Concerts
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TikTok is continuing its foray into the music world by announcing TikTok in The Mix, its first-ever live global music event for fans. Cardi B, Niall Horan, Anitta and Charlie Puth are all set to headline the event, which will take place on Dec. 10 at Sloan Park in Mesa, Ariz. Additionally, rising stars Isabel […]
Blink-182 is returning to North America one more time. Just days after the release of the trio’s new album, Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker have announced plans to bring their new songs on the road in North America next year. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and […]
Travis Scott seemed to be looking out for his fans at a recent stop in Dallas, Texas, where he brought his Utopia Circus Maximus Tour earlier this week.
A clip from the Oct. 18 show, which was filmed by someone in the audience, has started circulating around social media. In the short video, a fan in the crowd falls to the ground while there appears to be an interaction with security.
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“One thing you not gonna do, you not gonna kick a fan out,” Scott called out from Dallas’ American Airlines Center stage as the music turned down. “You not gonna do that, brother. You’re not gonna do that. You back up. You back up, brother. She’s just enjoying herself. You back the f— up. Let her just have a good time.”
“That’s a female,” he said. “You don’t grab a female like that, OK?”
The security guard in question shook hands with the fan the rapper defended, who stood up on a platform for a moment to hype up the crowd, and then went back down to the floor.
Last week, Scott postponed a date of the tour at the last minute. According to local reports, he played a sold-out show at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C., on Oct. 13, but when concertgoers arrived at the arena for his second show at PNC the following night, they were told it had just been called off. The arena told fans to hold on to their tickets, which will be honored at a to-be-determined future date.
Watch him call out a security guard at the Dallas show below, plus check out a performance clip Scott posted on Instagram. He heads to Denver, Colorado, for his next tour date on Oct. 22.
Every time a terrorist or active shooter attacks a music event — from “ >Israel’s Supernova Sukkot Festival invasion on Oct. 7 to the 2017 massacre at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas — police, promoters and venues pledge to improve concert security by adding things like metal detectors, bomb-sniffing dogs and even facial-recognition technology. And while it’s impossible to fully protect venues against gunmen with Kalashnikovs or organized terrorist strikes, three crowd-safety experts told Billboard how fans can help protect themselves in the event of an attack:
— Charge your phone – and consider bringing a portable charger to festivals. “It makes a difference,” advises Nicholas Dawe, fire marshal for Cobb County, Ga., which encompasses Atlanta. “You need a phone to connect with your friends.”
— Use the buddy system. “Keep up with somebody. Watch each other’s backs,” Dawe says. “It’s easy to lose someone, especially nowadays. Four eyes is better than two.”
— Study the venue in advance. Track down a map and go over the sometimes detailed official safety precautions. “When I go to a venue, one of the first things I do is look at where my exits are, and possibly the secondary and maybe even a third exit,” says Howard Levinson, owner of Expert Security Consulting in Norton, Mass.
— Envision an escape route on-site. In an emergency, Levinson says, having a mental escape plan could save your life: “It might be smoke, it might be a situation [where] the lights are out. You picture what it would be like if you couldn’t see, if you had to go on your hands and knees and crawl out.”
— “If you see something, say something.” It’s a cliche, and you might feel uncomfortable eavesdropping and reporting suspicious strangers, but this is standard anti-terrorism advice for large events, posted prominently on official websites for Austin City Limits, Bonnaroo, the City of Chicago and elsewhere. “Telling your friends is not a good idea,” Dawe says. “Say something to security and police personnel.”
— Keep your faculties. It’s hard to avoid weed-smoking and beer-drinking at shows, but avoid getting so blotto that you can’t clear your head and figure out what’s going on during a crisis. “I know it’s not the coolest thing to say, but it does impact how you perceive the circumstance,” Dawe says. “Being alert is pretty much your best option.”
— In a pinch, look for a fire extinguisher. It can be a self-defense weapon. “If somebody is coming for you, before you lock yourself in a closet, an extinguisher could temporarily blind people to possibly allow yourself to escape and overtake them,” Levinson says.
— Flee. Steven Adelman, vice president of the Event Safety Alliance, a concert-industry group of promoters and security experts that puts out a free crowd-management guide, reels off a macabre list of tragedies, from Columbine to Sandy Hook to the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., and gives one word of advice: “Evacuate.” Then he adds: “Quickly.” Just as if there’s a lightning storm at an outdoor event. “We live in harm’s way — when we go to school or an entertainment event or a supermarket or a church,” he says. “What can people do? Be prepared to run.”
Green Day fans began to notice on Oct. 9 that something was up on the band’s Instagram. Longtime lovers of Easter eggs and secret tracks, the veteran rockers posted a photo of a concert bill depicting a zombie with two dates for Las Vegas’ When We Were Young Festival (Oct. 20 and 21) preceded by […]
“Thank you for your grace and patience,” Ms. Lauryn Hill gushed. “I’m ’bout to sing my voice out, but that’s okay because I’m in BK!” Ms. Hill — armed with both an admirable air of gratitude and a motivation to quell the controversy caused by her tardiness at her Oct. 17 Newark opening show — mounted a glorious celebration of her seminal Miseducation album, the Fugees’ legacy, hip-hop’s 50th anniversary, Black innovation, and family, both blood and chosen, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, on Thursday night (Oct. 17).
Considering that she’s selling scores of tickets off the back of a 25-year-old album and no new material, it should be clear that Ms. Hill has nothing to prove. Yet, with a seemingly ever-deteriorating reputation as a punctual performer — fresh with new grumbles following Tuesday night’s show — Lauryn Hill did, in fact, have something to prove. Gracing the stage around 9:40 p.m., the Grammy-winner battled and conquered a slew of technical issues, holding on dearly to the two constants that have kept her such an alluring cultural figure for nearly three decades: music and family.
Donning a stunning white pantsuit complete with an oversized bow on the back, Ms. Hill opened the show with “Everything Is Everything” — a subtle nod to the ways in which the show would track the interconnectedness and cyclical nature of Black music and Ms. Hill’s approach to her art.
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Ms. Hill’s debut solo album, arrived on Aug. 25, 1998. The album debuted atop the Billboard 200, making her the first solo female rapper to reach No. 1 on the chart. The record, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2021, spawned three Billboard Hot 100 top 40 singles: “Doo Wop (That Thing)” (No. 1, two weeks), “Ex-Factor” (No. 21) and “Everything Is Everything” (No. 35). Miseducation won Hill five Grammys in one night, making her the first woman to do so; her album is also the first hip-hop record to receive the Grammy for album of the year. Hill’s debut solo studio album — which remains her only studio LP as a solo artist — was added to the Library of Congress in 2015.
All this is to say that few albums can sit in the same space as Miseducation, and that’s part of the reason why a tour of this nature can exist and excel. Despite delivering some of the most recognizable couplets and hooks in late-20th century pop music on Miseducation, Ms. Hill opted to perform reimagined arrangements of each track, nearly seamlessly executed by a sprawling live band featuring a hearty brass section, a standout guitarist, and background singers that, at times, assisted the crowd in singing Ms. Hill’s biggest hits with their original melodies.
More often than not, the new arrangements functioned as an extension of the Miseducation universe. During a lively rendition of “Final Hour,” she interpolated The LOX, DMX and Lil’ Kim’s “Money, Power & Respect” — a move that contextualized Miseducation with other hip-hop classics of its time and ilk. While singing “When It Hurts So Bad,” however, Ms. Hill beckoned the audience to re-contextualize that song with a montage of Tina Turner’s live performances playing on the jumbotron. Ms. Hill’s goal for the night was not to simply rest on the laurels of Miseducation, but to continue to imagine where else she can take the album 25 years after release.
Ms. Hill repeatedly spoke about writing and recording much of the album while she was in her 20s, and with motherhood and family informing so much of her introspection throughout the night’s show, she laid bare why it makes sense for her to never release another studio album. Towards the end of the set, she flashed a self-attributed quote on the screen that read: “This life is a process of learning.” Her (mis)education will never end. And, for what it’s worth, the new arrangements were terrific: a gospel-informed outro to “Superstar” was particularly moving, even while she was visibly voicing her frustration with the sound team because she was apparently unable to hear herself onstage. The new arrangements also allowed Ms. Hill to find new pockets, providing the foundation for some truly virtuosic rapping to complement the rasp and physicality that bookmarked her singing.
“To Zion” was the obvious peak of the night; Barclays Center may never feel that small and intimate again. With a montage of home videos playing in the background, Ms. Hill fought through tears to deliver a downright magnificent performance of one of her most personal and beloved songs. Zion himself took a break from his stage duties to hug and console his mother, eventually returning to the spotlight to give a brief message of world peace and love. Zion Marley was far from the only Marley present onstage on Thursday night: Ms. Hill brought out her former partner Rohan Marley for a trip down memory lane as they recounted the making of Miseducation (as well as the making of their five children), and her son Joshua Omaru Marley performed in the middle of “Doo Wop (That Thing),” effectively killing the crowd’s already dwindling energy considering how late the night was getting. Outside of her blood family, Ms. Hill also took some time to celebrate the original members of her band and tour crew who are still with her 25 years later.
Following an action-packed solo set — at one point, she stopped the show to make sure security could attend to a fan in need of assistance — Wyclef Jean and Pras joined Ms. Hill onstage to herald the beginning of the Fugees set in celebration of The Score’s 27th anniversary. By the time the trio got into the meat of their set, the crowd — most of which looked like they experienced the height of Miseducation and The Score in real-time — didn’t have the energy Wyclef was looking for. Nonetheless, their set was just as exhilarating as Ms. Hill’s solo showcase. Between breathless renditions of “Vocab,” “Nappy Heads,” and hits like “Killing Me Softly” and “Ready or Not,” Fugees’ dynamic performance was yet another example of the old heads outclassing the new school in terms assembling an engaging and consistent live show.
Ms. Hill’s penchant for new arrangements also permeated Fugees’ set, with a drill remix of “Fu-Gee-La” drawing Wyclef into the center of the crowd as the track morphed to include snippets of Bobby Shmurda’s “Hot N—a.” Wyclef also delivered some standout solo moments, including a tender cover of Bob Marley’s classic “No Woman, No Cry” and a bombastic rendition of “911.” Given Brooklyn’s rich history of West Indian-American culture, it was a particularly rich site for Fugees to commemorate The Score, and that much was felt as Wyclef and Pras gushed about their love of Kings County, from Flatsbush Avenue to the parkway.
An intensely emotional and physical show that highlighted the multitudes of blessings music can bring in this life, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 25th Anniversary Tour‘s stop in Brooklyn made for a challenging but triumphant night for two musical acts who the industry is still desperately trying to catch up to.
7/6, Island of Tiree, Scotland — The Tiree Music Festival, a three-day folk music event scheduled for July 7-9, canceled entirely due to what organizers called “extreme weather conditions.”
7/9, Pittsburgh, Penn. — At an Ed Sheeran concert at Acrisure Stadium, the Pittsburgh Bureau of EMS personnel working the concert received 37 calls for service, with 17 transports to the hospital. A press release from the City of Pittsburgh reported that the transports were for “heat-related issues,” along with a few falls, one seizure and two cardiac arrests.
7/9, Amsterdam, Netherlands – The electronic music festival Awakenings canceled its third day, including sets by dozens of producers including TSHA, Amelie Lens and Tale of Us, due to severe weather.
7/15, Hartford, Conn. — Jason Aldean ended a concert at Xfinity Theatre early after experiencing heat stroke while onstage. Temperatures reached nearly 90 degrees that day.
7/19-25, Europe – Pearl Jam canceled shows in Vienna, Prague and Amsterdam after Eddie Vedder suffered throat damage during an outdoor show at Lollapalooza Paris due to heat, along with dust and smoke from wildfires throughout Europe.
7/22, Chicago, Ill. — Pitchfork Music Festival asked attendees to evacuate the festival site in the city’s Union Park, with the event resuming after a severe thunderstorm had passed.
7/25, Phoenix, Ariz. — Disturbed canceled its show at Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre because the band’s equipment would not turn on in the heat, which reached 117 degrees that day.
Adele is embracing sobriety these days, but she’s missing a casual drink every now and then. During the singer/songwriter’s Las Vegas residency this past weekend, she spotted a fan in the crowd enjoying an alcoholic beverage, which resulted in her revealing that she has given up liquor in recent months. “I stopped drinking quite a […]
Since scoring a pair of left-field slow jam hits in duets with H.E.R. (“Best Part”) and Kali Uchis (“Get You”) six years ago, Daniel Caesar has sidestepped the quest for the male R&B throne and has instead opted to focus on further developing his dedicated community of fans — one that has grown to the size of a sold-out Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night (Oct. 17).
The Grammy winner has come a long way since those controversial comments on race relations and the subsequent backlash, but a sobering, apologetic self-reflection and a string of major career moves kept the Caesar train chugging. In the time since “Best Part” emerged as Freudian’s breakout hit, Caesar found Billboard Hot 100 success as a songwriter for fellow Canadians Justin Bieber (“Peaches,” No. 1 — also with Caesar as a featured artist) and Shawn Mendes (“Monster,” No. 8), launched another acclaimed Grammy-nominated studio effort in Case Study 01, and released collaborations with Common, Brandy, FKA twigs and Omar Apollo.
On Tuesday night, the acclaimed singer-songwriter took over one of the world’s most iconic venues to perform the biggest show of his career thus far. His Superpowers World Tour — a global trek in support of his major label debut album, Never Enough, a stunningly introspective slice of R&B that peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 — is a terrific showcase of musical dexterity.
On the latest stop of his Superpowers Tour, Caesar tore through his lush discography, showcasing impressive vocal endurance and an intriguing yet entrancing approach to staging. Before he hit the stage, however, Grammy-nominated pop&B lothario Omar Apollo sparkled with an energetic set that dripped with sensuality and playfulness. Evoking Michael Jackson one second and Mick Jagger the next, Apollo swaggered through renditions of hits like “Evergreen,” “Tamagotchi” and “3 Boys.” Between a heartfelt tribute to Mexico (“En El Olvido”) and a hilarious streak of frankness — after he flubbed a riff, he quipped, “Oop, my fault!” before seamlessly executing an even harder falsetto riff — Apollo seemed incredibly comfortable in front of the packed arena.
Caesar began his set enclosed in translucent drapery, with a guest appearance from Mustafa the Poet — the pair performed their “Toronto 2014” collaboration — adding to the enigmatic tone of the night. Once he hit “Cyanide,” the drapes fell, revealing a close-up of a humbled Caesar, ready and excited to delight the crowd with a slew of songs off Never Enough, as well as some fan-favorites (“Entropy”) and a cover of Radiohead’s “Creep.” Not one for much banter, Caesar instead channeled his appreciation into a series of moving vocal performances that cast his greatest love songs in the context of the love story between him and his fans.
Here are the five best moments of Daniel Caesar’s Superpowers World Tour at Madison Square Garden:
Caesar in the Shadows
It was all handshakes and hugs at London’s The TwentyTwo Hotel that sealed the deal on Post Malone opening Fontainebleau Las Vegas‘ BleauLive Theater on Dec. 30 and 31.
Fontainebleau Development president Brett Mufson and creative director Peter Arnell were on a design trip to London for the new $3.7 billion resort when they had a chance encounter with Malone and his manager Electric Feel CEO Austin Rosen.
“We had been talking about getting with Post because Rosen is family to us,” Mufson says. [Rosen’s father Andrew is friends with Fontainebleau CEO Jeff Soffer.] “It was serendipitous. We were staying at The TwentyTwo and [Rosen] called and said he was there as well. ‘Where are you?’ ‘Downstairs? Rosen said ‘come to the back room’ and he was sitting there with Post.”
“I asked, ‘Are we going to do this deal or what?’ And we shook hands,” Mufson says. “Austin, Peter and I cut the deal and Post [who went outside to smoke] came back in and we all hugged.”
Malone will perform two consecutive history-making nights at the resort’s 3,800-seat BleauLive Theater — its debut on-sale event. This booking transports the 70-year-old icon’s long entertainment legacy from Miami Beach to the Las Vegas Strip. Over the years, the original location has hosted everyone from the Rat Pack and Elvis to Usher, Mariah Carey and Bad Bunny.
Rendering of the Fontainebleau resort in Las Vegas.
Fontainebleau Las Vegas
“New Year’s Eve is iconic in this city and I’m excited to ring in 2024 as the first headliner at Fontainebleau Las Vegas,” says Malone, whose fifth album Austin debuted in August at No. 1 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart. In June, the 10-time GRAMMY nominee received the Songwriters Hall of Fame “Hal Davis Starlight Award.”
“The brand is rooted in nostalgia around our entertainment history. But how do we look at that with a contemporary point of view?” Mufson says. “Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. — who are those performers of this era? Post is one of them; he’s a modern-day music genius.”
Don’t expect big-name multi-year residencies at BleauLive like its neighbor Resorts World (with Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Carrie Underwood). “We will do two to six shows or two to eight shows,” Mufson says of the limited-engagement strategy. “That’s the right thing to dip our toe in.” He shares they are close to signing more than a half-dozen acts that will be announced soon.
Fedor Banuchi, Fontainebleau senior vp of entertainment and special events, characterizes the talent lineup as “genre agnostic” running the gamut from country and latin to pop, comedy and legends.
Located on the second-floor above the casino, the 90,000 square-foot three-level multipurpose BleauLive serves as the entertainment hub of the new resort, hosting concerts and fights on the weekends, and meetings and car shows midweek. The Live Nation-backed theater has a capacity of 3,800 with a GA floor. VIP sections have lounge seating with couches and bottle service. Top tiers can be closed to shrink capacity to 1,500. The stage is festival size, featuring a 65′ x 18′ center video wall, dual 16′ x 9′ side walls and Elation Lighting.
“Live Nation helped us significantly on the design of the theater to be able to differentiate ourselves from our competitors,” Mufson says. Live Nation also owns 51 percent of David Grutman‘s Groot Hospitality, which will open Liv Nightclub and Beach as well as Papi Steak and Komodo restaurants at the new casino.
He adds, “Audiences want a hyper personalized experience…. [with] storytelling. They want to hear why the artist wrote the song, where they were in their lives. I think our room sets up for that very nicely.”
Rendering of the BleauLive theater at Las Vegas’ Fontainebleau resort.
Fontainebleau Las Vegas
BleauLive is the first theater to showcase a permanent install of the Meyer Panther sound system, which Metallica and Ed Sheeran debuted on their 2023 tours.
In a town filled with the world’s top-grossing stadium and theaters in every size, it’s all about the shiny new toy.
“Las Vegas is probably the most competitive market in the world for talent,” Banuchi says. “This theater will represent the newest, best place for an artist who wants to be associated with a luxury brand. Post is an arena — borderline stadium act — and in this size venue he will bring exactly the energy we want.”
“It’s not the biggest theater in town but it will definitely have a great live experience,” Soffer adds. “Entertainment drives people to the resort. It’s the environment we build — it has a meaning and a purpose.”
Its closest neighbors are the AEG Presents’ Encore Theater at Wynn and Resorts World Theatre. The nearest Live Nation theaters are at Venetian and Sphere, which Soffer thinks “is great for the city and brings more people in to see acts in a unique environment. It’s an advantage for all of us.”
Ahead of New Year’s Eve, the 3,644-room Fontainebleau will finally open on Dec. 13 with a star-studded party, invite-only production by Colin Cowie. It’s quite the coming out celebration for the 67-story building, which took nearly two decades to complete. Soffer acquired the land on which the tallest occupiable structure in the state of Nevada sits in 2000, broke ground in 2007 and topped off in 2008. The following year, banks collapsed, funding dried up, lawsuits were filed and construction stopped for 12 years as the Fontainebleau stood 70 percent complete. Several owners came and went before Soffer and Fontainebleau Development, in partnership with Koch Real Estate Investments, reacquired the property in 2021.
Tickets for Malone’s show go on sale Oct. 20 at 10 a.m. and start at $150. A New Year’s Eve package, starting at $4,500, includes a two-night stay in a room or suite, a pair of first-row tickets to Post’s show at BleauLive Theater on either night, in addition to a $250 food and beverage credit.