Search Results for: arenas

A month and a half after their eighth studio album, 21st Century Breakdown, is released, Green Day will hit the road for their first tour in three years, according to the band’s reps. The North American trek kicks off July 3rd in Seattle and heads to Canada. The 38-date journey wraps August 25th in Los Angeles. The band hasn’t announced any venues yet, but when Rolling Stone first listened to Breakdown, we reported the band was looking to book indoor arenas rather than amphitheatres. Rolling Stone’s David Fricke reported from one of the band’s warm-up gigs in California last week,… Read more »

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. —  Elton John and Billy Joel’s latest tour kicked off to a packed house on Monday, operating under the simple business model: maximized reward, exceedingly minimized risk. The three-plus-hour event was steeped in hits and nostalgia. The youngest song was the title track from Joel’s last pop album, 1993’s “River of Dreams.” “Speaking of unemployment, we’re just happy you’re keeping us in business. We’re happy to have a job,” Joel said after a timely spin through “Allentown,” Joel’s 1982 ballad of economic gloom. Joel’s words rang true, but there wasn’t much worry about that: They last toured together… Read more »

The Live Nation Ticketmaster merger was brought before the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights yesterday, with the Chicago music scene at the epicenter of testimony both for and against the merger. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the Windy City was used as an example of how the merger wouldn’t violate antitrust laws, with Live Nation chief executive Michael Rapino citing that his company only put on 16 percent of the concerts in Chicago, compared to the 29 percent staged by Chicago-based concert company Jam Productions. However, Jam’s Jerry Mickelson, testifying against the merger, told the subcommittee that… Read more »

NASHVILLE —  Watch Nathan Followill breeze into his local Nashville watering hole, and it’s obvious that he’s well known and well liked by the crew at McCabe’s Pub. Clad in sweats and a Yankees cap, the Kings of Leon drummer comes off more as cool local guy than international rock star Nothing in this manner indicates that his Nashville-based rock band’s fourth album is finally making the Kings as big in the United States as they have been in Europe since 2004, when the group had back-to-back No. 1 singles in the United Kingdom According to the band’s label, RCA,… Read more »

LOS ANGELES — Concert promoter Live Nation Inc and ticketing giant Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. confirmed their merger plans Tuesday and got right to work addressing antitrust concerns that have taken center stage Ticketmaster Chairman Barry Diller to be chairman of the new company – which would be called Live Nation Entertainment – sought to dispel the notion that the deal would lead to higher ticket prices. “Ticketmaster does not set prices. Live Nation does not set ticket prices. Artists set the prices,” he said, without mentioning the ticket surcharges Ticketmaster relies on for much of its revenue. Under the deal… Read more »

At a time when some international recording artists are looking to include India in their Asian touring itineraries, the recent attacks in Mumbai could hurt the country’s emerging live entertainment business While India’s touring market remains relatively small and is hampered by inadequate infrastructure, a growing number of Western recording stars have performed there in recent years, including Beyonce 50 Cent Wyclef Jean the Rolling Stones, Shakira Aerosmith Lionel Richie and Iron Maiden “The tragic events in Mumbai will have a huge impact on the decision of artists touring in India in general,” Agency Group CEO Neil Warnock says. “This… Read more »

About two months before the release of his band's third studio album, "When the World Comes Down," All-American Rejects singer/bassist Tyson Ritter is spending most of his free time drinking beer and engaging in kite-flying wars on the beaches of Northern Florida. "I've been getting completely hammered and enjoying myself," Ritter says from his home in Destin, Florida. "I'm 24 and I know I'm not going to be able to do this s–t when I'm 50. Sometimes you've got to live." The All-American Rejects frontman has reason to enjoy his time off. In the two years since the release of… Read more »

Kings of Leon may be from  Tennessee, but the rock band’s music has resonated in a bigger way overseas than it has in its own backyard. The family foursome hopes that will change with its fourth album, “Only by the Night,” due September 23 via RCA. Kings of Leon’s previous records have sold a combined total of 620,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen  SoundScan, topped by second album “Aha Shake Heartbreak” in  2005 at 232,000. But overseas, the numbers are more robust on a per capita basis. RCA says the band’s albums have sold nearly 600,000 copies… Read more »

Hasidic reggae rapper Matisyahu and rock act Chiodos will join the 2008 Vans Warped Tour lineup for limited dates this July, Billboard.com has learned. Matisyahu, who joins the Vans Warped Tour for the first time, will appear in the traveling rock festival July 9-11 and on July 13 at St. John’s Country Fairgrounds in Jacksonville, Florida. Vans Warped Tour veteran Chiodos joins the trek on July 18 at Comerica Park in Detroit. Matisyahu has a handful of other summer concert appearances lined up, including sets at Milwaukee’s Summerfest (June 30) and the inaugural Pemberton Festival in British Columbia (July 27).… Read more »

You’ll usually find R.E.M. playing arenas and esteemed concert halls. But this week, the rock hall of famers were among the acts trying to catch a break and artists looking to build their audience at the sprawling South by Southwest music festival. The multiplatinum rockers played Stubbs BBQ shortly after midnight Wednesday before an energetic crowd of a couple thousand, marking the first time they’ve played the annual extravaganza in their nearly three-decade career. But it’s hardly a downgrade: Playing a showcase at SXSW has often been a way for a veteran act to make a big splash with a… Read more »