Perhaps the biggest touring news in recent days comes from country music superstar Zach Bryan, who last week unveiled his plans to hit the road in March. This matters to us for a couple reasons: One, Bryan is a U.S. Navy veteran and this is Stars & Stripes, so you have to love it when synergy like that presents itself. But No. 2 … well, No. 2 is the mere fact that Bryan hasn’t previously toured arenas and – gasp! – stadiums in the way he’s about to in 2024. But here we are.

Dubbed “The Quittin Time Tour,” the trek will be in support of Bryan’s brand new album, creatively titled “Zach Bryan,” which the country singer released on Aug. 25. Opening acts will come complete with star power as well: The Middle East, Sheryl Crow, Turnpike Troubadours and Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit are among those who will join Bryan. Look for Crow and Isbell to help out on some of the stadium dates – the former is set to join him in Atlanta in August, while the latter will hop on for stadium nights in Foxborough, Mass., and Tampa, Fla., among other locales. All told, the North American run is set to wrap with a pair of nights in Tulsa, Okla., in December 2024. No word on if the singer plans to take the show outside the U.S.

Be it the U.S. … or, well, anywhere else, Pollstar’s Live 75 ranks tours for average tickets sold over the last 30 days and for the first time in maybe forever, Harry Styles did not make the cut this month. Now, if you read this space last month, you’d know there’s a simple reason for that: His tour finally ended. Stepping in to fill those shoes, however, is Metallica, who averaged about 75,000 tickets sold over the last 30 days. The metal gods are taking the Taylor Swift approach to their latest outing, pulling up to stadiums in a city for two or three days at a time. Their next stop will be in Indio, Calif., on Oct. 8, before they head to St. Louis for a two-night stand on Nov. 3 and 5. Perhaps the most surprising addition to this month’s Live 75 look? Iron Maiden, who snuck in at No. 10, averaging about 17,000 tickets sold over the last 30 days.

A band who you probably won’t expect to see on the chart anytime for the rest of 2023 is the Dave Matthews Band. The soft-rockers recently announced the slate for their fall tour … and it amounted to all of eight dates. They’ll hit Virginia, Connecticut and New York twice as part of that run, which begins Nov. 7 in Savannah, Ga. Another noteworthy tour that was announced since the last time we talked will come at the hands of Lauryn Hill, who will celebrate the 25th anniversary of “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” by playing arenas in 2024. Spicing things up will be the co-headliner on the bill, which is set to be her other band, The Fugees. While she has some sporadic dates lined up before the Fugees run begins in earnest, she’ll officially welcome Wyclef and Pras beginning Oct. 17 in Newark, N.J. And then finally, there’s Trans-Siberian Orchestra, for all you Christmas-loving concert-goers. Heading out to 62 cities, the holiday tour will wrap Dec. 16 in Pittsburgh …

… Thus proving that contrary to most reports, holiday-based prog-rock is indeed still alive and well.

Happy concert-ing!