Chan Marshall, known globally as Cat Power, will celebrate the twentieth anniversary of her landmark 2006 album The Greatest with a new EP, Redux, and a full-album world tour in 2026. The acclaimed American singer-songwriter will perform The Greatest in its entirety across North America and Europe, honouring an era that reshaped her artistry and cemented her place in modern indie and soul-infused rock history.

Australian instrumental icons Dirty Three will return to North American stages for the first time in 14 years, announcing a March-April 2026 tour across the United States and Canada. The run marks the Melbourne-formed trio's first extensive shows outside Australia since the release of their 2024 album Love Changes Everything, the band's first studio recording in 12 years.

The Cure will bring fans back into the shadowy glow of London's Troxy this December, announcing a cinematic release for The Show of a Lost World, the concert film capturing their one-night-only performance of Songs of a Lost World in full. The film screens globally for one night only on 11 December.

The Queen Of Burlesque, Dita Von Teese, will illuminate Australian stages once again in August 2026 with her most ambitious production yet. The all-new Nocturnelle tour will arrive two years from now courtesy of TEG Dainty, marking a triumphant return for the internationally celebrated performer whose theatrical glamour has helped reinvent burlesque for a new era.

The Growlers will return to Australia in January 2026, marking their first tour down under in six years and their first global run since 2019. The influential Southern California outfit, fronted by Brooks Nielsen, will kick off their comeback in Australia with a run of East Coast headline shows, joined by Melbourne surf-garage rockers The Grogans on all dates except Torquay.

Perth five-piece South Summit have lit another fuse under their fast-rising career, unveiling a bold sonic leap with their new single We Are.

José González has returned with a burst of colour and childlike wonder. The Swedish singer-songwriter, world-renowned for his delicate acoustic style and introspective folk, has released ‘Pajarito', a tender, playful Spanish-language track inspired by childhood, independence, and the gentle unfolding of life's meaning. The song arrives via City Slang alongside an equally whimsical video, crafted in collaboration with AI tools Sora and VEO.

Alan Niven, the former manager who guided Guns N' Roses through the most explosive years of their career, has filed a lawsuit in the United States seeking to unblock the release of his memoir Sound N' Fury: Rock N' Roll Stories. The action was filed on 3 November 2025 in the District Court of Arizona, with Niven requesting a jury trial and a declaration that a 1991 confidentiality agreement cannot be used to stop his book.

Swedish modern rock force Self Deception will make their long-awaited Australian headline debut in April 2026, following a sold-out European arena run that cemented their place among Scandinavia's most exciting rock exports.

Robert MacLean Taylor, the gifted New Zealand guitarist who helped shape the sound of one of Australasia's greatest rock bands, Dragon, has died. His passing, announced in early November 2025, marks the loss of one of the last surviving members of the band's classic 1970s lineup, and a musician whose work bridged the golden eras of New Zealand and Australian rock.

Dave Mustaine has decided to close the book on one of metal's most storied rivalries by paying tribute to his own past. Megadeth's upcoming self-titled final album, Megadeth, will include a brand-new recording of Metallica's 1984 classic Ride The Lightning, a song Mustaine co-wrote before being fired from Metallica in 1983.

Download Festival, the spiritual home of heavy music in the United Kingdom, will roar back to life in 2026 for its 23rd edition, rebranded as DLXXIII. From 10 to 14 June 2026, Donington Park in Leicestershire will once again become the global epicentre of rock, metal and alternative music with three colossal headliners, Limp Bizkit, Guns N' Roses and Linkin Park, performing their only UK shows of the year.

Sean “Diddy” Combs has been granted a fast-tracked appeal by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, giving the disgraced hip-hop mogul an opportunity to challenge his July 2025 conviction and four-year sentence far sooner than the usual lengthy process would allow.

Bad Company frontman Paul Rodgers has confirmed he will not attend the band's long-awaited Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction on 8 November in Los Angeles, citing health concerns.

Leslie Kong's name rarely appears on the marquee, but his fingerprints are all over the songs that made Jamaica's music a global language. A Chinese-Jamaican businessman who began life running an ice-cream parlour, a restaurant and a record shop on Orange Street in Kingston, Kong turned a chance audition outside his shop into Beverley's Records and effectively launched modern reggae. His label and production work took ska and rocksteady, polished them, and helped shape early reggae into an exportable sound that found listeners from London to New York.

The Doors' 60th anniversary was marked with a spectacular, one-night-only tribute concert at Los Angeles' legendary Greek Theatre on 30 October 2025. “A 60th Anniversary Doors Celebration” brought together generations of musicians to honour one of rock's most transformative bands and their landmark 1970 album Morrison Hotel.

Conquer Divide's story is one of evolution, resilience and reinvention. The transatlantic rock force, formed by musicians from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, has risen from their early days in Michigan's metalcore scene to become one of modern rock's most dynamic voices. Their new single The Ocean Between Us marks another milestone in that decade-long journey.

AC/DC's world tour is powering up for 2026. Acca Dacca have announced another major extension to their globe-spanning trek, adding a 2026 leg that will take in stadiums across South America, Mexico, the United States and Canada.

Jimmy Nice, one of Australian revered hip-hop lyricists, has stepped into a bold new chapter with the release of As It Echoed Off The Stoop, the debut album from Jimmy Nice & The Know. Out now through One Day Recordings, the new label partnership between the Sydney One Day collective and EMI Music Australia, the record marks a striking rebirth for the artist best known as one half of Spit Syndicate.

Before The Quintessential Black Sorrows arrived, Joe Camilleri took me back to the very beginning - to the scrappy studios and café sessions that launched a band with no money, plenty of mateship, and an appetite for making records fast. The first four Black Sorrows albums, Camilleri says, were bound by necessity and invention, recorded with a shoestring ethic that somehow captured a raw, immediate sound which would become the band's early signature.

Melbourne rock collective Horizon have dropped a powerful new live performance video for ‘Primitive', the pulsing centrepiece of their self-titled album.

American country singer Drew Baldridge has dropped a striking new single titled “Rebel”, set to hit streaming platforms on October 31 and impact country radio from November 3 via Lyric Ridge Records/Stoney Creek Records. The track marks another chapter in a career rooted in authenticity, rural roots and self-made success.

German thrash legends Kreator have channelled their inner horror buff for Halloween, releasing a macabre new single, Tränenpalast, inspired by Dario Argento's 1977 cult classic Suspiria. The track arrives ahead of the band's sixteenth studio album, Krushers Of The World, due out 16 January 2026 through Nuclear Blast Records.

Canadian deathcore giants Despised Icon have unleashed their long-awaited seventh studio album, Shadow Work, out now through Nuclear Blast Records. The Montreal band, revered for pioneering the deathcore sound in the early 2000s, delivers what may be their most refined and punishing release yet-an album balancing blistering speed, devastating grooves, and moments of melodic decay.

British/Greek singer-songwriter Eleni Drake has released her new album Chuck through MNRK today, unveiling what may be her most deeply personal and emotionally resonant project to date. The record arrives with the powerful new single Ripples, a cinematic track exploring introspection and accountability that sits at the heart of the album's themes.

Dark Mofo, Australia's celebrated mid-winter solstice festival, will return to Lutruwita/Tasmania from Thursday 11 June to Monday 22 June 2026, once again transforming Hobart into a city drenched in red light, fire, ritual and sound.

The Mornington Peninsula's most anticipated summer event, the Peninsula Summer Music Festival (PSMF), returns from Saturday 3 to Sunday 11 January 2026 with nine days of exquisite music across some of Victoria's most picturesque venues.

Los Angeles progressive metalcore force Volumes will return in December with their fifth studio album Mirror Touch. The album will be released digitally on 12 December 2025 via Fearless Records, with physical editions to follow on 27 February 2026. To mark the announcement, the band have unveiled the visualiser for their new single ‘S.O.A.P.', signalling the next evolution of their sound.

Two decades after reshaping Australian hip hop with their landmark 2005 album The Sun Never Sets, The Herd will reunite in February 2026 for a national tour to celebrate the record's 20th anniversary. The Sun Never Sets 20th Anniversary Tour will bring the influential collective to stages in Thirroul, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Hobart.

Pulp will return to Australia in February and March 2026, marking their third visit to the country and their first since 2011. The Sheffield icons, fronted by Jarvis Cocker, last performed in Australia 15 years ago, having first toured the country in 1998 at the height of the Britpop era.