Expect a lot of special guests and performances at Justin Bieber’s concert at Madison Square Garden on August 31. The pop sensation has reportedly invited Jaden Smith, Will Smith’s son, to perform at the show after appearing in Justin’s video for ‘Never Say Never’. A source said “Special security arrangements are being made for Jaden, who will appear onstage, and his family, including Will, to be in the audience for the concert.” Sources also say that R&B singer Usher will also be there, along with Sean Kingston, Jessica Jarrell and other celebrity surprise performers. If you’re wondering why the MSG show is so special, it’s being filmed for Justin’s 3D movie.
22-year old Charles Haddon of the band Ou Est Le Swimming Pool committed suicide last Friday night after he jumped off a telecommunications mast and into a parking lot at the Pukkelpop festival in Belgium. This comes in the same week that a man jumped to his death at a Swell Season concert. This is unbelievably awful and tragic. I can’t even begin to think about the trauma that the people who had to witness the event may have. My thoughts go out to the family and friends of Charles and to the people who saw the tragedy. May Charles rest in peace.
Weezer has announced plans for a retro tour where the band will spend two nights in each city. The first night, they will play the entire ‘Blue’ album, and the second night, they will play the whole ‘Pinkerton’ album. Lead singer Rivers Cuomo said “We’re just running it by promoters right now to see if there’s sufficient interest in the markets to do something like that, and if they’re on board, it’s gonna happen. The fan response has been incredible so far for the idea. And, if they want to, they can contact their local promoter and tell them to make it happen.” I’ll be shocked if this doesn’t go down.
Justin Bieber is turning out to be one very controversial 16-year old. Protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church made their disdain for the pop singer known with their presence outside his concert in Kansas City, Missouri. That in turn made many parents make their disdain for the protesters known as well. An angry mother screamed at the protesters “He has not done anything wrong. He’s here to entertain the public, I guess just like she’s here to entertain the public. He has not done anything wrong. These are children …these are children… my children can read, my children can see, my children can see that she’s got signs that say ‘God hates America!’”
The new queen of Disney TV, Selena Gomez, has reportedly lost her voice and subsequently has had to cancel a few of her concerts. Fans of the actress/singer in Delaware and Ohio who were hoping to see Selena live were disappointed to find out that she won’t be able to perform at their state fairs due to some strained vocal chords. Unfortunately for the fans in Delaware, arrangements could not be made to reschedule and will instead be offered refunds and a free concert from AllStar Weekend. Those in Ohio were luckier as the state fair officials were able to reschedule the show for November. Get well soon Selena!
Smashing Pumpkins lead singer Billy Corgan was performing with the band in Tampa Bay, Florida over the weekend when he lost consciousness and passed out right in the middle of a song. The rock star has since gone on to his Twitter to talk about the events saying “And for those that saw me fall last night during Bullet, that wasn’t a stage move or clumsiness, that was me blacking out and wiping out. I have no memory of falling against the drum riser and my guitar cabinet, but I can tell you I’ve got quite a good bruise + am moving slow.” I hope he got checked out to make sure that everything is fine.
Since Christina Aguilera’s album ‘Bionic’ became a certified flop, sources are saying that her record label RCA is in rescue mode. The powerhouse singer’s album barely sold 200,000 copies in its first 5 weeks of release and even made UK history for being the lowest selling album to make it to the number 1 spot in 8 years. The pop star also had to cancel her tour. Insiders say that RCA “has done its part, but she’s headstrong. There have been candid conversations between her and the label about connectivity, but it doesn’t seem that she’s been open to that dialogue.” However, a rep for RCA and Christina’s manager Irving Azoff deny that this is going on.
Despite being injured in a very scary stage mishap during her concert in Nurnberg, Germany last Thursday, the hardcore rock star otherwise known as Pink will not be letting a trip to the emergency room stop her from doing her thing, as the singer has chosen to forge ahead with her European tour as scheduled. Pink went on Twitter to say “okay. full steam ahead people.no pain, no gain. or is it no brain, no pain? either way, i will be on that stage, even if i have to crawl:) and a HUMONGOUS thank you to everyone who sent their love and concern, nikki is also doing fine. i will buy her an ice cream later.”
Ne-Yo has been slapped with a lawsuit from the promoters of his cancelled 2008 New Year’s Eve concert in Washington State. The promoter claims that not only was he not refunded the money for the cancelled gig by the R&B singer’s booking agent, but he also has a damaged reputation. The lawsuit seeks $1 million in damages, to refund the $95,000 deposit and the rest to clean up his rep. Why did Ne-Yo cancel in the first place? If he has a decent excuse, he may walk away with a win in this court and for the promoter to just have his ruined reputation.
Good news for U2 fans! Bono is feeling better and will come back on stage in August to continue the European tour , only 3 months after being hospitalized for an operation on his back. The band was forced to delay the North American tour and give up the Glastonbury performance. Now that Bono is feeling better, the band will hold their first concert of this tour, in Torino, Italy, in August. Also the Irish guys reprogrammed a few concerts from the North American tour, and the first concert will take place in Denver in next year’s May.
Drake’s upcoming Central Park concert which was originally planned for July 16th as part of the Good Morning America concert series has been cancelled. City officials claim that the show’s organizers were unable to provide the amount of security needed by the police. If you recall, the same thing happened for the singer/rapper’s proposed June 10th concert at South Street Seaport after 25,000 fans showed up. Drake is just too popular for his own good. I just feel sorry for all those fans who are missing yet another show. But then again, safety is a huge issue that has to be dealt with properly.
Rage Against the Machine lead singer Zack De La Rocha is planning a series of concerts called the Sound Strike campaign to protest Arizona’s state immigration laws. The rock star explains “In the coming weeks we are going to be organizing a series of concerts that are respectful of the nature of the boycott in its attempts to isolate the Arizona government but not isolate the people, and especially the organizations that are fighting this on the ground. Many of us have begun to plan concerts that include bands that have signed on the Sound Strike, and make tickets available so that people within Arizona can come and see these concerts as they roll out.” Participants include Maroon 5, My Morning Jacket, Ben Harper and Pitbull who have all agreed to boycott the state until the law is replaced.
Snoop Dogg’s reps are saying that the rapper was shocked after he found out that he was dropped from the Parkpop festival in The Netherlands. The festival’s organizers said that they were looking for an act that would match the open and friendly character of the concert and apparently, Snoop didn’t cut it. The rapper’s camp is saying that he has played these gigs many times before and they’re shocked that he got banned. His manager wrote in a statement “Snoop Dogg is astonished by the decision of the Mayor of The Hague, a town in the south of Holland, to not allow him to perform at the free festival, Parkpop. There’s been much speculation that, given the enormous response by Snoop’s fans to the free festival, the local authorities would not be able to provide sufficient security. Mojo, the largest concert promoter in Holland says, ‘We have never had any issues with Snoop, who has played magnificent shows at many of the festivals we promote such as Lowlands, North Sea Jazz and at several other promoted shows by Mojo.’ Snoop is a mainstay at music festivals all over the world and has performed at all of these without incident.”
Even though they were on the verge of breaking up some time ago, it seems that the tour the guys from Aerosmith have planned is still on the roll and in addition to their European dates, the band is planning a few American shows as well. This is what their still acting front man, Steven Tyler, had to say on the matter: “We’re gonna rock you into the middle of next week!’’ Interesting… Aerosmith concerts in the middle of the week… some might take a dim view of that, but hey, every lame-ass rock band concerts in the week-end. Aerosmith are just being their special selves.
It’s going to be just a little show in little casino Mississippi, but who’s to say he won’t be going on tour too? After all, if Bret Michaels can do a show, why not 5 or 6 or 10? However, his doctor doesn’t really consider that Bret Michaels is truly ready to get back on stage and this is what he said about the show: “Bret will be slower on stage … not a lot of dancing and will take it easy.” Surely everyone will be happy to see the Poison singer back on stage and his managers might just get a sound night of sleep knowing it as well. It’s the first step to a full recovery.
Jack White is auctioning off a red and white custom made marimba used in the White Stripes’ 2005 Get Behind Me Satan tour. All proceeds will benefit flood victims in his current hometown of Nashville. The instrument has been kept in a case since 2006 and it’s ready to be bid on at eBay. I say grab the chance to get a piece of the band’s music history and help out a great cause. I wonder how the auction will go and how high the marimba will go for. If that was one of Jack’s guitars I’m pretty sure it would go pretty high.
Though Maroon 5s third album isnt set to be released until September, the band is already getting ready for a North American tour to celebrate the release. That record better be good! I heard that they locked themselves in a mountain in Switzerland for months working on their new music. The tour kicks off with a concert in Saratoga Springs, New York on July 30 and will wrap up on August 29 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. More tour dates are still being organized. Joining Maroon 5 on tour will be a rotating set of opening acts that include Owl City, Guster, Kris Allen, VV Brown and Ry Cuming.
Tik Tok star Ke$ha has announced she will perform at a benefit concert in her hometown of Nashville next month following the recent floods.
The 23-year-old is from Nashville herself and will sing at the special flood benefit concert on June 16, at the Limelight.
She said: “I’m thrilled to announce that I will be playing a show to help benefit Nashville, my hometown. One hundred per cent of the profits from ticket sales will go to help the victims of these devastating floods.
“Nashville helped shape me as an artist and as a person and my love for this city is beyond words.
“I will continue to do anything I can to help rebuild this city and support the families and animals who have been affected by this tragedy.”
Chris Brown disappointed what little fans he had left by losing his cool with a radio DJ in Richmond this past weekend. The DJ played back the very short interview for fans, explain that before he could even ask the R&B singer a question, Chris started screaming about not getting enough airplay. The DJ said Chris Brown was going to come in today to do an interview to promote his concert But before we could even get into the interview, homeboy starts yelling at me, wondering why we don’t play his records. And I said, Mr Chris Brown you just don’t have any hits and that’s just the truth. You don’t have any hits right now.’ And from there the whole interview just goes south. Chris was heard screaming All I’m saying is that you don’t play my s**t. What number is it (my song) at? It don’t matter. Why am I even doing this interview? I ain’t doing this s**t. Its been said that the station was inundated with calls from Jive with each person apologizing for Chris behavior.
Akon has revealed that Lady Gaga is travelling with a mini recording studio during the princess of pops Monsters Ball tour and shes already come up with some new music for her album. The hip hop singer said She records while she’s on the road. I’m flying out to Europe to work on some new records with her. GaGa’s just like me. She has a tour bus with a studio in it. Some of the songs I’ve heard are going to be crazy. She’s getting bigger and better. All I’m doing at the end of the day is listening to the tracks GaGa has written and approving them for her album. She has producers that she works with outside of myself and they are coming up with some incredible records. But the beauty of it is she knows exactly what she wants. So it just makes it easier for me.
Christina Aguilera will be going on tour around the world, starting with the US in July to promoter her newest album Bionic, which will come out in June. While I would love to see her hit the stage again I have a bad feeling about this. I think shes going to have some difficulties filling large venues. Her new song hasnt exploded on the radio or the iTunes chart yet. And the tour comes very soon after the albums release that I doubt how much into it people will be. But if she keeps ticket prices reasonable and delivers her hits along with new stuff, then I think the tour could do well.
Rihanna is apparently learning how to rock out on the drums from former Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker. According to People, the 22-year old Barbadian singer, who spent some time with a drum set in her video for Rude Boy, is learning how to play so she can perform live on her upcoming tour of Europe. As for how Rihannas lessons are doing, Travis seems to be impressed with her work as he went on his Twitter to say She JAMS!!!!! Watch out for her!! It should definitely prove to be a treat for anyone who would be catching Rihanna in concert.
Ke$ha was in Australia recently for a couple of performances. While in Sydney, the trashy pop star responded to the feedback that shes been receiving on her album and shared what influenced her latest hit. According to the Daily Telegraph, the 23-year old singer said A fun party record like Tik Tok isnt something to be dissected and picked apart. Men have been doing this for years. One of my biggest influences is Beastie Boys Licensed To Ill album. But unlike the Beastie Boys, I doubt that Ke$ha will become as relevant especially with her verbal diarrhea against Britney Spears and Justin Bieber.
Up and coming singer Jason Derulo, who just finished a stint on tour with Lady Gaga, is on his way into the studio to work with none other than the Queen of Pop herself, Madonna! The R&B singer said Lady Gaga’s as awesome offstage as she is on stage. She actually said something which was really, really cool. She looked me in my eyes and said, Jason, I’ve worked with a lot of talented people, I’ve seen a lot of talented people, but you’re special. You’re star. That meant a lot coming from her. I’m about to work with Madonna, and Ive been watching her for years. I would love to be a part of another reinvention. Shes been able to reinvent herself time and time again. Ill probably be part of that. I cant wait to hear what they come up with.
Four people were badly injured at the Maharaja Organization in Sri Lanka when protesters hurled rocks at the building of the sponsor for Akons upcoming concert. Religious locals have taken offense to the R&B singers video Sexy Chick which features groups of half naked women dancing at a pool party in front of a Buddha statue. Almost 200 protesters showed up outside the office holding posters and then taking a violent turn by smashing windows and destroying parked cars. The four injured network employees received immediate medical attention while police took several protesters into custody. However, it is unclear if they will face any charges.
Lady Gaga North American Tour Dates
Check for upcoming tour dates below, soon in your town
June 28 – Montreal, QC at Bell Centre
July 1 – Boston, MA at TD Garden
July 4 – Atlantic City, NJ at Boardwalk Hall
July 6- New York, NY at Madison Square Garden
July 11 – Toronto, ON at Air Canada Centre
July 14 – Cleveland, OH at Quicken Loans Arena
July 15 – Indianapolis, IN at Conseco Fieldhouse
July 17 – St. Louis, MO at Scottrade Center
July 20 – Oklahoma City, OK at Ford Center
July 22 – Dallas, TX at American Airlines Center
July 25 – Houston, TX at Toyota Center
July 28 – Denver, CO at Pepsi Center
July 31 – Phoenix, AZ at US Airways Center
August 3 – Kansas City, MO at Sprint Center
August 11 – Los Angeles, CA at Staples Center
August 13 – Las Vegas, NV at MGM Grand
August 16 – San Jose, CA at HP Pavilion
August 19 – Portland, OR at Rose Garden
August 21 – Tacoma, WA at Tacoma Dome
August 23 – Vancouver, BC at General Motors Place
August 26 – Edmonton, AB at Rexall Place
August 30 – St. Paul, MN at Xcel Energy Center
September 1 – Milwaukee, WI at Bradley Center
September 4 – Detroit, MI at The Palace of Auburn Hills
September 5 – Pittsburgh, PA at Consol Energy Center
September 7 – Washington, DC at Verizon Center
September 8 – Charlottesville, VA at John Paul Jones Arena
September 14 – Philadelphia, PA at Wachovia Center
September 16 – Hartford, CT at XL Center
September 18 – Charlotte, NC at Time Warner Cable Arena
September 19 – Raleigh, NC at RBC Center
He shouldve definitely stood away from those hardcore ice-creams. It seems that R. Kellys upcoming tour in Europe has been postponed due to the fact that the singer is having some throat problems and his doctors have definitely prohibited him to do any singing. This is what R. Kelly said for all of those disappointed European fans: “I owe it to my fans to give them the best shows possible and right now my voice isn’t up to the job.” It would be very dangerous for R. Kelly to lip-synch in that condition indeed…. who knows, people might actually catch on. So even though there is much heartbreak, this was the right call and theres no way around it.
I was really upset to find out last year that Beastie Boys rapper Adam MCA Yauch was diagnosed with salivary gland tumor but Im happy to report that he is now on his way to making a full recovery. Now that hes well, the band is ready to start working on their new album Hot Sauce Committee, Part 1, which was postponed indefinitely after Adams diagnosis. Adam said I feel better. It was touch and go there for a while, but I am finally getting my energy back. It was really disappointing to have to hold the record and postpone the tour, but doctors orders. We may or may not [release the album] depending on how my health is come September. We want to but we have to play it by ear We finished the record over a year ago, so we want to take a look at it and re-evaluate and make sure it is what we want to put out there and that we are still happy with it. I dont think we will change it up too much.
Teen heartthrobs The Jonas Brothers are performing a free concert – for a church that helped launch their career.
The band will play the gig in Orange County in southern California on April 4 at 10am.
The boys are helping to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Saddleback Church and will perform at Angel Stadium in Anaheim as part of the church’s special birthday celebration.
A church member exclusively told RadarOnline.com: “They used to perform here when they were just getting started, and of course they were fantastic. We’ve had all sorts of great musicians play on our stage, even Michael Jackson. He used to come by way back in the Thriller days.”
Some time ago, the stars of Glee went on Twitter to relay news that they would be going out on tour. Its been a while since any more details came out regarding it but I finally have them for you. The actors and singers of the hit show will be making stops in four cities for a series of shows to perform some of their biggest hits like Dont Stop Believin and Somebody to Love. The cast will stop in Phoenix, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. The list of dates is as follows: Phoenix on May 18, Los Angeles on May 20 and 21, Chicago on May 25 and 26 and New York on May 28 and 29.
