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Shakira announced on Thursday (June 19) two new dates for the second leg of her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour in Mexico.
The first will take place on Sept. 18 at Mexico City’s Estadio GNP Seguros. The second will mark her first-ever performance in the state of Veracruz, where she will perform at the Estadio Luis Pirata Fuente on Sept. 24. With the new dates, Shakira further breaks her own record of shows in Mexico on a single tour — now reaching a total of 28 on this trek.
“With the announcement of this new date, the Colombian singer solidifies herself as the artist with the most concerts at the iconic Estadio GNP Seguros,” promoter OCESA said in a press release.
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“My beautiful Mexico! 12 shows at Estadio GNP! Thank you, thank you, and thank you again for continuing to break records with me. See you soon. I love you!!” Shakira wrote in an Instagram post, where she appears posing with a plaque of recognition from OCESA for her new milestone.
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The second leg of her 2025 trek in Mexico kicks off on Aug. 11 at the Estadio Caliente in Tijuana, Baja California, and continues on Aug. 14 at the Estadio Héroes de Nacozari in Hermosillo, Sonora; Aug. 17 at the Estadio UACH in Chihuahua, and Aug. 20 at the Estadio Corona in Torreón, Coahuila.
After making history with seven consecutive sold-out shows at the Estadio GNP Seguros, the Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour will return to Mexico City to complete another series of five shows on Aug. 26, 27, 29, and 30, and Sept. 18, for a total of 12 performances. This will make Shakira the first artist to achieve such a number of concerts at the venue (formerly known as Foro Sol).
The superstar, who has been adding dates to the tour as tickets continue to sell out, will also match Grupo Firme’s record of eight shows at Estadio GNP Seguros. The band is scheduled to perform their eighth show there on June 28.
The success of Shakira’s monumental tour has led the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer to top Billboard‘s monthly Top Tours ranking for the first time, generating $32.9 million with 282,000 tickets sold in February, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. The following month, she again led the chart and broke records by earning $70.6 million from 11 reported shows — more than any artist has ever generated in a single March since the ranking’s launch in 2019.
Shakira’s tour has left an indelible mark on Latin America, drawing more than one million fans, according to OCESA. Also this year, the Barranquilla-born star was ranked No. 1 among Billboard’s Best 50 Female Latin Pop Artists of All Time.
Bruce Springsteen is opening up about his upcoming biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the 75-year-old rock icon shared his thoughts on director Scott Cooper’s upcoming film, which is set to hit theaters on Oct. 24.
Though Springsteen’s touring schedule limited his time on set, he said The Bear actor Jeremy Allen White and the crew were gracious during his visits.
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“Jeremy Allen White was very, very tolerant of me the days that I would appear on the set,” Springsteen told the publication. “I said to him, ‘Look, anytime I’m in the way, just give me the look and I’m on my way home.’ So the days that I got out there, he was wonderfully tolerant with me being there. And it was just fun. It was enjoyable.”
Still, The Boss admitted that he avoided being present for certain emotionally intense moments during filming.
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“I mean, there’s some unusualness to it because the movie involves, in some ways, some of the most painful days of my life,” he said. “If there was a scene coming up that was sometimes really deeply personal, I wanted the actors to feel completely free, and I didn’t want to get in the way, and so I would just stay at home.”
Deliver Me From Nowhere is based on Warren Zanes’ book of the same name and chronicles the making of Springsteen’s 1982 acoustic album, Nebraska. Check out a recap of the film’s first trailer here.
The film features Allen as Springsteen, Jeremy Strong as longtime manager Jon Landau, Stephen Graham as the musician’s father, Odessa Young as his girlfriend, Gaby Hoffmann as his mother, Marc Maron as producer Chuck Plotkin, and David Krumholtz as a Columbia Records executive.
Earlier this year, Springsteen told SiriusXM’s E Street Radio that seeing White play him on screen took some getting used to.
“A little bit at first, but you get over that pretty quick and Jeremy is such a terrific actor that you just fall right into it,” he said. “He’s got an interpretation of me that I think the fans will deeply recognize and he’s just done a great job, so I’ve had a lot of fun. I’ve had a lot of fun being on the set when I can get there.”
For his part, White has said he spent hours studying video footage and worked closely with a vocal coach to capture Springsteen’s unique voice and cadence.
Drake is getting candid about his recent gambling misfortunes.
On Wednesday (June 18), the 38-year-old rap superstar took to social media to reveal the millions he’s lost through sports betting over the past month.
“Gotta share the other side of gambling…,” Drake wrote on his Instagram Story alongside a screenshot of his hefty losses. “Losses are so fried right now I hope I can post a big win for you all soon cause I’m the only one that has never seen a max these guys max once a week.”
According to the post, the Toronto MC placed nearly $125 million in bets over the past month, resulting in about $8 million in losses. While Drake didn’t detail which specific wagers led to the downturn, recent NBA and NHL playoff games have dominated the sports betting scene.
Earlier this month, he revealed a $750,000 bet on a cricket match, backing the Royal Challengers Bengaluru to beat the Punjab Kings. The post, which tagged gambling platform Stake — with whom Drake has an endorsement deal — is just one of many high-stakes wagers he’s publicly shared.
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This isn’t the first time the OVO boss has taken a major hit. Earlier this year, Drake bet $1.25 million on the Toronto Maple Leafs to win game seven and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals — only for the NHL team to fall to the Florida Panthers.
“I am a flawed sports better,” he recently admitted in a mock interview on Instagram this while promoting his partnership with Stake. “I will not deny that. That’s not my gift. I’ll let everybody roll with it. I’m sure if you’re a Drake curse believer, there will be plenty more content in the future to confirm your theories because my slips do not cash out. But one day I’m gonna have a parlay that’s insane.”
Despite the recent losses, Drake isn’t backing down. In another IG Story post on Wednesday, he revealed an $800,000 bet on game six of the 2025 NBA Finals. With the Oklahoma City Thunder leading the series over the Indiana Pacers, Drizzy placed $600,000 on a Thunder win and another $200,000 on them winning by a 6–10 point margin. If both bets hit, his total payout would be an estimated $1.7 million.
In music news, Drake is rumored to be working on a new album, reportedly titled Iceman, which many fans expect to drop before the end of 2025. While the rap star hasn’t confirmed or denied any details about the project, fellow artist Smiley recently hinted that Drake has been putting in serious work on something new.
JENNIE had a pretty rough time taking on the infamous Hot Ones challenge.
During her appearance on the web series Thursday (June 19), the BLACKPINK star — who admitted early on that she doesn’t eat spicy food — began the episode with optimism, but ended up crying for help and running tearful laps around the table after facing the fiery spate of wings.
“In my daily life, I have nothing — no spice in my life,” JENNIE told host Sean Evans at the top of the show. “I don’t like spicy food or anything to do with spice. If anything, I like things plain, but here I am, facing my fear.”
And face it she did. Things got painfully intense as the 29-year-old powered through the spice-laden challenge, following in the footsteps of her BLACKPINK bandmates ROSÉ and LISA, who had previously braved the wings of death in past episodes.
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Between interview questions about her debut solo album, Ruby, songs she fought for on the project, the importance of skincare, hearing fans sing her lyrics at concerts, and being a hamster mom, the singer and rapper visibly unraveled with each increasingly scorching bite. “I think I’m allergic to spice!” she said at one point.
The heat hit a whole new level when JENNIE reached wing No. 8, featuring the notorious Da’ Bomb hot sauce. “This is no joke,” she said, desperately grabbing a napkin to fan herself. After taking a dramatic lap around the table, she reached for milk and ice cream while screaming in agony. “I can’t hear anymore,” she said, forcing a smile. “God, help me!”
After somewhat regaining her composure, Evans asked if JENNIE might be able to convince JISOO — the only BLACKPINK member who hasn’t yet appeared on Hot Ones — to take on the challenge.
“100%, because she is the one who taught me spicy and she’s the other you,” JENNIE replied. “Like she made me eat spicy food with her. Ever since we were trainees. So, I think [Jisoo] should come on this show. You’re gonna love it.”
Reflecting on her bandmates’ appearances, she added, “Whatever ROSÉ and LISA did, this is the real reaction. Because I watched their episode and they were so chill about it so I was like if they’re doing it, maybe I can do it too. But I can’t!”
Watch JENNIE’s Hot Ones episode above.
Johnny Marr has spoken on his decision to turn down an “eye-watering” amount of money to reunite The Smiths, saying that the “vibe” wasn’t right to get the band back together.
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Marr was appearing on the Stick to Football podcast alongside former players Roy Keane, Gary Neville and Ian Wright to discuss his affinity with soccer club Manchester City and his role as guitarist in one of indie music’s most legendary bands.
The Smiths were formed by Marr in 1982 when he and a friend recruited Morrissey to join the group as vocalist and lyricist; the band’s classic lineup was completed by Mike Joyce (drums) and Andy Rourke (bass).
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The group released four studio albums between 1984 and 1987 alongside a number of live albums and B-side and singles collections. Meat is Murder (1985) and The Queen is Dead (1986) both hit No. 1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart; their debut The Smiths (1984) and final record Strangeways, Here We Come (1987) both hit No. 2. Creative and personal differences between Marr and Morrissey saw the former leave the group in July 1987 and the group folded the following year.
Both Marr and Morrissey have had wildly successful solo careers but a reunion has seemed unlikely ever since. In 2006, Moz told the BBC, “I would rather eat my own testicles than reform the Smiths, and that’s saying something for a vegetarian.”
In August 2024, however, Morrissey claimed that he and Marr had received a “lucrative offer” from AEG to reform with the band’s surviving members, and to tour as a live band in 2025; the group’s bassist Andy Rourke died in 2023. In the post on his website Morrissey Central, Moz revealed that he had said yes to the proposal but that Marr had not responded. A month later, Marr said on his Instagram that he did not “ignore the offer — I said no.”
Now speaking on the Stick to Football podcast Marr has gone into more detail about why he turned down the offer, despite seeing close friends (and City supporters) Liam and Noel Gallagher reform Oasis in August 2024 for a global tour.
“We got made an offer recently, but I said no,” he said. “It was a little bit about principles, but I’m not an idiot, I just think the vibe’s not right.”
Marr added, “It was an eye-watering amount of money, but also, I really like what I’m doing now which makes it a lot easier. I like where I’m at. I still want to write the best song I’ve ever written. I want to be a better performer.”
Morrissey and Marr have traded barbs through the press for decades, and in 2022 Morrissey called on his former bandmate to “stop mentioning my name” in interviews. Marr responded saying, “When you’re attacked out of the blue, particularly in public, you have to defend yourself.”
Speaking to Uncut he said the pair are too estranged to ever work together again. “It won’t come as any surprise when I say that I’m really close with everyone I’ve worked with — except for the obvious one. And that isn’t that much of a surprise because we’re so different, me and Morrissey.”
Following The Smiths’ dissolution, Marr played as a member of a number of groups including The Pretenders, Electronic (with New Order’s Bernard Sumner), The The, Modest Mouse and The Cribs. In 2013 he launched a solo career and has released four LPs under his name and performed on global tours.
Earlier this week Marr expressed support for Kneecap during their ongoing controversy, and backed them to perform at Glastonbury Festival next weekend (June 27-29) amid calls for them to be removed from the line-up.
Check out Marr’s appearance on the Stick to Football podcast below.
At 35, mgk is still a kid at heart. The rapper-turned-rock star is set to perform on the 2025 Kids’ Choice Awards, which will air live on Saturday (June 21) at 8 p.m. ET/PT from Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California. Tyla is set to host the show.
mgk will perform “Cliché,” the lead single from his upcoming album Lost Americana. The song has so far reached No. 62 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 10 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs. The performance will come just a day after mgk performs on The Today Show’s Citi Concert Series.
All six of mgk’s studio albums have reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200, with the last two – Tickets to My Downfall and Mainstream Sellout – reaching No. 1. (The latter album also received a Grammy nod for best rock album.) His seventh studio album, Lost Americana, is due Aug. 8.
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The Cleveland, Ohio, native’s highest-charting hit on the Hot 100 is “Bad Things,” a 2016 collab with Camila Cabello that reached No. 4.
KATSEYE, which recently notched their first Billboard Hot 100 hit with “Gnarly,” was previously announced as a performer on the show. They’ll perform “Gnarly.”
Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards will celebrate fans’ favorites from film, television, music, sports and more. Nickelodeon is calling the show the biggest party of the summer. It is certain to have more epic slimings than any other show. The show will simulcast across Nickelodeon, TeenNick, Nicktoons, the Nick Jr. channel, MTV2 and CMT, and also air on Nickelodeon channels around the world.
Leading the pack with four nominations each are Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar, followed by Jack Black, Dwayne Johnson, Selena Gomez and Jelly Roll with three nods apiece. First-time nominees include Gracie Abrams, Zach Bryan, Jordan Chiles, Frankie Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Doechii, Keith Lee, Chappell Roan, Shaboozey, Shohei Ohtani and Florence Pugh, among others.
Pop-punk icons Avril Lavigne and Deryck Whibley reunited onstage over the weekend for a surprise performance of Sum 41’s “In Too Deep” during Lavigne’s headlining set at the Vans Warped Tour stop in Washington, D.C. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Eight songs into her June 15 set, […]
The U.K.’s Association of Independent Music (AIM) has announced its Independent Music Awards will return to London this fall (Sept. 23).
Celebrating its 15th year, the event will take place at the capital’s iconic Roundhouse venue and spotlight a wealth of artists, labels and entrepreneurs in the independent music community — which makes up a third of the U.K.’s recorded music market.
Categories include U.K. independent breakthrough, best independent EP/mixtape and best independent remix, as well as other artist-focused awards such as best live performer. See a full list of categories below.
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AIM Rightsholder members can submit entrants for free. Submissions are now open via the organization’s official website and close at 11:59 p.m. GMT on July 9. For non-members, there are submission costs – albeit discounts are available to organizations connected with AIM, such as those who focus on encouraging further diversity in the industry.
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The one to watch, EDI (equity, diversity inclusion) champion, independent music champion and music entrepreneur of the year categories, however, are free for anyone to enter. The full list of categories and submission guidance can be found via the AIM website.
The only categories that are not open for submissions are outstanding contribution to music, the innovator award and PPL award for most played new independent artist, as these are decided in-house by AIM.
Tickets for the show will go on sale later in the summer. Last year’s ceremony saw legendary pop duo Sparks receive the outstanding contribution to music award in honor of its illustrious five-decade career, while Neneh Cherry collected the innovator award. Music Venue Trust was named independent music champion and Totnes’ Drift Records was honored with the best independent record store award.
The 2025 event will see the reintroduction of AIM’s local music champions (previously known as Local Heroes, debuted in 2019), in collaboration with BBC Introducing. The accolade will honor those who have “demonstrated unwavering support for their local music community or used their position to improve the wider ecosystem,” according to a press release.
Gee Davy, CEO of AIM, said in a statement: “We are delighted to bring the U.K.’s most vibrant music community awards back to the Roundhouse, celebrating the breadth of talent and innovation across independent music.“The Independent Music Awards is the best place to celebrate and recognise those who often go unsung, creating the most culturally impactful music coming out of the U.K., as well as an opportunity for us to honour some of our heroes and champions who make a wider impact.”
The Independent Music Awards will round out AIM’s wider programme of events for 2025. It will follow shortly after AIM Connected, a conference for business leaders and senior managers in the independent music sector, which will take place on Sept. 9 at Rich Mix in Shoreditch.
Sabrina Carpenter concerts could look a little different in the future, with the star revealing she’s open to the idea of banning phones at her shows.
Carpenter’s comments appeared in a recent article from Rolling Stone, who shared quotes that didn’t make it into their recent cover story with the singer. One of the previously-unpublished revelations was that Carpenter indeed open to asking fans to pocket their devices at her gigs.
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“This will honestly p–s off my fans, but absolutely,” she explained, noting she was inspired by a Las Vegas show from Silk Sonic which required her to lock her phone up.”
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“I’ve never had a better experience at a concert,” Carpenter explained. “I genuinely felt like I was back in the Seventies — wasn’t alive. Genuinely felt like I was there. Everyone’s singing, dancing, looking at each other, and laughing. It really, really just felt so beautiful.”
Notably, Silk Sonic’s 2022 Las Vegas residency even featured Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak crafting a song to underline the lack of devices. “We took your phones away,” they sang. “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”
“I’ve grown up in the age of people having iPhones at shows,” Carpenter continued. “It unfortunately feels super normal to me. I can’t blame people for wanting to have memories. But depending on how long I want to be touring, and what age I am, girl, take those phones away. You cannot zoom in on my face. Right now, my skin is soft and supple. It’s fine. Do not zoom in on me when I’m 80 years old up there.”
The topic of banning phones at gigs has been a contentious one over the years, with artists wishing for fans to live in the moment, and fans desiring a chance to memorialize their concert experiences.
In 2015, Jack White shared a verbal plea for no phones during his Lazaretto tour, and by the time The Raconteurs toured in 2019, attendees were told to put their devices in locked Yondr pouches.
“We think you’ll enjoy looking up from your gadgets for a little while and experience music and our shared love of it in person,” a note from the band read at the time.
Other acts, such as Tool and A Perfect Circle have been noted for asking fans to observe such a practice, with the latter having made headlines for reportedly ejecting concert attendees who violated the request.
“You ever go to a play or a movie?” A Perfect Circle guitarist Billy Howerdel asked in 2018. “If you’ve ever been to a play or a movie, it’s kind of similar: you don’t take out your phone and start filming, and let the people behind you stare into your screen.”
More recently, Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood put out a request to fans to put down their phones during the band’s Run for Your Lives World Tour. “We really want fans to enjoy the shows first hand, rather than on their small screens,” Smallwood explained.
“The amount of phone use nowadays diminishes enjoyment, particularly for the band who are on stage looking out at rows of phones, but also for other concertgoers,” he added. “We feel that the passion and involvement of our fans at shows really makes them special, but the phone obsession has now got so out of hand that it has become unnecessarily distracting especially to the band.”
A New York hedge fund manager linked to the SFX bankruptcy has been quietly co-managing Avant Gardner and the temporarily closed Brooklyn Mirage nightclub since late last year and leading unsuccessful efforts trying to get it reopened, Billboard has learned.
Andrew Axelrod’s Axar Capital has been a secured creditor of Avant Gardner — the Brooklyn nightclub company that books and manages the Brooklyn Mirage, Kings Hall and the Great Hall — since late 2023, sources close to the company have confirmed.
A year prior, former Avant Gardner CEO Billy Bildstein had negotiated the purchase of the Electric Zoo festival from Axelrod, whose Axar Capital was the senior creditor to media mogul Bob Sillerman’s one-time EDM conglomerate SFX — of which Electric Zoo’s parent company, Made Events, was a part. When SFX went bankrupt in 2015, Axar Capital led a takeover of the company, rebranding it LiveStyle and hiring music executive Randy Phillips to lead a selloff of its assets, which included U.S. promoters like Disco Donnie Presents and Life in Color; Europe’s ID&T, the Dutch promoter behind Tomorrowland; and EDM tech startups like Denver-based electronic music platform Beatport. The last asset to sell, in 2022, was Made Events. Axelrod wanted $15 million for the company and structured the deal so that Avant Gardner could pay Axar Capital using the proceeds from the Electric Zoo festival.
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Avant Gardner successfully ran the Electric Zoo festival in 2022 but was sidelined by multiple fiascos the following year including permit denials, gate crashers, the cancellation of the festival’s opening day and accusations of overselling the closing day by 7,000 fans. Due to the disastrous 2023 run, Avant Gardner has faced multiple lawsuits from both fans and unpaid vendors and was condemned by a one-time ally, New York Mayor Eric Adams, who had previously supported the popular Brooklyn Mirage and sided with Bildstein during his high-profile battle with the State Liquor Authority.
Sources tell Billboard that the demise of the festival, and Avant Gardner’s inability to pay Axar the reported $15 million price tag for Electric Zoo, are what led to Axar becoming a senior creditor to Avant Gardner. Terms of the Electric Zoo sale are not public, but a previous agreement between Axar and publicly traded streaming service LiveOne, which purchased Chicago’s Spring Awakening festival — another SFX asset — shows how Axelrod liked to structure some of those deals.
In that agreement, Axelrod sold Spring Awakening to LiveOne for $2.5 million in convertible loans that Axelrod could turn into equity. The deal allowed LiveOne to take over the festival immediately and pay Axelrod back over two years. There was even an option for Axelrod to accept LiveOne stock instead of cash if shares of the company hit certain price targets, but they never did. A month after the deal closed, COVID-19 hit, and Spring Awakening 2020 was canceled. After LiveOne lost $3.5 million on the 2021 event, Axelrod agreed to accept $2.4 million worth of LiveOne stock. But five months later, the value of LiveOne’s stock had fallen 70%, dropping the value of Axelrod’s LiveOne shares to approximately $700,000.
Avant Gardner is a private company, so it’s unclear how the agreement with Axar was structured. Sources tell Billboard that Axelrod made additional investments into the Brooklyn Mirage, which recently underwent extensive renovations and is now attempting to navigate New York’s Department of Buildings to secure a permit to open.
On May 22, Avant Gardner parted ways with Josh Wyatt, a hospitality executive Axelrod had hired to run the company and guide it through renovations that saw the club close for construction. The Brooklyn Mirage was supposed to open May 1 with a concert by Sara Landry, but building inspectors declined to grant the facility a permit to open. A month and a half later, the club has been forced to cancel and relocate more than a dozen shows as its permit problems persist.
Gary Richards, a promoter, touring artist and former CEO of Livestyle for Axar Capital, is now running Avant Gardner and managing day-to-day operations. Billboard reached out to Richards and Axar but was told that neither planned to comment for this story.
