festivals
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After SZA took the stage as the day two headliner of Lollapalooza over the weekend, the star took a moment on her Instagram Stories to spotlight another major performance of the Chicago festival — Chappell Roan’s. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “She makes me wanna keep making […]
From the members who constantly stole the spotlight to SKZ stepping into full rock star mode, these are the unforgettable moments.
While KCON has long been heralded as the Mecca for K-pop fans, a new party that launched amid the 2024 Los Angeles date could also make it a must-attend for those in the industry as well.
What was meant to be a night to celebrate K-pop ended up being a cross-industry collaboration event hosted by Day 13, a new joint venture merger between K-pop and marketing expert Jenny Zha with Keith Kawamura, the anime and gaming marketing veteran who is also CEO of 3i Productions. Following KCON LA’s second day of concerts on Saturday, July 27, artists, execs, and influencers were on their way to downtown LA hot spot Hatch.
Notable attendees included KCON performers like K-pop star and American Song Contest winner AleXa, as well as Mikha of the Filipino girl group BINI — both of whom enjoyed bites and drinks in the roped-off back section of Hatch with friends like The Kelly Clarkson Show producer Jasmine Stephen, songwriter Vanessa Jefferson whose love of K-pop has been long documented by her sister Lizzo, and Henry Jiang of OfflineTV who talked to AleXa about their interest and collaborating in the game space.
“With the inaugural Day 13 industry party, we wanted to bring everyone together to create more avenues for ideation, and establish a longstanding tradition that can give way to even more exciting cross-collaboration projects,” Zha reflects to Billboard. “Subcultures like K-pop and anime are so pervasive it’s now part of mainstream conversation — especially at the forefront for key stakeholders behind-the-scenes.”
A host of journalists, publicists and other media figures that long worked in the K-pop space were also in attendance. Lively discussions included the extra effort being put into ILLIT’s comeback single, ATEEZ’s recent move to United Talent Agency, excitement and inquiries about TITAN CONTENTS’ first girl group AtHeart (originally revealed on Billboard), a K-pop act’s upcoming song collaboration in partnership with Netflix, a new K-pop artist’s signing with a U.S. PR, gripes about working with and guesses about the future of one major Korean agency, as well as tons more juicy tidbits to compete with Hatch’s wagyu and wasabi skewer.
Also in attendance was award-winning actress and dancer Krystal Ellsworth (who blew up in India after starring in the 2017 flick Heartbeats that was shot in the country). Brian Chau of CAA was in the house, linking up Konami and Bandai Games over drinks to explore how talents could be further integrated in a convo about video gaming industry.
Influencers like “The Transition Guy” Jonny Tran (930,000 TikTok followers) and Twitch streamer iGumdrop (with nearly 300,000 Twitch followers and 450,000 Instagram followers) were seen connecting with members of Sony’s Santa Monica Studios — producers behind the God of War franchise – for collaboration opportunities.
From a local surprise guest to the performance of her new viral hit, these were Hot Girl Meg’s unforgettable moments.
Brat summer touched down in the Balearic Islands earlier this month when Charli XCX brought her Partygirl party night to Ibiza’s legendary club Amnesia for a very packed and very buzzy Boiler Room set on July 13. The artist of the summer launched the set with Brat‘s “365,” then blazed through the album — with […]
While the past weekend’s KCON festival offered K-pop fans the rare opportunity to see their favorite artists in person through three days of convention and concerts, ZEROBASEONE took full advantage of the Los Angeles audience by surprise announcing a new album on the fest’s final day on Sunday (July 28).
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After the nine-member boy band performed the singles “Feel the POP” and “In Bloom” at the Crypto.com Arena, a mysterious video appeared across the KCON marquee with the phrases “Cinema Paradise” and “August 2024” below it. The guys quickly confirmed that the tease was a “comeback spoiler” to the audience.
Cinema Paradise will be ZB1’s fourth K-pop release since debuting just over a year ago on July 10, 2023, with their Youth in the Shade EP. See the comeback spoiler “film” below:
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ZEROBASEONE wasn’t the only artist to utilize KCON LA to tease new music.
Not long after ZB1 made the surprise album announcement, next KCON performer Jeon Somi revealed at the end of her set that she would be returning to the K-pop scene with “a “fun summer song.” The soloist shared the melody and lyrics from the upcoming track, telling the audience to sing along with the call-and-response lines: “Come and get your ice cream… / Too cold!”
Somi’s agency, THEBLACKLABEL, quickly confirmed that the singer’s new single “Ice Cream” would drop on Aug. 2 and shared the following photos.
Elsewhere during KCON, Billboard 200–charting boy band P1Harmony hyped up fans when leader Keeho shared the group’s “comeback is coming faster than you think” during the “red carpet” ceremony on Saturday, July 27.
Plus, the Japanese girl group ME:I (created on Produce 101 Japan The Girls, a local version of a K-pop singing competition developed by KCON organizer CJ E&M) shared a live performance of their new single “Hi-Five” ahead of its official release on Aug. 28. Previously, the 11-member outfit peaked at No. 2 on the Japan Hot 100 so far with their debut single “Click” in April.
The music video to “Hi-Five” dropped a few hours after making its live debut to KCON-ers in attendance.
KCON reports that a combined 5.9 million fans showed up in person and online from more than 170 countries across the three days of this year’s festivities, which is in line with the 5.9 million viewers from 176 regions from last year’s fest. With the bonus of surprise announcements and new song reveals this year, the upcoming KCON Germany 2024 in September should also boast millions of fans tuning in.
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All audio, lighting, video and stage production on the main stage at this year’s Lollapalooza will be entirely powered by a hybrid battery system, the festival announced Monday (July 29).
According to organizers, that makes Lollapalooza the first major U.S. music festival to have a main stage run entirely on a hybrid battery system. Typically, diesel generators power the stages at large-scale events.
Lollapalooza’s hybrid-powered stage will deploy over 1.5 MWh of battery storage capacity. A representative for the festival tells Billboard that the batteries are reusable and will be charged using diesel generators that run on biodiesel fuel (typically made from renewable sources like vegetable oil, animal fat or recycled cooking grease and used as a cleaner-burning alternative to petroleum-based diesel fuel). That’s similar to systems that power hybrid vehicles.
The batteries, manufactured by Swedish industrial tools and equipment company Atlas Copco, will be deployed by CES Power, which provides temporary event power generation, power distribution, and HVAC for festivals, film and broadcast, major events, and industrial projects. The system is being deployed via a partnership between Live Nation’s sustainability initiative Green Nation, T-Mobile and CES Power.
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“We have set a goal to build a more sustainable future for music festivals, which requires taking bold steps to find solutions that can reinvent how we operate and in turn, build industry trust in new technology so that major live events can see a path towards becoming more energy efficient,” Jake Perry, director of operations and sustainability at C3 Presents, which produces Lollapalooza, said in a statement.
“Solutions like the ones Lollapalooza are pioneering not only contribute toward our global Green Nation goal of cutting our emissions in half by 2030, but they provide local benefits as well through reduced noise and air pollution which creates a better experience overall for the artists, fans and crew,” added Lucy August-Perna, head of global sustainability at Live Nation. “We look forward to sharing the results and learnings from Lollapalooza with our network of over 200+ festivals around the world who are committed to raising the bar for more sustainable live events.”
Major events have historically been reticent to incorporate hybrid battery power due to concerns about its reliability, but such batteries are becoming more popular on the live scene as the technology advances. This past May, California’s Mill Valley Music Festival became the first U.S. festival to be powered by 100% renewable energy through the use of batteries.
This isn’t the first time Lollapalooza has experimented with green energy on its main stage. Last August, Billie Eilish‘s headlining set at the festival was partially run on a solar-powered battery system via an initiative with environmental nonprofit Reverb.
Lollapalooza 2024’s headliners include Meghan Thee Stallion, Hozier, SZA, Stray Kids, The Killers, Future and Metro Boomin, Blink 182, Melanie Martinez, and Skrillex.
Desert Daze is returning to Lake Perris, California, after taking 2023 off with one of its most stacked lineups since launching in 2012. This year’s festival is being headlined by rock icon and former White Stripes frontman Jack White, next-gen shoegaze pioneers Cigarettes After Sex, singer-songwriter Alex G, reunited Latino prog rock masters The Mars Volta, bassist and singer Thundercat, ’90s icon Liz Phair and hip-hop legends De La Soul. Desert Daze also includes Death From Above 1979 performing a 20th-anniversary performance of You’re a Woman, I’m A Machine.
The lineup also includes Fleet Foxes, 100 gecs, Sleep, Marc Rebillet, Molchat Doma, The Kills, Floating Points, Power Trip, Beach Fossils, DIIV, Unwound, Shintaro Sakamoto, Danny Brown, All Them Witches, Mount Kimbie, Otoboke Beaver, Say She She, Converge, Souls Of Mischief and many more.
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A few of the special appearances at Desert Daze 2024 include original riot grrrl and punk-rock heroine Kathleen Hanna reading from her New York Times bestselling memoir Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk and in conversation with Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Temples’ 10th-anniversary performance of their debut album, Sun Structures.
New this year, Los Angeles venue, recording studio and hotel Gold Diggers will curate a tent featuring acclaimed Chicago-based jazz drummer, composer and producer Makaya Mccraven, Tortoise’s Jeff Parker, musician and skateboarding icon Tommy Guerrero, acclaimed British singer Carina Round (Tears for Fears, Puscifer), and more; and Los Angeles-based label and promoter Jazz Is Dead will showcase their artists including Ebo Taylor + Pat Thomas, and co-founder Adrian Younge.
For additional info & tickets, visit desertdaze.org
DESERT DAZE
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Tomorrowland is currently in the eye of the storm, with the first weekend of the dance mega-festival in Boom, Belgium, wrapping up Sunday (July 23), and the second weekend kicking off again this Friday, July 26.
Betwixt events, festival organizers have released a list of the 10 most played tracks of weekend one, with the data compiled by the festival’s music monitoring team in conjunction with online DJ database 1001 Tracklists.
The unranked list is a mix of classic dance tracks and newer material, with music released in the past few weeks showing up alongside EDM classics by genre mainstays and even music from the turn of the millennium. Genre-wise, the list is across the board, featuring melodic techno, EDM, afrohouse and dance remixes of classic songs. Check the list below.
The first weekend of Tomorrowland 2024 drew 200,000 festivalgoers from around the world to a 9,000-acre festival site, where hundreds of DJs played across 16 stages. 2024 marks the show’s 20-year anniversary.
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Kaaze Feat. Alina Pozi, “Papi” (2024)
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Argy & Omnia, “Aria” (2023)
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Sebastian Ingrosso & Tommy Trash Feat. John Martin, “Reload” (2012)
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Swedish House Mafia Feat. John Martin, “Don’t You Worry Child” (2012)
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Marlon Hoffstadt aka DJ Daddy Trance, “It’s That Time” (2023)
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Gotye Feat. Kimbra, “Somebody That I Used To Know (Sidepiece Edit)” (2024)
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Adam Port & Stryv Feat. Malachiii, “Move” (2024)
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Chase & Status & Bou, Feat. Trigga, IRAH, Flowdan & Takura, “Baddadan” (2023)
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Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike & Tiesto & W&W Ft Dido, “Thank You (Not So Bad)” (2024)
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Tomcraft, “Loneliness” (2002)
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At the tail end of May, the faithful ravers of SoCal and the Western United States beyond descended upon the dry landscape of the Bakersfield, Calif. area for the annual pilgrimage of beats, vibes and psychedelia-tinged wellness that is Lightning In a Bottle.
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Skrillex was there camping out for the weekend ahead of his mighty festival closing performance; Rüfüs du Sol turned up for an unannounced golden hour DJ set on the shore of the man-made lake the festival is situated around. There was yoga. There were so many breathwork classes. There was a rollerskating rink and shots of pickle juice available at a bar designed like a western saloon.
And of course more than anything, there was music. The 2024 lineup was arguably one of the festival’s strongest in its 21 year history, with the aforementioned Skrillex headlining set (“Lightning In a Bottle, thank you for the experience, I’ve always wanted to do this” the producer announced as he closed the show) happening amid a lineup that also featured James Blake, M.I.A., Nia Archives, Of The Trees, Aluna, CloZee Fatboy Slim, Honey Dijon, IsoXo and many other electronic luminaries, along with a stacked undercard.
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This year, the event also featured two new stages, Lighthouse and Crossroads, with the latter focused largely on afrobeats and serving as a packed late (like 4 a.m. late) night hub and a welcome addition to the sonic landscape. Here and on other stages, music went until the early hours nightly, with daytime programming focused on workshops (with topics including things like “pluriversal AI for equitable futures,” “the galactic akashic records,” and “rites of the rose ritual”), along with sound baths, meditation and general recuperation from the night before.
Drafting off the success of this year’s event, Lightning In a Bottle’s producers The Do Lab have noted that the presale for the 2025 event is their biggest of all time, with these early tickets already sold out.
So, let us revisit the immaculate vibes of the weekend with these three exclusive sets from the festival from Aqutie, Jubilee and Shermanology.
Aqutie
The New York City-based producer played two solo sets during the festival, once in the Crossroads tent on Sunday night and another on the Thunder stage Saturday afternoon. Heard here, this latter set leans heavy into afrohouse, classics like Groove Armada’s “Love Sweet Sound” and Masters at Work’s “Work,” the Adam Port remix of Dua Lipa’s “Houdini” and material from the producer’s recently released Coolest In The City EP, recently released via Aluna’s Noir Fever label. (Aqutie also made an appearance during Aluna’s set on the festival’s biggest stage, Lightning.) “I had such a beautiful time omg,” she wrote on Instagram after the fest. “Words can’t describe how much fun I had. I can’t wait to do it again.”
Jubilee
The NYC legend wasted no time during her Sunday afternoon set on the Thunder stage, launching the performance with punchy, sharp-edged sounds that evolved into tough, sexy, experimental, occasionally acid-soaked terrain that incorporated tracks from producers including Dance System, Oceantide and Zion Train. “It’s hot as f–k, so everybody that made it out, thank you very much,” the artist announced at the end of her set, with a statement that referred to the weather, but could have also easily described the 90 minutes she’d just played.
Shermanology
Longstanding Dutch brother/sister duo Shermanology played a Sunday afternoon set perfectly suited to ass-shaking in the afternoon sunshine. Happening at the festival’s Woogie stage — which this year featured a new design that was debuted when the Woogie served as the Do Lab’s stage at Coachella 2024 — the high-energy performance had loads of singalong moments (including their deeply funky Fisher collab “It’s a Killa” and their totally undeniable 2021 track “Boyz N Da Club”) and was just plain fun, cool, feel-good music — the essence of the Woogie’s legendary daytime vibe.