Is this the Summer of Rock? How tours from Creed, Def Leppard, others are igniting fans

They claimed the Summer of Love in 1967.

2024 is primed to be the Summer of Rock.

Not because rock songs are topping music charts or surging on streamers. They're not. It's because titans of the genre have decided to unleash themselves on the road, giving fans a gluttony of opportunity to revel, whether they prefer hard rock, metal, alternative or punk.

Just look at who is on tour. There are the guitar slingers in Def Leppard, Green Day and Journey; the resurgent Nickelback; reunions of Jane’s Addiction and Blink-182; a 25-year anniversary for Slipknot; adrenalized hits from Avril Lavigne and Alanis Morissette; and, perhaps most surprisingly, the monster return of Creed, who will embark on the biggest tour of their career July 17. Even those sultans of stadium shows, the Rolling Stones, continue their age-defying lap around the country through July.

As Neil Young once sang, “Rock ‘n’ roll can never die.”

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This summer, it’s about to thrive.

When it comes to rock fandom, there's 'a fresh new energy,' says Creed frontman

Many of the rockers on tour this summer are pulling in fans from two buckets: those who listened during their heyday (people who remember when you went to MTV to watch music videos) and those who are discovering the greats for the first time (young music fans expanding their musical horizons).

“There is this fresh new energy,” Creed frontman Scott Stapp says of a rock revival. “My 17-year-old is tapping into Nirvana and Soundgarden and old Metallica and she’s hearing it for the first time. We’ve carried that theme in how we’ve designed this tour, as though there was never time off. This is the 2024 version of what we did in 2002.”

Creed is leading one of the most anticipated tours of the summer. Their Summer of ’99 trek is sold out, according to Live Nation, and will bring openers 3 Doors Down and Finger Eleven, with a rotation of Daughtry, Switchfoot, Tonic and Big Wreck joining certain dates.

It’s the first time in more than a decade that Stapp, guitarist Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips have toured, a scenario that Stapp likens to “that friend you have that you don’t talk to every day, but you pick up where you left off. It feels right."

While many ticketholders likely lived during the Summer of '99 referenced in their tour name, a slice of them are newer fans driven by the use of Creed's songs in viral TikTok videos, the Texas Rangers use of "Higher" in its pre-game soundtrack during its World Series-winning run and even by Grammy-winning R&B/hip-hop artist SZA giving permission to think Creed is cool, saying "I will be a Creed fan forever" in her 2023 “SZA: Variety’s Hitmaker of the Year” interview. Even Live Nation’s statistics show the key demographic of ticket buyers to the band’s tour at 25-34.

Even though Stapp, through a vibrant solo career, and Tremonti with the successful rock outfit Alter Bridge, have stayed visible, the revival of the band’s popularity has been revelatory.

“It’s not common,” Stapp admits, “unless you can remind me of someone with this resurgence after this amount of time.”

These rock 'n' rollers are 'clearly the real deal'

While there are fewer stadium tours in 2024, concert promoter Live Nation reports to USA TODAY that sales for shows in arenas, amphitheaters, theaters and clubs are up double digits year-over-year, with more than 100 million tickets sold so far.

“We have a more diverse set of artists on the road than ever before,” said Omar-Al Joulani, president of touring for Live Nation Concerts. “While many rock bands will be touring, there will also be a wide range of artists across various genres."

Indeed, if there is a through line to this season’s rock-heavy itinerary, it’s that while nostalgia inevitably seeps in, most of the bands filling amphitheaters and stadiums have never been too far from public consciousness, whether with new music or enduring affection for their hits.

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On June 13, perennial stadium-fillers Def Leppard released the stomper “Just Like 73” with guitar ace Tom Morello adding his signature wizardry. While the band, which dropped “Diamond Star Halos” with the crunchy single “Kick” in 2022, has no shortage of smashes to tear through onstage, the thought of merely trotting out classics is unappealing.

“It would be really lame to be out there as a nostalgia act or doing it for the money,” says Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen, who noted that “Just Like 73” will be on the new setlist alongside evergreen fist-pumpers "Pour Some Sugar On Me," "Photograph" and "Armageddon It." “We got into music because we wanted to be in a band, and for us, (playing live) is very easy because you still really want to do it.”

Def Leppard will share this summer’s stadium stretch – which kicks off July 6 – with Journey. The Steve Miller Band occupies a regular opening slot, while Cheap Trick and Heart will dot other dates with their melodic guitar rock.

Journey is never far from a spotlight, with “Faithfully” still landing on prom night playlists and, of course, the self-generating popularity of “Don’t Stop Believin’,” which will live on as long as new generations discover “The Sopranos.”

Though the band released the album “Freedom” in 2022, they plan to hit rewind/repeat on the vintage tape deck this tour.

Thanks to the “great chemistry” shared between not just the members of both chart-topping, guitar-forward bands but also their audiences, Schon is anticipating sold-out sing-a-longs across the nation this summer.

“Def Leppard had a lot of radio success at the same time we did, so history kind of puts us together,” says Journey guitarist and co-founder Neal Schon. “We first met them many years back when they were broke, but you immediately admire people in your same rock arena who are clearly the real deal.”

Is rock ‘n’ roll dead? Yes. No. Maybe? But enjoy it this summer

Most of the artists sweating for your entertainment this summer are close to, if not in, AARP territory – Lavigne is a relative youngster at 39 – and the debate continues about the current state of rock ‘n’ roll and who might maintain longevity to fill amphitheaters and stadiums in 20 years.

Mammoth WVH with Wolfgang Van Halen is the type of rock outfit carrying an old-fashioned torch as they open stadiums with Metallica, play club shows in between and will join Creed for a fall arena run.

Greta Van Fleet spans the globe this summer at a combination of festivals, theaters and arenas and Dorothy, fronted by singer Dorothy Martin (who duets with Stapp on his single “If These Walls Could Talk”) is the kind of power-lunged belter who makes you nearly blow a speaker.

Collen thinks that rock is more of an idea – “People love the idea of a rock star,” he says – and artists he considers rock icons, such as Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger and Jim Morrison, have no one in their shadows.

“You’re got getting new versions of that,” Collen says. “I think the image part of rock is dead.”

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Stapp, meanwhile, points to country music and the cross-pollination of rock and country, as a meaningful migration.

“In a weird way, the country music scene is reinvigorating rock,” he says.

The future of rock might be hazy, but for now, there are plenty of guitar amps ready to be turned to 11.

So for those who still want to rock, we salute you.