Rock Hall 2026: Sade and Oasis Skip It, Phil Collins Won't Sing

Sade and Oasis will both skip the 2026 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Los Angeles' Peacock Theater, days before the event takes place. Phil Collins plans to attend, but he has already said he won't perform. That leaves Billy Idol and Wu-Tang Clan as possibly the only Performer-category inductees who will actually play music on the night.

The Hall has also broken with its own tradition. In past years it announced presenters and guest performers ahead of time; this time it has announced no one, making this the most mysterious induction ceremony in the organization's recent history — possibly its entire history.

What happens with Joy Division/New Order?

New Order's Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert are staying in England while Gilbert undergoes cancer treatment, leaving bassist Peter Hook as the key figure on hand. Hook told us in April that a reunion performance wasn't out of the question — the band hasn't played together in two decades. "If Bernard [Sumner] pops his head around," Hook said, "and goes, 'Hey Hooky, sorry about that eight-year legal battle that cost you six years' wages. I'm really sorry about it. We should maybe have just had a chat about it.' So you never know, dear. Life is full of surprises."

Sumner, now the last founding member in the touring lineup, starts a South American tour on Nov. 23 in São Paulo. He has said nothing in public about the Hall, so a reconciliation seems unlikely. Complicating things: Hook's son and bandmate Jack Bates plays with the Smashing Pumpkins that same night at the Darker Waves festival in Huntington Beach, 40 miles away. Whether Hook performs with his band the Light, or guests cover "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Blue Monday," remains open.

Why aren't the Gallaghers coming?

Liam and Noel Gallagher are both staying in England. Noel plays Goldie's EFG Jazz Festival at London's Royal Festival Hall; Liam gave his own reasons on X: "Everyone's a soft cunt these days there boring as fuck everyone's up there own arse and far too sensitive. I'd rather stay and stack the dishwasher…If it was in the UK I'd be there but for some reason it's in LA and that's miles away."

Current members Gem Archer, Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs and Andy Bell have done no press since the reunion began and are unlikely to show. But former members Tony McCarroll, Paul McGuigan and Alan White answer to no one — a podium appearance by them isn't impossible, echoing Dire Straits' 2018 induction when Mark Knopfler stayed home. Two drummers and a bassist can't carry "Wonderwall" alone, so guest performers seem certain.

Could Phil Collins change his mind?

Collins told the BBC's Charlotte Gallagher in May: "They asked me if I would perform. I said no. You've gotta be match-fit to do something like that." But in a recent Rock & Roll Hall of Fame interview he struck a different tone: "I never say exactly never. Every now and again, I think about, well, going out on the road again… So I do think every now and again that I haven't finished."

A surprise performance is a long shot — maybe 100 to 1 — with Twenty One Pilots or Coldplay likelier candidates to play his song. The Hall could have avoided all of this by inducting Collins as a solo artist decades ago.

What about the rest of the night?

Billy Idol, 70, will sing "White Wedding" and "Rebel Yell" with guitarist Steve Stevens, and the Hall will almost certainly pair him with a younger duet partner — he has recently sung with Carrie Underwood and Miley Cyrus. Expect tributes to the late Bob Weir and Dolly Parton, with heavy hitters likely onstage. Iron Maiden, touring Australia on induction weekend, may get only a career mini-doc instead of a live tribute — Bruce Dickinson said in 2018, "I'm really happy we're not there and I would never want to be there." Sade, inactive since 2011, could be reduced to a montage or a guest singer tackling "Smooth Operator" and "The Sweetest Taboo." Grammy Parsons enters as an Early Influence, three days after Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, the Black Crowes and Margo Price honored him at the Troubadour. Queen Latifah and MC Lyte also receive Early Influence awards, and Rick Rubin picks up the Award for Musical Excellence — possibly in shorts.

All of these questions get answered in just a few days, when the ceremony finally reveals what the Hall has been hiding.