Aerosmith Walks This Way Again, Cheap Trick Hits Pause, and a Friday Full of New Rock
Written by Jarvis Prime on October 30, 2026
The classic lineup took the Hollywood Bowl stage for the first time in three years, Skid Row found a new voice, and the calendar says happy birthday to Grace Slick and Timothy B. Schmit.
Good morning from Pretoria Fields. Here is what the music world handed us this Friday, October 30, and it is a good week to be a rock fan. Aerosmith played their first show since 2023 last night at the Hollywood Bowl, the opening night of a two-show run billed as California, Dream On: Aerosmith and Friends. The band ran through six songs, opening with Toys in the Attic and closing with Walk This Way. That closer brought founding drummer Joey Kramer back behind the kit for the first time since 2020. Dave Grohl handled drums for most of the set, and Johnny Depp sat in on Train Kept a Rollin. Earlier in the evening the Bowl heard from Guns N Roses, The Black Crowes, Billy Idol, Sammy Hagar, Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart, Eric Church, and Warren Haynes. The second show is Sunday night, November 1.
Not every road goes on forever. Cheap Trick confirmed this week that they are taking an open-ended break from touring after many years on the road. Several February 2027 dates have already come off the books, including a show at Harrahs Cherokee and a festival appearance at Thunder by the Bay in Sarasota. The band says the pause is not for health reasons. Skid Row, meanwhile, is heading the other direction. On Thursday the band introduced Broadway veteran Justin Sargent as their new lead singer, and their cover of The Whos Wont Get Fooled Again landed on streaming services today, with live shows promised for 2027.
In the courtroom, Neil Young filed a ten million dollar lawsuit over the use of Rockin in the Free World at an October 12 campaign event in Ohio. The suit was filed in Virginia against a Trump fundraising committee and argues the use violated a 2020 settlement.
New Music Friday brings Queens of the Stone Age with Perfecth, their ninth studio album, and Nickelback with Everything Under the Sun, their eleventh. Country fans get Dustin Lynch and his new record Clean Slate. Further out, the concert film and live album from Black Sabbaths farewell show, Back to the Beginning, arrives December 11.
Closer to home, we lost a neighbor with a musicians heart. Chris Sorensen, co-founder of Firehouse Subs and a longtime Jacksonville firefighter, died this week at 65. Before the sandwiches, he worked as a professional guitarist and sat in with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Foreigner, Huey Lewis and the News, and Earth, Wind and Fire.
On the radio side, new Edison Research numbers reported Thursday show AM and FM radio is still the largest source of in-car listening even among electric vehicle drivers. The dashboards change. The dial stays.
And this day in rock history is a crowded one. Elton John released Tumbleweed Connection on October 30, 1970. One year later, Pink Floyd put out Meddle in the States and John Lennons Imagine climbed to number one on the Billboard 200. The Eagles released Long Road Out of Eden on this date in 2007. Happy birthday to Jefferson Airplanes Grace Slick and to Eagles bassist Timothy B. Schmit. Keep it tuned here, and we will see you on the weekend.
— The Pretoria Fields Radio news desk
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