State Champ Radio Touring
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After opening shows for Kenny Chesney this summer, Sony Music Nashville/Columbia Records artist Megan Moroney has revealed that 2025 will see her spearheading her upcoming Am I Okay? Tour, which will launch March 20 in Montreal.
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The 25-show tour, which will run throughout the spring and summer, will go through August. The tour will visit cities including Boston, Houston, Toronto and Washington, D.C., as well as two shows in her homebase of Nashville. Notably, the tour will highlight Moroney’s debut performance at New York City’s historic Radio City Music Hall on March 26.
In an Instagram post announcing the tour, Moroney told fans, “I’m so excited to announce the AM I OKAY? TOUR!!! 💙 i get to play some of my bucket list venues & it’s going to be a very ✨blue✨ very magical year on the road. i’m already counting down the days until i get to see your faces & all of your ‘homemade tshirts & homemade signs’ :,) i know i’ve said it a lot but thank you for making all of my dreams come true – just over the mooooooon that i get to do this.”
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The setlist for the tour is certain to include tracks from Moroney’s latest album, Am I Okay?, which includes songs such as “No Caller ID,” “Man on the Moon,” “Indifferent” and “Heaven by Noon.” Leading up to the Am I Okay Tour?, Moroney is currently on her 15-show Georgia Girl Tour in the U.K. and Europe.
Additionally, Moroney earned multiple nominations at the 58th annual CMA Awards, including female vocalist of the year, new artist of the year and music video of the year (for her video for “I’m Not Pretty”). The 58th annual CMA Awards are slated for Nov. 20 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena and will air on ABC.
General tickets for Moroney’s Am I Okay? Tour go on sale Friday, Sept. 13, at 10 a.m. local time on her website.
See the full dates for Moroney’s Am I Okay? Tour below:
Country Music Hall of Famers Brooks & Dunn are set to bring their high-octane live show and stacked arsenal of hit songs to arenas in Texas, North Carolina, Illinois and more in 2025, as they have revealed the dozen-concert initial slate of shows for their Neon Moon Tour. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and […]
Venues across the nation can now show off their independent status. On Tuesday (Sept. 10), the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) announced the launch of “Live Independent,” a first-of-its-kind certification program for independent venues, promoters and festivals nationwide.
The new initiative, supported by event discovery platform Bandsintown, is aimed at strengthening and unifying the live entertainment community by “offering a seal of certification that recognizes excellence and commitment to the independent ethos,” according to NIVA.
Certified venues will receive physical posters, stickers and decals of the Live Independent seal to display, along with virtual seals and assets for websites, marketing materials and social media. Partnerships with ticketing companies will also enable the Live Independent seal to be displayed on event tickets.
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The Live Independent program will include a dedicated website serving as a hub of information and emphasizing the importance of supporting certified Live Independent venues and events. Fans can use the site’s search feature to verify if their favorite venue is certified independent and find shows at certified stages.
“This certification is a testament to the power of independent stages as sanctuaries for human connection. In an era dominated by publicly-traded live entertainment conglomerates, these venues and festivals are the final strongholds of authenticity, where the heart of live performance beats strongest,” said NIVA executive director Stephen Parker in a statement. “When fans and artists choose independent stages, they’re investing in the soul of their community. Live Independent is our collective promise — to the artists, to the fans, and to the communities that cherish these spaces — that the spirit of independent venues will not only endure but will continue to flourish.”
As a partner for the program, Bandsintown is committed to educating fans about what Live Independent means and promoting independent venues through dedicated placements on the Bandsintown app and at Bandsintown.com. Every NIVA-member independent venue will have the Live Independent seal on its Bandsintown venue page while a map of Live Independent-certified venues will be featured on Bandsintown’s homepage to help fans locate and support these independent entities.
“Bandsintown’s ethos is independent at the core, serving artists since day one of their journey,” added Bandsintown co-founder/managing partner Fabrice Sergent. “Independent venues shed light on those artists early in their career and we’re proud to work alongside NIVA to help them find the audience they deserve.”
To become certified, venues, festivals and promoters must demonstrate a mission centered around delivering music, comedy and performance to audiences; maintain fair pay practices for all artists, performers and creators; be independent from multinational conglomerate or publicly traded company ownership or exclusive operation; show support for a transparent, competitive marketplace and a diverse, inclusive community; and be a NIVA member. NIVA members will not pay additional fees to join the program.
More information on the Live Independent certification program, including details on how to apply and the specific benefits of certification, can be found here.
Meow Wolf, the arts and entertainment company known for its fantastical immersive installations, will open its newest location in Houston’s Fifth Ward neighborhood on Oct. 31.
News of the Halloween opening comes alongside the reveal of the theme for the venue: Radio Tave, an explorable radio station that will transmit visitors to, a press release says, “unexpected frequencies.” A play off of “radio wave,” the installation is set in a radio station in an alternative dimension and thus has a special focus on sound. Radio Tave will be made up of dozens of rooms designed by more than 100 artists, more than half of whom are based in Texas.
“Music and sound play an even bigger role in this exhibition than before,” Meow Wolf’s senior creative producer Susie Cowan tells Billboard. “We’ve got some incredible interactives that transform how people experience sound — things you can play with and explore that are just as fun to listen to as they are to look at. It’s a true audiovisual feast — it’s vibrant, one-of-a-kind and totally captivating.”
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Cowan adds that the space plans to “host musical performances and special events, just like what you’ve seen in our Denver and Santa Fe exhibitions” with programming announcements forthcoming. (The upcoming music calendars at the Denver and Santa Fe spaces include bands and DJs including The Polyphonic Spree and Tycho.)
Meow Wolf Houston
Tarick Foteh | Courtesy of Meow Wolf
Meow Wolf Houston marks the fifth Meow Wolf location in the U.S. and the second in Texas; its Dallas/Fort Worth installation opened in July 2023. The original Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, N.M., opened in 2016, with subsequent expansions to Denver, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, where an installation inside a movie theater is set to open in 2026. Each installation has a theme, with visitors working to unravel the storyline and mystery built into the design of each venue.
These concepts each typically take two to four years to create, with artists, storytellers, engineers and more contributing to each one. “For Radio Tave specifically,” Cowan says, “we wanted to create something that expanded the worlds we’ve built in Dallas with The Real Unreal and Santa Fe with House of Eternal Return. Starting with the idea of a community radio station, we used sound — music, audio, voice and sonic energy — as the central theme, driving the story and shaping the participant’s experience.”
Tickets for Radio Tave open to the general public on Oct. 1, with season pass holders and email subscribers able to get earlier pre-sale tickets later this month.
Meow Wolf Houston
Tarick Foteh/Courtesy of Meow Wolf
The space will also feature Cowboix Hevvven, a honky-tonk inspired working bar and restaurant with a jukebox offering 30 licensed songs by Texas artists. The Texas influence runs deep in the project, with many Texans working on the project and the team fabricating a fictional small East Texas town as the setting for the radio station.
“On top of that,’ says Cowan, “we’ve got 35 collaborating artists from Texas who have contributed to their own unique spaces, drawing inspiration from their roots, plus an additional 10 Houston artists who are part of our Art Team Task Force.” The space will also feature a plethora of Houston-specific Easter eggs for guests to discover.
“Houston is such a cultural hub, and we were immediately drawn to its vibrant complexity and rich artistic scene,” adds Cowan. “The city’s deep love for art really aligns with what Meow Wolf is all about — there’s creativity everywhere you look. We’re always inspired by the places we go, but working with Texas artists has been something special.”
Scalpers hoping to earn a big payout flipping Chappell Roan tickets likely just watched their profits vanish after the singer announced she was shutting down resellers charging outrageous markups for her Oct. 1 show in Franklin, Tenn.
The news was greeted with praise by fans who have watched the “Good Luck, Babe!” singer’s star rise to new heights this summer — as well as by questions from ticket buyers wondering how the singer was able to call a mulligan on tickets she’d already sold to ensure actual fans get to attend her show instead.
The answer isn’t totally clear — Roan’s reps did not respond to Billboard‘s requests for comment — but there’s enough information already available about the Franklin show to tell part of the story. It’s also worth noting that Roan isn’t the first artist to deal with scalpers trying to mark up fan-friendly $30 lawn tickets to as high as $900; in years past, major artists like Ed Sheeran and Eric Church, among others, have utilized the same strategy. And while not a perfect system, it’s still an impactful way to ensure that more fans have access to affordable tickets.
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In many ways, for a breakthrough artist like Roan, there are worse problems to have. Over the last year, thanks to the success of her 2023 album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, her work as a supporting act on Olivia Rodrigo‘s Guts World Tour and her breakout performances this summer at Lollapalooza and Coachella, Roan, as some say in music business parlance, is the blowing the f— up. Now, as with any big star, scalpers are taking advantage.
In one less extensive example of this, tickets for Roan’s Oct. 2 show at Walmart Amphitheatre near Rogers, Ark., were originally priced between $30 and $80 when they went on sale in June. Now, they’re selling for $300 to $1,200 on StubHub and other secondary sites — though in that case, only a couple dozen tickets, out of 11,000 total capacity, appear to be listed on StubHub.
But in Franklin, there were dozens, maybe hundreds, more resale tickets on sale for the show at the 7,500-capacity FirstBank Amphitheater. Located just 20 miles south of Nashville, Franklin is a much bigger music market than Rogers, and the price gouging for tickets apparently prompted someone from her team to work with reps from Ticketmaster to find out who is scalping those tickets and take them away from those responsible.
Catching scalpers on Ticketmaster, especially after a sale has been made, isn’t particularly complicated. While there are laws governing ticket ownership and rights, in most cases ticketing companies treat tickets like revocable licenses, meaning they have the right to disable tickets that a fan purchased and refund them their money if they are caught violating Ticketmaster’s terms of service.
For example, many scalpers will try to buy up as many tickets as possible using multiple credit cards. That’s a violation of Ticketmaster’s “limit per order” policy, which limits the number of tickets that can be purchased per order based on the event and demand for tickets.
Ticketmaster prohibits users from using multiple IP addresses or email addresses when buying tickets, so if someone successfully completed a purchase of a Chappell Roan ticket but was later found to have used multiple email addresses or a VPN to hide their IP addresses, that could be grounds for their tickets to be canceled and refunded. It wouldn’t take long for a couple of Ticketmaster executives to comb through the transactions for a 15,000-capacity show and find purchases tied to bots with no IP addresses, or large purchases from newly-created accounts linked to free email services.
Once those transactions are identified, most are investigated and the purchases canceled. In Roan’s case, the canceled tickets were pooled and sold via lottery to fans who had to register in advance for a shot at buying them. Though it’s unclear how many tickets were canceled and reissued to fans, it’s unlikely that more than a few hundred tickets were involved.
While this practice is popular with fans and punishes amateur scalpers, there is an argument to be made that, in some cases, it enriches professional scalpers who are better at avoiding detection by reducing the number of tickets available on resale sites and in turn driving up the price for those tickets that aren’t taken down.
But the effort isn’t specifically aimed at eliminating all ticket scalping. Instead, it’s about randomly disrupting the predatory practices of scalpers targeting vulnerable shows by rising artists like Roan who don’t want to charge fans hundreds of dollars to see their concerts. And by focusing on high-margin shows where scalpers are set to make big paydays, artists like Roan really can impact the pocketbooks of professional ticket resellers and help keep more of their tickets affordable for fans.
Heart‘s first tour in five years is back on! Following the postponement of sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson’s North American shows this summer due to the former’s recent cancer scare, the rock band has announced plans to resume their Royal Flush Tour with a slew of new dates scheduled for 2025. Sharing an animated video […]
Fans in North America are going to have to wait a little bit longer to say goodbye to Childish Gambino. On Monday (Sept. 9), Donald Glover announced that he’s pushing back the remainder of his North American farewell tour dates in order to prioritize his wellbeing. “hey everyone,” he tweeted. “unfortunately i have to postpone […]
In late September, Oasis announced an unlikely reunion after a 15-year hiatus. Brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher shared an announcement that they would play a string of stadium dates in the U.K. and Ireland in 2025 at London’s Wembley Stadium, Manchester’s Heaton Park and beyond.
First formed in 1991 in their native Manchester, the brothers eventually split in 2009 following a backstage altercation in Paris. Both enjoyed successful solo outings since then, amassing a combined 10 No. 1 albums between them in the U.K. (six for Liam, four for Noel).
The announcement arrived hot on the heels of anniversary reissues of their first two records, 1994’s Definitely Maybe and 1995 follow-up (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?. It conjures up sheer excitement and plenty of questions; below, Billboard runs through the biggest talking points to keep a beady eye on.
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Ticket Sale Furor
Demand was high for the dates announced to take place next July and August. A statement from the band said that over 10 million fans from 158 countries were attempting to purchase tickets on the initial general sale date (Aug. 31). All dates are completely sold out.
However, there has been considerable blowback to the sale strategy and a particular ire towards Ticketmaster. After a long wait – queue numbers reached above 500,000 for a single date – some fans were dismayed by Ticketmaster’s use of the “in-demand” dynamic ticket pricing model for tickets. The face value of certain tickets rose from £135 to over £350, forcing fans to make quick, expensive decisions on how much they could afford to buy for tickets. There has been anger that the demand may have inflated the price of tickets.
The band have since responded claiming that they “at no time had any awareness that dynamic pricing was going to be used” in the sale process. They have since announced two new dates for Wembley Stadium on Sept. 27-28, 2025 and that the ticket sale process will be an “invitation only ballot” for fans who did not land tickets the first time around.
The story is unlikely to end there. The U.K. government has promised an investigation into the dynamic pricing model and the U.K.’s Competition and Market Authority is undertaking an “urgent review.” Ticketmaster has yet to make a statement regarding the on-sale process.
All Around The World
Fans outside of the U.K. are clamouring for their opportunity to see the band perform live and it appears they will get their wish. Upon initial announcement, the band said they had plans to take Oasis Live ‘25 to continents outside of Europe following the conclusion of their initial run. A billboard taken out by Amazon Music in New York City’s Times Square appears to be teasing a run of U.S. dates in the near future.
Battle of the Band
Oasis’ lineup has been changeable since their formation in 1991 with an array of members coming and going. We know for certain that Noel and Liam will be performing, but who will join them?
The band’s original rhythm guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs – who battled cancer in recent years – is set to be included, as well as his eventual replacement Gem Archer. The latter performed as a member of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds in recent years.
Alan White, the band’s drummer between 1995 and 2004, has teased his involvement on his social media profiles. The group’s original drummer Tony McCarroll has claimed that he is unlikely to be involved. He told MailOnline that while he was “happy” about the news, neither brother had reached out and that “I’m not holding my breath.” Time will tell if Andy Bell, bassist between 1999 and their eventual breakup in 2009, will be involved. Bell has songwriting credits on each of Oasis’ last three albums.
“Today Is Going To Be the Day…”
But why are the pipes of peace playing now? A reunion has been discussed extensively by both brothers (and the press) throughout their solo careers, with Liam being the keener of the pair. In 2023, Noel said that his team “should call mine” and get the reunion done.
There are massive commercial opportunities for both the duo. They’re expected to clear £50 million each after tax for the initial run of shows, and they’ve partnered with Levi’s, Amazon and Urban Outfitters on a new merchandise run. Sales and streams of their back catalog, namely debut album Definitely Maybe, are rising rapidly.
It must have proved a timely opportunity to get Noel on board. He and Sara McDonald, whom he married in 2011, filed for divorce in Jan. 2023. He’s also discussed next year being the earliest opportunity for him to consider selling the publishing rights to his back catalog. The master rights to the band’s material (including hits like “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Look Back In Anger”) are set to revert back to him in 2025.
New Album?
The Gallaghers putting animosity aside and getting back in the studio may seem unlikely, but stranger things have happened. Fans have noted that Liam had been sharing cryptic clues regarding the band’s reunion for months on his X profile. In July, one fan asked what he was doing on that day with Liam replying “photo shoot,” now widely believed to be the comeback’s official photography shoot with brother Noel.
Back in April, another hopeful asked when the recording of a new Oasis album would begin. His response? “November.” Perhaps all the clues have been hiding in plain sight….
Oak View Group is set to take over hospitality at four OCESA venues in Mexico City, it was announced Monday (Sept. 9).
OCESA, one of the leading live entertainment companies in Mexico, said that Oak View Group’s OVG Hospitality has been selected to “redefine the culinary and hospitality experiences” at Estadio GNP Seguros, Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Centro Citibanamex and Palacio de los Deportes.
The partnership will see OVG Hospitality upgrade experiences at concerts, sporting events and business gatherings by introducing premium services, innovative technologies and a broader range of menu options.
“By merging OCESA’s unmatched expertise in hosting world-class events with OVG Hospitality’s leadership in premium hospitality, we are poised to elevate the fan experience across Mexico, starting with these iconic venues,” said Chris Granger, president of OVG Hospitality’s parent company OVG360, in a statement. “This partnership marks a pivotal expansion of Oak View Group’s presence into Latin America, and we’re particularly excited and humbled to partner with OCESA. As hard-working operators ourselves, we appreciate their entrepreneurial spirit, their bold thinking, and their commitment to music fans across the country.”
As the exclusive food and beverage provider, OVG Hospitality will integrate its industry-leading services across OCESA’s various venues, partnering with local, regional and national vendors to craft menu items that reflect Mexico’s rich culinary heritage. Plans include enhancing the premium experience in suites and clubs, introducing new menu selections and market concepts throughout the year, and integrating technology to streamline ordering and payment processes to reduce wait times.
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While the initial roll out will include nly the four Mexico City venues, the partnership is expected to expand to additional venues starting in January. Additionally, OVG Hospitality will help OCESA introduce new premium spaces and corporate hospitality options at select locations.
OCESA is renowned for promoting over 3,000 events annually, drawing nearly six million attendees across Mexico. Its portfolio of venues includes the recently remodeled 65,000-seat Estadio GNP Seguros; the expansive Centro Citibanamex, a convention center with two million square feet of meeting and exhibition space; and a diverse collection of multi-use venues, theaters, arenas, festival grounds and stadiums.
It was not a drill Friday night (Sept. 6) in Brooklyn. Usher-mania had arrived. After having serenaded the nation for two-and-a-half-years with the hottest Las Vegas residency in the land, and readjusting his crown at the Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show, the R&B icon brought his Ursher-issance to the Barclays Center with a show-stopping blitz that proves he’s operating at a new prime.
For the thousands of fans who packed out the first of four sold-out shows as part of his Past Present Future tour, the night was special for several reasons. For some, it was a chance to scratch one larger-than-life concert off their bucket list (“I never got to see Michael Jackson live, but I’ve seen Beyoncé and now Usher,” said one concert-goer). For others, it was the opportunity to relive the headline-making My Way the Vegas Residency experience (“We saw him in Vegas, too,” gushed another excited fan). But the number one objective for everyone on this night (including this writer) was simple: “Gonna boogie, tonight…”
The aptly titled tour, which launched in August with two sold-out performances in Washington, D.C., lived up its namesake as the king of R&B left the borough known to keep it thorough in a warm blanket of nostalgic and euphoric bliss. Much of the two-hour show felt less like a concert and more of a celebration of the man whose music has soundtracked lives, redefined a genre, and shifted the pop-culture landscape over the last 30 years. But age is furthest from the mind when watching the singer, especially as his liquid movements evokes the same “how’s he still performing at this level” wonderment that stalks LeBron James. Whether pop-locking, leaping, or standing next to a video of his younger self, the timelessness of Ursher did indeed writ large over the course of the night.
At around 9:30 p.m., the singer popped up on stage, commanding court with the kind of spellbinding aura that Michael Jackson exemplified during his fan-faint-outs era, and opened with “Coming Home,” the title track from his latest chart-topping outing. He followed that up with “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home),” which quickly summoned ecstatic gasps from the audience mid “I just wanna get your attention…” Like that, the sold-out audience went down memory lane.
After “1993” appeared on the screen, along with a digitally-rendered teenage version of the singer, he danced along to a medley of his earlier records — “Call Me a Mack,” which originally appeared on the 1993 Poetic Justice soundtrack, “Think of You” and “Can U Get With It.” Soon after, the “You Make Me Wanna” singer time-shifted through the decades, as the capacity-crowd, decked in their flyest and finest, played the role of back-up singers — and, judging by the swaying bodies in the aisles and rows, back-up dancers, too. Spreading love is the Brooklyn way, after all. The Grammy award-winning showman floated on that cloud of love through the night, cascading through a plethora of his genre-defying hits that kept those aisles and rows rocking in a rhythmic trance. He traveled to 1997, performing “My Way” and “You Make Me Wanna” to resounding shrieks before loading up tunes from the 2000s with “U Remind Me” and “U Don’t Have To Call.”
By the time he got to his diamond-certified magnum opus, Confessions — an album that celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, after spawning four No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100 chart — it was sheer pandemonium. There was “Caught Up,” followed by some of “Yeah!” before the song was abruptly interrupted by a “system malfunction” alert on the screen. But ever the consummate performer, Usher kept the show rolling by flipping the chronological script, hitting shuffle, and pulling out the roller skates for “Don’t Waste My Time” and “Love in this Club.”
As concupiscent shrills showered him through “Nice & Slow,” he operated with the eros of the moment — stripping down to a white tank top, jeans and his signature “U” diamond pendant — and saucily mime-humped the mic stand after having already turned up the heat with “Lovers and Friends.” If that wasn’t enough, the rapt audience melted at the knees once his sterling silver vocals belted out that well-known falsetto to “Superstar.”
And there were a number of other superstars in the house, as well. After prowling through the audience while singing “There Goes My Baby,” he spotted and serenaded celebrities Taraji P. Henson (“You starting the celebration of your birthday early,” he beamed), Victoria Monet, who danced along with the singer to “On My Mama,” and rapper Yung Miami. Not long after, he brought out Fat Joe and Ja Rule, who also won the crowd over with their string of classics, including “What’s Luv” and “Put it On Me.”
As the night wound down, with energy levels depleted following run-throughs of “OMG” “There Goes My Baby,” and “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love” among others, Ursh, now wearing a glittering blue leather Vanson motorcycle jacket, sent the capacity-sized arena into a tizzy when he finally unleashed “Yeah!” without interruption. “I was able to turn Barclays into the house of Usher,” he said. A fitting way to close out a hit-filled spectacle that stamped an emphatic “Watch this” for those still wondering “how’s he still performing at this level?”
But that’s not all, here are the seven best moments from night one of Usher’s four-night rendezvous in Brooklyn.
Unmatched Performer
