The tour hasn’t even happened yet, but if 2025 is remembered for one thing, it most likely will be Rush announcing they were going back out on the road, with German drummer Anika Nilles, for their R50 shows.

Long-awaited returns, new albums and tours, festival headliners, fresh faces… here are just 26 reasons to be cheerful in 2026.

One of the great British blues-rock bands of the 60s and 70s, they’re still keeping their flag flying.

IT WAS AN unlikely project that stemmed from unusual connections and happy coincidence. And about a decade after its inception, Chicago alternative-music fixture Jason Narducy and Oscar-nominated acto

With solo projects, other bands and a massive Creed reunion between them, there were whispers that Alter Bridge might be on the way out. Instead they regrouped, faced the dark side of our times, put their foot on the gas and recorded a brilliant new album.

London O2 Arena