Lita Ford performs at the Newton Performing Arts Center on Friday, April 10.
NEWTON, N.C. — Lita Ford is happy, healthy, and still rocking out audiences with her music — and she still has a lot more to say.
Ford, the iconic hard rock and glam metal musician, is bringing her 2026 tour to North Carolina, with a stop at the Newton Performing Arts Center on Friday, April 10th. The show is part of a wide-ranging run of dates that also includes an appearance on the Monsters of Rock cruise.
The tour began with a one-off show in Indiana on March 27 and resumes on Thursday in Rhode Island.
Ford told WCNC Charlotte she is energized heading into the stretch of shows.
“The show in Indiana was amazing,” she told WCNC Charlotte. “You come out of there, and you just feel so happy with the show and the fans and everything. I know it’s gonna be a great show at the Newton theater.”
Ford’s career has taken her around the world with performances at enormous venues, but she says even at an intimate spot like the Newton Performing Arts Center — which seats just over 500 people — is never a deterrent.
“So long as we can get in there and rock the place and give the fans a good time, it really doesn’t matter to me,” she said. “Everything else is cosmetic.”
Ford rose to prominence as one of the founding members of The Runaways, the all-female punk rock band that pushed the limits and topped the charts with songs like “Cherry Bomb” and “Wasted” in the 1970s. She formed a solo band in the early 1980s and pushed in a heavy metal direction with her debut album “Out for Blood.” Ford’s next four albums, “Dancin’ on the Edge” (1984),” Lita” (1988), “Stilletto” (1990), and Dangerous Curves” (1991) were critical and commercial successes that solidified her as one of the best glam metal acts of the era.
Ford will take the stage backed by drummer Bobby Rock, guitarist Patrick Kennison, and bassist Martin Anderson. She said crafting a setlist across such a deep catalog means staying keenly aware of the audience at all times.
“I try to put together a setlist that doesn’t let you get bored anywhere during the show,” she said. “There are no places in our set that allow you to get bored.”
The Newton date leads directly into Ford’s April 12-17 appearances on the Monsters of Rock cruise.
“It’s badass,” Ford said, referencing the cruise. “Lots of great musicians, lots of great bands.”
Ford also teased a new studio album, her first in roughly a decade, which she hopes to release in early September, though she cautioned no date is official. Produced with guitarist Gary Hoey and featuring a collaboration with Jean Beauvoir, Ford described the record as a “cool dark fairy tale sort of a record” built around strong guitar riffs. She also revealed a duet with German heavy metal icon Doro Pesch.
“It’s visual,” Ford said of the album. “When you hear the songs, your imagination goes wild.”
Ford said having “a lot to say” after years away from the studio drove her back into the recording process. She compared the experience favorably to writing her 2016 memoir, Living Like a Runaway, which became a national bestseller.
“It’s better than writing a book,” she said. “Put it all down in rock and roll.”
Now based in Arizona, Ford reflected on a career that has taken her from the punk clubs of the 1970s to platinum albums with the Runaways, Grammy nominations for her solo work, and a BC Rich Warlock guitar enshrined in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s permanent collection.
“I’m grateful to have come full circle in the music industry,” she said. “Healthy, happy, rocking — you don’t get much better than that.”
Ford has played in North Carolina several times, last in Newton in 2024. Her last show in Charlotte was in 2012.
She noted she played in the state with The Runaways with a stop in Charlotte in 1978, and that she’s always admired the state’s natural scenery.
“North Carolina is such a gorgeous, gorgeous place,” Ford said. “I always love coming into North Carolina.”
She even noted that Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snyder has purchased land near Asheville. “He bought property there. It’s so beautiful, he had to buy a bunch of land there.”
Tickets for the April 10th show at the Newton Performing Arts Center are available through the venue.