The Montréal band will return home for a coast-to-coast run featuring Bowling for Soup, Yellowcard and Marianas Trench.

Billy Eff is the Content Director for Rolling Stone Canada. An award-winning journalist and columnist, he has previously contributed to outlets including VICE and Urbania. A passionate advocate for underground music and a musician himself, he has conducted several hundred interviews with artists and industry professionals across a wide range of styles and genres over the past 15 years. He is based in Montréal, Québec.

Montréal pop-punk veterans Simple Plan have announced a 15-date Canadian tour for early 2027, marking their first coast-to-coast Canadian run in more than a decade. The tour will run from January 25 through February 16 and will feature Bowling for Soup throughout, with Yellowcard joining the lineup across most dates and Marianas Trench appearing on the British Columbia shows.

The tour opens in Victoria on January 25 before moving through Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon and Winnipeg. The band will then hit Toronto on February 5, followed by Kitchener, London, Kingston, Ottawa and Montréal on February 12. The run wraps with dates in Moncton, Sydney and Halifax.

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Simple Plan will also be celebrating the 25th anniversary of their debut album, No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls. Released in 2002, the record produced enduring hits including "I'm Just a Kid," "I'd Do Anything," "Addicted" and "Perfect."

A children's book inspired by "I'm Just a Kid" is also scheduled for publication in March 2027, with proceeds supporting the Simple Plan Foundation and its work with youth-focused organizations.

Presale tickets are available, with general public sales scheduled for October 9 at 10 a.m. local time.

Taylor Swift for ‘The Life of a Showgirl’

If you want to party with somebody who might know what it’s like to have 16 Number One songs, you can now hit up Taylor Swift. The superstar just topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart once again with her new single “Patient Zero.” It marks Swift’s fourth chart-topper of the year after “The Fate of Ophelia,” “Opalite,” and “I Knew It, I Knew You” also notched the top slot.

With the feat, Swift has knocked Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” from the top slot, halting its historic reign with a whopping 24 weeks atop the chart since February. She also joins Rihanna as the only female solo artists to earn four Number One hits on the chart in the same year. The song marks the third single from The Life of a Showgirl to go Number One as well. Earlier this year, “The Fate of Ophelia” became Swift’s longest-running chart-topper with nine weeks.

Swift released “Patient Zero” as the lead single on the extended version of her 12th studio album The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, which included three other new tracks: “Cleveland!,” “Pink Clouding,” and “Babylon.” All of those songs also made it on the Hot 100’s top five. Showgirl also returned to the top of the Billboard 200 for a 13th week.

On “Patient Zero,” the singer-songwriter paints the picture of what happens when an ex’s new girl calls you up for advice “from the perspective and the side of the phone call of the ex who’s been through it before,” as she told Capital FM.

A couple of days after The Encore was released, Swift premiered the cinematic music video for “Patient Zero” at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards. The unconventional release follows in the steps of the other Showgirl singles (and Number Ones) which premiered visuals in theaters and exclusively on Spotify and Apple Music. Just like with “The Fate of Ophelia” and “Opalite” music videos, the “Patient Zero” visual was not immediately available on YouTube. The move coincides with YouTube’s decision to withdraw its data from Billboard charts following changes to the charts’ methodology.

The commercial success of “Patient Zero” comes after The Encore received a mixed response from fans online and critics alike.

Toronto hip-hop veteran k-os is preparing his first full-length album in more than a decade, and Drake is helping make it happen.

Last Friday, the artist released his latest single, “Guns & Roses”. The track marks his first new music since “i would never.” and “EUREKA!” earlier this year.The self-produced track sees the Toronto vet back in full form, rapping in his characteristic rythmic, multi-syllabic rhyme scheme over a reworked groovy latin sample.

According to Complex Canada, Drake is financing the forthcoming album, while Matte Babel, an executive at Drake's entertainment company DreamCrew, is managing the project. The record will be k-os’ first full-length since 2015’s Can’t Fly Without Gravity.

One of the first Canadian rappers to break into the country's mainstream, k-os was one of Drake's early inspirations. The two worked together on “Faith,” which appeared onThe Anchorman Mixtape.

For now, there is no confirmed release date or tracklist for the new album. “Guns & Roses” is the clearest indication yet that k-os is moving toward a full-length return, with Drake backing the project and Babel overseeing its management.

Adam Lambert performs onstage with Brian May of Queen at London’s O2 Arena in 2022.

Queen + Adam Lambert haven’t performed since their Rhapsody world tour wrapped up at Japan’s Tokyo Dome on Feb. 14, 2024. And in a new interview with The Times, guitarist Brian May revealed the band won’t ever return to the road.

“I made a decision 18 months ago that I didn’t want to tour again,” May said. “A close family friend died when we were in the States, so I said to my tour manager, ‘I’ll just nip home for a few days and come back.’ She looked me in the eyes and said, ‘You know you can’t do that.’ I love to play, I love to travel, but the trade-off is sacrificing your freedom. I have a wife [the actress Anita Dobson], grandchildren and a lot of astrophysics I want to do, so I’m thinking maybe 50 years is enough.”

He’s not, however, ruling out other ways to bring Queen’s music into large communal spaces. “We do want to do something fairly revolutionary,” May said. “Not as ABBA did, but along those lines… Last year I went to the Sphere, my juices started flowing and I sketched out a whole Queen show. I think an immersive experience is still on the cards and it could conquer time and space, but currently you can’t make it without AI and I have serious misgivings about that… Data centers are a massive evil and have to be fought.”

In September 2025, May told Rolling Stone that he was simply exhausted with life on the road, though he wasn’t quite ready at that time to forever rule it out, as he’s now done. “I’ve had 50 years of touring and there’s a part of me that thinks it’s enough,” he said. “I don’t like the idea that you wake up in your hotel room and you’re trapped. I had a few experiences recently where stuff happened at home with my family and I could not go home. It got under my skin and I just thought, ‘I’m not sure if I want this anymore.’ I feel like I’ve given up my freedom too many times. So my feeling at the moment is I don’t want to tour as such. I still want to play shows. I still want to innovate.”

In January of this year, May told the Daily Mail that he didn’t want to cross the Atlantic for shows because “America is a dangerous place at the moment.” “It’s very sad because I feel like Queen grew up in America and we love it, but it’s not what it was,” he said. “Everyone is thinking twice about going there at the moment.”

This doesn’t mean the members of Queen + Adam Lambert are going to remain inactive. Drummer Roger Taylor recently released his solo LP Violence Insane in a Beautiful World, and Lambert dropped his own album, Adam, in July. He also honored George Michael at the MTV Video Music Awards last month with a performance of “Freedom! ’90.”

There are also a series of archival Queen projects in the pipeline, starting with the new Queen concert film Queen Budapest. It was filmed on July 27, 1986, when Queen became the first major rock band to play a show behind the Iron Curtain.

Of course, it’s also quite possible that May will have a change of heart. If so, he’ll be far from the last rock star to launch a tour after claiming to be done.

Sass Jordan performs for the Luminato arts festival opening night concert at Yonge Dundas Square on June 11, 2010 in Toronto, Canada.

Sass Jordan, the Montréal-raised rock singer whose powerhouse vocals made her one of the most recognizable figures in Canadian rock, has died at 63. Her family announced that she died October 2, surrounded by loved ones. No cause of death has been disclosed.

Jordan had cancelled her remaining 2026 performances in September after her team said she was dealing with a “serious medical condition.”

Born Sarah Jordan in Birmingham, England, Jordan moved to Montréal with her family at the age of three. She began performing in the city's clubs as a teenager before launching her solo career with Tell Somebody in 1988. The album earned her the 1989 Juno Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist and established her as a major player in the Canadian rock scene.

Her biggest commercial breakthrough came with 1992's Racine, which produced several of her signature songs, including “Make You a Believer,” “You Don't Have to Remind Me” and “Goin' Back Again.” Two years later, Rats delivered another enduring hit with “High Road Easy.”

Jordan's career also took her well beyond the Canadian rock circuit. She recorded “Trust in Me” with Joe Cocker for The Bodyguard soundtrack and toured and performed alongside Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones, AC/DC and Van Halen.

She was also an important early figure in the career of Taylor Hawkins. The future Foo Fighters drummer played in Jordan's band during the Rats era, gaining major touring experience before joining Alanis Morissette and eventually Foo Fighters, with frontman Dave Grohl crediting Jordan for Hawkins joining the Foo Fighters.

A new generation knew Jordan as a judge on Canadian Idol, where she appeared throughout all six seasons from 2003 to 2008. Later, she returned increasingly to her blues roots, releasing Rebel Moon Blues in 2020 and Bitches Blues in 2022.

In a statement announcing her death, Jordan's family called her an “inimitable force of nature” and an “irreplaceable being of light and joy.”

David Bowie on the set of his music video "Jump They Say" in 1993.

‘Bowie80,’ a celebration of the Starman’s legacy through music, fashion, and beyond will feature exhibits, fan experiences, special merchandise, and concerts to commemorate David Bowie‘s 80th birthday. Most notably, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will present several experiences dedicated to Bowie beginning in mid-November; Philip Glass is leading a symphonic concert premiering in Copenhagen next spring; and the Morrison Hotel Gallery will exhibit photography of Bowie in February. Fans can learn about each new experience via a new Bowie80 site.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will host a series of experiences including pop-up shops, exhibits, and fan activations. The special pop-up shop will run from mid-November to January 2027 at the Rock Hall’s stores at the museum and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport; then, during Bowie’s birthday week in early January, fans can interact with “educational presentations, trivia, music, and photo ops” at the Rock Hall. A photography exhibit reportedly featuring never-before-seen images of Bowie by famed rock & roll photographers will also be displayed at the Rock Hall at a to be announced date.

Like the Rock Hall, the Morrison Hotel Gallery will similarly run a photo exhibit of Bowie in collaboration with the singer-songwriter’s estate. Strange Fascination will open in February 2027 in Los Angeles and New York City, and feature iconic photography across six of Bowie’s most iconic identities.

Celebrated composer Philip Glass will lead the symphonic concert Bowie (Breaking) Glass in partnership with Schirmer Theatrical and Østre Gasværk Teater. The show will pay tribute to Bowie’s biggest songs and premiere at an unannounced date in spring 2027 in Copenhagen.

Additionally, Nordstrom is partnering with select luxury brands to launch special clothing capsules paying homage to Bowie’s iconic aesthetics. The clothing will be available at a to be in-person at Nordstrom’s flagship locations in New York, Chicago, Seattle, and online via their official website. More is set to be announced in the coming months.

Blackstar, the final album released in Bowie’s lifetime, was released two days before his death at 69 after an 18-month battle against liver cancer. The posthumous record Toy was released in 2021, and a series of 1965 Shel Talmy recordings was released this summer.