Chef Udo Belew, who works at Jason Scoppa’s Electric Jane in Nashville, has a very interesting and unique take on the marriage of music and food. That is to be expected, though, when your father is iconic guitarist Adrian Belew, best known as the guitarist for King Crimson.
Unsurprisingly, while Udo had five choices, he whittled his selection down to his final pick, which was an easy one.
“I really keep hitting on an album my dad wrote when I was a little kid, Mr. Music Head. It’s a great record, and it’s something I’ve had stuck in my head pretty much my whole life. It’s got this strange part of my soul just because I remember when he wrote it, I remember being in the studio, I remember him doing the cover artwork, and the songs are about my mom and us as kids,” he explains. “That album was the developmental stages of my life. I was trying to find out who I was. I didn’t obviously want to be a chef back then. I wanted to ride my bicycle off of big dirt jumps and stuff. But it definitely shaped something in my mind, and I think the process that he goes through as an artist is similar to what I go through trying to find something new to show people, and I just hope they like it. So I kind of attribute my culinary adventures to that part of my childhood, and that album really represents it.”
As one would imagine, the album and food are intertwined in his mind.
“We lived in this house. Actually, the album cover on the back has a picture of my dad on the piano in the house that we lived in at the time. And we had this big old antique table that we’d have dinner at. At the time, it felt more mandatory to have dinner with the family. But I know now that it really just brought us together,” he says. “I remember a lot of things that happened at that table, like eggs and toast. Every day we’d have toast with scrambled eggs. And we had cockatiels and parakeets that we’d let fly around the house. Sounds weird, but they would land on the table, and we could feed them eggs and whatnot. My mom would always cook spaghetti. And we had birthdays there. There are tons of memories. We would cook out and play volleyball. My dad’s friends would come over, and I didn’t know they were cool at the time. I thought they were dorks, but they were all really cool people.
This is the menu inspired by the album that was the soundtrack to my childhood: cooking out with the family and friends, riding BMX bikes off homemade death traps, eating wild berries, and drinking garden hose water.
In terms of American cities and the most prestigious music histories, Detroit is right up there with any city. Motown – which includes Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, the Four Tops and Diana Ross – Eminem, Madonna, Alice Cooper, Bob Seger, Jack White, techno, Iggy Pop, the MC5, the Stooges, the list goes on and on.
Now the next potentially great artist to come from the Motor City is the impossible to define Victory Boyd, an extremely promising singer who melds soul and folk into a superbly vulnerable and powerful hybrid of genres. The result is the beautiful debut album, Confessions of a Lonely Girl, an emo, folk and soul collection.
As Boyd told us when we spoke recently, Detroit is not just in her music, but in her blood.
“I think Detroit is just one of those classic American cities that has a lot of unique aspects that are different. A lot of really classic American cities have manufacturing in common or something that drew families from all different parts of America. For Detroit it was the motor industry, and it drew a lot of people from the south. My grandparents talk about when they migrated to Detroit and it drew a lot of people of all different persuasions to these industries. But that was because of all these various people having this promise of a better life if they move to Detroit,” she says. “Because of that, you attracted a lot of extremely hard workers, a lot of culture and all of these aspects.
You had my grandmother for example, she was a sharecropper and she was one of 14 siblings and they grew up working the fields down south but then they migrated to Detroit and then they worked in the motor industry, but they came with music too. It was never just coming to do nine to five jobs. It was bringing the entire culture. And then that culture became what we know as Detroit today. It’s the melting pot of all of these things.
So, I’m a product of that exact storyline. It’s not just a product of music but a product in in family values and all the things that come from that from that lineage of life. With that comes a particular sound. There are all sorts of things that come from that origin story. I’m one of those individuals.”
While Confessions might be difficult to categorize musically, Boyd can easily explain her thinking behind the record’s sound and feel.
“The biggest influence, sonically speaking, is I have this theory called darkness and glory,” she says. “Basically if you want people to feel the triumph and the beauty of glory then you have to show them the darkness that came before. For example, every morning we see a sunrise we can appreciate as beautiful because it came after nighttime. Or if you knew that they used to be in prison for 20 years and now they’re walking free, you can celebrate the fact that they’re just simply walking around outside and that’s a point of glory, not just a mundane moot point. With that theory I always try to contrast things with my storytelling both sonically and lyrically.”
A large part of what makes the album so effective is that Boyd had a clear idea of what both darkness and glory sound like to her. And she was determined to make sure listeners understood the sound of those feelings as well.
“This album starts with loneliness. How does loneliness sound? I re-recorded that first song, ‘’Confessions of a Lonely Girl,’ with at least five different productions. And I landed on a version where I recorded it together with a vibraphone player, because the sound of a vibraphone feels so warm, sad and comforting. It’s not just in theory that I try to capture the darkness and sadness, but in sound. You have to really feel and be immersed in this sad experience so when we get to the end, and the last song on the album is called ‘Steady,’ and it’s just so much joy, so much life, it’s the joy of marriage and the joy of finally realizing and coming into love after experiencing such dark and sad feelings of loneliness. I want people to experience the miracle of love and recognize that it is a miracle and not just mundane, everyday life that everyone gets. So, the album is contrasted heavily from how it starts and how it ends. And the sound is always bending towards painting.”
When she says painting, she is referring to the idea of painting a story, art as a medium. Something she learned as a child from C.S. Lewis. “His writings are very profound for me and specifically as a child going to watch the movie Chronicles of Narnia, it resonated strongly with me and even as a child moved me to tears. And I wanted to create stories like C.S. Lewis, create art pieces like Chronicles of Narnia that would resonate so strongly. So after when I got a little older, I was maybe seven years old when I saw that, I started writing stories that appear to be fictional because they’re whimsical and they’re not exactly something that you would see as real life but behind these whimsical fictional stories is truth. Having that flexibility as an artist to invent and to create things that are not real for the purpose of being able to communicate through entertainment, through a fun story, universal truths that could really help empower people and even save their lives. And so sometimes you have to meet people where they are. In America, especially, many people are seeking to be entertained.”
Inspired by movies like Chronicles and the 2012 version of Les Miserables, starring Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman, Boyd learned a valuable lesson about creating art in America. If you want to include a message you need to wrap that message in candy coating. And Boyd says yes, this album absolutely includes a message she wants everyone to hear and understand.
“I always have a key thesis for all of my albums and for this specific one it is it is the message of divine love. It’s a type of love that that comes to find you and reaches out to you and a lot of times it’s written from a woman’s perspective, but the woman in this story is representative of the whole world. Everyone in this world desires the kind of love that is steadfast, that is unconditional and not going anywhere, even if you fall, this divine love that transcends all of the limits that human love can give,” she says. “I personally had to walk through and test this theory of this divine love. When I started writing this album, I thought that this divine love was when a man would come into my life and be the love of my life and cherish me and protect me and provide for me and do all the things that a wonderful husband would do. I never had that experience, but I finally got to have that experience. I thought that this was the pinnacle destination that answered all of these desires and hopes. Dreams about finally being one of those chosen ones that is loved. I found that human love can only go so far. Seeing that fall apart, going through divorce and finding myself on the other side, that I am still loved by God. That’s really where this album leads to in the end. The whole idea is that your faith, hope and love is never in vain because there will always be a divine love that is always there with you.”
Fresh off his Coachella set (dubbed Sombrchella) that had critics scrambling for superlatives, SOMBR is scaling up again. The 20-year-old breakout has announced his You Are the Reason North American arena tour, a sprawling fall run that cements his transition from buzzy upstart to full-fledged headliner.
The 37-date trek kicks off July 22 in Mexico City before weaving through major markets and landing at Madison Square Garden on November 23 (his hometown). Along the way, he’ll hit iconic venues including Red Rocks Amphitheatre and Bridgestone Arena, backed by a rotating and notably eclectic slate of support: Interpol, The Last Dinner Party, Tom Odell, Dove Cameron, King Princess, The Hellp, Hannah Jadagu, and more.
The announcement lands just days after SOMBR’s much-hyped debut at the aforementioned Coachella, where he drew one of the weekend’s largest crowds. Mid-set, Billy Corgan joined him onstage for a performance of the The Smashing Pumpkins classic “1979,” a passing-of-the-torch cameo that critics seized on. Rolling Stone praised the set’s “undeniable rock star energy,” while the Los Angeles Times noted fans spilling “to the outer edges of the field.”
Timing-wise, SOMBR isn’t letting the momentum cool. His new single “Potential” drops April 16 alongside an official video, following the chart surge of “Homewrecker,” which marked another strong showing on the Billboard Global 200 and Hot 100. That run builds on the long tail of his 2025 breakout “Back to Friends,” a track that camped out on the charts for over a year and helped define his hybrid of indie-rock moodiness and arena-pop scale.
Tickets for the You Are the Reason tour go on artist presale April 14, with general on-sale beginning April 17. Between a packed festival calendar — Lollapalooza, Reading Festival, and Leeds Festival among them — and a fall arena sweep, SOMBR’s 2026 is shaping up less like a victory lap and more like a full-blown takeover, and we’re so here for it.
2026 FESTIVAL DATES April 18—Coachella (Weekend Two)—Indio, CA May 24—BottleRock Napa Valley—Napa, CA July 30 – Lollapalooza Festival – Chicago, IL August 1 – Osheaga Festival – Montreal, QC August 11—Sziget Festival—Budapest, Hungary August 13 – Syd For Solen – Denmark, Copenhagen August 14—Øyafestivalen—Oslo, Norway August 15 – Way Out West – Gothenburg, Sweden August 16 – Flow – Helsinki, Finland August 20 – Openair Gampel – Gampel, Switzerland August 22 – Lowlands – Biddingghuizen, Netherlands August 23 – Pukkelpop – Hasselt – Belgium August 26 – Rock En Seine – Paris, France August 28 – Electric Picnic – Stradbally, Ireland August 29—Reading Festival—Reading, UK August 30 – Leeds Festival – Leeds, UK September 1 – Superbloom – Munich, Germany September 11 – Fono Festival – Quebec City, QC September 12—Sommo Festival—New Glasgow, NS
NEWLY ANNOUNCED NORTH AMERICAN YOU ARE THE REASON ARENA TOUR DATES July 22 – Mexico City, MX – Pepsi Center ** July 26 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheater ** Sep 29 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena +# Oct 1 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena +§ Oct 2 – Portland, OR – Moda Center +§ Oct 6 – Sacramento, CA – Golden 1 Center +‡ Oct 7 – San Jose, CA – SAP Center +‡ Oct 9 – Anaheim, CA – Honda Center +‡ Oct 10 – Los Angeles, CA – The Kia Forum +‡ Oct 13 – San Diego, CA – Pechanga Arena +‡ Oct 14 – Glendale, AZ – Desert Diamond Arena +‡ Oct 16 – Oklahoma City, OK – Paycom Center +* Oct 17 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center +* Oct 18 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center +* Oct 20 – Austin, TX – Moody Center +* Oct 22 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena +* Oct 24 – Sunrise, FL – Amerant Bank Arena +* Oct 25 – Orlando, FL – Kia Center +* Oct 27 – Charlotte, NC – Spectrum Center +* Oct 28 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena+* Oct 30 – St. Louis, MO – Enterprise Center =* Oct 31 – Kansas City, MO – T-Mobile Center =* Nov 1 – Minneapolis, MN – Target Center =* Nov 3 – Milwaukee, WI – Fiserv Forum =* Nov 4 – Chicago, IL – United Center =* Nov 6 – Indianapolis, IN – Gainbridge Fieldhouse =^ Nov 7 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena =^ Sun Nov 8 – Columbus, OH – Nationwide Arena =^ Nov 10 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena =^ Nov 12 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena =^ Nov 13 – Cleveland, OH – Rocket Arena =^ Nov 14 – Buffalo, NY – KeyBank Center =^ Nov 16 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena =^ Nov 18 – Boston, MA – TD Garden =^ Nov 19 – Philadelphia, PA – Xfinity Mobile Arena =^ Nov 21 – Newark, NJ – Prudential Center =^ Nov 23 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden =^ Support # Interpol * The Last Dinner Party ‡Tom Odell ^ Dove Cameron § Balu Brigada ** King Princess + The Hellp = Hannah Jadagu
Pop’s most shape-shifting auteur is headed for the big screen, and she’s bringing James Cameron and RealD 3D tech. Billie Eilish has revealed the second trailer for HIT ME HARD AND SOFT: THE TOUR (LIVE IN 3D), a concert film captured during her sold-out global run and co-directed by none other than the aforementioned James Cameron (Avatar, Titanic).
Set to hit theaters May 8, 2026, via Paramount Pictures, the film promises a fully immersive experience, landing in Dolby Cinema, RealD 3D, and other premium large formats. If Cameron’s track record with spectacle is any indication, this won’t be your standard concert doc, with the tagline itself promising to “Reinvent the Concert Experience.” While concerts heading to theater are nothing new (Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Metallica, BTS, etc…), the 3D formatting of the release and the household name Director seems to be (but let’s not forget Martin Scorsese directing The Last Waltz).
The project pulls from Eilish’s latest era, Hit Me Hard and Soft, a record that doubled down on her instinct for emotional whiplash. Translating the dynamic of that record into a 3D theatrical environment suggests a sensory-forward approach, blurring the line between live performance and cinematic world-building.
Tickets go on sale Thursday, April 16, with a newly released trailer teasing the scale and intimacy of the production. For an artist who’s consistently redefined the boundaries of pop staging and visual identity, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT: THE TOUR (LIVE IN 3D) looks poised to extend that vision into theaters. Check out the new trailer below.
March arrives with a noticeable throughline this month: hard hitting rock n’ roll — between long standing acts like Corrosion of Conformity, Foo Fighters, Modest Mouse and more recent buzz-worthy acts like Blood Command, Don Broco, and Drug Church, this list has it all. Whether it’s the arena-sized hooks of Des Rocs new heater or basement-born chaos of The Black Keys fresh cut, these ten tracks don’t sit still — they linger. Just the way we like them. Dig in below.
01:
The Black Keys – Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire
A slow-burn blues rocker that leans into the duo’s rawest instincts, this track trades polish for grit. Fuzzy guitar tones crawl under a simmering groove before erupting into a chorus that feels equal parts menace and release. It’s vintage Black Keys, but meaner. Their new record, Peaches, the fourteenth from the Nashville based duo is due out May 1st.
02:
Des Rocs – When the Love is Gone
A cinematic rock track that thrives on tension and an incredible hook. Minimalist verses explode into a towering chorus, with Des Rocs channeling heartbreak into something massive and theatrical without losing its edge. This is the new rock God at his very best… we can’t wait to hear what’s next.
03:
Foo Fighters – Caught in the Echo
Built on a driving, mid-tempo pulse, this song feels like a reflection piece without losing the band’s stadium DNA. Layers of guitar swell and recede as Dave Grohl delivers a hook that’s both anthemic and introspective. The Foo’s new album, their twelfth, Your Favorite Toy is out April 24th.
04:
Modest Mouse – Look How Far
Quirky, off-kilter, and quietly profound, Modest Mouse return with a slithery track that sways between jittery verses and an oddly uplifting refrain. Isaac Brock’s signature existential spiral is intact, but there’s a sense of hard-earned perspective baked into the chaos. Not just the bands first new song in five years, it’s also Janet Weiss, formerly of Sleater-Kinney’s first song on the drums for the Mouse.
05:
Dogstar – All In Now
After being inactive for more than two decades, Keanu Reeves spoked with NME about returning to the studio for their new record, also titled All In Now, saying “We couldn’t f***ing wait. Personally, I loved it all. For me, the attitude was like, ‘let’s work hard and let’s GO.'” The first single back itself is a healthy mix of Muse and Queens of the Stone Age. But no imitation here. These guys are in their own lane.
06:
Blood Command – Wet Death
Chaotic in the best way, this track jumps between punk energy and glossy, almost hyperpop-adjacent hooks. It’s abrasive, theatrical, and unpredictable… Blood Command’s signature style. Vocalist Nikki Brumen has been such a fitting replacement for Karina Ljone, now on her fourth release in just four years with Blood Command since joining up with Yngve’s never ending bag of riffs. Wet Death, their newest EP is out now.
07:
Don Broco – True Believers ft. Sam Carter
Hot off their last single featuring… Nickelback? Don Broco returns with another single from the recently released Nightmare Tripping. A high-energy track of the heaviest variety for the Don, it’s elevated by Architects vocalist Sam Carter’s unmistakable bite. The track thrives on dynamic shifts — melodic one moment, explosive the next — building into a chorus designed for crowd-sized catharsis.
08:
Drug Church – Pynch
Blunt, punchy, and packed with attitude, “Pynch” delivers its message with zero excess. Crunchy power chords and deadpan vocals create a track that feels both confrontational and melodic. Not that you’d expect anything less from Drug Church.
09:
Portrayal of Guilt – Human Terror
A heavy assault that doesn’t waste a second, “Human Terror” is pure sonic violence. Thick and filthy bass highlight a Korn-esque instrumental while harsh vocals hover over the track, bringing the feeling that it’s all collapsing in on itself. It’s oppressive and impossible to ignore. Did we mention Portrayal is a three-piece? POG’s new record, …Beginning of the End is out April 24th.
10:
Corrosion of Conformity – Gimme Some More
Southern sludge meets hard rock swagger here, with thick riffs and a groove that feels almost defiant. It’s a no-frills, high-volume track that leans on attitude over intricacy, and lands because of it. Hard to believe these punk-metal fusion guys have been going for over forty years but here we are… still going strong at that. Their new record, a killer one, Good God // Baad Man is out now.
Nearly 40 years into her career (38, to be precise, since her brilliant self-titled debut album), Melissa Etheridge is not only having more fun than ever, she is enjoying one of her biggest years yet.
She has a superb new record, Rise, including a duet with superstar Chris Stapleton, and a highly anticipated co-headlining tour with country icon Wynonna Judd. And the icing on the cake is she is nominated for the first time for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yes, 2026 is proving to be a very good year for Etheridge.
Most importantly though for Etheridge, she has found her sweet spot as both an artist and person. A wife and mother, Etheridge, who tells us, “I never thought I’d have a family,” is reveling in the balance of both worlds. The result is more fun making music as she explained during our hour-long chat.
Hit Parader: Congratulations on the Rock Hall nomination. Melissa Etheridge: Oh, that’s fun. Thank you.
HP: Who would be the dream person to induct you? And who would be your dream collaboration? Etheridge: You know what? Anybody who’s interested, really. But collaborations? It depends on who’s there. If Bruce is there, I would certainly always love to do something with Bruce. I’m hoping I can get Taylor Swift to come, and maybe rock with her. I’m hoping Sheryl Crow will be there. We could do something together and just whoever really wants to.
Photo: Candice Lawler
HP: I did interviews not long ago with both Chris Robinson from Black Crowes and Billy Corgan, who both now are around their late 50s, early 60s. We talked about the fact that when you’re in your 20s, there’s so much competition. But as you get older, they’re having so much fun with the sense of community that now exists because there’s nothing more to prove. And we had spoken in the past about the fact that when you were coming up, there was definitely that issue of pitting women against each other for radio for example. Etheridge: The truth back then was when I first went to radio with my first album, they would tell us, “Oh, I’m sorry, we’re already playing a woman.” And you’re like, “Oh, Jesus. So, there is really only one of us.” But it is so good not to be in that state anymore, to just be playing the music and not worrying that if I get it, somebody else won’t, or if they get it, I won’t, and there’s not enough. It’s really nice to just go, “Yeah, we’re just going to have some fun, and we’re all singing and playing, and we’ve all been blessed, and we’re great.”
HP: For all of you, this is just the natural state of life as you get older. Other things matter more. I love the fact that on your Instagram, you have it listed as “Mother, rockstar, activist.” as you get older, you realize it matters, but it doesn’t matter the way you thought it did when you were 23. Etheridge: Exactly, life is completely different from when I was 23. And that Instagram profile was actually written by my son years ago. I love that he put mother first. And I was like, “Oh, that means that he knows that I put that first.”
HP: It’s also nice to have that, for lack of a better term, separation of church and state, But I remember talking to Patti Smith, who’s as badass a woman as there is. And she was telling me that when she’s home, she’s doing laundry. That when she’s home, she’s mom. Etheridge: Yes, I make dinner. I’m not so good at cleaning. My wife does that a little better than I do. But life is number one, and your life is your family and your home. I never thought I would have a family. I didn’t think that was in the cards for me. And I had four children, and it’s surprising and very rewarding because I can walk off the stage when there’s always the end of the show. I can always go to my wife, I can always go to my children, I could always go home and that’s really good to know that I have all of that. It’s a lovely balance
HP: I’m sure it also makes music a lot more fun for you. Etheridge: Much more fun absolutely and now that my children are older, I don’t have as much separation fear like, “Oh. I’m not there for them.” None of my children have ever said that I’m not around enough, ever.
HP: So, when you’re making Rise, which is a wonderful album, is it so much less pressure internally? Etheridge: Definitely making this record was so much less stressful. There’s not that [pressure], “Oh, it’s got to have a hit. Where’s the hit? Where’s the rock radio thing?” I don’t think about that anymore. I just think, “Is this the best way to express this emotion that I’m thinking and feeling? Is this the best way to bring that about? Oh, how can I make this even more delicious?” And it was just amazing. Because I recorded here in L.A., I was home for dinner every night, and that was really fun, too.
HP: I’ve talked about this with so many people over the years. Cooking is so much like music in that once you get comfortable with it, there’s a creative freedom to it. You play with it and you’re improvising. Of course, when you start off, you’re following the recipes and then you get more comfortable and you go from following the recipe to feeling like John Coltrane. Etheridge: Exactly, that’s what I’ve done with my chicken recipes. I looked at them and I followed them and then I put a little bit more of this, a little bit more of that. Now I’m just improvising. I’m throwing all kinds of stuff in. That’s what life’s about – creating. I create in the garden, on the road, in the kitchen. I create wherever I go. That’s what it’s about – creating, building and moving forward.
HP: Then, as you get more successful, you get to create with different people and learn from them as well, like Chris Stapleton. I remember seeing a few years ago at a concert, blew me away. Even though he is considered “country,” I said, it’s exactly like seeing Neil Young in the 70s. Etheridge: Yeah, I think the genre labels are all messed up. I think we need to shuffle them up and start over again because you can’t pigeonhole people anymore. I was always very hard to put into a genre and so I just said rock and roll. But many people have said folk rock, country rock, midwestern rock, singer/songwriter. Nowadays there’s americana, country and outlaw country and they all sound like rock and roll to me, but okay.
Photo: Candice Lawler
HP: Talk about working with different people this time around. I’ve followed your career since the beginning and it’s very rare for you to do a duet? And I use the term duet because it makes me think back to like Marvin [Gaye] and Tammi [Terrell]. Etheridge: Yeah, that’s what I wanted. I didn’t want to throw some guy on my song and he’s singing harmony, and you can’t hear it. We went in and I wanted to write a song with him. I wanted him to feel like he was part of the song so that we could sing it together. And that’s the way it was written. We wrote it that way with the verses and the chorus and I love it. I love his voice and my voice together. There are times I can’t even tell whose is whose. I’m not a duet-y kind of artist. I haven’t done many. The ones that I have done, I’ve enjoyed with Bruce, with the few people that I’ve been able to collaborate with like that. But I have not done many at all. So, this was a big step for me, and I just love it. I’m really happy with it.
HP: You can know someone’s really cool, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to have chemistry with them. So how did you know Chris was the right person? Etheridge: I just would listen. I didn’t know him, so I would listen to his music, and his writing spoke to me. But his voice, his understanding of blues, of gospel, of all that. We came from that same well. And I’d heard enough nice things about him that I felt confident that we could probably do something. I at least wanted to try.
HP: As you say, you haven’t done many. But the older you get, the more you loosen up. You want to try different things. One of my favorite quotes from Bruce is talking about the biopic. They asked him why he did the movie now. He goes, because I’m old. I don’t give a fuck anymore. Etheridge: I can understand. I’m very close to there. We’re so fortunate now we have audiences that will come see and people that are interested in our new music. But we don’t kill ourselves over it anymore and for that I’m very glad.
Photo: Candice Lawler
HP:As you continue to expand these new horizons, who else would you love to do duets with? Etheridge: Maybe because I was talking about him, I think of Don Henley. I feel like that would be like a really good one. I wonder how he’s doing. I haven’t talked to him forever, but Don Henley would be great. Steven Tyler was always someone that I would always say when people asked me, and I still haven’t been able to do anything, but there’s a possibility I will. I always wanted to work with Neil Diamond. He lost his voice, and I seem to be calling these artists up right as they’re unable to sing anymore. Glenn Campbell, I reached out to him right before he died actually. I would love to sing with Adele. What a great voice. Pretty much anybody who really wants to jump in and do a good song, I would be into it.
HP:I love the opening to “If You Ever Leave Me” because it feels so autobiographical and who knows if it actually was or not. Is it just fun to look back at this point? Etheridge: Oh, it’s fun. I loved everything I did. And I wouldn’t want to go back and do it because that’s just crazy, but, yeah, it was fun. I actually wrote that song as a joke to my wife. I was laughing and I said, “Honey, I wrote you a song.” And I couldn’t stop laughing. She’s like, “I’m not sure I want to hear this.” Then I sang the first line, “Rips in my shirt, spritz in my mullet.” And we just howled for a while. Then I ended up finishing it going, “I’m going to put this on the record because it’s just fun to play.”
HP:You look at the contrast of that with a song like “More Love,” which is such a beautiful song. They both come from the same place though of nostalgia and learning. Etheridge: Yeah, I like the album to be well-rounded like that. It did make it hard to do the sequence of the album, what was going to come before and after some songs, because you couldn’t go from a really sad to a funny song. So, I had to really work on that.
HP:We haven’t talked about the tour with Wynonna, who’s amazing. How much fun is it, going back to the idea of camaraderie, to be out on the road with someone who’s in a similar place, who’s a great artist, and someone you respect? Etheridge: I love that in the last handful of years people are finally going, “Oh, it might be good to have two women tour together. Maybe they could sell tickets.” I would have the hardest time before. Sheryl and I used to try to do it, and it was just hard to have people think that two women together on a bill would work. This is the first time I’ve toured with Y, and I’m really looking forward to it because there’s a crossover in that country rock area, and yet our fans are deep on both sides.
Rora Wilde feels like the lead character in a Netflix series. A “singer/songwriter/princess” according to her Instagram profile, Wilde was born and raised in a small town in Texas, a self-proclaimed “country bumpkin” who moved to L.A. to become a fierce, completely lovable and ferociously talented R&B singer. Hell, even the title writes itself – “From Country Bumpkin to Vixen.” I’d watch the hell out of that. Maybe Wilde, who released her empowering debut album, Vixen, late last year, feels like she is starring in the movie of her life because she has been preparing for this her whole life.
“I felt very much like somebody who always wanted to be on stage. I grew up acting, writing little skits, writing songs, making music videos that were not even being filmed, just pretending we were making a music video,” she says. “I was always in la-la land creating a world where I’m on the TV that I that throw on every morning at six a.m. and VH1 and MTV is showing all these music videos. In my mind I always was in those worlds and I just so badly wanted to be somebody who did that.”
When you are lucky enough to sit down with Wilde, as I did, you find that idealistic, adorable dreamer is still very much in there, even though as one would imagine, the transformation from awkward country bumpkin to gorgeous aspiring R&B diva has many bumps and bruises along the way.
“Maybe parts of myself I over sexualized. I started writing with people and producers that pushed me in a more sexual way and I was like, ‘Oh, okay, let me just play that part.’ I have a background in acting, I can do that, but it wasn’t authentic to me. I didn’t know what it meant. I didn’t know how to hold my own in that world because it’s something I never associated myself with. I associated myself with cello practice, rehearsal, playing the coffee shop and playing scales and singing,” she says. “And that’s what I knew. I didn’t know anything about dressing up, I didn’t put on makeup till I was like 24 years old.”
What type of series would Wilde’s story be, though if there wasn’t a triumphant comeback for our heroine? Of course there is the hero moment. That moment is Vixen.
“Vixen is my very pop R&B forward therapy session,” she says.
More importantly though, it’s where our fearless protagonist learns how to turn those youthful lessons into wisdom and experience.
“After crashing and facing a lot of consequences honestly from over sexualizing myself and letting certain collaborators do so I found my way from innocent baby to my own world and my own confidence and femininity, very much She-Wolf energy vibes,” she says. “I think every woman has a vixen inside of her and I wanted the album to be a playlist for confidence, accountability, sexy fun, girly pop and all that stuff. So, it was just really about finding my own confidence.”
Like any elite protagonist, Wilde is a richly drawn lead with complex and unexpected little eccentricities. My favorite of those is that mixed in with her deep admiration for acts like Erykah Badu, Kehlani and Lady Gaga is a mild obsession with the songs of Bob Dylan, who she even does a so-so but charming impression of.
“He is the storyteller of all storytellers. I’m obsessed, I just want to freak out and watch ‘Desolation Row and I even want to hear the JFK song [‘Murder Most Foul’], all of it, do it. He probably doesn’t even remember the whole thing. So, I’m going to give him a music stand with the lyrics. I love it. And whatever he’s going to do that night, the hit or the miss, I want to be front row. I will just be bawling,” she says excitedly at the prospect of seeing the Bard live this summer for the first time.
For Wilde, the idea of spinning a yarn, bringing people into the world she is crafting, is what unites the likes of Dylan and Badu, her dream artist to open for.
“I want to learn from her storytelling and her power on stage,” she says of Badu. “I don’t know how many times I watched or will continue to watch her live performance of ‘Tyrone.’ She was not only singing beautifully, it was stand-up comedy at the same time. She had everybody laughing and cheering, she had everybody right fucking there. I’d want to experience that live and just learn from it too.”
Because for Wilde, while she has that stunning and forceful R&B-tinged voice and her songs would feel right at home late at night in a dimly lit lounge or next to Sade, Barry White and Olivia Dean on your playlist, she is still, at heart, a storyteller herself.
“I think a lot of what I do live is storytelling. I want everybody to understand the songs that I’ve written in a way that they come to life in front of them and make them feel like I’m telling them the story in line for the bathroom. I want it to feel that way rather than it be this performance like a recital. I want it to feel like a story.”
Vixen is very much telling a story. Though not a traditional concept album like say The Who’s Tommy or Pink Floyd The Wall, Wilde programmed it to be an auto-biographical work, like a novel, or, well, movie/series.
“It’s very much chronological too, from beginning to end. So much of my confidence goes in a very specific direction. At the beginning I’m the very innocent baby girl who is over sexualized in ‘KISS,’ ‘After Party’ and all those very poppy records, ‘Girls Love the Beach.’ Then after ‘CTRL’ I get into this accountability and find my self-respect moment in ‘sober dead drunk or alive,’ ‘Say It’ and ‘Driveway.’ Then I end with ‘Sex, Drugs & Rock n Roll’ because that’s me owning all the parts of myself.”
Like any great movie or series there is that epiphany moment when the John Williams or Ennio Morricone score rises triumphantly and the audience, totally invested in the hero’s journey, shares that realization with them. For Wilde that epiphany is both a profound and moving one.
“I am still that awkward girl. I am still that nerdy kid, still first chair in cello, in orchestra and symphony,” she says. “I’m still there, but I’m also tapping into these new parts of myself. That’s why I feel like I’m not really changing. I’m just expanding my color palette because I feel like so often, we limit ourselves in our identities. That’s really another aspect of what Vixen is about, you don’t have to be one thing.”
If you were to stumble upon a rare copy of the Even Dozen Jug Band’s sole and self-titled album on CD, you’d find within the liner notes a revelation offensive to anyone familiar with Maria Muldaur’s work: that producer Paul Rothchild (The Doors, Janis Joplin) insisted she remain a backing vocalist, believing her voice “didn’t record well.”
I wonder now if Rothchild has eaten his helping of crow – because if Maria Muldaur’s voice doesn’t record well, whose would? Like many, I first heard Maria’s voice by way of her 1974 superhit, “Midnight at the Oasis”, and my first reaction was one of great envy. I trained as a singer myself, and I know that what Maria Muldaur brings to the table can’t be taught. I don’t mean to suggest that her talent was uncultivated, quite the opposite – listening to a Maria Muldaur record is a bit like watching an Olympic gymnastics performance: so many magnificent flips, glides, and twirls it could make you sick just witnessing it. But what her voice is, what lies beneath those years of practice and performance, is something superhuman entirely – that twangy, full-bodied tone is something you simply can’t learn, it’s something you’re born with. Maria was born with it.
In the sixty-odd years since the making of that record, her backing credits alone are noteworthy: you can find her on tracks with the Jerry Garcia Band, the Doobie Brothers, and Linda Ronstadt (she’s that voice which makes the haunting harmony possible on “Heart Like a Wheel”). Bob Dylan and Carly Simon were fans and friends during her ascent; Joe Boyd and Amos Garrett were frequent collaborators of hers. As for her own ventures, she’s released nearly fifty albums since 1969, including a two-album run with her onetime husband Geoff Muldaur.
Reading interviews new and old with Muldaur, I get the sense that she – and her voice – were critically underestimated all too often, usually because whomever was writing was distracted by her face. Find any account of Maria as a young woman, and it’s usually qualified by the phrase “I had a massive crush on her”; read any report of her live shows by a male journalist, and you’ll likely read more about her legs than her pipes. One NME writer dubbed it the “Muldaur effect”: Maria’s music was always second to her sex appeal.
Maria is, indeed, arrestingly beautiful. (If Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ heyday had coincided with today’s biopic craze, she could have easily depicted her.) She stands out in photographs, especially the one blessing the cover of Joe Boyd’s memoir White Bicycles (if you haven’t a copy, look it up – your eye will draw itself to the young girl lost in concentration). Promotional material for her early work has all the marks of a label eager to transform a singer into a sex symbol: one such photo features her full-haired and half-dressed in a field, a dark-haired homegrown beauty with a sultry expression. One gets the sense, looking at her 1974 Rolling Stone cover, that her it factor oozed from her pores, too.
But it’s always a shame when a talented woman is reduced to a pretty face, and doubly so when that woman’s oeuvre holds the key to the genesis of a genre. Maria Muldaur was Americana before Americana had a name; she combined the blossoming traditions of early R&B and blues music with a roaring country-queen sensibility. Her early track lists prove a dexterity across the then-stiffer dividing lines of genre – particularly her first record, which reels you in with a rollicking version of “Any Old Time” and sends you home with “Mad Mad Me”, a gentle, dark ballad fit with a string arrangement. Her second record, Waitress in a Donut Shop, achieves a similar effect as it attempts to balance its even-tempered, hymnal tunes among the funky and full-throated ones. Experimentation became a trademark of her style – later, her 1979 record Open Your Eyes featured a few bona-fide rock’n’roll tracks, which she performs as masterfully as she does any bluegrass tune. Jazz and gospel were no strangers to her, either, particularly after the turn of the century.
By her own account, Muldaur’s mélange of music styles is the natural product of her environment. She grew up in Greenwich Village in the fifties, where she was fed a steady diet of country and bluegrass music; she supplemented her musical knowledge by tuning into R&B stations, where she came to revere pioneers of popular music like Muddy Waters and Ruth Brown. Her jug band tenure – first with the Even Dozen, later with Jim Kweskin’s band – came by accident: she was plucked from a crowd of wannabe chanteurs in Washington Square Park by blues legend Victoria Spivey, who happened to be advising a group of young male musicians across the park – Spivey suggested that they needed a woman’s touch and laid her eyes upon Maria. (Last year, Muldaur released an album of Spivey’s songs entitled One Hour Mama.)
In 2021, Muldaur told Jazz Weekly that it was Spivey who first encouraged her to exercise her sex appeal on stage: “‘It ain’t enough to go up there and sound good; you’ve got to look good, too’’’. Those were two things that came naturally to Maria and defined the spirit of her early performances. But as Muldaur grew into her solo career, she eventually took her sex appeal off center stage. In 1978, she told a Rolling Stone reporter asking about her depiction as a sex object that she “didn’t mean for this to happen” – and her track lists throughout the years reflected that sentiment, swapping balmy ballads for theatrical, gospel-inspired tracks.
That was quite a drastic change from Maria’s foundational identity, particularly in a market where mainstream sex appeal can make all the difference for a solo female artist. Perhaps it was really this shift – coupled with a move away from the Hollywood bustle to a secluded life on the shore of the Bay Area, where she raised her daughter, Jenni – which allowed Maria Muldaur to fall out of the limelight. But Maria never lost her magic: as she aged, so too did her voice mature, and later recordings of her evidence years of dedication to her craft.
I’ve been searching for a word to describe that magic since I first heard Maria’s voice, something other than it; it turns out that Linda Ronstadt did the work for me. In the 1974 book Rock’n Roll Woman, she tells Katherine Orloff that Maria Muldaur was her favorite woman in music:
She’s the only girl I can think of, who doesn’t sacrifice an ounce of femininity for what she does…Maria does in fact succeed in a man’s world on a man’s terms without… becoming masculine in any way. She’s always feminine, and it doesn’t mean that she has to be receptive and passive and do what she’s told, and always come on like a sexpot or anything like that…I think that’s the ideal of being an equal in this world.
Ronstadt has it exactly right. Maria’s magic wasn’t in her sex appeal, not quite – it was in her femininity. It was that ultra-feminine quality of hers that had her ushered into the Even Dozen by Victoria Spivey, and it’s carried her to the top of the charts and beyond. A little bit of YouTube digging will turn up performances of Maria’s over the years: her and Dr. John promoting “Three Dollar Bill” on the Midnight Special in 1974 are particularly fun to watch. You can find recent performances, too – she still performs in the Bay Area today. There’s one such video from 2012, where she sings her version of “I’m a Woman”. When you watch her command the stage the same way she did forty years prior, you can still see it. I realize, watching her dance, that Maria Muldaur’s magic really can be that simple: that voice is all woman.
Ask one hundred artists their current favorite song or album they created and at least 95, and maybe more, will answer either the last one or the next one. Artists, by nature, detest looking back. That is a universal rule among musicians, which makes the latest record by iconic British band Squeeze, the beloved duo of Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford, such an anomaly.
When every other artist is focused squarely on the future, the pair went back to their roots for the superb new album Trixies. A concept album about a fictional club, the songs date back to 1974. The whole album was written then, but not recorded until more than 50 years later.
We spoke, in separate interviews, with both partners of one of the most acclaimed songwriting duos in British music, about revisiting the music half a century later, about their summer tour, future plans and more.
Photo: Dean Chalkley
Hit Parader: Were there songs on this record that surprised you at how true and relevant they still are 50 years later? Glenn Tillbrook: Going back and examining the songs, the thing is, we always thought they were good. But I think the other thing about them is that they really sound like the time that they were written. They are so much a product of what our songwriting was at that time, which was just absorbing everything we were listening to and instantly regurgitating it back out again. It’s that process where it just happens by osmosis. You listen to all this great music. And what we did was to turn up versions of music that we liked.
HP: But, what’s so interesting about it is, for example, a song like “Don’t Go Out in the Dark” feels like it was written for these times. It’s amazing that a song written for a fictional club 50 years ago, because literally it’s a song that you would give to your kids today. Tilbrook: Yeah, I can’t explain that. It works so well now, and it sounds contemporary, and yet it sounds like 1974 to me.
HP: When you look at these songs so many years later, can you see how these songs written at the beginning of your career influenced later songs you wrote? Tilbrook: Can I just return to “Don’t Go Out in the Dark”? Because honestly, that’s the only song on Trixies that I sort of rewrote. And here’s why. Because the song, the vocal tune, we recorded it. I’ve got a guitar here. I’m just going to play it to you how it was. It was a little bit cliche, it’s like that’s all it is for the verse. So, we recorded it, and then the chorus. That’s all it was. I had the vocal tune, and I just thought, “I’m going to put different chords behind the vocals, just fool around with it,” and it sounded much nicer to make it. And then with the chorus opening out, the basic structure still was there, but I feel like on that song, we had a good producer who said, “Why don’t you try just a few different chords and it’ll really bring the song out?” all the other songs, we didn’t have to do that too. But it was such a pivotal moment to recognize, “OK, we can’t be absolute, this is exactly how it was. Because with that song, the tune is the same, but the chords are different.”
HP: I talk about this with people all the time. You write a song when you’re 20, and, of course, 50 years later, it’s a different song because you’ve had a whole life, and you bring associations to it. So, you were willing to put that new experience into it? Tilbrook: Yes, totally. But really, it’s amazing that out of the 13 songs, that was the only one that really needed help. The thing about all of Trixies, we had Owen Biddle working on production, and I did some of that too. But we had all that experience to bring to the songs that we wrote, but we didn’t change the songs. Knowing how to arrange the instrumentation is where all the experience comes in.
HP:You guys just announced a killer show at the Hollywood Bowl here in LA. Are you guys excited to finally get to do Trixies live 50 years later? Tilbrook: It’s so exciting to do that because we’re going to start rehearsing next week and trying to work out doing it all as one thing. We’ve never thought about doing that with any record before, but if any record deserves it, I think it’s this one. I’m a little nervous about what people will think, but I think we’ve got to, we’re going to at least try it out and see if it works and take it from there.
HP:Are there songs on this album you’re particularly excited to see how the audience responds to them live? Tilbrook: Yeah, totally. We’ve been doing “You Get the Feeling” live and we’ve also done “Hell on Earth.” I’m really interested to do “Why Don’t You?” Because that’s a song that there’s not very much to it, but it’s very compelling for some reason. I think it’s an earworm in the best possible way and I think that’s the most 60s influenced pop plus a little bit of Sparks and I was obsessed with tangos at the time. The last tango song I wrote before abandoning that was “Take Me I’m Yours,” so that was hanging around for a few years.
HP:Are there songs you’ve written over the years that you’ve been surprised by how the audience responds to them? Like I spoke Graham Nash about “Our House” and Daryl Hall about “Sara Smile” for a book I wrote, and we discussed how they were such simple personal songs written about one person each that became anthems because everyone craved the feeling you get from those songs. So, have you felt that? Tilbrook: That’s very complimentary. “Sara Smile,” for instance, is magic to me. The most charming, beguiling person you’ll ever meet is contained in that song. And what a mood to create. Graham Nash has been one of my biggest influences, the harmonies that I do. Half the time I imagine I’m Graham Nash and what would he do? All right, obvious question.
HP:What one Graham Nash song do you wish you had written and why? Tilbrook: “Sleep Song,” from Songs for Beginners. Just such a beautiful, simple song. And he plays with melody over essentially a very simple chord structure. I’m sure you’ve heard from people over the years that you have the same effect on people who have been such fans of your songwriting.
HP:Are there artists you have heard from who you were surprised were fans? Tilbrook: That’s a really easy question. I met Questlove, and he was obsessed with a song that we did for Argy Bargy called “What the Butler Saw.” And Questlove was obsessed with that song when he was a kid. And he said, “I’ve never heard a song like that.” I was so pleased that he liked it because I love that song. Not many people heard it because it was pushed off of Argy Bargy.
Photo: Dean Chalkley
HP:Are you still enjoying it as much as you ever did? Chris Difford: It’s a different kind of experience. When you’re young and you don’t have any fear and you’re in the back of a van touring around, you experience it from that angle. But when you’re older, I’m 72 this year, I’m taking it a little bit slower because I have to. And I have to respect that. My time here is limited in a way because my youth, if you like, has been and it isn’t here. When you’re young, you never think you’re going to reach 30. Then when you’re 30, you think you’re never going to reach 40. Then when you’re 72, you don’t know if you’re going to reach 80 or even 73. So, you’re aware of time a little more than you used to be.
HP:What’s the fruit down at the bottom that tastes good? Difford: The new album and having people like Owen Biddle produce it. That’s the fruit that I feel very grateful for.
HP:There’s always been an audience for you and here in LA you’re playing the Hollywood Bowl, a venue The Beatles and The Doors played in. Difford: Yeah, we played it before. I’m really looking forward to playing it, and I think it’s time that we play places like that. I think it’s about time that we came on to a bigger stage and performed Trixies and whatever else we’re going to do.
HP:Were you surprised by how well the record holds up? Difford: Yeah, of course I am. And I’m very grateful for it. I think it sounds amazing. Everybody that was involved in the record has done a great job, all the musicians. I think it’s exactly how I dreamt it might be.
HP:Is it how you dreamt it might be when you started revisiting it? Or is it how you dreamt it would be in 1974 when you started it? Difford: When we started rerecording it last year, really. In 1974 I had no idea what it would sound like and I’m extremely pleased that it sounds this good. But that’s because it’s been in very good hands. It’s a real steppingstone from the past into what might or might not be the future.
HP:Were there songs in particular that you were surprised that they felt, for lack of a better word, prophetic? Difford: I had no expectations of any of the songs and what they would end up being like. But when I sat in the room where they were being recorded with the band and every beat and every time we got to a new song, I was thrilled. It just felt fresh and new, even though it was 50 years old.
HP:When you guys started rerecording it, did it feel like this was the right time? Difford: It just did. We could put another album out full of songs, but there would just be another album full of songs. Everybody does that. Nobody does this. This is the first time I know of that a band has gone back to the beginning and created something as ambitious as this.
HP:When you do new material, it can put older songs into a new context. So, on this upcoming tour, are there songs that you’re really looking forward to revisiting? Difford: That’s all to be discovered. I don’t really know what it’s going to be like. If I go and see a band and they perform 43 minutes of a record I’ve never heard before, I’m going to have to really think about it. But I remember going to see Elton John perform Captain Fantastic. That was a whole album that he played from beginning to end. It was such a brilliant, brilliant album. We’ll go on stage, we’ll perform it, it will sound good. And I’m hoping that the audience will be able to embrace the risk that we are taking.
HP:You say it’s a theatre piece. Since it is a whole concept, is it something you would ever want to see made into a theatrical piece or something else? Difford: Yeah, completely. That would be a passion of mine, without a doubt, to see it, to hear it on stage as a play. I could retire just seeing that.
Squeeze’s new record Trixies is available everywhere through BMG and Love Records here.
The GRAMMY-nominated electropop duo took their DJ set to higher ground during an exclusive outdoor concert at L.A.’s Franklin Canyon Park, in partnership with activewear brand Beyond Yoga.
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 21: (L-R) Tucker Halpern and Sophie Hawley-Weld of SOFI TUKKER pose as Beyond Yoga celebrates the Spring Equinox with “Seek Beyond: Open Air” featuring SOFI TUKKER at Franklin Canyon Park on March 21, 2026 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Beyond Yoga)
Few things give such a rush as the hours before and at the concert: last minute outfit and makeup touches, having everything perfectly organized in your size-abiding bag and finally pulling up to the state-of-the-art venue where the lights flash, the sound is amplified and you’re surrounded by faces of fans who’ve waited months — even years — for this fleeting instant. But after experiencing an afternoon set drenched in the heat of the day from SOFI TUKKER at a woodsy, tree-shaded amphitheater in Franklin Canyon Park, perhaps the euphoric feeling can be experienced just as heavily from being fully immersed in nature, sublime sound and not fussing over the small things.
In an exclusive, yet very fitting partnership, the GRAMMY-nominated duo joined forces with active lifestyle clothing brand Beyond Yoga to spearhead the company’s multi-year initiative: Seek Beyond. Described as championing “growth, joy, and progress over perfection,” there was a fluidity and creativity to the event that allowed everyone to let their guard down and, by all means, go with the flow.
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 21: (L-R) Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern of SOFI TUKKER pose as Beyond Yoga celebrates the Spring Equinox with “Seek Beyond: Open Air” featuring SOFI TUKKER at Franklin Canyon Park on March 21, 2026 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Beyond Yoga)
Prior to Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern tackling the bright yellow Beyond Yoga-branded stage with an entire hour-long set chock-full of the hits that put them on the map, guests were first prompted to meet at a specific point in the park. Brand reps then encouraged “hikers” to follow the music, weaving past the lake, a turtle pond, and an installation of gold-tinged disco balls hanging from the trees before ending up at the activation tucked off the main road, where everyone was treated to a much-needed break.
With hearts pumping before the New York City-based duo even began their set, it was the perfect intermission, where Joe & The Juice replaced electrolytes lost along the trail, and if you were feeling fanatic, you’d be able to purchase special edition Seek Beyond merch from the Beyond Yoga truck out front. Not long after, the crowd migrated toward the amphitheater, slanting Colosseum-style toward the stage with split-log seating and leaning unapologetically into the word “campy.”
The opening DJ set already had the sea of influencers in neon yoga wear and diehard fans of SOFI TUKKER, who were among the lucky few to clear the over 1,000-person waitlist, in high spirits — despite the unseasonable heat of a Los Angeles spring day. It wasn’t long until we caught a glimpse of the unmistakable blonde hair and brunette beard of Halpern and the slicked-back ponytail of Hawley-Weld bobbing off to the side, and a low roar rippled throughout the audience.
With SOFI TUKKER exploding onto the stage — Sophie herself donning a white, monochromatic linen set from Beyond Yoga’s Spring 2026 collection — the pair got the crowd pumping with their 2024 hit, “Throw Some Ass,” which was physically represented by two incredibly talented backup dancers who moved with an ease that felt instinctive.
There was no better time to be wearing breathable, flexible activewear, as all four choreographically maneuvered the platform, including the very pregnant Malia, who was actually dancing for a party of two. If you looked out into the crowd, there wasn’t a still body in sight as SOFI TUKKER ignited with “Drinkee” off The Austin 100: A SXSW 2016 Mix album and their bouncy hit single “Pick Up The Phone.”
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 21: SOFI TUKKER perform onstage as Beyond Yoga celebrates the Spring Equinox with “Seek Beyond: Open Air” featuring SOFI TUKKER at Franklin Canyon Park on March 21, 2026 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Beyond Yoga)
It’s a rare thing to say that an event containing such different personalities actually made for a great crowd, but the fact made it even better. It was simply sun-soaked individuals, high off an 85-degree day and the fact that it was still only 3 p.m. on a Saturday, grooving alongside Halpern, who, more than once, jumped into the throng, while Hawley-Weld shredded on her blindingly white Flying V electric guitar — allowing for their set to be not just audibly intriguing, but visually compelling on top of it.
As the hour crept closer to its end, the vast majority stayed firmly put on the dirt path below the platform — awaiting the final arrival of the duo’s mass-performing 2019 single, “Purple Hat.” When the first verse erupted from the speakers, “Purple hat/Cheetah print/Dancing on the people,” the momentum picked up, with everyone collectively shouting the lyrics and yet another visit from Halpern into the crowd — a reminder that the day wasn’t just about electro-pop and yoga pants, but community and unabashed, unfiltered joy.
And in these uncertain times, that seems to have become rarer and rarer. Finding yourself outdoors, in the sunlight, under the tree tops, kicking up dirt as you dance with faces you may not even recognize reminds us that even a momentary escape can offer some much-needed reprieve to the woes that haunt us all. We have both Beyond Yoga and SOFI TUKKER to thank for taking us outside — when sometimes, it only seems right to stay in.
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 21: (L-R) Katie Marylander, Katie Babineau, Sophie Hawley-Weld, Nancy Green, Tucker Halpern, and Lexi Clayburn pose as Beyond Yoga celebrates the Spring Equinox with “Seek Beyond: Open Air” featuring SOFI TUKKER at Franklin Canyon Park on March 21, 2026 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Beyond Yoga)
