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Concerts

Page: 17

On the second night of a two-night stint at Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif., on Wednesday (May 22), Pearl Jam brought the energy with a powerful, no-frills rock show that delivered on the hits.
More than 30 years after the band catapulted to stardom with its diamond-selling, grunge-era classic Ten, Eddie Vedder’s voice (oft-imitated, never duplicated) remains a vital instrument, while the rest of the band — including guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard, bassist Jeff Ament and drummer Matt Cameron — boast the tight, well-oiled chemistry of a lineup that has, remarkably, remained consistent ever since Cameron joined up in 1998.

Though it brought the firepower in spades, Wednesday night’s show — which marked the latest stop on Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter World Tour that launched in Vancouver, B.C., earlier this month — started on a somber note when Vedder launched into “Long Road,” a track off the band’s 1995 Merkin Ball EP. Leading up to the performance, Vedder paid tribute to his late uncle, John Vedder, noting that Wednesday marked the 10th anniversary of his death. “He kinda shaped me from an early age,” Vedder said from the stage. “I just had to get it out of my system before we played tonight.”

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That was far from the only tribute paid by the band on Wednesday, bringing a melancholy undercurrent to the roughly two-and-a-half-hour set. At one point during the evening, Vedder also paid homage to a host of iconic rock drummers who have died within the last several years. “A couple of years ago, just randomly, some of the greatest of all time, we lost,” said Vedder, who rattled off the names of Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins, The Rolling Stones’ Charlie Watts and Rush’s Neil Peart before segueing into a performance of Dark Matter‘s title track.

Later in the evening, Vedder also remembered the great Tom Petty by revealing that the red guitar he was holding on stage was one the late rock star had given him years earlier. “The day before we left, [when] we were starting the tour, I went into this back room of mine, and I had space to take one more guitar on the road …This guitar was screaming out, ‘Pick me, pick me,’” said Vedder before launching into a cover of Petty’s hit 1989 single “I Won’t Back Down.”

Though new tracks from Dark Matter were sprinkled liberally throughout the performance — including “Wreckage,” “React, Respond” and show-closer “Setting Sun” — Wednesday night’s set understandably leaned heavily into the first decade of Pearl Jam’s career, when the band was at its commercial peak.

Of those early albums, the muscular Ten received a particularly bright spotlight, with Vedder and company busting out renditions of “Even Flow,” “Black,” “Alive” and fan favorite “Jeremy,” which the band performed off the back of the propulsive Yield standout “Do the Evolution” during an extensive encore. Another highlight on Wednesday included the band’s performance of Vitalogy cut “Nothingman,” which served as a particularly potent showcase of Vedder’s still remarkable voice, which retains its clarity and power to move more than three decades on.

The night’s most rousing moment arrived with the second-to-last song, a cover of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” which boasted special guest appearances from Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith (who Vedder had noted was in the house earlier in the evening); Dark Matter producer Andrew Watt on guitar; and the members of Deep Sea Diver, the Seattle-based indie rock outfit that’s serving as the opening act on the first North American leg of the tour. During the extended performance, the band managed to turn the Forum into a full-on dance party, with Vedder flinging tambourines with abandon into the eager hands of the satiated crowd.

Full setlist:

“Long Road”

“Nothingman”

“Present Tense”

“Go”

“Scared of Fear”

“React, Respond”

“Wreckage”

“Untitled” (tour debut)

“MFC “(tour debut)

“All Those Yesterdays” (tour debut)

“Even Flow”

“Dark Matter”

“Corduroy”

“Won’t Tell”

“Black”

“Waiting for Stevie”

“Comatose”

“Rearviewmirror”

Encore:

“I Won’t Back Down” (Tom Petty cover)

“Dance of the Clairvoyants”

“Do the Evolution”

“Jeremy”

“Alive”

“Smile”

“Rockin in the Free World” (Neil Young cover, with Chad Smith, Andrew Watt and Deep Sea Diver)

“Setting Sun”

The entire West Coast is back outside thanks to Kendrick Lamar‘s scathing Billboard Hot 100-topping “Not Like Us,” and YG is ready to bring that energy across North America. On Monday (May 20), the “Big Bank” rapper announced his upcoming Just Re’d Up tour, which will kick off on June 28 in his hometown of Los Angeles, and concludes on Aug. 17 in Hawaii.
Assisted by fellow L.A. native DJ Vision and Cleveland rapper Doe Boy — who earned his first unaccompanied Billboard hit with this year’s “Way Too Long” (No. 29 on Rhythmic Airplay) — YG’s Just Re’d Up tour will visit major cities such as Chicago, New York and Houston. YG shared the official tour poster — which features his sunglasses-clad face emblazoned across a $100 bill with a suggestive image of two women mirrored on each sides of the frame — on his official Instagram page. “Let me know what songs yall wanna hear in the [comments],” he captioned the post

In line with recent concert dress codes such as Beyoncé‘s silver cowboy attire, Harry Styles‘ feather boas and Taylor Swift‘s friendship bracelets, YG’s tour poster suggested that “everybody wear black.”

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Ticket presale for the Just Re’d Up tour launched Tuesday (May 21) at 10 a.m. PT, while the Spotify presale commences on Wednesday (May 22) at 10 a.m. PT. General public sale begins Friday (May 24) at 10 a.m. PT; fans can find more tour information on YG’s official 4Hunnid website.

The new tour marks YG’s first headlining trek since 2019’s Stay Dangerous tour, which he launched in support of his 2018 LP of the same name. Stay Dangerous reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200, his third of five consecutive top 10 titles on the ranking. Last year, YG was slated to mount the Str8 to the Klub tour alongside Grammy-nominated rappers Tyga and Saweetie, but those dates were quietly canceled.

The Just Re’d Up tour marks a new era for YG, who recently signed a multi-album deal with BMG under his 4Hunnid Records label. On April 26, he unleashed the blazing, West Coast-indebted “Knocka,” laying the foundation for his forthcoming seventh solo studio album.

In addition to his five Billboard 200 top 10 projects — including 2014’s No. 2-peaking My Krazy Life — YG has earned more than 20 Hot 100 hits, including “Don’t Tell ‘Em” (No. 6, with Jeremih), “My Hitta” (No. 19, with Jeezy and Rich Homie Quan), “Big Bank” (No. 16, with 2 Chainz, Big Sean and Nicki Minaj), “Who Do You Love?” (No. 54, with Drake) and “Toot It And Boot It” (No. 67).

Check out the dates for YG’s Just Re’d Up tour below.

Taylor Swift‘s surprise song set went from celebratory to somber in Stockholm on Sunday (May 19). For the acoustic section of her third Eras show at Friends Arena, Swift was all smiles as she dedicated a medley to Sweden’s Max Martin — and then full of melancholy for the live debut of “How Did It […]

Brazilian superstar Anitta kicked off her Baile Funk Experience, a world tour that includes her first concert series in North America, this Saturday (May 18) in Mexico City.

The start of the trek took place during the third edition of the Tecate Emblema festival, held Friday and Saturday at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, the F1 venue in Mexico, where the artist was part of a stellar lineup that on its second day included Christina Aguilera, Nelly Furtado, Calvin Harris, Nicki Nicole, Miranda!, Aitana, Inna and Empress Of.

The show began with traditional Brazilian songs including Maria Bethânia’s “Carta de Amor,” while a group of dancers performed capoeira moves in honor of Afro-Brazilian culture. With this, they anticipated what Anitta was preparing for the audience: a total explosion of wild funk.

Produced by Live Nation, Baile Funk Experience includes stops in Latin America, the U.S. and Europe. The 20-date tour is in support of Funk Generation, the latest album from the trilingual singer, which highlights the Brazilian funk that has influenced her career.

Her next show is on May 12 in Los Angeles. She will also be visiting Miami Beach and Orlando, Florida, as well as Boston, Toronto, Chicago and New York before heading to Latin American countries including Colombia, Peru, Chile and Argentina. Stops in Europe include Berlin, Amsterdam, London, Paris, Madrid and more. For a full list of dates, click here.

Below is the complete setlist of Anitta’s Baile Funk Experience kick-off show in Mexico. (The song list is subject to changes in each city.)

“Funk Rave”

Taylor Swift induced some Tortured Poets-level hysteria when she performed “Guilty as Sin?” live for the first time at her Eras Tour stop in Stockholm, Sweden, on Saturday (May 18).
Swift, who brought her Eras spectacular to Stockholm’s Friends Arena for a trio of dates this weekend, complimented Saturday’s “absolutely wild” crowd at the start of the show’s acoustic section, during which she performs surprise songs on each tour date.

“You just fuel us the entire night,” Swift said of the crowd’s energy.

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“It makes me want to play one of my favorite songs from Tortured Poets that I’ve never played live before,” she teased. Swift gave her guitar a few strums leading up to an opening line that’s become instantly familiar to fans in the few weeks since she released her latest album: “Drowning in the Blue Nile/ He sent me ‘Downtown Lights’/ I hadn’t heard it in a while.”

The Friends Arena audience screamed. People on the internet shared the same sentiment, but through memes of Post Malone dancing to “Guilty as Sin?” and dry remarks about the tragedy of not being in the room with Swift for the track’s live debut.

“What if he’s written ‘mine’ on my upper thigh/ Only in my mind?” Swift sings on the track from The Tortured Poets Department. “One slip and falling back into the hedge maze/ Oh, what a way to die/ I keep recalling things we never did/ Messy top lip kiss/ How I long for our trysts/ Without ever touching his skin/ How can I be guilty as sin?”

“the way she sang guilty as sin as the first surprise song at her 89th show and opened with the lines ‘he sent me downtown lights’ which was released in 1989,” one fan pointed out on X, formerly Twitter, referring to the band The Blue Nile and Swift’s reference to their song “Downtown Lights.” (Saturday night marked the 89th Eras Tour date since the trek launched in March 2023).

“i’m taking the loss of Guilty As Sin really well,” another remarked, sharing evidence (via screenshots) of blocking both IKEA and ABBA’s accounts in response Sweden’s surprise song win.

“Guilty as Sin?” — which was followed by a 1989 piano medley of “Say Don’t Go,” “Welcome to New York” and “Clean” — continued to trend on X in the hours following Swift’s performance. See a clip of the full song played live below, plus fan reactions to missing out on “Guilty as Sin?” live.

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the way she sang guilty as sin as the first surprise song at her 89th show and opened with the lines “he sent me downtown lights” which was released in 1989, she’s sooooooo. https://t.co/xILM0aRvr7— maroon ᡣ𐭩 (@balladofmaroon) May 18, 2024

05/17/2024

It wasn’t all dancing bears at Dead & Co.’s debut Sphere show (though the bears were there!). Here are our favorite moments from show 1.

05/17/2024

Terrapin Station, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, is launching the fifth North American tour built around the successful Disney Jr. Live On Tour franchise, the company announced Monday (May 13).
The new tour, titled Disney Jr. Live On Tour: Let’s Play, is slated to visit more than 60 U.S. cities this fall thanks to aggressive routing, support from new presenting sponsor Walmart and an IP partnership with the extremely popular cable channel, Disney Jr.

The family entertainment industry is experiencing renewed growth in the post-pandemic era as families look for affordable experiences created for young children. But meeting that demand can be a challenge for smaller promoters, many of which struggle to license premium children’s content and compete for venue dates against larger competitors including Feld Entertainment, owners of Ringing Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, and Round Room Entertainment, a New York-based family show production company that completed a management-led buyout from former owner Hasbro in 2022.

But Terrapin Station CEO Jonathan Shank has found repeat success in the space by partnering with the most prestigious brand in family entertainment and steadily growing the company’s market share. Since launching in 2018, the Disney Jr. Live On Tour has generated $30 million and sold more than 750,000 tickets since launch, he says, adding that Let’s Play has a gross potential of about $8 million.

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“Disney Jr. Live On Tour has continued to grow over the past five years and is now one of the biggest family touring franchises on the road,” said Shank in a statement. “We are thrilled to bring this all-new show to theaters across the country.”

New to the tour this year is the addition of the Little Mermaid-inspired Ariel from the highly anticipated new series Disney Jr.’s Ariel. The character will make her debut alongside Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and characters from other fan-favorite Disney Jr. series including Marvel’s Spidey and his Amazing Friends and SuperKitties. The tour will also feature the iconic clubhouse from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Disney Jr. Live On Tour: Let’s Play kicks off Sept. 17 at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, Calif., and will make the franchise’s first-ever appearance at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater Sept. 20. Additional stops include The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, The Opry House in Nashville and the Rosemont Theatre in Chicago.

Disney Visa card members can purchase tickets to Disney Jr. Live On Tour: Let’s Play before the general public starting Tuesday (May 14) at 10 a.m. through Thursday (May 16) at 10 p.m. local time. Additional presales will run throughout the week ahead of the general on-sale beginning Friday (May 17). VIP packages, including admission to the VIP pre-party interactive experience, are also available for purchase.

“We are very excited to introduce preschoolers and their families to our newest series, ‘Disney Jr.’s Ariel,’ with a musical segment starring our young little mermaid,” said Jennifer Rogers Doyle, senior vp of networks franchise management, integrated planning and licensing at Disney Entertainment. “We are also excited to announce that, for the first time, the iconic Clubhouse from ‘Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’ will be incorporated into our live show, ‘Disney Jr. Live On Tour: Let’s Play.’ This will bring the wonderment and delight of the Clubhouse experience to our youngest fans.”

For tour information and to purchase tickets, visit www.disneyjuniortour.com.

NCT DREAM rolled out the dates for their upcoming 2024 world tour on Wednesday (May 8), with dates in Latin American, the U.S and Europe as part of their 2024 NCT DREAM World Tour .
After kicking the outing off last weekend with three sold-out shows at Seoul’s Gocheok Sky Dome, the new dates will bring the seven-member K-pop group to Latin American for four shows, followed by seven gigs in the U.S. and five stops in Europe. Currently on tour in Asia — with arena and stadium concerts scheduled in Indonesia, China, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines through August 11 –the new dates will kick off on August 31 at Movistar Arena in Bogota, Colombia.

The U.S. shows will launch on Sept. 12 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, and include stops in Oakland, Fort Worth and Washington, D.C. before winding down at the United Center in Chicago on Sept. 26.

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According to a release, the tour is the group’s biggest global run to date, with tickets for the U.S. gigs going on sale with a Weverse fan club presale beginning on May 16, followed by a general onsale kicking off on May 17 at 3 p.m. local time here. Tickets for the Latin America swing will also start with a Weverse fan club presale beginning on May 13 (check local listings for more information), while the European Weverse presale will launch on May 15, followed by a general onsale beginning on May 17 at 10 a.m. local time (check local listings).

NCT — comprised of members JAEMIN, JISUNG, JENO, RENJUN, HAECHAN, MARK and CHENLE — recently released the video for “Smoothie,” the lead single from their just-released DREAM( )SCAPE EP.

Check out the full list of dates for the 2024 NCT DREAM WORLD TOUR below:

May 18 – Jakarta, Indonesia @ GBK Stadium 

June 15 – Hong Kong, China @ AsiaWorld-Arena 

June 16 – Hong Kong, China @ AsiaWorld-Arena 

June 22 – Bangkok, Thailand @ Rajamangala National Stadium 

June 23 – Bangkok, Thailand @ Rajamangala National Stadium 

Sat Jun 29 – Kallang, Singapore – Singapore Indoor Stadium 

June 30 – Kallang, Singapore @ Singapore Indoor Stadium 

August 10 – Manila, Philippines @ SM Mall of Asia Arena 

August 11 – Manila, Philippines @ SM Mall of Asia Arena 

August 31 – Bogota, Colombia @ Movistar Arena 

Sept. 2 – São Paulo, Brazil @ Espaço Unimed 

Sept. 5 – Santiago, Chile @ Movistar Arena 

Sept. 9 – Mexico City, Mexico @ Palacio de los Deportes 

Sept. 12 – Los Angeles, CA @ Intuit Dome 

Sept. 14 – Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena 

Sept. 17 – Fort Worth, TX @ Dickies Arena 

Sept. 19 – Duluth, GA @ Gas South Arena 

Sept. 21 – Belmont Park, NY @ UBS Arena 

Sept. 24 – Washington, D.C. @ Capital One Arena 

Sept. 26 – Chicago, IL @ United Center

Oct. 30 – Rotterdam, Netherlands @ Rotterdam Ahoy*

Nov. 3 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Royal Arena*

Nov. 6 – Berlin, Germany @ Uber Arena*

Nov. 9 – Paris, France @ Adidas Arena*

Nov. 12 – London, UK @ OVO Arena Wembley*

*Non Live Nation date

A year after pulling the plug on their festival early after The 1975 singer Matty Healy slammed Malaysia‘s anti-LGBTQ laws as “f–king ridiculous” before sharing a long kiss with bassist Ross MacDonald, Kuala Lumpur’s Good Vibes Festival has announced its return.

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The two-day event at Resorts World Awana in Genting Highlands will take place on July 20-21, Joji and Russ headlining the first night, along with a lineup featuring Alec Benjamin, Haven, Peach Pit, Ylona Garcia, Cherry Bomb, Spooky Wet Dreams, Bad Habits and more.

The second day will be topped by J Balvin, who will be joined by Peggy Gou, Bibi, Henry Moodie, Tiger JK & Yoon Mi Rae, Forceparkbois, Talitha, Capt’n Trips and the Kid and more. Tickets for the festival go on sale at 11 a.m. on Friday (May 10) here.

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Future Sound Asia’s director of entertainment, Wan Alman, spoke to the NME about the event’s return, declining to comment on The 1975 due to ongoing legal action against the group while emphasizing that the festival is not banned and will return this year. “To be honest, this year has really been one of the most challenging festivals to plan – and not for the reasons you might think. It’s not really anything to do with what happened last year, but this year has been an especially challenging time for festivals around the world in general,” Alman said, citing the cancellation of Australia’s Splendour in the Grass and what he claimed were lineup backlashes facing other festivals.

“It’s been really tough booking acts for festivals all around the world. Not everyone will get a great line-up like Coachella or Splendour, and when you don’t get a great line-up, people don’t buy tickets,” he added. “I think a major cause of this is that artist fees have skyrocketed. I think it’s going to be unsustainable but it’s just getting higher and higher every year.”

Despite cancelling the second and third days of last year’s event over Healy’s comments, Alman said the Malaysian government was “quite supportive” of this year’s return. “They want to work with us hand-in-hand to make sure that that sort of thing doesn’t happen again and that the live music industry and the festival industry isn’t adversely affected by what happened,” he said. The festival has been working with local authorities to come up with a standard operating procedure to deal with a similar incident in the future.

And though he said the 1975 dust-up did not inform their booking choices this year, Alman stressed that the decade-old festival did more due diligence this time to make sure the acts they slotted were “not controversial.” That said, event organizers do have a “kill switch” they can enact that immediately cuts off audio, video and stage lighting should there be another incident, something Alman called “the very last resort.”

See the full lineup for the 2024 Good Vibes festival below.

SYDNEY, Australia — A new campaign that would ensure Australian artists are included on all tours by international acts in these parts has been widely supported by the music industry.

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Unveiled last Wednesday, May 1 during the 2024 AAM Awards and announced proper on Friday, the policy bears the name of Michael McMartin, the late, great artist manager who guided the career of Hoodoo Gurus for more than 40 years, and is broken down into three main pillars: every international artist must include an Australian artist among their opening acts; the Australian artist must appear on the same stage at the international artist using reasonable sound and lighting; and the Australian artist must be announced at the same time as the tour so that they benefit from all the marketing and promotion.

The Rule, presented by the Association of Artist Managers, has been met with a resounding “yes.”

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Leaders from the music industry’s trade associations and major organizations are backing the initiative in a “virtually unprecedented moment of consensus,” according to AAM, with Australian Live Music Business Council (ALMBC), APRA, ARIA/PPCA, Select Music, and the newly-formed Music Australia among them. Also, leading concert promoters Michael Chugg, Danny Rogers, Ben Turnbull, and Untitled Group have expressed their support.

The rule had once been widely accepted by the industry after lobbying from artist managers in the early 2000s. However, with Australian acts currently struggling to impact the domestic charts, and a slew of major international tours packaging foreign line-ups in these parts that feature no homegrown support, McMartin used his final public speech at last year’s AAM Awards to call for this voluntary code to be reinstated. McMartin died March 31 of this year following a lengthy illness. He was 79.

“Michael’s rule is imperative,” says Danny Rogers, co-founder of Lunatic Entertainment / St Jerome’s Laneway Festival. “We need unequivocal support at all levels of touring and festivals to ensure that we can find avenues and growth opportunities for our local talent.”

Adds Millie Millgate, executive director of Music Australia, “repairing our industry and increasing the prominence of Australian artists is going to require teamwork and many steps. Michael’s Rule is one such step that will make a huge difference.”

This initiative “has the power to play a vital role in the discovery and visibility of emerging Aussie acts,” reads a statement from Untitled Group, Australia’s largest independently-owned music and events company, which produces Beyond The Valley, Pitch Music & Arts, Wildlands, Grapevine Gathering, For The Love and Ability Fest. “We need to remember that while the live performance industry has its own challenges, there is no industry without a thriving local music culture and healthy grass roots scene. Fostering and platforming local talent must be a core responsibility for promoters – the future of Australian music and the live music sector depends on it.”

AAM, representing more than 300 artist managers, is calling for promoters to work with the industry to devise a voluntary code of conduct. If they do not engage in that process, the AAM warns it will tap government which has multiple levers at its disposal to ensure Australian fans get to explore more local live talent.

“There are instances where local talent can’t be involved but they are in a low percentage of tours,” says legendary concert promoter Michael Chugg, chairman of Chugg Entertainment. “It’s great to see the Australian music industry standing together here and I fully support Michael’s Rule.”