Olivia Dean tops the winners list with four, while Sam Fender bags two – see all the category winners here
• News: Olivia Dean sweeps the board at 2026 Brit awards, winning four including artist, song and album of the year
• Alexis Petridis: This year’s Brit awards found a flicker of chaos – but the winners were never in doubt
Olivia Dean
Continue reading...New EP Days of Ash features songs about Renee Good, Iranian protesters and other political topics, and precedes new ‘defiantly joyful’ album later in 2026
• Alexis Petridis on Days of Ash: six new tracks that reaffirm the band as a vital political voice
U2 have released their first collection of new music since 2017 – a politically charged EP entitled Days of Ash, which focuses on a series of high-profile global deaths including the killing of Renee Good by ICE agents.
Good, a mother of three children who was killed on 7 January while protesting against ICE activity in Minneapolis, is the subject of the opening song, American Obituary.
Continue reading...Star of The Harder They Come had hits including You Can Get It If You Really Want and I Can See Clearly Now
Jimmy Cliff, the singer and actor whose mellifluous voice helped to turn reggae into a global phenomenon, has died aged 81.
A message from his wife Latifa Chambers on Instagram reads: “It’s with profound sadness that I share that my husband, Jimmy Cliff, has crossed over due to a seizure followed by pneumonia. I am thankful for his family, friends, fellow artists and coworkers who have shared his journey with him. To all his fans around the world, please know that your support was his strength throughout his whole career … Jimmy, my darling, may you rest in peace. I will follow your wishes.” Her message was also signed by their children, Lilty and Aken.
Continue reading...With big numbers for Bad Bunny, Leon Thomas and more, check out the nominated artists this year
Bad Bunny – DtMF
Sabrina Carpenter – Manchild
Doechii – Anxiety
Billie Eilish – Wildflower
Lady Gaga – Abracadabra
Kendrick Lamar with SZA – Luther
Chappell Roan – The Subway
Rosé & Bruno Mars – APT.
Singer says he will not perform in Israel while Benjamin Netanyahu remains in power, eight years after Radiohead defied criticism to perform in Tel Aviv
Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has said he would not now perform in Israel, eight years after the band defied pro-Palestinian activists to play a show in Tel Aviv.
“Absolutely not. I wouldn’t want to be 5,000 miles anywhere near the Netanyahu regime,” he told the Sunday Times magazine, referring to prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Continue reading...Canadian prog-rockers will play seven concerts in summer 2026 in the US, Canada and Mexico, after hiring new drummer Anika Nilles
Rush, the Canadian prog rockers whose epic and detailed songcraft continues to attract a large and heartfelt fandom, are to reform for the first time since the death of drummer Neil Peart.
Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, both 72, will tour the US, Canada and Mexico, playing seven concerts in summer 2026 beginning in Los Angeles on 7 June.
Continue reading...Spencer Elden, who was photographed as a baby and put on the cover of the 1991 album, has attempted to sue the band twice, claiming it constituted child sexual abuse
A federal judge again threw out a lawsuit by a man who accused grunge rock band Nirvana of distributing child sexual abuse images by using a photograph of him as a naked, swimming baby on the cover of its breakthrough 1991 album Nevermind.
US District Judge Fernando Olguin tossed out the lawsuit filed by plaintiff Spencer Elden for a second time after finding that no reasonable jury would consider the picture pornographic.
Continue reading...Noel says his long-estranged brother is ‘smashing it’ during the band’s stadium shows and that he’s ‘proud’ of him
Noel Gallagher has opened up about his feelings towards his long-estranged brother Liam during Oasis’ sold-out global reunion tour for the first time, saying: “He’s been amazing … it’s great being back in the band with Liam.”
Oasis announced they would be reuniting in August 2024, 15 years after their split in 2009 when Noel quit the band after a backstage brawl at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris, saying he “simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer”.
Continue reading...Warnindhilyagwa singer also wins film clip of the year, while Malyangapa Barkindji rapper Barkaa wins album of the year
Emily Wurramara expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine and “all Indigenous peoples around the world” experiencing oppression as she accepted the artist of the year award at the 21st National Indigenous Music awards at the Nimas in Garramilla/Darwin on Saturday night.
“There’s nothing like coming back home and being here and playing for mob and playing for the people,” the Garramilla-born Warnindhilyagwa singer said. “Because the music is about the people. The music is freedom. Free Palestine, free Congo and free all Indigenous peoples around the world from their oppressors. It always was, always will be Indigenous land.”
Continue reading...Electric Light Orchestra frontman withdraws from BST Hyde Park festival owing to a ‘systemic infection’
Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) frontman Jeff Lynne has cancelled what had been billed as his final ever performance, owing to ill health.
Lynne was due to appear at the BST Hyde Park festival series on Sunday night, closing what had been the band’s farewell “Over and Out” tour, 55 years since the band formed.
Continue reading...The Birmingham band are back together for one last concert at Villa Park, entitled Back to the Beginning – joined by the cream of heavy metal, from Mastodon to Anthrax – plus a host of special guests. Follow every song here
You’ll be thinking: show me photos of all these starry metal shenanigans! I’m really sorry but Live Nation have told me there won’t be any photos available until the end of the gig, and the livestream doesn’t allow screengrabs. Use the power of your mind, I guess.
There are a notable number of empty seats there, but remember this was all going on two hours ago which is quite an early start for a massive stadium show. “Stadium really pretty full from the beginning – testament to the depth of the line up,” Michael says. “Maiden a fortnight ago had a higher proportion of battle jackets though.”
Continue reading...Oasis fans were overjoyed by the performance of the reunited band, a ‘non-stop wild’ set that brought back fond memories
The atmosphere on the concourses in Cardiff after the first Oasis gig of their long-awaited reunion tour was one of speechlessness that the once-estranged Gallagher brothers had pulled it off.
Leigh, from Cardiff, could hardly find the words to describe the two and a half hours he had just witnessed. “They were quiet at the beginning, then the crescendos went wild, then they were non-stop wild,” he said. “It went supernova – crazy. I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know what to say – I was 18 again.”
Continue reading...Focusing heavily on their 1990s output with only one song from their last four albums, Liam and Noel Gallagher performed together for the first time since 2009
Swaggering, cocksure and incredibly loud, Oasis burst back on to the live music scene on Friday night with an accomplished – if ever so slightly distanced – debut gig on their reunion world tour.
Playing Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, the six-piece impressed at the start of what is arguably the most anticipated tour of the century, focusing overwhelmingly on songs from their 1990s heyday – only one song, Little By Little, was taken from their final four albums.
Continue reading...With a heavy emphasis on their 1990s heyday, here is every song that Oasis and their support acts played on the first night of their tour
Hello
Acquiesce
Morning Glory
Some Might Say
Bring It on Down
Cigarettes & Alcohol
Fade Away
Supersonic
Roll With It
Talk Tonight (sung by Noel)
Half the World Away (sung by Noel)
Little By Little (sung by Noel)
D’You Know What I Mean?
Stand By Me
Cast No Shadow
Slide Away
Whatever
Live Forever
Rock ’n’ Roll Star
Encore
The Masterplan (sung by Noel)
Don’t Look Back in Anger (sung by Noel)
Wonderwall
Champagne Supernova
The English guitarist, who had been bedridden after a stroke in 2016, is set to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November
Mick Ralphs, singer, songwriter, guitarist and founding member of the classic British rock bands Bad Company and Mott the Hoople, has died aged 81.
A statement posted to the band’s official website on Monday announced Ralphs’ death. Ralphs had a stroke days after what would be his final performance with Bad Company at London’s O2 Arena in 2016, and had been bedridden ever since, the statement said. No further details on the circumstances of his death were provided.
Continue reading...English-born David Evans, 63, is conferred with ‘long overdue’ Irish citizenship
After decades of finely balanced procrastination, the U2 guitarist The Edge has officially become Irish.
The 63-year-old British subject was conferred with Irish citizenship on Monday, 62 years after moving to Ireland in a step he said was “long overdue”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: first store opens in Spinningfields, Manchester, two weeks before band’s first gig in 16 years in Cardiff
Will the truce between the Gallagher brothers hold out? Will the most-hyped reunion in British rock history actually come off? And will fans be able to bag themselves an official Oasis tea towel?
The answer to that final question, at least, has arrived. The first Oasis merchandise store will open in Manchester on Friday, two weeks before the band perform their first gig in 16 years at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
Continue reading...Zak Starkey says his father made the comment after he was fired over a disagreement about his performance
Ringo Starr has reportedly criticised the way “that little man” Roger Daltrey runs the Who after Starr’s son was sacked from the band.
Zak Starkey, 59, who was sacked as the Who’s drummer over a disagreement about his performance, said he was proud that his father had come to his defence.
Continue reading...Sheffield band were last at the top with This Is Hardcore, while Sabrina Carpenter is at No 1 in the singles chart and breaks an album chart record
Pulp have topped the UK album chart for the first time since 1998, with the release of their new album More.
The Sheffield band, fronted by Jarvis Cocker, were last at the top with 1998’s This Is Hardcore, the follow-up to the similarly chart-topping Different Class in 1995.
Continue reading...Hundreds of fans, some of whom had travelled from as far away as Mexico, gathered to welcome the band members back to civilian life
K-pop superstars RM and V from the band BTS have been discharged from South Korea’s military after fulfilling their mandatory military service.
They each saluted upon their release on Tuesday in Chuncheon City as about 200 fans, some of whom travelled from Mexico, Turkey and Brazil, cheered.
Continue reading...