The American dream according to Alabama Shakes

Is the American dream still possible or are “Peace, love, happiness, opportunity, freedom” destined to remain a dream? This is what Alabama Shakes ask themselves in their new song, a new step in their return after a long absence and which will lead to an album within the year. In the meantime, however, there is a tour, which started a few days ago in America, and which will see them at the Lucca Summer Festival: Brittany Howard’s band, which has been missing from Italy for over ten years, will perform in the Tuscan town on 7 July 2026. Matt Berninger, the National’s frontman, will open their concert: for both of them it will be the only Italian date.

A new phase

“American dream” arrives at a stage in which the band’s return is in full swing, after a long absence: the first signs had emerged at the end of 2024, with some surprise performances that had interrupted a silence that had lasted over seven years. In the following months, confirmation of the studio work arrived, until the publication of “Another life”, the first official song ten years after “Sound & color” (2015).

“When I wrote ‘Another Life,’ I was thinking about all the lives we carry with us,” Brittany Howard said. “The ones we’re living now, the ones that slipped away because of different choices, the ‘what ifs,’ the things that weren’t meant to be, the goodbyes and chance encounters that feel divine. This song is about those threads and how they stretch across time and space, connecting every version of who we are. It’s about letting them meet, to harmonize, and the realizing that goodbye isn’t really goodbye. It’s more of a ‘see you later’. A collective story that never stops unfolding. I’m happy that we’ve opened this door to this reality of us making music together again.”
In addition to marking their comeback, “Another life” also inaugurated a new phase for the group, now released on Island after their debut with ATO Records between “Boys and girls” (2012) and “Sound & color”. A passage that accompanies a broader change: the Alabama Shakes are now a trio made up of Howard, Heath Fogg and Zac Cockrell.

Pause and return

The break began in 2018, after the Grammy awards, and had opened a phase of individual paths. Howard released “Jaime” in 2019 and “What now” in 2024, also touring to major international festivals. Fogg also worked on a solo project, while drummer Steve Johnson left the band. The public return came on December 18, 2024 with a surprise concert in Tuscaloosa, followed by the announcement of a tour in 2025, the first in eight years. Since then the band has progressively added new songs to the setlist, including “American Dream” and “Someday”, anticipating what should become their third studio album.

With Matt Berninger

In this context, Alabama Shakes’ move to the Lucca Summer Festival is one of the European stages of the new course: not a simple reunion, but a restart built on unreleased material and regular live activity. While waiting for the new album, a concert not to be missed – also for the presence of Matt Berninger: for the National frontman it is the absolute debut in Italy in a solo version, after two albums released during breaks in the band’s activity: “Serpentine Prison” was released in 2020 while “Get Sunk” was released a year ago.