Concerts
Page: 23
Pittsburgh‘s long running indie punk, emo and hardcore Four Chord Music Festival is celebrating its 10th birthday at a new venue this year, the 140-year-old historical landmark of Pittsburgh’s Carrie Furnace on the banks of the Monongahela River in the Pittsburgh area industrial town of Swissvale.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“We’ve been trying to get in there for a while,” festival founder Rishi Bahl tells Billboard. “Carrie Furnace is one of the oldest blast furnaces in Pittsburgh, which obviously is known for steel,” adding, “It just felt right for the 10th anniversary to bring the festival back to Pittsburgh proper, which aligns with the ethos of the festival and its blue collar, independent, DIY and anti-Live Nation endeavor”
The historical festival site will serves at the backdrop for the 10th anniversary of Four Chord, June 22 and 23, featuring A Day To Remember, All-American Rejects, The Story So Far, Something Corporate, State Champs, Motion City Soundtrack, Four Year Strong, The Get Up Kids, Microwave, Militarie Gun, Relient K and more.
Trending on Billboard
Situated within the remnants of the iconic U.S Steel Homestead Steel Works, the Carrie Blast Furnaces stand as a testament to Pittsburgh’s industrial prowess in the 20th century.
“We’re going to outfit the furnaces with lights and branding to match the festival,” says Bahl, who also leads the band Eternal Boy and is an assistant professor at La Roche University in Pittsburgh.
Four Chords began in 2014 as a local punk rock festival in a 1500-capacity club and has grown into a massive stadium-sized two-day destination event, featuring the punk scene’s biggest and brightest, while keeping its independent DIY roots intact.
Bahl says, “10 years is a long time. Most things that you were into 10 years ago have not survived, so to reach the 10th anniversary of Four Chord Music Fest is something we are very proud of. We really tried to make this one the biggest and best one yet and are stoked to spend the weekend with all of you at our brand new, historical landmark of a location, The Carrie Furnace. Get out the sunscreen and bring the Advil, it is going to be a party.”
This year, Four Chord Fest is partnering with nonprofit Biggies Bullies which is dedicated to the rescue and rehoming of pitbull-type dogs in both Pittsburgh and its neighboring regions.
Attendees can choose from general admission and VIP tickets, with a new deluxe VIP tier now available. This option provides access to a spacious elevated viewing lounge, private bathrooms, a partially open bar, and more, enhancing the overall festival experience. Early bird GA tickets and VIP are on sale now, while public on sale opens Friday (Feb. 23) at 11 a.m. Eastern.
Courtesy Photo
Bobby Weir and Sun Ra Arkestra will headline A Great Night in Harlem fundraiser for the Jazz Foundation of America. The annual benefit will take place March 28 at The Apollo in Harlem. Its name plays off of A Great Day in Harlem, the classic 1958 Art Kane black-and-white photograph for Esquire that featured more than 50 […]
Corinne Bailey Rae recently wrapped an eight-show residency at Manhattan’s beloved Blue Note Jazz Club, performing 2023’s Black Rainbows – which explores soul, garage rock, jazz, downtempo electronic and even a bit of house – in its entirely. That album was one of the year’s finest, but seeing it presented live — with Rae sharing the painful and inspiring stories of Black American history that galvanized her to make these songs – made it clear that the concepts and ideas behind the album are as rich and stunning as its musical tapestry.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Black Rainbows began taking shape when the English singer-songwriter visited The Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago’s South Side. The hybrid space, which Theaster Gates opened in 2015, is a gallery, media library and museum that encompasses everything from African American periodicals dating back to the 1940s to the personal vinyl collection of house godfather Frankie Knuckles to a collection of historical artifacts portraying Black people in blatantly racist ways. In short, it’s a complicated space dedicated to African American history, one that gives people the opportunity to confront the beautiful and the ugly in equal measure.
Rae’s visit morphed into an ongoing perusal of the collection, and soon, new songs began to take shape in her mind. A vintage photo of a teenage girl who won the “Miss New York Transit” title 70-some years ago inspired the riot grrrl energy of her song “New York Transit Queen” (Rae even tracked down and interviewed the woman, Audrey Smaltz); the story of writer/abolitionist Harriet Jacobs, who escaped slavery but spent seven years in a cramped hiding space, watching her children play through a peephole, informed the hopeful yet elegiac “Peach Velvet Sky”; advertisements from Valmor Products, a Chicago beauty brand geared toward African American women, led to the jazzy, ambient “He Will Follow You With His Eyes”; and a sweaty dance party to Knuckles’ records at the Stony Island Arts Bank resulted in the thumping “Put It Down.”
Trending on Billboard
In the midst of performing “Put It Down” at the Blue Note on Friday (Feb. 16), a woman in the seated audience stood up and began dancing – greeting the sight with a smile, Rae stepped down from the stage to join her as the band kept the house-inflected groove going. And from the sax player to the drummer, that band was a knockout. Perhaps having Rae explain the stories that inspired the songs before playing them pushed her players to bring each one to vivid, vibrant life in that intimate space.
When it came time for the encore, Rae gamely trotted out her 2006 soul-pop gem “Put Your Records On” and the sweetly soulful “Trouble Sleeping” from the same album. It probably goes without saying that she’ll be forever associated with the former, and there’s nothing wrong with that – it’s a timeless classic, one that’s recently found a Gen Z audience via a viral cover. But Black Rainbows stands as Rae’s finest artistic statement to date, an exquisite tapestry that electrifies both intellectually and emotionally – and seeing her present this layered work live is a gift.
Guessing which surprise songs Taylor Swift will play during her acoustic section on The Eras Tour just got a little trickier. She’s now serving some unexpected mashups.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Swift previously told fans she’s given herself permission to repeat songs she’s already played this tour for the trek’s international leg, which she’s currently on. But she’s still set on bringing some element of chaos to her nightly song choices.
“That was to challenge me to really get to all the ones that I just don’t naturally gravitate towards, and I feel really proud about having done that,” Swift said at her Melbourne, Australia, show on Feb. 18, referring to her original plan to avoid surprise song repeats throughout the tour.
“But this is sort of a public service announcement to everyone who might be anywhere else on the tour, or whatever, or watching this — we have a lot of people, we’re very lucky to have a lot of people watch this on the internet and care about these shows if they’re not here,” she continued. “I’ve just been kind of rethinking, and I’ve been thinking I want to be as creative as possible with the acoustic set moving forward.”
Trending on Billboard
Swift tried to explain further: “I don’t want to limit anything, and I don’t want to just say like, ‘Oh, if I played a song before, I can’t play it again.’”
“I don’t want to take any paint colors out of the paintbox of colors,” the pop star said. “I don’t want to take any tools out of the toolbox. What’s the metaphor I’m looking for? I want to be able to play songs more than once if I feel like it, and I want to be able to make changes to songs.”
In other words, continue to expect the unexpected during the acoustic section of Swift’s shows.
Swift combined “Come Back… Be Here” from her Red era with Lover closing track “Daylight” at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Feb. 18, a day after performing a mashup of “Getaway Car,” “August” and “The Other Side of the Door.”
Swift has wrapped her Melbourne shows and heads to Sydney for four Eras tour dates at Accor Stadium, starting on Feb. 23.
Watch her “Come Back… Be Here” and “Daylight” mashup below. At the concert, Swift’s second surprise song was her debut-era “Teardrops on My Guitar,” played on piano.
[embedded content]
Welcome to the acoustic section: Taylor Swift crossed eras to play an unexpected mashup of “Getaway Car,” “August” and “The Other Side of the Door” in Melbourne, Australia, on Feb. 17.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Introducing the acoustic part of her Eras Tour show at the third of four concerts in the city, Swift — who at each tour date performs two tracks that are not often heard during the show — told the Melbourne Cricket Ground crowd she wanted to pick a song “that they really wanna hear, and I think I might’ve achieved it.”
“You have to let me know,” she teased the Melbourne audience. “I really just want you to be happy ’cause you’re making me really happy.”
Trending on Billboard
Lucky for them, Swift actually gave fans a three-song mashup on guitar that counted as only one of the songs during her acoustic set.
About three minutes into a performance of Reputation standout “Getaway Car,” Swift shifted into Folklore‘s “August,” singing, “I can see us lost in the memory/ August slipped away into a moment in time/ ‘Cause it was never mine/ And I can see us twisted in bedhseets/ August slipped away like a bottle of wine/ ‘Cause you were never mine.”
Swift closed the mashup with the outro of “The Other Side of the Door,” which originally appeared on the platinum edition of Fearless in 2008 and was re-recorded for 2021’s Fearless (Taylor’s Version).
“With your face and the beautiful eyes/ And the conversation with the little white lies/ And the faded picture of a beautiful night/ You carry me from your car up the stairs/ And I broke down cryin’, was she worth this mess?/ After everything and that little black dress / After everything, I must confess I need you,” she sang to loud cheers.
The Midnights star then took to the piano to perform “This Is Me Trying,” from Folklore, as the second surprise song of the set. She’d played “Getaway Car” and “This Is Me Trying” only once before so far on this tour.
Watch Swift’s surprise mashup below. Keep up with a full list of her surprise songs on The Eras Tour here.
Cali Vibes — the West Coast’s biggest reggae, roots music and hip-hop festival — returns to Long Beach this weekend with one of its strongest lineups yet, including headliners Gwen Stefani, Stick Figure, Slightly Stoopid, Rebelution, Ice Cube and more.
For the third year in a raw, Cali Vibes will include the Boomyard stage curated by Leslie Cooney, a longtime A&R rep at Delicious Vinyl specializing in Jamaican and Caribbean dancehall, reggae and soca artists. This year’s Boomyard stage will include Jamaican rapper and reggae artist Kabaka Pyramid, Jamaican reggae artist Protoje, rasta reggae singer Lutan Fyah, Ghana artist Stonebwoy and DJ sets from KrossFayah, DJ Daneekah and Mr Crooks.
Trending on Billboard
Goldenvoice’s own Nic Adler got his start working in the mailroom at Delicious Vinyl, the West Coast hip-hop label that was home to the Pharcyde, Tone Loc, Young MC, The Brand New Heavies and other acts in the late 1980s and ’90s, says label co-founder Mike Ross, who also hired Cooney around the same time to bring reggae artists to the label. In 2018 — the same year reggae imprint Delicious Vinyl Island was launched — Cooney and Ross created a regular showcase and party for Jamaican artists called Boomyards at Delicious Pizza on West Adams in L.A.
“The idea behind it was to create a place to commune and celebrate the records we were putting out,” says Cooney. “I was putting out records by a lot of these young Caribbean acts and Boomyards became a way to play those records and meet up with DJs and dancers in the community. I used my relationships with all of my friends like Shaggy, Protoje and Mr. Vegas and all of these big artists that would just come touch the mic because they were friends of mine and the Party just took off.”
Jamaican DJ and singer Yaadboy, who performs at Boomyards, was the first artist Cooney worked with at the Delicious Vinyl Island imprint, although Delicious Vinyl’s ties to Jamaican music go back to the hip-hop-reggae group Born Jamericans, whose debut record Kids from Foreign was released on the label in 1994. As the record business changed, Cooney shifted focus to managing acts including Mr. Vegas and Trinidadian soca star Machel Montano and building up the Boomyards brand.
“It’s an extended community and everybody that I put on my stage is friends or family with a lot of other Jamaican people in the community,” Cooney explains. “So the stage is kind of like a meeting point. We’ll have the Marleys on the main stages, but their kids will be performing on the Boomyards stage or DJing.”
Cooney expects Protoje’s Sunday set to be among the biggest draws for the Boomyard stage, telling Billboard that “fans are going to get the real culture there because they’re going to see Protoje perform the way he might at home at a sound session. It’s DJs, playing his tracks live, mixing them live, flying in sound effects and all sorts of fun. It’s going to be insane.”
Learn more at www.calivibesfest.com.
On Wednesday (Feb. 14), Billboard announced its return to South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, for three star-studded concerts running Thursday, March 14, through Saturday, March 16. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Billboard Presents THE STAGE at SXSW will kick off with a night dedicated to […]
It may be Valentine’s Day, but if you are really in the mood for love it might make sense to pass up those chocolates and long-stemmed roses today and save your romantic gesture for a late summer date to the inaugural swoon-worthy Fool in Love festival.
The packed lineup for the August 31 gig at Sofi Stadium-adjacent Hollywood Park in Los Angeles will be headlined by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross, with a stacked roster of classic R&B and soul stars including Al Green, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan, the Isley Brothers, Charlie Wilson, the O’Jays, Smokey Robinson, Dionne Warwick, the Stylistics, the Chi-Lites, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Zapp, Kool & the Gang, Rose Royce and Morris Day & the Time, among many others.
Fans can signs up now for an access code to a presale that begins on Friday (Feb. 16) at 1 p.m. ET here; a public onsale will follow at 5 p.m. ET if any tickets remain. GA, GA+, VIP and Platinum tickets will be available with layaway payment plans starting at $19.99 down.
Trending on Billboard
Also slated to perform at the show are: Santana, Eric Burdon & the Animals, the Jacksons, War, the Spinners, the Whispers, Durand Jones & the Indications, Barbara Mason, Mayer Hawthorne, Durand Jones, the Delfonics, the Stylistics, Los Lobos, Stevie B, Heatwave, the Bar Kays feat. Larry Dodson, Cameo, Shalamar, S.O.S. Band, Dazz Band, the Legendary Blue Notes, Bloodstone, Frankie J, Con Funk Shun, the Pointer Sisters, the Mary Jane Girls and many more.
Check out the full lineup below.
Australia’s Groovin the Moo, one of the country’s most popular touring festivals, has canceled this year’s edition due to poor ticket sales.
Just weeks after announcing a bill that featured Alison Wonderland, DMA’S, Jet, Armani White, GZA & the Phunky Nomads, the Jungle Giants and many others, organizers on Wednesday (Feb. 14) announced they would pull the pin.
“We are extremely disappointed to announce that the Groovin the Moo 2024 tour has been forced to cancel,” reads the statement. “Ticket sales have not been sufficient to deliver a regional festival of this kind.”
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
GTM’s point of difference is in its route around the country, visiting primarily regional centers and bypassing Australia’s big three east coast cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane). This year’s run was scheduled to start April 25 at Adelaide Showground, then visit sites in Canberra, Bendigo, Newcastle, Sunshine Coast and wrap up May 11 in Bunbury, Western Australia.
Ticketmaster-affiliated Moshtix supported the event, along with Spotify and national youth broadcaster triple j.
Trending on Billboard
“All tickets will be refunded automatically,” reads the statement. “Thank you to everybody who has supported the festival. We hope to be able to bring Groovin the Moo back to regional communities in the future. There will be no further comments from Groovin the Moo at this stage.”
Established by Cattleyard Promotions, Groovin the Moo’s first festival was held on April 2005 in Gloucester, New South Wales.
Through the years, a who’s who of edgy rock, pop, hip-hop and electronic music have graced its stages, from Vampire Weekend and Silverchair to Disclosure, The Darkness and many more.
Australia hasn’t dodged the cost-of-living crisis, and selling concert and festival tickets isn’t a cinch.
Last month, economist Stephen Smith, senior partner with Deloitte Access, told reporters that, once population growth, tax and mortgage payments, as well as the annual and monthly inflation figures were taken into account, most Australians were feeling the pinch.
Groovin the Moo is by no means the only festival struggling to shift enough tickets to stay afloat.
Adelaide Hill’s Vintage Vibes cancelled its event just weeks ahead of showtime, citing “economic pressures, while NSW’s ValleyWays in Camden, Sydney was also scrapped. “We understand that costs of living pressures and rising interest rates have severely impacted patrons, particularly in regional areas like Camden,” read a statement from organizers, TEG MJR and the Rubens. “It simply isn’t the right time for this ambitious music festival to take place.”
Grooovin the Moo made international headlines in 2018 when its Canberra leg trialed pill testing, a first in Australia. Later, when the pandemic shut borders, grounded travel and social distancing became the norm, the festival brand scrapped its 2020 and 2021 events.
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss are returning to the road, two years after their Raise the Roof tour, for nearly 30 headline dates and counting. Beginning June 2 with a centennial celebration for the legendary Cain’s Ballroom, the Can’t Let Go Tour will see Plant, Krauss bring spellbinding vocal performances and uncanny arrangements to amphitheaters, pavilions, opera houses and other historic venues. With additional stops to still be revealed, dozens of cities will have the opportunity to experience the live show.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Tickets for Robert Plant & Alison Krauss’ Can’t Let Go Tour are on-sale at 10am local time this Friday, Feb 16, following a series of pre-sales beginning at 10am local time tomorrow, Feb. 14. Find more information at plantkrauss.com
Dates will feature support from JD McPherson, who also plays lead guitar for Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, alongside an ace ensemble of drummer Jay Bellerose, bassist Dennis Crouch, multi-talented string player Stuart Duncan, and Viktor Krauss on keys and guitar. Drawing from their T Bone Burnett-produced LP Raising Sand and 2021’s chart-topping Raise The Roof, Plant and Krauss will deliver a cosmic collision of early blues, country deep cuts, revolutionary folk-rock and lost soul music written by legends and unsung heroes like Merle Haggard, Allen Toussaint, The Everly Brothers, Anne Briggs, Geeshie Wiley, Bert Jansch, Ola Belle Reed, Brenda Burns and more, as well as reimagined renditions of Led Zeppelin cuts like “The Battle of Evermore,” “Rock & Roll,” “When The Levee Breaks” and other surprises in store.
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss want to give fans, not scalpers, the best chance to buy tickets at face value. To make this possible, if fans purchase tickets for a show through Ticketmaster and can’t attend, they’ll have the option to resell them to other fans at the original price paid using Ticketmaster’s Face Value Exchange. To help protect the Exchange, the artists have also chosen to make tickets for this tour mobile only and restricted from transfer. This applies to all shows ticketed by Ticketmaster. Please note, a valid bank account or debit card within the country of your event is required to sell on the Face Value Exchange.
Can’t Let Go Tour 2024
6/2- Tulsa, OK – Cain’s Ballroom
6/4 – Camdenton, MO – Ozarks Amphitheater*
6/5 – Lincoln, NE – Pinewood Bowl Theater*
6/7 – Prior Lake, MN – Mystic Lake Amphitheater*
6/8 – Madison, WI – Breese Stevens Field*
6/11 – Des Moines, IA – Lauridsen Amphitheater at Waterworks Park*
6/12 – Highland Park, IL – Ravinia Festival*#
6/14 – Toledo, OH – Toledo Zoo & Aquarium – Amphitheater*
6/15 – Burgettstown, PA – The Pavilion at Star Lake*
6/18 – Vienna, VA – Wolf Trap*
6/19 – Vienna, VA – Wolf Trap*
8/8 – Missoula, MT – KettleHouse Amphitheater*
8/9 – Missoula, MT – KettleHouse Amphitheater*
8/11 – Edmonton, AB – Edmonton Folk Music Festival!
8/13 – Vancouver, BC – Queen Elizabeth Theatre*
8/14 – Vancouver, BC – Queen Elizabeth Theatre*
8/16 – Seattle, WA – Venue TBD*^
8/17 – Seattle, WA – Venue TBD*^
8/19 – Eugene, OR – The Cuthbert Amphitheater*
8/21 – Murphy’s, CA – Ironstone Amphitheatre*
8/22 – Stanford, CA – Frost Amphitheater*
8/24 – Paso Robles, CA – Vina Robles Amphitheatre*
8/25 – Highland, CA – Yaamava’ Theater*
8/26 – Flagstaff, AZ – Pepsi Amphitheater*
8/28 – Santa Fe, NM – The Santa Fe Opera*
8/29 – Santa Fe, NM – The Santa Fe Opera*
8/31 – Colorado Springs, CO – Sunset Amphitheater*
9/1 – Vail, CO – Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater*
*w/ JD McPherson
# on-sale April 24th
! on-sale June 1st
^on-sale March 25th
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
Courtesy Photo