Muse, Green Day, Avenged Sevenfold and more for Norway’s Tons Of Rock festival 2025

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The first wave of artists have been announced for Norway’s 2025 Tons Of Rock festival, with MuseGreen Day and Avenged Sevenfold leading the line-up.

Taking place annually near the city centre of Oslo, next year’s instalment of the festival will take place between June 25 and June 28. Now, the first wave of artists booked to play have been announced, with four headliners confirmed to be playing at the site for the first time.

On the first day of the event (Wednesday June 25), British rock icons Muse will be closing out the night with a headline slot on the main stage. Earlier in the day, performances will be held by prog titans Dream Theater, as well as Electric Callboy, Powerwolf, Lorna Shore, Whitechapel and more.

The Thursday instalment (June 26) will see pop-punk trio Green Day perform as headliners, alongside slots from Sex Pistols – who have teamed up with Frank Carter as frontman – Weezer, Turbonero, Bleed From Within and Dead Poet Society.

MeshuggahDimmu BorgirPoppyExodus, Kaizers Orchestra and more will perform on the Friday (June 27), while the Saturday (28) will wrap up with some of the biggest names of the four-day stint.

American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold will close out the event as headliners for the final night – marking their first appearance at the Norway festival – and other acts on the night will include Machine Head, Emperor, Jinjer and thrash icons Megadeth.

 

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“We are extremely proud to present the legendary Muse at Tons of Rock 2025. It’s a dream band for us and an exclusive booking we know will bring joy to many. I saw them in Mexico last year and was blown away by the energy and show they delivered,” said organiser Jarle Kvåle in a new statement.

“We’ve been trying to get Avenged Sevenfold for many years, and it’s incredible they’re finally coming to us. To be able to announce 20 other huge bands at the same time, including the likes of Megadeth and Machine Head, makes this a historically strong lineup.”

Find the full list of artists confirmed in the announcement poster above, and visit here to buy tickets.

This is just one of the festival slots Green Day have lined-up already for 2025. As well as being among those rumoured for Glastonbury – alongside Sam FenderOlivia Rodrigo and Lady Gaga – Billie Joe Armstrong and co. were also announced as one of the three headliners locked in for Download Festival, alongside Sleep Token and KoRn.

Tre Cool and Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day perform live in 2024
Tré Cool and Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day perform live in 2024. CREDIT: Rich Polk/Penske Media via Getty Images

Avenged Sevenfold performed at the 2024 edition of Download as headliners earlier this summer, and guitarist Zacky Vengeance caught up with NME backstage to discuss milestone anniversaries for ‘City Of Evil’ and ‘Nightmare’. You can revisit the interview here.

As for Muse, the band’s Chris Wolstenholme made headlines last month when he launched a new band called Chromes and dropped two new singles.

Before then, frontman Matt Bellamy recorded a score for an Audible version of 1984, and shared behind-the-scenes images of the process. It was done for a new audio thriller based on George Orwell’s dystopian classic, which was shared on April 4 – exactly 40 years after the date of the protagonist’s first diary entry.

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Pharrell Williams denies dissing Taylor Swift’s Kamala Harris endorsement: “That’s some right-wing troll shit”

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Pharrell Williams has denied dissing Taylor Swift‘s Kamala Harris endorsement.

The rapper and producer addressed his previous comments that he doesn’t “do politics” and gets “annoyed sometimes” by celebrity endorsements. The interview was published just days after Taylor Swift announced her endorsement of Kamala Harris, who eventually lost the US Presidential election to Donald Trump.

In a new interview with GQ, Williams clarified his comments were not directed at Swift, saying: “They pit you against each other. I love Taylor. She knows that.”

Williams went on to say he didn’t even mention the singer in the original interview, adding: “I bought a ‘1989’ Taylor t-shirt online last year, and I was walking around here with it tucked into my jeans. I love her. I love people, bro.

“That was some right-wing troll shit,” he continued. “But I heard something the other day that made the most sense in the world: Right-wing, left-wing, all the same bird.”

Pharrell Williams on 'The Graham Norton Show'
Pharrell Williams on ‘The Graham Norton Show’. CREDIT: BBC/So Television/PA Media/Matt Crossick

In his original interview, Williams explained his reasons why he doesn’t “do politics”, saying: “I don’t do politics. In fact, I get annoyed sometimes when I see celebrities trying to tell you [who to vote for]. There are celebrities that I respect that have an opinion, but not all of them.

He continued: “I’m one of them people [who says], ‘What the heck? Shut up. Nobody asked you.’ When people get out there and get self-righteous and they roll up their sleeves and shit, and they are out there walking around with a placard: ‘Shut up!’ So, no, I would rather stay out of the way, and obviously, I’m going to vote how I’m going to vote. I care about my people and I care about the country, but I feel there’s a lot of work that needs to be done, and I’m really about the action.”

Meanwhile, Swift made a rare public endorsement for Kamala Harris, writing on Instagram: “I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.

“I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos,” she continued. “I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.”

She also addressed Donald Trump’s false claims that Swift supported his candidacy using fake AI images. Trump has claimed he had nothing to do with the images.

“It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation. It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.”

Swift finally urged fans to do their own research and reminded first-time voters to register.

In other news, Pharrell Williams has released his LEGO biopic, ‘Piece By Piece’, which NME rated four stars. Speaking to NME about the movie, he said the idea came to him after being told by his agent that he could create the biopic “in hiw own way”.

“I was like, ‘I want to do it in Lego’, and [his agent] was like, ‘Come on.’ I was like, ‘Yes, we can! He can always say no.’ We had the talk with Morgan and he said, ‘Actually. That’s a great idea. Let’s go!’”

He continued: “This is an amazing experience of history for me. I can’t tell you how humbled I am to have this masterful storyteller really make sense of my life. It has always been all over the place and made sense to me but not to most. He was able to do it in colour, vividly – brick by brick, piece by piece.”

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