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.

Bob Dylan's early years in New York are set to be rediscovered in unprecedented detail with the release of The Bootleg Series Vol. 18: Through The Open Window, 1956-1963, out now through Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings. This new addition to Dylan's long-running archival project captures his transformation from a young folk enthusiast in Minnesota into the voice of a generation in Greenwich Village.

Grammy-winning producer and DJ Diplo has taken a sharp creative turn with the release of his new mixtape ‘D00mscrvll Vol. 1', a bold dive into the underground world of phonk, a genre that fuses Memphis rap, lo-fi hip hop and electronic dance influences into something dark, hypnotic and deeply rhythmic.

Stephen Cummings will celebrate 50 years of Australian songwriting with his new EP Joy, a collection of four reimagined classics from Spectrum, Pel Mel, Jess Ribeiro and Dag, to be released on November 21, 2025, through Cheersquad Records & Tapes.

Sony Pictures has unveiled the four lead actresses who will bring to life the women who shaped the personal worlds of The Beatles in Sam Mendes' The Beatles - A Four-Film Cinematic Event, set to arrive in cinemas globally in April 2028.

Metallica has performed the first of their M72 world tour Australian dates in Perth. Noise11 breaks down the first show.

Disturbed have announced an indefinite hiatus following one of the most turbulent years of their career, bringing a sudden pause to a band that once defined American metal's modern resurgence.

Neil Young has again stepped into the political spotlight, releasing a provocative new video titled As Time Explodes. The two-minute film, shared via his official YouTube channel on Thursday 30 October, takes aim at Donald Trump and the growing influence of tech billionaires.

Liam Gallagher has fired back at the moron who set a flare off at the first Australian Oasis concert in Melbourne on Friday night.

At 86, Mavis Staples is still proving that the power of song can change the world. The soul, gospel and civil rights icon will release her new album Sad And Beautiful World on 7 November 2025, an extraordinary project that spans seven decades of the American songbook while showcasing her timeless voice and message of unity.

Lucinda Williams is set to deliver one of the most politically charged and emotionally raw albums of her career with World's Gone Wrong, arriving 23 January 2026 through her own Highway 20 Records label. The record continues Williams' lifelong habit of holding up a mirror to American life - this time reflecting on division, resilience and the fight to stay human when the world feels anything but.

With the 2025 leg of his sold-out Still Feel Like Dancing! Australian tour wrapping up this weekend, Leo Sayer isn't ready to hang up the mic just yet. The beloved British-born, Australian-adopted icon has announced two major encore shows for early 2026, a third and final night at Melbourne's Palms at Crown on Sunday 25 January, and a One Night Only show at Sydney's State Theatre on Saturday 18 April.