Touring
Dancefloors are often said to “writhe,” “bounce,” “jump” and “sweat.” But only a select few lightly sway with the rise and fall of ocean waves.
Electronic music festivals at sea have been part of the U.S. live music ecosystem for more than two decades, ever since the inaugural Groove Cruise embarked in 2004 with 125 people on a chartered party boat from New York. In the 21 years since, Groove Cruise has grown to host thousands of attendees on increasingly larger ships, with another trio of other dance cruises later sailing into frame.
Holy Ship, created by HARD Events founder Gary Richards, began in 2011, while Richards launched his second dance cruise, Friendship, in 2023. Insomniac Events took full control of Holy Ship in 2017 after Richards left HARD and Insomniac’s parent company, Live Nation. (After several sailings, Insomniac turned Holy Ship into an on-land event called Holy Ship Wrecked in 2020.) Meanwhile, Insomniac’s newer cruise, EDSea — a play on the name of Insomniac’s flagship festival EDC Las Vegas — embarked on its maiden voyage in 2023.
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Each of these events offers sun, fun and nonstop music, although each differs slightly in the style of dance music it offers, the crowd it draws and the destination to which it sails. Still, with these events being roughly similar, are there enough fans to fill each boat?
“I was very concerned when [Holy Ship] launched in 2011,” says Jason Beukema, the founder of Groove Cruise and the company that produces it, Whet Entertainment. But after attending the first Holy Ship to assess the competition, he found “there just wasn’t a lot of crossover” in the crowds. And despite often happening within weeks of each other, both Holy Ship and Groove Cruise sold out in subsequent years.
Similarly worried about the 2023 launch of EDSea, Beukema also took part in that inaugural voyage and again witnessed a different demographic, finding that Groove Cruise attracts an older and more gender-balanced crowd. He says having a trio of cruises on the market in 2023 and 2024 has even been good for Groove Cruise, “because it’s brought a lot of eyeballs to the cruise festival game in the dance music space. There’s a lot of people that go on the other cruises, learn about us and end up on Groove Cruise.”
“I agree that the dance cruise market is big enough for all of us,” says Insomniac Events founder Pasquale Rotella. “Each event attracts its own audience and offers a unique perspective on what a music cruise can be.”
Three similar events may seem inconsequential in the busy dance festival market. Cruises, however, are a different proposition given that they require a greater investment from attendees, who aren’t just paying for a ticket but an entire travel package that includes entry, lodging and in some cases food and drinks. (These latter two amenities vary by package.) Given that many attendees don’t live in South Florida — where all of the cruises now take off from — most also pay for flights. Notably, each cruise goes on sale nearly a year in advance to give attendees time to get on long-term payment plans.
For Friendship, packages start at roughly $1,800 for the five-night event. Groove Cruise 2025, which sold out, offered packages starting at $950 for its four-night voyage, while the four-night EDSea 2024 started at $1,555. (Prices vary by how many people are in a cabin and where the cabin is on the ship.) “The cruise market naturally attracts a different audience due to its higher price point and all-inclusive experience,” says Rotella.
Friendship 2024
OHDAGYO
But many who have gone on one of these voyages will argue it’s money well spent. Cruises are enticing in that they give fans a tropical vacation fused with a festival and the chance to rub elbows with their favorite artists while on the boat. And these boats, with their myriad restaurants, bars and pool areas, are often more convenient than a typical show.
“To build a festival site [on land] you’re considering traffic patterns, where people are eating and where they’re using the bathroom,” says Richards. “You’re basically herding human beings, and it kind of sucks. But a ship is the perfect place for three or four thousand people. You can walk out of your room at four in the morning and there’s a party going on. You don’t have to drive. You’ve got a nice bathroom in your room. You’ve got food at the restaurants. You’ve got all these clubs. A ship is the perfect venue.”
Beukema says Groove Cruise attendees have a 70% return rate. Friendship also draws many of the same people year over year, says Richards, who is focused on bringing in new attendees for 2025 given that they’ve chartered a bigger and more upscale boat (via Norwegian Cruise Line) than in years past.
Music cruises are, of course, not unique to the dance genre. For years, cruise lines and production companies specializing in concerts at sea have drawn all flavors of artists and fans to come sail away. But dance music has carved out an especially strong niche in the cruise world, as the genre’s typically hard-partying fans flock to events that can effectively go 24 hours a day.
“You go to the city of L.A. saying you want to put 4,000 people somewhere for a show and [there are so many regulations],” says Richards. “But you get on the ocean, and we can rip at five in the morning. The captain will turn the boat to get the sunrise just right for us.”
Beukema helped create the format in 2004. Wanting to get paid to go on vacation, he took a course at the International Tour Management Institute in the Bay Area and shortly thereafter secured a boat for 125 friends. The party grew over time, and seven years later he chartered his first full-fledged cruise ship, with Norwegian Cruise Line as a partner. Whet Entertainment has since done $100 million in revenue from 28 ship charters across multiple genres including dance, rock, salsa and country.
In terms of partnering with the cruise lines, Beukema cites “a lot of variables,” like pricing and what vessel will offer the best guest experience (Groove Cruise now costs eight figures to produce). He says that generally, music cruises are attractive to cruise lines because they’re usually more profitable than standard cruises that host the general population.
On Thursday (Jan. 23), Groove Cruise set sail from Miami to Labadee, Haiti on Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Sea, a 6,780-capacity ship that’s one the world’s largest passenger vessels currently in service — which makes the sold-out Groove Cruise 2025 “the largest music cruise of any genre in history,” says Beukema. Meanwhile, Friendship sails from Miami on Feb. 22 with a lineup that includes Disclosure, Duck Sauce and Anderson .Paak performing as DJ Pee.Wee.
Last November, Insomniac’s second annual EDSea sailed from Miami to the Bahamas with a lineup featuring Sara Landry, Mau P and Dillon Francis. Rotella says that after years of planning, “2023 felt like the right moment” to launch the cruise “because we had seen the growing enthusiasm for destination events for quite a while.”
Insomniac produced both EDSea and Holy Ship Wrecked in 2023, with the latter event happening from 2020-2023 after Holy Ship changed formats to a land-based festival at resorts in the Dominican Republic and Mexico. Rotella says this change “allowed us to expand the experience” of Holy Ship and made the event “more accessible to fans who prefer not to cruise.” While Holy Ship Wrecked didn’t happen in 2024, he says Insomniac does “have future plans [for the event] that I look forward to sharing more about when the time is right.” EDSea, on the other hand, “is here to stay,” and it even expanded to include an additional day in 2025.
EDSea 2024
Taylor Regulski
With each happening in the fall and winter months when festival season is slower, this cruise trinity helps fill in the calendar for promoters and artists. The premise is particularly attractive for fans in cold weather climates looking for a mid-winter getaway.
Organizers take different approaches to booking artists for cruises. Groove Cruise lineups focus on house, techno, melodic techno and trance, with this year’s bill spanning those genres via headliners Eric Prydz, Nicole Moudaber, James Hype and Seven Lions, along with more than 100 other acts. Most stay for the entire cruise, although Prydz will only be on board the day he’s playing.
EDSea also makes it possible for artists to get on and off the ship mid-sail, with new acts joining at docking destinations while others disembark. Rotella says this model “keeps the lineup dynamic and ensures a constantly evolving experience for headliners.” (Insomniac refers to attendees of all its events as “headliners.”)
Meanwhile, “my whole thing is that you can’t leave,” Richards says of his belief that artists staying onboard for the duration maximizes the vibe, the community feel and the likelihood of special impromptu moments as artists jump on each other’s sets. But this ask also makes booking slightly harder, as some artists worry about losing out on revenue while their calendars are blocked during the cruise. “Guys I used to have on the ship for $200 are now getting $500,000 a night to DJ,” Richards says. “They want to come, but I just can’t pay that.” This year, he’s focused his lineup on big stars like Disclosure along with crucial underground acts from around the world, which is why he’s calling this sailing “International Waters.”
Once on board, Beukema says Groove Cruise is more or less ”96 hours of nonstop music” played across 13 onboard stages, along with beach parties, with each edition hosting DJ-led daytime activities along with theme parties. Groove Cruise leans especially hard into aspects of “transformational festival” culture by offering activities like journaling, meditations, panel discussions on mental health and a celebration of life where attendees can honor people they’ve lost. (Beukema says he also married eight couples during Groove Cruise 2024.) Groove Cruise is also heavily focused on philanthropy, with Whet Entertainment’s attendant 501(c)3 nonprofit annually donating supplies to schools, orphanages and more in communities where cruises dock. It’s helped build homes for families in Cabo San Lucas and the Bahamas and also brings cruise attendees on land for volunteer opportunities like beach cleanups and construction projects.
While dance cruises are dynamic in what they offer, Rotella says they’re also “more challenging to produce” than on-land events, given the limited window of time they have to get the ship ready after passengers from the last cruise disembark. Load-in for a land-based festival typically runs between days and weeks; cruises can offer far less. And while land events operate with trucks and forklifts, onboard gear must be moved by hand. Rotella also cites “much stricter” safety standards on the ship, “with anchoring and load capacities carefully calculated in advance with limited options for last-minute adjustments.” He adds that “another layer of difficulty comes from the strict manifests for equipment and personnel. Every item and individual must be documented ahead of time, with no room for late additions.” Despite the logistical challenges, he says, “the payoff is unparalleled when we finally set sail.”
Richards agrees. “There are so many things you can do at this kind of an event that’s not like a festival. Like, when you go to the bathroom, I can pick the music in the toilet that you’re listening to. We can put chocolates from DJ Pee.Wee on your pillows. I have your full attention for five days.”
Longtime booking agent Scott Pang passed away on Thursday (Jan. 23) after suffering from a cardiac arrest. He was 69 years old. “He loved what he did and he was always on the phone,” his son Thompson Pang tells Billboard. “He knew so many people, it was crazy.” Pang was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on […]
In the earlier days of his career, touring wasn’t necessarily Kygo‘s favorite thing to do.
“It was like every show was life or death,” says the Norwegian producer. “I was always very nervous. It was like, ‘This is the most important [thing ever], and if I mess up tonight, my career is over.’”
With this extreme self-imposed pressure, the artist “wasn’t really able to enjoy the shows that much. At one point I was like, ‘I’m probably never going to tour again,’ because it was just so exhausting.”
Flash forward to the present moment and Kygo — whose real name is Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll — has a fresh approach and attendant attitude, calling his current world tour “definitely my favorite that I’ve done so far.”
Starting last September, the 35-date tour has hit arenas and amphitheaters in North America, Europe and Central America, averaging slightly over 10,000 tickets and $838,000 in revenue per show, according to numbers reported to Billboard Boxscore. The run is continuing into 2025, with shows in Asia and Australia. Additionally, the producer plays this Thursday (Jan. 23) in Toronto and Saturday (Jan. 25) in Mexico City, where Kygo will play what he calls “the biggest show of the tour by far.” See exclusive behind the scenes footage of this tour below.
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Despite this success, Shear acknowledges that the run hasn’t made the same headlines as other recent marquee dance tours, such as Charli XCX and Troye Sivan’s 2024 Sweat Tour. “We’ve quietly been doing this unbelievable tour that’s sold over a half a million tickets,” he says. “There are a lot of tours out there. There’s a lot of stuff going on, and there’s a lot of new artists. But we’re going out there and doing the business. Kygo is just quietly winning in the dance music world.”
This current run is behind Kygo’s 2024 eponymous album, the artist’s fifth studio project that hit No. 97 on the Billboard 200 after its release last June. The tour is also his first in six years, since the run behind 2017’s Kids in Love. (Golden Hour and Thrill of the Chase came out in 2020 and 2022, respectively, although Kygo wasn’t able to tour behind them because of the pandemic.)
While the Kids in Love tour required 12 trucks to move it from city to city, this current tour requires 17 trucks and a crew of 58. When brainstorming the production, Kygo and Shear decided the music and visuals would lean into the fact that Kygo has been making music for a decade, with this kind of looking back approach inspired, Shear says, by Dead & Co.’s nostalgia-laced run at Sphere in Las Vegas last summer. As such, set lists featured visuals that nod to entirety of Kygo’s career thus far, while the setlist spans albums and hits. Vocalists including Justin Jesso, Zak Abel and Parson James are on the tour to sing their parts on “Firestone,” “Freedom” and “Stole the Show,” respectively.
“Kyrre told me that doing a tour was extremely important to him,” says Shear. “It’s not like every dance artist goes out there like a rock band or a pop star and does hard tickets in arenas or stadiums. “He was like, ‘The fact that I’m able to do it, I want to do whatever it takes to make this tour happen.’”
Kygo himself credits his ability to tour such big rooms — an option available to only a handful of dance acts including Illenium and Odesza — is a function of he and his team “not skipping any steps” while he was building his career. (Kygo is represented by Rob Markus at WME.) His earliest U.S. tour had him playing 200-700 capacity rooms, with each run getting progressively larger.
“We were living with my parents at the time, and Kyrre was staying in my brother’s room,” Shear says of these early days. “I went in my brother’s room, and was like, ‘Hey man, we found this guy who used to work with Disclosure and other big artists. He knows how to build live shows, and I think we should build one. We emptied the bank account making that show.”
This groundwork and investment has paid off, with Shear citing “the most tickets we’ve ever sold” on this current run. “I know so many people focusing on streams or on this or that, but the fans follow you as long as you do them right, take care of them and keep bringing an elevated show.”
Sometimes, this elevation requires some extra effort. The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles doesn’t have the space to erect a B stage where Kygo typically performs his encore. As such, the team improvised for the Oct. 17 show, setting up a riser in the middle of the amphitheater amid the seats. Getting there from the stage just meant, Kygo says, “that we just had to run a little bit.”
Kygo
Johannes Lovund
Outside the tour, Kygo and Shear’s multi-faceted Palm Tree Crew brand continues expanding. Its first brick and mortar space, the 115-room hotel and restaurant Palm Tree Club Miami, opened last December. Meanwhile, Palm Tree Festival has happened in Aspen, The Hamptons, Southern California and beyond over the last several years. Some of these festivals feature Kygo on the lineup, and some don’t.
“I was with him in Paris a few weeks ago when he was playing Accor Arena, one of the biggest shows on tour,” says Shear. “At the same time, we opened a restaurant and club in Miami the night before and we were also throwing a music festival in Australia with 30,000 people and The Chainsmokers, and Kyrre isn’t even at either of them. I think that’s a true testament to a great brand we’ve brought to the world, and one that just sort of feeds off his demeanor.”
This demeanor is one that’s also changed as Kygo has become more experienced, and over time more relaxed, about touring.
“There’s definitely been some f–k-ups on the on the road and some songs where I’m like, ‘Oh, that did not sound good at all,’” he says with a laugh. “But I think that’s just part of it being live. Knowing that, I’m more confident and better able to enjoy myself on stage and not always just nervous about everything that could go wrong.”
The South by Southwest Music Festival has announced the third round of Showcasing Artists invited to perform at the 39th annual event, March 10-15, 2025, in Austin.
The third announcement includes several powerhouse SXSW alumni like Sunflower Bean, Holy Fuck, and Jack’s Mannequin. The diverse lineup includes from chart-topping alt-reggaeton act NSQK from Mexico and energetic J-Pop boy band PSYCHIC FEVER. Everything from Latin favorites like Sofía Reyes, Amantes Del Futuro, La Cendejas and st. Pedro to acclaimed Taiwanese artists including Andr, TRASH, Amazing Show, and Enno Cheng.
Other highlights include rising hip-hop star Samara Cyn, ethereal songstress Quiet Light, award-winning musician-activist Madame Gandhi, rebel psych-rock band Frankie and the Witch Fingers, and the new project from Núria Graham and Aoife Nessa Frances called Red Stamp. Also on the lineup are multi-sensory experimental artist BLACK FONDU, ambient Thai collaborators NISATIWA X NOTEP, funk-soul seven piece brass band SNACKTIME, and Muri, a magnetic force redefining Filipino music. Japanese artists include neo-soul, city pop ensemble Luv, high energy punk-rock band ENTH, and metal band with heavy sound and light lyrics, GOKUMON (UchikubiGokumonDoukoukai).
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“The momentum continues to build with our third reveal,” said James Minor, VP of Music Festival. “Each act lends a unique and dynamic voice to the lineup, with both new and established artists from around the world creating a real sense of anticipation for the March event.”
Many of SXSW’s showcases are curated by SXSW programmers in collaboration with record labels, booking agencies, export offices, music publishers, media outlets, lifestyle brands and more. These showcases give attendees the opportunity to experience sets in exclusive, small-stage performances. A sortable airtable that contains information on each artist’s genre, publicist contact information, and social media pages can be found here.
Starting January 30th, SXSW staff will be sharing weekly artist round-ups on the official SXSW Spotify and YouTube Music Video playlists. Yesterday, SXSW announced Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Grammy Award-winning lead singer for Creedence Clearwater Revival John Fogerty and Bluesky CEO Jay Graber as Keynote Speakers, in addition to the third round of Featured Speakers.
Bailey Zimmerman recently earned concern from music fans on social media following a shaky performance on Jan. 18 during this year’s Crash My Playa festival, held in Cancun, Mexico. Videos of Zimmerman’s performance show the singer — normally known for his energetic stage shows — seemingly having trouble reaching notes, wandering around the stage and taking a tumble at one point.
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Now, the “Rock and A Hard Place” hitmaker is taking responsibility for his performance and asking fans for their continued support.
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Zimmerman posted a video to Instagram on Tuesday (Jan. 21), directly addressing his Crash My Playa performance.
“I was always raised up to hit my problems head-on, and never to lie, and always be truthful and honest, even when you’re embarrassed,” he started his video message. “So, I’d like to talk about something that’s been eatin’ me alive. Last weekend, down in Cancun, Mexico, I’m sure everybody’s seen the videos of me playing absolutely awful, and singing absolutely awful. And, I feel like you guys deserve an explanation from me, because you’ve had my back through the highs and lows, and through every mistake.”
He continued, “What happened was, I decided to drink that day, which was a mistake, and I got up onstage and I was too drunk to play. And I sang awful, I played awful, nobody got the show that they wanted or paid for, and I’m disappointed in myself. If you’ve been to my shows, you know how much I’ve talked about God since day one, and it was an awful representation of that. And to anybody, like I said, that’s embarrassed of me, I’m there. I’m embarrassed as well, and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that this never happens ever again. I want to show you guys the person that I truly am.”
He ended by saying, “So, I’m just asking for a little bit of grace. Man, growing up is interesting. It’s not an excuse, but man, thank you to everybody that’s got my back. Thank you for staying, thank you for showing me love, and grace, and we’re gonna crush this year. But yeah, I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I freakin’ love you guys more than anything in the world and I don’t wanna lose ya. Forgive me and I love ya. Thank you for listening.”
Zimmerman’s next concert is set for March 1 in West Palm Beach, Florida. He also recently revealed his 2025 summer tour dates on his New to Country Tour, with the shows launching in June.
Luke Bryan’s Crash My Playa event celebrated its ten-year anniversary in 2025, with this year’s Crash My Playa also featuring performances from Bryan as well as Jason Aldean, Kane Brown and Lainey Wilson.
To date, Zimmerman has earned four Billboard Country Airplay chart-toppers, including the six-week No. 1 “Rock and A Hard Place.” He was also nominated for the CMA’s new artist of the year honor during November’s ceremony.
See Zimmerman’s full video below:
It’s a nice day for a white mocha. British rock icon Billy Idol announced his 2025 amphitheater tour Tuesday morning (Jan. 21) with a cheeky video starring breakout comedian Matt Rife. The bit has Rife popping up through out Idol’s day, riffing on some of his Idol’s biggest songs, such as “White Wedding” and “Rebel […]
GRONINGEN — The Eurosonic Noorderslag Festival (ESNS) has long marked the official start of Europe’s music calendar. The festival, which just wrapped its 39th edition, looks to set the agenda for the upcoming year, with a particular focus on the live space.
From Jan. 15-18 in Groningen, Netherlands, a diverse lineup of emerging artists were presented to festival bookers, promoters, potential managers, media and other industry professionals. The goal: celebrate and champion artists and scenes throughout Europe and strengthen ties between markets.
At the heart of ESNS sits the The European Talent Exchange Program which promotes and assists festival bookings for the upcoming summer. By connecting 333 artists from 33 countries with 131 festival bookers and a number of stations within the European Broadcast Union (including the U.K.’s BBC Radio), the initiative aims to showcase artists from diverse regions and genres. The program has helped previous breakout artists, including Fontaines D.C., Idles, and English Teacher, secure bookings across Europe’s renowned festival circuit.
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“In today’s fast-evolving music industry, it’s increasingly difficult to uncover the hidden gems and truly exceptional acts,” said Tamás Kádár, CEO of Sziget Cultural Management, which runs Budapest’s Sziget Festival.
“With over 5,000 applicants every year, ESNS does an incredible job of curating a selection that not only supports artists in gaining recognition but also provides a vital resource for bookers like us,” he added. “Even if we can’t catch every performance live, the curated list allows us to discover new talent for Sziget. It’s a testament to the shared commitment to fostering quality music and supporting emerging talent.”
A number of acts made compelling cases during their appearances; unlike other showcase festivals, acts at ESNS only perform once at the event. Ireland’s Cardinals, signed to influential indie So Young records, brought intensity and bite to the city’s beloved Vera venue. The walls of the space are adorned with some of the names that went on to become international icons: Joy Division, The White Stripes, U2 and more all played early shows in the space.
Iceland’s Sunna Margrét expertly toed the line between folktronica and upbeat indie pop in her material, while Manchester-based Anthony Szmierek, who is due to release his debut album Service Station At The End Of The Universe in February, brought wit and humour to his rave-inspired bangers. Cork group Cliffords also drew a packed room on their debut show in mainland Europe, further solidifying the indie band place as ones to watch in 2025.
ESNS provides a boost for events like Focus Wales, a yearly showcase festival which takes place in Wrexham, north Wales. Andy Jones, co-founder and booker, says that their presence “ensures that Focus Wales and, more broadly, Wales as a music market, is part of the wider conversation with the European music community.”
He adds that the challenges facing the U.K.’s grassroots venues are impacting the ability for artists to level-up into festival headliners. “When I compare the current state of play to how things were even five or six years ago, it’s clear there’s a big problem that needs to be addressed,” said Jones. “I believe the good work Music Venue Trust is doing is vital, but it is time for Governments to do more, to ensure these vital cultural spaces are protected.”
Brexit brought immense challenges for many artists from the U.K. and significantly reduced the margins for profits. Jones is calling for “some real progress on simplifying the movement of artists in and out of the U.K., which will only reap benefits for all involved. This is also frankly, long overdue.”
Kádár concurs: “Artists face difficulties in standing out and reaching their audiences in a crowded market. Viral moments on platforms like TikTok can create sudden fame, but sustained recognition requires more. Added to this are rising costs – travel, accommodation, and the scarcity of funding – making it harder than ever for bands to tour successfully.”
The panel discussions and workshops held at Oosterport, the city’s cultural events center, covered a wide range of topics. In his keynote address, Alex Hardee, partner/agent of Wasserman Music in London, discussed the changing landscape for live agents and how they can react and respond. “We have to work harder for our commission and provide a bigger service,” he said, highlighting the company’s approach to securing new artists, as well as discussing the value of support slots and the “talent drain” that festivals are facing when booking headliners.
Throughout the program, the festival hosted additional discussions on the role of private equity investment into the live music space, the use of artificial intelligence in the creative and administrative process of making music, and how independent labels and boutique festivals can thrive in uncertain circumstances.
There were moments of celebration, too. The European Festival Awards celebrated honorees including Open’er Festival in Poland which scooped the best major festival prize and We Love Green for its commitment to making their event eco-friendly. In addition The Music Moves Europe Awards, a key component of the European Union’s efforts to support musicians, saw a number of acts secure grants of €10,000 ($10,321) including Yamê from France and Uche Yara from Austria.
ESNS may have highlighted the scale of the challenges ahead, but it’s one that Jones and his contemporaries are ready to meet head on. “I think it’s an exciting time, musically, with so much great new talent coming through. At the same time, it is encouraging that there seems to be a shared view, across Europe and including the major players in the industry, that there is a real responsibility now; for us all to create a more equitable industry going forward.”
The Black Eyed Peas have canceled their upcoming Las Vegas residency scheduled for 2025. On Sunday (Jan. 19), the group announced via their Instagram Story that their planned shows at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino’s PH Live would no longer take place due to “current circumstances.” “To our dearest Peabodies,” the Black Eyed Peas wrote. […]
During a concert packed with wall-to-wall hits and jaw-dropping stage production, Justin Timberlake slowed things down Saturday night (Jan. 18) in Anaheim, California, to reflect on the devastating wildfires that have ravaged the neighboring Los Angeles County since last week.
“I want to take a moment to recognize what’s going on in LA,” he said from the intimate DJ stage tucked into the floor section of the Honda Center, where he was surrounded by 360 degrees of fans. “I want to give a shout-out to the first responders, firefighters, citizens of the community, all that you gave.”
He went on to acknowledge the proximity of the Orange County arena, saying, “I’m sure so many of us in this room know someone, or is related to someone, or has heard about someone so close to us being affected by this devastating incident. And so many of us onstage either live there and in the crew know people who live there, and we just came from there, and it truly is devastating.”
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Timberlake ended things on a positive note by shouting out the way the community has rallied around the crisis to find ways to help everyone affected. “I just wanted to recognize how beautiful it is, how well everyone has responded in that area. And I just wanted to say: Keep your thoughts and prayers with LA. Donate if you can — if you can — but thoughts and prayers with LA. Thank you so much, Anaheim.”
Multiple fires throughout Los Angeles County have killed at least 27 people, displaced tens of thousands from their homes, and destroyed or damaged more than 12,000 structures. The initial Palisades Fire is now more than 50% contained after more than a week of firefighting in severe winds.
Timberlake’s Anaheim concert was an extension of his Forget Tomorrow World Tour, which kicked off April 29 in Vancouver in support of the March album release Everything I Thought It Was. The trek continues Monday in Palm Desert, California, and has international dates through July. He will join Green Day and Noah Kahan to headline the 2025 BottleRock Festival in Napa, California, over Memorial Day weekend.
In collaboration with the clothing brand Maybe Tomorrow, Timberlake announced that all proceeds from a limited-edition beanie would be donated to wildfire relief efforts. The black beanie sold out, but the white version is still available here. Both are also being sold in merch stands on the tour while supplies last.
Bad Bunny‘s upcoming “No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí” summer residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico has officially sold out, according to a press release issued by the artist’s team on Friday (Jan. 17). Produced by Noah Assad Presents and Move Concerts, the 30-date stint, set to kick off July 11 and wrap Sept. 14, sold 400,000 tickets in just four hours through online and in-person sales across the island.
The announcement further states that while more than 2.5 million people registered for online pre-sale, Bad Bunny’s team “worked diligently” to eliminate 1.8 million scalpers and bots to “ensure Bad Bunny’s loyal fans were eligible for the pre-sale.”
The first nine shows, reserved exclusively for Puerto Rico residents, officially went on sale Wednesday (Jan. 15) at nine different locations throughout Puerto Rico, including Palacio de los Deportes in Mayagüez and Plaza del Mercado Río Piedras in San Juan. (The shows sold out that day.) Subsequently, Bad Bunny unveiled nine additional dates to the residency for a total of 30 dates at El Choli. Those 21 shows, which went on sale this morning, sold out in under four hours.
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The residency has also incorporated VIP concert and hotel experiences featuring a two-night hotel stay, premium tickets and limited edition VIP gift bags, among other elements. Offered through Vibee, more than 80,000 VIP packages have already been sold, with a limited number of VIP experiences remaining.
Bad Bunny (real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) is no stranger to selling out tours or breaking records at the box office. His World’s Hottest Tour in 2022 grossed $314.1 million and sold 1.9 million tickets, breaking the record for the biggest Latin tour ever. That same year, Bad Bunny became the first Latin act, and first act who doesn’t perform in English, to finish atop Billboard’s year-end Top Tours chart.
Bad Bunny’s residency in Puerto Rico is in honor of his latest album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, which he released Jan. 5. The set debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, securing him his seventh top 10-charting set. Meanwhile, the LP opened at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Streaming Albums chart (dated Jan. 18), marking the largest streaming week for a Latin title in over a year. All 17 songs on the set entered the Billboard Hot 100, upping his career total from 98 to 113 and making him the first Latin artist to tally 100 career Hot 100 hits.