There is an inherent spectacle and scale to a Foo Fighters show. Stadium-sized riffs, wild animations on towering screens, maybe even some fireworks. Dave Grohl getting his cardio in and ending up drenched in sweat as he bounds across the massive stage, guitar slung over shoulder, to the cheers of tens of thousands of fans.

But, at their heart, the Foo Fighters are still just scrappy garage-rockers, a crew led by a teenage punk who grew up to be in the biggest band in the world – and then founded one of the biggest bands of the 21st century. Grohl is still that DIY kid at heart, just one who happened to write several of the most enduring alt-rock anthems of all time.

That side of Foo Fighters was on display Thursday night at a packed Irving Plaza, the 1,200-capacity Manhattan venue where Grohl and company popped up for a “secret” (read: announced with just a day’s notice) show celebrating their twelfth studio album, Your Favorite Toy, which arrived April 24. The lucky few who got in lined up for an in-person onsale at 10 a.m. day of show, and if the cavalcade of 30 years of assorted tour merch was any indication, the audience was composed of true Foos diehards, even if a surprising contingent responded when Grohl, during the show, asked who was attending their first Foo Fighters show.

Stripped of all its grandiose accoutrements – a backdrop with the spartan “FF” logo was the extent of the show’s production – the band proved that the true spectacle of a Foo Fighters concert is the band’s mind-bogglingly deep catalog (“There’s like 170 of these f–kin’ songs,” Grohl quipped when a fan asked him to play an old one he admitted they didn’t know) and their passion and synchronicity as performers.

It’s reassuring consistinency and longevity for a band that has lived through triumph (a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, reopening Madison Square Garden after its COVID closure) and turmoil (drummer Taylor Hawkins’ sudden death, Grohl’s much-publicized infidelity) this decade. For two-and-a-half hours and 25 songs at Irving Plaza, Foo Fighters reaffirmed its spot as a canonical American band – not that that’s something anyone who has turned the radio dial to an alt-rock station in the last 30 years doubts.

Read on for the best moments from the band’s Manhattan underplay.


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Allison Crutchfield is best known as a musician, both under her own name and with the bands P.S. Eliot, Swearin‘ and Snocaps. But seven years ago, she began working at the indie label ANTI- Records, where she headed the A&R department and signed artists including MJ Lenderman, Death Cab For Cutie, The Beths and Waxahatchee, the recording project of her twin sister (and P.S. Eliot and Snocaps bandmate), Katie.

Today (May 1), Another Management Company, the boutique management firm that’s home to artists including Kurt Vile, Waxahatchee and Alvvays, announced Crutchfield’s next chapter as an artist manager for the company.

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“I wound up being at [ANTI-] for so long and having such a great run there, and really loving it,” Crutchfield says, but “a couple years ago, I really started to think about, just spiritually, what I loved about that work. And I feel like [it was] the advocacy for artists element. I realized at a certain point that the best way for me to get to really tune in to that part of the work, to really get to advocate for the artists that I work with, was to move over to the management side. I’ve been ambiently thinking about that for years.”

Rennie Jaffe and Eric Dimenstein founded AMC in 2017, and Crutchfield’s relationship with them goes back even further than that, through their work with Waxahatchee via Ground Control Touring, the agency co-founded by Dimenstein that has represented both Crutchfield sisters throughout their careers.

“Eric has been such a guiding light for both of us, Katie and me,” Crutchfield says. “I trust them so much, I feel so aligned with them, the way that they interface with the rest of the business, that it was a no-brainer that [AMC] is where I would want to go.”

Based in Los Angeles, Crutchfield will immediately begin co-managing AMC clients Twisted Teens, Brennan Wedl and Ryan Davis, three rising indie artists whose careers she is excited to guide under what she describes as the firm’s “inherent bird’s-eye view approach.”

“[AMC] really wants to grow with their artists’ careers; they really want to build sustainability for them,” she explains. “They really care about their artists’ longevity and lives as humans. That’s something I know firsthand working with them — they’re really focused on just development, which is the thing that is the most exciting to me about being in the business, just being someone who can help advocate and support artists.”

As for what this means for Crutchfield’s career as an artist: “To be determined.” She most recently hit the road in late 2025 with Snocaps, her supergroup with Katie, Lenderman and Brad Cook, for a short tour in support of its surprise album from last year. “I would love to do another Snocaps record; I think we all would,” she says, though she notes that the easygoing, limited-engagement aspect of the Snocaps campaign is part of what made it so fun — and that she and her three bandmates have such busy schedules that getting those stars to align again would be tough.

“As things pop up, we’ll see. It was always tricky for me to write and work on music as an A&R, and I feel like that will remain true as a manager,” she admits. “It’s not that I don’t miss it. I just find this work more fulfilling, and it’s something that feels a little more exciting for me at this point in my life.”

Plus, she says, her perspective as someone with an artist background “has always been a little bit of a superpower” when it comes to her ability to advise active artists.

Crutchfield’s hiring wasn’t the only personnel addition AMC announced Friday. The firm is also adding Hannah McElroy as a Nashville-based day-to-day manager, where she will support clients including Youth Lagoon and Twisted Teens. McElroy previously logged time as a digital strategist at Venture Music and iHeartMedia, and she started her management career at Left Right Management.

“Joining AMC feels like a really natural next step for me,” McElroy said in a statement. “I’ve always been a fan of the way they support and develop their artists, and I’m excited to bring my experience across artist management and digital strategy, as well as a perspective shaped by years in Nashville’s music community, into such a creatively aligned environment.”


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It didn’t take long for Guns N’ Roses to burst onto the scene: the band’s debut album in 1987, Appetite For Destruction, ultimately vaulted them to rock royalty and spent 261 weeks on the Billboard 200. So when the band hit the stage at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida for their first show of their 2026 tour on Thursday night (April 30), they opened the concert the way they know best: by ripping straight into “Welcome to the Jungle,” the first track off that first album and a continuous thesis statement for the band across its somewhat sporadic 40-year history.

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Kicking off shortly after 8 p.m., the first iconic riffs of the song immediately got the 7,000-capacity crowd to its feet, and heralded what was to come: a nonstop, three-hour show that ran through some of their biggest hits — “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” “Don’t Cry,” “November Rain” and the show-closer “Paradise City” — as well as a smattering of new songs released in the past three years, including “Atlas,” “Nothin’” and “Better.” The band has always had a knack for covering songs and making them their own, and they duly did that at the Hard Rock, running through their iconic versions of Wings’ “Live and Let Die,” Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” Black Sabbath’s “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” and Velvet Revolver’s “Slither.”

With the iconic group led by singer Axl Rose, bassist Duff McKagan and guitarist Slash back up on stage together in North America for the first time in a few years, here are six of the best moments from their opening night show.


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K-pop girl group MAMAMOO will be back together on U.S. stages this summer for a reunion tour that will bring members Solar, Moon Byul, Whee In and Hwa Sa to seven arenas across the country. The shows co-promoted by Sugar Monkey Live and MAMMOTH are slated to kick off on Aug. 12 at UBS Arena in Belmont Park, N.Y., followed by gigs in Chicago, Fort Worth and Cedar Park, Texas, Los Angeles and San Jose, winding down on Aug. 30 at the accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash.

It will mark the first run of shows in the U.S. by the group since their 2023 My Con world tour, after which the quartet took a brief hiatus to allow its members to focus on solo and side projects. According to a release announcing the tour, the group is prepping an as-yet-untitled album due for release this summer, the follow-up to their 2019 Reality in Black LP. Their most recent group project was their 12th EP, 2022’s Mic On.

“More than just a milestone, the 2026 U.S. tour marks a defining new chapter for MAMAMOO – reuniting the group to celebrate their legacy while ushering in a bold new era of music and performance,” read the release. “Fans can expect a dynamic, unforgettable live experience as MAMAMOO brings their signature vocals, energy, and artistry to stages across the country.”

Presale registration for the tour will open today (May 1) at 10 a.m. ET, with fans able to register via 237 for access to the presale and on-sale information. Presales will begin on May 13 at 10 a.m. local time, followed by a general on sale on May 15 at 10 a.m. local time; click here for more information on tickets.

Check out the dates for MAMAMOO’s 2026 U.S. tour below.

  • Aug. 12: Belmont Park, N.Y. @ UBS Arena
  • Aug. 15: Chicago, Ill. @ Wintrust Arena
  • Aug. 18: Fort Worth, Texas @ Dickie’s Arena
  • Aug. 21: Cedar Park, Texas @ H-E-B Center
  • Aug. 25: Los Angeles, Calif. @ Crypto.com Arena
  • Aug. 27: San Jose, Calif. @ SAP Center
  • Aug. 30: Kent, Wash. @ accesso ShoWare Center


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Like so many others, Jessica Vosk first encountered Bette Midler when, as a teen, she saw the 1988 movie Beaches. In the musical comedy about the friendship between two women who meet as girls in Atlantic City, Midler memorably played Cee Cee, a brash New Yorker who pursues a career as a singer, and in the movie memorably sings the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “The Wind Beneath My Wings.”

“I just thought: ‘Wow. This woman is electric and brave and unapologetic. I want to be like her,’” Vosk tells Billboard. Over the years following, as Vosk carved out her own career in musical theater — going on to become one of the most beloved actors to play Elphaba in Wicked, among many other Broadway roles — it “became even more clear to me that [Bette’s] was a once-in-a-lifetime talent. I wanted to work as hard as I could to someday even be in the same orbit as her.”

With her current turn as Cee Cee in the Broadway adaptation of Beaches (based on the book that inspired the movie), Vosk is realizing that dream eight times a week. But there’s one song in the movie that she doesn’t sing onstage each night: “Otto Titsling,” a humorous ode to, well, a certain feminine asset that Midler co-wrote with Jerry Blatt, Charlene Seeger and the movie’s musical supervisor and Midler’s own longtime pianist and collaborator (and future Grammy, Oscar and Tony winner), composer Marc Shaiman.

Kelli Barrett (left) as Bertie and Jessica Vosk as Cee Cee in ‘Beaches’ on Broadway. (Photo credit: Marc J Franklin)

“I must get 20 questions a day asking if I’ll ever cover it,” Vosk says of “Otto” (the Broadway Beaches has original music by Mike Stoller, of the famed songwriting team Lieber & Stoller). “So I figured, ‘Let’s give the people what they want!’” She recorded the track with Shaiman himself and today premieres the fan favorite exclusively with Billboard.

Shaiman shared behind-the-scenes Beaches memories with Vosk, including how, with “Otto,” he was tasked to write a song that would feel “overdone, very hysterical and off-kilter … and of course I was more than game to do that!” (She also got to see his Beaches platinum record up close.)

For Vosk, the recording is both a gift to fans and another way for her to leave her personal stamp on the role of Cee Cee. “When I stepped into Wicked to play Elphaba, it was an amazing learning experience to tackle something that has been performed onstage so iconically for so long. Beaches being new to Broadway is a whole new ballgame for me, getting the chance to create something,” Vosk says. “I wanted to originate this role because I believe so much in Cee Cee’s humanity and how she gets there. I relate to her hustle, determination and grit. And I am in love with her heart.”

Hear Vosk’s rendition of “Otto Titsling,” accompanied by Shaiman, here.

SYDNEY, Australia — Six the best independent artists from the state of New South Wales take their places in MusicNSW’s inaugural Ambassador Program.

Alex The Astronaut, Jamaica Moana, Jannah Beth, SPEED’s Jem Siow, Velvet Trip’s Zeppelin Hamilton and The Buoys’ Zoe Catterall are the first cohort, announced Friday, May 1.

“Each of the artists joining us as ambassadors are already so embedded as role models within the NSW music ecosystem – shaping what independent music scenes can look like, leading through their actions and bringing their communities with them,” says MusicNSW managing director Joe Muller.

Representing a broad range of genres, communities and regions, each ambassador has chosen to lend their voice to the work of the state’s trade body for contemporary music.

The ambassadors “don’t just make incredible music, they are each active in building a music culture that supports those around them to do the same,” Muller adds. “We are honored to stand alongside them as we continue to shape our work as an organisation, in service of a NSW music ecosystem where artists can grow sustainable careers, communities are connected and supported, and music culture is properly valued – with the wellbeing of artists at the center.”

The ambassadors program is announced as MusicNSW launches a new brand and unveils a new website, which is intended to help and connect artists and industry workers in their pursuit of skills, opportunities and more. This includes a NSW music industry directory, tools for finding grants, opportunities and jobs in music, and a dedicated resource library for artists. New programs for NSW artists right across the state will be announced in the coming weeks, reps say.

The not-for-profit organization was established in 1998. One of its biggest wins came in 2023, when its team led the non-partisan Vote Music campaign, calling on government to invest A$100 million in the contemporary music sector in New South Wales. The NSW Labor Government responded with a A$103 million commitment, establishing Sound NSW, a 10-year Contemporary Music Strategy, and unprecedented sector investment across four years.

KATSEYE isn’t coming all the way to Australia just to talk; the two-time Grammy nominated global girl group will also deliver a one-off performance next Friday, May 8, at Melbourne’s Festival Hall.

As previously reported, KATSEYE will make its first trip to these parts for a trip that, until now, was anchored on an exclusive fan Q&A experience in Sydney on May 6. The winner of the competition receives flights, accommodation and a double pass to the Q&A, while 29 runners-up will receive a double pass for the session.

The pop act’s itinerary just got bigger, with a one-off Australia show presented by Visit Victoria’s “Melbourne. Every bit different” campaign in collaboration with American Express, Live Nation, HYBE and Geffen.

Universal Music Australia is behind the contest and the concert, a 30-minute pop-up performance. American Express Centurion and Platinum Card Members can access a select number of priority tickets for the show via the Amex Experiences App from Wednesday, May 6.

KATSEYE is hot right now, thanks to the release of their Billboard Hot 100 hit single “Pinky Up,” and their eye-catching performances at Coachella. Since then, the group has been added to the line-up of performers for the 52nd American Music Awards, on a night where they have nominations in three categories — new artist of the year, best music video for “Gnarly” and breakthrough pop artist. The AMAs are set for Monday, May 25 in Las Vegas.

A new KATSEYE EP, WILD, is due out Aug. 14 via HYBE x Geffen Records. It’s the followup to 2025’s Beautiful Chaos, which reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and features Billboard Hot 100 hits “Gnarly” and “Gabriela.” In Australia, “Gabriela,” “Touch” and “Gnarly” are all certified platinum, while “Debut” and “Gameboy” are certified gold.

The girl group is currently a five-piece (Daniela, Lara, Megan, Sophia and Yoonchae) while bandmate Manon is on a temporary hiatus.

Noah Kahan brings a nation together as The Great Divide opens its account at No. 1 on the ARIA Chart.

The Great Divide is Kahan’s fourth studio collection, and second consecutive leader in Australia after Stick Season logged three weeks atop the chart in early 2024.  

The American singer and songwriter will reward his loyal Australian fans when his The Great Divide Tour stops by Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena and Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena for eight total concerts this September and October.

Foo Fighters enjoy another stint on the podium as Your Favorite Toy unwraps its debut ARIA Chart position at No. 3. The Foos have landed all 12 of their studio albums in the ARIA Top 10, with eight going all the way to No. 1: One By One (in 2002), In Your Honor (2005), Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (2007), Wasting Light (2011), Sonic Highways (2014), Concrete And Gold (2017), Medicine At Midnight (2021) and their last record, But Here We Are (2023). The Rock Hall-inducted band also led the list in 2009 with Greatest Hits.

Homegrown metal merchants The Amity Affliction enjoy a No. 4 start with House of Cards, their ninth studio album. It’s the eighth straight top 10 appearance from the Gympie, Queensland rockers, after Youngbloods (No. 6 in 2010), Chasing Ghosts (No. 1 in 2012), Let The Ocean Take Me (No. 1 in 2014), This Could Be The Heartbreak (No. 1 in 2016), Misery (No. 1 in 2018), Everyone Loves You…Once You Leave Them (No. 2 in 2020) and Not Without My Ghost (No. 2 in 2023).

Also new to the latest frame, published Friday, May 1, is the soundtrack from the new Michael Jackson biopic, which moonwalks its way to No. 17. Michael: Songs From The Motion Picture is the late king of pop’s 24th solo appearance on the ARIA Top 50, the trade body reports, stretching back to 1973’s Music And Me. That tally includes chart leaders Off The Wall (from 1979), Thriller (1983), Dangerous (1991), HIStory: Past, Present And Future, Book I (1995), Invincible (2001) and The Essential Michael Jackson (2005).

Kehlani is close behind with her self-titled effort, new at No. 18, while new releases from Masayoshi Takanaka (Takanaka Super Live 2025 Black Ship in L.A. at No. 22), Ruby Fields (Small Achievements at No. 29), Nessa Barrett (Jesus Loves a Primadonna at No. 41) and Pink Floyd (Live From The Los Angeles Sports Arena, April 26th, 1975 at No. 43) impact the top 50.

Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, Olivia Dean and Sam Fender’s “Rein Me In” enters a third non-consecutive week at No. 1, ahead of her former leader “Man I Need” (holding at No. 2) and Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas,” up 8-3 for a new peak position.

If you thought Olivia Rodrigo‘s next album would be stacked with love songs, wrapped in emotions raked from both ends of the spectrum, some of which are inspired by HBO’s Sex And The City, then you’d be right.

The pop phenomenon stopped by NBC’s The Tonight Show on Thursday night, May 30, where she spilled the beans on her forthcoming album, tour and Saturday Night Live gig.

“I knew that I wanted this record to be about romantic love in more of a positive sense,” she says of You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, due out June 12 via Geffen Records. That’s considering her last two were “heartbroken and angsty,” in her own words. Expected love songs, “injected with a little bit of sadness and longing. And melancholy, because all my favorite love songs have that.” Those faves, she tells Jimmy Kimmel, include “Love Song” by the Cure, and “Video Games” by Lana Del Rey.

“Multiple songs” from her forthcoming album, she also reveals, are inspired by the complex relationship of lawyer Miranda Hobbes and former bartender Steve Brady, two central characters from Sex And The City. “It’s my favorite show,” she enthuses. “I think I watched every single episode maybe three times.”

It’s worth pointing out that Sex and the City concluded after six seasons on Feb. 22, 2004, a year to the month after Rodrigo was born.

Rodrigo’s new album is led by “Drop Dead,” which opened at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking her fourth title to debut in the top spot. “The song is basically about an awesome first date,” she explains. “It’s the first step in the journey of You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl. The journey definitely like ebbs and flows. It goes in lots of different places from here, but this is the first chapter.”

Rodrigo will sing “Drop Dead” and a brand new one, when she appears on Saturday Night Live this weekend as both host and musical guest.

“It’s always been a huge dream of mine,” to pull double duty on SNL, she explained. If she has nerves, she’s not showing it. And she does have a lucky charm, a gift from Jack White, which he planted in her dressing room.

The 23-year-old pop star will support her next release with the Unraveled Tour, which currently stands at 65 arena date across North America, Europe and the U.K. this fall and winter beginning with a Sept. 25 show at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford, Conn. “I’ve been working so hard on it,” she says during her latest late-night interview. “I’m so stoked to play these songs live.”

With You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, she resisted the temptation of going with another four letter word after Sour (from 2021) and Guts (2023), both of which logged time at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. “I always knew if wasn’t going to be four letters.” She wanted to “break out,” and “didn’t want to be stuck in it,” she tells Fallon.

Watch Rodrigo’s appearance on late-night TV below.

Summer is never truly over — just ask Zara Larsson.

On the heels of her breakthrough artist win at the 2026 Billboard Women in Music Awards on Wednesday (April 29), the Swedish pop star kept the celebrations going with a special listening party for her remix album Midnight Sun: Girls Trip, on Thursday (April 30). Hosted by iHeartRadio and aired live on TikTok and radio stations around the country from the 450-seat iHeartRadio Theater in Los Angeles, the Girls Trip album preview gave Larsson’s biggest fans the opportunity to hear a sneak peek of the remix album hours before its release.

Larsson opened the night with an acoustic performance of her Hot 100 hit “Midnight Sun” before sitting down for a Q&A with iHeartRadio host EJ. The singer shared why she decided to expand what she called the “Midnight Sun universe.”

“I think music and culture in this day and age, it moves quickly, but I’m definitely not ready to move on from Midnight Sun, for a little while at least,” Larsson said. “And I just thought, have fun. It’ll be so fun.”

The singer also shared who inspired her to take on this venture.

“People have been doing it for a long time, but I was really inspired by [Charli xcx]. I was really inspired by [PinkPantheress],” she shared. “Even though a song is out, you can still have so many different worlds and sounds around the song. If a song is good enough, it can kind of be anything.”

Girls Trip features ten remixed versions of songs from the original Midnight Sun, with features from an incredible slate of women artists. Fans in attendance at the preview, watching live on TikTok or listening from the iHeartRadio app got to hear five of the songs in full.

Before each track, Larsson spoke about how the remix came to be, its sound and the person she tapped for the feature.

The first remix of the night was “Crush” featuring Eli. Larsson then played “Blue Moon” featuring Kehlani, an artist who she shared she was a fan of for a long time. Next up was “Hot & Sexy” with Tyla, the second of the duo’s collaborations following “She Did It Again” which came out earlier this month. “Hot & Sexy” was followed by “Pretty Ugly” with JT and Margo XS, a remix Larsson admitted she preferred over the original. Then came “Eurosummer” with Shakira, who Larsson shared she has loved since childhood.

“This is legendary status going on right here because [Girls Trip] was like a little bit the talk of the town — I mean at least in the small industry of music that I’m in,” Larsson said. “And one day I got a call, it was my A&R, and he was like, ‘Shakira heard about this project and she really likes ‘Eurosummer.” And I was like, ‘let’s go.’”

The final remix fans got to hear was a crossing of Swedish pop icons: “Puss Puss” with compatriot Robyn.

“This is my Swedish icon, legend Robyn. Who else would be on this song?” Larsson said as the track began.

In between songs, Larsson also took time to answer fan questions from the audience, viewers on TikTok and radio listeners. Many of the questions were appropriately trip-themed and the singer shared her preferred ways to take a girls trip, including being both driver and DJ.

“I think the music is quite important,” Larsson said of what makes for a perfect girls trip. “The girls trip starts when you get in the car, or on the train, or on the way to the airport.”

The Girls Trip experience ended with a celebration of Larsson’s 2015 Hot 100 track “Lush Life,” which has been gifted new life online thanks to a viral dance trend. The singer invited those fans who knew the choreography to join her on stage as they danced the evening to a close.

Midnight Sun: Girls Trip is out now. Stream it below.