Touring
Billy McFarland says he’s ready to sell Fyre Festival 2 to the highest bidder.
Earlier today, the convicted fraudster took to social media to post a mea culpa about his failures as a festival promoter while once more rebranding Fyre Festival as “one of the most powerful attention engines in the world,” in his words.
The double-speak is part of McFarland’s attempt to liquidate Fyre Festival’s only assets — its trademarks and IP — to the highest bidder now that Fyre Fest 2 has been indefinitely postponed. Early this month, government officials with the city of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, poured cold water on the long-shot festival — designed in part to rehabilitate McFarland’s image following the disastrous, aborted 2017 edition of the event in the Bahamas that resulted in global mockery, competing documentary films and a federal prison sentence for McFarland — by writing on social media that “there is no record or planning of any such event in the municipality.”
McFarland has said the idea for a follow-up festival came to him while serving time in solitary confinement, and he began pitching Fyre Festival 2 after his release from prison in 2022, hyping his plans on social media with splashy videos and spurious claims. As McFarland would finally admit on Wednesday (April 23), he has failed to regain the trust of fans, major talent agencies and the municipal government of Playa Del Carmen.
In his letter to fans, McFarland explained, “I can’t risk a repeat of what happened in Playa Del Carmen, where support quickly turned into public distancing once media attention intensified,” noting, “For FYRE Festival 2 to succeed, it’s clear that I need to step back and allow a new team to move forward independently, bringing the vision to life on this incredible island.”
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On Fyre’s website, where McFarland once hawked $1.1 million ticket packages for Fyre Fest 2, he now features a short pitch deck for the sale of Fyre’s IP, sharing details about Fyre’s web traffic and Google analytics while noting he’s ready to hand off the tarnished brand.
Giving control “to a new group is the most responsible way to follow through on what we set out to do: build a global entertainment brand, host a safe and legendary event, and continue to pay restitution to those who are owed from the first festival,” McFarland wrote, noting that he owes his victims from the first Fyre Festival more than $26 million.
On Monday (April 21), news broke of Fyre’s first licensing deal: an agreement for Fyre Music Streaming Ventures, LLC, a fan-curated on-demand music video streaming service and ad-supported TV channel. As its founder, Shawn Rech, told Billboard: “I just want people to remember the [Fyre] name.”
To view the sales material for Fyre, visit Fyre.mx.
Durand Jones & The Indications – the trio of Durand Jones, Aaron Frazer and Blake Rhein – have announced their most extensive tour to date. Following a successful opening slot on Lenny Kravitz’s European tour, the band will hit their biggest headlining shows yet, with stops at Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater in Austin and The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.
The tour will kick off Sept. 11 at The Van Buren in Phoenix and run through some of North America’s most iconic venues, including Webster Hall in New York, Tipitina’s in New Orleans, First Avenue in Minneapolis and The 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. The 37-date trek will come to a close on Nov. 16 at House of Blues in Dallas.
In addition to announcing their fall tour, Durand Jones & The Indications have released the second single from their upcoming album Flowers, due June 27 on Dead Oceans. The new single “Flower Moon” puts Frazer’s signature falsetto front and center as the group waxes poetic about love in springtime. The band draws from their extensive knowledge of soul and R&B history to deliver one of their most irresistible dancefloor tracks yet.
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“It felt right to release ‘Flower Moon’ with this record. Spring is here and the flowers are blooming everywhere. We really wanted to catch that essence of the song and bring it to life for the listener,” Jones said in a release. “Also the Flower Moon is happening in a few weeks, so everything just seemed aligned to bring this song to our fans. It’s a feel-good tune to enjoy with friends or a loved one.”
Check out the video for “Flower Moon,” directed by Alec Basse, below.
Flowers will mark Durand Jones & The Indication’s fourth studio album and a return to the band’s roots with a mixture of gritty funk and Southern soul that inspired their 2016 self-titled debut. The album was self-produced in Rhein’s Chicago home studio and reflects the “ups and downs in our personal lives and professional lives,” Frazer said when the album was announced, adding, “and flowers are a sign of maturity, growth, spring, productivity.” The new song follows lead single “Been So Long,” which was released last month.
Check out a full list of tour dates below.
Sept. 11 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren Sept. 12 – Flagstaff, AZ @ Orpheum Theater Sept. 13 – Abiquiú, NM @ Blossoms & Bones Sept. 15 – San Antonio, TX @ The Aztec Theatre Sept. 16 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater Sept. 18 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse Sept. 19 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl Sept. 21 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club Sept. 23 – Philadelphia, PA @ UnionTransfer Sept. 26 – Boston, MA @ Citizens House of Blues Sept. 27 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall Sept. 30 – Indianapolis, IN @ Hi-Fi Annex Oct. 1 – Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed Oct. 3 – Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theatre Oct 4 – Fort Collins, CO @ Washington’s Oct. 5 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot Oct. 7 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater Oct 10 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Greek Theatre Oct. 11 – Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl Oct. 23 – Del Mar, CA @ The Sound Oct. 24 – Sacramento, CA @ Channel 24 Oct. 27 – Portland, OR @ McMenamins Crystal Ballroom Oct. 28 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom Oct. 29 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox SODO Oct. 31 – Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory Concert House Nov. 1 – Bozeman, MT @ The ELM Nov 3 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue Nov 4 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Ballroom Nov 5 – Detroit, MI @ St. Andrew’s Hall Nov. 7 – Toronto, ON @ The Concert Hall Nov. 8 – Montreal, QC @ Beanfield Theatre Nov. 9 – South Burlington, VT @ HIgher Ground Ballroom Nov 11 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall Nov. 12 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel Nov. 14 – New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina’s Nov. 15 – Houston, TX @ Heights Theater Nov. 16 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
All Things Go festival will return to New York with Doechii, Lucy Dacus and Clairo headlining. For the second edition of the New York festival, which will run the same weekend as the festival’s D.C.-area event, fans can also catch sets from Djo, Remi Wolf, The Marías, The Last Dinner Party, Lola Young and Gigi […]
How did you get to the last concert you attended?
If you’re like most music fans in the United States and Canada, you probably traveled by car. While taking public transportation would be more environmentally friendly, it’s less likely you went by bus or shuttle.You might be among the few that took the least environmentally friendly option and flew.
Now a new study by REVERB, the longstanding organization focused on sustainability in touring and the broader music industry, is presenting a comprehensive report on all the ways concert attendees get to shows. The study aims to better understand fan travel – long known as the biggest carbon emitter in the live music space – and facilitate solutions to bring down concerts’ environmental impact.
This study was done by REVERB over the last two years at more than 400 shows in over 170 North American cities. REVERB representatives surveyed more than 35,000 fans, asking them about how they got to the show, how they would’ve preferred to get there and the barriers that prevented them from taking a more sustainable travel option.
Out today (April 21), the results of REVERB’s Concert Travel Study aim to give a better sense of the playing field while demonstrating that fans want greener options, info that’s altogether meant to encourage collaboration on solutions among venues, promoters, artists and fans.
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The study finds that driving is by far the most common way that fans get to shows, with 80% of respondents reporting taking a car. On average, 3,321 gas powered or hybrid vehicles were driven to any given show. On average, each car went 144 miles roundtrip and carried 2.5 people.
Meanwhile, just 9% of attendees used public transportation, although 33% percent said they would if there were better options available. And while only 7% of fans flew to shows, those flights accounted for 60% of all fan travel emissions.
All in, the study finds that fan travel creates 38 times more emissions than artist and crew travel, tour-related hotel stays and gear transportation combined. The average 11,000 capacity show creates 527 metric tons of fan travel-related carbon emissions, the equivalent of the energy it would take to power 110 homes for a year. On average, even larger concerts create 824 metric tons of carbon emissions.
But 89% of fans would take more sustainable transit options if there were better options and almost everyone surveyed — 90% of participates — said they’re concerned about climate change. See the complete study here.
“We’ve always known that fan travel is the biggest emitter, because you have thousands of fans versus a couple band members or crew members,” says REVERB’s director of impact Madeline Weir tells Billboard. “But the point isn’t to put pressure on fans or say its their fault; we want this to be an opportunity for artists, venues and the industry at large to acknowledge fan travel as the biggest source of emissions and work together with fans to see what solutions would make the fan experience better.”
The study suggests solutions like incentivized carpooling, which would provide better parking spots and expedited exit lanes to fans who arrive with a certain number of people in the car.
Weir also cites a desire to work with the aviation industry to help generate a bigger marketplace for sustainable aviation fuels, in order to bring down the cost of this fuel. Greener air travel is especially crucial when it comes to artist residencies, which typically entail most audience members traveling to see a stationary show.
“We’re never going to say to a band, you shouldn’t do [a residency], because it’s a fan experience and we definitely work with bands that do them,” Weir says. “It’s about talking about solutions with a band and their teams. And a lot of the artists that are at that [residency] scale are already doing a lot for climate, whether it be the offsetting model or more the philanthropy-based model.”
Weir also notes the importance of strategic routing, as emissions are naturally lower when fans travel shorter distances for a show. To wit, when an artist REVERB has partnered with provides the organization with their tour routing, REVERB provides them with information to send out to fans about various sustainable transit options, from carpooling to public transit to bike lanes. REVERB is also partnering with venues to provide tailored data from the study on what each specific venue can do to help fans arrive in greener ways.
The study was co-funded by Billie Eilish, a longtime REVERB partner and of the greenest artists in music. At the Los Angeles and Phoenix dates for Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft Tour this past December, Elish’s team provided shuttles from various park and rides for faster, greener transport to shows, demonstrating that there are straightforward options for artists who want to platform sustainability.
“Artists, venues and fans all need to work together to improve our environment,” Eilish says in a statement. “From solar-powered live shows to more sustainable touring, my team is always looking for ways to help the planet. I have the greatest fans in the world, and I hope this study will be a helpful resource for those looking to learn more about transportation options that cut down on pollution and build a better future for live music.”
REVERB is also helping venues and events look at what Weir calls sustainable “micro-mobility,” including gas powered shuttles, golf carts and other on-site transportation. (She cites Los Angeles’ Intuit Dome as a venue that’s currently enacting such measures.) REVERB is also currently working with Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, NY to create bike valets and promote the use of public transit.
“At Forest Hills, we promote public transit options as the number one way to arrive at the venue,” says the venue’s co-manager Mike Luba. “We love when partners like REVERB and artists amplify this promotion to reduce the number of emitting vehicles driven to our shows. It’s truly better for fans, the community, and us.”
Altogether, the study emphasizes the growing concern about, and push for, sustainability in the industry, with U.S. venues and events increasingly exploring clean energy technology, swapping single-use plastic cups for reusable options and encouraging artists, agents and promoters to incorporate green clauses in various contracts. This work is catching up the sustainability efforts REVERB has been enacting in the live sector since it was created in 2004, with the organization’s co-founder Adam Gardner saying that “listening to fans has always been key to our success.”
While the REVERB study encompasses a lot of data and many options for improvements, what it ultimately makes clear is that demand for greener travel options is significant, with 94% of fans saying they want to be able to take collective action on the issue.
“Venues, artists, promoters and fans themselves all have responsibility to do this together,” says Weir.
Regional Mexican star Julión Álvarez made his return to the U.S. stages on Thursday night (April 17), with the first of three shows of his 42/18 Tour at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. — a record for a Latin artist at the venue. Previously, Los Bukis — also Mexican and representing the same musical genre — held the record there with two performances in August 2021.
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It took eight years for Álvarez, also known as the King of the Box Office, to perform in the U.S. again after he was accused by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of money laundering in 2017, a charge he was cleared of in 2022.
“I must confess that I was close to tears. I’m trying to stay strong, but I’m truly very emotional and happy. You can’t imagine the amount of feelings and emotions I’m experiencing right now. I hope you enjoy this as much as I am,” Álvarez said shortly after starting the show with a Mexican flag and a snippet of “Cielito Lindo,” singing in Spanish, “Let them say I’m asleep and bring me here, beautiful and beloved Mexico, if I die far from you.”
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“I hadn’t come to sing for you in eight years,” he continued. “Thank God and thanks to all of you, I’m still doing what I love — the work on which so many families depend. Thanks to my family, who supported me through everything. Thanks to the friends who were always there. But above all, a thousand thanks to the audience, and to the media who were always present. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Álvarez then embarked on a musical journey through his career, performing hits such as “Regalo de Dios,” “Te Hubieras Ido Antes,” “Rey Sin Reina,” “La Frontera” and “Mi Mayor Anhelo,” a song that brought back memories of his days as the vocalist for Banda MS, which he thanked for the lessons he learned from the band. In another touching moment, his musicians played the classic “Las Mañanitas,” and his daughters Maria Julia and Maria Isabel joined him on stage to celebrate his April 11 birthday.
Known for performing shows lasting up to four hours, the artist born Julio César Álvarez Montelongo explained to the audience that venue rules would prevent him from singing for more than two hours. “I hope you can forgive me, but I must respect the laws of this land,” he said before closing with a medley of José Alfredo Jiménez’s classic rancheras “El Rey” and “Ella,” along with his rendition of “Volaré.”
After his shows on Friday and Saturday (April 18 and 19) at SoFi Stadium, Álvarez will continue his 42/18 tour on May 24 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
To decorate their Coachella stage like a beach party in their seaside home region of La Guaira, Venezuela, Rawayana hauled in inflatable SUVs, palm trees and tiki huts — all designed to make the Grammy-winning band’s YouTube festival livestream last weekend more colorful and magnetic. “It’s a live TV broadcast,” says Carlos Framil, Rawayana’s co-manager. “They knew it was going to be livestreamed. It was a prominent part of the strategic planning.”
The plan paid off. Rawayana’s streams, and ticket sales for its upcoming tour, spiked in the days after the first-weekend performance, narrated as part of YouTube’s new “Watch With” program by influencers Bryan and Eddy Skabeche. “We’re seeing it as a Coachella bump,” says Framil, of Miami-based Sound of Light. “And we’re attributing that to the livestream.”
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Coachella’s live YouTube feed, now in its 13th year, is the “gold standard” of festival livestreaming, according to Lee Anderson, president of Wasserman, the talent agency whose many Coachella acts this year include Ravyn Lenae, Viagra Boys and A.G. Cook. “When the streams started, most people didn’t want them, or thought they should be compensated. It was a big fight,” he says, adding that the Coachella livestream really took off just before the pandemic, which then boosted the popularity of watching live events at home. “The Coachella one went from people being upset that they were on it to being upset that they weren’t on it.”
Music festivals have live streamed performances since the early 2000s, when Bonnaroo partnered with America Online; YouTube then helped turn live performances into music-business revenue in 2010, when it removed its 15-minute cap on video lengths, thus enabling long concert videos that could be festooned with money-making advertising clips. Artists’ initial reluctance has “long been resolved and it’s an old issue,” says Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s head of music and a longtime ex-major-label exec, referring to a “super-valuable” partnership with AEG-owned Goldenvoice, Coachella’s promoter. “The Goldenvoice team feel like it’s a two plus two equals five opportunity.”
Coachella performances often boost headliners’ streaming numbers — this year, Charli XCX earned 12.7 million on-demand streams in the days after her Saturday performance, a 27% increase. Lady Gaga scored a similar spike; Green Day‘s jump was 17%. As for the livestream, YouTube reps won’t provide viewer metrics, but the Google-owned streaming giant reports huge bumps in international consumption. Over the past three Coachellas, more than half of the views came from outside the U.S., as Brazil views doubled, Mexico views jumped fivefold, India views increased 900% and Korea views increased 1,400%. The festival has scored more than 1 billion YouTube views overall.
Cohen suggests Goldenvoice has booked more international acts in recent years due to the livestream’s global-viewership increases — this year’s lineup includes Thailand-born K-pop star Lisa, Nigeria’s Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 and Egypt’s Mohamed Ramadan, among many others. “I don’t think there’s actually science in representing the amount of people sitting in any given living room in Mexico or Nigeria or Korea,” Cohen says. “They’re not watching alone. You can bring your friends over.”
The Watch With collaboration, adds Christian Oestlien, YouTube’s vp of product management, was inspired by “watch-along” commentary by social-media creators for soccer and other sporting events. YouTube’s research showed 50% of viewers preferred “hearing a creator walk them through a live event than watching the live event themselves,” according to Oestlien, and Coachella posted regional YouTube curators in Brazil and elsewhere for commentary on top headliners like Lady Gaga. “In every market, we’re trying to appeal to local fandom,” he says.
For Alok, a Brazilian DJ and producer, last weekend’s Watch With show with Bloguerinha was a way of linking the Coachella livestream audience with the influencer’s 4.3 million Instagram followers and 1.8 million YouTube subscribers. “This enriches and enhances the experience we can offer around an artist, so this is a very powerful tool,” says Fabio Soares, Alok’s creative director. Filipi Minatel, manager of Alok’s label, adds that the first-week Coachella livestream has led to more social-media and streaming activity. “Coachella makes this massive exposure,” he says. “It’s not only the live broadcast. It is everything that happens after that.”
On Saturday (April 19), Kendrick Lamar and SZA will kick off their co-headlining Grand National Tour at Minneapolis’ U.S. Bank Stadium, playing the first of 39 scheduled shows in North America and Europe. It’s not just the only all-stadium hip-hop world tour to launch in 2025 – it’s the first such trek this decade.
In the post-pandemic era, the definition of “stadium artist” has expanded to include younger and more diverse artists, across genre. Not only have contemporary pop and rock acts graduated beyond arenas, but artists from country (Zach Bryan, Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen), Latin (Bad Bunny, Karol G, Shakira) and K-pop (BLACKPINK, SEVENTEEN, TWICE) have staged sold-out stadium runs in several continents.
But while R&B/hip-Hop’s reign as America’s most popular genre continued into the 2020s, rappers have yet to scale their tours in the same way. Lamar’s upcoming run will mark the first all-stadium tour for a rap act since JAY-Z joined Beyoncé on 2018’s On the Run II Tour.
Notably, rap acts have historically leveled up to stadiums alongside a pop or R&B co-headliner: Lamar with SZA, JAY-Z with Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake (separately), and Eminem with Rihanna.
Rappers have played stadiums on their own (or together, as in the case of Eminem & JAY-Z’s four-show The Home & Home Tour in 2010), but only in brief runs or isolated dates. Eminem reported 16 such shows across three separate outings during the 2010s and 50 Cent played one in 2004. Drake and Kanye West co-headlined the Free Larry Hoover benefit show in 2021, but it was a free gig.
The pairing of Lamar and SZA echoes the makeup of past successful stadium runs, but it’s also uncommon for R&B acts to tackle the biggest venues. Beyoncé has mastered the art, having broken records with 2023’s Renaissance World Tour, and is weeks away from kicking off Cowboy Carter Tour. But it’s worth noting that both treks are in support of albums that detour into other genres, having won Grammys for best dance/electronic album and best country album, respectively.
Similarly, Bruno Mars continues to sprinkle stadium shows amid his theater residency in Vegas, but his two latest top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hits – “Die With A Smile,” with Lady Gaga, and “APT,” with Rosé – eschew contemporary R&B for different strains of pop.
Still, the Grand National Tour’s double-billing is simply a no-brainer, not a hedged bet. SZA’s SOS was released in December 2022, landed nine Grammy nominations in 2023, won three of them in 2024, and added a 12th week atop the Billboard 200 to kick off 2025 following its SOS Deluxe: LANA expanded reissue. Lamar himself has had a whirlwind last 12 months, amassing four No. 1s on the Hot 100 – two inspired by his infamous beef with Drake and two from GNX. He won five Grammys in February for “Not Like Us” and headlined the Super Bowl halftime show a week later. As a cherry on top, the pair’s “Luther” will be enjoying its eighth consecutive week atop the Hot 100 when the tour kicks off this weekend.
Hip-hop has not taken up much space on stadium calendars, but Lamar and SZA are part of a rising tide of momentum for rap and R&B. An established arena headliner, Chris Brown will mount his first stadium tour this summer. Breezy Bowl XX kicks off on June 8 with a packed lineup, featuring Jhene Aiko, Bryson Tiller, and Summer Walker as special guests. And after touring arenas on 2018’s Astroworld: Wish You Were Here Tour and for the first leg of the Utopia Circus Maximus Tour, Travis Scott began to mix stadium dates in 2024. This fall, he will continue the multi-year trek with a handful-plus of grand scale shows in Asia and South Africa.
Scroll below for a recap of the rap acts who have played — or are scheduled to play — stadium shows, according to reports to Billboard Boxscore.
Kendrick Lamar
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Fyre Fest 2, Billy McFarland‘s attempted second iteration of the failed 2017 Fyre Festival, has been postponed by organizers, according to multiple reports. ABC News reports that Fyre Fest 2 organizers messaged ticket holders on Wednesday (April 16) stating, “The event has been postponed and a new date will be announced. We have issued you […]
Reggaetón royalty Ivy Queen is hitting the road for her highly anticipated Killa Queen World Tour, a globe-spanning journey that begins May 17 in Quito, Ecuador. “Music has given me a voice, strength and purpose. This tour is a celebration of everything I am and all the women who have stood by me since the […]
Gospel Music Hall of Fame members Amy Grant, CeCe Winans and Michael W. Smith will help usher in the holiday season, with their Christmas Together tour launching Nov. 28 in Greensboro, N.C. The tour will make seven more stops in states including Georgia, Illinois, Virginia and Ohio, before wrapping Dec. 8 in St. Louis.
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Last year, Winans released the holiday set Joyful, Joyful: A Christmas Album, with her rendition of “Joy to the World” rising to No. 6 on Billboard‘s Hot Gospel Songs chart. Grant has released five studio Christmas albums, including 2016’s Tennessee Christmas. Her songs such as “Emmanuel,” “Breath of Heaven,” “My Grown Up Christmas List” and “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” have become holiday classics. Smith has also released a handful of holiday projects, including 2023’s Every Christmas. In 2013, his collaboration with Carrie Underwood on “All Is Well” reached No. 6 on the Hot Christian Songs chart.
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This isn’t the first time the three artists have performed together for a holiday tour; Grant and Smith have held Christmas tours for more than 30 years, with Winans joining them on their 1998 Christmas Tour.
“I’m so excited to be joining Michael and Amy for the Christmas Together tour,” Winans tells Billboard. “There’s nothing like coming together with friends to celebrate the true meaning of the season through music, worship and joy. I can’t wait to share these unforgettable nights with audiences across the country.”
“I look forward to every moment of Christmas Together with Michael and CeCe, the rehearsals, the travel, the concerts! We can’t wait to celebrate Christmas together and with all of you,” Grant tells Billboard.
“We all know, Christmas is hands down my favorite time of year, and getting to tour with Amy always makes it even more special — but this year, we’re taking it to the next level!” Smith adds. “We’re beyond excited to have our dear friend CeCe Winans join us. After so many years of touring together, adding CeCe’s incredible voice and spirit to the mix feels like the ultimate Christmas gift. To say that the three of us are thrilled about this tour is simply an understatement.”
See the full list of dates for the Christmas Together Tour below:
Christmas Together
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