BLACK SABBATH: Really, This Is The Last Time

Both Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne have done farewell tours before, so it makes sense that some fans don't believe that the Back to the Beginning concert July 5th in Birmingham, England is truly Sabbath's final show.

Ozzy told Classic Rock that fans should believe that “The original Sabbath will never be on stage together again. From the late 60s, we’re probably one of the only bands where the original members are still alive and speaking with one another.” And Tony Iommi said he wouldn't have agreed to the show without Bill Ward, who didn't play at their last farewell gig in 2017. “There’d be no point. Because it’s the original line-up, that makes it more proper. So no, I wouldn’t have done it without the original line-up." In addition to Ozzy and Sabbath, the bill includes Metallica, Guns n' Roses, Tool, Slayer, Pantera, Gojira, Alice in Chains, Halestorm,

Lamb of God, Anthrax and Mastodon.

Tom Morello, the show's musical director, will also led an all-star band that will feature Duff McKagan and Slash of GNR, Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit,

Wolfgang Van Halen, Sammy Hagar, Steven Tyler, Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Vernon

Reid of Living Colour, David Draiman of Disturbed, Jonathan Davis of Korn, Lzzy Hale of

Halestorm, former Judas Priest guitarist KK Downing, members of Soundgarden, and Tobias Forge of Ghost.

ROD STEWART: A Member of the "American Association of Not Retiring Persons"

Rod Stewart has famously said he will "never retire” because he was "put on this earth to be a singer and will keep doing so for as long as the good lord lets me.” And with that he tells

AARP (American Association of Retired Person) magazine what he's working on. "At the

moment, I’m doing a covers album of all the songs I’ve ever wanted to cover … I’m supposed to do a country album … and we’re working on a Faces album, so that’s three projects that have got to be done.”

He also has no plans to stop performing, saying he wants to tour with "a big orchestra and play those glorious songs I did from the Great American Songbook. I enjoy doing concerts more than I did back then. Maybe I’ve come full circle to appreciate how lucky I’ve been.” And as for having all this energy at 80 years of age, he can thank Frank Sinatra who told him that in order to be a great singer you have to have powerful lungs. “We do a lot of underwater training, where the trainer throws a brick into the pool and I have to dive in, push the brick to the end of the pool, and come up.”

Stewart resumes his Las Vegas residency, The Encore Shows, at Caesars Palace next Thursday, May 29th, followed by summer dates in the U.S., Canada and his homeland, England, when he performs at the Glastonbury festival on June 29th.

ROBERT PLANT: Boogie With Springsteen

Robert Plant has thrown his support behind Bruce Springsteen and his disgust with President Trump and his administration. Performing with Saving Grace Monday in Finland he said, “Right now in England, which is where we come from … Bruce Springsteen’s touring right now in the U.K. And he’s putting down some really serious stuff. So tune in to him. And let’s all hope that we can be …” -- his cue for the band to kick into Led Zeppelin's "Friends.” Other artists to speak out in support of Springsteen are Neil Young and Eddie Vedder.

The ramifications of Springsteen's comments last week and this on stage over three nights in Manchester, England have been felt in Tom's River, New Jersey No Surrender, the eight-piece Springsteen cover band, has their show on May 30th at Riv's Toms River Hub canceled. Owner

Tony Rivoli says having them perform is "too risky at the moment." The band said they wouldn't play Springsteen songs, but Rivoli says paying them $2500 to do that was too much, adding that "because Bruce can't keep his mouth shut we're screwed..."Whenever the national anthem plays, my bar stands and is in total silence, that's our clientele. Toms River is red and won't stand for his [crap]." Fortunately, No Surrender were able to schedule a show that night at the Headliner Oasis in Neptune City, New Jersey, just outside Asbury Park.

FOREIGNER: Wants To Know What Normal Is

Foreigner singer Kelly Hansen says he first spoke to the band's founder and guitarist Mick Jones in 2022 about stepping down from the band, citing not wanting to be on the road nine months out of the year and having six months off. "I'm thankful and grateful for the opportunity to be the lead singer of this unbelievable band where all the songs are songs that are well known, but I think I'm still allowed to say it's really, really difficult. The traveling is really rough and to do it year after year after year is something that you have to decide whether you want to continue doing that. And Mick was very supportive. He didn't want me to go of course, but he ultimately understood and I had to make this decision. I know I'm affecting a lot of people, but ultimately I have to make a decision what is best for me, and that's what that's about."

Hansen, who made the announcement to leave Tuesday night during Foreigner's performance on The Voice, will do the summer tour, adding that he thinks his final show will be in October. Guitarist Luis Maldonado will then take over. Foreigner start their summer tour on June 11th in Highland, California.

New Who Drummer Pays Tribute To Legacy

It's almost becoming like a classic Abbott and Costello routine: Who's on drums? The Who officially confirmed Scott Devours as their new drummer and Devours immediately expressed his gratitude. In a message he posted on his Facebook page, Devours said he recognizes that many fans still want recently fired Zak Starkey on the drums and won't immediately accept him.He said he'll do "everything I can to honor the legacy of The Who" and all previous drummers, including Starkey, Kenney Jones "and the memory of the great Keith Moon."Fans will get their first look and listen to Devours when The Who kick off "The Song Is Over Tour" on August 16th in Sunrise, Florida.

THIN LIZZY: Guitarist Almost Wasn't Back in Town

Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham briefly left us last year as he explained on the latest episode of the Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz. I had a health scare about a year ago with a kidney that had to be removed and I got sepsis from it. And the second surgeon said I'd actually died on the operating table and all that. And then I had a third operation, and he said, 'Maybe you should take some time out and just kind of rehabilitate and all that, you know, get your strength back and all that.' So, you know, that's what I'm doing." Gorham, who joined Lizzy in 1974 for their fourth album, Nightlife, is 74.

Ace Frehely Cancels Two Memorial Day Weekend Concerts

Ace Freheley's Memorial Day weekend shows have been canceled. The OG KISS guitarist has backed out of a headlining performance at the 2025 Brat Fest in Madison, Wisconsin today, and has postponed a show at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, Illinois, tomorrow. In a statement on Instagram, Ace explained that he's under the weather. "Although not serious, I am ill and don’t feel that I am capable of the rigorous travel or performing up to my usual standards this weekend. I extend my deepest regrets and most sincere apologies for having to cancel." Barring any further cancellations, Frehely's next show is scheduled for June 4 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

BEASTIE BOYS: Chili's Suits Settled

Beastie Boys and Universal Music Group have settled their lawsuits against the parent company of Chili’s after the group’s “Sabotage” was used in social media ads without permission. Last July, the band and the label sued Brinker International over the ads, which first started appearing on social media in November 2022. The suit claimed that beyond use of the song, one of the ads also resembled the Spike Jonez-directed music video for "Sabotage" and had “three characters wearing obvious '70s-style wigs, fake mustaches, and sunglasses who were intended to evoke the three members of Beastie Boys.” Beastie Boys and UMG were seeking at least $150,000 in damages from Brinker. Billboard reports that on Wednesday, lawyers for both sides notified the federal court that they'd reached a settlement “in principle” following mediation. The terms of the settlement were not revealed.

DON FELDER: Opens His Storage Unit

Former Eagles guitarist Don Felder releases his new album today titled The Vault - 50 Years of Music. The vault in question is the storage unit he leased in 2000 when he moved out of Malibu, California. "I discovered all these tapes and boxes full of cassettes and CDs and stuff of ideas that I'd written since the early '70s and I had no idea what was on those tapes. So I brought them over to my new studio and we transferred them to digital and in the process of listening to some of those tapes I decided I'm gonna take some of these and finish them and see how they turn out. So, that's what this album is about. It's from my writing history over 50 years." One of the songs that dates back to 1974 is "Move On." He also re-recorded "Heavy Metal," the title track to the 1981 animated film. And among the newer ones are "I Like the Things You Do," which he wrote for the album, and the first single, "Free at Last."

Among the musicians helping out on the album are David Paich, Steve Lukather, Joseph Williams and Greg Phillinganes from Toto, plus Styx drummer Todd Sucherman, and Gregg Bissonette, who drums in Ringo Starr's All Starr Band. Felder's last album was 2019's American Rock 'n' Roll.

IN OTHER NEWS

U2 were inducted into the Ivors’ Fellowship Academy at a ceremony today (Thursday) in London. Previous inductees include Paul McCartney, Elton John, The Bee Gees, and Bruce Springsteen. The Ivor Novello Awards honor the best in British and Irish songwriting.

Elton John wished his longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin a happy 75th birthday yesterday by posting a photo of the two of them with the caption, "Over 50 years of friendship and we're still going strong. Forever grateful to be creating and collaborating with you. Love You!"

Mick Jagger and the late Robbie Robertson are among those interviewed for a new five-part Martin Scorsese documentary called Mr. Scorsese. The project is "coming soon" to Apple TV+. Scorsese used many songs by The Rolling Stones in his films, and Robertson worked on the music for 13 Scorsese films.

Metallica have extended their M72 tour into 2026, with a European leg that mixes no repeat weekends and one-night shows starting May 9th in Athens, Greece and wrapping up July 5th in London. Pantera and Avatar are among the opening acts.

Jethro Tull will release a deluxe edition of their 1972 compilation album, Living in the Past. Titled Still Living in the Past, the five-CD and one-Blu-Ray set contains remixes, edits, demos, Live at Carnegie Hall 1970, and four promo films. There is also a two-LP edition of the double album. It will be out on July 11th.

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, who died Wednesday, leaves behind a huge collection of music memorabilia including David Gilmour’s Black Fender Stratocaster, Jerry Garcia’s Tiger, the Fender Strat that Bob Dylan played when he went electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, Kurt Cobain’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” Fender Mustang, Eric Clapton’s psychedelic “The Fool” SG and much more.

George Harrison’s career-spanning compilation album, Let It Roll: Songs By George Harrison, will be released on vinyl on July 11th.

AJ