will sugarland ever tour again

Sugarland Tour Dates 2024 & 2025

Sugarland tour dates 2024 info:.

Sugarland tour dates 2024 announced! Jennifer Nettles and Christian Bush created a vocal duo with absolutely unheard-of talent that can only be known as Sugarland . After a long hiatus of bringing up babies and testing the waters as solo artists, the pair have now teamed up with Big Machine Records and Little Big Town for a MAJOR comeback album and 2024 tour and fans could NOT be more excited!

“ We’re going on tour, guys! 2024! There’s going to be new music and new live shows ,” Nettles told fans during their first interview since the announcement of their return, joking that she could get some free tickets for Bobby Bones to give away to listeners.

Sugarland Tour 2024 | Events & Tickets

Sugarland biography, sugarland faq's.

• Is Sugarland still together? - Yes! The band took a hiatus to focus on other projects, but never had a real breakup. Instead they are planning a comeback album and tour in 2018!
• Who started Sugarland? - Sugarland was originally formed by Kristian Bush and Kristen Hall in 2002, with Jennifer Nettles joining on lead vocals in 2003. Kristen Hall left the group in 2005 just as they started achieving commercial success, leading to one of the biggest mysteries in country music. Wide Open Country goes into great detail on what happened behind the scenes.
• Who was Sugarland's song "Stay" about? - Sugarland’s “Stay” is the first of the duo’s chart-topping songs to solely be written by singer Jennifer Nettles. Although she has never lived the storyline of the song, she knew the subject of betrayal is something everyone could relate to, yet she wanted to tell the story from a different viewpoint. The song was written four years ago and inspired by Reba McEntire’s “Whoever’s in New England,” which was written from the perspective of a wife whose husband is cheating on her. Nettles knew countless songs written from that viewpoint but none from the other two people involved. She says most people don’t realize that even the person who is doing the cheating gets hurt as well. Read more...

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Sugarland Announces New Single, Tour with Little Big Town Ahead of 2024 CMT Music Awards Performance

by Clayton Edwards April 7, 2024, 7:04 pm

Tonight, Sugarland will come together for the first time since the duo’s 2018 tour. They’ll join longtime friends and fellow country hitmakers Little Big Town at the 2024 CMT Music Awards to debut a new song. Ahead of tonight’s awards show, the duo took to social media to make an important announcement. They’ll take the energy of their awards show performance on the road later this year.

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Sugarland made the announcement a couple of hours before the awards show kicked off. “Excited to be sharing the stage with our longtime friends Little Bit Town tonight on the CMT Awards as well as announcing our new song and tour together,” the duo wrote. The post included a photo containing the tour dates and the cover of their upcoming single, a reimagining of Phil Collins’ 1985 hit “Take Me Home.”

Excited to be sharing the stage with our longtime friends @littlebigtown tonight on the #CMTawards , as well as announcing our new song and tour together! Sign up for the tour pre-sale code: https://t.co/umuyXoLJjL Listen to “Take Me Home”: https://t.co/c2OFuHp1Mv pic.twitter.com/IoSj97WYra — Sugarland (@Sugarlandmusic) April 7, 2024

Sugarland and Little Big Town Prepare for Take Me Home Tour

The Take Me Home Tour will see Sugarland and Little Big Town sharing arena stages in 18 cities across the United States. The trek kicks off in Greenville, South Carolina on October 24. They’ll be on the road until mid-December when the tour comes to an end at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on December 13.

Tickets go on sale next Friday (April 12).

[Keep an Eye Out for Sugarland Tickets on StubHub]

Tour Dates:

Oct. 24  – Greenville, SC @ Bon Secours Wellness Arena Oct. 25 – Raleigh, NC @ PNC Arena Oct. 26 – Columbus, OH  @ Nationwide Arena Oct. 31 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden Nov. 1 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena Nov. 2 – Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center Nov. 7 – Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center Nov. 8 – Milwaukee, WI @ Fiserv Forum Nov. 9 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena Nov. 14 – Kansas City, MO @ T-Mobile Center Nov. 15 – Sioux Falls, SD  @ Denny Sanford PREMIER Center Nov. 16 – Moline, IL @ Vibrant Arena at The MARK Nov. 21 – Austin, TX @ Moody Center Nov. 22 – Fort Worth, TX  @ Dickies Arena Nov. 23 – Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center Dec. 11 – Biloxi, MS @ Mississippi Coast Coliseum Dec. 12 – Duluth, GA @ Gas South Arena Dec. 13 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena

Featured Image by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for CMT

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Sugarland's New Album Is 'Bigger' Than Ever

Country music duo Sugarland returned to the scene with 'Bigger', their first new album in seven years.

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Sugarland on their comeback and healing after tragic Indiana State Fair stage collapse

Sugarland went on hiatus five years ago.

When Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush’s Grammy-winning country band Sugarland went on hiatus over five years ago, they knew it wasn’t the end.

“It’s fascinating, people’s connection to drama and scandal, and wanting to say that it was a breakup. It was never that,” Nettles said in an interview for the ABC special, “ Country Music’s Biggest Stars : In the Spotlight with Robin Roberts." “We wanted to go fill our cups with new things, you know?”

During their time apart, Nettles gave birth to her first child, Magnus, who just started kindergarten this year.

“I wanted to make sure that I could be available and present for him. What a big transition. What a page turn, man,” Nettles said. “I think it was harder for me than it was for him...we’ve spent so much time together, and then now suddenly, he’s in school all day. And it’s like, he will be doing that for 13 years. What?”

(MORE: Sia teams up with students to make awe-inspiring dance video with anti-gun violence message)

Back together touring again, Sugarland has since released their new album titled, “Bigger,” and are back on tour. Although it had been a while since they shared a studio together, Nettles and Bush said they know they could count on their trust for each other creatively.

“Sometimes we have more trust for each other than we do ourselves,” Nettles said.

“We do,” added Bush.

“You know, those kinds of things where sometimes you can get in your own way, but if you have someone to bounce off of that you trust, that can really, I think, speed up the process,” said Nettles.

Their latest single, “Babe,” features Taylor Swift , who started out around the same time Bush and Nettles did and was a fan of Sugarland.

“We did a little independent EP called 'Premium Quality Tunes' that we put together,” Nettles said.

“I don’t think I even have one of those,” Bush said.

“I don’t think I do either. She has it and has kept it,” Nettles said.

Nettles said that when Swift heard Sugarland might be doing another tour and record, she reached out to offer them the song “Babe.” The music video for the song is nominated for Music Video of the Year at this year's CMA Awards, and Sugarland is also nominated for Vocal Duo of the Year.

Sugarland has come a long way since Aug. 13, 2011, the day the stage at their concert at the Indiana State Fair collapsed , killing seven people and injuring dozens.

“It’s all big to take in. Thankfully, we are in a place now where we can be human about it. At that time, we weren’t allowed to talk about it,” Nettles said. “That was very challenging because we weren’t able to be human about it for our own protection, just because of the nature of the legalities.”

The duo said making music and performing has been healing for both them and their fans.

“It feels so good to hug them and for them to stand in front of us and go, 'Look, we’re still here,'” Bush said.

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“You have to understand, this was something that we all experienced together. We had crew who were injured,” Nettles said. “The whole thing was quite traumatic, and even recently on this tour, we did an outside gig. And it was very rainy, and it was very, very windy. And I had basically a PTSD moment where I just like ... I grabbed [Bush’s] hand and just drew him over to the side and said, ‘I am like, freaking out right now, so I have to get this together.’”

In the investigation that followed the accident, Bush said much of the band’s gear, including their instruments that were smashed in the collapse, remained on the stage. Eventually, some of the remnants of the broken instruments were delivered to Bush’s home.

“I opened up the cardboard box that came to the front door, and I realized what it was after I had totally torn out the stuffing of whatever the protective stuff was, and I was like, ‘Oh.’ It just -- I couldn’t take it,” Bush recalled.

Bush said he had to explain to his kids what happened at the show, and that it was his daughter who helped him in his emotional moment after receiving the box of broken instruments.

“I just left the box there, and she, my daughter, is some sort of angel person. She pulled the stuff out, and there were these broken pieces. She’s like, ‘Look Dad, I can make something awesome out of this,’ and it was a big old peace sign on the floor,” Bush said. “I was like, ‘Of course they will save us. Our children will save us.’”

Nettles and Bush said they don’t know exactly what's next for Sugarland, and are also focused on other aspects of their careers and personal lives.

“There will always be Sugarland. I love it, you love it, the fans love it, so there will always be that. What’s specifically next is getting Magnus into school comfortably and sleeping. That’s specifically next,” Nettles said.

(MORE: Keith Urban on fatherhood: 'I love having girls')

“Yeah, I got to go home and start producing records, I think, until we decided to do this. I think I got another Lindsay Ell record to do. There’s just all sorts of things. I don’t know. We like making stuff. We’ll always make stuff,” said Bush.

Nettles and Bush said the thing that time apart has shown them is how much they’ve evolved.

“I didn’t think that her singing could be better, but it has gotten better,” Bush said.

“Being able to see how Kristian has evolved in terms of a writer and a producer and to get to experience the benefits of that as his partner on this record in what we wrote and how we wrote it was so rewarding for me, not only to experience, but also to get to see, and to know, ‘Yeah, this time apart was good for us in this way,’” Nettles said.

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Little Big Town and Sugarland Collaboration on CMT Awards Wasn’t a One-Off: LBT Members Talk Covering Phil Collins for Joint Single, Plus Fall Tour

By Chris Willman

Chris Willman

Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic

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For the group’s 25th anniversary, Little Big Town is pouring some sugar on it. Some Sugarland , actually, as the two country groups will be spending some quality time together later this year, in the wake of their joint performance Sunday night on the CMT Music Awards , where they hooked up to sing their newly arranged cover of Phil Collins ‘ 1985 smash “Take Me Home.”

The tour is produced by Live Nation and Sandbox Entertainment, and is billed as Little Big Town with special guest Sugarland, and support from the Castellows. Pre-sales for the Take Me Home Tour will take place throughout this week on the way to a general on-sale Friday at 10 a.m.

There’s a throwback element to the new single and tour, as well as Sunday’s CMTs appearance: The two groups toured together in the late 2000s, and they sang a cover of the Dream Academy’s “Life in a Northern Town” (then joined by Jake Owen as well) on the 2008 show that at the time went under the name of the CMT Flameworthy Awards.

Backstage at Austin’s Moody Center during CMT Awards rehearsals, the four members of Little Big Town sat down to discuss with Variety their feelings about reuniting with their old vocal-harmony pals.

The tour plan preceded choosing which song to do together, says Karen Fairchild. “When we were on the road together years ago, we would really learn songs in the afternoon and then sing ’em,” she recalls. “Like, if we were in Memphis, we’d do ‘Walking in Memphis.’ So it was just something fun that we did on the road. So when this tour was gonna be announced and we were gonna get to do a song, then it was like, what do we do? And this song was Kristian Bush’s (of Sugarland) idea. and then we decided that we should get in the studio, because it sounded so good, and make it our own.”

There’s a more personal, if slightly indirect, connection as well. “We should tell you: Akil Thompson that plays in the band — he’s on keys, but he plays everything — his dad is Chester Thompson. Well, Chester, created the drum part on this. There are so many followers of drummers of just his part on that, on YouTube. So that’s why there’s so many drums out there on the CMTs stage — because Hubert (Payne, the group’s drummer) is channeling his inner Chester Thompson… with Akil sitting next to him. Akil showed us a picture of himself standing side-stage at a Phil Collins concert, watching his dad play on this song, so it’s kind of a full-circle moment for him.”

There is plenty of full circling happening now with the Little Big Town/Sugarland reconnection, which couldn’t have happened that many times in other recent years, since the latter duo’s Jennifer Nettles and Bush have been pursuing solo activities more than band work for the most part.

Says Fairchild, “We used to hang out with them because we went to see them open up for Brooks and Dunn, and we played cards one night, and then we just became fast friends.” Although LBT has been in existence as a unit slightly longer, Sugarland broke big in country first, so she tells a story of Nettles and Bush being helpful as they struggled.

“We ran into them again at a festival, back in the day when we were broke and we didn’t have any gear. The guys were locked down on wired packs and we really wanted to invest in some wireless packs — ad this seems really silly now, but back then that was an important thing; we didn’t have any freedom to move around the stage. Sugarland had just had their first big No. 1 or something. And they bought us wireless packs — gave ’em to us and said, ‘Just pay the kindness forward.'”

Says Westbook, “They were so sweet, and I know they felt like they were investing in in our future and helping us out, because they know what that means.”

“And then they bought us wardrobe cases!” adds Fairchild. “And then we gifted those wardrobe cases to Old Dominion, but they kept our names on there, so the guys had Kimberly, Karen, Phillip and Jimi on their wardrobe cases. They just gave those cases away — I don’t know who they gave the old ones to — but we’re trying to just keep the tradition going.”

As for their collaborating now… four-part harmony is hard enough. Isn’t six-part harmony going to be tougher?

They laugh. There isn’t quite so much of that, in actuality, as usually someone is singing a lead vocal that doesn’t have to fit in with the background parts. “The great thing about that is, there’s so many like ad libs in this song,” Schlapman says. “The rest of us keep the harmonies going while the ad libs also go along, so that’s where the six voices come in really handy.” But, as CMT Awards viewers say, all six members of the two groups got in at least a little lead-vocal time as the song went on.

The concluding night of the tour at Nashville’s big arena will mark the first time Little Big Town has headlined in Music City since a multi-night residency at the Ryman in 2017.

“With COVID, we didn’t plan on staying away that long,” says Fairchild. “But touring in the last few years, we did play there with George Strait, but yeah, we have not headlined anything until this Bridgestone show coming up. And that’s gonna be the last night of the tour. So it’s gonna be a party.” Chimes in Schlapman: “Katy-bar the door.”

After the CMTs, Fairchild was trying to figure out how to stick around Austin long enough to get in some vintage clothes-shopping, as is her habit when visiting the city. “This is one of my favorite places to shop, and I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to do that because they have us pretty busy. The vintage shopping here is phenomenal. I could stay and watch the eclipse, I guess, and shop.”

It’s suggested that she could shop in the dark, during the blackout. “She brought a headlamp,” quips Westbrook.

“Spelunking?” says Fairchild. “No, shopping.”

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I grew up not far from Atlanta, Georgia, home to the music duo Sugarland and I have enjoyed their smooth country sound over the years. While I do miss the days, when they were a trio, I still love the sounds of Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush when they perform together. I have seen Sugarland perform live, quite a bit, got to show that home state pride, and they never disappoint!

I last saw them live at an outdoor venue and it was one of the best shows I had even seen. As usual Sugarland had the audience’s attention from start to finish, something that can be hard to do when the audience can move about the area. This night it was as if everyone was frozen in time as everyone was focused on Sugarland.

There was an amazing backdrop that allowed those in the distance to see what was happening on stage and while I ended up close to the stage the backdrop just added to my enjoyment as the performers seemed larger than life. I cannot wait to see Sugarland perform again and I can only hope it is soon as I love hearing “Stay” live, I think I will be the first in line for a ticket.

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Lindsey Ell opened the show. She was high energy and did great!

Frankie Ballard was up next. What a showman! He was so fun to watch. He made you smile. He really enjoys his job! He sounded great. He had the audience in the palm of his hand.

Sugarland! They did not disappoint! They were fabulous. They had you up and dancing and smiling the entire show. They sounded great! The stage was great. I cant say enough about what a great show this was.

AMAZING, been wanting to see them since my 13 year old grand baby used to go to sleep with their music at 6 weeks old, She came with her mother,grandmother and me to the show. It was my daughter's birthday and what a special moment when Jennifer sang Baby Girl! AWESOME!!

Amazing show! The energy was high and the music was fantastic! Jennifer was gorgeous in all her costumes and sounded fantastic!! We also enjoyed Christian performing a song from his solo album. He has a great sound!

It was a mother/daughter night n they did EXCELLENT!!! Can't wait to see them again...

They did a great come back and hope they put Little Big Town in their place!

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Sugarland tour dates and tickets 2024-2025 near you

Want to see Sugarland in concert? Find information on all of Sugarland’s upcoming concerts, tour dates and ticket information for 2024-2025.

Sugarland is not due to play near your location currently - but they are scheduled to play 18 concerts across 1 country in 2024-2025. View all concerts.

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About Jennifer Nettles

Jennifer Odessa Nettles (born September 12, 1974) is an American country music singer-songwriter and actress. She is known primarily for her role as lead vocalist of the duo Sugarland alongside Kristian Bush. Before Sugarland’s inception, she also fronted Atlanta-based bands called Soul Miner’s Daughter and Jennifer Nettles Band. She also charted as a duet partner on the country version of rock band Bon Jovi’s 2006 single “Who Says You Can’t Go Home”, a Number One hit on the Billboard country charts.

Discography

That Girl is the debut solo album by American country music artist Jennifer Nettles, lead vocalist of the country duo Sugarland. It was released on January 14, 2014, by Mercury... Read More

Sugarland’s New Album ‘Bigger’: Track-by-Track Guide

By Brittney McKenna

Brittney McKenna

For Sugarland fans, the wait for a follow-up to 2010’s The Incredible Machine has been a long one. For the duo itself, the time between their new album Bigger , out Friday, and the start of their hiatus in 2012, was filled with both personal and universal changes. That includes the aftermath of the 2011 Indiana State Fair stage collapse that killed seven, a handful of solo albums from both Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush, the dissolution of Bush’s marriage, and the contentious, sometimes scary turn American society has taken in recent years.

Bigger is Sugarland’s attempt to make sense of those intervening years, all while crafting an expanded version of their singular mix of country, pop and rock, which, in its infancy, made the duo sound particularly progressive among its peers. The arrangements on Bigger are grander, the vocals more theatrical, and the themes – which occasionally veer into the political – decidedly more topical. The album takes cues from current trends while adamantly retaining the spirit that made their songs like “Stay” such massive hits. In other words, it’s still a Sugarland record, but one tailor-made for our odd moment, where female voices like Nettles’ are louder than ever thanks to movements like #MeToo and Time’s Up but still largely missing from country radio.

Ahead of Bigger ‘s June 8th release, we preview the album, breaking it down song-by-song.

1. “Bigger” (Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles) The leadoff cut and title track is appropriately, well, big. It begins with a driving kick-drum beat, eventually giving way to a poppy, feel-good chorus anchored by arena-ready vocals from Nettles. The song’s narrative is grand in scope, too, opening with the lyric, “People walking around like the world’s about to end / And if you’re asking me, man, I would agree, these days we all feel small, my friend.”

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2. “On a Roll” (Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles) Sugarland have always been beloved for crafting infectious, pop-adjacent melodies, a skill on full display on “On a Roll,” which uses a push-and-pull structure at its chorus to danceable effect. There’s also something of a rap breakdown from Nettles at the song’s bridge, which is as unusual a choice in practice as it sounds on paper.

3. “Let Me Remind You” (Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles) “Let Me Remind You” offers a fresh take on the idea of rekindling an old flame, with Nettles imploring a lover to “speak the way love understands.” With sweeping acoustic guitar from Bush, a Latin-inspired beat, and just a touch of reggae, the song offers a glimpse at what has influenced the pair musically in the years since their last release.

4. “Mother” (Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles) Mother’s Day has already come and gone, but flag this song for the next playlist you make for your mom. Supported by emotive backing vocals from Bush, Nettles offers up a progressive, modern-day ode to moms who love and support their children no matter who they love. “As long as they are good to you, that’s enough / First thing she taught you was love is love,” she sings.

5. “Still the Same” (Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles) Another grand, arena-ready song, “Still the Same” was the perfect first single to release after Sugarland’s six-year hiatus. The message alludes to a romantic relationship, but contains sentiments that could be applied more broadly in lines like, “Let’s leave it better than how we came.”

6. “Lean It on Back” (Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles) Of all the tracks on Bigger , “Lean It on Back” sounds the most similar to what’s currently getting airtime on country radio. Programmed drums add contemporary touches to familiar lyrical tropes like “tak[ing] the long way home” and living in the moment.

7. “Babe” (ft. Taylor Swift) (Taylor Swift, Pat Monahan) While “Still the Same” was the album’s first official single, “Babe” is likely the track that’s sparked the most conversation. Written by Taylor Swift and Train’s Pat Monahan, “Babe” is a deliciously searing kiss-off track and features guest vocals from country music expat Swift herself.

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8. “Bird in a Cage” (Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles) Nettles and Bush trade verses on this ballad, which offers gentle encouragement to anyone who feels like an outsider in the places and cultures from which they come. The song also features some of Bush’s most intricate, striking work on guitar and mandolin, as well as one of his finest vocal performances.

9. “Love Me Like I’m Leaving” (Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles, Tim Owens) An ultimatum song, “Love Me Like I’m Leaving” offers one last warning to a lover who just can’t get it together. Nettles is the platonic ideal of the scorned woman on this track, at once wounded and empowered. A little more country than much of Bigger , the track gives both Nettles and Bush room to show off their twangier vocals and features piano that takes its cues from Seventies-era Elton John.

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10. “Tuesday’s Broken” (Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles) While many country artists have shied away from speaking about gun violence in the wake of mass shootings like Route 91 Harvest festival and Parkland, Sugarland tackle its emotional toll in this ballad. The first verse recounts “another kid, another school in another town,” while the second considers a woman who “wants to end it all.” Skirting outright criticism of gun culture, the track considers what would happen if we countered violence with words of kindness.

11. “Not the Only” (Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles) Bigger ends on a hopeful note in the form of poignant ballad “Not the Only.” Addressed to “the underdog,” “the counted out,” “the left behind,” the track confronts loneliness and the desire to “wake up in the world we know we fell asleep in,” seeking to connect with listeners grappling with similar issues. Building to a mid-tempo rocker with a final chorus sung by Bush, it’s a big note for Bigger to end on.

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One Thing Sugarland Love About Being Back Together? The Fans

As country duo Sugarland continue to watch their current  Taylor Swift -penned single, " Babe ," make its way up the charts, they are relishing in the fact that their reunion brought them back to something they love the most: their fans.

“I think both of us probably feel the same way," Sugarland's  Kristian Bush says in a recent interview. “We know what it’s like to have a favorite band, and I know what it would do to me if for some reason I had to wait for five years to see a show."

Sugarland took a five year break to pursue other interests, including their own respective solo careers. However, the fans are what ultimately made them get back together to make music again.

5 Reasons We Totally Needed This Sugarland Reunion

“Just being there with these people who are such big fans of this music, and where the music touches them, it’s absolutely real to stand up there and know that you get to play for people the music that they love and that we love,” Bush says.

The country duo are currently getting up close and personal with those fans while out on their Still the Same Tour , which concludes Sunday (Sept. 9) in Philadelphia.

The end of the tour will once again allow both Bush and  Jennifer Nettles to spend a little time at home with their kids, who Bush says he hopes have learned something via the duo’s reunion.

“I want them to see that you can’t force a relationship in the same way you can’t force a band,” Bush says in a recent interview with the Chicago Sun-Times . “You just have to be who you are and always pray for wisdom, not direction. Life will come to you if you just let it.”

Sugarland Have One of the Hottest Summer Tours of 2018. Who's No.1?:

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Money latest: The 'German classic' that's a healthier and cheaper alternative to crisps

Crisps are on the menu as we see where you can make healthier choices for the best value. Elsewhere, the boss of Sainsbury's has insisted customers like self-checkouts - do you agree? Leave your thoughts in the box below.

Friday 26 April 2024 19:45, UK

• New research reveals cost of having children
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The family home where Captain Sir Tom Moore walked 100 laps to raise nearly £40m for the NHS during the first COVID lockdown is up for sale for £2.25m.

The Grade II-listed Old Rectory is described as a "magnificent seven-bedroom property" by estate agents Fine & Country.

In a video tour of the house, a sculpture of Captain Tom with his walking frame can be seen in the hallway, while a photo of the fundraising hero being knighted by the Queen is on a wall in the separate coach house building.

Introducing the property, an estate agent says in the tour video: "I'm sure you'll recognise this iconic and very famous driveway behind me as it was home to the late Captain Sir Tom Moore who walked 100 laps of his garden, raising over £37m for NHS charities."

It comes less than three months after the demolition of an unauthorised spa pool block in the grounds of the property in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire.

Speaking at an appeal hearing over that spa, Scott Stemp, representing Captain Tom's daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband, said the foundation named after the fundraising hero "is to be closed down" following a Charity Commission probe launched amid concerns about its management.

For the full story, click here ...

"Status symbol" pets are being given up by owners who get scared as they grow up, an animal charity has said, with the cost of living possibly paying a part in a rise in separations.

The Exotic Pet Refuge, which homes parrots, monkeys, snakes and alligators among others, says it receives referrals across the country, including from zoos and the RSPCA.

"They're a status symbol. People will say, 'OK, I'll have an alligator or a 10ft boa constrictor'," co-owner Pam Mansfield told the BBC.

"But when the animal gets big, they will get too frightened to handle them, and then the pet has to go."

She added people who want to get rid of the pets sometimes call zoos for help, which then call on her charity.

In some cases, owners don't have licences to own dangerous animals, she says, blaming a "lack of understanding" for what she says is a rise in the number of exotic animals needing to be rehomed.

She says people "just don't have the space" for some snakes, for example, with some growing to as much as 12ft and needing their own room.

The cost of living crisis has also forced owners to give their pets away, she says.

Her charity has also been affected by those increased costs, with the electricity bill rising to £10,000 a month at their highest, to fund things like heated pools for alligators.

Private car parks are accused of "confusing drivers" after introducing a new code of conduct - despite "doing all they can" to prevent an official government version.

The code of practice launched by two industry bodies - British Parking Association and the International Parking Community - includes a ten-minute grace period for motorists to leave a car park after the parking period they paid for ends.

It also features requirements for consistent signage, a single set of rules for operators on private land and an "appeals charter".

Private parking businesses have been accused of using misleading and confusing signs, aggressive debt collection and unreasonable fees.

That comes after a government-backed code of conduct was withdrawn in June 2022, after a legal challenges by parking companies.

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: "We're flabbergasted that the BPA and the IPC have suddenly announced plans to introduce their own private parking code after doing all they can over the last five years to prevent the official government code created by an act of Parliament coming into force.

"While there are clearly some positive elements to what the private parking industry is proposing, it conveniently avoids some of the biggest issues around caps on penalty charges and debt recovery fees which badly need to be addressed to prevent drivers being taken advantage of."

BPA chief executive Andrew Pester said: "This is a crucial milestone as we work closely with government, consumer bodies and others to deliver fairer and more consistent parking standards for motorists."

IPC chief executive Will Hurley said: "The single code will benefit all compliant motorists and will present clear consequences for those who decide to break the rules."

Sky News has learnt the owner of Superdry's flagship store is weighing up a legal challenge to a rescue plan launched by the struggling fashion retailer.

M&G, the London-listed asset manager, has engaged lawyers from Hogan Lovells to scrutinise the restructuring plan.

The move by M&G, which owns the fashion retailer's 32,000 square foot Oxford Street store, will not necessarily result in a formal legal challenge - but sources say it's possible.

Read City editor Mark Kleinman 's story here...

NatWest says its mortgage lending nearly halved at the start of the year as it retreated from parts of the market when competition among lenders stepped up.

New mortgage lending totalled £5.2bn in the first three months of 2024, the banking group has revealed, down from £9.9bn the previous year.

The group, which includes Royal Bank of Scotland and Coutts, also reported an operating pre-tax profit of £1.3bn for the first quarter, down 27% from £1.8bn the previous year.

An unexplained flow of British luxury cars into states neighbouring Russia continued into February, new data shows.

About £26m worth of British cars were exported to Azerbaijan, making the former Soviet country the 17th biggest destination for UK cars - bigger than long-established export markets such as Ireland, Portugal and Qatar.

Azerbaijan's ascent has coincided almost to the month with the imposition of sanctions on the export of cars to Russia.

Read the rest of economics and data editor Ed Conway 's analysis here...

Rishi Sunak has hailed the arrival of pay day with a reminder his government's additional National Insurance tax cut kicks in this month for the first time.

At last month's budget, the chancellor announced NI will be cut by a further 2p - so some workers will pay 8% of their earnings instead of the 12% if was before autumn.

The prime minister has repeated his claim this will be worth £900 for someone on the average UK salary.

While this additional cut - on top of the previous 2p cut in January - does equate to £900 for those on average full-time earnings of £35,000, there are two key issues with Mr Sunak's claim:

• Once the effect of all income tax changes since 2021 are taken into account, the Institute for Fiscal Studies reports an average earner will benefit from a tax cut of £340 - far less than £900;
• Moreover, anyone earning less than £26,000 or between £55,000-£131,000 will ultimately be worse off.

In short, this is because NI cuts are more than offset by other tax rises.

We explain below how this is the case...

Tax thresholds

This is partly down to tax thresholds - the amount you are allowed to earn before you start paying tax (and national insurance) and before you start paying the higher rate of tax - will remain frozen. 

This means people end up paying more tax than they otherwise would, when their pay rises with inflation but the thresholds don't keep up. 

This phenomenon is known as "fiscal drag" and it's often called a stealth tax because it's not as noticeable immediately in your pay packet.

That low threshold of £12,570 has been in place since April 2021. 

The Office for Budget Responsibility says if it had increased with inflation it would be set at £15,220 for 2024/25.

If that were the case, workers could earn an extra £2,650 tax-free each year.

Less give, more take

Sky News analysis shows someone on £16,000 a year will pay £607 more in total - equivalent to more than three months of average household spending on food. 

Their income level means national insurance savings are limited but they are paying 20% in income tax on an additional £2,650 of earnings.

In its analysis , the IFS states: "In aggregate the NICs cuts just serve to give back a portion of the money that is being taken away through other income tax and NICs changes - in particular, multi-year freezes to tax thresholds at a time of high inflation."

Overall, according to the institute, for every £1 given back to workers by the National Insurance cuts, £1.30 will have been taken away due to threshold changes between 2021 and 2024.

This rises to £1.90 in 2027.

The UK could face a shortage of cava due to a drought in the sparkling wine's Spanish heartlands.

The Penedes area of Catalonia is dealing with its worst drought on record, with vineyards across the region so parched the roots of 30-year-old vines have died.

It's left shrivelled red and green grapes languishing under intense sun, fuelled by fossil-fuel driven climate change.

Cava is an increasingly popular drink in the UK, with 17.8 million bottles sold in 2023 - an increase of 5% from the previous year, when Britons stocked up on 16.8 million bottles, according to the Cava Regulatory Board.

That makes the UK the fourth-biggest buyer, behind only the US, Belgium and Germany.

Workforce slashed

The problems have been compounded after Catalonia-based cava producer Freixenet announced it will temporarily lay off 615 workers, almost 80% of its workforce.

Under Spanish law, companies facing exceptional circumstances can lay off staff or reduce working hours.

This measure is expected to take effect from May and it is not known how long it will last.

Price rises

One industry source told retail publication The Grocer  that cava shortages would push up prices "certainly for next year" if there isn't enough supply.

This could last for years if the drought persists, they added.

Consumer expert Helen Dewdney told MailOnline the staff cuts at Freixenet can only mean one thing - price rises.

However, she added, supermarkets say they are not experiencing any issues right now.

Parents are being hammered by rising childcare costs, according to a new study that suggests they may spend more than £160,000 raising their child to the age of 18.

Research by Hargreaves Lansdown has found that parents with children pay £6,969 a year more than couples without.

Over 18 years and assuming an annual inflation rate of 3%, that amounts to a whopping £163,175, the investment platform said.

Its study also found that parents were less likely to have money left at the end of the month.

Single parents carry the biggest burden, with the research suggesting they have just £85 left on average compared to £365 for couples with children.

Hargreaves Lansdown also found just 23% of single parents reported having enough emergency savings to cover at least three months' worth of essential expenses, compared to 63% of couples with children.

Parents are also at a slight disadvantage when it comes to pensions, the research found, with only 43% of couples with children on track for a moderate retirement income, compared to 47% without. Only 17% of single parents have a decent projected pension fund.

Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at the firm, said "having children is one of the most expensive decisions a person can make".

She adds that as a result of having a child, "financial resilience suffers across the board", and added: "For single parents, life is even tougher, and they face far lower resilience on almost every measure.

"It means we need all the help we can get."

By Daniel Binns, business reporter

One of the top stories shaking up the markets this morning is that UK-based mining company Anglo American has rejected a major $38.8bn (£31bn) takeover bid.

Details of the attempted buyout by Australian rival BHP emerged yesterday  - sending Anglo American shares soaring.

The deal would have created the world's biggest copper mining company - with the news coming as the price of the metal hit record highs this week.

However, Anglo American has now dismissed the proposal as "opportunistic" and said BHP had undervalued the company.

Anglo's shares are slightly down by 0.8% this morning - suggesting investors may not have given up hopes that a deal could eventually be agreed.

However, overall the FTSE 100 is up around 0.4% this morning, buoyed by strong reported earnings from US tech giants Microsoft and Google owner Alphabet.

It's helped the index, of the London Stock Exchange's 100 most valuable companies, hit yet another intraday (during the day) record of 8,136 points this morning.

The winning streak comes after a week of all-time highs on the index - including a record close of 8,078 points yesterday. The score is based on a calculation of the total value of the shares on the index.

Among the companies doing well this morning is NatWest - despite the bank reporting a fall in pre-tax profits of nearly 28% for the first quarter of the year.

Shares in the lender are up more than 3% after its results were better than expected by analysts.

On the currency markets, £1 buys $1.25 US or €1.16, almost on a par with yesterday.

Meanwhile, the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil has crept up slightly to $89 (£71).

Self-checkouts - they're like marmite, people seem to either love them or hate them.

But the boss of Sainsbury's has claimed that his customers do  enjoy using self-checkouts, despite criticism that that machines don't always provide the convenience promised.

Simon Roberts told The Telegraph that there are more of them in Sainsbury's stores "than a number of years ago" as shoppers like the "speedy checkout".

But despite this, he said there won't be a time when they'll replace cashiers completely.

"Over the last year, where we've put more self-checkouts in, we're always making sure that the traditional kind of belted checkout is there," he said.

His comments come after northern supermarket Booths ditched self-checkouts at all but two of its sites after customer feedback. 

Walmart and Costco in the US have also scaled back on the systems.

Let us know in the comments - do you love or hate self-checkouts?

We've all heard consumer advice that's repeated so often it almost becomes cliché. So, every Friday the Money team will get to the bottom of a different "fact" and decide whether it's a myth or must.

This week it is...

'Smart meters save you money'

For this one, we've enlisted the help of Dr Steve Buckley, also known as the Energy Doctor and head of data science at Loop...

So do smart meters help you save? 

"The short answer is both yes and no," Steve says.

"Installing a smart meter by itself won't magically reduce your energy consumption. But, by giving you easy access to your energy usage data, smart meters pave the way for savings that you couldn't achieve otherwise."

Before smart meters, most households only found out how much energy they had used when the bill arrived. 

By that stage it's too late to address wasteful usage, leading to what's known as "bill shock". 

"With a smart meter, you can see your usage and costs in real-time through an in-home display or an app provided by your supplier," Steve says. 

"This immediate feedback encourages you to use less energy. If you measure it, you can control it."

In 2022, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero found that homes with smart meters used about 3.4% less electricity and 3% less gas. 

"This might not seem like a lot, but it adds up to a saving of over £50 per household annually," Steve says.  

If all homes in the UK made similar cuts, that would amount to savings of around £1.5bn and a potential reduction in CO2 emissions by about 2.7m tonnes each year. 

"Good for individual households but also great for the planet," Steve says. 

Smart meters are often installed at no extra cost to the consumer - it's effectively free data for households. 

Limitations

Smart meters are more or less what you make of them - a simple, free tool that allows you to see headline figures. 

However, "without detailed analysis, it's tough to identify and eliminate" where you could be wasting money, Steve says. 

Apps like Utrack, Loop and Hugo Energy can help you work out where you might be losing money by offering a more detailed breakdown if connected to your smart meter. 

Those tools are often free, but you may need to register your card details as proof of address. 

The tools give a number of useful insights, including looking at consumption in other households of similar size or monitoring where chunks of your money are going, such as to a faulty boiler or the "phantom load" (energy wasted by devices left on unnecessarily).

Myth or must?

Although smart meters alone don't reduce energy bills, they are a vital tool to help energy efficiency and cost savings. 

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Miles Russell, 15, makes history again, ties for 20th on Korn Ferry

Two days after he became the youngest player ever to make the cut on the Korn Ferry Tour, Miles Russell notched another pretty cool achievement for a 15-year-old.

He finished tied for 20th in the event.

Russell, the reigning American Junior Golf Association Player of the Year, closed with a 5-under 66 on Sunday at the Lecom Suncoast Classic in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, finishing 6 shots behind winner Tim Widing . He became the youngest player since at least 1983 to finish in the top 25 in a Korn Ferry Tour or PGA Tour event.

An amateur playing on a sponsor's exemption, Russell won't pocket any money for the finish. But he did qualify for next week's Korn Ferry event, the Veritex Bank Championship in Texas, as a result of finishing in the top 25.

What a week for Miles Russell 👏 pic.twitter.com/eWqa8CmQjD — Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) April 21, 2024

"It was an awesome week," he said. "It was a blast."

Russell was outside the top 25 entering Sunday, but he surged 28 spots up the leaderboard thanks to a final round that included seven birdies in a 10-hole stretch.

"You're always nervous," he said of the final round. "So definitely the start of the round [I had nerves], but they kind of relaxed as we got kind of settled in and maybe a little bit more toward the end. But it was good.

"I just kind of try to go with the flow and take it as it comes to me and just try and stay cool."

The closing 66 matched his low round of the event; he posted the same score Friday to make history on the PGA Tour's developmental circuit. At 15 years, 5 months and 17 days, he became the youngest ever to make the cut; Gipper Finau , the younger brother of PGA Tour star Tony Finau , had the previous record, doing so at the 2006 Utah Championship, when he was 16 years, 20 days.

Big achievements on the golf course, though, are nothing new for Russell.

In 2023, the left-hander from Florida won the Junior PGA Championship by 7 shots and became the youngest winner of the Junior Players Championship. He won the AJGA Player of the Year award at a younger age than Tiger Woods .

Last month, he lost out in a playoff in a Monday qualifier for the PGA Tour's Puerto Rico Open.

China's Guan Tianlang is the youngest to make the cut in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event. He was 14 when he made the cut in the 2013 Masters, playing as the Asia-Pacific Amateur champion.

Widing became a first-time Korn Ferry winner, beating Steven Fisk and Patrick Cover in a playoff.

Bon Jovi on the Band's New Doc, If They'll Ever Tour Again & Driving Around New Jersey With Bruce Springsteen

Bon Jovi rocked launched to fame in the era when rock stars still toured the world in jumbo jets with the band's name painted on the side. Four decades after the group's inception, most people can name at least one Bon Jovi song, with the band clocking 10 Hot 100 Top 10 hits - including four No. 1s - during its still-ongoing run. With its culture-permeating anthems, the fame, the money, the analogous excesses they generated and the comedically big hair, the band helped forge the archetype for '80s (and '90s and early '00s) rock megafame.

Talking to Billboard over Zoom from a white-walled room somewhere in New Jersey, you get the sense that there's at least one part of this heyday Jon Bon Jovi wishes he could return to.

"When I can do two-and-a-half hours a night, four nights a week and not think about it - the way that I did for the first 30 years of our career - then I'll say, ‘Sure, I'd love the opportunity,'" says the group's frontman, still a dreamboat at 62.

The opportunity in question in touring. On the precipice of releasing its 16th studio album, Forever , Bon Jovi isn't sure they'll hit the road behind the album, out June 7. The wildcard element is JBJ's voice, the same one that implored us to live for the fight when that's all that we've got on "Living on a Prayer," and melted a billion hearts on "Bed of Roses" - and which has been under heavy repair since the vocal difficulties Bon Jovi has experienced for years necessitated a major vocal chord surgery in the summer of 2022. The procedure left him unsure if he'd ever be able to sing about going down in a blaze of glory, or living while he's alive, or anything at all, ever again.

This issue isn't what the band's new documentary, Thank You, Goodnight was intended to be about. The stakes, however, became quickly apparent to director Gotham Chopra when he started filming a few years back.

"The more time I spent with Jon, I was like, ‘So wait, what's going on with your voice?'" Chopra says over Zoom. "Jon said he'd been struggling with it for a couple of years, and didn't know what was going to happen - because the shows we were filming might be the end of the line - but that that wasn't for the documentary."

"I was like, ‘Oh no," Chopra continues. "That's for the documentary. It's really important. Everything you've built across 40 years hangs in the balance."

This narrative thus became the through line of the four-part documentary, premiering tomorrow (April 26) on Hulu. Helmed by Chopra, whose previous work includes the 2021 Tom Brady docuseries Man in the Arena , the Bon Jovi project was one, Chopra says, "where nothing was off limits." It unpacks the Bon Jovi story from its earliest days in Bon Jovi's native Sayreville, New Jersey to the arena-rock juggernaut of the Slippery When Wet era to the band's lineup changes - to Jon Bon Jovi scanning his neck with specialized lasers in an attempt to shore up his voice. Interview subjects include the band (Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Brian, dummer Tico Torres and newer members Hugh McDonald, Phil X and Everett Bradley), along with former manager Doc McGhee, songwriter Desmond Child, good pal Bruce Springsteen and Richie Sambora, the guitar-wielding yin to Jon Bon Jovi's yang, who left the group in 2013.

"Obviously early on, I was like, ‘Hey, I've got to get Richie Sambora. We can't do this without Richie'," Chopra recalls, "Jon was like, ‘Oh, yeah, you gotta get Richie Sambora. You can't do this without him.'"

With Sambora's departure serving as one of the documentary's central tensions, Chopra - who interviewed each person involved in the film separately - eventually even captured an onscreen apology from the guitarist.

"In the film he says, ‘I don't regret doing it. I regret the way I did do it; I apologize to the guys for that,'" recalls Chopra. "I think the guys and Jon were pretty affected by that… All of these things become an act of therapy in some ways."

So too was it an exercise in vulnerability - with Bon Jovi allowing Chopra to film his voice issues even in their toughest moments. In one scene, he gets off stage after a show thinking he sounded pretty good and is then informed otherwise by his wife.

"What he was going through wasn't easy," says Chopra. "There were times on that tour when he was struggling, and he was in his dressing room, and he'd be like, ‘get the f–k out of my room' and I'd get the f–k out of his room - then gradually find my way back in after five or 10 minutes."

This level of intimacy, along with frank, often funny and frequently poignant interviews (in the last episode Bon Jovi gets choked up about his love of songwriting) and a barrage of archival footage, combines to offer a film that even hardcore Bon Jovi fans will likely learn something from. Here, Jon Bon Jovi and Torres discuss the documentary, as well as the future of the band.

Jon, the film's director Gotham Chopra mentioned that there were times where he was filming and you didn't necessarily want him in the room. How vulnerable was the documentary experience?

Jon: We had trust him as the director in order to get what we wanted, which was the truth. One thing we all agreed upon, on day one, was we didn't want a vanity piece. [We wanted] to tell the honest-to-God ups and downs of life behind the curtain. Nobody anticipated the health issues with me, and so that was the wild card in this. But I trusted him.

Tico: Gotham is a very spiritual person, and after a while you forget he's there. But his questions are very spiritual in nature, and somehow he opens you up to be honest with yourself. You don't find that in regular interviews.

Jon, so much of documentary focuses on this narrative about your voice. What was it like during this uncertain time, to also be bearing it to the camera?

Jon: Like I said, right after [Gotham] came on board, and I said, "I trust you to capture this," there was no decision - because there couldn't be anything other than, "You have to capture everything."

The surgery was nearly two years ago, and obviously you've recorded an album since undergoing it. How are you feeling now?

Jon: There is still uncertainty about the outcome 22 months after the surgery, although I'm optimistic. And for the record, I can say - because now I'm speaking to press and need to clarify - I'm very capable of singing again. It's just that the bar for us is two-and-a-half hours a night, four nights a week. I have to get to that level again before we'll tour. So being vulnerable I was never afraid of. Sharing it now with the public, it's out of my control, because that's what we all signed up for. And like T said, Gotham has a kind of spiritual approach to things, so it was never combative. I trusted him.

Tico: It was difficult for the band. To see one of your brothers suffering and going through something, and he's the hardest working guy there is. Every day he works hard to get back. Right after the operation, speaking to him, once he could speak, he sounded way lower [in register] than me. And we're a band, so we worry about each other. I think the fact that the documentary was capturing that as well is important. Because we're in it together. We're gonna back him up no matter what.

Gotham took the approach of interviewing everyone separately. What was it like to finally see Richie's footage?

Jon: I don't know. It was… He was honest. And you could see that he had things to deal with. And I hope it clarifies for the viewer that there was never a fight, and it was never about any issues of money or anything like that. He literally was having substance issues, anxiety issues, single dad issues, and just chose then not to come back. As he says in the film, how he did it, he apologizes for now. But you've got a band on a stage; you've got 120 roadies that are counting on income; you have millions of people who bought tickets. You gotta go to work, you know? These are big-boy decisions, and big boys have to go to work.

What was it like getting an apology from him?

Jon: I don't need an apology… I don't need an apology. It's not about that.

Tico: Remember, you're a band. We grew up together. And like I said before, when somebody's hurting, you care about him… Alec as well, our beloved bass player, when he left, it's a void. And you know he passed away just a couple of years ago. It's family. It does affect you. As a whole, it affects us. There's a comeback from that. I think the writing process and the recording process as a band helps you get that out, because it's emotion.

Jon, in the doc you say that in the Slippery When Wet era, the band had found another rung of the ladder to climb, and obviously there was much more to go after that. Given everything you've done, do you see more rungs for Bon Jovi? Where is there left to go?

Jon : It's not about numbers at all. I would love the opportunity to be whole, so that when we would go out on that stage, we could do those 18 albums and pick any song I want throughout that catalog on a nightly basis, the way I used to be able to do. That's where I have left to go. When we've done those kind of shows… when we opened the O2 Arena in London and we did 12 or 15 nights, and we did 90 different songs over the course of the nights - that's the bar that I need to get back to.

What are your current daily practices for getting yourself back to that place?

Jon: Hoping, wishing. Wishing, hoping. Praying. There's a lot of vocal therapy, at least four times a week. There are considerations about whether it's mineral or dietary and exercise stuff, but it really comes back to vocal therapy to just try to strengthen something that, you've got to remember, is only as big as your thumbnail. [He holds up his thumb to the camera.] The vocal chord is only that big. It's really up to God at this point.

There's some great unheard music in the documentary - I'm specifically thinking of a song called "Cadillac Man" that you wrote for the 1990 Robin Williams movie of the same name. Is there a chance that any of this archival music gets released?

Jon: Yes. One thing that we have always known, and our deep fan base knows as well, is that we always write 30 songs to get 10. And so there's always been a backlog of material that's been unreleased. There's no shortage of it. So I think that we stumbled on 30 or 40 songs that no one's heard, and they'll all come out, yeah.

So we get new music from the Slippery When Wet heyday era Bon Jovi?

Jon: Slippery When Wet, New Jersey, Keep the Faith . All the records.

Is there a timeline for that?

Jon: No. No one's actually even addressed it with me yet. The archiving was still going on simultaneously to the mastering and the album cover and the video and all that kind of stuff… But we know what we've got. It'll happen during the course of the release of the album.

That's incredibly exciting.

Jon: Yeah, there's some really good songs that I can't believe didn't make those records.

Jon, there's this great moment in the documentary when you share about going for long car rides with Bruce Springsteen, and you both leaving your phones at home and just driving around New Jersey and talking. What can you tell us about the last drive?

Jon: I've been blessed to have had [Bruce] and [fellow New Jersey musical influence] Southside [Johnny] be good friends to me throughout, and even before there was a band. But [Bruce] and I will take these drives now - and he was so incredibly supportive during [the voice issues] and throughout the process of healing, where I couldn't even talk, you know? We would take these 100-mile drives, just the two of us in the car, no radio, nobody. We'd just drive and talk about things that truthfully, you know, how many guys can I talk to about that level of stuff? And how many guys can he talk to about that level of stuff?

Yeah, not too many.

So yeah, we often do it, and it's some of my most treasured memories. People have seen us along the way. The first five, six, seven times, nobody would have known. But then this time we went for an ice cream cone, or this time we went for a drink, or this time we were stopped at a light. So the sightings of Sasquatch have happened. [ Laughs. ]

I was also struck by the part of the doc where you were all talking about what your success could afford you in terms of spending one-upmanship. Like, "You bought me a car? I'm going to buy you two cars" or "We need 16 pinball machines on this tour." Is there one extravagance from those days that sticks out to you?

Jon: There was silliness. There were absolutely cars and art and toys - because you could, and we took full advantage of it.

Through documentary you all got to review 40 years of your own personal style. Was there one look from each of yourselves that made you think, "Oh my God, I looked amazing"?

Jon: No, I take the opposite. My baby pictures were public, yours were not. We still have to suffer some of those looks. It could have been worse, but you know, some of those baby pictures were tough to look at.

Tico: I mean, if you take the clothes away, we definitely were better looking and younger. But the clothing was much to be desired. Even the haircuts were a little like, "I wish we didn't do that."

Some of that style has come back around though.

Jon: Oh, yes. You sit around now your kids and you go, "Those torn jeans? Let me tell you where all this stuff comes from that you're doing." When I see parachute pants and Capezios come back though, I'm running for the hills. [ Laughs. ]

Jon, there are a few moments in the documentary when you talk about finding joy and how that was hard to do while you were really struggling with your voice. Where are you both finding joy these days?

Tico: I think we're living the joy now. Jon's been through a lot, and of course everybody goes through that pain with him. The joy is the revival. Doing a record together is cleansing. Jon's lyrics - and I'm not a lyricist; I don't listen to lyrics - but this is one of the few records where I listen to every one of them, because they just grabbed me. There was a lot of joy in making this record. I think we're enjoying it. Jon, what do you think?

Jon: Well, we are. I'll give you a great example: when we're at these rehearsals and we're just marking the progress that I'm making on a monthly basis. There's no miracles, but when I look around the room and not once does the band sit there and go, "I don't want to be here." Or "I don't want to play that song again." That to me is love on a whole other level.

We know we're not going out on the road tomorrow. We know we're not being paid to sit in this rehearsal space. But the guys are like, "Of course I'll be there. Let's go. Let's do it again." Or if I crash and burn, they go, "Okay, I traveled all this way and we played an hour before I've gotta cool it." Nobody has cursed me for it. They're like, "We're with you." That's the love of family and band and brotherhood that no presents, no cars, no art, no silly kids' stuff could ever, ever replace.

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