Theo James stars in 'The Gentlemen' season 2. (Christopher Raphael/Netflix)
The Gentlemen is getting a third season.
Netflix has renewed its crime drama series for a third season ahead of the second season's debut. Creator Guy Ritchie is set to return to direct the show in the upcoming season 3.
“The ambition of The Gentlemen has accelerated, the world has expanded and the consequences carry weight. A third season felt inevitable, and I’m looking forward to pushing the boundaries of it further,” Ritchie said in a press release.
This renewal announcement comes alongside the season 2 official trailer. It stars Theo James, Kaya Scodelario, Ray Winstone, Joely Richardson, Vinnie Jones and Giancarlo Esposito, who return in season 2's eight new episodes.
"It’s been one year since Eddie and Susie joined forces to work together in Bobby’s criminal empire overseas. As they drive to expand their enterprise, the decisions Bobby is making seem to be increasingly unsound. Now Eddie and Susie must decide whether to take action or risk losing it all, but unfettered ambition never ends well," according to season 2's official description.
Joining the show in season 2 are Hugh Bonneville, Benjamin Clementine, Benedetta Porcaroli, Michele Morrone, Sergio Castellitto, Amra Mallassi, Tyler Conti, Chris Eubank Jr. and Maya Jama.
There was speculation that Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, would possibly appear in a potential third season of The Gentlemen amid her family's announcement they are moving back to the U.K., though it was never confirmed. The Hollywood Reporter ran a story on Saturday reporting Meghan had been dropped from consideration to join the series, according to a Substack column published by the former editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker.
The third season will consist of eight hourlong episodes written by Ritchie and Matthew Read. As for what fans can expect, Netflix teases, "Your guess is as good as mine."
Kit Harington attends the 2026 Disney Upfront at Jacob Javits Center on May 12, 2026, in New York City. (John Nacion/FilmMagic via Getty Images)
Kit Harington is headed to Hogwarts.
The actor is set to play Gilderoy Lockhart in season 2 of HBO's upcoming Harry Potter TV series, ABC Audio has confirmed.
Harington replaces Nicholas Hoult in the role. Hoult was previously announced to star as the character on Aug. 12. He now leaves the part over scheduling issues. HBO had to work around two of Hoult's preexisting projects, and when it was no longer feasible, the actor was let out of his deal.
This means Harington takes over the role he previously voiced in Harry Potter: The Full-Cast Audio Editions, which released in late 2025.
The first season of the series, titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, debuts on HBO and HBO Max on Dec. 25. Its season 2 renewal was announced on May 6.
Gilderoy Lockhart was previously played by Kenneth Branagh in the 2002 film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The character is a famous, vain wizard known for his heroic acts that he has described in books written about himself. He takes over as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts.
Dominic McLaughlin leads the cast of the upcoming show as Harry Potter. He stars alongside Alastair Stout and Arabella Stanton, who play Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The series is described as a faithful adaptation of the books by J.K. Rowling, who serves as an executive producer.
Succession's Jon Brown, who was a writer on season 1, has been promoted to co-showrunner for season 2. He will serve in the role alongside Francesca Gardiner, the showrunner of season 1.
Harington replacing Hoult isn't the first casting news about season 2. On May 18, ABC Audio confirmed that Gracie Cochrane, the actress who portrays Ginny Weasley in season 1, will not return to play the character in season 2 of the series.
Sharna Burgess attends the 32nd annual Race To Erase MS Gala on May 16, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. (Kayla Oaddams/WireImage via Getty Images)
Sharna Burgess is officially returning to the Dancing with the Stars ballroom.
On Monday, the longtime DWTS pro announced on Good Morning America that she will compete on the upcoming 35th season of the hit dance competition series, marking her first time competing on the show since season 30 in 2021.
"I'm back! Some of you guys guessed it. Yes, I am here with a special announcement to finally confirm I'm back on Dancing with the Stars, baby," Burgess said. "I'm going to be competing for that Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy. I can't wait to be back in the ballroom with my dancing family, and mostly it feels so good to be coming home. I'll see you all soon."
The upcoming season will mark Burgess' 15th season competing as a professional dancer on DWTS.
Burgess previously took home the Mirrorball Trophy with radio personality Bobby Bones in 2018 during season 27. Her last season as a competing pro was season 30 in 2021, when she was partnered with her now-fiancé, actor Brian Austin Green.
Burgess' return comes as excitement builds for season 35. Several celebrity contestants have already been announced, including Summer House star Ciara Miller, The Traitors star Maura Higgins, Savannah Bananas player Jackson Olson and Jimmy Kimmel Live! personality Guillermo Rodriguez.
Rodriguez will be partnered with returning pro Witney Carson.
The rest of the DWTS season 35 cast will be revealed Sept. 2 on GMA.
DWTS season 35 will debut with a two-night premiere Tuesday, Sept. 15, and Wednesday, Sept. 16, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+, streaming the next day on Hulu.
The Walt Disney Co. is the parent company of ABC News, Disney+ and Hulu.
Lesley Vogel, mother of Hayden Panettiere, speaks with ABC News, August 23, 2026. (ABC News)
Hayden Panettiere's mother is opening up about how she hopes her daughter will be remembered following the actress's death at age 36.
"I want Hayden to be remembered for the talented, you know, beautiful, outgoing, intelligent woman she really was," Lesley Vogel told ABC News.
Panettiere, known for her roles in Heroes, Nashville and Ice Princess, died on Aug. 16 after she was found unresponsive and in cardiac arrest at a residence in Greenville, South Carolina. First responders attempted to resuscitate her, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Vogel described the moment she heard the news, saying, “I was numb. I was just numb."
“I still am not grasping this is real. It just doesn't, it doesn't feel real,” she said. “My mind tells me it's not at times. You know, it's going to be a process."
She acknowledged the difficulty of mourning someone who was in the public eye, describing potential critics as “haters” and telling them that they “don’t have a right to tell me how to mourn the loss of my second child, that’s my domain.”
Vogel and Skip Panettiere, Hayden’s parents, who divorced when she was young, lost their son, Jansen Panettiere, in 2023. The family said in its statement at the time that Jansen Panettiere died from an enlarged heart.
Their daughter's death came months after Hayden Panettiere spoke publicly about her relationship with her mother, who served as her acting coach and manager in her childhood.
In a May interview with ABC News, Hayden Panettiere said trying to maintain a relationship with her had been "tough."
"Over the years, I've tried to leave that door open, hoping that the relationship would evolve into a healthy mother-daughter relationship, and it's obvious that that's just not going to be the case," she explained.
At the time, Vogel responded to her daughter's comments in a statement to Page Six, saying she had chosen to go "the no-contact route" after taking "the advice of professionals."
Speaking with ABC News on Sunday, Vogel said her relationship with Hayden Panettiere evolved as she grew older.
Vogel recalled that the actress had landed her Heroes role of Claire Bennet, a cheerleader with supernatural abilities, as a 16-year-old. Until then Hayden Panettiere had lived “a very happy life,” Vogel said, adding, “but I would say at about 17, I started seeing her going downhill.”
“As she got older, then it wasn't my voice anymore. I wasn't in charge of her choices,” Vogel said. “I tried to give her the best advice I could, but again, you know, any young person, teen, come on, they want to be liberated. And I get that. I did get that!”
Hayden Panettiere had been candid about her struggles from child stardom through adulthood, releasing a memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, in May in which she wrote about postpartum depression, addiction and recovery, domestic abuse and more.
The book includes a scene in which Hayden Panettiere told her mother at 19 that she didn’t want to be managed by her anymore. The book describes Vogel’s response, which the book said was Vogel saying, “You owe me.”
“I remember being in her trailer and literally saying nothing,” Vogel told ABC News. “I was -- I knew that day would come. It's not that I didn't expect it, but it was very short, very brief conversation, and then she turned and went to set. But did it hurt to read that in the book? You know, it just -- I know I didn't say what she said.”
The Greenville City Police Department is leading the investigation into Hayden Panettiere's death, with the Drug Enforcement Administration assisting, according to sources familiar with the matter.
According to a police report obtained by ABC News, Hayden Panettiere was with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, and his brother, Zach Hickerson, at the time of her death. The report said it was unknown whether Hayden Panettiere had been using drugs or alcohol.
Hayden Panettiere's official cause and manner of death "remain pending further investigation and the completion of additional studies," the coroner's office said.
Vogel and Hayden Panettiere were estranged in the actor’s final months, a separation that Vogel said came about after she went to stay with her daughter about a year ago. Vogel said Hayden Panettiere at that time wanted to get out of her relationship with Hickerson.
“She knew that Brian was toxic,” Vogel said. “She knew she had to get him out of her life.”
But after about six weeks, Vogel said, she noticed her daughter pulling away, so she returned home to Florida. Vogel said Hayden Panettiere called her and told her that she was “going to be with the person I love,” which was Hickerson.
Vogel said she issued her daughter an ultimatum, telling her she couldn’t be in her life if Hickerson was also a part of it. She said she had expected the estrangement that followed to be a “pocket of time.”
She said she didn’t “by any stretch of the imagination think that this was going to happen to Hayden.”
“I'll be honest. It just, I don't know why, I just didn't,” she added. “Maybe I didn't want to.”
Vogel said Hickerson and Hayden Panettiere grew closer in 2018 after she ceded full custody of her daughter, who was then 4, to her ex-fiance, longtime heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.
“That was probably the catalyst,” she said. “In my opinion, that was the catalyst that she just couldn't keep those demons away. I think she struggled, and Brian came into her life. She was vulnerable."
Hickerson pleaded no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend in April 2021.
Hickerson's attorney shared a statement with ABC News on Thursday, writing, "Hayden's death remains under investigation and it is important to allow that investigation to proceed. As has been publicly reported, police confirmed there were no signs of foul play. Out of respect for Hayden's loved ones and the ongoing investigation, there will be no further comment at this time."
Vogel said she wants her daughter to be remembered as the “talented, beautiful, outgoing, intelligent woman” she had been.
“But I also want people to understand that it is my belief that ... she was suffering,” Vogel said. “Now that doesn't make sense because when you look at a beautiful girl who's got an incredible career, even though it has had its ups and downs, but you know, you look that big picture and you go, why would you be suffering? People don't understand that you can have on the exterior all of this. But that doesn't mean that what's going on in here matches.”
L-R) Dave Matthews, Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp backstage at Farm Aid at the KeyBank Pavilion in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, United States on September 16, 2017. (Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns)
Farm Aid is headed to Virginia this September, but folks who can’t make it to the show will be able to enjoy it from the comfort of their own home.
Farm Aid just announced that the annual benefit concert, taking place Sept. 26 at Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater in Virginia Beach, Virginia, will broadcast live on CNN.
Farm Aid board members Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews, Margo Price and Nathaniel Rateliff are all set to perform this year. Young will be performing with his band The Chrome Hearts, while Matthews will perform with frequent collaborator Tim Reynolds.
Other artists on the bill include Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs, Turnpike Troubadours, Lukas Nelson, Jesse Welles, Sierra Ferrell, I’m With Her, Mon Rovîa, Amythyst Kiah, Lily Meola and Chris Pierce.
The concert will begin on CNN at 7 p.m. ET. It will stream live on nugs.net, FarmAid.org and YouTube starting at 11:30 a.m. ET.
The first Farm Aid concert was held on Sept. 22, 1985, in Champaign, Illinois. Since then, the Farm Aid organization has raised nearly $90 million to help American farmers.
The Grateful Dead has shared another preview of their upcoming live box set celebrating the summer of 1985 and the band's 20th anniversary tour.
The latest is a performance of the Dead classic “Shakedown Street,” recorded during their June 30, 1985, concert at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. It is available now via digital outlets.
"Widely considered not only one of the greatest performances of 'Shakedown Street' the Grateful Dead ever played, this is also often called one of the best individual song performances the Dead ever played,” Dead legacy manager and audio archivist David Lemieux says in the video description. “This one is often described with well-deserved hyperbole; it's really that great."
The Merriweather Post Pavilion show is one of seven previously unreleased full concerts that make up the 20-CD box set Summer Magic 1985, dropping Sept. 18.
Summer Magic 1985 is limited to just 10,000 numbered copies and is available for preorder now on Dead.net.
The Merriweather Post Pavilion show will also be released as a standalone three-CD or four-CD set. It is also available for preorder now.
Vivian Campbell attends Def Leppard Honored With Star On Hollywood Walk Of Fame on October 09, 2025 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
Def Leppard’s Vivian Campbell has revealed that his cancer has returned.
The rocker announced in 2013 that he’d been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In 2025 he revealed that he was in remission after undergoing a bone marrow transplant. But in a new interview with El Salvador's YSKL FM, Campbell says he will once again have to undergo treatment because the transplant wasn’t successful.
Campbell talked about how lucky it was his cancer was caught early and said the winter of 2023 was the only time he worried the cancer “was going to kill me."
“I got really scared about what was happening and the pace at which it was happening and I realized at that point that I had to do a donor transplant. It was my only hope to survive,” he said. “And that’s what I did. I did that in January of ’25, I did a donor transplant. Unfortunately, it didn’t stick, so the cancer has returned. And, you know, I’m continuing treatments to manage it.”
“I’ll probably have to do another transplant within a few years with another donor to try and see if maybe that would cure me,” he added. “But in the meantime, I’m certainly not slowing down. I’m doing a much with my life as possible.”
Def Leppard is scheduled to play Hollywood, Florida, on Oct. 15, before they launch a tour of Mexico and South America on Oct. 17 in Querétaro, Mexico. A complete list of dates can be found at DefLeppard.com.
In this image released on May 2, 2021, Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters and Brian Johnson of AC/DC perform onstage during Global Citizen VAX LIVE: The Concert to Reunite the World at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Global Citizen VAX LIVE)
In between dates on their own stadium tour, Foo Fighters are taking a detour on the "Highway to Hell."
Dave Grohl and company will be opening for AC/DC during the "Back in Black" legends' upcoming show in St. Louis on Sept. 8. They will be filling in for The Pretty Reckless, who have been supporting AC/DC's ongoing U.S. run.
"Foo Fighters are taking a special one-off detour from their Take Cover Global Stadium Tour to fill in for their friends The Pretty Reckless as special guests of AC/DC for one night only in St. Louis," a press release reads. "The performance brings two generations of rock's biggest live acts together for a one-night-only event, with the Foo Fighters opening for [AC/DC's] September 8 St. Louis tour stop."
The Foos tour, meanwhile, continues Saturday in Los Angeles. The trek supports the "Everlong" outfit's new album, Your Favorite Toy.
Butch Vig at The Royal Albert Hall on October 04, 2022 in London, England. (Kate Green/Getty Images for EON Productions & Prime Video)
Here Nevermind is now, three-and-a-half decades later.
Nirvana's massive 1991 album will celebrate its 35th anniversary in September. The RIAA Diamond-certified Nevermind made worldwide stars out of the trio -- made up of frontman Kurt Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl -- while launching the generation-defining grunge scene of the '90s.
Needless to say, Nevermind also had a huge impact on Butch Vig, who produced the album.
"It was a zeitgeist moment for me, making that album," Vig tells ABC Audio. "It changed my life. Everyone, including the band and everyone close to the band, Nevermind changed their life, and I'm very thankful for that."
Thirty-five years later, Vig doesn't put on Nevermind and listen to it himself, though he doesn't have to go far to hear its songs, which include the iconic anthem "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "In Bloom," "Come as You Are" and "Lithium," out in public.
"It's nice that [Nevermind is] out there in the world, that it's omnipresent," Vig says. "I go into a coffee shop and there's a kid there with a Nevermind T-shirt on or a Nirvana T-shirt on."
Nirvana followed Nevermind with 1993's In Utero. They disbanded a year later following Cobain's death by suicide in 1994.
Today, the legacy of Nevermind continues to live on, even in new ways. The album track "Something in the Way," for example, experienced a resurgence when it was used in the 2022 movie The Batman.
"It's one of those albums that just has connected with so many people, and continues to do that," Vig says. "There's something in there, this incredible energy and power and mystery."
"[There are] so many things going on in Kurt's voice when he sings, and it still affects people," he continues. "That's a cool thing."
R.E.M.’s sophomore album, Reckoning, is getting an audiophile upgrade.
The album is the latest addition to the Interscope-Capitol Records Definitive Sound Series, and will be released Sept. 18 on 180-gram high-definition vinyl, with the upgraded audio sourced from the original analog master tapes.
Mitch Easter and Don Dixon, who co-produced the original album, were directly involved with the upgrade, which was mastered by mastering engineer Chris Bellman.
According to a post on Instagram, after hearing the finished test pressing of the upgraded audio, Dixon noted that he was “hearing details within the recording that had escaped him on previous vinyl editions.”
The Definitive Sound Series edition of Reckoning will be limited to just 5,000 numbered copies, and is available for preorder now.
This is the third R.E.M. album to get an audio upgrade. In December, both their debut EP, Chronic Town, and their debut album, Murmur, were reissued as part of the Interscope-Capitol Records’ Definitive Sound Series. Both editions sold out.
Released April 8, 1984, Reckoning was a hit with critics and peaked at #27 in the U.S., although it topped college radio airplay charts. Its first single, “So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)," peaked at #86 on the Billboard Hot 100, while its second single, “(Don’t Go Back to) Rockville," did not chart. Both went on to become R.E.M. fan favorites.
The album has since been certified Gold by the RIAA.
Jimmy Buffett (C) takes opening night bow during the Broadway premiere of "Escape to Margaritaville" the new musical featuring songs by Jimmy Buffett at the Marquis Theatre on March 15, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for Escape To Margaritaville)
The late Jimmy Buffett will be celebrated with a new exhibit at the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf in Mobile, Alabama.
Jimmy Buffett: Son of a Son of a Sailor Experience, opening Sept. 12, is described as a 6,000-square-foot permanent installation that will feature not only rare Buffett artifacts and memorabilia, but an immersive concert experience.
According to the description, visitors will gain insight into Buffett “not only as a musician, but as an author, sailor, pilot, entrepreneur, adventurer, philanthropist, friend, and storyteller whose influence extended far beyond music.”
The exhibit will include such artifacts as Buffett’s 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame statue; the guitar he used to write and perform “Son of a Son of a Sailor”; handwritten lyrics; never-before-released concert and recording footage; and more.
"Creating the Jimmy Buffett Experience has been an absolute honor for our entire team. We have spent nearly two years listening, researching, collecting stories, curating artifacts, and working to capture the remarkable life of a man who meant so much to so many people," said Karen Poth, executive director of the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf. "We didn't get far into this project before we realized this exhibition will never be a finished story. It is a living exhibit. And it will continue to change and grow as new stories are shared, new artifacts come to light, and we learn more about Jimmy and the world he created.”
The opening weekend will include a Sept. 11 performance featuring Coral Reefer Band members Mac McAnally and Scotty Emerick at the Saenger Theatre, as well as a Sept. 12 unveiling of a new bronze Jimmy Buffett sculpture.
More details, and ticket information can be found at nmmog.org.
: Frank Beard of ZZ Top performs on stage at Viejas Casino & Resort on November 02, 2025 in Alpine, California. (Photo by Daniel Knighton/Getty Images)
Several artists have paid tribute to ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard, who passed away at age 77.
Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote on social media that Beard “was one of a kind,” noting he was “A hell of a drummer, a true original, and most importantly to us, a great friend.”
Fellow drummers Matt Sorum, formerly of Guns N’ Roses, and Brad Wilk, of Rage Against the Machine, both wrote of Beard’s skill.
Sorum called Beard, “The backbone of ZZ Top for 57 years with the best shuffle known to man,” noting, “It might sound easy but possibly one of the hardest things I’ve ever try to learn and still trying.” He added that Beard “was born with it in his blood.”
Meanwhile, Wilk wrote that his first experience with ZZ Top was when he was in high school and saw a show on the Eliminator tour. “My mind was BLOWN! Watching his two hand shuffle live was immense,” he wrote.
Pearl Jam's massive 1991 debut album, Ten, celebrates its 35th anniversary on Aug. 27.
"Ten to me is deep in my heart," guitarist Mike McCready tells ABC Audio. "It's a record that sounded like a band that was together for many years but wasn't, in my mind."
Indeed, the members of the original Pearl Jam lineup — McCready and guitarist Stone Gossard, bassist Jeff Ament, vocalist Eddie Vedder and drummer Dave Krusen — had already been a part of several other bands, including Green River, Mother Love Bone and Temple of the Dog.
"It's the combination of efforts of those five guys that had been in a bunch of bands for a long time, and then all coalesced into one," McCready says.
In recording Ten with Pearl Jam, McCready sensed its significance pretty much from day one.
"Ten was the example of the first situation I was in when everything was firing on all cylinders," McCready says. "From the first day Ed showed up and we worked on 'Once,' and the five of us were in the room, I knew this was gonna be special. I didn't know to the extent, but we all knew it was gonna be something."
That "something" turned into a defining and seminal record of the '90s grunge and alternative scene on the way to earning Diamond certification by the RIAA and spawning classic singles including "Even Flow," "Alive" and "Jeremy."
Three-and-a-half decades later, McCready calls performing Ten songs live a "mythical," "spiritual" experience.
"We feel that the crowd has lifted 'Alive' and 'Even Flow' and these songs to a song that's bigger than when we first recorded it," McCready says. "It's more of a universe in itself."
Neil Young during day four of Glastonbury festival 2025 at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 28, 2025 in Glastonbury, England. (Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage)
Neil Young has just added two new shows to his 2026 schedule.
The rocker and his band The Chrome Heart will play two co-headlining dates with Willie Nelson and the Family in the lead-up to the 2026 edition of Farm Aid.
The shows are happening Sept. 22 at the Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Sept. 24 at the TD Pavilion at Highmark Mann in Philadelphia.
A presale begins Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET, with tickets going on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m. ET.
The 2026 edition of Farm Aid is happening Sept. 26 at Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
In addition to Nelson and Young, fellow Farm Aid board members John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Margo Price and Nathaniel Rateliff are on the bill, along with Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs, Turnpike Troubadours, Lukas Nelson, Jesse Welles and others.
All three shows will be Young’s first full-scale concerts of the year. He was supposed to tour Europe and the U.K. in June, but in February he canceled the tour, noting he “decided to take a break” from touring.
Drummer Frank Beard of ZZ Top performs onstage during Day 1 of the 2023 Stagecoach Festival on April 28, 2023 in Indio, California. (Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)
Frank Beard, longtime drummer for the legendary blues rock trio ZZ Top, has died at age 77.
"It was announced today that Frank Beard, ZZ Top’s drummer for the past 56 years, has died. He was in hospice care when he passed away at his ranch in Richmond, TX with family members at his side," according to a statement Tuesday from the band's publicist.
A message posted on the band's official X account in March 2025 announced that Beard had "temporarily stepped away" from the band's then-current tour to attend to an unspecified health issue, and that Beard was "looking forward to a speedy recovery." He rejoined the band on tour in September of that year.
Born June 11, 1949, in Frankston, Texas, Hill joined the Houston-based band The Moving Sidewalks in 1969, which featured vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Billy Gibbons. The band soon changed its name to ZZ Top and, following the departure of some members and the addition of bassist Dusty Hill, the trio recorded their debut album, 1971's aptly titled ZZ Top's First Album.
"It didn't take 30 minutes; it didn't take 30 seconds. I knew that Frank Beard had the kind of chops that I was looking for," Billy Gibbons recalled of their first meeting in the 2019 documentary ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas. "He played fiercely. He played with determination."
The band's follow-up, 1972's Rio Grande Mud, featured the modest chart hit "Francine." But it was ZZ Top's breakout third album, 1973's Tres Hombres, that put them on the map, largely on the strength of the album's lead single, the blues rock boogie "La Grange."
Featuring Beard's signature snare-rim-tapping triplets intro beneath Billy Gibbons' sly, growling vocals, then dropping into a hard-pounding shuffle groove two dozen bars in, "La Grange" helped propel Tres Hombres into the top 10 of the Billboard 200 all-genre albums chart on the way to becoming RIAA-certified Gold for sales of more than 500,000 units.
With a lineup unchanged for over half a decade, the "Little 'Ol Band from Texas" released 15 studio albums during Beard's tenure, the latest being 2012's La Futura, with nine of them reaching RIAA Gold or Platinum status. Of those, however, the biggest-selling remains 1983's Eliminator, which sold more than 10 million units in the U.S. alone and includes the hits "Sharp-Dressed Man" and "Gimme All Your Lovin'" – both propelled by Beard's hammering, driving backbeat – and "Legs." The latter, the band's highest-charting single, featured neither Beard nor bassist Hill, though they were credited.
Beard – ironically, given his name, the only band member who didn't sport Gibbons' and Hill's signature long facial hair – remained with ZZ Top for the entirety of the band's six-decade existence and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with them in 2004. He struggled with substance abuse early in the band's history before checking himself into rehab in the early 1980s, during which time the band went on hiatus, his bandmates telling Beard to take however long he needed.
"I just wanted to get sober," Hill said in ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas. "I wanted to be like people I admired that could sit at home and watch TV and go to bed."
Beard was married twice, the second time to Debbie Meredith in 1982. She survives him, as do their three children.
ZZ Top bassist and founding member Dusty Hill died in July 2021 at age 72. Billy Gibbons is now the sole remaining member of the original trio.
ZZ Top is currently on the latest leg of their The Big One! tour. Due to Beard's passing, they've canceled their Tuesday show in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Wednesday's scheduled show in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Rock guitar virtuoso Jimi Hendrix (1942 - 1970) caught mid guitar-break during his performance at the Isle of Wight Festival, August 1970. (Photo by Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
A documentary about Jimi Hendrix’s performance at Woodstock will have its streaming premiere Tuesday in celebration of the 57th anniverary of the festival.
Jim Hendrix: Live at Woodstock – A Second Look will debut on YouTube at 9 p.m. ET. It features black-and-white footage recorded on videotape by a 22-year-old Bard College drama student named Albert Goodman.
According to the YouTube description, Goodman didn’t make it to the festival until Sunday afternoon due to traffic. Then on Monday he “left his tent and snuck onstage, shielded by a friend carrying a guitar,” where he "set up his camera and tripod just 15 feet across the stage from where Jimi Hendrix would perform."
“Goodman was left alone, assumed to be just one member of the sprawling film crew who had surrounded the stage for the entire event,” the description reads. “Armed with just two previously recorded, open reel videotapes, Goodman settled in behind percussionist Juma Sultan and prepared to document history.”
The film features performances of such Hendrix classics as “Purple Haze,” “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” and his iconic take on “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The original Woodstock took place from Aug. 15-18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, New York. In addition to Hendrix, it featured performances by the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, The Who, Joe Cocker, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and many more.
Bon Jovi is marking the 40th anniversary of their breakthrough album, Slippery When Wet.
The band marked the milestone with a post on Instagram Tuesday, writing, “Slippery When Wet turns 40 years old today! We’re grateful to everyone who’s been part of this journey and kept these songs alive for 40 years.”
The post also included photos from the era, as well as clips from the music videos for the album’s hit singles “Livin’ on a Prayer” and “You Give Love a Bad Name.”
Released Aug. 18, 1986, Slippery When Wet was the New Jersey rockers' third studio album and the follow-up to 1985's 7800° Fahrenheit. Produced by Bruce Fairbairn, the album rocketed the band to superstardom, spending eight weeks at #1 on the Billboard Albums chart, their first #1 album.
“You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Livin’ on a Prayer,” written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Desmond Child, both went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, with a third single, “Wanted Dead or Alive,” peaking at #7.
Slippery When Wet would go on to be Billboard’s top-selling album of 1987 and has since been certified 15-times Platinum by the RIAA.
Admat for Allman Betts Family Revival (courtesy of The Allman Betts Family Revival)
The music of the Allman Brothers Band will once again be celebrated at the 10th annual Allman Betts Family Revival, a 20-date tour launching in November.
This year’s trek, hosted by Gregg Allman’s son Devon Allman and Dickey Betts' son Duane Betts, is titled A Decade of Revival, inspired by the Allman Brothers Band’s 1991 compilation, A Decade of Hits 1969–1979.
“I can’t believe it’s been 10 years of our beautiful gathering of friends to celebrate our dads’ songbook,” Devon says. “Being the faithful custodians to this historic body of work is not lost on Duane and I. It is our high honor. We couldn’t possibly hold it any closer to our hearts. We can’t wait to evoke the spirits and celebrate 10 years.”
“It’s a gift playing this timeless songbook with so many of our beautiful, talented friends,” Duane adds. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to have the Revival continue into year 10. See y’all on the road!”
The tour is set to kick off Nov. 28 in St. Louis, Missouri, and wraps with two nights in San Francisco, Dec. 19 and 20. In addition to the Allman Betts Band, this year’s lineup includes Robert Randolph, Sierra Hull, Judith Hill and Luther Dickinson. A complete list of dates and lineups can be found at allmanbettsfamilyrevival.com.
Billy Corgan performs onstage during the 2026 Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at The New York Marriott Marquis on June 11, 2026 in New York City. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images for for Songwriters Hall of Fame)
The Smashing Pumpkins will launch their Rats in a Cage tour in September. Each show will feature one set dedicated to the 1995 Pumpkins album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness in honor of its 30th anniversary, as well as a second, career-spanning set.
"The Rats in a Cage tour is interesting, because I've made the choice that we're gonna play the Mellon Collie set first," frontman Billy Corgan tells ABC Audio. "Which means you're gonna have 15-18,000 people in a room wondering, 'OK, now what are they gonna do?'"
Indeed, the RIAA Diamond-certified Mellon Collie has some of the biggest Pumpkins hits, including "1979," "Tonight, Tonight," "Zero" and "Bullet with Butterfly Wings," which spawned the famed lyric that inspired the tour's name.
"We're planning something sort of different," Corgan says. "It'll be interesting 'cause some people will take the journey and other people will think, 'What are they doing? Because I came here to celebrate, and they're taking me through a funeral.'"
The Rats in a Cage tour kicks off Sept. 30 in Columbus, Ohio.
Sam Mendes’ upcoming Beatles project recently filmed a very iconic moment in Beatles history.
Video posted to social media shows the cast — Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr — walking through the crosswalk by the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London. A photo of that infamous walk, of course, would go on to become the cover of the band’s 1969 album Abbey Road.
The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event is expected to open in April 2028. It will consist of four films, each told from the perspective of one of the band members. The cast also includes Saoirse Ronan as Linda McCartney, Mia McKenna-Bruce as Ringo's wife Maureen Starkey, Anna Sawai as Yoko Ono and Aimee Lou Wood as Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd.
The Sony films will mark the first time Apple Corps Ltd. and The Beatles have granted a studio the rights to the life stories of band members and their legendary catalog of music.
