After its successful run last March, the festival that pays homage to the music and the message of Jimi Hendrix’s works, Experience Hendrix, will be back on the road and his most loyal followers – professional musicians, music junkies and millions of fans – won’t have to wait for the turn of the new year to relive the power and influence of Seattle’s greatest contribution to the music industry.

Presented by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation and in part by Mapex Drums, Dunlop Effects Pedals and Marshall Amplifiers, the 2nd leg of the Experience Hendrix tour will kick off on October 26 in Pittsburgh and will cross the border to perform in three Canadian cities – Toronto, Quebec City and Montreal. After which they will be heading back to the east coast for the rest of the tour with the last five dates entailing performances in the Midwest, closing on November 20 in Indy’s Murat Theatre.

Joining this leg of the tour are the following: Sacred Steel’s Darick Campbell, The Slide Brothers, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble’s Chris Layton, Living Colour, Ernie Isley, Eric Johnson, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Steve Vai, Susan Tedeschi, Jonny Lang, Robert Randolph, and David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos. In the previous years, the tour has also featured other acclaimed musicians like Robby Krieger, Paul Rodgers, Joe Satriani, Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin and Carlos Santana.

Swedish performers Jose Gonzalez and Junip, a band formed by Gonzalez in 2005 along with Tobias Winterkorn and Elias Araya, will be performing in the US for the first time as both acts will attempt to market their works – Gonzalez’s 2007 release “In Our Nature” and Junip’s debut set “Fields” – in a forthcoming tour whose details are still being drawn out and will be announced at a later date.

On the other hand, Gonzalez is also featured in a 74-minute documentary, “The Extraordinary Life of Jose Gonzalez”, chronicling the Swedish singer’s recording process for his sophomore studio effort “In Our Nature”. The documentary was directed by Fredrik Egerstrand and Mikel Cee Karisson and features shots using various mediums like concert and surveillance footages, video blogs, and even animation. The film is now making its rounds in a handful of Swedish festivals in Stockholm, Goteberg, Malmo, Norrkoping, Jonkoping, Lund and Vasteras until October 5.

The alt-rock act that brought us the hits “Hanging by a Moment”, “Blind” and “You and Me” is back on tour this fall to back-up their spring set and their fifth record, “Smoke & Mirrors”.

The band will start the road show towards the end of the summer when they drop by Fonner Park in Grand Island, NE on August 28 to open the tour. After which, they will be headed to the west coast for a string of shows before crossing the Atlantic for a series of performances in European countries such as The Netherlands, Germany, and the UK.

By mid-October, the boys will be headed back home, this time to tour across the east coast till they stop by again by the west coast and end the tour with a show in the Roseland Theatre in Portland, OR on November 24.

Come October, jam icons Phish will be hitting the road to perform in eight cities across the Midwest and east coast with half of the itinerary entailing two to three stops per city.

The tour will kick off on October 8 with a show in Austin, TX followed by the first of a series of multiple-nighters for the band when they hit Broomfield, CO from October 10-12. Other multiple-nighters in the tour include shows in South Carolina (North Charleston), Massachusetts (Amherst) and to wrap the tour up, a three-night Halloween performance in Atlantic City, NJ from October 29 to 31.

The Atlantic City show will be the first for Phish and is also among the several remarkable Halloween performances that the band has staged almost every year. As a glimpse of what to expect in a Phish Halloween show, on its second night, the band spins an entire album from another artist throughout the entire performance, and last year the band covered “Exile on Main St.” from the Rolling Stones.

James, the British pop band, will be touring the U.S. again for the first time in two years. Each night the band is planing to feature different set lists.

Singer Tim Booth, speaking form his California home said, expect the unexpected. We will play some of our old stuff, however there will be plenty of new stuff also. Every night we will change the set out. We like keeping things unpredictable and fresh. We have a huge pool of songs every night to choose from.

The new stuff Booth is referring to are songs from “The Morning After the Night Before,” their two CD collection. The set started out as two separate mini albums. The release of “The Night Before” occurred in April in the UK. “The Morning After” will be released this September to stores. On “The Night Before” the strangely uplifting songs of James that deal with mental illness, disaffection and insecurity are featured. “The Morning After” has a more low key feel to it, with dark, sad lyrics.

Further, a band led by Phil Lesh and Bob Weir of Grateful Dead, have another road stint lined up.

The band this time will be playing a series of shows in November in the Midwest before wrapping up with two gigs at Madison Square Garden in New York. Further is comprised of Jeff Chementi of RatDog on keyboards, John Kadlecic from Dark Star Orchestra on guitar, Joe Russo of the Benevento-Russo Duo on drums and backup singers Jeff Pehrson of Box Set and Sunshine Becker of SoVoSo.

Although officially Fox is saying “no comment,” an inside music source has confirmed that the flamboyant singer from Aerosmith late last week finalized negotiations and officially is signed to be one of the judges on “American Idol’s” 10th season. Wow now there is someone whose makeup is wackier than Paula Abdul’s.

Then there’s the other glitzy woman rumored for a judge’s position.

The diva demands of Jennifer Lopez haven’t put her totally from the running for a spot on the judge’s panel. However, supposedly she is asking more than $20 million in addition to her own styling, makeup and hair team as well as a dressing room compound. This doesn’t exactly align with what Fox was thinking. Particularly since thy are still talking with other big celebrity names.

X Japan, the Japanese rock icons who have sold the 55,000 seat venue Tokyo Dome out a record setting 18 times, will be taking their act to the road for a North American outing.

The band has sold over 30 million DVDs and albums in Japan. They will be making their US debut on August 8 at Lollapalooza’s main stage.

The sound of the group ranges over the map, from speed metal to dramatic ballads, often during the same song.

Anthrax, Megadeth and Slayer will be touring the US this fall for a month’s worth of arena shows for the Jagermeister Music Tour’s 17th edition.

The three metal bands, who performed together for the first time during the “Clash of the Titans Tour” of 1991, will be kicking off their fall trek with a show in Dallas on September 24. Twenty shows have been confirmed for the month long trek, including visits to New Orleans on September 28, Orlando on October 2, Salt Lake City on October 19, and in Las Vegas Vegas on October 20. The tour will wrap up with a show in Universal City, CA on October 21.

According to the website for the event, ticket prices start at $10 and will be available during the coming weeks from Ticketmaster. Fans, in the meantime, can register for a chance at winning backstage passes and VIP tickets at the tour website.

Paul O’Neill and the rest of the New York-based prog-rock symphonic metal musicians Trans-Siberian Orchestra will be going against the cold months of November and December for a never-before-seen TSO tour scheme this winter. The band will be performing in two different cities in one date. To do that, they decided to split into two smaller TSO groups and perform in more cities despite the intense cold weather ahead. The tour will have two kick-off points then, one in Council Bluffs, IA and another in Youngstown, OH on November 3.