TOUR TIDBITS: ALDEAN/BROOKS & DUNN, BILLY STRINGS

COUNTRY COOKIN': Boston's Fenway Park will provide an unlikely backdrop for two of the biggest names in country music when WME's Jason Aldean and Brooks & Dunn headline the iconic field on 5/30.

Nate Smith and RaeLynn are also on the bill for the gig, tickets for which go on sale 1/10.

Aldean has performed at Fenway four times in the past decade but not since 2016. "Getting to play [Fenway] with some of my musical heroes is going to be one for the ages," he said.

Also on the country tip, rising star Bailey Zimmerman's Live Nation-promoted New to Country trek will hit 16 U.S. amphitheaters, beginning 6/6 in Indianapolis. The artist has scored four Top 10 Country hits since 2022.

JUST BEACHY: California's BeachLife Festival will welcome Lenny Kravitz, Sublime, Alanis Morissette, Train, O.A.R., Pretenders, Cake, Mt. Joy, Jackson Browne and The Beach Boys for its sixth edition, which is set for 5/2-4 on the Redondo Beach waterfront.

In a neat twist, the event will also feature solo sets from members of well-known California acts such as Descendents' Milo Aukerman, Pennywise's Jim Lindberg, The Bangles' Susanna Hoffs and Bad Religion's Greg Graffin.

STRING(S) THEORY: Having already sold out a six-night February run at ExploreAsheville.com Arena in, where else, Asheville, North Carolina, Billy Strings has tacked 19 additional dates onto his 2025 calendar.

The Crossover Touring-booked bluegrass wunderkind will rev back up with a 4/3-5 run in St. Augustine, Florida, and now has dates on tap through 6/20-21 in Lexington, Kentucky. He closed out 2024 with a 36-song New Year's Eve gig in New Orleans featuring covers of favorites by Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Phish and (checks notes) George Gershwin.

BREAKFAST FOR DINNER: Japanese Breakfast, the indie-darling project of Michelle Zauner, will embark on a substantial Live Nation-repped tour this spring in support of its fourth album, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) (Dead Oceans).

The Ground Control-booked trek starts 4/23 in Austin, following appearances at Coachella the two weekends prior. Zauner and company will hit Europe in June and July, including a 7/3 play at London's O2 Academy Brixton and an appearance at the BBK Live festival, which transpires 7/10-12 in in Bilbao, Spain. We're hoping the "significant Santa Ana wind event" currently buffeting L.A. will blow us round Bilbao way.

Billy Strings, Japanese Breakfast