Live
Page: 3
Expanding into a two-day event to uplift Asian and AAPI artists, culture and connection, the 2024 MetaMoon Music Festival hits New York this fall with Henry Lau and Eric Nam as headliners, Billboard can exclusively reveal.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Taking place at the Brooklyn Paramount on Sept. 27-28, the fest brings Lau and Nam together with rising stars Emei and SUNKIS, as well as unique educational opportunities in partnership with the Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment at Long Island University. The one-day student conference, “The Summit: Rise of Asian Artists and their Global Fandom,” takes place on Friday, Sept. 27, with panel discussions and masterclasses by industry professionals to foster dialogue on Asian representation in the music industry as well as networking opportunities.
“The ethos of MetaMoon is to amplify Asian/AAPI talent on stage by giving underrepresented artists a consistent platform to perform in front of their fans in the U.S.,” Grace Chen, founder of MetaMoon Music Festival, tells Billboard. “Just as importantly, we want to empower Asian/AAPI voices behind the scenes, in the rooms where decisions are made and agendas are set. Our collaboration with the Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment equips students and the next generation of music executives with the access and insight, and hopefully inspiration, to show up and get involved.”
Trending on Billboard
Produced in collaboration with Live Nation, the pre-sale for the MetaMoon concert tickets begins on May 22 and goes on general sale via Ticketmaster on May 24. Registration for the Roc Nation School x MetaMoon Summit opens on Sept. 4.
Ahead of MetaMoon Music Festival 2024, Billboard sat down with headliner Henry Lau for 20 Questions to discuss his involvement in the show for his first-ever headlining slot in a U.S. festival, latest music developments and more.
[embedded content]
1. Where are you in the world right now, and what’s the setting like?
Right now, I’m traveling around everywhere so I tell my friends I’m like a stewardess. I’m currently in Korea. In a few weeks I’ll be going to, I don’t know, Paris. I was just in Thailand last week. It’s all over the world. But right now, I’m here in my studio/office/gym — there’s a whole entire gym area here.
2. You’re coming to the 2024 MetaMoon Music Festival for your first time headlining a U.S. festival. What can we expect?
This is the first time I can really show my stage and sing as much as I want for my fans who know that all my shows have a very unique stage. Because I don’t just go up and sing, there’s a lot of instruments and then there’s a lot of live recording, looping, I like to take a lot of props on stage and record them into songs. I’m really excited that people in America can see that from me for the first time. And, of course, mixing in classical music.
3. Is there any new music we’ll hear at MetaMoon?
I actually haven’t told anybody about this yet, but right around that time, I’ll probably be releasing a new single. I’ve already teased this with my fans very personally, but it’s a song called “Always Been You.”
4. You’ve teased your full-length album for a while now. What’s the status?
I have put the album on hold. I’ve already apologized personally to all my fans. But it is completed. It’s just that I have so many projects right now that when I release it, I have to—and my fans would appreciate it—promote it properly. I’m just waiting for the right timing; I just don’t know when that will be exactly.
5. You’ve spoken about representation in Hollywood in the past, and MetaMoon celebrates and highlights AAPI artists and culture. What’s the significance to you of being part of such an event?
I don’t really think of it. I’m there to perform music, right? There are no borders to music so I think I’m just so happy that I could perform in the States and and it could be a cross-cultural festival. That’s my opinion. For me, it’s music first — I’m not thinking that this represents anything like that.
6. You are so multifaceted in all your music inspirations, the languages you speak and sing in, or how you release music. What is your approach when you’re creating the music itself?
For every song, it’s totally different. The one really big element of my songs is not just the audio, but I think about how I will perform this onstage. For example, one of my latest singles was called “Moonlight.” I made that song and then had a different version where I used a loop station process performing on stage. And for the songs I’ll be performing at the festival this time, you will be able to see all of that. That’s one way I approach a lot of the songs. When you have too much going on in an audio track, it’s just too crazy, so I like to leave it for the performance. When you actually listen to my songs, those are probably the most basic versions.
7. if you could travel to any musical era, when and where would you go?
I used to think it would be the ’80s or ’90s because it feels like all the great melodies, the simple melodies, weren’t thought of back then. I used to think that way, but then you see the amazing pop music that comes out today, too — I’m not saying every song. But I think the earlier you go and when a new genre of music is being born, I’d say at the start of any musical era. If it’s the start of classical music, that’d be amazing.
But right now is a really great time for mixing different genres since there are so many amazing genres out there. And if you’re arguing that a genre has already matured, if you start mixing genres and mixing cultures, then the possibilities are limitless. And I think that’s where my role is now in the music field overall — I think that’s my purpose.
6. MetaMoon is not just about the concert, but there is a summit, panels, and other ways to help build the community and music-industry network. What will you bring to these events?
First of all, I’ve never done anything like this before, so I’ll usually just go up, perform and, you know, say hi. And that’s it. So this is something very, very new and I’m very excited to do it. I have no idea what it’s going to be about but I’m just excited to share what I’ve learnt. Maybe not everything I say will be the most correct, but it’s just my experience. I think I’ve gotten to an age — I’m pretty old now [Laughs] — where there are a lot of aspiring musicians, and I hope that my experiences can help give them a good idea of what to expect and what they need to work on in certain aspects. I’m just very excited to be sharing my story.
9. The Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment at LIU is collaborating with MetaMoon for their “The Evolution of Asian Artists and their Global Fandom” summit. You also went to a music school. How significant are these opportunities?
I think the biggest benefit was meeting my peers and fellow musicians. At that time, there weren’t a lot of forums like this. Usually, these days in music school, they have a lot of guest speakers and successful musicians come up and share their stories. And I actually watch those now and look for them on Instagram or YouTube. It’s something that I wish I had when I was younger. I think it’s very, very important because there’s no textbook for music or the music business or guide to let people actually know these are the hard things that you have to deal with…I’ll do my part and I hope it helps because everybody’s story or way to success is very different. So, I think the more you listen, the more you hear these stories, the more you can apply it to yourself.
10. I want to give you your flowers for your place as such a unique musician in pop music. Do you see yourself having a role in shaping or changing perceptions of popular music?
I used to think that I came from a unique background, but I’m coming to realize there are so many more people who are similar to me background-wise. I have a lot of people that come up to me like, “Hey, I also learned piano, I also learned violin,” “I’m living in Canada, but I don’t have anything to do with K-pop, what do I do?” [or] “How did you do that?” Everyone from my hometown is almost identical to me background-wise. I think I have a role to let people know that it is possible. I hadn’t a probability of like 0.01% of this happening to me, but then there were certain steps I took and I think that maybe it’s my role to share that with people.
[embedded content]
11. Looking wider, what are your hopes or aspirations in representing kids from your hometown who might want to pursue a similar path?
Right now, I’m just focused on giving all my fans the best music possible, the best stages and the best content. Before COVID, I was planning on a tour and that’s something I still want to do in the near future. And through that, they can see what is possible. But what’s different about America, compared to performing in Asia which I usually do 99% of the time, is I think in the States, they can recognize that I’m more similar to them. So, I think that one main difference when I’m performing or working in the States, it’s like, “Hey, he’s one of us and he’s doing this.” I think similar to Eric [Nam] as well. I’m very happy to let people know that things are possible.
12. You and Eric Nam are both headlining MetaMoon Music Festival together. Are you friends?
At the start of our careers, we were both on different shows and came up together. Sometimes, I would be on shows where he was the MC; I would watch it later and be like, “Whoa, he was there with me.” We basically grew up together and we came up very, very similarly from a similar background.
13. Fans have also watched you grow in your acting career. Do you have a movie that always makes you smile?
To be honest, I don’t watch many movies. I don’t have much time. I watch movies when I feel like I need to be lifted up — movies that show somebody going through a harder time than me or any movie following any genius. What’s that movie with Russell Crowe being a mathematician? A Beautiful Mind. Yes, that’s a beautiful movie. So when I watch movies like that, it’s like, “Ooh, they went through so much; what I’m going through is actually nothing.”
14. If you don’t mind sharing, what was a hard time you went through recently and how did you overcome it?
There’s everything. Just even preparing for one stage, people see me play a lot of instruments. I record things up on stage, and [with] every little thing I do, I’m the one directing it. I make all my equipment, I make custom instruments for myself, and I do all the mixing for everything that’s recorded. If the stage performance is 30 minutes, I will spend at least five days just doing technical things: dealing with lighting, visual effects, all the LEDs, all the logos, everything. I have a habit of trying to do everything. It gets stressful when you’re dealing with that and under a tight timeline. There’s just a lot of that but what I like to show people are not the hardships.
15. You shared that you recently went to Nashville and met with the members of OneRepublic. What is the importance of traveling for music to you and did anything come from this trip?
I was actually on a journey to explore music and explore myself. This could be a whole separate interview, but in short, it was to find the best way to combine classical violin and pop music. The perfect place for that is actually country music because, if you think about it, violin is in maybe 50% of country music. So I went to the birthplace of country music, explored that, and we actually came up with something amazing. It’s all in that new album, all the new concepts, something the world’s never heard. Concept-wise, it would be “country x K-pop x violin.” That’s the reason why I’m putting off the album and waiting for the correct timing because I believe so much in this project.
16. What’s something you learned in Nashville?
I actually didn’t know, but the fiddle is violin — it’s the same thing, it’s just the way you play it. So, I actually learned how to fiddle. When you pull out a violin in Nashville, everybody plays it, so it was kind of shocking. Hopefully, if we can get one of those songs done before the festival, that would actually be really cool…maybe there’s a chance of me performing…you just gave me an idea.
17. You grew up in a musical family. What do your parents think of what you’re doing today?
Well, in the very beginning, they were against it. Sending your kid off away from home to become a singer doesn’t sound too promising, you know? But I decided to take the risk and I convinced them to let me do it. And I haven’t been doing so bad. Ever since then, they’ve been supportive. I think what’s really important for an artist, or anyone, is that the people around you support you. And I know not everybody has supporting families, bu it’s really important to build the people around you. I was thinking how that’s something really important through this forum that maybe some people who don’t have enough support can meet other people there.
18. Do you have a proudest moment of your career so far?
No, I actually don’t. I’m the type that I ask my company to remove all my trophies and awards that they like to put on display and stuff. I don’t look at those and feel satisfied; I’m not that type. Of course, I’m very thankful but I don’t think about those kinds of things. I just think about what I’m going to be doing tomorrow, what I’m going to be doing next month, when I’m going to perform at the MetaMoon Festival.
19. That’s interesting because you said your first celebrity crush was Christina Aguiler. She’s said she puts away her Grammys and awards when recording. But you said you liked her because she was not only pretty but talented. What draws you to an artist?
I actually totally forgot that I said that, but now that you’re saying it and I’m like, “Yeah, that’s actually true.” First, I think talent is very important and, until very recently, I only looked at talent. What I’m actually finding that I’m drawn to these days is the character of the artist. If you wanted to be just an artist, you should release music and not come onto the screen. But if you decide now to be in the media, to even show your face or let people know who you are, then you have a responsibility of also leading people in a good direction — not doing, you know, stupid shit. One thing that’s really inspiring to me when I see an artist is when they’re 360 [degrees], the whole picture of what they’re doing and what kind of energy they’re bringing to people. I think that’s something that also really draws me into them. Before, when there was less social media, it wouldn’t be that important; you could get by with just having art or your music because there were no platforms to constantly show your personality.
20. What’s your relationship like with social media as an artist?
For me, Instagram is just a way of communication between me and my fans. I don’t like to put my entire life up there and I’m very careful with what I want to put up. But I’ve done so many silly things on TV and everything that I have very little to hide from my fans. So, there’s no certain image for me to upkeep or anything — I can put up a picture of me looking horrible and it wouldn’t be so much of a shock to my fans because they’ve already seen everything they have to see of me. I’m more lucky in that aspect, but I’m still not the type to put up my whole life on Instagram. I would say everything I’m doing is all for the fans.
Tickets to MetaMoon Music Festival 2024 are available via Ticketmaster.
Live event production and rehearsal studio Rock Lititz and development firm Al. Neyer have teamed to open a 55-acre Nashville entertainment rehearsal and production campus, Rock Nashville, in 2025.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The deal will include 44 acres of development over a 55-acre site in Nashville’s Whites Creek neighborhood. The Rock Nashville campus will include three buildings with more than 515,000 square feet of sound stages as well as creative offices and production facilities in various sizes with the capacity to support various production specifications for live shows, from local bands to A-list artists. The campus will include resources for performers and 13 band and production studio rehearsal spaces ranging from club/theater sizes to amphitheater, arena and stadium-scale (including one space up to 95 feet tall to replicate venues of that size), as well as set storage, backline rental, artist relation offices and a community cafe.
The campus is expected to become home to nearly 35 companies, including rehearsal studio complex SoundCheck, which had a hand in designing Rock Nashville and helped spearhead the strategic partnership between the team at Rock Lititz and Al. Neyer. SoundCheck will move from its current home on Cowan Street in Nashville, where it has been located for over three decades. Additionally, Clair Global, which provides live production spaces, systems integration and audio solutions, will be located at the new campus.
Trending on Billboard
Groundbreaking for the new facility occurred in mid-April, and construction is expected to be completed in Fall of 2025. Rock Nashville is expected to be home to 400 employees, and 85 employees at support businesses.
“As a full-service developer, we’re thrilled to be involved in the design, construction, and development of the future of Music City and live entertainment. As we continue to invest in the growing market of Nashville, this is our first foray into the entertainment world. We couldn’t imagine a more perfect operating partner to bring a new offering to the Nashville market alongside,” said Patrick Poole, Nashville Market Leader for Al. Neyer, in a statement.
“As we approach ten years since Rock Lititz opened its doors, we’ve been eager to find the next space and partner for expanding our support for the live entertainment industry. This unique and hard-working community thrives with access to specialized training, mentoring, and resources to help create custom live experiences for audiences worldwide. It is with great excitement that we’ve identified Nashville and Al. Neyer as the right city and partner. We are passionate about growing this network, and Nashville is the perfect location to join with other industry leaders to create something special,” added Andrea Shirk, Rock Lititz President and CEO, in a statement.
“SoundCheck has been part of the Nashville entertainment community for over 30 years, and we couldn’t be more excited to make Rock Nashville our new home,” said Soundcheck GM Kindal Jumper. “As Music City continues to grow as a premier destination for all genres of music, the campus’s state-of-the-art facilities will allow Soundcheck to meet the growing needs of today’s acts, ensuring the highest caliber production experience for artists and crews from Broadway to Bridgestone.
Rock Lititz was founded in 2000 by Troy Clair, owner of Clair Global, and Adam Davis, CEO of the TAIT Group. The Rock Lititz campus in Pennsylvania opened in 2014 and is home to more than 40 companies that support the live entertainment space.
While Madonna‘s globe-spanning tour is meant to be a “Celebration,” the singer took a moment on Tuesday night (April 9) to have a serious conversation with her fans about one of the worst shootings in American history.
During her final show in Miami, Fla., Madonna delivered an emotional speech to her fans in honor of the victims of the 2016 shooting at Pulse nightclub, the second-deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. “I want to remind you that we have not all been so lucky,” Madonna said somberly to her audience, according to a fan-captured video. “I want to draw attention to that moment because nightclubs and music and dance are what bring us together. They shouldn’t be places or things that we do that bring us sadness and tragedy and murder and death and pain and suffering and trauma.”
Along with paying tribute to the 49 people killed in the attack, the legendary pop star also shared her support for the LGBTQ+ community, saying, “I will always stand for the gays, because the gays have always stood for me.”
Trending on Billboard
“That was the biggest terrorist attack in America after 9/11,” she said. “People getting together to dance in a club that was inclusive and full of love. It was Latin Night, people were dancing to Latin music, and some motherf–ker came in there with two guns and started shooting at people.”
Madonna went on to share that she invited survivors and their families, as well as the families of those who did not survive to attend her show that night, calling out a few of their names and thanking them for attending. In the middle of her speech, her voice began to crack with emotion. “I make dance music. My job is to bring people together, to make people dance, to make people happy, to not judge,” she said. “This s–t is not supposed to happen. Don’t forget about it.”
It’s far from the first time Madonna has honored victims and heroes during her Celebration Tour. When her trek stopped at New York City’s Madison Square Garden in January, the pop icon shared the stories of Ellen Matzer and Valery Hughes, two New York nurses who treated and advocated for AIDS/HIV patients at the height of the epidemic the 1980s.
Watch the fan-captured video of Madonna’s speech below:
As a leader in a new generation of K-pop acts, IVE‘s Show What I Have world tour boasted a wholly appropriate name for which the girl group delivered an electric, emotional finale to its U.S. leg in Newark.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
For the sold-out crowd at the massive Prudential Center arena, IVE brought their hit singles — which includes eight entries on the Billboard Global 200 to date — b-side tracks and cover performances to life via heavily conceptual staging for each of the 24 setlist songs interwoven with frequent commentary from the group and video interludes.
Highlights of the night included the theatrical umbrella routine recalling “Singing in the Rain” for “Mine” and the haunting visuals accompanying horror-themed stages for “Hypnosis” and “My Satisfaction.” While IVE’s signature flowy choreography spotlighted in deep cuts like “Blue Blood” and “Heroine,” the crowd’s fervent chanting during hits “Love Dive” and “Kitsch” underscored the fervor and dedication of IVE’s fans — affectionately known as DIVE — even when making their New Jersey debut.
Trending on Billboard
As a special treat for fans, the IVE members split into duos and solo performances to pay homage to diverse artists, with covers ranging from Ariana Grande to Indonesian singer-songwriter NIKI and English crooner Richard Sanderson. While the inclusion of covers by Spice Girls (Rei and Gaeul performed “Wannabe”) and IVE’s new Columbia Records label mate Little Mix (where Yujin and Leeseo duetted on “Woman Like Me”) were astute in aligning themselves as the next global girl group, the performances acted more of a reminder that IVE has already carved out a distinct identity and color as the prom queens of K-pop and isn’t so easily able to adopt other personas in the pop sphere.
But beyond the polished performances and elaborate stage production, the IVE members’ raw emotions might have left the strongest impression during Show What I Have.
Early into the show, IVE leader An Yujin became visibly emotional and cried while singing their fan-dedicated power ballad, “Shine With Me.” After the crowd cheered her through the performance and the group checked in with her, the 20-year-old assured everyone she was fine and laughed while pointing the blame to the track’s lyrics written by Jang Wonyoung — followed by an adorable apology from Wonyoung.
The heartfelt sincerity returned at the show’s end when the sextet gave their final messages to the crowd.
“Even though our languages are different, just seeing how you guys are so focused on our songs, connecting and enjoying with us, is really cool,” Gaeul pointed out. “I couldn’t imagine all these seats filled up like this. I’m really touched.” Liz added that IVE is now “more than just family; we are not able to separate from each other.”
In a moment rarely seen among top K-pop performers, Yujin sincerely opened up about regaining her self-esteem thanks to the tour and her group.
“Recently, I kind of lost my confidence,” the star, with six years in the industry, shared through voice cracks and tears with Leeseo holding her hand. “I thought, ‘Maybe I cannot do it?’ before I came here. But the first day in L.A., I got so much energy and love from DIVEs there that I’m getting more confident. I promised a lot to myself before I came here. I can’t say exactly what I promised but I think I did it all — I did everything I promised to myself… it was really precious time.” Capped off by Yujin’s heartfelt thanks and promise to return, Liz quickly led the girls into a group hug on stage, encapsulating IVE’s essence of the night in gratitude towards fans and one another.
As the concert closed with the massive finale track of their debut English single, “All Night,” IVE left the crowd with an indelibly upbeat mark by unexpectedly singing the song’s refrain an additional seven times — begging the sound team to “please” play it one more after six — before officially exiting. With today’s announcement of their new EP, IVE SWITCH, out at the end of April, the promise of future performances and shared moments confirms that this is hardly a farewell but a preview of more for them to show ahead.
Read on for exclusive photos from IVE’s Show What I Have concert at Newark’s Prudential Center, as well as reflections from the tour at its conclusion for Billboard readers.
IVE
Aysia Marotta/Photos provided by Starship Entertainment
IVE
Aysia Marotta/Photos provided by Starship Entertainment
JANG WONYOUNG: “Despite not having officially debuted in the U.S before our world tour, I came with half excitement and half worry whether big venues like The Forum, where famous overseas artists have performed, would be filled. But starting from L.A., seeing the venue packed with DIVE enjoying our songs and dances gave me such great energy. It felt like we were able to finish the U.S tour well with strength all the way to our last stop.”
GAEUL: “It was so much fun to be able to perform in front of our DIVE here in the U.S., their energy was great. They were so loud — it gave us so much inspiration. We are so thankful for all the love and support from our fans.”
LIZ: “I was so happy to visit cities I’ve never been to before. One of my favorite moments besides seeing all our DIVE in America was meeting Anne Hathaway at the Atlanta Hawks game. It was our first basketball game and we loved it!”
LEESEO: “It feels wonderful to perform on stage in front of our U.S. DIVE, to try many delicious foods in the U.S, and to create precious memories with my sisters!”
REI: “The members and I made so many amazing memories on the U.S. leg of our tour. It is truly something we will never forget.”
AN YUJIN: “I’m so happy that I got to meet so many DIVEs through our world tour. I can’t wait to come back to the U.S. for Lollapalooza. It’s an honor to be able to perform there as our first U.S. festival – we will come back with a stage that could surprise you!”
IVE
Aysia Marotta/Photos provided by Starship Entertainment
French electronic duo AIR will bring audiences to space this fall during a North American tour honoring the 25-year anniversary of their beloved 1998 debut, Moon Safari.
The pair, Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel, will play the album in its entirety during the 19-date tour, which starts Sept. 25 in Vancouver and ends Oct. 30 in Austin, Texas. See the complete schedule below.
Presale tickets go on sale March 7 at 10 a.m. local time, with general tickets on sale 10 a.m. local time on March 8. The tour will hit largely 2,000- to 5,000-capacity venues and follows AIR’s current sold-out European tour behind the anniversary. The tour announcement follows last Friday’s release of a demo version of Moon Safari‘s “New Stars in the Sky.”
Trending on Billboard
Released in January 1998, the album marked a breakout moment for the electronica genre and earned wide critical acclaim.
While making it, Godin says that “my obsession was to do something timeless, so I focused very hard not to put things in the music production that would date the album. And during the process, many times we felt we were visited by something magic, we felt blessed during some takes; and also when I was listening to the radio, I couldn’t figure how people were making hit singles. It was not in my skills so if you can’t make a hit, the best other option is to make a classic.”
“Before we decided to do this tour, we went to a rehearsal room for three days to see if it was technically possible to perform the entire album,” Godin continues, “and as soon as we started to play the first notes of ‘Kelly Watch the Stars’ or ‘La Femme d’Argent,’ we had a thrill.”
The tour will not feature Moon Safari vocalist Beth Hirsch, who helped forge the album’s dreamy, sexy atmosphere on “All I Need” and “You Make It Easy.” But Dunckel says the pair has “made some arrangements to deliver the soul of these tracks” through their use of a vocoder. “I think that the new arrangements are working on stage,” he continues. “We feel the singer singing without her singing.”
Reflecting on the album’s legacy, Godin says the soothing nature of the album is another reason it’s endured. “We are extremely blessed to have recorded this music, and to be able to share it with the audience so long after its release is a gift of life for us,” he says. “In these troubled times, it’s a nice time capsule from the last century when we were more innocent and optimistic.”
“I think this album is a little bit medicinal,” Dunckel adds. “It heals people’s wounds. Like the wounds I had at the time we made it. That’s what melancholic music does to you isn’t it? The melancholia into the music swallows the listener’s melancholia because the musician and the listener are talking to each other as in a therapy conversation or in a dream.”
Of the original tour behind the album, Dunckel recalls realizing the album “was really working when we toured in the U.S., and in Spain. People were really enjoying the shows and they were so happy to see us for real. I felt it in the audience voices.”
Courtesy Photo
In April, the fifth annual Summit At Sea departs from Miami for a four-day cruise, with programming stacked with health and wellness sessions and conversations on politics, culture, medicine, climate and much more.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Woven through the voyage is music, with a flurry of artists coming onboard for both talks and performances.
Featured in the programming is a conversation between Diplo and Just Blaze, who’ll engage in a talk titled “A Beat on Culture, Music and Art” with Diplo also playing a set while at sea. D-Nice, who became a sensation with his pandemic DJ set livestreams, will take part in a conversation with writer, filmmaker and cultural critic Dream Hampton, who’s also the executive producer of the 2019 documentary Surviving R. Kelly.
Just Blaze will also take part in another conversation with musician Rich Medina and DJ, producer and radio personality Stretch Armstrong. Elsewhere, musician East Forest, whose work focuses on music for psychedelic experiences, will host the session Music For Mushrooms: A Sonic Journey.
Trending on Billboard
Elsewhere, Detroit legend Moodymann will do a DJ set, with performers also including Detroit-based vocal trio Dames Brown, Mexican producer Mandrake, New York City duo musclecars, a multimedia performance by Eduardo Castillo and a flurry of other DJ sets throughout the boat.
Outside of music, programming will feature luminaries including soccer star Megan Rapinoe in conversation with Olympic gold medalist Sue Bird, author and academic Robert Thurman, former Colombian president Iván Duque, Ocean Conservancy CEO Janis Searles Jones and many more.
Founded in 2008, Summit is a membership organization of leaders and entrepreneurs from various cultural sectors including art, food, business, health, sports, finance, spirituality and beyond. Anyone can apply to be a member, and membership is required to take part in Summit At Sea. Tickets for the cruise start at $5,200.
“Summit’s music and artistic performances blend with an alchemy of style and vibe,” Summit’s director and CEO tells Billboard. “We host up-and-coming artists, the eccentric experimenters, and the genre-defining masters. Imagine a three-day, choose your own adventure where you get to choose what your heart and curious mind desire. A dive into the Grammy-winning spoken poetry of J. Ivy, an exploration on how the Punk spirit has defined the entrepreneurial world we’re all living in with John Varvatos and Steven Kotler, a dance to Detroit’s enigmatic Moodymann, the Amapiano sounds of Blaq Pages, and the rich rock and roll of Stolen Nova. From Diplo to Detroit’s Dames Brown, D-Nice to the Egyptian sound artist DREEEMY, or a night filled with Soul in the Horn featuring Natasha Diggs, L3Ni, and DProsper…we are so excited to host our Summit community out at sea next month.”
Even for casual dance fans, the format is immediately recognizable. A tight shot of a DJ behind the decks, with a heaving, usually very enthusiastic, typically quite stylish crowd packed behind them, going for it.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Launched in 2010, as it so often touts “with a webcam taped to a wall,” Boiler Room has become one of the most influential brands in dance music, using a globally understood visual language to telegraph dance music from around the world to a sprawling online fanbase of roughly seven million subscribers across YouTube, Instagram and Tiktok. Based in London, Boiler Rooms claims its content reaches 283 million viewers every month.
They’re tuning in to watch DJ sets from Uzbekistan, Mumbai, Johannesburg, Osaka and other locales far from the standard-issue club circuit. This year, the platform will release a documentary on a pair of simultaneous shows it did in Damascus, Syria and in Berlin, home to a large population of the Syrian diaspora.
Trending on Billboard
“These kind of breaking ground events, like in Soweto, or Syria, or Uzbekistan, really come from the belief that there is club culture everywhere,” Boiler Room’s creative director Amar Ediriwira tells Billboard over Zoom from London. “In some cases it might exist as a form of political resistance, like in Palestine or in Syria. In other cases, it’s just a lens on youth culture, but it’s really our remit to go there and switch on the camera.”
The brand has also become an IRL juggernaut. Its 2023 World Tour hosted nearly half a million attendees in dozens of cities, drawing an average of 5,500 people to not just well-trod club culture capitals like New York City, Paris and Amsterdam, but to Seoul, Mexico City, Mumbai and Bristol. 20,000 showed up for Boiler Room’s festival at London’s Burgess Park last September, marking the platforms biggest ever show. Launching this spring, Boiler Room’s 2024 World Tour will hit 24 cities including Delhi, Bogota, Edinburgh, Rio de Janeiro and Las Vegas.
“We’re able to sell out these shows largely based on trust,” says Ediriwira. “People trust our curation, and they trust the experience and the special-ness you get our shows, which I think means we can platform more emerging artists, be more conceptual and present interesting programs.”
Boiler Room’s signature livestreams, invite-only events where the crowd is made up of people closest to the artist, have maintained the sort of underground authenticity that’s heavily valued in certain sectors of the dance scene, even while drawing its share of stars, with M.I.A. performing for 50 people in the Boiler Room office in 2022 and a 2023 reunion show from U.K. pop outfit Sugababes. A livestream from U.K. greats Chase & Status was the platform’s most viewed stream of 2023. But despite this star power, Ediriwira says the company is “fully focused on grassroots sounds, documenting local stories, spotlighting emerging artists.”
Boiler Room New York City 2023
Muccitas
To find these scenes, Boiler Room employees a 50-person London-based staff and “a giant network” of researchers, artists, curators, producers, designers, technicians, stage managers and promotion partners who offer expertise and the support often especially needed more off the beaten path locales. A 2022 livestream in Karachi, Pakistan required the team to locate CDJs and speakers when organizers ran into, Ediriwira recalls, “a complete lack of equipment.” Livestreams have also happened from a fish-and-chips shop, from beaches and from the top of a mountain.
Boiler Room’s ambitious efforts have had a huge impact in showing grassroots club culture — via programming that’s vastly more diverse and equitable than most U.S. club and festival lineups — to the world. So too has it turned local artists into global names. Palestinian producer Sama’ Abdhuladi became a star after her 2018 Boiler Room set, as did Pakistani producer Lyla. Fred again..’s viral 2022 Boiler Room set put a rocket launcher on an already rising name, with his stream generating 30 million YouTube views to date.
Boiler Room was acquired by ticketing platform Dice in 2021, and Ediriwira says the integration with DICE’s platform “has been transformative to us as a business” in how it allows for seamless ticket sales and a better connection with fans. The Dice deal also centralized operations like finance and human resources, leading to “a much happier and more aligned team.” While Boiler Room makes almost nothing from its YouTube content, as it doesn’t own any rights to the music (Ediriwira says the channel generates “significant revenues” for rights holders,) its revenue comes from brand partnerships — including long-term deals with Pernod Ricard and Ballantine’s — along with ticketed events and its apparel brand.
The rise of TikTok has also fueled the expansion of Boiler Room and its star-making power, with its easily recognizable, audio-lead format uniquely suited to create viral moments. Such moments help turn hyper-local artists into globally known names, with subsequent bookings on Boiler Room World Tour show offering a pipeline of exposure for some of these acts.
The brand has become so ubiquitous in the dance vernacular over the last 14 years that when Skrillex, Fred again.. and Four Tet announced they’d be closing out Coachella 2023 with a show in the round, many declared they’d be doing it “Boiler Room-style.”
“Boiler Room invented this type of communication that didn’t exist before, and so anyone from Fred again.. and Skrillex and Four Tet to these smaller localized streams could replicate that format,” says Ediriwira. “I don’t think we really see it as competition.”
Here, he discusses the past, present and future of the project.
Boiler Room puts on so many livestreams. With the number of events you’re doing, how do you assure each experience feels special?
The biggest conversation we have is about being cautious and protecting Boiler Room. I think we’ve gotten to this point by being super consistent and investing in this format. One of the most important goals for us is growing slowly and staying grounded in our values. We could probably double the capacity of some of our festivals next year, but we want to nurture what we’re doing.
One of the ways [we do that] is by limiting the number of broadcasts and productions each year [to] 100, which still sounds like a lot. But in the past, we’ve been doing 150 and even more. Scaling back in this way sounds counterintuitive, but it allows us to focus on the curation and experience of all these shows.
What was lost when you were doing 150-plus shows?
When you don’t have necessarily a limit, it means there isn’t competition for ideas. If there’s a potentially a never-ending supply of productions and broadcasts, you can just keep adding things in. As soon as you put a limit of 100, it just forces this idea of quality. Like, we’re only going to do one broadcast in Seoul this year, so what’s the one idea the world should see.
You mentioned Boiler Room’s values — what’s the mandate there?
Our vision for programming has always been very consistent. Our thesis has always been around championing grassroots scenes and genres, emerging artists and hyperlocal [scenes.] That’s really in our DNA. It’s what the original streams in London were about — spotlighting and opening a vantage to a community, a scene and a sound coming out of London that happened to be incredibly fertile and had lot of artists involved that went on to have really big careers. Now, it’s that very localized emerging talent approach and the stories around those artists and the immediate community surrounding them.
[embedded content]
Boiler Room claims that 283 million people watch its content every month. Break that number down for me.
The format has been wildly famous. We’ve been working year after year, event after event with this one format in a very consistent way, building up an audience of fans.
I’d go as far as saying it’s become more than a brand; it’s become a global phenomenon and a dominant method of visual communication of club culture. Almost a form of documentary journalism, except that it’s very fun and entertaining and voyeuristic. And also, unlike journalism, it doesn’t have to impose a narrative, you’re simply putting a camera and decks in the room, and you can do whatever you want in that space.
There’s something remarkable in the way that spotlighting hyper-local scenes has become one of the most recognizable and influential things in the dance space. Why do you think there’s such a fascination with locations that one might not immediately associate with club culture?
I think the world has moved in that direction. I think it’s interesting, when you think of pop stars or famous people, a lot of them have some link back to an underground sensibility or something very localized. That’s increasingly happening. That’s something we’ve always been focused on, but the world has shifted in that direction.
We do also have bigger artists play the platform, obviously Fred again.. was a massive moment. We’ve had people like PinkPantheress, Sugababes, M.I.A. Largely when we work with them, we still keep to this concept of staging it in an underground setting, making it super intimate, invite-only… But at the same time, I think we’ve become known as one of the biggest early-stage springboards an artist can have. A lot of artists become overnight sensations with us, and a lot of artists kind of attribute that career-breaking moment to their Boiler Room moment. We saw that start happening with more frequency four or five years ago.
Tell me more about that.
What’s interesting is noticing how these breaking moments on our platform are starting to happen all over the world, and not just in Western or global northern cultural capitals like London or New York. The obvious example is when we did our first broadcast in Palestine [in 2018], and Sama’ [Abdulhadi] became an internet sensation overnight practically. That show’s on like, 10 million views.
Similarly, when we did Pakistan, Lyla’s went viral and hit half million plays in a matter of months. I think there’s just this fascination of, “What does club culture in Pakistan look like?” Especially when the dominant media narrative about place like Pakistan is very different.
[embedded content]
Obviously social media was much less of a factor when Boiler Room started in 2010. What affect have platforms like Instagram and TikTok had on Boiler Room?
In recent years, it’s completely exploded in short form. When we started out, short-form wasn’t even a consideration — but now with Instagram and Tiktok in particular, a key thing for us has been the rise of moments. You’re seeing a lot of artists break from their moments, not necessarily from their broadcasts. Tiktok has said to us that our format works really well because it’s recognizable in the feed, and it’s audio-led. Our content was popular there before we even started our own [TikTok] channel.
Then at the same time, it’s interesting, because people’s attention spans are shrinking — not to sound like an old person — but at the same time as short-form blowing up for us, we’re one of the few platforms I can think of in the music space, at least, that’s committed to long-form content. That’s our core format. That’s the archive.
Given Boiler Room’s cultural cachet, are a lot of brands vying to work with you? How judicious do you have to be about who you’re letting in?
It’s a good question. There’s a lot of brand interest in what we do. What’s interesting about that interest is people usually come to us because they know what we do, and because we’ve been investing in this one format in a very consistent way. So usually, they’re not coming to us looking to white label something or create some new concept, so much as to just invest in what we do.
It’s a really great position to be in, because I think it allows us to stay focused and consistent in what we want to do and stay true to the values we have. For us, it’s mainly about making sure we align with the brands that are interested in us, and if they’re about championing local sounds, championing emerging artists, all of those kinds of things, there’s no reason why we wouldn’t work with them, in theory.
Are there brands that come to you looking for a partnership where you’re just like, “Nah, not gonna work“?
No comment.
Is there anywhere in the world Boiler Room is particularly interested in going?
We just kicked off a series spotlighting music and cultures in the Pacific Islands with a show in Rarotonga, so we’re excited to make our return to this part of the world over the coming months and years. We’re also currently exploring launching a similar series in the Caribbean.
Is there anywhere you won’t go?
I don’t know if there’s an outright ban on anywhere off the top of my head. It all just comes down to what the story is and championing a local story or scene we feel is authentic and part the club culture we care about.
Andrew Dice Clay didn’t expect to find his next Big Shot eating his lunch on the sidewalk.
And yet there he was, sipping a Coke and softly radiating in the imperturbable tranquility of a clear skied January day when Dice approached, filming the man and sheepishly asking in a nasally voice, “You heard I got the new phone?”
Dice’s Instagram gag is to walk up to strangers and insist they must recognize “this famous face of mine.” Most instead softly protest — “I dont know you,” one lady recently said – while most simply scurry away. Sidewalk lunch guy, on other hand, couldn’t be bothered to do either — and simply looked up at Dice and earnestly replied, ‘Congratulations.’”
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“I couldn’t get home fast enough to show my girlfriend,” Dice tells Billboard. The sidewalk lunch man was now a Big Shot, a title Dice bestows on the people he features on his Instagram channel, which has 400,000 followers. “If there was an actual casting session for a TV show on Big Shot, he would have got the part.”
Dice is in the midst of prepping for his own showcase moment, with a big return comedy comeback show to be held at Manhattan’s Carnegie Hall on Feb. 15. “35 years ago they would not have allowed me on the same block,” says Dice of the famously classy venue.
After all, Dice made his name in the late ’80s and early ’90s with a foul-mouthed routine that exploded across television like a hand grenade, shocking TV audiences and galvanizing millions of fans who bought up his comedy records and paid to see his concerts. Dice, whose real name was Andrew Silverstein, became an overnight star and arena headliner, becoming the first (and to date only) comedian to sell out two nights at Madison Square Garden.
His agent Dennis Arfa, now at AGI, would field calls “from every promoter in the country, from Ron Delsener to Stu Green to Bill Graham,” Dice tells Billboard. “And honestly, they didn’t know if I was a singer, a magician or a juggler. They just knew I was the guy who went on sale and in 48 minutes sold out.”
Dice’s material would make him and those he worked with millions, but the crass nature of his jokes about sex and women — as well as his targeting of gays and immigrants — became a growing problem for those around him. His refusal to soften his material (he recently told Joe Rogan, “Dice doesn’t get f–ked, Dice does the f–king”) would eventually be his undoing, although his flame would burn out much slower than history portrays.
While Dice’s gigs were being protested by gay rights groups like Queer Nation, it was powerful gay men in Hollywood – record producer David Geffen, 20th Century Fox’s Barry Diller and manager Sandy Gallin who developed Dice’s act and protected him for years.
In 1990 Diller would part ways with Dice, spiking a multi-movie agreement with him on the eve of the launch of his first film the Adventures of Ford Fairlane — a move that a 2023 episode of Vice’s The Dark Side of Comedy about the comedian equated to a death knell for his career. But the truth is that Dice was far from done with television, remaining active in TV and touring for another decade. He inked deals with ABC, CBS and HBO, and launched the 1995 sitcom Bless This House on CBS without any real opposition from within the entertainment business.
Dice performed his final show at Madison Square Garden in 2000, inked a deal with SiriusXM in 2005 and stayed busy for the next 20 years doing occasional TV work, radio appearance and standup gigs. His recent comeback began seven months ago, when comedian and longtime friend Bill Burr convinced Dice to warm up the crowd at one of Burr’s headliner gigs.
“When we walked in his dressing room for the show, Bill stood up with a big smile and went, ‘Dice, you’re gonna do some time, right?’” Dice recalls. “The minute I got introduced, the New Jersey crowd went absolutely nuts.”
It’s not just Burr either – podcaster Joe Rogan, comedians Sebastian Maniscalco and Jim Norton, radio megastar Howard Stern and dozens of other high-profile comedians have long supported Dice and cited him as an inspiration. And while he has never apologized for his past remarks toward gays, women and immigrants, he has softened his personality, and even slightly dialed back his famously filthy routine for one of his comebacks shows at the Wiltern in LA last year.
“I’m less ego and more self-deprecating,” he explains, noting that he enjoys mentoring younger talent and is more eager to share the spotlight with others — like the deadpan man eating his lunch on the sidewalk.
“One word, that’s all he need to get the part.” Dice notes. “One word to let the world know that this man is a genius.”
In case your FOMO over missing Friendship 2024 wasn’t already intense enough, we’ve got fresh evidence of some of the fun that went down.
The party cruise, which transported roughly 4,000 attendees and artists from Miami to Belize and back again on Jan. 6-11, featured several “Dial-a-DJ” sets, for which artists took over an attendee’s private cabin for an intimate bash.
One of these mini parties featured the event’s surprise guest Rico Nasty along with Boys Noize, who together barreled into one of the rooms with a horde of party people behind them to play their techno take on The Kinks‘ 1964 classic “All Day and All of the Night.” Rico Nasty serves vocals such as “he undress me in the bedroom all day and all of the night” on the yet-to-be-titled update that’s due out this spring.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
[embedded content]
The heaving private party then goes mobile, with Rico Nasty — wearing sunglasses and clutching a bottle of champagne — and Boys Noize leading a party caravan through the ship’s corridors as they follow DJ decks pulled on a rolling cart.
[embedded content]
The mayhem then lands in the lobby by the elevators, where the crowd grows in size — and enthusiasm — as passersby realize what ‘s going on.
[embedded content]
Friendship is the electronic music party cruise from Gary Richards, the longtime DJ and party promoter who launched the sailing bacchanal in 2018 and also founded HARD events. This year’s Friendship lineup featured Skrillex, Bob Moses, Chris Lake, Chris Lorenzo, J. Phlip, Todd Edwards, Nina Las Vegas, Rusko, Mr Carmack and a flurry of other stars.
“We had a lot of people in that room, and then we opened up the balcony,” Richards told Billboard of the Dial-A-DJ prototype parties on Friendship 2018. “Anywhere else where you had that many people in one room, the room would break. The fire marshal would be like ‘get the f— out of here.’”
Other 2024 Dial-A-DJ performers included Bob Moses, Mikey Lion b2b Lee Reynolds, VTSS, Mersiv, Justin Martin and Nala. The party also featured the first live performance of Skrillex and Boys Noize’s Dog Blood project since 2019.
The next Friendship voyage will sail from Miami to Belize Feb. 21-26, 2025. See exclusive photos from the latest voyage below.
Rico Nasty & Boys Noize on Friendship 2024
Glenjamn
Rico Nasty & Boys Noize on Friendship 2024
Glenjamn
Skrillex, Boys Noize & Gary Richards on Friendship 2024
Glenjamn
The world’s biggest electronic music festival, Tomorrowland, has released its 2024 lineup. As always, the festival will gather many of the world’s biggest dance music artists for the event, happening in Boom, Belgium, July 19-21 and 26-28.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
You’ll need a magnifying glass to read the lineup poster, which features artists including Swedish House Mafia, Tale of Us, Alesso, Amelie Lens, Bonobo, Dom Dolla, The Blessed Madonna, REZZ and Deadmau5 performing as REZZMAU5, David Guetta, Solomun b2b Four Tet, Eliza Rose and hundreds of other artists representing techno, hard techno, house, bass, EDM and most other varieties of electronic music.
Special events include Italian duo Tale of Us curating their own lineup at the Freedom stage on July 21 and July 28 — where performers will include Anyma, Argy, Chris Avantgarde, Kevin de Vries, MRAK, Olympe and more — and playing a mainstage show on July 27. Tale of Us’ Matteo Milleri will also perform o the mainstage for the first time on July 20 under with his Anyma project.
Amelie Lens’s EXHALE label will also curate a stage, with Lens also taking her style of techno to the festival mainstage.
Tomorrowland typically hosts 400,000 people over its two weekends, with organizers reporting that attendees come from 200 countries. The festival features 16 stages, along with expansive experiential areas, a sprawling campsite and other whimsical fun including a “Symphony of Unity” that fuses electronic and classical music and is composed especially for Tomorrowland.
The festival was founded by brothers Michiel and Many Beers in 2005.
See the Tomorrowland 2024 lineup below:
Courtesy Photo