Concerts
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Some of the greatest names in new wave, punk, electronic and alternative rock will come together on June 22 in Milton Keynes, U.K. for the inaugural Forever Now festival.
The one-day even will feature sets from dance minimalists Kraftwerk, as well as “Rebel Yell” singer Billy Idol, punk veterans the Damned, Public Image Ltd and the Jesus & Mary Chain. The bill will also include former Smith guitarist and solo star Johnny Marr, the Psychedelic Furs, The The, the Happy Mondays, Bauhaus singer and solo performer Peter Murphy, Berlin and Theatre of Hate at what a release described as a “cultural phenomenon of the darker underbelly of creativity, from new wave to post-punk, psychedelia and alt-rock.”
The event is a sister act to the U.S.-based Cruel World festival, which will fill the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA on May 17 for a day-long concert featuring New Order, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, the Go-Go’s, Devo, OMD, Death Cult, Garbage, Madness, She Wants Revenge, Alison Moyet and more.
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Additional acts slated for the U.K. show include: Chameleons, UKDecay, the Motels and She Wants Revenge. Fans can sign up for a Dec. 5 pre-sale now here; the general onsite will open at 10 a.m. on Dec. 6. In a statement, promoter AEG Presents said, “From the fashionably dark to the fiercely unconventional, all are welcome to revel in a day of unforgettable music and community. This is a festival where nostalgia meets discovery, where new and devoted fans unite, and where forever truly begins now.”
In addition o music on two stages, the U.K. show will feature a third stage, the Echo Chamber, which will be curated by music journalist John Robb and feature interviews, panel discussions and artist conversations.
Check out the announcement below.
Justin Timberlake has called off his next concert, which was scheduled for Dec. 2 at Oklahoma City’s Paycom Center, after suffering a back injury. It’s the eighth date to be postponed this fall on Timberlake’s The Forget Tomorrow World Tour, which launched in April. “I’m so sorry Oklahoma CIty… I have to cancel the show […]
J. Cole is celebrating the 10th anniversary of 2014 Forest Hills Drive with a special one-night-only concert at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Dec. 16. The 39-year-old rap star made the announcement on Friday (Nov. 29), marking a decade since the release of his third studio album. Presales for the Live Nation-produced event […]
11/29/2024
Here’s what you might not know about Swift’s Eras Tour.
11/29/2024
11/28/2024
The singer launched her ‘Brat’ tour at the northern city’s 23,500-capacity Co-op Live venue.
11/28/2024
On Tuesday night (Nov. 26), as fans filed into London’s Hammersmith Apollo to see Zayn Malik perform, the foyer of the 5,000-capacity venue became a flurry of nerves and pent-up anticipation. At each corner, friends ran to each other and embraced, sharing handmade bracelets or falling into selfie formation. The merch stand was adorned with mini tote bags and paint-by-numbers sets, a nod to a well-documented pastime of the Bradford-born singer. Outside, meanwhile, small groups of people could be spotted refreshing resale sites incessantly on their smartphones – the unmet demand for tickets felt palpable.
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For the lucky few thousand who made it inside, emotions were running high. Across the near entirety of Malik’s solo career, the 31-year-old has remained absent from the live circuit, citing struggles with stage fright. In the eight years since he released his Billboard 200-topping debut LP Mind Of Mine – which dropped 12 months to the day after he departed One Direction – Malik has continued to put out records while keeping a low profile, a commitment which has extended to an often-elusive social media presence.
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“I just couldn’t go through with it,” Malik wrote in his 2016 self-titled memoir, explaining his decision to cancel a planned appearance earlier that year at Capital FM’s Summertime Ball. “Mentally, the anxiety had won. Physically, I knew I couldn’t function. I would have to pull out.”
In the book, he explained how being in One Direction allowed him to get past his anxiety because he wasn’t the sole center of attention, though solo performance was simply too much for him. “I don’t want to say I’m sick. I want to tell people what’s going on, and I’m not gonna be ashamed of what’s happening,” he added.
Last night’s show also came less than a week after Malik attended the funeral of One Direction’s Liam Payne, where he joined his fellow former bandmates, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan. He commenced his tour in Leeds three days later, paying tribute to Payne – who died last month (Oct. 16) following a fall from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina – with a message projected on a large screen at the end of the performance. “Liam Payne 1993-2024 Love You bro,” it read, while Malik’s track “Stardust” played over speakers.
At Hammersmith Apollo, Malik chose not to directly address the emotional upheaval that has marked his journey to the stage and instead let the music do most of the talking. Leading a live band, on a stage flanked with tree decorations and an illustrated backdrop resembling his farm in rural Pennsylvania, Malik’s setlist was dominated by tracks from recent album Room Under The Stairs, which landed at No.3 in the Official U.K. Albums Chart in May.
Kicking off the performance with “My Woman,” Malik looked overawed at the response from the crowd, who hit pulverising decibel counts for newer tracks such as “In The Bag” and “Lied To.” Wearing a trilby hat as he gripped a red mic stand, the singer chose to eschew performing any One Direction material, as well as some of his biggest singles (from radio hit “Like I Would” to Sia team-up “Dusk Till Dawn”).
Malik slowly opened up throughout the evening, miming a guitar solo during “Dreamin” and laughing in disbelief at the room’s enthusiasm towards his newer material. “It feels fu–ing amazing to be here,” he said by way of introducing “Birds On A Cloud.” He continued: “It took a while, but we’re going to enjoy ourselves – have a drink, have a laugh and sing as loud as you can.”
As Mailk rolled through Room Under The Stairs highlights, plus the occasional track from 2018 LP Icarus Falls or follow-up Nobody Is Listening, the screaming refused to subside. “Vas happenin’!,” the singer exclaimed at one point, referencing a beloved catchphrase from his One Direction days. He later hailed his “amazing” fanbase for being “so patient” with his comeback before pausing proceedings numerous times to check on the wellbeing of those in the crowd.
From a sublimely confident cover of Paolo Nutini’s “Last Request” to a countrified version of the chart-topping “Pillowtalk,” the performance was a stark contrast to the more intimate show that Malik played at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in May. That six-song set was accompanied by the premiere of The Road To The Mic, a documentary charting his rehearsal process. It marked only the second time Malik had been seen in public for five years; in January, a lack of crowd control at his Paris Fashion Week appearance led to his foot being run over by a passing car.
While Malik continues to reckon with returning to the limelight, he is set to tour the U.K. through Dec. 9, with gigs lined up in Wolverhampton, Manchester, Newcastle, and Edinburgh, plus additional dates in London and Leeds. He’ll then head to the U.S. in early 2025 for a run of shows initially postponed in the wake of Payne’s death, hitting up major cities including New York and Los Angeles.
“Thanks for being patient with me and for always believing in me,” Malik concluded shortly before the lights went up at Hammersmith Apollo. As closer “Gates Of Hell” began to simmer out, he offered a nod in gratitude, signing off with a giddy cry of “f–k yeah.”
In a blaze of green neon, Fontaines D.C.’s fourth LP, Romance, tumbled down to Earth in August, ushering in a majestic new era for an act ready to level up in all aspects of its career.
In the months that have followed, the groundswell of adoration behind the Dublin band has felt formidable: A cursory scroll through TikTok will show videos of young fans mimicking the five-piece’s space-grunge aesthetic, clad in baggy, brightly colored sportswear while belting out the band’s songs from the heart of the mosh pit. Fontaines D.C.’s story has been one of resolve, of growing in confidence and spirit and always trying to stand taller than before.
This sea change in the band’s global popularity has signaled a crossroads for the group in more ways than one. Upon release, Romance charted at No. 97 in the U.S. – the band’s highest entry to date on the Billboard 200 – while earlier this month, the group was nominated for two Grammys (best rock album; best alternative music performance for lead single “Starburster.”) Fontaines D.C. has invested the resources afforded by a new deal with seminal label XL Recordings (FKA Twigs, King Krule) into exploring the depths of its creativity, expanding on the gnarly, tender guitar anthems of the band’s first three records by leaning into elements of pop and nu-metal.
Fontaines at Alexandra Palace on Nov. 22, 2024.
Pooneh Ghana
When the band first emerged onto the festival touring circuit with 2019 debut Dogrel, Fontaines D.C. often looked uneasy on stage, permitting only the briefest of smiles. Frontman Grian Chatten would grasp the air, stare into the middle distance and swing his feet in small, lolling circles — vibrating with discomfort and nervous energy, barely muttering a word to his audience. The feeling remained, though, that these early shows were only speed bumps on the road to somewhere else.
Five years on, as Fontaines D.C. headlined the first of two nights at London’s Alexandra Palace on Nov. 22, the chat may have remained at a minimum, but elevated stage production added to a rich, ubiquitous feeling of a band in its imperial phase. The addition of touring member Chilli Jesson on keyboard and backing guitar, too, only deepened the songs’ darkness.
These were the very best moments from the night.
There’d Better Be a Mirrorball
Taylor Swift‘s “Cassandra” was the only song from The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology that had never been performed live, until Friday night (Nov. 22) in Toronto, where it stole the show in a three-song piano medley brimming with rage.
“Cassandra,” “Mad Woman” and “I Did Something Bad” suddenly existed together in a fine fury, ascending above the concept of ordering the tour’s main setlist by “eras.” (Tortured Poets, Folklore and Reputation were represented here, in one performance.)
Watch a fan-filmed video of Swift’s full performance of the mashup here.
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The live premiere of “Cassandra,” a song titled after the Cassandra of Greek mythology who received the gift of prophecy along with the curse to never be believed, came during the the acoustic section of Swift’s Friday show, the fifth of six dates total in Toronto this month. The Eras Tour acoustic set is known as the part of the concert where what she performs each night is meant to be a surprise to the audience.
“When the first stone’s thrown, there’s screaming/ In the streets, there’s a raging riot/ When it’s ‘burn the b—-,’ they’re shrieking/ When the truth comes out, it’s quiet,” Swift sang from “Cassandra” at Toronto’s Rogers Centre, sitting at her piano painted with flowers.
She continued on with the ballad’s chorus, singing, “So they killed Cassandra first ’cause she feared the worst/ And tried to tell the town/ So they filled my cell with snakes, I regret to say/ Do you believe me now? Do you believe me now?”
Swift surprised everyone further with a sudden shift to “Mad Woman”: “What did you think I’d say to that?/ Does a scorpion sting when fighting back?/ They strike to kill and you know I will/ You know I will.”
In the moving chorus of “Mad Woman,” she sings, “Every time you call me crazy/ I get more crazy/ What about that?/ And when you say I seem angry/ I get more angry/ And there’s nothin’ like a mad woman/ What a shame she went mad/ No one likes a mad woman/ You made her like that.”
While it feels melodramatic to type this out, the moment that Swift took a sharp turn to Reputation — with “I Did Something Bad” — actually elicited gasps heard round the stadium and the internet, where fans who weren’t at the concert searched for streams of Swift’s set.
“What a shame she went mad,” Swift sang from “Mad Woman,” casually calling back to Reputation with “They say I did something bad.”
Toward the end of the performance, that couplet became “Do you believe me now? What a shame she went mad/ Do you believe me now? They say I did something bad” in a clever rewrite that linked “Cassandra” with both “Mad Woman” and “I Did Something Bad” in the same chorus.
The mad mashup went on for a solid seven minutes, as captured on video by concertgoers.
It followed a lighter performance from Swift on acoustic guitar, “Ours” (Speak Now) mixed with “The Last Great American Dynasty” (Folklore).
Swift plays in Toronto once more Saturday night (Nov. 23). The Eras Tour, which launched in March 2023, has a break for the U.S.’s Thanksgiving week before taking its final bow in Vancouver from Dec. 6-8, 2024.
Few documents are more carefully studied than the annual Coachella lineup poster announcing the dozens of artists booked to play the Indio, California festival each April. So this year, it didn’t take eagle-eyed fans long to notice a rare typographical change to the typically standardized playbill: A band name printed in something other than the poster’s classic Eurostile LT font.
Instead, the name of that band — legendary punk rock outfit The Misfits — was printed in the timeless “fancy horror” font it’s become known for, with oversized M’s, F’s and T’s dominating the other letters.
It’s a subtle yet substantial change to one of the most recognizable lineup posters in music, made to honor Goldenvoice’s long ties to The Misfits — listed as “The Original Misfits” to underline that the version of the band that’s set to appear at Coachella will be composed of the classic lineup of original singer/songwriter Glenn Danzig, original bassist Jerry Only and longtime guitarist Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein. The font change is a nod to The Misfits’ profound influence on live music, Goldenvoice officials say, as well as a celebration of the long history between the band and Goldenvoice, whose roots with the goth-punk outfit predate Coachella itself.
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“The Misfits are one of the first bands we promoted,” says Paul Tollett, president of Goldenvoice, which has been producing the annual music festival since 1999 and whose roots in L.A.’s punk rock scene go back to the early 1980s. Back then, Goldenvoice was a small concert promotion company run by Gary Tovar, a street-savvy supporter of LA’s growing punk movement who was known for promoting underground bands like Black Flag and T.S.O.L. that most venues wouldn’t touch.
In 1983, Tovar managed to secure The Misfits a Jan. 21. headlining gig with the Circle Jerks at a community center in Goleta, Calif. — a small beach town 100 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. The band’s energetic and blitzing performance, supporting their recently released record Earth A.D., was captured by multiple video cameras and a half-dozen 35mm toting photographers — with its most memorable line coming from a young Danzig at the end of “All Hell Breaks Loose” when he matter-of-factly declared, “We f—ed that one up.”
Bootleg recordings from the gig would solidify its cult status among fans, and Goldenvoice would promote at least one Misfits show by having the band open for Black Flag at the Santa Monica Civic Center on June 11, 1983. But by year’s end The Misfits had broken up, and eventually, Tovar’s run would come to an end as well: In 1991, he was arrested on federal drug trafficking charges and later sentenced to prison, handing the company off to Tollett and others to manage.
Fast forward four decades to early 2024, when the partners at Goldenvoice found themselves with the rare opportunity to work with The Misfits once more by staging a one-of-a-kind classic punk festival at the LA Fairplex with a supporting lineup that included Suicidal Tendencies, Black Flag, Bad Religion and The Vandals. The festival, dubbed No Values, sold out more than 40,000 tickets immediately after going on sale.
The Misfits are scheduled to headline Coachella’s Outdoor Stage on both weekends (April 12 and April 19), marking their first appearance at the festival. Tickets are now on sale at coachella.com.
On Oct. 26 and 27, HYDE performed HYDE [INSIDE] LIVE 2024 -EXTRA- at Chiba’s Makuhari Messe.
These shows were an extension of HYDE [INSIDE] LIVE 2024, the music club tour he kicked off at Tokyo’s Zepp Haneda (TOKYO) on June 22. As is clear from its name, this tour was in support of HYDE [INSIDE], his first new album in five years. In 2024, HYDE also played in numerous festivals across Japan, such as the OGA NAMAHAGE ROCK FESTIVAL and the DEAD POP FESTiVAL. Although a respected figure, always on the frontlines of the rock world, he also has many rivals. His constantly evolving live performances have captured the hearts of a diverse fan base.
The show began with a count-up. At 17:06 (or 16:66), the sounds of the show’s opening music filled the club, and then the band kicked things off with “LET IT OUT.” HYDE also performed this as the first song in many of the shows on last year’s tour, HYDE LIVE 2023, but the band’s stage reveal took things up a notch this year. HYDE stood atop a towering platform, looking down on the audience. He wore a military cap adorned with Swarovski crystals, and his piercing stare gave a premonition of the excitement that was to come. In the next song, “AFTER LIGHT,” the volume of the audience singing along to the chorus almost rivaled HYDE’s. The crowd was already clearly warmed up. The band then played “I GOT 666,” which had first been revealed on HYDE’s previous tour before being released roughly a year later on HYDE [INSIDE]. As the song reached its shouted refrain of “I’m aware!” the crowd began head-banging. The audience had reached a fever pitch.
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HYDE and Hiro
Hiroaki Ishikaw/Billboard Japan
HYDE then spoke to the audience for the first time: “Welcome to HYDE [INSIDE]! Let’s enjoy reality!” From the start, the show drew in the audience with powerful songs like “BLEEDING,” in which HYDE looked straight into the camera lens, a panoply of expressions crossing his face, and “ON MY OWN,” during which he sang while holding aloft a flag that waved in the wind. Then he smoothly shifted gears, with a mournful keyboard arpeggio naturally segueing into “THE ABYSS.” HYDE also performed a solo arrangement of “TOKOSHIE,” a song he wrote together with MY FIRST STORY as the ending theme song for the Hashira training arc of the TV anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. The ever-changing drums were a perfect match for HYDE’s singing style, reminiscent of storytelling. The two blended their talents to open up the song and share its vision. It was a moment that made you keenly aware of HYDE’s expressive range.
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Towards the middle of the show, HYDE again spoke to the audience, saying “I’ve done a lot of shows here in Makuhari. I want today’s to be the most chaotic of them all!” In “6or9,” he had the audience take a seat, calling out “Sit down! We’re all going to join together.” He gazed at the audience, looking for the perfect timing, and then the band started playing and the audience leapt into the air as one. During the next song, “MAD QUALIA,” HYDE jumped into the crowd, one man facing off against 10,000. Strings of lights hung down from the four corners of the stage, like a circus tent, and against the back curtain was an electric signboard, brightly emblazoned with the name “HYDE.” It was as if HYDE was the ringmaster of the circus, and he had tamed the audience before him. Or, looked at another way, the audience was taking in the spectacle of a monster (HYDE) in a circus ring. HYDE showed the audience the pinnacle of entertainment, and he himself also abounded with excitement, telling the audience, “You’re on fire today! I can feel the heat coming off you!”
The deeply metal-infused “SOCIAL VIRUS,” the core of HYDE [INSIDE], featured one of the highlights of the show. As the bass boomed out during the long, heavy bridge, HYDE split the audience down the middle, separating it into left and right sides. Then, as he sang “I’ve gotta find a way, to see the light of day,” the audience slammed back together in a wall of death, combining with HYDE’s guttural growl and the band’s breakdown to create a chaotic spectacle. The final song of the set was the ballad “LAST SONG.” HYDE, face covered in blood, sang in the midst of a blizzard of red confetti, baring his heart and revealing the emotions deep inside.
HYDE
Hiroaki Ishikaw/Billboard Japan
The curtains fell, but then after some time, the guitarist took to the stage, playing a guitar solo. The movable drum set then appeared in the crowd, atop a stage erected in the middle of the dance floor. The audience called out “HYDE-!” and HYDE sprang from a massive Pandora’s box to perform the song “PANDORA.” The joy was evident on his face as he shouted “We’ve truly all come together!” He went on, “You need to live your life the way you want. I don’t want to worry about what others think, I want to do what I want. If you want to join me, be my guest!” The audience erupted in applause. “This world is just full of pain, isn’t it! It makes you want to wrap yourself up in an aura of joy!” he continued, and then called on a surprise guest: Hiro (vocalist for MY FIRST STORY), who had just announced his marriage a few days earlier. HYDE asked Hiro to hype the audience up, so Hiro spoke out to the audience, saying, “You guys are bright, so I’m sure you’ve already figured this out. If I’m up here on stage, that must mean…” and with that the band launched into “MUGEN,” the opening theme of the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Hashira training arc. HYDE put on the ultimate performance, not just in the way he and Hiro played off each other and harmonized, but also in the shouted part of the song, when he grabbed and held Hiro by the lapels.
“Thank you for your love of this insane art!”
HYDE kicked into high gear with “BELIEVING IN MYSELF” and “GLAMOROUS SKY” as the show drew closer to its end. He told the audience how many songs were left, and the crowd went wild, focusing intently on each song. This excitement was heightened by the last song, “SEX BLOOD ROCK N’ ROLL.” “Show me what you’ve got!” HYDE shouted, voice hoarse, joined by the shouts of the crowd. “We tore things up! Don’t forget it! And we’ll do it again! Just wait and see!” he shouted as he smashed the drum set and then left the stage.
The message that ran throughout the show was of the importance of the moment. It seems clear that this ties into [INSIDE], a reference to what lies in HYDE’s heart, but I’ll leave further interpretation up to the readers. HYDE is now in the middle of a world tour, so who knows what else he might have in store before the year is out.