Music News

22 Mar 2024

Rhiannon Giddens Slams ‘Problematic’ Backlash to Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’: ‘That’s Just Racism’

Beyoncé‘s forthcoming Cowboy Carter LP is already much talked about — and it’s not even out yet. Slated to hit digital streaming platforms at midnight on March 29, the superstar’s new set marks the culmination of her foray into country music. Ahead of the album’s release, “Texas Hold ‘Em” banjo player Rhiannon Giddens joined IMPACT x Nightline to talk about racism in country music, pop crossovers in the genre and the backlash against Cowboy Carter in the episode airing March 28, and Billboard has an exclusive sneak peek.

Giddens — a singer and scholar who has dedicated her life to extolling the Black history of the banjo and country music — believes Cowboy Carter is a massive step toward genuine mainstream recognition of the genre’s roots.

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“It’s been really interesting,” Giddens tells IMPACT x Nightline‘s Janai Norman of the resounding success of catchy country-pop track “Texas Hold ‘Em,” which Beyonce dropped during the 2024 Super Bowl alongside the rousing, reflective ballad “16 Carriages.” “I have been on … a slight roller-coaster ride of … exposure of my music, TikToks being danced to my banjo sound– that’s been really, really, really amazing. It feels like a real pure moment of discovery.”

“Texas” has experienced notable commercial success: It not only topped the Billboard Hot 100, but has appeared on nine different Billboard airplay charts and earned Beyoncé the distinction of being the first Black woman to top Hot Country Songs and the first Black woman to summit the Hot 100 with a country song. Despite that, the superstar faced considerable backlash for her hard pivot into country music. One Oklahoma radio station initially refused to play “Texas” (it later reversed its decision), and, upon revealing the Cowboy Carter album cover, Beyoncé was immediately embroiled in discourse surrounding the intricacies of the dynamic between Black Southern identities and Americana imagery.

In Giddens’ conversation with IMPACT x Nightline, the musician — who is a time-time Grammy winner — stresses that Cowboy Carter is more about Beyoncé exploring her family’s roots than crossing over for the sake of crossing over. “People can do what they wanna do,” she points out. “They wanna make a country record? Make a country record. Nobody’s askin’ Lana Del Rey, ‘What right do you have to make a country record?’ You know what I’m sayin’? Everybody has the opportunity to explore their roots, to go back there, like, ‘This is my life too. I wanna … I wanna do this.’”

“The ‘Stay in your lane,’ the, ‘Well, that’s not real country,’ that’s just racism,” argues Giddens. “People don’t wanna say it’s because she Black. You know? But they use these … these coded terms, you know? And that’s problematic.”

The March 28 episode of Impact x Nightline will examine Beyoncé’s Hoston roots, and features interviews with Giddens and fellow Houstonian and previous collaborator Bun B. The show will also hear from rising Black country artists within the Nashville machine, such as Adell, for their thoughts and enthusiasm on Beyoncé’s impact on contemporary country music.

Watch Billboard’s exclusive clip of the Cowboy Carter-centric IMPACT x Nightline episode above. Stream the full episode when it arrives on Hulu March 28.

22 Mar 2024

Watch ‘The Voice’ Singers Deliver a Stunning Bilingual Duet of Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat’s ‘Lucky’

Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat‘s 2008 hit “Lucky” is already the epitome of a love song, but on an upcoming episode of The Voice, two of Dan + Shay‘s team members added an even more romantic layer to the track by making it bilingual.

Madison Curbelo and Kyle Schuesler take the stage to perform the hit in the Battles round, trading off verses on acoustic guitar — with Curbelo performing in Spanish and Schuesler performing in English, before both of them come together to sing a bilingual chorus.

“I believed you,” coach John Legend told Schuesler when he admitted he never performed in Spanish before. “When I’m able to just enjoy and not overthink it, when it’s in my heart and not my head, that’s when I know it’s great and that’s what I felt.”

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Chance the Rapper was blown away by the performance, giving a piece of advice to the duo’s coaches, Dan + Shay. “Both of you guys could win the entire competition, and neither of you guys should leave and I think John is going to try and steal Kyle, so if I were Dan + Shay, I would use my Playoff Pass right now,” he said, referring to a once-per-coach pass that allows both contestants to stay in the competition, with one advancing to the Knockout rounds while the other goes straight to the Playoffs.

“Stay out of this! Enough from you,” Legend then shouted at Chance, as his plan was clearly foiled.

It was then time for Dan + Shay to make a decision. “I am so proud of you both. This was definitely the most cohesive performance so far,” Dan Smyers told the duo. “I feel like your individual performances were incredible but together, it was just so locked in. I felt the energy, I felt the magic, I felt the chemistry between the two of you guys when you were singing. When we left rehearsals the other day, Shay and I were like, ‘They both deserve to win this show.’ Just like Chance said, you guys are incredible. This is a tough decision.”

“We didn’t sign up for heartbreak,” Shay Mooney. “Kyle, I feel like you’ve really come out of your shell, even from just the beginning of this. Madison, you are an absolute ray of sunshine. I can’t believe that we’re lucky enough to have you on Team Dan + Shay.”

Check out the full clip above, and find out what Dan + Shay decided to do on the next episode of The Voice, which airs on Monday (March 25) at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.

22 Mar 2024

Watch Céline Dion and Her Teenage Sons Adorably Rock Out to Bon Jovi at NHL Game

Céline Dion was the honorary queen of the ice at the Boston Bruins vs. New York Rangers game Thursday (March 21), where she met with some of the players and enjoyed the day’s proceedings with her twin 13-year-old sons, Nelson and Eddy. 

In clips captured by game attendees, Dion — who also shares 23-year-old René-Charles with late husband René Angélil — smiles and flashes a hand heart to the jumbotron as fans at the TD Garden in Boston roar with excitement. In another video, she and her boys, who sport matching Bruins jerseys, jam out to Bon Jovi’s 1986 smash “Livin’ on a Prayer,” the Canadian vocalist showing off her air-guitar moves. 

Prior to the game, Dion joined the Bruins back in the locker rooms to read off that day’s lineup — adding her own flair, as any iconic diva would. “Up front, Heinen,” she began, angelically singing left wing Danton Heinen’s last name.  

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“On defense, you better bite — Grizzy,” she continued, calling defenseman Matt Grzelcyk by his nickname and adding a dramatic pause. “Ooooh.” 

The game marks a rare outing for Dion, who was diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder called Stiff-Person Syndrome a couple years ago. Earlier this month, she marked International SPS Day with a post on Instagram, writing, “Trying to overcome this autoimmune disorder has been one of the hardest experiences of my life, but I remain determined to one day get back onto the stage and to live as normal of a life as possible.” 

She added, “I am deeply grateful for the love and support from my kids, family, team and all of you!” 

Prior to the game — which saw the Rangers win 5-2 against the Bruins — Dion made a surprise appearance at the 2024 Grammys, where she presented Taylor Swift with album of the year for Midnights. In January, Amazon announced that a Prime Video documentary chronicling the “My Heart Will Go On” singer’s battle with SPS is in the works. 

Watch clips of Dion enjoying the Bruins game below. 

https://twitter.com/celinebible/status/1770977349720515021?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1770977349720515021%7Ctwgr%5E129d073dc050d18974aa1210ec35741a62609021%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.etonline.com%2Fceline-dion-rocks-out-to-bon-jovi-alongside-her-sons-at-nhl-game-watch-222194

22 Mar 2024

Gonna Make You Sweat: Drake Has To Wring Out His Shirt After Show

Drake leaves it all on the stage when he performs on his current Big As the What? tour. Actually, he leaves most of it on the stage, but when he goes back to his dressing room afterwards, he takes some of it with him.

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The 6 God provided evidence of the hard work he puts in in a funny video posted on Thursday (March 21) in which he struggles to get a soaked-through white T-shit off and then grimaces while wringing it out as a river of perspiration falls to the floor. The Instagram carousel — which also included images of Drake hanging with tour mate J. Cole, giving the high sign to a framed jersey belonging to fellow Toronto native and Charlotte Hornets shooting guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and performing “Knife Talk” with a teenage fan — features the caption “BIG AS THE SUPER [bowl emoji]” in reference to Drizzy and Cole’s track “First Person Shooter.”

Speaking of the dynamic duo’s Billboard Hot 100-topping “FPS” track, on Friday (March 22) fans got an earful from Kendrick Lamar about that song, and Drizzy, on the track “Like That” from Future and Metro Boomin’s WE DON’T TRUST YOU album. On the song, K-Dot takes direct aim at the pair, rapping “Yeah, get up with me, f–k sneak dissing/ ‘First Person Shooter,’ I hope they came with three switches.”

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The aggressive verse — seemingly in response to the “FPS” line, “Love when they argue the hardest MC/ Is it K-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me?/We the big three like we started a league — finds Lamar going hard at the suggestion that the trio live on the same level. “Think I won’t drop the location? I still got PTSD/ Motherf–k the Big 3, n—a, it’s just big me,” Lamar growls before taking direct aim at Drake with the lines, “‘Fore all your dogs gettin’ buried, that’s a K with all these nines, he gon’ see Pet Sematary“; Drake’s most recent album was 2023’s For All The Dogs. 

The joint Drake/Cole tour will roll into Sunrise, FL on Saturday (March 23), with the final gig on the run slated for April 16 at the Ball Arena in Denver.

Check out Drake’s post below.

22 Mar 2024

Friday Dance Music Guide: The Week’s Best New Tracks From Logic1000, Ahadadream, Priya Ragu & Skrillex, Justice & More

This week in dance music: Australian dance festival Rabbit Eats Lettuce announced that it will be the first event in Australian history to offer on-site pill testing, Coachella will debut a new stage for extended dance sets called Quasar at the festival next month and Illenium — who’s on the current cover of Billboard — was announced amongst a massive lineup for Summerfest 2024.

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And these are the best new dance tracks of the week.

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Logic1000, Mother

There’s dance music to dance to, and there’s dance music to live with. The debut album from Logic1000, Mother, delivers both. Out via Because Music, the 12-track LP opens with “From Within,” a lush, cerebral slice of lDM built from clean breakbeat and a gently pulsing synth that’s altogether deep, nuanced and appropriate for a cozy Friday night on the couch. Elsewhere, the Australia-born, Berlin-based producer born Samantha Poulter gets the blood pumping with club-ready tracks like the slinky, sophisticated “Side by Side.” Altogether, the project is an homage to Poulter becoming a mother (she and her husband, fellow producer Tom McAlister, welcomed a daughter in 2022) and all the depth, nuance, excitement and reflection that comes with it.

“If hearing the story about my transformation during motherhood inspires someone to look deep within themselves and think about how they want to grow and transform,” Poulter recently told Billboard, “that will make this album successful to me.”

Cakes Da Killa, Black Sheep

Over three albums going back eight years, New York City’s Cakes Da Killa has cultivated a flow best described as unmistakable. That signature vocal dexterity and lyrical verve are all over his latest LP, Black Sheep, produced in partnership with Cakes’ longtime collaborator Sam Katz and out via Tokimonsta’s Young Art Record. The album contains already released dancefloor fire including “Mindreader” and the Rochelle Jordan collab “Do Dat Baby.” Meanwhile the brand new “Make Me Ovah” finds the hip-house artist at his coolest and most confident, singing about taking flights to Brazil and “going straight through the gate ’cause I’m worth the mils.” To wit, Cakes is currently on tour in Australia, Korea and China.

Justice feat. Miguel, “Saturnine”

After dipping into both lightly psychedelic and body-pummeling territory on the previously released singles from their forthcoming Hyperdrama, Justice shifts into hazy, slow burn mode on “Saturnine,” a collaboration with the perpetually silken-voiced Miguel. Made from waves of synthesized guitar, crashes of percussion and a cheeky bell, the track finds the duo at their most playful.

“We don’t think we’ve ever made anything that sounds remotely like this track before,” the pair, Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay, say in a statement. “It started with Gaspard playing around with an E-mu synthesizer guitar sound, and he found the main riff. The rest came very quickly. We love Miguel’s voice when it’s raw. We wanted him to sound outrageously frontal, with no space around his voice. We felt confident we could make this work with a single mono take of his voice, and minimal processing. It also suited the theme of the song, that’s this sort of fear and loathing in Las Vegas sweaty, hallucinatory flow. Feeling well in feeling bad.”

Speaking with Billboard at SXSW in Austin last week, the duo confirmed that they’ll tour North America behind the album, with dates to be announced. They also just added a second show at Paris’ Accor Arena in December after the first sold out in a flash.

Seven Lions & ILLENIUM feat. ÁSDÍS, “Not Even Love”

Illenium and Seven Lions reunite for their first collaboration in eight years, “Not Even Love.” Getting its live debut during Seven Lion’s surprise appearance at Illenium’s Trilogy show at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium last month, the track is a slick hybrid of Seven Lions’ trance-iest impulses and Illenium’s chest-pumping future bass, with vocals from Iceland-born, Berlin-based vocalist ÁSDÍS turning the emotion dial up to anthemic. The track is Illenium’s first single of 2024, with collaborations with REZZ, Tiësto, Mike Shinoda and more also forthcoming. Meanwhile, Seven Lions plays Ultra Music Festival in Miami this weekend.

Ahadadream, Priya Ragu & Skrillex, “TAKA”

British-Pakistani producer Ahadadream and Tamil-Swiss artist Priya Ragu link with Skrillex for the undeniable “TAKA.” Recorded in London a few years back and previewed during Ahadadream’s debut Boiler Room set last September — a show during which Skrillex materialized as if from nowhere when the song played — the track melds warm waves of synth, lyrics paying homage to South Asian culture from Ragu like “Chin Mudras up/ Take off, levitate/ It’s a vibe, it’s a vibe/ Let the dhol demonstrate,” loads of hand percussion and a generally extremely ebullient vibe.

Ragu is currently on tour in the U.S., while Ahadadream is playing The Do Lab stage at Coachella next month and Skrillex is making his only North American U.S. festival appearance of the summer at Lightning In a Bottle in May. Meanwhile, “TAKA” is out via Major Recordings and FFRR.

SIDEPIECE & San Pacho, “Taka”

Wait, what? Yes indeed, there are two dance tracks named “Taka” out today. Why? We’re not sure. While Skrillex’s and crew’s song possesses South Asian influence, SIDEPIECE and Croatian producer San Pacho offer a Latin-leaning, tech house oriented track, with the song outfitted with a horn, hand percussion and a male voice repeating the song’s title at a rapidfire pace.

Moby feat. Lady Blackbird “dark days”

Earlier this week Moby announced his 22nd (!) studio album, Always Centered At Night, with the news coming in tandem with his latest single, “dark days.” A collaboration with jazz and soul singer Lady Blackbird, the track lays her rich, deeply human voice over production that merges scintillating percussion and bass groove, with the whole thing pulling off that very Moby balance of beauty and doom. Always Centered At Night features collaborations with 13 different artists and is coming June 13 via Moby’s label of the same name. The artist will also play five European shows this September to celebrate the 25-year anniversary of his era-defining album, Play.

22 Mar 2024

Dolly, Lainey & Garth: Grand Old Opry Senior VP/Exec Producer Dan Rogers Picks His Top 10 Moments On the Job (So Far)

It’s been 26 years since Dan Rogers, the Grand Ole Opry’s newly promoted senior vp/executive producer, began working at the hallowed institution, and in that time, he’s seen thousands of shows. 

But the Opry has experienced a particularly fertile time since he became vp/executive producer in 2019, and his highlights range from the shivers he experiences every time a new member gets invited to join the Opry to some significant milestones for artists like Dolly Parton, a big anniversary for the Opry itself and seeing new artists like Lainey Wilson claim the stage as their own.

He’s also part of the team that kept the Opry up and running for its Saturday night broadcasts through the COVID pandemic, even when artists had to social distance and no audiences were allowed in the Nashville venue. “We just assumed the flood of 2010 would be the most devastating thing and the most challenging time in our careers,” Rogers says, referencing the historic flood that devastated Nashville as the Cumberland River rose over its bands and filled the Grand Ole Opry House with 10 feet of water. “But it was truly the uncertainty and just the sadness of COVID that made it so difficult for us.”

The highs have been far more than the lows, and the only issue Rogers had with picking his top 10 moments since he became executive producer five years ago was narrowing it down.

Below, he picks some of his favorite moments. (While they are unranked, as he notes in his comments, one night stands a little above the rest.)

22 Mar 2024

Joni Mitchell’s Classic Catalog Back on Spotify After Neil Young’s Return to Service

A week after her old friend Neil Young‘s return to Spotify, Joni Mitchell‘s catalog has been restored to the streaming service. Mitchell pulled her music from Spotify in early 2022 in solidarity with Young over their concerns about the vaccine and COVID-19 misinformation being spread on the platform’s popular Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

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Though Mitchell, 80, had not commented on her music’s return to Spotify at press time, in a note on her official website posted at the time of the boycott she explained, “I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify. Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.”

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Last week, Young said in a post on his Archives site that the end of Spotify’s exclusive deal with Rogan led to the restoration of his music to the service. “My decision comes as music services Apple and Amazon have started serving the same disinformation podcast features I had opposed at Spotify,” Young’s post read – in a clear reference to the Rogan podcast, though he never mentioned the show, or its host, by name. Since last month, the Rogan podcast has been available on a variety of platform, including Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and YouTube.

“I cannot just leave Apple and Amazon, like I did Spotify, because my music would have very little streaming outlet to music lovers at all, so I have returned to Spotify,” Young explained about his turnabout.

At the time of Mitchell’s boycott not all of her music was actually removed from Spotify. While such iconic titles as 1970’s Ladies of the Canyon, 1971’s Blue and 1974’s Court and Spark went away during the pull-out, her four Geffen Records albums from the 1980s and early 1990s — Wild Things Run Fast (1982), Dog Eat Dog (1985), Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm (1988) and Night Ride Home (1991) — were still available. In fact, Billboard reported at the time that in the first four days after the wider catalog removal, songs from Mitchell’s Geffen albums across all streaming services saw at 484% increase in on-demand streaming activity in the U.S.

Young’s original 2022 boycott was also supported by several other artists, including his Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young bandmates David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, as well as India.Arie, though CSN/CSN&Y and Arie’s music were back on the service in short order.

Mitchell’s return to Spotify comes amidst the singer’s late-career resurgence, which last month found her performing at the Grammy Awards for the first time. The emotional run through “Both Sides Now” from the singer who has been off-the-radar for years due to a brain aneurysm and a battle with the rare skin condition Moregellons disease included an introduction from superfan and collaborator Brandi Carlile and backing from Alison Russell, Lucius and Jacob Collier.

22 Mar 2024

Jack Black Is Ready to Rock Again, Specifically For a Possible ‘School of Rock’ Sequel

Jack Black is 100% down to slip into Dewey Finn’s bowtie one more time. According to JOE, more than 20 years after Black scammed his way into a teaching position and whipped some awkward kids into a wall-shaking rock band in 2003’s family-friendly music comedy School of Rock, the now 54-year-old actor/musician said he’s down for a possible sequel.

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“I wish there’d be a School Of Rock 2 Electric Boogaloo,” Black said, slipping in a reference to the title of the beloved 1984 sequel to the hip-hop film Breakin’. In the original film directed by Richard Linklater (Boyhood) and written by the White Lotus‘ Mike White, Black played Finn, a washed-out rock guitarist who comes up with a scheme to make some cash by impersonating his teacher roommate Ned Schneebly (White) to pay the rent. Though he’s totally lacking credentials, Finn whips the fourth-graders into shape for a Battle of the Bands competition and some heartwarming team-building.

The original featured Black alongside White, Joan Cusack, Adam Pascal, Sarah Silverman and Miranda Cosgrove. No sequel could happen, Black said, without White, who is busy at the moment working on the anticipated third season of his Max series White Lotus in Thailand. “You know Mike White wrote the first one and he’s a genius,” Black said. “And we’d have to have Mike White back in the saddle, but he’s real busy right now with [The] White Lotus, the best show on TV.”

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Black recently made some noise with a high-spirited Britney Spears cover he recorded for the actual sequel to another of his beloved franchises, Kung Fu Panda 4. The Tenacious D singer’s rocking take on “…Baby One More Time” even got its own video, which Black shot on the red carpet at the quadquel’s premiere earlier this month.

22 Mar 2024

Kendrick Lamar Takes Hard Shots at Drake and J. Cole on Future and Metro Boomin’s ‘Like That’

After Future and Metro Boomin unleashed the first of their two collaborative albums, WE DON’T TRUST YOU, social media lit up on Friday (Mar. 22), courtesy of an explosive verse detonated by an elusive Kendrick Lamar. On the song “Like That,” Lamar throws several volleys, suggestively targeting Drake and J. Cole. 

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“Yeah, get up with me, f–k sneak dissing/ ‘First Person Shooter,’ I hope they came with three switches,” an aggressive Lamar spews on his guest verse. “First Person Shooter” was the joint song Drake and Cole released last year on which the latter boasted: “Love when they argue the hardest MC/ Is it K-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me?/We the big three like we started a league.”

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Lamar’s vitriol didn’t stop there, as he continued firing more shots at the “Big As the What” duo. “Think I won’t drop the location? I still got PTSD/ Motherf–k the Big 3, n—a, it’s just big me,” he snarled. Lamar then seemingly aimed directly at Drake, saying: “‘Fore all your dogs gettin’ buried, that’s a K with all these nines, he gon’ see Pet Sematary.” For context, Drake’s last album was 2023’s For All The Dogs. 

Drake and J. Cole are on the road together for their It’s All a Blur Tour — Big As The What, whose title originated from their Hot 100 chart-topper “First Person Shooter.” In addition, the rap twosome linked up again following the success of said track on Drake’s Scary Hours Edition of For All The Dogs for “Evil Ways.” 

Take a listen to “Like That” from Future and Metro Boomin’s album below.

22 Mar 2024

Blink-182’s Tom DeLonge Got Knocked Down By Heat Stroke at Paraguay Show, But He Got Up Again: ‘Fell to My Knees’

There’s nothing worse than that seasick wave of being overcome by heat and feeling like you’re gonna lose your lunch. Now imagine that sweaty nausea in front of tens of thousands of screaming fans. Because that’s exactly what happened to Blink-182 guitarist/singer Tom DeLonge earlier this week during a show in Paraguay when he suffered heat stroke mid-show.

“This was about 1 min before heat stroke hit. Fell to my knees, everything went blurry, then wobbled to the side of the stage and vomited for a bit. Super fun,” DeLonge wrote on Instagram on Thursday (March 21) alongside a picture of him from behind on stage with his head hanging down.

“@markhoppus and @travisbarker made up for the lost time,” he said of his bandmates jumping in to cover for him during the show at Parque Olimpico in Luque, Paraguay on Tuesday. “man, this was not something I’ve ever felt before. 95 Degrees at a 11pm on stage. But… I made it back and finished the show. Cause that’s what Navy Seals do…”

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Fan video of the incident shows DeLonge hunched over near the side of the stage as the band was working through the 11th song in the set, “More Than You Know,” before taking leave. Hoppus indeed killed some time to “keep the show rolling,” asking Barker to “go apes–t” on the drums with a solo to stretch things out. Within a few minutes, DeLonge was back and the band busted into a blistering “Happy Holidays, You Bastard” as fast as possible, then even faster. The band then ripped through another 16 songs before winding the show down.

The trio’s next show is tonight (March 22) at Lollapalooza Brazil, before they move on to a run of gigs in Mexico, returning to the U.S. on June 30 for a show at the Kia Center in Orlando.

Check out DeLonge’s post below.