We made it. It’s 2021.

Phew, this past year was a lot. We’re so grateful for our amazing community for sticking together and rocking out, albeit distanced, all year long and we’re looking forward to being right there with you again this year.

New year, exciting stuff. We have plenty of time ahead of us to jam. Let’s celebrate the start of 2021 and put some good vibes out into the universe with the 20th season of Rock Band Rivals. Yes, you read that right. We’re already at freakin’ SEASON 20! Definitely could not have gotten here without you all.

So what’s in store for this momentous occasion, you may ask?

We’re turning back the clocks and revisiting 8 previous challenges from the last 20 seasons, as voted on by you all. The first challenge of Rivals Season 20, starting January 14th, calls back to the first challenge from Season 1, “Ready To Rock?”, which highlighted our namesake: Rock music. After all… it’s Rock Band not… wait, forget it. We’ve refreshed the challenge with an updated song list designed to highlight the new Rock hits that we’ve released since 2017. We’re kicking things off with new DLC featuring songs from Machine Gun Kelly and Anarbor. Which songs? You’ll have to wait ‘til tomorrow to find out, as per usual. Just wanted to give you a sneak peek.

Cool, we get to relive some rad challenges from seasons past. What about rewards?

I’m glad you asked. To celebrate our 20th season, we’re giving you a chance at two sets of past Rock Shop rewards that were overwhelmingly requested in the survey you all took a few months ago: The Season 11 instrument sets, and the elusive Season 0 t-shirts. There has never been a better time to jump into a crew, fight your way to Bloodstone, and collect them all.

Oh also, we have something cool in store for the folks who haven’t joined Rivals yet.

From January 13th through January 19th (the first week of Season 20!), everyone who owns RB4 will have access to the Rivals Expansion. That gives you exclusive access to Rockudrama, the hilarious campaign that sets you as the star of your very own live-action rock documentary, online Quickplay, and the eponymous Rivals Mode, which is where the heart of the action is. Jump into Rivals by joining a Crew and competing head-to-head. For those who haven’t played in a while, or have been curious about the Rivals Expansion, now’s a great time to check out all the cool stuff it adds to the Rock Band 4 experience.

That’s that for now. We’re looking forward to making 2021 a memorable year for our community and ourselves, and that starts with Season 20. See you on the leaderboards, Rock Banderinos.

- Katey & the Rock Band team.