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Coincidence or not, it was a full moon Tuesday (Feb. 11) in Rio de Janeiro. The sky was clear, without stars, as the biggest star got ready to shine at the Nilton Santos Stadium, also known as Engenhão. Accompanied by her army — correction: her pack — She-Wolf Shakira marched toward the stage, focused on performing the greatest show of her life for the kickoff of her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour. She delivered, showing once again why she’s considered one of the greatest Latin artists in history.
Even with technical problems — including faulty monitors and a problem with screens — Shak remained calm and in good spirits.
“This is the first show, of course, something had to happen,” she said, laughing. With everything resolved, Shakira began the concert with “La Fuerte” from her latest album, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, which gives its name to the tour.
The Colombian artist performed for more than two hours, playing a setlist that included the biggest hits from her 30-year-plus career. With the help of highly realistic projections made with AI, the singer brought visuals that told key moments of her personal and artistic journey.
In addition, the competent band and dancers put on a show of their own. Shakira made sure to thank each member of her team and introduced each one by name on stage. The she-wolf seemed to be overflowing with joy, like a child. At the end of each act — difficult to say which was the best — she had a huge smile on her face.
“This is a true encounter between a little she-wolf and her pack,” Shakira said.
Proving that women cash in — and how! — Shakira made a heavy investment in this tour. She was accompanied by cameras that showed every step of the show on a giant screen. Her speed in changing outfits was impressive: I counted eight, but there were definitely more. In some of her acts, she recreated scenes from music videos like “Te Felicito” (with Rauw Alejandro), and also recreated the atmosphere of the “Chantaje” video (with Maluma), where she sang from her dressing room — and the audience followed everything, including the costume changes.
Adjectives fall short to explain the magnitude of the singer’s performance; she seemed like a force of nature on stage. According to her: “Falls are not the end, but the beginning of the highest flight.” And after her turbulent period, today she shines with tranquility — with each passing day, time is becoming her ally, just like a fine wine.
Below, see Shakira’s 10 best moments at the first concert of her Las Mujeres No Ya Lloran World Tour.
The opening
Ask the members of Horsegirl — Nora Cheng, 21, Penelope Lowenstein, 20, and Gigi Reece, 22 — to describe each other using a single word, and it quickly becomes apparent that their hive mind is strong.
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“I would say that Penelope is strong-willed,” says Reece, the band’s drummer.
“I was going to say that!” Cheng, Horsegirl’s guitarist and vocalist, interjects.
“You a–hole!” Reece replies with a laugh, then adds, “I would say Nora is charming.”
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“I was going to use charming for you,” Cheng says to Reece. “Strong-willed and charming in their own special ways.”
Lowenstein shakes things up. “For Gigi, I’m going to say hilarious, and Nora, I would say, is quirky.”
Cheng: “Are you serious?”
Lowenstein: “Yep.”
Cheng: “Okay, Penelope — rude.”
Lowenstein: “Dude, quirky is sweet.”
Spend some time with the Chicago-spawned indie rockers, and you’ll conclude that all three are strong-willed, charming, quirky, wicked smart and in sync. Although Reece is Zooming in separately from Cheng and Lowenstein, who are roommates and finishing up their studies at New York University, they bounce ideas, jokes and opinions off each other with the kind of joyous ease and musicality that defines their new album, Phonetics On and On, which Matador Records will release on Feb. 14.
The album’s sound has been described as “spacious” compared to the fuzzy, saturated ’90s-style tones of their 2022 debut, Versions of Modern Performance. It is: Phonetics On and On — which was produced by Cate Le Bon and recorded at Wilco‘s headquarters and recording studio — is also lyrically and musically elemental in a way that inspires playing it on repeat. “Julie,” “2468” and “Switch Over” are among the reptile-brain pleasers — fun to sing, hard to forget — that are certain to grow Horsegirl’s fan base in the coming weeks.
Below, the trio talks about the making of Phonetics, as well as some song inspirations, and about the differences between trying to be creative in New York and in Chicago.
Where were your heads at when you were making this album?
Reece: We were thinking a lot about this period of adjusting to something new, and adjusting to something new with each other. We came from a place of being so close – in high school we were almost inseparable, and so similar as people. I feel like we’ve all gone on our own tracks, and we’ve been adjusting to those changes.
Are you all in New York?
Reece: Yeah, I live 15 minutes away from them.
Lowenstein: We were grappling with a change of place which had brought us a lot closer together, as you were saying, Gigi. I also think we had just toured on the first record for a whole summer and experienced together what being in a professional band was like. I think we were feeling really excited to reconnect with what the band is separate from all the noise — to tune everything out and find something on our own, which maybe has to do with the different sound that we ended up naturally coming across.
Cheng: Yeah, I think that a lot of the character of this album was from that break. We did a lot of growing up and having new experiences in that time just by nature of how old we were. That’s definitely part of that record.
Phonetics is the study of speech sounds. How did you arrive at that title for the album?
Lowenstein: We were really excited about using the rudiments of language, and the first things that you’re taught when you’re taught language and reading. Lyrically and instrumentally we wanted to go back to the building blocks, both in the “dah, dah, dahs” and the “do, do, dos ” of grade school and in the standard tuning of the guitar — the open E and open A chords — which were things that we were not excited about in the same way as teenagers. We thought there was something exciting about trying to make a rock record or something dancy or experimental or poppy out of those components that make up every song.
Reece: We were sitting together being like, “OK, we need a title.” We had “On and On” as something that we wanted to be part of it, and we were like, “OK, we just need a great word before that.” The reason we were drawn towards using “On and On” was because of the way those sounds went with the repetition that’s on the record. “Phonetics” immediately seemed like the perfect word.
Is the song “Julie” about an actual person?
Lowenstein: Yeah. Someone I had a crush on back in the day.
Reece: Julie is me.
Seriously?
Reece: No. I was just thinking earlier today that it would be funny if I said that.
Does Julie know the song is about her?
Lowenstein: I don’t know how into it I want to get — I wish I could tell you what you want — but Julie is me. The song is about a boy, and I feel like, yes, they know. But I’m not dying to get, I don’t know…
Granular?
Lowenstein: Yeah, totally. If you know, you know, I would say.
In terms of repetition, I also noticed that the line, “they walk in twos” appears twice. Is there any symbolism to that?
Lowenstein: It kind of happened by accident, but it was also the idea to connect two songs — one of which, “2468,” is about phonetics. Writing a rock song with repetition and basic elements. Then, the song “In Twos” is like a classic love song, with more standard lyrics. We all might have different ideas around this, but I loved the idea of connecting these two types of songs.
Reece: As we were making the record, we were thinking about the ways that different songs played off each other. The lyrics for “2468” weren’t written until we got into the studio, so it was really a moment of let’s be self-referential. It feels like it was intentional even though it was a moment that could have just passed us by.
This album is sparer compared to the last album. How much of that was your decision and how much was Cate Le Bon’s influence?
Reece: In retrospect, if I wasn’t in Horsegirl, I’d be like “Oh, my god, Horsegirl got spacious because of Cate Le Bon.” But it really was that we chose Cate Le Bon because we had so much space in the songs we were writing and demoing. We were also experimenting more with percussion than we had before. We were playing on a glockenspiel and different tambourines and different shakers. We were clearly getting at something very playful, and our songwriting had more space in it. That was intentional. In that regard, Cate made perfect sense. She didn’t have to push us very much in terms of that because we got there on the same page about it.
Cheng: She carried our vision.
Lowenstein: She gave us confidence about our vision. When the three of us are united in an idea, no one is telling us otherwise. But because we admire this woman beyond anything else we were able to make weirder decisions with a lot of confidence because she was like, this sounds really good you guys.
Cheng: Her outside perspective was very valuable. In the studio, I had this feeling that Cate can see the future. She understands how this can work out.
Reece: We were like, “Cate is Cate. She knows everything.”
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Why did you go back to Chicago to record the album when you were all here in New York?
Lowenstein: Part of it was just straight up logistics. We’re in school, and we wanted to do it during winter break. It’s nice to go home and see your family. But I also think we wanted an environment where you can tap out of everything else going on in New York. It would be crazy to imagine going to the studio and then social life resumes. We wanted to turn all of that off, and there’s nothing like going back to where the three of us are from and staying with your family. That kind of rhythm of life is really conducive to cozy, creative energy which is what we wanted. And Chicago is just — it’s really grounding for us to go home there. And we’re very lucky that Cate was down to go to Chicago in the worst month to possibly be in Chicago.
I read that the heat had to be turned off there so it wouldn’t interfere with recording?
Reece: It was so cold, but the opportunity to record at The Loft made perfect sense for us. It felt really cozy, even though we had to turn the heat off. The Wilco team seems to function like a huge family with offices. All the pieces fit together. Cate had already recorded there.
You are a truly collaborative band. That’s not easy. How do you write lyrics, for example?
Lowenstein: We are truly collaborative, which I think is rare, and I realize that the longer we’ve been in this, how rare it is. Lyrically, we work individually. The lyrics that I sing, I wrote. The lyrics Nora sings, she wrote. But the fact that we’re often singing at the same time I think speaks to [our collaborative] nature. Also, we’ve lived together so we know what each other is talking about. When we are writing lyrics, we will ask each other for advice. I think it’s sweet that both of us singing together is such a part of Horsegirl. Even though the lyrics are individual, the melodies are completely collaborative. It all comes from a place of joy, playing together which has always, I think, been the core of this band.
You’ve said in the past that you’ll return to Chicago after school is finished. Do you still feel that way?
All three: Yeah.
Why come to New York at all?
Reece: We had something so special in Chicago, but we didn’t want to remain stagnant in that. That we left at such an exciting time that came with a lot of growing pains. But I think that it made us make the record we made and brought us so much closer together. It helped us realize things about life and being a musician and being young women and being friends with each other. Maybe that would have happened if we didn’t move to New York, but I think that we wanted to come somewhere that felt bigger than Chicago because we felt very comfortable in Chicago. We needed to push ourselves.
Lowenstein: If I still lived in the same city as my family and my dear friends, I wouldn’t have been pushed to develop in the ways that I have moving away from home. I am glad that we made that choice instead of the tour-tour-tour-go-live-at-home kind of grind that you can get into when you become professional at 17. The move was important in our development as people, which impacts the music. But Chicago is a special city.
Do you feel it’s harder to be creative in New York than where you’re from?
Reece: Oh my god, yes. That’s also a huge part of why we won’t live here much longer. It is unsustainable unless you have the means for it. As indie rockers it is not our reality, at least at this point. It makes sense to come here to study and to have these experiences at this young age, but later into our 20s we want to get more into sustainable living and creative practices. Also, it’s harder to be creative in New York, just because of the social environment of it. There’s so many people, so many different cliques. In Chicago it felt like we have this scene, and it feels like an umbrella for a lot of people. Here, it feels like there’s a million different little sections. It’s hard to break in, and it feels like everybody doesn’t want to come together. Which kind of breaks my heart sometimes.
Lowenstein: It’s hard to come together here.
Reece: Yes. And then that inherently gets a little competitive. We are much more for friendly competition [as a form of] motivation.
Are you celebrities at NYU? Do your fellow students say, “That’s Horsegirl!” on campus?
Lowenstein: It doesn’t feel like we’re well known. If we are, well known, people are cool-guying us left and right. I mean, there have been moments where I had to miss class to play Coachella or something, and my teachers are like, “Wait, what?” Then my classmates are like, “Oh, I’ve heard of you,” or whatever. But beyond that, no one cares at all which is I think so healthy and important. I feel very thankful for that separation in my life. [To Cheng] Do you agree?
Cheng: Yeah, totally.
Lowenstein: Nora and I have had several classes together now at this point.
Cheng: People just think that we’re roommate friends. They don’t know about the other dimension to it. I accidentally started playing one of our songs on full blast yesterday.
Lowenstein: Last night Nora did secretly leak a Horsegirl song to the class. No one cared. It’s humbling. It’s like no one cares — and it’s important to remember that as an indie rocker. Otherwise, you start to get a big head.
Reece: When all three of us walk around, then things get a little weird. Especially if we’re at a show or something. But genuinely, these are my best friends. These are who I want to go to things with. So, it’s like — everyone else is making it weird.
Where do you see yourself in a couple of years where you’re done with school and you’re back in Chicago? Have you thought about how Horsegirl evolves?
Lowenstein: This band has been such a source of joy and creativity for us that once we graduate, we [want to] tour for real in a way that we decided not to when we chose to go to school. It’s important for us to do that and to try to live off of this, but also continue to preserve how fun it is and put our friendship first.
I also think, “Maybe one day I’ll just be a Chicago public school English teacher” — which would be a great life. Or I’ve recently been like, “Maybe I’ll go to grad school.” I don’t really know. I feel like we have a lot of different lives. Or maybe we’ll Yo La Tengo it, and be like a touring indie rock band forever.
As long as we all still feel like it’s fun. I feel like we could continue to play music together forever — just take it down a notch professionally — and I would be totally happy with that. Or maybe we’ll take it up a notch professionally. I think we’re all happy to ride it in any direction, and get another job if there needs to be another job.
Reece: Our ultimate plan is that we just want to remain friends and remain in each other’s lives in this familial way. Because there’s nobody else I have gone through or will go through what I’ve gone through with Penelope and Nora. What we have as friends is something that is really worth holding onto. If the band or anything starts to get in the way of that, then that would be the time for a change.
Are you able to support yourselves solely with your music at this point?
Cheng: It depends on the season. Penelope and I are still in school, so we are grateful to still be supported by our families.
Lowenstein: Gigi has a side job.
Reece: Oh yeah. I’m a babysitter. The most rock-and-roll babysitter in Brooklyn.
You’re on one of the most legendary indie labels of all time. Have you gotten advice from any of Matador’s veteran artists?
Reece: Advice, no. We also honestly haven’t met that many other people. But we played a Hanukkah show with Yo La Tengo, and we kicked it in the green room with them for a little bit. I felt like that was one of the most special moments we have had, because Yo La Tengo was the band we’ve all seen live the most, and it’s what we wanted to be when we started our band.
Lowenstein: Those guys knew how much their band meant to us, and they let us sit on the stairs of the stage, so we were visible from the audience. They were really thoughtful in how they treated us. They have been doing it for so long, and for the Hanukkah shows, they are playing night to night to night, and there was still such joy between the three of them.
It can be hard on tour to even introduce yourselves to the local opener who you’re running in and out. Their behavior was advice enough in terms of, I would really love to age like that as a musician. I would love to be thoughtful through and through until the very end. I hope that we can. It is challenging on tour and in this industry to maintain that. But it’s important.
In April 2022, when The Kid LAROI headlined the March Madness Festival in New Orleans, the Australian rapper was at a “critical time in his career,” as one of his agents, Sara Schoch, recalls. He was on the brink of switching to a new manager and he was about to release a follow-up track to his smash single “Stay” with Justin Bieber. “He was rolling out new music and reframing how he was presenting to fans,” says Schoch, United Talent Agency’s co-head of global brand music partnerships.
The venue LAROI’s team chose was TNT Sports, for which he headlined a Coca-Cola-sponsored stage at the televised March Madness Music Festival in New Orleans and made a commercial for the soda brand containing original music. Within a month, his single “Thousand Miles” debuted at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100. The connection led to a broader brand deal, including an alternative-reality-enhanced video that was part of Coke’s summer-music campaign. Then he sold out a tour of ballrooms and amphitheaters in minutes. “It was a big deal,” Schoch says. “The TNT team is artist-first and understanding of who’s going to break. They give [artists] media visibility. They have the infrastructure. I haven’t seen an organization bring all those things together, especially in such a consistent way.”
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Where rival sports networks mostly focus on fixed, one-time, widely viewed events — like the Super Bowl Halftime Show or Beyoncé‘s halftime performance during the NFL’s Christmas Day game last year, both on Fox Sports — TNT’s operations-plus-A&R-plus-brands skillset is unique. Known for its NBA and NCAA basketball coverage — and to a lesser extent hockey, auto-racing and tennis events — the network has spent the last decade and a half building makeshift stages in U.S. cities for free events, signing headlining superstars from Kendrick Lamar to Rihanna to Bruce Springsteen, helping to break new artists such as Doechii and Shaboozey and broadcasting all the copiously brand-stamped events on cable television. For this weekend’s NBA All-Star Game in the Bay Area, Chance the Rapper will headline an opening concert, broadcast on TNT, on Thursday evening (Feb. 13) at Pier 48 in San Francisco.
“We’re jack of all trades, I guess,” says André Plasiance, TNT Sports’ vp of live events, who acts as a sort of A&R man combined with a concert promoter. “We got a lot of things on our plate.”
One of Plaisance’s first events for the network, then known as Turner Sports, was to build a stage near the Mississippi River in New Orleans for a Jimmy Buffett concert as part of the three-day NCAA Big Dance Concert Series in 2012. Even Buffett’s people were confused about how Turner would basically create an entire city, including the stage, out of a park. One of them asked Plaisance, a New Orleans native, “Ever been there?” Plaisance replied: “Not really.” But the team pulled off the event, which also featured KISS and The Black Keys, before some 130,000 people.
Since then, Plaisance says, “There’s a level of trust that we could do that successfully. We’re able to build on that throughout the years.”
Basketball, according to Rick Faigin, executive vp of Acceleration Community of Companies, an agency that works with artists and brands, has a way of intersecting with music that other sports don’t have, even when they try — like Major League Baseball, which sporadically stages performers during its Home Run Derby, or the annual Super Bowl Soulful Celebration, starring The Isley Brothers, Yolanda Adams and others in recent years. Some of that may be “because TNT has made it that way,” Faigin says. He adds that the Super Bowl Halftime Show has exactly one sponsor — Apple Music — while TNT Sports’ various events surrounding NBA games and March Madness provide far more music-branding opportunities. (It must be noted that Chance the Rapper and The Smashing Pumpkins performed during player introductions and intermissions in a New Year’s Eve 2024 NHL game at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, broadcast on TNT.)
“One thing [TNT’s team] are great at is delivering a high-quality production that rivals any of the major music festivals out there, from the staging to the overall production to the festival grounds,” says Byron Taub, vp of sponsorships and experiential marketing for Capital One, which has partnered with the network since 2011. “We want to create memories for our customers through these memorable types of events. We’re looking to create immersive experiences that tap into their passions — sports, music, dining, entertainment.”
For TNT, “the home run, or slam dunk, or three-point shot, whatever analogy you want to use,” according to Plaisance, is when the network can work with an artist to break a pump-it-up sports anthem. Examples include Muse‘s “Madness,” which became a March Madness anthem in 2013, licensed for TV promos and performed in a concert in Atlanta; and The Black Keys’ 2024 track “Beautiful People (Stay High),” used in Final Four promos last year around the time the band performed at TNT Sports’ Capital One Jamfest. “We’re constantly looking for those synchs to have that 360 tie-in, for the broadcast and the band live experience as well,” Plaisance says.
“It’s exposure you can’t pay for,” adds Dave Aussenberg, music brand partnerships agent at Creative Artists Agency, which represents Shaboozey, Mumford & Sons and others who’ve played TNT sports-and-music events. “These are some of the most desirable sporting events to attend. The more music events you attach to these weekends, it’s a huge win for fans.”
In a half-hour Zoom, Plaisance suggests his passion lies in building venues from scratch, beginning with the Buffett performance in 2012. For the NCAA’s annual March Madness basketball tournament games in San Antonio, “You’re basically building an arena in a downtown park, providing everything from the festival perimeter to the restrooms to the stage, every piece of infrastructure, generators,” Plaisance says. “You get to build a new arena every year.”
For Plaisance, a native of Southwest Louisiana, a lifelong obsession with live music began when his parents took him to Willie Nelson‘s concert at the 1984 World’s Fair in New Orleans. When the Superdome reopened in 2006, symbolizing the city’s post-Hurricane Katrina rebirth, U2 and Green Day’s performances showed Plaisance “what music can do to a building.”
“I get goosebumps, right now, thinking about that,” he continues. “You see how relevant music is with sports and the crowd. That made an impression on me.”
Village People frontman Victor Willis is clearing the air after he sent a cease and desist to Jim Jeffries, after the comedian joked on his At This Moment podcast that the 1978 classic “Y.M.C.A.” is about men “f—ing in showers in a hostel.”
Willis joined TMZ‘s 2 Angry Men podcast this week, where hosts Harvey Levin and Mark Geragos asked the singer about his song being a “gay anthem.”
“He went over the line when he got into saying it had to do with men having sex in the bathroom,” Willis said of sending Jeffries a cease and desist for what was described as an “obscene, derogatory and false description” of the track. “There is nothing in my lyrics that says anything about that. We approached him and he apologized and said he was going to rephrase what it was he said and say it differently, because the way he said it as worded was defamatory.”
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However, Levin then followed up by noting that a number of lyrics in “Y.M.C.A.” could be interpreted in different ways, including the chorus: “It’s fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A./ They have everything for young men to enjoy/ You can hang out with all the boys.”
In response, Willis pointed out that the dual meaning was his intention. “That was something that I credited myself on is writing my songs with what is called a double entendre,” he said. “I would write a song to where you can take it any kind of way you wanted it. If you’re straight, you can take the lyrics for somebody straight or if you were gay, you could take it for somebody gay.”
When Willis insisted that “there’s like 10% of the gay community that have been coming to my shows and have been there over the past 10 years,” Levin and Geragos insisted that the number would be higher.
Last month, Village People performed at the Liberty Ball during Donald Trump’s inauguration celebrations, as both “Macho Man” and “Y.M.C.A.” were popular song choices at Trump campaign rallies during his 2020 and 2024 campaign rallies.
In December, Willis doubled down on why he chose to let the president-elect play “Y.M.C.A.” at rallies and events, saying he “didn’t have the heart” to block the usage — despite originally asking Trump to stop in 2020 — upon realizing that the politician seemed to “genuinely like” the track and was “having a lot of fun” with “Y.M.C.A.” Plus, as Willis noted, the dance tune has only “benefited greatly” in terms of chart placements and sales since Trump incorporated it into his campaign.
In the same post, Willis denounced the song’s status as a “gay anthem,” threatening legal action against news organizations that referred to the song as such. “Get your minds out of the gutter. It is not [a gay anthem] … such notion is based solely on the song’s lyrics alluding to [illicit] activity for which it does not,” he said.
There’s a new Mobb Deep album in the works. The Alchemist made an appearance on The Breakfast Club on Wednesday (Feb. 12) to promote his new album, Life Is Beautiful, with Larry June and 2 Chainz, where he broke the news after praising the late Prodigy‘s work ethic and writing skills. “They did so much […]
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Hip-Hop Wired is dropping an exclusive ‘I Got Questions’, and the upcoming episode is a must-watch for fans of 90s & 2000s hip-hop. The series features interviews with iconic artists like Juvenile and Ja Rule, and this particular episode dives deep into their thoughts on Irv Gotti and their untold stories about the legendary producer.
This episode of I Got Questions was recorded prior to Irv Gotti’s untimely passing
Juvenile opens up about how Irv Gotti was someone he always wanted to work with but never had the chance to. The Cash Money rapper expresses his admiration for Gotti, reflecting on what could have been. Ja Rule, who had a close relationship with Irv Gotti, reveals that he never knew Juvenile felt this way. He shares that Irv genuinely appreciated Juvenile’s style and movement, adding that there was potential for a great collaboration.
Juvenile also reveals that he had ideas for working with Irv and Ja, but Ja Rule admits that, back in the day, he thought Juvenile might not want to jump on his records. “Sometimes when you’re young and coming up, you (Juvenile) were 4x platinum, I’m thinking you didn’t wanna get on my little records until I got on myself. But man, I wish I would’ve known that,” Ja says, showing a deep respect for Juvenile’s career and the missed opportunities.
The full episode is set to drop on February 19th, and it’s sure to be a deep dive into the complex relationships behind the scenes in hip-hop.
Billboard‘s Deputy Editorial Director Damien Scott spoke with Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (executive producer and director) and Joseph Patel (producer) of Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius) about the film’s creation and the enduring impact of Sly Stone’s legacy, both historically and in today’s culture. Check out the documentary, available now Hulu. Damien Scott: What’s […]
EDC Las Vegas will host more than 250 dance acts at the festival this May.
On Thursday (Feb. 13), EDC Las Vegas producer Insomniac Events announced the festival lineup, which is once again stacked with the who’s who of the dance world. The bill features big names including Dom Dolla, Alesso, Afrojack, Alison Wonderland playing b2b with Kaskade, Illenium playing b2b with Slander, Sara Landry, Horsegiirl, Gesaffelstein, RL Grime, Martin Garrix, DJ Snake, Interplanetary Criminal, Rezz, Fisher, Eric Prydz and many, many more.
Happening at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on May 16-18, this year’s EDC Las Vegas will feature 16 stages, the most in the festival’s history. Two of the festival’s key stages, CircuitGrounds and NeonGarden, will feature new designs, with the festival also set to debut a new stage called Ubuntu.
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Created in collaboration with South Africa’s Bridges For Music Academy, which provides young people from underserved communities with access to programs focused on creative entrepreneurship, well-being and music, Ubuntu will feature Afro house, a genre that’s skyrocketed in popularity in the U.S. over the last few years. The stage will host performances from rising students artists and established South African acts.
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In a statement, Insomniac Events says that EDC Las Vegas 2025 is currently sold out. EDC moved to Las Vegas from its original home in Los Angeles in 2011, and in the 14 years since, has established itself as the country’s biggest dance music festival, drawing 125,000 attendees a day.
Get out your magnifying glass and check out the complete 2025 lineup below.
EDC Las Vegas 2025
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Jalen Hurts is clearly a leader on and off the field. Cameras caught him putting respect on Saquon Barkley’s name during their Super Bowl victory.
As per USA Today the world is getting some more insight on what makes Jalen Hurts the ultimate professional in the NFL. During their Super Bowl match against the Kansas City Chiefs he and Saquon Barkley were both wearing wireless microphones. At the tail end of the game where it was clear that the Eagles would be victorious, cameras caught the two expressing their excitement. Here we see Jalen telling Saquon to his face that he was the key their success. “Hey, man, that’s you. That’s you. I know it’s all of us, but you don’t understand the difference you made. You know, we right there. But you like that last piece, man” Jalen says.
The University of Oklahoma alumni is referring to the 2023 season where they originally faced off against the Kansas City Chiefs at Super Bowl LVII but lost 38 – 35. In 2024 the Philadelphia Eagles acquired Saquon Barkley. Prior to signing he revealed he was his frustrations with his former team The New York Giants and referred to the negotiation tactics “a little disrespectful.”
You can see the footage below.
Following the success of his first project, Culture Jam with NBA superstar Kawhi Leonard, founder Essean Bolden returns with the second compilation, but with a twist: Enter 23-year-old NBA wunderkind Anthony Edwards. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “We are beyond excited to partner with Anthony [Edwards], […]