There were certainly a lot of big things happening in music in 2025. Here’s a roundup of some of the other music stories that made headlines this year:
–Rush members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson surprised fans by announcing they were heading back on tour. Fifty Something, the band’s first tour in 10 years and the first since the death of drummer Neil Peart, will launch in June 2026. Playing drums on the tour will be Anika Nilles, who previously worked with the late Jeff Beck.
-Also announcing a return to the road was Bon Jovi. The Forever Tour, the band’s first trek since Jon Bon Jovi underwent vocal cord surgery in 2022, consists of shows in four cities – New York, London, Edinburgh, and Dublin – kicking off in July 2026 with nine shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
–Grateful Dead celebrated their 60th anniversary and were honored by the Recording Academy as the MusiCares Person of the Year. Anniversary celebrations included the release of the first official Grateful Dead greatest hits compilation, Enjoying The Ride. They ended the year by landing their 66th top-40 album on the Billboard 200 album chart, which earned them a Guinness World Record.
–Dead & Company, which features The Dead members Bobby Weir and Mickey Hart, also helped mark the Grateful Dead anniversary by headlining three shows at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
–Neil Young released the new album Talkin to the Trees, his first with his new band The Chrome Hearts, and hit the road on a world tour that came to the U.S. in August. The tour featured a headlining spot at the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival, although Young initially announced he wouldn’t be playing the festival due to corporate sponsorship.
-Former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth hit the stage for the first time since 2020, headlining the annual M3 Rock Festival in Columbia, Maryland. He would go on to perform several dates throughout the U.S.
-Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Dave Mason, best known for his work with Traffic, announced his retirement from touring after 60 years in the business due to ongoing health issues.
–KISS reunited for their first performances since wrapping their End of the Road World tour in New York in December 2023. Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer performed two unmasked shows at the KISS Kruise: Landlocked convention in Las Vegas. KISS, including original member Peter Criss, were also celebrated with the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C.
–U2 was honored with the Woody Guthrie Prize, and were also the first Irish artists to be honored as Academy Fellow of The Ivors Academy, the U.K. organization that presents The Ivor Novello Awards to celebrate excellence in British and Irish songwriting. Bono was also the subject of the Apple TV documentary Bono: Stories of Surrender, a “reimagining” of his one-man stage show, Surrender: An Evening of Words, Music and Some Mischief.
–Rod Stewart played the Glastonbury Festival in the Legends spot, where he was joined by The Rolling Stones‘ Ronnie Wood – his former Faces bandmate – as well as Simply Red‘s Mick Hucknall and Scottish singer Lulu.
–Billy Idol released the new album Dream Into It, his first full-length release since 2014’s Kings & Queens of the Underground. He was also the subject of a documentary, Billy Idol Should Be Dead, which had its premiere at New York’s Tribeca Festival.
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