Greetings Rockers ’N’ Rollers! The live music scene has quieted as the weather changes and we near the end of 2024. However, Central PA continues to provide great local concerts including the Chris & Wendy Benefit Show at HMAC. A truly great night of friends to help PA Musician staff photographer, Chris Rider and his girl Wendy, as they lost their home in a devastating fire. Local artists who contributed their time included; Groove Rebels, The Martini Bros, Suicide Puppets, Gillian Smith and Shea Quinn. Skid Row Garage in York, PA has really been knocking out the shows this past month including The Virus (Nov 3), Anthrophobia (Nov 8), The Rumours (Nov 10) and Bobby Mahoney with The Super High-Tech Jet Fighters, The Jellybricks and The Martini Bros (Nov 14). Skid Row Garage opened a legitimate venue on Market Street in May 2023 after many years of doing underground shows in an alley garage on West Clark Ave.
Legendary native, Jeffrey Gaines, played an amazing show on November 16th at Rivet in Pottstown, PA. Gaines continues to engage fans with intimate soulful shows playing his many popular songs as well as notable covers. The venue, Rivet: Canteen & Assembly is located in century-old downtown Pottstown building, New York Plaza and highlights the town’s rich industrial heritage as well as plenty of rock n’ roll memorabilia. Rivet is owned by members of alternative rap band, Bloodhound Gang, originally from King of Prussia and known for the song “The Bad Touch.” Harrisburg University presents brought back indie folk rock band, Dawes, for a third time to XL Live in Harrisburg on November 20th. Dawes, popular for their hit song ‘When My Time Comes’ has played XL Live before in March 2023 and November 2021.
Post Malone announced he’ll be embarking on “The BIG ASS Stadium Tour” in 2025, he’ll be performing 27-dates starting at the massive Coachella Festival in California and then visiting Philadelphia, Washington DC and Hersheypark Stadium on May 28th. The tour comes in support of Malone’s sixth studio album, “F-1 Trillion”, and includes opening bands Jelly Roll and Sierra Ferrell.
Rod Stewart is bringing his “One Last Time” tour to North America in 2025 and will reunite with Cheap Trick as his special guest for 20 shows. Stewart is “not slowing down” in the sixth decade of his career. The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted singer-songwriter has been busy this year touring Europe and Asia, along with releasing his 33rd studio album, Swing Fever. He also wrapped his record-setting 13-year Las Vegas residency, “Rod Stewart: The Hits.” Nearby dates include Philadelphia’s Mann Music Center July 12th and Columbia Md Merriweather Post Pavilion July 19th.
My Chemical Romance is bringing its breakout sophomore album The Black Parade to stadiums in 10 cities in summer 2025, having performed the triple-Platinum certified record in its entirety at the most recent ‘When We Were Young’ festival in Las Vegas. Gerard Way, Ray Toro, Frank lero, and Mikey Way will perform the full album in every city of the “Long Live The Black Parade” tour, with each show featuring a different, curated artist as the opening act. Dates include East Rutherford, NJ MetLife Stadium on August 4th and Philadelphia Citizens Bank Park on August 15th. The selected opening artists on single dates only are; Violent Femmes, 100 Gecs, Wallows, Garbage, Death Cab For Cutie and Thursday, Alice Cooper, Pixies, Devo, Idles and Evanescence.
Following the success of Linkin Park’s reunion with new singer Emily Armstrong, Linkin Park is expanding their “From Zero World Tour” with 50 new dates across North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. “Getting back out on the road has been incredible,” Mike Shinoda said in a statement. “The fans’ support is overwhelming, and we’re ready to take this energy even further around the world. From Zero is a new chapter for us, and we’re so excited to share it with everyone on a bigger scale.” The band will be joined by special guests Queens of the Stone Age, Spiritbox, AFI, Architects, grandson, Jean Dawson, JPEGMAFIA and PVRIS on select shows. Dates include: Baltimore May 3, Philadelphia August 16th and Pittsburgh August 19th.
Quincy Jones, the multi-talented music titan whose vast legacy ranged from producing Michael Jackson’s historic Thriller album to writing prize-winning film and television scores and collaborating with Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and hundreds of other recording artists, died at 91. Jones passed away November 3rd at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles, surrounded by his family. He toured with Count Basie and Lionel Hampton, arranged records for Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, composed the soundtracks for “Roots” and “In the Heat of the Night,” organized President Bill Clinton’s first inaugural celebration and oversaw the all-star recording of “We Are the World,” the 1985 charity record for famine relief in Africa. Jones acquired 28 Grammy Awards in his lifetime.
Coldplay have added two Indian dates to their 2025 itinerary, and they’ll be their biggest shows yet: following three sold-out concerts at D Y Patil Stadium Mumbai (Jan 18-21), they will also bring the “Music Of The Spheres World Tour” to Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium for two shows, January 25th and 26th. This will be Coldplay’s biggest ever show in the band’s history with an official capacity of 132,000. As was to be expected, tickets for both concerts sold out within minutes, leaving many fans disappointed. Their concert in India is more than a testament to the band’s legendary status; it is a reflection of how live entertainment is shaping India’s cultural and economic fabric. As fans gather in Ahmedabad, this event will ignite a celebration that bridges regions, languages and cultures, proving once again that music knows no borders. Coldplay follows Taylor Swift as the only two artists to break $1 billion in a single tour, becoming the first band to surpass that benchmark.
Jefferson Starship will tour casinos and PACs across the U.S. on its “Runaway Again” Tour celebrating the band’s 50th anniversary. The tour begins February 11th in Seattle and visits Annapolis, MD April 30th and concludes in Warrendale, PA on May 3rd. Jefferson Starship has recently been touring with the Marshall Tucker Band and in support of Deep Purple in Europe.
After suffering a stroke in Toronto on the evening of October 12th, alt-rock singer Matthew Sweet has canceled his cross-country tour. He was admitted to Toronto Western Hospital and he’s now been transferred to a rehabilitation center near his home in Omaha, Nebraska, where he will undergo extensive therapy. Sweet’s manager stated “Matthew has always been intensely focused and tenacious in all of his endeavors, I am confident that his signature determination will serve him well as he focuses now on recovery to good health.”
Phil Lesh, a classically trained violinist and jazz trumpeter who found his true calling reinventing the role of rock bass guitar as a founding member of the Grateful Dead, died October 25th at age 84. Lesh was a critical member of the Grateful Dead whose thundering lines on the six-string electric bass provided a brilliant counterpoint to lead guitarist Jerry Garcia’s soaring solos and anchored the band’s famous marathon jams. “When Phil’s happening the band’s happening,” Garcia once said. After the group’s dissolution following Garcia’s 1995 death, Lesh often skipped joining the other surviving members when they got together to perform. He did take part in a 2009 Grateful Dead tour and again in 2015 for a handful of “Fare Thee Well” concerts marking both the band’s 50th anniversary and what Lesh said would be the last time he would play with the others.
Iconic indie band Pixies will play doubles in a dozen U.S. cities — and two Canadian ones — for their 2025 tour. The band plans to play the albums Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde on night one in each city and a set of classics and selections from the new album The Night The Zombies Came on night two. The tour will hit Philadelphia Fillmore July 22-23 and Washington DC Anthem July 25-26. Kurt Vile & The Violators will support.
Irish rockers Fontaines DC are returning to America in 2025, in support of their fourth album, Romance, and a summer of sold-out shows across Europe and North America. The “USA Tour 2025” of 21-dates includes The Anthem in Washington DC on May 10th and Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on May 16th. The band recently announced that their upcoming show at London’s Finsbury Park, scheduled for August 2025, has also sold out of all 45,000 tickets.
Coachella announced its 2025 lineup early this year, with headliners Post Malone, Lady Gaga, Green Day and Travis Scott taking place April 11-13 and April 18-20 in Indio, California. Other notable acts scheduled to perform are hip-hop luminary Missy Elliott, Charli XCX, Megan Thee Stallion, Benson Boone, The Original Misfits, Zedd, Viagra Boys, Jimmy Eat World, Amyl and the Sniffers and more.
Lady Gaga returns to the mega-festival in the desert for the first time since headlining in 2017 to promote her seventh studio album, which will be released in February 2025.
The 14th edition of Welcome to Rockville in Daytona Beach, Florida, returns May 15-18 with what it is calling its largest lineup ever as North America’s largest rock festival. More than 200,000 total attendees are expected at this year’s rock and metal-focused event is topped by Shinedown, Green Day, Linkin Park, Korn, Rob Zombie, 3 Doors Down, Alice In Chains, Good Charlotte, Incubus, Pierce The Veil, Bad Omens, Marilyn Manson, Sublime, Knocked Loose and still many others, adding up to more than 150 bands on five stages over the four days of the festival.
Panic! At The Disco will headline the fourth edition of Las Vegas’s When We Were Young in 2025, joined at the top of the bill by pop-punk legends blink-182, at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds October 18th, the lineup also includes Weezer, Avril Lavigne, The Offspring, The Used, All Time Low and Knocked Loose, Bad Religion, The Gaslight Anthem, Jack’s Mannequin and others. Last year’s festival was headlined by My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy.
DECEMBER CONCERTS: Anthrophobia – Harrisburg HMAC Dec 6. Junk Punk – Harrisburg JB Lovedrafts Dec 7. iDEFEATi – York Skid Row Dec 8. Menzingers – Ardmore Music Hall Dec 30 & 31.
