on.

"[The witness] said she was mortified. She said her son was in shock and since the incident, her son's behaviour has changed."

When contacted by police, the woman involved in the incident, who had met Miller earlier on the day in question, was apologetic and admitted the offence immediately, and therefore was not prosecuted.

Miller, who is studying civil engineering at Nottingham College, was fined £80 and ordered to pay £85 court costs and a £32 victim surcharge. His lawyer told the court that he was "thoroughly ashamed and embarrassed" about the "moment of madness".

Turnstile have added Obituary to the lineup of one of their US shows this month.

The Tampa death metal nasties will support the Baltimore hardcore punk stars during their stop at the Red Hat Amphitheater in Raleigh, North Carolina, on September 29, alongside Angel Du$t and Agnostic Front. Meanwhile, metallic hardcore outfit No Warning have been added to the bill this Saturday, September 12, at Woodbine Park in Toronto, Canada.

The acts replace electronic musician Yves Tumor on their respective lineups, after Tumor was accused of sexual assault and abusive behaviour last month. Tumor strenuously denies the allegations. The artist has also dropped out of Turnstile’s gig in Portland, Maine on September 26, with no replacement yet announced.

Obituary and No Warning join a genre-busting selection of support acts that Turnstile have put together for their ongoing North American tour. Appearing at select other dates are hardcore luminaries Hatebreed, rising rock band Die Spitz, synthpop project Porches, electropop musician Slayyyter, hip-hop duo Clipse and more.

Obituary’s addition to the Raleigh gig has surprised fans on social media. “What a random-ass lineup,” one commenter writes. “This is like Black Sabbath opening for Green Day,” says another.

However, Turnstile have a history of demolishing genre constraints. Last month, they issued a remixed edition of their 2025 album Never Enough, under the title Never Enough: Versions, featuring a roster of guest musicians including Elton John, Paramore singer Hayley Williams and death metal punishers Dying Fetus. Louder gave the album four stars out of five and called it “one of 2026’s boldest and most entertaining releases”.

Turnstile’s North American tour kicked off on September 5 at Bumbershoot festival in Seattle, just six days after they played MEO Kalorama festival in Lisbon, Portugal, 5,200 miles away. They performed at The Rave in Milwaukee on Wednesday, September 9, and touring continues on Friday, September 11, at Russell Industrial Center in Detroit.

This packed travel schedule continues what has been a whirlwind year for Turnstile since Never Enough’s release last June. The album was a commercial success, topping the UK Rock & Metal chart, and critically acclaimed. The band were nominated for five Grammy Awards at the 2026 ceremony and took home two: Never Enough won Best Rock Album and the single Birds won Best Metal Performance.

Meanwhile, Turnstile’s former guitarist, Brady Ebert, remains in custody after allegedly driving his car at William Yates, the 79-year-old father of frontman Brendan Yates. He was arrested in April and stands accused of attempted first- and second-degree murder. After insisting in court that he “did not commit a crime”, Ebert has been ordered to undergo a competency evaluation, to determine if he has the mental capacity to understand the charges against him.

Evanescence singer Amy Lee and pop-metal solo artist Poppy have played End Of You, their collaborative track with Spiritbox frontwoman Courtney LaPlante, live for the first time ever.

The pair performed the 2025 standalone single at the first date of Evanescence’s European tour on Tuesday, September 8, at First Direct Arena in Leeds. Poppy is a support act on the tour, along with US singer K.Flay. Even though LaPlante wasn’t present, it was the first time End Of You has been played onstage since its release last September.

The End Of You debut was part of a 22-song setlist that featured material from Evanescence’s new album, Sanctuary, plus such hits as Bring Me To Life and My Immortal. K.Flay appeared onstage for their collaborative single Fight Like A Girl, which was part of the soundtrack to 2025 action film Ballerina before making it onto the Sanctuary tracklisting. See the setlist and watch the End Of You debut below.

End Of You was produced by ex-Bring Me The Horizon member Jordan Fish and released on September 4, 2025, via Sumerian Records. The idea for the song came during the making of Poppy’s 2024 album Negative Spaces, from a conversation between her and producer Fish.

“I knew he was friends with Amy, and I thought she would really be a great person to meet and get to talk to,” Poppy told NME. “It was mine and Jordan’s idea to start with, and then we thought, ‘What if we made our version of a dark Moulin Rouge [referring to Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 jukebox musical], like Lady Marmalade?”

Lee said that the lyrics were about “about taking on the patriarchy”: “In order to make way for the new, we have to let some old ways die, and I don’t feel that should be as hard as it is. I love change, and things can stand to definitely get a lot better than they are right now. It’s about challenging the norms and showing how strong we are when unified as women.”

Although more music from the three singers wasn’t in the pipeline when End Of You came out, Lee said she was open to future collaborations with Poppy and LaPlante, including appearing on a game show with them. “We’ll see what fun shenanigans could come out of this collab!” she said.

Sanctuary came out in June and received positive reviews, including four stars from Metal Hammer. Evanescence’s tour continues tonight, September 10, at Co-op Live in Manchester. See the remaining dates and get tickets via their website.

Meanwhile, Spiritbox released a new single, Mourning, this week and are about to embark on a European tour of their own with Jinjer and Dying Wish. The first show takes place at Sec Hall 3 in Glasgow on Saturday, September 12.

Evanescence setlist: First Direct Arena, Leeds, UK – September 8, 2026

1. Sanctuary
2. Tell Me When You’ve Had Enough
3. Afterlife
4. Rapture
5. Going Under
6. Lithium
7. Like You
8. Self Destruct
9. Calm Down
10. Call Me When You’re Sober
11. Fight Like A Girl (with K.Flay)
12. Beautiful Lie
13. Wasted On You
14. Forever Without You
15. Bring Me To Life
16. Imaginary
17. Better Without You
18. About Us
19. End Of You (with Poppy)
20. Who Will You Follow
21. My Immortal
22. Wide Open Heart

Live footage of Slayer playing 1986 album Reign In Blood in full has made its way online.

The California thrash metal hellraisers kicked off a tour celebrating 40 years of their most lauded release with a show at Mystic Lake Amphitheater in Shakopee, Minnesota on September 4. They dusted off an assortment of hits before finishing with Reign… in its 28-minute entirety: the first time they’ve performed the whole thing since 2014.

Watch footage of the complete Reign… section of the show below.

The Reign In Blood 40th-anniversary tour resumed at Rocklahoma in Pryor, Oklahoma on September 6. It will pick back up with a stop at Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City on October 21, then continue for more North and Latin American dates. See the full list of dates below.

Slayer’s third full-length album, Reign In Blood was produced by Rick Rubin (then known for his collaborations with such hip-hop stars as the Beastie Boys and Run-DMC) and released via Rubin’s label, Def Jam. It charted in the UK and US and won critical acclaim. In 2017, Rolling Stone put it at number six on their list of the 100 greatest metal albums of all time.

Reign… faced public backlash due to its album art and lyrical themes. Conservative commentators accused Slayer of having Nazi sympathies due to the opening song Angel Of Death, which was about Josef Mengele and his experimental surgeries at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The band have repeatedly denied that they support Nazism.

Guitarist Kerry King said of the controversy during a Loudwire interview in 2015: “My rebuttal to that has been since day one, if you put that on the History Channel and took Slayer out of it, it would be an educational, intriguing ride through World War II. You put Slayer in, and heavy metal, and it’s, ‘Oh, they meant that shit!’”

Slayer retired from touring in 2019 but reunited in 2024 and have since played standalone shows and short tours. Talking to Australia’s Metal Roos in 2024, King dismissed the possibility of a new Slayer album and more extensive touring.

“Mark my words: we’re never gonna make a record again, we’re never gonna tour again," he said. “Because that was the last thing. We said [in 2019], ‘This is our final tour.’ It took five years for us to come and say, ‘Hey, here’s a couple of shows, five-year anniversary.’”

Slayer’s final album, Repentless, came out in 2015. King took his ideas for a scrapped follow-up and used them to start a solo band. His first album under his own name, From Hell I Rise, came out in 2024. A second album is in the works.

Slayer Reign In Blood: 40th Anniversary tour dates:

• Oct 21: Mexico City Palacio de los Deportes, Mexico
• Oct 24: Fort Worth Sick New World, TX
• Nov 13: Inglewood Kia Forum, CA
• Nov 14: Inglewood Kia Forum, CA
• Dec 05: Bogota Vive Claro – Distrito Cultural, Colombia
• Dec 10: Santiago Estadio Santa Laura, Chile
• Dec 14: Buenos Aires Movistar Arena, Argentina
• Dec 17: São Paulo Nubank Parque, Brazil

Ex-Arch Enemy singer Alissa White-Gluz’s new band Blue Medusa made their surprise live debut at a German club show on Friday (September 4).

The five-piece, who emerged in March, played four songs at the Huxleys Neue Welt concert hall in Berlin: the originals Flying Monkey, Crocodile and Checkmate, plus a cover of White-Gluz and ex-Alice Cooper guitarist Nita Strauss’ 2023 collaborative single The Wolf You Feed.

The gig, put on by local record label Corrupted Blood Records, also featured sets from Kreator and Heaven Shall Burn, with each performance being live-streamed on Twitch. Watch the Blue Medusa show below.

Corrupted Blood made multiple announcements over the course of the concert, including their own festival for summer 2027, Corrupted Blood Open Air, with a 10,000-person capacity. They also revealed an exclusive merch drop in collaboration with Kreator. Items are available to buy now via the Corrupted Blood website.

Blue Medusa – rounded out by guitarists Alyssa Day and Dani Sophia, drummer Delaney Jaster and bassist Alicia Vigil – are one of a number of projects to which White-Gluz has dedicated herself following her Arch Enemy exit. She ended her 11-year tenure in the international melodeath firebrands on November 23, later explaining that she couldn’t treat music “like just another day at the office”.

On the same day, she released her debut solo single, The Room Where She Died. She launched Blue Medusa on International Women’s Day, March 8. Marketing materials said that fans “can expect the same signature ferocity, theatrical energy and vocal firepower that have defined White-Gluz’s career, now unleashed in a fresh, expansive and electrifying setting”. Checkmate, their first single, followed on March 20.

Blue Medusa dropped their latest song, Crocodile, on September 4, the same day as the Corrupted Blood show. White-Gluz said the thrashy track “is about that feeling that you’re being watched... that instinctive dread when you know something dangerous is nearby, even though you can’t see it”.

“It’s the feeling that something is lurking just beneath the surface of what appears to be safe or familiar,” she added. “That tension between what you perceive and what you sense; that is where the song lives.”

As well as starting her solo career and forming Blue Medusa, White-Gluz announced in May that she’d joined UK power metal beloveds Dragonforce as co-lead singer, alongside continuing frontman Marc Hudson. She previously collaborated with the band on an alternative version of their 2024 single Burning Heart, from the album Warp Speed Warriors.

Dragonforce have yet to release further music with White-Gluz but they’re gearing up for a tour celebrating 20 years of their breakthrough 2006 album Inhuman Rampage. See dates and get tickets via their website.

Tickets to the 2027 70,000 Tons Of Metal cruise have gone on sale, with 30 of the 60 bands set to play the nautical festival confirmed.

Public sales commenced today (Monday, September 7) at 12 midday Eastern Time and 5pm UK time. Single and group cabins are available. Head to 70000tons.com for details.

The 15th edition of the annual, 3,000-capacity heavy metal cruise will set sail from Miami, Florida on Royal Caribbean’s ship Freedom Of The Seas on January 14. It’ll make its way to Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic before returning on January 18.

Bands confirmed so far include international melodic death metal favourites Arch Enemy, California thrash metal veterans Exodus, former Scorpions guitarist Uli Jon Roth and Portuguese goth metal outfit Moonspell. The full list is available below.

In addition, it’s been announced that Finnish metal band Wolfheart will premiere their upcoming, as-yet-unannounced studio album at a listening event.

“It is an absolute honour to step on the deck of the mighty 70,000 Tons Of Metal for the third time, on one of the most majestic metal events in this universe,” says bandleader Tuomas Saukkonen. “This time we are bringing something special with us: the world live premiere of our forthcoming album!”

Organisers say that, as well as performances, “the festival offers round-the-clock entertainment, from explosive performances on the biggest open-air stage structure to ever sail the open Seas, to artist-hosted activities and events, meet-and-greets with every band, and the opportunity for fans to mingle with their heavy metal heroes in a unique environment”.

Hammer boarded the 14th 70,000 Tons Of Metal earlier this year and saw sets by Anthrax, Paradise Lost, Soilwork, Amorphis and more across the four-day trip.

“70,000 Tons isn’t a rinkydink festival on a boat; it’s more like a floating city, the Freedom Of The Seas ship offering an almost insane amount of space for a few thousand metalheads,” journalist Rich Hobson wrote upon his return.

“70,000 Tons is more like a continental festival than your Downloads or even Aftershocks. What that means is, bands go late. This year’s event sees bands starting as early as 10am, and the last band going on-stage at 5am. Ooft.”

70,000 Tons Of Metal 2027 lineup:

• Abigail Williams
• Æther Realm
• Arch Enemy
• Avaland
• Battlelore
• Brainstorm
• Brymir
• Die Apokalyptischen Reiter
• Enforcer
• Equilibrium
• Evergrey
• Exmortus
• Exodus
• Famous Strangers
• Hammerfall
• Melechesh
• Moonspell
• Mors Principium Est
• Naglfar
• Obscura
• Origin
• Primal Fear
• Rhapsody
• Sinister
• Talia Hoit
• Thulcandra
• Uli Jon Roth
• Warbringer
• Wolfheart
• Ye Banished Privateers

Autumn’s creeping in, which means shorter days and colder temperatures. But, worst of all, it means that festival season is over. This year’s summer was crazier than most, witnessing auspicious headline debuts such as Limp Bizkit at Download and Green Lung at Desertfest. New events emerged, like Ankea in Finland, while others underwent sea changes, as Arctangent in Bristol and Mystic in Poland both bade farewell to their longtime sites. Plus, who didn’t get swept up in the controversy of Slaughter To Prevail topping the bill at Bloodstock?

There’s a lot to reflect on. So, as the leaves turn orange and the clouds grow greyer, we sat down members of the Metal Hammer team and got them to reminisce about the best sets they saw in 2026. From Linkin Park to Blood Incantation, we got quite the range of responses…

Halestorm (Sonic Temple, USA; May 15)

It’s always been obvious that Lzzy Hale has enormous star power. Having watched Halestorm claw their way up from small clubs to headlining arenas, it felt fitting to finally see them in a stadium. Even though they brought more production to their Download set the following month – who doesn’t love a bit of pyro? – the Pennsylvanians were on top form when they played Ohio’s Historic Crew Stadium in May. Tight, powerful and showy without being ostentatious, it was an essential performance which proved that Halestorm are long overdue their chance at the big leagues. Rich Hobson

Sergeant Thunderhoof (Desertfest, UK; May 15)

One of the worst aspects of the human experience is that sometimes you forget how much you love something. When I saw Sergeant Thunderhoof again at Desertfest this year, I remembered it all. They stepped in on quite short notice, after Rubber Snake Charmers dropped out, and what a performance! Their music is effortlessly epic while managing to be crushingly heavy: a veritable smorgasbord of the best doom metal has to offer, and they continue to go from strength to strength. They played for an hour, but I could talk about why I loved their show for way longer than that. Kiarash Golshani

Oranssi Pazuzu (Ankea, Finland; June 6)

Tampere’s psychedeliacs didn’t officially headline this debuting prog metal festival in their hometown, but they may as well have. Taking the second stage early after Katatonia ran 15 minutes short, the quintet played an extended set before a rapt crowd. Their noise/extreme metal/krautrock fusion, dizzying at the best of times, proved even more disorienting through the oppressive volume. Meanwhile, the video backdrop screened footage abstract and vibrant enough for the opening titles of Doctor Who. Even though I’ve never done hallucinogenic drugs, now that I’ve taken this multimedia trip to the outer reaches of music, it feels like I have. Matt Mills

Linkin Park (Download, UK; June 14)

If there were any remaining doubts that Emily Armstrong is the perfect person to lead Linkin Park into a new era of success, they’d have been quashed with this triumphant showing. Armstrong became the first female singer to headline Download festival since its 2003 launch (and to headline Donington Park in general), and the nu metal superstars marked the occasion with a jaw-dropping setlist of hits and deep cuts, transporting everyone back to the 2000s. No drink, drug or medical intervention will ever replicate screaming Numb at the top of your lungs as the sun sets over 80,000 people. Yasmine Summan

Blood Incantation (Beyond The Gates, Norway; July 31)

Blood Incantation had seemingly been touring Absolute Elsewhere for aeons, but the last visitation of their European leg, at Bergen’s Grieghallen concert hall, brought their cosmic travelogues to a new level of spectacular. Yeah, Pompeii was probably fine, but it didn’t have lasers. Here, they criss-crossed the auditorium in their multitudes, as if it were a parade for some intergalactic emperor. They formed wireframe worlds in tribute to the 70s planetariums where Pink Floyd would be the go-to soundtrack. Add to that the immaculate acoustics and a band whose vast, mind-melting reaches instil a singular sense of belonging, and the result was 2,200 souls teleported to a new frontier of awe. Jonathan Selzer

Arch Enemy (Wacken Open Air, Germany; August 1)

Following in the footsteps of one beloved metal singer can be hard work. Following in the footsteps of two of them – three if you count OG vocalist Johan Liiva – is a hell of an ask. But that’s exactly what was demanded of Lauren Hart when she was announced as Arch Enemy’s fourth frontperson earlier this year, replacing Alissa White-Gluz. At by far their biggest show so far with their new recruit, the melodeath brutes were greeted like returning heroes, smashing through a triumphant set in front of tens of thousands. Hart seemed at home while bellowing her way through Ravenous, Nemesis and War Eternal. Recent single To The Last Breath sounded every bit as colossal live as those classics. As a fan of some 25 years, the gig left me excited for their future. Merlin Alderslade

Body Count (Bloodstock Open Air, UK; August 9)

What’s the anatomy of a great festival set? You need the setting: a packed Bloodstock main stage in the blazing sun would do it. How about some star power? Few are more iconic than OG gangsta rapper Ice-T, backed by his Body Count crew. And, obviously, you need the tunes. Imagine the chutzpah to open with Body Count’s In The House, then launching straight into a Raining Blood cover. You also want a memorable one-off event. Ice grabbing two kids out of the crowd and getting them to yell “talk shit, get shot!”, along with all other manner of profanities, along with him will live long in the memory. On all counts, the set of the summer. Stephen Hill

Deftones (All Points East Presents Outbreak, UK; August 23)

In an uncertain, over-stimulated world sporadically punctuated by shocks, violence and lingering trauma, you can see why Deftones’ whisper-to-scream, nightmare-to-dream dynamics make sense to more people than ever. At APE/Outbreak, the excitement displayed by thousands of Gen Z fans obviously seeing the band for the first time added to the sense of occasion, while older loyalists were in agreement that Chino Moreno’s band have never sounded better. Was it as intense as when I saw them play a 90-minute, White Pony-dominated set for an audience of just three in their Sacramento rehearsal space in the summer of 2000? No, admittedly. But more than a quarter of a century later, Deftones have aged magnificently. Unlike me… Paul Brannigan

Arch Enemy have released the full, pro-shot video of their 85-minute headline set at German metal festival Summer Breeze last month.

The footage will be many fans’ first time seeing the international melodic death metal firebrands in action with their new singer Lauren Hart. Hart, formerly of US metal bands Once Human and Divine Heresy, joined in February, replacing longtime frontwoman Alissa White-Gluz.

During the Summer Breeze performance, Arch Enemy played their first single with Hart, February’s To The Last Breath, as well as material that originally featured their three former singers: White-Gluz, Angela Gossow and Johan Liiva. Watch and take a look at the setlist below.

Arch Enemy’s Summer Breeze set was part of a larger European tour where they played festivals and intimate headline shows. In the UK, the band played at the Underworld in London and Rebellion in Manchester, each of which has a capacity of around 500 people. They also played at the Motocultor, Wacken Open Air and Alcatraz festivals, among others.

Arch Enemy will return to the road next month, when they co-headline a run of North American dates with fellow melodic death metal act The Black Dahlia Murder. Septicflesh, Crypta and Thrown Into Exile will support. After that, the band will play on the 70,000 Tons Of Metal cruise from January 14 to 18. See details and get tickets via their website.

White-Gluz left Arch Enemy in November 2025, ending her near-12-year tenure in the lineup. Though she didn’t give a reason for her exit in her initial statement, talking to Metal Hammer Germany, she said, “I really love music and art, I can’t bear to treat it like just another day at the office.”

White-Gluz released her debut solo single, The Room Where She Died, the same day that she announced her Arch Enemy exit. She later formed the extreme metal band Blue Medusa with guitarists Alyssa Day and Dani Sophia and joined UK power metal veterans Dragonforce as their co-lead singer, alongside continuing vocalist Marc Hudson.

When Arch Enemy revealed Hart as their new frontwoman and released To The Last Breath, founding guitarist Michael Amott said, “Working with [Hart] was an exceptional experience – her remarkable voice, coupled with her dedication and professionalism, brings a rare level of excellence. I look forward to continuing the collaboration.”

To The Last Breath is currently the only Arch Enemy music featuring Hart. There’s been no update regarding a new studio album. Their latest, Blood Dynasty, came out last year.

Arch Enemy setlist: Summer Breeze, Dinkelsbühl, Germany – August 14, 2026

• Yesterday Is Dead And Gone
• The World Is Yours
• Ravenous
• War Eternal
• Blood Dynasty
• My Apocalypse
• To The Last Breath
• Under Black Flags We March
• The Eagle Flies Alone
• Bury Me An Angel
• No Gods, No Masters
• Dead Bury Their Dead
• Blood On Your Hands
• We Will Rise
• Snow Bound
• Nemesis
• Fields Of Desolation (outro)

Mastodon have looked back on the stressful but ultimately rewarding experience of playing Black Sabbath’s final show Back To The Beginning in July 2025.

The Atlanta heavy metal band opened the all-day extravaganza at Villa Park stadium in Birmingham on July 5, followed by sets from Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Tool and more before Sabbath and singer Ozzy Osbourne’s solo band headlined. It was Osbourne’s last time onstage before he died of a heart attack 17 days later, aged 76.

In a new appearance on Amoeba Records’ What’s In My Bag? video series, singer/bassist Troy Sanders picks Osbourne’s 1980 solo debut Blizzard Of Ozz as one of his chosen records, saying, “We’ve all been fascinated by Ozzy and Black Sabbath our whole lives, especially this last year, after playing the final Sabbath show a year ago, and then Ozzy’s passing.”

He adds: “We played Crazy Train before every live show we’ve done over the past year. We just cannot thank Sabbath and Ozzy himself enough for creating the genre that we now call home. So, Ozzy forever, this is a no-brainer. Thank you, my friend.”

When asked what it was like playing Back To The Beginning, Sanders answers: “Unfathomable. Nerve-wracking. Equal amounts extreme anxiety and unbelievable pleasure.”

Guitarist Bill Kelliher adds: “There was a lot of tension and anxiety until we played first, and then it was like, ‘Yay! This rules. We did it!’”

“We didn’t screw up!” says drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor. “We played Supernaut and we nailed it, I think, and then we played for 15 minutes, and then I was in the audience with a beer. I enjoyed the rest of the show until Ozzy came up, and then everybody started bawling and hugging and crying. It was really, really incredible and probably my favourite musical experience of my life.”

Mastodon played a three-song set, opening with the originals Black Tongue and Blood And Thunder before playing Supernaut with Gojira’s Mario Duplantier, Tool’s Danny Carey and Slipknot’s Eloy Casagrande handling extra percussion.

Dailor looked back on Back To The Beginning during a Metal Hammer interview in August 2025. “As soon as he hit the stage, everything changed,” he recalled. “As long as he sat there, it didn’t matter if he didn’t sing a note, because everyone was doing it for him. It was a beautiful thing to be a part of, everyone weeping and hugging. The Mr Crowley intro came on and everybody was just done.”

Mastodon, who formed in 2000 and won the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance with their single Sultan’s Curse, have a long history with Sabbath. Talking to The Guardian last month, Dailor said, “The first time I ever met [guitarist] Tony Iommi, he came into the dressing room and he was like, ‘Oh, Mastodon! Me and Geez [bassist Geezer Butler] were listening to you guys on the bus last night.’”

Butler performs a bass solo on the band’s new album, Marrow Deep, which came out last week. It was their first studio album without founding guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, who parted ways with the band in March 2025 and died in a motorcycle accident, aged 51, the following August.

Symphonic metal six-piece Epica have announced a special 25th-anniversary show at London’s Royal Albert Hall, where they’ll be joined by a choir and orchestra.

The Dutch band will play the famous Italianate venue on October 6, 2027, as part of their on-again-off-again Symphonic Synergy format, which debuted with performances in Amsterdam and Mexico City in September and December 2024. The show will be part of a larger, yet-to-be-announced world tour.

Tickets go on general sale on Friday, September 4, at 10am UK time.

The band comment: “Playing the legendary Royal Albert Hall in London for the first time, surrounded by a full orchestra and choir, will be an absolutely magical experience. Hearing our music come alive in a way it is supposed to sound, on such an iconic stage, will be a moment we’ll remember forever – come and be a part of it!”

Epica are currently touring to promote their 2025 album Aspiral and will play in Asia later this month. The run of six shows commences at the Liquidroom in Tokyo on September 14 and concludes at the Modern Sky Lab in Shanghai on September 22.

The band’s 25th-anniversary celebrations will kick off in January with three shows at the Royal Theatre Carre in Amsterdam. All three dates are sold out. They’ll then play across Latin America in March, supported by Italian symphonic death metal maestros Fleshgod Apocalypse. At time of publication, the Royal Albert Hall date is the only show on Epica’s slate set to feature an orchestra and choir.

Guitarist/vocalist Mark Jansen founded Epica in 2002, shortly after leaving After Forever, which featured future Nightwish frontwoman Floor Jansen (no relation). Singer Simone Simons, Mark’s then-partner, and keyboardist Coen Janssen joined in the same year. The three are the only people to have performed on every Epica album. The band have sold more than one million albums worldwide.

Simons looked back on Epica’s formation during a 2023 interview with Metal Hammer, revealing that she didn’t initially want to join the lineup.

“I knew Mark [Jansen, guitars/vocals] because I was in a relationship with him back in the day,” she recalled. “He started a new band [after leaving After Forever] pretty quickly, but because I was his girlfriend, at first I didn’t want to join. I helped them search for a singer.

“I thought I should do it by the book – finish high school and then go explore the world with a metal band. But when they asked me if I wanted to [sing for them], I thought, ‘OK, let’s just give it a go.’ And here we are, 20 years later!”

She also said that she rehearsed with a black metal band before joining the symphonic group: “They were in my hometown and my friend’s boyfriend was playing in that band, so that’s why we went, but I was way too shy to sing along. Epica was my true first band.”

Epica previously celebrated their 20th anniversary with a sold-out show at Poppodium 013 in Tilburg, Netherlands, on September 3, 2022. They performed a small set of rarities and an After Forever cover under their short-lived original name, Sahara Dust, to open the gig.

Rush have added more shows to their triumphant Fifty Something tour. Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Anika Nilles have added extra dates in Houston (October 1), St. Louis (October 21), Cincinnati (October 23) and Pittsburgh (November 15), and seem to be coping with the stress of touring better than some predicted.

“When we initially booked this tour, we didn’t know how well we would hold up to the rigours of the road," say the band. "So we played it safe with lots of days off to recover. But life is nothing if not surprising, and we’re doing fine and having a blast, so why not try to hit a few more of the cities that have always treated us so well?”

The tour, which kicked off in Los Angeles in June at the Kia Forum – the scene of Rush's final show with late drummer Neil Peart in 2015 – is currently scheduled to end in April next year after a run of shows in Europe.

While the trio have booked a series of dates in South America in the New Year, no plans have been announced for Japan (where Rush have played just four shows, on the Grace Under Pressure tour in 1984) or in Australia and New Zealand, two countries they've never visited.

Ticklets for the new dates will go on sale on Friday, Sept. 4 at 10am local time. Presales begin on September 1 at the same time. Full dates below.

Rush: Fifty Something remaining tour dates 2026

Sep 02: Montreal Bell Centre, QC
Sep 04: Montreal Bell Centre, QC
Sep 12: Boston TD Garden, MA
Sep 14: Boston TD Garden, MA
Sep 17: Cleveland Rocket Arena, OH
Sep 19: Cleveland Rocket Arena, OH
Sep 23: San Antonio Frost Bank Center, TX
Sep 25: San Antonio Frost Bank Center, TX
Oct 01: Houston Toyota Center, TX
Oct 05: Denver Ball Arena, CO
Oct 07: Denver Ball Arena, CO
Oct 10: Seattle Climate Pledge Arena, WA
Oct 12: Seattle Climate Pledge Arena, WA
Oct 15: San Jose SAP Center, CA
Oct 17: San Jose SAP Center, CA
Oct 21: St. Louis Enterprise Center, MO
Oct 23: Cincinatti Heritage Bank Center, OH
Oct 25: Washington Capital One Arena, D.C.
Oct 27: Washington Capital One Arena, D.C.
Oct 30: Uncasville Mohegan Sun Arena, CT
Nov 01: Uncasville Mohegan Sun Arena, CT
Nov 05: Hollywood Hard Rock Live, FL
Nov 07: Hollywood Hard Rock Live, FL
Nov 09: Tampa Benchmark International Arena, FL
Nov 11: Tampa Benchmark International Arena, FL
Nov 15: Pittsburgh PPG Paints Arena, PA
Nov 20: Charlotte Spectrum Center, NC
Nov 22: Charlotte Spectrum Center, NC
Nov 25: Atlanta State Farm Arena, GA
Nov 27: Atlanta State Farm Arena, GA
Dec 01: Glendale Desert Diamond Arena, AZ
Dec 03: Glendale Desert Diamond Arena, AZ
Dec 10: Edmonton Rogers Place, AB
Dec 12: Edmonton Rogers Place, AB
Dec 15: Vancouver Rogers Arena, BC
Dec 17: Vancouver Rogers Arena, BC

Rush: Fifty Something tour dates 2027

Jan 15: Buenos Aires Movistar Arena, Argentina
Jan 22: Curitiba Arena da Baixada, Brazil
Jan 24: São Paulo Allianz Parque, Brazil
Jan 26: São Paulo Allianz Parque, Brazil
Jan 30: Rio de Janeiro Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos. Brazil
Feb 01: Belo Horizonte Estádio Mineirão, Brazil
Feb 04: Brasília Arena BRB Mané Garrincha, Brazil
Feb 19: Paris La Défense Arena, France
Feb 21: Berlin Uber Arena, Germany
Feb 23: Amstersam Ziggo Dome, Netherlands
Feb 25: Munich Olympiahalle, Germany
Feb 28: Cologne Lanxess Arena, Germany
Mar 02: Hamburg Barclays Arena, Germany
Mar 04: Stuttgart Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, Germany
Mar 08: Glasgow OVO Hydro, UK
Mar 10: Glasgow OVO Hydro, UK
Mar 12: Manchester Co-op Live, UK
Mar 14: Manchester Co-op Live, UK
Mar 16: London O2 Arena, UK
Mar 18: London O2 Arena, UK
Mar 21: London O2 Arena, UK
Mar 27: Kraków Arena Kraków, Poland
Mar 30: Milan Unipol Dome, Italy
Apr 01: Basel St. Jakobshalle Basel, Switzerland
Apr 04: Copenhagen Royal Arena, Denmark
Apr 06: Oslo Unity Arena, Norway
Apr 08: Stockholm Avicii Arena, Sweden
Apr 10: Helsinki Veikkaus Arena, Finland

Find Rush tickets.

On the day that they released a remixes album featuring 'reimagined' takes on songs from last summer's Never Enough by artists as diverse as Elton John, jazz-influenced Mancunian electronic producer and DJ Floating Points, death metal stalwarts Dying Fetus and their O.G. Baltimore hardcore bros Angel Du$t, it feels entirely apposite that Turnstile are playing the closing weekend of London's All Points East festival on an eclectic bill, headlined by the bold and brilliant Californian rapper Tyler, the Creator, leaning heavily into alt. hip-hop and EDM.

Given that they've spent a portion of their summer playing special guests to Deftones in mainland Europe, it would, presumably, have been an easy win for the quintet to have lobbied for a late evening slot at last weekend's APE Presents Outbreak festival in this same park, instead of performing today alongside the likes of Clipse, Sexyy Red, BB Trickz and Ravyn Lenae. But Turnstile didn't get to where they are today by staying in their lane, or adhering to tried and trusted industry templates. Know any other hardcore bands with the chutzpah, wit and humanity to walk onstage at a festival to the sound of Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers duetting on Islands In The Stream, and have their audience singing along in delight? No, no, you don't.

With that said, if you saw Turnstile headlining Outbreak festival here last summer, you can probably guess with some confidence which songs made the cut when the quintet had to trim 2025's 75 minute set-list down to tonight's hour on stage, with choice cuts from Glow On and Never Enough - Blackout, Holiday, Mystery, Birds, Dull, I Care - given equal weighting. You might even have a feeling of déjà vu when, just like last summer, the roaming cameras onstage pick out a fan holding aloft a retro rotary telephone in the rain during Dull, as frontman Brendan Yates sings, "Deep in the night, I'm waiting for the call." But the inclusion of a cover of The Stone Roses' I Wanna Be Adored is another inspired little deviation from orthodoxy.

The truth is that, whatever they choose to do right now, Turnstile can do no wrong. And if tonight feels like a genuine victory lap in front of a partisan audience who cheer their every move, you can't say that they haven't earned it. At one point Yates talks about the UK feeling like“a second home" for the band, humbly adding"Thank you for always making it feel like home" to warm cheers. This sense of mutual respect makes for a wonderful feel good vibe throughout, and a genuine sense that the bouncing pit is a safe space for all.

After a joyous T.L.C. (Turnstile Love Connection), with their allotted hour complete, Turnstile exit the site's West Stage with several thousand curious newcomers to the party now fully welcomed, integrated and converted. Gig by gig, year on year, this band are building not just a community, but a legacy, and it's a wondrous experience to be part of. Thank You (Falettinus Be Arse Elves Agin).

“Musical event of the year? Musical event of the 21st century so far wouldn’t be overstating it.” When Prog witnessed the attitude and energy of Kate Bush’s Before The Dawn show in 2014, we didn’t hold back the praise.

And why should we? They’d been building up unused since her one and only large-scale tour in 1979, waiting for the hardly-imagined moment that she’d bring her musical genius to another stage some day.

And she had – 35 years later, in the form of a 22-date residency at London’s Hammersmith Apollo from August 26 to October 1, containing 25 songs over two acts, and seen by over 80,000 fortunate people. “The spectacle embraces modern technology and stagecraft to raise Bush’s unique eclecticism – song, film, costume, lights, props, magic and high drama – to another dimension,” we said.

“More than a rock gig, it’s a sensual sound-and-vision extravaganza. It takes flight. Yet for all the razzle-dazzle, it proves intensely moving. At the centre of the whirlpool: that voice, richer than ever.”

We reflected: “It may be that Bush has brought mannerisms often reductively labelled as prog back to mainstream acceptance. Or it could just be that Britain’s most gifted female star can do anything she wants, such is the love and adoration displayed here. The young girl who once yelped ‘Wow’ is now a mature woman confirmed as the genius godmother of art rock – 35 years on, the moment is hers again.”

While the multimedia show was a triumph, no one should have been surprised. Bush gathered the best talent to multiply her own, including two former members of the Royal Shakespeare Company, an illusionist, a puppeteer and a video projection designer. This, along with seven musicians, 13 actors and countless crew, helped her deliver two stories, one based on The Ninth Wave from Hounds Of Love and the other on A Sky Of Honey from Aerial.

Those who didn’t see the show were treated to the release of a video for And Dream Of Sheep, part of The Ninth Wave. Bush is seen floating on an ocean, wearing a life jacket after her ship has sunk – and that attention to detail nearly delivered severe consequences after she spent three days in a water tank, singing live, to shoot the scenes as used in the show.

“This was to create a sense of realism, as the character in the song is lost at sea,” a press release explained. “She spent so long in the water during the first day of filming that she contracted mild hypothermia. She recovered after a day off and carried on filming.”

Once the run was over, Bush described it as “one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life.” She added: “I was really delighted that the shows were received so positively and so warmly – but the really unexpected part of it all was audiences you could only ever dream of.

“They took my breath away. Every single night they were so behind us. You could feel their support from the minute we walked on stage. I just never imagined it would be possible to connect with an audience on such a powerful and intimate level; to feel such – well, quite frankly – love. It was like this at every single show.”

Bush most recently made chart history with the second-wave impact of 1985 single Running Up That Hill after its appearance in Stranger Things in 2022. Before that – and after the success of 1978 debut hit Wuthering Heights – she entered the record books again when Before The Dawn led to eight of her albums entering the top 40 at the same time, and her entire catalogue made the top 50.

Looking back her residency’s success, she admitted in 2016 that the endeavour had terrified her. “The idea of putting the show together was something that I found really interesting and really exciting,” she said. “But to actually step into it was something that I had to really work hard on.

“I was really nervous every night as a performer, but I had complete faith in everybody on the stage, everybody in the team, all the sound guys. The most difficult thing for me was to be continually in the now because I naturally tend to race ahead in my mind.

“Once we started running the show I had to be absolutely in that moment. I was so terrified that if my mind wandered off, when I came back I wouldn’t remember where I was. I had to really fix myself, so that I would remember where I was in the song.”

Naturally, speculation circulated that Bush might stage another show – but to date that hasn’t happened. She also said she wasn’t writing new songs at that time, although of course she’d have an impressive pile of creations stored away.

Asked if she’d put a full stop on creating music, she replied: “Oh no, I don’t think so. I think it’s just a rather big comma.”

Is it a hot take to say that Arctangent is the best metal fest in the country, given the UK is also home to Download and Bloodstock? Yes. Is it something that I will gladly argue with each and every one of you about until you’re too tired to continue? Also, yes.

I’ve been a regular at the Bristol four-dayer since the pandemic, and over the course of those five years, I’ve never been to a festival that fosters the same sense of community and curiosity. For those who don’t know, it started as a post-rock event before gradually expanding its borders, now open to anything that pushes back against heavy music’s mainstream. Headliners have ranged from Converge to Devin Townsend, Heilung to Mogwai.

But, unlike at most fests, the top of the bill doesn’t paint the full picture. Arctangent has a reputation for booking quality bands from start to finish, and that’s where it and the audience become truly special. Everyone is there for the music, not just an excuse to get pissed, and there’s a strong chance you’ll walk away on Sunday having discovered a band you’ll be obsessed with for months. Examples I could name include West Country math rockers Fes and Brazilian proggers Papangu.

Arctangent is for genuine obsessives, and everything great about it returned in 2026. There were more underground revelations, such as Venezuelan post-rockers Zeta and crushing doomsters Believe In Nothing. Some bands, including Svalbard, trusted the fest to put on their last-ever performances, while others, like Agent Fresco and Arcane Roots, made it part of their long-anticipated reunions. Headliners Chelsea Wolfe, Primus and Cult Of Luna feat. Julie Christmas exemplified the truly broad range of non-commercial heavy music.

After my four days at Fernhill Farm this August (ATG’s final time on the site before relocating next year), I can easily say that it remains my highlight of the festival calendar. For a clearer breakdown, here are my favourite sets of the weekend:

Svalbard

Life sucks and then you die. Svalbard know it – having spent the last 15 years lyrically wrestling with depression, sexism and other harsh realities – yet added to the pain of it all anyway by breaking up way before their time. On Wednesday, the four-piece bowed out on home turf, tearing through a setlist that broke down the metal (Eternal Spirits), shoegaze (Open Wound) and hardcore (The Damage Done) components of their sound. Singer/guitarist Serena Cherry was all smiles, especially as Employed To Serve frontwoman Justine Jones crowd-surfed about half a dozen times. This last showing was nothing short of triumphant, but, damn, it still hurts so bad.

Psychonaut

Once content stacking enough acid-laced riffs to give you a contact high, Psychonaut retreated from excess (slightly) and emphasised emotion on last year’s World Maker album. It paid tremendous dividends, with single Endless Currents becoming one of their biggest songs. That ascent was reflected on Thursday, when they played before a main-stage crowd worthy of a headliner. Dual vocalists Stefan De Graef (also guitars) and Thomas Mischiels (bass) exchanged heartrending lines in between torrents of technical yet melodic prowess. Arctangent ate that shit up, especially the tapping marathon All I Saw As A Huge Monkey. A sign of incredible things to come.

Møl

Every time Møl perform, they’re a bit better than last time. The Danes had only been away from the UK for six months when they played the third stage on Thursday, but they’d evolved exponentially. Founding guitarist Nicolai Busse Bladt was back and the band put swirling hemispheres of spotlights on top of each amp, accentuating their vibrant take on black metal. Even though frontman Kim Song Sternkopf roared like he wanted to give himself a hernia, Garland and Crush showcased his ever-advancing clean vocals. The quintet entered a genre of one on this year’s Dreamcrush album, owing as much to The Smashing Pumpkins as Mayhem, and this set reiterated them as a singular force.

Chelsea Wolfe

It was a big weekend for California’s dark rock singer/songwriter. Headlining Arctangent on Thursday then releasing her 10th album, The Dark, the following day is one hell of a back-to-back. She played three new songs in succession to mark the occasion, which, like every other track she performed onstage, were endowed with an ear-rattling oomph beyond anything she’s ever touched on record. A guest spot from Alcest’s screamer-in-chief Neige during Vex only added to the intensity of it all, and by the end, I almost wanted to sit down. No time for that, though: the silent disco played The Dark in its entirety 30 minutes after she left to make the night a proper Chelsea-thon.

Arcane Roots

As well as tragic breakups (Svalbard, Heck), Arctangent was also the site of hopeful returns. Agent Fresco showed up as part of their first tour since 2019 and, on Friday, Arcane Roots continued their comeback with a main-stage stunner. Fiercely underrated during their original stint, the Londoners uncorked an even mix of math-metal theatrics, 10-ton melodies and earnest, emotional bits. New single A Wave, Across The Sea held its own against the oldies, and the expanded lineup with a keyboardist and a drummer/guitarist gave everything a newfound boost. Welcome back, boys – now make another album, for the love of God.

Perturbator

What’s this EDM doing at my prog festival?! Even though Perturbator was far from a ‘traditional’ Arctangent booking, he was perfectly placed as Friday’s sub-headliner, warming everyone up for the wackiness of Primus. The Frenchman famously declared his former genre of synthwave dead in 2021, and since then he’s refined his own brew of metal, dance and widescreen Blade Runner shit. Each song segued into the next as smoothly as a PowerPoint swipe, but if I were to single out a highlight, Apocalypse Now (featuring Ulver man Kristoffer Rygg’s silken vocals) would be it. Heavy, fun and just a bit weird, he may not have fit the ATG aesthetic, but he matched the spirit.

Eivør

Eivør didn’t draw the biggest crowd to the main stage, but she left with the teariest one. The Faroese singer/songwriter filled an hour using her distinct bridge between the past and present, casting rock textures and Massive Attack-like trip-hop against vocals plucked straight from Nordic tradition. The songs and arrangements were all excellent, particularly a heavy So Close To Being Free, but the pièce de résistance was that voice. Her graceful wails bounced off of the walls and rumbled the heartstrings of everybody within earshot. After finale Falling Free, as I turned and walked back through the crowd, there were more than a few glistening faces in the darkness.

Cult Of Luna x Julie Christmas

One of the top three live shows I’ve seen in my life. Cult Of Luna reunited with avant-garde dynamo Julie Christmas for the first performance of their 2016 collaboration, Mariner, in eight years. Both acts brought their greatest strengths, as Luna’s bruising metal and hellish roars framed Christmas’ piercing, idiosyncratic singing. The best bit, though, was the infinite smoke and dizzying light show, combining to make the stage’s edges disappear and turn the band members into silhouettes. Closer Cygnus evoked the same feeling of transcendence as the stargate scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was jaw-droppingly immersive, to the point that I might have cried a bit. Maybe.

Arctangent returns at a new site in Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire from August 18 to 21.

US metalcore beloveds Trivium and Swedish melodic death metal luminaries In Flames have teamed up for a co-headline tour across Europe and the UK.

Supported by deathcore upstarts Paleface Swiss and Danish prog metal outfit Vola, the bands will start the run with a leg of Irish and UK shows from March 29 to April 4, including a stop at the 10,000-capacity Alexandra Palace in London. Trivium will be the last band on for these gigs.

Then, from April 6 to May 7, the package will continue across the continental mainland. The shows in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland will be headlined by In Flames. See the full list of dates below.

Artist pre-sale tickets go live Wednesday, August 26, at 10am CEST (9am BST), ahead of general sale from Friday, August 28, at 10am CEST (9am BST), via Trivium.org and InFlames.com.

Trivium comment: “We’re beyond stoked to be joining forces with our longtime friends In Flames once again for another legendary run across Europe and the UK. With Paleface Swiss and Vola joining us, this is going to be one hell of a bill. A new era of Trivium is about to begin. We’ll see you out there.”

In Flames add: “We are excited to return to Europe with our old friends in Trivium! Paleface Swiss and Vola round out an amazing bill. You don’t want to miss this epic night of metal coming YOUR way! See you soon…”

The announcement follows Trivium’s singer/guitarist Matt Heafy taking the stage with In Flames at the Swedish band’s Gothenburg festival, Goteborg Brinner, last weekend. The frontman sang their 1996 song Artifacts Of The Black Rain.

Last month, the two bands announced a run of North American shows together, with Trivium headlining and In Flames special guest. With Orbit Culture, Fit For An Autopsy and Frozen Soul supporting, the tour will make its way across the US and Canada in November and December this year.

Trivium teased the “unofficial start” of their “next era” with the announcement of their North American shows. They haven’t released an album since 2021’s In The Court Of The Dragon but have been working on new music in 2026. Their upcoming, 11th record will be their first with new drummer Alex Rudinger (ex-Whitechapel).

Meanwhile, In Flames continue to tour in promotion of their 2023 album, Foregone. It marked the band’s return to their melodic death metal sound, following many years exploring alt-metal and electronic textures.

Trivium’s Heafy has spoken multiple times about the influence In Flames have had on him and his bandmates. After his Goteborg Brinner appearance, he wrote on social media: “We’ve toured with In Flames six times now since 2005; and it’s been amazing to be able to go from a super fan, to a peer, to close friends.”

Trivium and In Flames 2027 European co-headline tour:

• Mar 29: Dublin 3Arena, Ireland (Trivium headline)
• Mar 31: Glasgow OVO Hydro, UK (Trivium headline)
• Apr 02: Manchester Co-op Live, UK (Trivium headline)
• Apr 03: London Alexandra Palace, UK (Trivium headline)
• Apr 04: Cardiff Utilita Arena Cardiff, UK (Trivium headline)
• Apr 06: Brussels Lotto Arena, Belgium
• Apr 07: Paris Zénith, France
• Apr 09: Hamburg Sporthalle, Germany
• Apr 10: Dresden Messe Dresden, Germany
• Apr 11: Berlin Velodrom, Germany
• Apr 13: Esch-sur-Alzette Rockhal, Luxembourg
• Apr 14: Bern Festhalle, Switzerland
• Apr 16: Frankfurt Festhalle, Germany
• Apr 17: Düsseldorf PSD Bank Dome, Germany
• Apr 18: Amsterdam AFAS Live, Netherlands
• Apr 20: Prague O2 Universum, Czech Republic
• Apr 21: Vienna Stadthalle, Austria
• Apr 23: Stuttgart Schleyer-Halle, Germany
• Apr 24: Munich Zenith, Germany
• Apr 25: Bamberg Brose Arena, Germany
• Apr 27: Copenhagen K.B. Hallen, Denmark (In Flames headline)
• Apr 29: Oslo Spektrum, Norway (In Flames headline)
• May 01: Stockholm Avicii Arena, Sweden (In Flames headline)
• May 03: Tampere Nokia Arena, Finland (In Flames headline)
• May 05: Riga Xiaomi Arena, Latvia
• May 07: Katowice Spodek, Poland

Back in the summer of 2000, I had the privilege of watching Deftones play for a total of three people, rehearsing their entire White Pony tour set in their Sacramento HQ. With Chino Moreno running up and down a half pipe skate ramp, and drummer Abe Cunningham playing so hard that his hands were dripping blood onto his snare drum skin, the quintet performed like they were headlining a stadium, their commitment undeniable.

Sadly, at times, over the ensuing years, it felt like too many of the band had lost their passion for the music, and were merely going through the motions on-stage, numbed by chemicals and boredom, which has made their late-career renaissance all the more special. Tonight, ahead of a searing Rocket Skates, Chino Moreno looks out at the 50,000 fans gathered in front of his band at their biggest-ever UK headline show, and utters two words, "Holy shit!" It's a sweet little moment which perfectly captures how much this means to the alt. metal legends in 2026, and just how far they've come since the turn of the century, negotiating the ups and downs of their storied career.

It's hard to imagine that Deafheaven or Wisp would be here today were it not for Deftones, and their mastery of dream-to-nightmare dynamics. Both San Francisco acts sound glorious today.

Playing on the North Arena stage, George Clarke's triple-guitar collective only have 40 minutes to pulverise the audience into submission, but blackgaze's own Lynyrd Skynyrd do so magnificently with Lonely People With Power highlights Doberman and Magnolia, and Sunbather-era classic Dream House, introduced coyly by Clarke as "a song you might know." Ahead of a closing Winona the band's frontman promises that his crew will have new music to play the next time they're in the UK, which earns the biggest cheer of their set.

Nu gaze star Natalie Lu aka Wisp is a very modern success story. Lu was just 18, a Computer Science student at San Francisco State University when she was offered a record deal by Interscope three years ago on the strength of viral TikTok 'hit' Your Face, a song she crafted in her bedroom over an instrumental purchased online from producer, Grayskies. But having already headlined Red Rocks Amphitheater and played two nights at Summersonic festival in Japan earlier this month, she's a captivating presence on the site's West Stage. The 'stained glass' church backdrop accentuates Wisp's heavenly sound, and just over a year since the release of her debut album If Not Winter, songs such as Save Me Now and Guide Light already sound like classics of the genre.

Another rising star, Ecca Vandal pulls a huge crowd for her late evening set on the X stage. Last August, this writer saw the Melbourne-based singer blow away a London crowd at the 150-capacity Sebright Arms less than a mile away, and it's clear that her popularity has soared since then, doubtless helped by tours with Deftones and Limp Bizkit. The likes of Came Here For The Loot, Bleed But Never Die and Cruising To Self Soothe from Looking For People To Unfollow will doubtless put Vandal on bigger stages this time next year.

It's wild that Ecca Vandal can pull a significantly bigger crowd than AFI, but to their credit, the Ukiah, Californian veterans (who are also doomed to clash with Japanese DJ sensation Yousuke Yukimatsu) throw everything into a full-blooded set. Opening with the killer one-two of Girl's Not Grey and Love Like Winter is a smart move, but you can't help but feel for Davey Havok's crew when Marguerite and Behind the Clock from last year's Silver Bleeds the Black Sun... are greeted with so little reaction that the band might as well be playing with the PA turned off. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with either song, albeit that, respectively, they sound like '80s b-sides from The Cult and Bauhaus. Still, a respectable crowd and whirling pits greet singalong closers Silver And Cold and Miss Murder, ending the set on a high.

Amyl and The Sniffers are, as ever, as subtle as a punch in the face, and that's why they're such a fabulous live band. Potty-mouthed dynamo Amy Taylor stomps around like she owns east London, and absolutely no-one would dare tell her that she doesn't. The filthy dust kicked up from the scorched earth as U Should Not Be Doing That, Tiny Bikini, Jerkin' and Some Mutts (Can't Be Muzzled) are smashed out by a band who channel both AC/DC and The Stooges is quite something to behold. Subtlety can wait.

Deftones, of course, can do subtle better than almost anyone, but opening their 90-minute headline set with a thrilling Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away), a song older than most ticket-holders here today, is a fabulous reminder of how they electrified the metal scene in the late '90s. Based purely on a non-scientific T-shirt count throughout the day, Around The Fur is the Deftones album of choice for the discerning All Points East Presents Outbreak attendeee, so pulling out the title track as song two is a masterstroke. From here on in, the Sacramento crew can do no wrong.

I've been at Deftones gigs for just under 30 years now, and I genuinely don't think they've ever played better than they do right now. The fact that there are no fewer than four songs from last year's Private Music album on today's setlist - including the superb Milk Of The Madonna - is an indication that this is no mere nostalgic act, but it's hard to begrudge wildly excitable Gen Z fans the joy of seeing their heroes play the likes of Feiticeira or an indecently thrilling Rocket Skates beneath a bright Waxing Gibbous moon.

A lot of credit for Deftones' current revival must go to Chino Moreno. At times, watching the show's excellent visuals, you'd swear that they're utilising footage of the singer from 20 years ago, such is his energy and enthusiasm. During Change (In the House of Flies) the singer's silhouette is shown backlit by red light and it's both beautiful and rather moving.

It must be heartening too for Deftones that their diverse and varied audience can find their own personal favourites amid their expansive back catalogue. The creation of Saturday Night Wrist twenty years ago was a far from pleasant experience for the band members, but the roar which goes up as the opening notes of Gen Z favourite Cherry Waves ring around Victoria Park to usher in tonight's three song encore must go a long way to putting a positive spin on bad memories. The group exit with Seven Words, the fiercest, angriest song on their Adrenaline debut, and tonight it seems like the most exultant victory song, an anthem of deliverance from troubled times. Deftones have earned their triumphs, but nights like this show they're taking nothing for granted.

Ozzfest has confirmed its return to Villa Park stadium in Aston, Birmingham next year.

The former travelling heavy metal festival, launched by Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne and his wife/manager Sharon in 1996, will have its first edition since 2018 take place at the venue where the Prince Of Darkness performed his retirement show on July 5 last year.

Ozzy died on July 22, just 17 days after the gig, following a heart attack at his home in Buckinghamshire. He was 76.

The official statement promises “more info on everything coming soon”. Sharon, 73, said in an exclusive interview with Metal Hammer last month that the event will be one or two days long, depending on fan interest. She added that she was speaking to potential performers and headliners, and would offer news soon.

She told Billboard in January that Ozzfest will return with a lineup that transcends its past niche of rock and metal, with a focus on young talent.

“It was something Ozzy was very passionate about: giving young talent a stage in front of a lot of people,” she said. “We really started metal festivals in this country. It was [replicated but] never done with the spirit of what ours was, because ours was a place for new talent. It was like summer camp for kids.”

Even though only a Birmingham event has been confirmed, Sharon has said that she wants to bring the festival back to the US, as well.

The Osbournes started Ozzfest after fellow travelling festival Lollapalooza refused to give Ozzy a spot on their lineup. The inaugural edition was a two-day tour with dates in Phoenix, Arizona and San Bernardino, California. Ozzy headlined with support from Slayer, Danzig, Biohazard, Sepultura and more.

As nu metal began to gather steam in the late 90s, Ozzfest became famous for putting up-and-coming artists on its bill. Such acts as Slipknot, Limp Bizkit and System Of A Down performed at the festival around the release of their debut albums.

Ozzfest expanded to have international offshoots in markets including the UK, Germany, Belgium and Japan before hosting its final incarnation – a single show in Inglewood, California – in 2018.

In 2023, Sharon explained why Ozzfest went away, saying on her family podcast The Osbournes that other managers got greedy.

“It was a very weird beast,” she said, “because all the bands were our mates, but the managers were greedy, and for some reason they thought that we were making billions on it and we weren’t. We made a profit. But it was not like – we couldn’t retire on it. And managers and agents wanted more and more and more, and it just wasn’t cost-effective anymore. We stopped because it just wasn’t cost-effective.”

However, the following year, she added that “of course” Ozzfest can return one day. “You can do it for a baby stage, but you still need the headliners,” she said. “It’s always great to have the baby stage, I mean, that’s what it’s all about – breaking new bands. That’s why we did it.”

Ozzy’s retirement show, Back To The Beginning, took place at a sold-out Villa Park and was live-streamed by more than five million people worldwide. Ozzy performed both with his solo band and his fellow Black Sabbath co-founders. The support lineup included Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Tool, Gojira, Anthrax and Mastodon. Proceeds from the event went to the charities Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity and Acorns Children’s Hospice.

Sharon told Hammer last month that a Back To The Beginning concert film will hit cinema screens later this year.

When it comes to perfect couplings, punk rock and riots go together like a horse and carriage. In 1981, at The Ritz in Manhattan, Public Image Limited led their paying public into disorder by playing behind a curtain while frontman John Lydon derided the 3000 strong crowd with the taunt of “silly fucking audience.” That same year, a series of dangerously oversold shows by The Clash at the Bond International Casino saw anarchy in the USA spill out in pitched battles on the thoroughfares of Times Square.

Neither of these donnybrooks, though, can hold a candle to Green Day’s afternoon set at Winston Farm in Saugerties, New York, on Sunday August 14, 1994.

The occasion was Woodstock ’94, a three-day jamboree held to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the now legendary Woodstock festival, at which appeared The Who, Jimi Hendrix and many other leading lights of the time. A quarter of a century on, the bill featured, among others, Aerosmith, Metallica, Nine Inch Nails and Primus.

In 1969, half a million people had been warned to stay away from “the brown acid.” In 1994, the same number of faces were met with a less avoidable threat: the weather. For three days a dishwater sky had wrung torrential and constant rain on upstate New York. By the time Green Day met their audience that Sunday afternoon, conditions were becoming untenable. Onsite, in a radio interview the Australian journalist Andrew Mueller surmised the scenario in one word: “shithouse.”

With a black shirt, a red tie and blue hair, Billie Joe Armstrong’s opening words to the crowd gathered at the festival’s South Stage were antagonistic. “What is this free fucking hippy love shit?,” he asked, adding, “How are you doing, you rich motherfuckers?”

Standing in conditions that made a wet year at Glastonbury look like a sunny day at Glynebourne , the answer was probably, “Not so great, actually.” Testy and volatile, the audience’s distemper would soon enough find its avenue of expression.

20 minutes into their 35 minute set, things began to truly slide out of control. Green Day were already having quite the summer – their Dookie album catapulting its way up the charts, crowds on the Lollapalooza tour hurdling turnstiles in order to catch their noon set – but the trio had never seen anything like this. Slogging their way through When I Come Around, the sky was brown with missiles made of mud; the stage looked like a late season non-league football pitch from 1973.

“I hope it rains so much, you all get stuck,” announced bassist Mike Dirnt, unhelpfully. 15 minutes later, when attempting to leave the stage, Dirnt would be tackled by a security guard with such force that it sheared his front teeth, an intervention that required a visit to the dentist the following day.

No fun, as Johnny Rotten would say. With the set nearing its chaotic end, Billie Joe Armstrong abandoned his guitar in favour of volleying several clumps of mud from whence they came; or, if you prefer, fighting fire with fire. Behind him, the rhythm section swerve in to a circumcised rendition of Twisted Sister’s We’re Not Gonna Take It as the audiences surges and leaps like salmon upstream.

“Look at me, I’m a fucking idiot!” announces the frontman. He might have been describing the spectators, or else referring to himself; possibly both.

Astonishingly, five years later Woodstock ’99 would prove even grimmer than its immediate predecessor – a gathering that culminated in riots, rapes and a stage set on fire.

But in 1994, things were bad enough. Leaving behind a stage in a state of perfect destruction, Green Day were expedited from the site via helicopter, a mode of transport of which Billie Joe Armstrong was terrified. Touchingly, his second concern was that his brand new pair of black Converse hi-tops were becoming sullied by the slurry at his feet.

“Woodstock [‘94] was about the closest thing to anarchy I’ve ever seen in my whole life,” the singer would later recall. “I didn’t like it one bit.”

Louder Than Life, America’s largest rock and metal festival, has officially announced the set times for its colossal 2026 edition, meaning you can get planning on how you'll be spending your weekend. And if you haven't got tickets yet, don't panic; there's still time to secure your place at what will surely be one of this year's most unforgettable, action-packed weekends.

Get your tickets for Louder Than Life 2026 here

Taking place September 17-20 at the Expo Center in Louisville, Kentucky, Louder Than Life 2026 will see heavyweight headliners Iron Maiden, My Chemical Romance, Limp Bizkit and Tool head up a bill of almost 200 bands. Amongst them are the likes of Megadeth, Pantera, Pierce The Veil, A Day To Remember, Papa Roach, Gojira, Sublime, Danny Elfman, Rise Against, The Pretty Reckless and many, many more.

To get stuck into this year's set times and to start planning your weekend, head to the Louder Than Life website or, if you want to personalise your own schedule and get the most up to date information on what's happening across the festival, download the official Louder Than Life app.

If you're yet to secure your pass for Louder Than Life 2026, you still can do via the Louder Than Life website, where a variety of options are waiting including General Admission, VIP and various packages. All ticket holders also get free access to the amusement rides inside Kentucky Kingdom, which for the weekend will be open exclusively to Louder Than Life attendees. You can find out everything else that will be happening on site during the weekend, including the huge variety of food and drink options, here.

Remember, Louder Than Life isn't just an amazing lineup with a plethora of experiences: it will boast some one-off performances that you won't find anywhere else. Amongst these are Pantera’s only U.S. show of 2026, Danny Elfman’s first show in the Eastern half of the U.S. for the first time in decades, reunion sets from Circa Survive, Get Scared, Blood For Blood, Metal Church, Primer 55, Sent By Ravens and 40 Below Summer and album celebrations including Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American, Sleeping With Sirens' Let's Cheers To This and Sepultura's Roots, courtesy of Cavalera.

So what's keeping you? Make sure you have your ticket, get on the app, download those set times and get ready for the weekend of the year.

"Now is forever! IN THIS REALM!"

So goes the battle cry for Castle Rat, the New York group who've leveraged high fantasy themes and roaring riffs into becoming doom metal's hottest new band.

They've played barely a dozen gigs in the UK so far - their first was at Desertfest last year - but already the buzz around Castle Rat is obvious. It's a little after mid-day but the crowd swells under the brutal sun ahead of the band's Bloodstock debut and we'd wager by the time they finish they've pulled a bigger crowd than any main stage act from Saturday save perhaps Bleed From Within or Slaughter To Prevail.

It's not hard to see why. They might not have any proper anthems just yet - though Wizard, Wolf I and Dragon from last year's The Bestiary are absolute belters - but it's impossible not to get caught up in Castle Rat's spell. The high-camp theatrics feel like something heavy metal has neglected over the past 30 years, even the likes of Ice Nine Kills or GWAR going more for tongue-in-cheek meta-jokes than for a genuine sense of the fantastic.

Castle Rat aren't playing up their fantasy elements for jokes. Vocalist Riley Pinkerton inhabits the role of the Rat Queen with a seriousness that'd do Arthur Brown or Hawkwind proud, narrating the lore of her band's fantasy realm with irresistible earnestness. The "sword battle" between Pinkerton and "The Rat Reaperess" might be the set's most TikTokable moment, but the music itself doesn't suffer for all their live antics, delivering a baseline of defiant, chest-beating heavy metal.

Chunky, fuzzy riffs and keening guitar solos help build the sense that Castle Rat are well on the way to becoming something massive, somehow tapping the vein for trad metal whilst feeling fresh and vibrant. If this is what they can do in a 40-minute afternoon slot, imagine what they could do as a headliner.

You Got Another Thing Comin', Metal Gods, Breaking The Law: talk about an insane opening run. But then, when it comes to Judas Priest, you'd be hard-pressed to find any combination of hits that doesn't feel like an all-time great selection of heavy metal anthems. So who better to close out the final day of Bloodstock's 25th anniversary celebration?

"25 years of Bloodstock? 100 years of Judas fucking Priest!" Frontman Rob Halford declares to massive cheers.

Barely 20 miles up the road from where he grew up in Walsall, Bloodstock is as close to home territory for Halford as you can get without Priest doing a gig at Bescot Stadium and there's a clear sense of gratitude as Priest get a homecoming for the ages. Early on, Rob sports a leather jacket with the Black Country flag proudly displayed on the back, and their ties to the region seep through in little nods and easter eggs that pop up in the graphics.

And this setlist is an absolute beast. With a greatest hits to promote, it's not a massive surprise that Priest are cranking anthems out at industrial pace throughout the night - The Ripper, The Sentinel, Turbo Lover, Victim Of Changes. It's perhaps not as adventurous as what they broke out at Bloodstock 2021, but it's splitting hairs trying to figure out what you'd take out to round it out. Steeler for Exciter? Desert Plains for Judas Rising? Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Far from slowing down in their winter years, Judas Priest seem to be picking up steam. Rob Halford confirms the band are working on new material - a delightful concept, considering just how fantastic their last two records were - and there's barely any pause in the set, even the encore - teeing a colossal finisher of Electric Eye, Hell Bent For Leather (complete with Harley ride-on, of course) and Living After Midnight - only taking a minute or two before the band charge back on.

In many ways, Priest are representative of what Bloodstock was all about in its early years - and still continues to be about now, even with the evolving roster of bands. This is, after all, a celebration of heavy metal in its entirety, a chance for bands who'd get relegated to the sidelines at more mainstream festivals to strut their stuff in front of an ardent and ever-enthusiastic audience.

With Priest covering much of their half-century-plus as one of heavy metal's most iconic bands, there's a real sense of celebration that makes it almost impossible not to grin like a loon and roar along to your heart's content.

Judas Priest setlist @ Bloodstock Open Air, 9/8/2026

1. You've Got Another Thing Comin'
2. Metal Gods
3. Breaking The Law
4. The Ripper
5. The Sentinel
6. Desert Plains
7. Lightning Strike
8. Turbo Lover
9. Steeler
10. Delivering The Goods
11. Panic Attack
12. Victim Of Changes
13. Halls Of Valhalla
14. Painkiller
15. Electric Eye
16. Hell Bent For Leather
17. Living After Midnight

"Nevermore are one of the greatest, most important bands to ever do it." So says Urne's Joe Nally early on Saturday at Bloodstock and while the prog metal group's profile certainly never reached that of Tool or Rush, they wouldn't be the first band to make a comeback this decade and become bigger than ever.

But they endure a patchy start. Put it down to the controversy around tonight's headliners Slaughter To Prevail, the unyielding heat, or the simple fact that it's been 16 years since Nevermore last played the UK - and before that was Bloodstock in 2007, so they were hardly frequent visitors - but the crowd seems especially sparse for the retooled and revitalised Nevermore.

They won't let that stop them putting on a killer show. New vocalist Berzan Önen - replacing the much missed Warrel Dane, who died in 2017 - has great stage presence and his powerful, histrionic vocal talents are geninely captivating, while the band's unique fusion of extreme metal heft - just listen to that double-bass go, never letting up - old school heavy metal guitars and prog melody means Nevermore still feel genuinely ahead of the curve.

A few songs in, and the crowd thankfully swells to a healthy level as they hit their stride. Drawing from across their discography, the set is an abridged greatest hits with particular emphasis on 2000's phenomenal Dead Heart In A Dead World, thundering as they bust out the likes of Inside Four Walls and Engines Of Hate. Hitting each track with fresh vitality, Nevermore sound more like Hypocrisy or Strapping Young Lad than Queensryche and the sheer force of their sound is tremendous.

There's no major set pieces or production gimmicks, just great tunes and musicians going hell for leather for a hale 60 minutes. The highlight of the set is undoubtedly the gothic, doomy The Heart Collector, a track that somehow manages to bridge Sabbath and Nymphetamine with the Gothenburg sound, colossal in its ambition and brimming with anthemic potential. With more shows like this - and a new album on the way next year - we reckon Nevermore 2.0 might finally give the band the love they so richly deserve.

“I feel like Scotland have just won the World Cup!” says Bleed From Within frontman Scott Kennedy halfway through his band's set. Scott is happy, and so he should be; after all, his band have been grafting for 23 years and have reached a point where they can turn up at the UK’s premier metal festival and be greeted like one of the highlights of the weekend.

Two years ago at Bloodstock, Malevolence subheadlined the Ronnie James Dio stage, blew everyone away and walked off looking like shoe-ins as future headliners. Today, it’s Bleed From Within’s turn to do the very same.

With a back catalogue of seven strong albums and over two decades of hard road work behind them, BFW were never going to let an opportunity like today pass them by, and they are exceptional this afternoon, grasping the chance to stake their claim in an incredible manner. The grooves and propulsion of tracks like Levitate and God Complex sound magnificent, with Scott, rapidly growing into one of metal’s best frontmen, endlessly egging on the crowd, demanding more circle pits and more chaos. He gets his demands met, too, with at least five swirling pits being counted at one point.

The band sound fabulously tight, and the extra elements they add to their sound today with bagpipes players and vocalist Hannah Boulton pepper some glorious new textures to their meaty metallic crunch.

By the time they bid farewell with a superb run through of In Place Of Your Halo, jaws are on the floor and they’ve left headliners Slaughter to Prevail with a mighty high bar to reach. “This,” Scott tells us “is the best show this band has ever played.” It’s hard to disagree.

A John McGinn winner in the World Cup final? Sorry Scott, that sounds like pure fantasy. But Bleed From Within to headline Bloodstock? Well, that seems a much safer bet.

It’s fair to say that more than a few eyebrows were raised last year when Slaughter to Prevail were announced as Bloodstock headliners. A new name at the top of the bill is always something to celebrate, but there were more than a few grumbles that the Russian/UK deathcore crew were either not big enough or not musically in keeping with the tradition of Bloodstock to truly fit the bill. So STP arrive at the festival very much with plenty to prove and a lot of cynics to win over.

With all of this for context, it’s actually quite impressive how emphatically they ram those doubts back down people’s throats this evening. Because Slaughter to Prevail look every inch the consummate modern metal festival headliner this evening.

The reasons they succeed are simple, yet stunningly effective; firstly, they bring a show, a sense of theatre and an aesthetic that should appeal to all fans of heavy music. There is fire, loads of it, there are explosions, tonnes of them, there are massive party cannons full of streamers going off over the crowd and there are the masks. There are plenty of bands in masks in metal (in case you hadn’t noticed), but STP’s might just look the coolest. Frontman Alex Terrible in particular has an amazing silver skull visage with a moving jaw that makes him look like Skeletor if he was reimagined for a Hellraiser movie. Again, a simple idea, but gnarly as hell in practice.

So they look the part and, luckily, they sound the part too. Any of the objections people have made to Slaughter to Prevail making dumb, simplified, meat-headed metal on record feel completely redundant the second you’re stood in a field and those riffs slam you in the gut. This is pummeling, crushing, groove-laden metal that just feels good to hear live, the likes of Russian Grizzy In America, Babayka and Viking all kicking like a mule and lapped up by the crowd.

Speaking of the crowd, the online suggestions that STP would pull the smallest headline crowd in Bloodstock history are laughably wide of the mark. The field is equally as full as it was for Lamb of God on Friday night, and these people are enjoying every second. When Alex Terrible tells everyone to wave their hands or crouch to do a 'jumpdafuckup', it stretches all the way back past the sound desk. If people were coming here purely out of curiosity or just to see Slaughter to Prevail fail then it would appear that they’ve all been won over.

There’s also the fact that STP treat this show as if it is something truly special to them. Alex speaks with humility to the crowd on more than one occasion, letting them know how nervous he is and how humbled he is to have been asked to headline this festival. It’s a sweet thing to see from a man who has an unbelievable, almost inhuman growl in his repertoire.

If there's one slight concern with their performance, it’s that Slaughter to Prevail could add a bit more dynamism to their music, the Rammstein-esque Behelit standing out as something quite different from the rest of their set. But this is a mere nitpick; with a first showing this strong, you wouldn’t bet against them tweaking things to address that the next time they come round. And, let’s have it right, when they do, they’ll be headlining again.

Whatever your thoughts on who or what constitutes Sepultura, the fact that this is a band who have been a constant in the world of heavy music for four decades now is a remarkable achievement. This evening their 40th anniversary farewell celebration tour (now into 42 years) reaches Bloodstock for their final ever show on UK soil.

There’s a clear air of excitement for such an occasion in the field and the band are greeted like heroes as they walk onstage and launch in the immortal Inner Self. For a song that was released in 1989 it still sounds unbelievably fresh; a grooving, thrashing masterpiece, it’s an example of precisely why this band are held in such high regard.

Of course, as much as those in attendance want all of the classics from Sepultura’s golden, Max Cavalera-fronted era, you’d be a fool for sleeping on their more recent material. There’s a very good argument to be made that Derrick Green is one of metal’s most underrated frontmen; Kairos and Means To An End, both songs from his time in the band, sound massive today, and Green performs them in his usual commanding manner.

Sepultura also rip through three brand new songs from their recent The Cloud Of Unknowing EP, something that most bands on their final run would never even consider doing. The almost proggy The Place actually sounds more than at home in amongst their more legendary material.

Ultimately, though, as great as all of this is, things really reach fever pitch with the set's final lap. Can any band in heavy music match Territory, Refuse/Resist, Arise, Ratamahatta and Roots Bloody Roots as five-song run? Bloodstock clearly doesn’t think so and goes absolutely feral for 20 minutes of pure metal perfection.

As the final chords of Roots… ring out, guitarist Andreas Kisser thanks everyone for 42 years of support and to congratulate Bloodstock on its 25th anniversary; as he does Green stands beside him, glassy eyed and clearly emotional, knowing that this will be his last time in front of a UK Sepultura crowd. What a band, what a way to sign off.

Bloodstock is back, baby! After a triumphant first night with Saxon - who headlined the very first event back in 2001 - the 25th birthday celebrations are well underway by the time Lamb Of God rock up on Friday evening. It's their third time taking top spot - putting them on equal footing with Judas Priest and Nightwish for the bands who've headlined the festival most - and they aren't fucking about getting things started.

A blast of sparks marks their arrival as they get stuck into Ruin. From there, we get a crash course in why Lamb Of God are so beloved on these shores. Laid To Rest and Now You've Got Something To Die For are undeniable anthems, kickstarting a flurry of movement that is astonishing considering the day has effectively been HIT training with each successive band turning the dial up (Life Of Agony - Fit For An Autopsy - Biohazard - Municipal Waste - Sepultura's final UK show).

For all the energy the crowd bring, Randy seems to want to match them pace-for-pace. Leaping, howling and stomping his way around with a demonic sense of vitality, his howls take on an almost screeching, manic fury. It's all off-set with a sense of playfulness and humour that betrays that they aren't the same band who seethed with a genuine sense of danger and destructive force 20-odd years ago and to be honest, they're better for the change.

There's a sense these lads actually like each other, and are having the time of their lives on stage (Randy even brings out his beloved mock-British character "Roger Brilliant" for a few bits that clearly crack up guitarist Mark Morton), inviting 20,000 metal fans to join in the fun. Enhanced with pyro and some freewheeling instrumentals, the set feels loose and joyous as the band span almost their entire careers (no New American Gospel or Omens era tracks stops it being a clean sweep). While there's a few dips - the drum solo after Parasocial Christ doesn't help - they manage to keep things tight and explosive for the most part.

Given just how consistently brilliant they've been live over the past 26 years, it's easy to take Lamb Of God for granted. But when they break out the likes of Walk With Me In Hell, 512 or even a newer rager like Momento Mori, you can't deny they basically set the bar for 21st Century metal bands live. Accept no substitute.

The 25th anniversary edition of Bloodstock Open Air Festival kicked off this week and tonight organisers announced Mercyful Fate, Electric Callboy and Motionless In White as main stage headliners for next year's 26th year of the event.

With Lamb of God, Saxon, Slaughter To Prevail and Judas Priest headlining at Catton Park in Derbyshire, England, this weekend, fans who had just watched Municipal Waste's set on Friday were told who will be the big hitters on the Ronnie James Dio Main Stage in 2027.

In a statement announcing the 2027 lineup, Friday's headliners Mercyful Fate say: "Mercyful Fate is honoured and looking extremely forward to playing Bloodstock again. Last time was awesome, and this time with a brand new album out, finally!"

Saturday's main draw Electric Callboy will be headlining the festival for the first time. The German electro-metal party-starters are cover stars of the new issue of Metal Hammer magazine which is available with an exclusive cover and special art print.

On being confirmed as Sunday headliners for 2027, Motionless In White frontman Chris Motionless says: "We were told that we are one of the most requested bands to perform at your legendary festival, so it is with great honour to announce that we are answering the call and will be seeing you next year for our first ever European festival headlining show, and only UK show of 2027! Thank you so much! Let the countdown begin."

The Sophie Lancaster stage in 2027 will be headlined by Madball, Gaerea, Kanonenfieber and Dethklok.

"Yorkshire! Yorkshire! Yorkshire!" There's something perfect about seeing Opeth in God's Own Country on Yorkshire Day, the band's early sound undeniably influenced by the Peaceville Three. Speaking of whom, Paradise Lost are actually pulling main support duty for the day (and we hear tell that former My Dying Bride vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe has been spotted in the crowd too).

Not to be entirely outgunned, Opeth have enlisted fellow Swedes Katatonia to kick the event off. Set within the gorgeous confines of Halifax's Piece Hall, an 18th Century market hall that hosted both Korn and Limp Bizkit ahead of their jump to Download headliner status - though we won't hold our breath for Opeth doing the same - Katatonia look and sound magnificent, their majestic, melancholic prog metal stirring and epic to behold.

Paradise Lost might steal the day. Apparently the doom metal masters have never played their hometown, but when frontman Nick Holmes mentions the fact it's nice to be at home it prompts an effusive chant like someone's set up a third faction in the English civil war.

Pulling from across their career, the set is proof positive that Paradise Lost have only gotten better with age: 90s classics One Second, The Last Time and their killer cover of Smalltown Boy are undeniable anthems, but the likes of The Enemy, Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us and Ghosts (featuring a guest appearance from former drummer Waltteri Väyrynen, who now plays in Opeth) show PL are still producing some of their best material well into the 21st Century.

The difficulty with any Opeth setlist is, there's only so much they can squeeze into any headline set. Even so, they do a spectacular job of spanning their careers; from 1999 on, at least. There's no denying 2024's The Last Will And Testament felt like their finest moment in over a decade, so hearing just how well §1 and §7 work live adds more fuel to the desire for the band to perform the whole record in full. Frontman Mikael Akerfeldt does point out the difficulty in having guest contributions, however.

"If you've heard this record, you'll know we got Ian Anderson to do some spoken word," he starts, to a massive cheer. "He's not here. Now, we don't have any clicktracks or any of that shit, but we do have Ian's part on a tape. So we're going to play this song a little fast or a little slow, and we'll just see where his part ends up happening."

It turns out, Anderson comes in at exactly the right time... only for the video to run out of sync. Can't win 'em all. It's something the band take with good humour however. As the set winds back to their 'classic' era - Windowpane, The Grand Conjuration, The Drapery Falls - we're treated to some sublime visuals as lights shimmer amidst thick plumes of smoke that make it look like the band has opened a portal to another dimension, Akerfeldt undercutting the otherworldliness with a self-deprecating humour that feels as Northern as white roses and dark satanic mills. They'll make a Yorkshireman of him yet.

Opeth setlist @ Piece Hall, Halifax August 1 2026

1. §1
2. Hjärtat vet vad handen gör
3. Godhead's Lament
4. §7
5. The Devil's Orchard
6. Windowpane
7. The Grand Conjuration
8. The Drapery Falls
9. Hex Omega
10. Deliverance

Ding! The bell rings and all eyes snap back towards the bare-knuckle boxing ring in the centre of the arena. Alex Terrible, the Russian-born singer of Slaughter To Prevail, and Cameron Delano, an American bullrider built like a piece of farm equipment, rise to their feet, visibly exhausted, and step back to the centre of the ring. Both fighters are bloody, with faces swelling. Alex’s nose is broken, and he keeps wiping the blood from his face, yet, somehow, underneath all of it, he’s also grinning.

This is the climax of Blood4Blood, a meeting of metal and bare-knuckle fighting dreamed up by Alex and staged by heavyweight US promoter Danny Wimmer Presents at the 9,300-capacity Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida. The idea is straightforward: a line-up of bands and a full Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) fight card, same night, same room, same crowd.

The bands, including Black Label Society, British metalcore heroes Malevolence, Crowbar and Slaughter To Prevail themselves, have been chosen by Alex and his bandmates. At the end of the night, Alex will climb into the ring for the event’s closing bout with Cameron Delano, a short, sharp shock of violence and viscera. That’s where we came in. For now, let’s go back to the start, when nobody in the building was bleeding yet.

6PM: The line at Ocean Center wraps a third of the way around the building. It’s mostly Slaughter To Prevail merch, but there’s a decent showing of Black Label Society gear, and a range of other metal bands are represented. Talking to a few people in the queue, two things become clear.

First, most of them are here for the bands. Second, most of them are also genuinely excited about seeing their first sanctioned bare-knuckle fight, including a few who say they wouldn’t have come for a fight card alone, and a few more who say the music is a bonus.

Hand-to-hand combat is a very old sport – one of the oldest. Two humans, no weapons, an audience. Alex has been a fight obsessive for years, training in combat sports. He’s already had one brutal professional fight in Russia, which left him with several serious fractures to his skull, air in his brain, and temporary blindness.

In spite of the pain, his love for fighting seems perfectly aligned with his pursuit to be the best version of himself.

“It gives you perspective,” he says. “You see things differently because it is serious. You could very easily die in there. Some people call me a poser or some shit like that. But you cannot fake it at all. It’s real as fuck.”

6.45: There are two focal points in the arena. One is a traditional stage at the far end. The other is the BKFC ring dead centre, with the crowd flowing around it. Local Florida band Chained Saint hit the stage in an arena that has no business being this full at 6.45pm on a Wednesday.

The music is classic thrash metal but the four people playing it are just kids, all less than 21 years old. Circle-pits are already going on both sides of the floor. The ring sits between them, fully lit, empty, waiting.

“Metal music isn’t all about being aggressive and high energy, but it is a big part of that style of music,” Alex says of his idea to bring these two worlds together. “It’s the same energy as in bare-knuckle fighting or in MMA in general. It’s so intense. It just fits very well.”

7.30pm: Pyro and strobes herald a condensed set of Slaughter To Prevail’s heaviest material. From the stage, Alex can look straight down into the ring he’s going to be fighting in shortly. In the photo pit, Cameron Delano is looking back at him with his arms folded, sporting a cowboy hat, completely still.

“From the moment I watched the band start playing, I knew the energy was gonna be crazy,” Cameron tells us later. “They brought the intensity the entire night.”

It’s a strange sight: a man calmly studying someone he’s about to spend three rounds trying to hurt, while that someone screams over breakdowns three feet above his head.

7.55pm: The first fight of the night lasts 66 seconds. Kratos, a Russian fighter making his BKFC debut with a moniker and ripped body both seemingly borrowed from the videogame God Of War, faces Brock ‘Alphadawg’ Walker. Kratos catches him clean inside the opening minute, and the referee waves it off. A few seconds later and it’s done. The Russian wins.

Most people in the room have never seen a sanctioned bare-knuckle fight up close. The sport was illegal in the US until 2018, when Wyoming legalised it after a 130-year ban. A growing number of states have followed. Florida is one of them, which is why what’s happening tonight, despite looking transgressive, is entirely above board, with ringside doctors, a referee, sanctioning bodies and a televised broadcast.

In contrast to other MMA styles, bare-knuckle boxing bouts are fast-paced. The fighters don’t wear padding to absorb blows. Knuckles cut skin in the opening exchanges. Blood is on the canvas within seconds. By the time you’ve registered what’s happening, somebody is on the floor. The fights are much shorter than traditional boxing bouts, so the intensity is cranked up to 11, and knockouts are common.

8.15: The early KO leaves time to fill, so the BKFC hosts come into the ring to throw t-shirts and work the crowd, eventually leading to an announcer crowdsurfing – reportedly a first for the organisation. Then Crowbar take the stage and slow everything down to molasses tempo. Alex is a fan.

“Every time we see a video of something cool on TikTok, it’s Crowbar playing in the background,” he says. “They are legends.”

8.50: The BKFC is often touted as a macho sport, but tonight’s card includes two veterans of the women’s division. Taylor ‘Killa Bee’ Starling is a dyed-in-the-wool metal fan, and her body is adorned with tattoos - a stark contrast to her opponent, Sydney Smith, who has none visible.

The lights cut, the spotlights come on, and the pair make their entrances to their own walkout tracks. Unlike the first fight, this one survives the opening round. Both women return to their corners, cut and visibly swelling. Round two ends at 1:32 when Taylor lands the shot that finishes it. She’ll spend the rest of tonight watching the bands.

9.10: Backstage, the contrast is striking. Aside from the rumble from out front, it’s as quiet as a quilting expo, though there’s a particular kind of nervous energy in the air that comes where people are about to do something they can’t undo.

Some fighters are getting their hands wrapped, others talk quietly with guests. Cameron Delano, Alex’s opponent, is here too, hanging out with his young daughter as though his televised fight won’t be talking place in less than two hours.

9.20: Malevolence are onstage, playing Trenches, and the pits are bigger than they have been all night. Zoltan Bathory and Chris Kael of Five Finger Death Punch – noted MMA heads – are watching from the floor. The crossover keeps writing itself.

9.45: Jake ‘Brutal’ Bostwick fights Roderick Stewart in front of a packed room that has fully accepted the format by this point. Bands stop, fights start, fights end, bands start again. Both fighters are tatted up and cast a menacing presence.

10.15: Black Label Society hit the stage. Zakk Wylde, in his plaid kilt, pounding out heavy riffs. By now, several of the night’s fighters are out on the arena floor in the crowd, bloodied and bruised, watching the bands. Taylor Starling’s newfound fans are getting photos taken with her battered, smiling face.

“It was a blast!” Zakk says after his set. “Fighting and heavy music go together like peanut butter and jelly.”

He’s not wrong. The metal community’s always embraced aggression – take a look at any moshpits. Bare-knuckle boxing is a natural extension of that. There’s mutual respect, too, before and after the bell, in a similar way metalheads knock someone down in the pit, and help them right back up.

10.50: The big fight. The one everyone’s here to see, or at least curious about. Alex Terrible vs Cameron Delano. The lights die and the crowd roars. The American walks on first – focused, narrow-eyed, the bullrider in him fully switched on. Then Alex, and the volume in the room peaks so hard you can’t make out his walkout track over the chanting.

“This is your main event of the evening!” comes the announcement, further riling the crowd up into a frenzy. The fighters meet in the centre of the ring. The bell goes. Ding! They start hitting each other. Within 90 seconds both men are bleeding from the face.

Round one is two solid minutes of trading: fists landing flush, knuckles opening cuts, the wet sound of impact audible over the crowd if you’re close enough. At the bell, the two men high-five through bloody teeth and walk to their corners. It’s a brutal opening round.

10.53: Round two. Alex lands a right hook clean on Cameron’s jaw and staggers him, but Cameron weathers it to the bell. Chants of “USA! USA!” and “AL-EX! AL-EX!” trade off in the rafters. There’s a Rocky IV-ish quality to it on paper – it was billed as The Russian Grizzly vs. The American Bull.

10.56: Twenty-nine seconds into the third round, Cameron counters with a clean right hand, and Alex goes down. He stands but his legs betray him and he wobbles to the ropes where the referee waves to signal the fight is over. Cameron takes the win by TKO.

Both men are wearing more of their own blood than seems possible. What most of the crowd doesn’t know is that Alex had been planning to play another short STP set after the fight, but the on-site doctor and the venue would not allow it. Presented with a man sporting a broken nose, several facial fractures and a suspected mild concussion, any competent medical expert would have firm opinions about the wisdom of headbanging in the immediate aftermath of all that.

The building, though, is in no rush to empty. Fighters are still mingling on the floor and fans are still photographing each other in front of the ring. Whatever Blood4Blood was supposed to be, it has clearly worked.

FOUR DAYS LATER: Alex Terrible is sitting backstage at Welcome To Rockville, where STP are due to headline the third stage this evening. The black eyes are something else. The voice is calm.

“To be honest, I’ve been asking myself that, and I still cannot find the answer yet,” he says, when asked why he fights. “It’s just something in my heart. We have this phrase: ‘Be a warrior means live forever’, and I believe I am a warrior, and my war is fighting fears and weakness. It makes me go to these places that I’m scared of going to and face my fears and try to build the best version of myself. Not only physically, but in all aspects of your life.”

He’ll fight again, he says. He might not perform on the same night next time, because he’s a competitor and he wants to win, and the split focus didn’t do him any favours. Other musicians have already been in touch about appearing on future cards. He says Pantera would be the dream get. Whether they came for the blood or the music, the fans in Daytona got both. For Alex, it was something simpler: a war he chose, fought and walked away from.

SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL HEADLINE BLOODSTOCK ON AUGUST 8, PLUS GLASGOW SWG3 ON AUGUST 10 AND 02 ACADEMY BRISTOL ON AUGUST 12

Country rock legends Eagles have extended their record-breaking residency at Sphere in Las Vegas again. The news comes nine months after they announced that the "final" four shows of their current run of shows would take place in March 2026.

Since then, the residency has been extended three times, and now another four shows have been confirmed for early 2027.

The band, who played their first date at the venue in September 2024, will now complete a total of 72 shows over 36 weekends, with the final Sphere shows scheduled for January 22 and 23. Full dates below.

Eagles have now played to more than a million fans at the venue and own the record for the longest Sphere residency, comprehensively breaking the record held by Dead & Company, who played 48 shows between May 2024 and May last year.

According to the promoters, the shows will "offer fans the ultimate connection to the band’s legendary catalogue in an immersive experience that only Sphere can provide."

Ticket prices at the 20,000-capacity venue start at $175. The presale for the new seats begins on August 12 at 10am, with registration for early access to tickets now open on the Eagles website.

Also available are "Experience & Hotel" and "VIP Experience & Hotel" packages. The latter retails at $1451 and includes a choice of premium seat at Sphere, with guaranteed full view of the screen and priority access into the venue, a two-night stay at The Venetian Resort hotel, airport transfers, a VIP fan experience, commemorative Eagles keepsakes and a souvenir Eagles laminate and lanyard.

Sphere was opened in 2023 by U2, who played 40 shows at the revolutionary venue. Since then, Phish (13 shows across two residencies), Dead & Company, No Doubt (18 shows), country star Kenny Chesney (25), vocal group Backstreet Boys (35) and The Zac Brown Band (8) have completed residencies. Metallica have confirmed 24 shows between October and March.

Other bands rumoured to be in talks with Sphere include Guns N' Roses, Tool and Queen + Adam Lambert.

The next Eagles show at Sphere is on September 18.

Eagles @ Sphere, Las Vegas, 2026

Sep 18: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Sep 19: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Nov 13: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Nov 14: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Nov 27: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Nov 28: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Dec 04: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Dec 05: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Dec 10: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Dec 11: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Jan 15: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Jan 16: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Jan 22: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Jan 23: Las Vegas Sphere, NV

Get Eagles tickets.

Prog legends King Crimson will release 2014 (The Complete US Tour) as a double Blu-ray set on October 30.

It was the band's first tour for six years and one which introduced the now-famous three-drummer line-up, featuring Gavin Harrison and Pat Mastelotto, both members of previous Crimson line-ups, and Bill Reiflin, who had worked with Ministry and REM.

Robert Fripp's e-mail to his fellow bandmates ahead of the tour read, "dear brother crims, we have one year to prepare for action of the savage variety, and be in Go! mode for september 2014... but essentially, King Crimson is in motion.”

The two-disc set features the complete 19-date 2014 King Crimson USA tour as well as a never-before-seen pre-tour show at The Egg, Albany, NY for friends and family, in 24/48 and presented in 1920x1080 (HD).

The new concert recordings are presented in 24/96 Hi-Res Stereo taken from the Front of House live mix, sourced from the band's multi-track recordings and incorporating both the audience and hall sounds for each venue.

The two-disc set will be packaged in a miniature gatefold sleeve with 24-page booklet and new sleeve notes from King Crimson biographer and Prog writer Sid Smith.

Pre-order 2014 (The Complete US Tour).

King Crimson: 2014 (The Complete US Tour)

Blu-Ray I

SEPTEMBER 2014

8^th Sept - Albany, NY The Egg (Friends & Family show) video*

9^th Sept - Albany, NY The Egg

10^th Sept - Albany, NY The Egg

12^th Sept - Philadelphia, PA Verizon Hall

13^th Sept - Philadelphia, PA Verizon Hall

15^th Sept - Boston, MA Colonial Theatre

16^th Sept - Boston, MA Colonial Theatre

18^th Sept - New York, NY Best Buy

19^th Sept - New York, NY Best Buy

20^th Sept - New York, NY Best Buy

Blu-Ray II

SEPTEMBER2014

21^st Sept - New York, NY Best Buy

23^rd Sept - Madison, WI Barrymore Theatre

25^th Sept - Chicago, IL The Vic Theatre

26^th Sept - Chicago, IL The Vic Theatre

27^th Sept - Chicago, IL The Vic Theatre

30^th Sept - Los Angeles, CA Orpheum Theatre

OCTOBER 2014

1^st Oct - Los Angeles, CA Orpheum Theatre

3^rd Oct - San Francisco, CA The Warfield

4^th Oct - San Francisco, CA The Warfield

6^th Oct - Seattle, WA Moore Theater

Four years after 30 minutes of Led Zeppelin's performance at the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music in 1970 appeared online – before being removed – all the known footage from the event has been uploaded to the YouTube account of film archivist ledzepfilm.

"After 56 years, I am proud to present all the 16mm footage shot by Peter Whitehead and Ernie Vincze of Led Zeppelin's performance at the Bath Festival on June 28th, 1970," says ledzepfilm. "Rumoured for decades, this is a monumental addition to the Led Zeppelin canon and an essential watch for any fan."

Whitehead and Vincze originally planned to shoot the concert and interview Led Zeppelin, but the pair arrived at the festival site late and missed the band's arrival by helicopter. During the show itself, they were shooting using film stock only suited to daytime shooting, so much of the live footage looks dark, and the band didn't have multitrack recording set up, so the sound – captured on a portable reel-to-reel machine and matched to the footage later – is incomplete and certainly not hi-fidelity.

Even so, the complete Bath footage, which captured Led Zeppelin at an early career crossroads, has become a holy grail among Led Zeppelin fans.

"It’s historically very important," Dave Lewis, editor of Led Zeppelin's Tight But Loose fanzine, told Classic Rock in 2017. "It was a turning point for the band – their biggest UK show, five encores, great reviews, the first time they played acoustically (they played That’s The Way, from Led Zep III) and it set them up for the rest of their career, really."

Highlights of the newly uploaded footage include Jimmy Page backstage with then-girlfriend Charlotte Martin, Robert Plant and John Bonham backstage, the debut live performance of Immigrant Song, and clips of Dazed And Confused, Since I've Been Loving You, Whole Lotta Love, Moby Dick and more.

Some of the footage remains silent, some synced to Whitehead's original audio recordings, and some matched with tapes made by audience members. Watch the historic footage below.

It's around 10pm on Saturday night, and up on the huge stage in front of me, a worried-looking keyboardist in priestly garb and corpse paint is getting burned at the stake. Behind him is a giant image of a grinning, hooded werewolf, looming over crumbling ruins that resemble an old, decaying church. In front of him are about 70,000 screaming, fist-pumping, circle-pitting and crowdsurfing metalheads. Some on the front row are so overcome with emotion that they're bawling their eyes out. It's unlike any spectacle I've seen in 25 years of metal shows.

This is Powerwolf, the supernaturally-inclined German power metallers that have become one of Europe's most surprising success stories, playing their biggest ever show at Wacken Open Air, their country's premier metal event. It's a powerful moment for Wacken itself, which over 35 years has grown from a small, local gig nestled in some farmland in North Germany into the biggest metal festival on planet Earth.

In a climate where large-scale rock and metal fests are more commonplace than ever - Germany alone also has Rock Am Ring, Rock Im Park, Summer Breeze and Rockharz taking place every summer - Wacken positions itself as a true Mecca of metal, informally referring to its main arena as the 'Holy Land' and welcoming a black-clad army of 85,000 each year.

It's certainly an event of some scale - upon walking onsite for the first time on Thursday afternoon and around areas that include two big outdoor stages (plus a couple of smaller ones), a large array of food stalls, stores and merchandise stands, a tattoo shop, some bars and even a full farmer's market, imagine my surprise upon realising that I haven't actually arrived at the main arena space yet.

In there are the festival's two biggest stages - Faster and Harder, built side by side and timetabled so bands never overlap - with the festival's third biggest stage, Louder, a few hundred metres around the corner. There are also the Wackinger and Wasteland stages, plus the W:E:T and Headbanger stages I strolled past earlier, making it seven decent-sized, outdoor stages in total.

It's a little overwhelming at first - from some vantage points you can spot three or four big screens showing different bands playing at once - but despite the sheer amount of people here and all the stuff going on, it never feels too busy. The atmosphere is relaxed, there are no signs of any crowd surging or bottlenecking and the stages are all spread widely enough not to interfere with each other, but are never a slog to get to (at least, not in the lovely weather we're blessed with - a repeat of last year's mud may have been a different story).

This year, Wacken is marking its 35th anniversary and the celebratory vibes last all weekend, not least from the stacked lineup. Old school heavy metal legends Def Leppard and Judas Priest roll out the bangers on Thursday and Friday night respectively, garnering the kind of full-hearted singalongs that'll guarantee some croaky throats in the morning. Swedish melodeath veterans In Flames and Arch Enemy - the latter fronted by fire-throated new singer Lauren Hart - slay it on the main stages in front of tens of thousands.

The future of metal looks in safe hands thanks to a clinical but bruising hour from rising Swedes Orbit Culture, who bounce back from some initial technical issues, while modern British metal gets a fine showing courtesy of Employed To Serve and Bleed From Within's pulverising sets. Both bands look like they're having an absolute blast in front of pleasingly large crowds on Wacken's third and fourth stages.

Elsewhere on the site, just about every corner of heavy music is represented, whether it's Hatebreed's battering metallic hardcore, Emperor's flaying black metal majesty or Municipal Waste's chaotic crossover thrash. Lamb Of God, meanwhile, put on what might just be the set of the weekend, making the most of their sixty minutes with an absolute scorched earth performance, the likes of Walk With Me In Hell and Set To Fail landing so hard it's a surprise the dusty ground beneath us isn't cracking open.

All of this makes for a great metal weekender, but its the thought put into Wacken's organisation that makes it feel like a step above. There's an abundance of shaded areas to sit in - much needed in the thirty-plus degree heat that hits on Thursday - plus a decent scattering of water points and proper, flushing toilets and accompanying sinks. It means you're never more than a ten minute walk or so from a quick rinse or a water top-up (again, weather-permitting). There are also booths dispensing free sun cream and walking vendors selling drinks and snacks (and, er, cigarettes).

Queues for some food stands and facilities are inevitable at certain times but they never seem to get out of control, especially compared to many big festivals; I'm pretty sure I never had to wait more than five minutes or so to get served. It paints the picture of a festival that has a) grown organically and b) continued to prioritise the enjoyment and comfort of the people buying tickets.

It also means you can see a band like Saturday night headliners Sabaton draw a metal crowd the size of which would have once been exclusively reserved for Iron Maiden or Metallica. The war-obsessed Swedes tag in from fellow power metal heavyweights Powerwolf to bring Wacken 2026 to a pyro-powered peak, setting off enough fireworks to fuel a decade of bonfire nights - not to mention their massive tank drum kit that ends up being suspended from the ceiling at one point.

It's bombastic. It's epic. It's completely ludicrous. It's heavy metal in its final form, and it's the kind of thing this festival was built for. There's no doubt about it: Wacken Open Air is the home of metal, and this was a special weekend.

The internet has been particularly generous to us this week, with a healthy number of rare and previously unseen live performances making their way online. From old TV shows to awards ceremony highlights to contemporary livestreams, here are 13 remarkable highlights, with a disclaimer: be quick, because at least a couple of these clips might not remain online for long.

1. The Beatles - Live At The Coliseum, Washington

In February 1964, at the height of Beatlemania, the Beatles played a sold-out show at the Coliseum in Washington, DC. The 12-song set was filmed by CBS and broadcast the following month, and has subsequently appeared on DVD. This latest (unofficial) clip of three songs upscales the video to 4K, colourises the footage and remixes the sound, and it shows the "lovable mop-tops" in complete control as carnage unfolds.

Famously, this is the night the band were pelted with jellybeans after professing a love for the popular sweet in an interview. "We were on a circular stage, so they hit us from all sides," said George Harrison. "Imagine waves of rock-hard little bullets raining down on you from the sky. It’s a bit dangerous, you know, ’cause if a jellybean, travelling about 50 miles an hour through the air, hits you in the eye, you’re finished. You’re blind, aren’t you?"

2. The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Live at the Royal Albert Hall

Jimi Hendrix's shows at London's iconic Royal Albert Hall in February 1969 were both captured by an American company, McCann Filming, and released as a concert movie later that year. This hour-long compilation uses the best available video and audio sources from the second of the shows (from February 24) and features some rare and previously unseen footage of Jimi backstage and after the show, an interview at Jimi's London flat, and two acoustic covers filmed at the same location.

3. Can - Halleluhwah (Live on Beat-Club)

Last week we made some noise about a known-but-previously unreleased version of Black Sabbath's N.I.B. filmed for the German TV show Beat-Club in 1970, and now here's something from the following year as Krautrock lynchpins Can perform an eight-minute version of the classic Halleluhwah. This performance is a full ten minutes shorter than the studio version on Can's Tago Mago album (thanks to standard television programming being unable to accommodate a 20-minute avant-garde jam), but Jaki Liebezeit’s relentless drumming and Damo Suzuki's stream-of-consciousness vocals are still a treat.

4. Family (ft. Roger Chapman) - Part Of the Load (Live on Beat-Club)

Another 1971 gem from the Beat-Club archive as Family mix three different kinds of rock (progressive, blues rock and jazz) into something truly adventurous, with Roger Chapman improvising on vocals and a stellar rhythm section in the shape of bassist John Wetton and drummer Poli Palmer, who, presumably via some kind of post-production video magic, also appears on vibes. Palmer was filling in on the stool for regular sticksman Rob Townsend, who'd been bitten by his dog.

5. Uriah Heep - Return To Fantasy (Live on The Midnight Special)

Since launching its archive on YouTube in early 2023, The Midnight Special has uploaded hundreds of clips and dozens of full shows, thus adding to the total sum of international enjoyment by a significant factor. This footage comes from the summer of 1975, when Uriah Heep were promoting their Return to Fantasy album, and features Mick Box & Co. (including our old friend John Wetton, who'd replaced Gary Thain earlier that year) playing the title track. This mix isn't the best (too much bass, not enough guitar), and singer David Byron may be what they call "worse for wear", but it's undeniably full-on.

6. Thin Lizzy - The Sun Goes Down (Sight And Sound In Concert)

Thin Lizzy's Sight And Sound In Concert was filmed at the Regal Theatre in Hitchin in early 1983 and featured the band's Thunder And Lightning lineup, with the late John Sykes fitting in beautifully alongside Scott Gorham on guitar. This footage of The Sun Goes Down finds Phil Lynott at his most melancholic, and has found its way to Thin Lizzy's official YouTube channel in the footsteps of two other songs from the same show, Cold Sweat and Jailbreak.

7. King Crimson - Sleepless (Live at Tokyo's Kani Hoken Hall)

Three Of A Perfect Pair might not be the best 80s-era King Crimson album, but the band were still absolutely monstrous live, as evidenced by this 1984 clip, which was filmed on the final night of a three-performance residency at the Kani Hoken Hall in Tokyo, and features some utterly heroic bass playing from the great Tony Levin.

This is the latest in a long line of songs released from the show (elsewhere you'll find Discipline, Frame By Frame, Sartori In Tangier, Elephant Talk, etc, etc), which was filmed for Nippon TV and later issued on LaserDisc as Three of a Perfect Pair – Live in Japan.

8. Pink Floyd - The Great Gig in the Sky (Live in Venice)

Such is the celestial splendour of Pink Floyd's Great Gig In The Sky, it's easy to forget that this performance – filmed in Venice in 1989 – only took place after three months of bickering with the local authorities, led to the resignation of the town's mayor, and took place on a barge. Backing vocalists Rachel Fury, Durga McBroom and Lorelei McBroom sing Clare Torry's original freeform part brilliantly, much to the presumed delight of the estimated 100 million people who watched Pink Floyd in Venice: A Concert for Europe when it was broadcast worldwide.

In the last few weeks, Floyd have also released Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Time, Learning To Fly, The Dogs Of War, On The Turning Away, Yet Another Movie, Sorrow and Round And Round from the Venice show.

9. David Bowie - Rebel Rebel (TFI Friday)

It's easy to forget the cultural dominance of Chris Evans's show TFI Friday, but for a while, back in the late 1990s, it was the UK show to appear on, with everyone from Bon Jovi to Slipknot, Tina Turner and Prince appearing live (and it was very live). The show's official YouTube channel was launched earlier this year (more than 300 clips have already been uploaded), and the latest batch includes a pair of David Bowie performances, China Girl and Rebel, Rebel, from a broadcast in October 1999. Eagle-eyed viewers will note the presence of Helmet's Page Hamilton on guitar.

10. Tom Waits and Neil Young - Get Behind the Mule

Back in 2011, Neil Young inducted Tom Waits into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. "I didn't bring my teleprompter or my notes, and I don't have any real thoughts," Young joked. 'I will say that this next man is indescribable and I'm here to describe him."

After doing so, the pair went on to perform Waits' Get Behind the Mule, from his 1999 album Mule Variations. Waits has only played one significant show in the years since, when he completed a 10-song setlist at a Bridge School Benefit show in 2013. Quite why the Rock Hall have waited until now to release this clip is anyone's guess, but we're not complaining.

11. Tedeschi Trucks Band - Live At Red Rocks

If there's a more sublime combination of band and venue than Tedeschi Trucks Band and Denver's Red Rocks Amphitheatre, then it surely must be in heaven. This twenty-minute teaser (you can skip five minutes of audience preamble) was filmed late last month and opens with a pair of rapturous Sly Stone covers in You Can Make It If You Try and Everyday People, plus their own Don't Let Me Slide and the beginnings of Crazy Cryin', before the footage fades. If you want to watch the whole thing, it's available via TTB's deal with streaming platform Nugs.

12. Smashing Pumpkins - Lollapalooza 2026

Filmed on the same night as Tedeschi Trucks' Red Rocks show, but across the country at Grant Park in Chicago, this clip features Smashing Pumpkins' entire Lollapalooza 2026 set, which includes a host of classics (1979, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Disarm, Tonight Tonight, Cherub Rock and more) plus a trio of cameos from Yungblud, Olivia Rodrigo and Melissa Auf der Maur. It seems as if Billy Corgan (dressed here as Nosferatu, it would seem) is enjoying himself these days, and that comes across in a set that's sonically spectacular and ultimately triumphant.

Dozens of heavy metal bands have been confirmed for the lineup of German mega-festival Wacken Open Air in 2027.

Leading the pack are US groove metal arena-fillers Five Finger Death Punch, German power metal veterans Helloween and German electronicore party-starters Electric Callboy (who grace the cover of this month’s Metal Hammer).

Also announced are UK power metal band Dragonforce, who’ll be playing a 2027 European exclusive and joined by their recently added co-vocalist, ex-Arch Enemy member Alissa White-Gluz. White-Gluz’s new band Blue Medusa will appear, too.

German metal band Edguy will play as part of their farewell tour and, on the more extreme end, blackened death metal unit Kanonenfieber will put on a show featuring the production from their own curated festival, Kanonenfest.

Ex-Anthrax singer John Bush will play a special set featuring material by his former thrash band, and Children Of Bodom will play following their recent reunion with new frontman Samy Elbanna. Elbanna replaces the Finnish quintet’s late founder, Alexi Laiho.

The full list of names is available below. The festival, which is held annually near Wacken village in north Germany, will take place from July 28 to 31.

This first wave of 2027 acts was announced as Wacken Open Air 2026 came to a close on Saturday (August 1). It remains to be seen whether any in this crop are headlining the festival.

Wacken this year was headlined by Def Leppard, Sabaton and Judas Priest. Powerwolf, In Flames, Savatage, Arch Enemy (now fronted by Lauren Hart), Saxon, Lamb Of God, Europe, Emperor and many more also populated the bill. Electric Callboy played an exclusive Electric Bassboy DJ set at the event, celebrating the release of their upcoming album Tanzneid this week.

Wacken is Five Finger Death Punch’s first announced date for the 2027 European festival season, but the band will headline a tour across the continent from January to February. The headline run will include a show at the O2 Arena in London, their biggest-ever UK performance. Lamb Of God and Bleed From Within will serve as support for those dates.

As for Electric Callboy, the band are currently on the cover of Hammer, and inside the issue they tell the story of Tanzneid and their career so far. Co-singer Nico opens up about his past throwing weekly house parties for all his friends.

“At its peak, we had 80 people in this tiny flat. People that we didn’t know were ringing the doorbell,” he says. “They treated our flat like shit. I wanted to go to bed, and there were drinks and liquids that I couldn’t identify all over my bed! Very good memories, even if it doesn’t sound like it.”

The six-piece, who released their latest single The Way You Are last week, are still touring Europe and will bring their Electric Bassboy show to their own festival, Escalation, on August 7. The day after, they’ll headline the event. Order the new Hammer, with Electric Callboy on the cover, and get it delivered directly to your door.

Helloween’s Wacken 2027 appearance will be part of their ongoing 40th-anniversary celebrations. They’re currently making their way across Europe and will play the Concert Music Festival in Chiclana de la Frontera, Spain, on Thursday (August 6). A Latin American tour is in place for August and September. Wacken will be part of a 2027 summer European run also featuring dates in Spain and the Czech Republic.

Wacken 2027 bands:

• John 5
• Avatar
• Beast In Black
• Belphegor
• Between Two Worlds
• Blue Medusa
• The Browning
• John Bush (Anthrax set)
• Carnifex
• Cavalera Conspiracy
• Children Of Bodom
• Creeper
• Crypta
• Dark Tranquillity
• Dethklok
• Dragonforce
• Edguy
• Electric Callboy
• Feuerschwanz
• Five Finger Death Punch
• Gaerea
• Hammerfall
• Heaven Shall Burn
• Heavens Gate
• Helloween (40th-anniversary set)
• Hiraes
• Imminence
• Jinjer
• Kanonenfieber (Kanonenfest set)
• Knocked Loose
• Make Them Suffer
• Malevolence
• Metal Church
• Mittel Alta
• The Narrator
• The New Roses
• Norther
• Overkill
• Primordial
• Seven Blood
• Shadow Of Intent
• Sylosis
• Tailgunner
• Towards The Sinister
• Tyketto
• U.D.O.
• Victorious
• Witch Club Satan

Megadeth have announced 2027 European live dates, including their first headlining UK tour since 2015.

The Grammy-winning US thrash metal veterans will return as part of their ongoing farewell run, which kicked off with a leg of North and Latin American shows earlier this year. Black Label Society and fellow thrashers Testament will support.

A Live Nation pre-sale for the UK starts at 9am local time on Thursday, August 6, and general sale commences at 10am on August 7. See the full list of confirmed shows below.

Formed by singer/guitarist and sole constant member Dave Mustaine in 1983, shortly after his expulsion from Metallica, Megadeth are one of the best-selling extreme metal bands in history, having sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. In 1992, their fifth album Countdown To Extinction reached number two on the US Billboard 200.

After picking up 11 nominations over the course of their career, the band finally won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2017, with their single Dystopia. In 2023, their song We’ll Be Back was also Grammy-nominated, but lost to Degradation Rules by Ozzy Osbourne featuring Tony Iommi in the metal category.

42 years in, Megadeth announced their impending retirement last summer. Mustaine, now 64, said he wanted to go out on his own terms and urged fans: “Don’t be mad, don’t be sad, be happy for us all, come celebrate with me these next few years.”

It was later revealed that physical injuries also played a part in the band’s split. In December, Mustaine announced that he had Dupuytren’s contracture: a condition where one or more fingers bend in towards the palm. Mustaine said that the condition made it painful for him to play guitar.

Megadeth released their final studio album, a self-titled effort, via BLKIIBLK in January. It received mostly positive reviews, including four stars from Metal Hammer’s Dom Lawson, and was the band’s first US chart-topper. Its bonus track was a cover of Metallica’s Ride The Lightning: a song that Mustaine co-wrote but wasn’t released until 1984, after his dismissal from the lineup.

It’s rumoured that Megadeth are set to release a greatest hits album, Fast Hits, on August 21. Reports began after fans spotted it on the Walmart website last week. The band have not yet commented on the matter.

Megadeth’s last UK headline run took place in November 2015 and was capped off by a co-headline show at London’s Wembley Arena with Lamb Of God. Children Of Bodom and Sylosis supported.

Even though the band haven’t topped the bill on a UK tour since, they’ve been a regular presence on the country’s festival circuit, including headline performances at Derbyshire’s Bloodstock Open Air in 2017 and 2023. They also supported Five Finger Death Punch in arenas last autumn.

Megadeth: 2027 European tour dates

• Mar 09: Belfast The O2, UK
• Mar 11: London OVO Arena Wembley, UK
• Mar 12: Nottingham Motorpoint Arena, UK
• Mar 13: Manchester Co-op Live, UK
• Mar 15: Cardiff Utilita Arena, UK
• Mar 16: Glasgow OVO Hydro, UK
• Mar 18: Birmingham BP Pulse Live, UK
• Mar 19: Leeds First Direct Bank Arena, UK
• Mar 21: Paris Zenith, France
• Mar 23: Brussels Forest National, Belgium
• Mar 25: Dusseldorf Mitsubishi Electric Halle, Germany
• Mar 27: Copenhagen KB Hallen, Denmark
• Mar 28: Oslo Spektrum, Norway
• Mar 30: Hamburg Sporthalle, Germany
• Apr 01: Berlin Velodrom, Germany
• Apr 02: Krakow Tauron Arena, Poland
• Apr 04: Munich Zenith, Germany
• Apr 05: Bern Festhalle, Switzerland
• Apr 06: Milan Unipol Forum, Italy
• Apr 08: Lyon Halle Tony Garnier, France
• Apr 10: Barcelona Olimpic Arena, Spain
• Apr 12: madrid Movistar Arena, Spain
• Apr 13: Lisbon Sagres Camp Pequeno, Portugal