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The Weeknd Announces Tour – His new album After Hours is out March 20

The Weeknd has announced a tour behind his new album After Hours, which is out March 20 (via XO/Republic). It marks his first trek since 2017’s Starboy tour. Check out the dates below and grab tickets here. (Pitchfork may earn a commission from purchases made through affiliate links on our site.)

The Weeknd has shared a series of songs from the new album, including “After Hours,” “Blinding Lights,” and “Heartless.” He was also cast in the Safdie brothers’ Uncut Gems.

Find out where the Weeknd landed on Pitchfork’s “The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s” and “The 200 Best Songs of the 2010s.”

The Weeknd:

06-11 Vancouver, British Columbia – Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena
06-14 Edmonton, Alberta – Rogers Place
06-17 Winnipeg, Manitoba – Bell MTS Place
06-22 Saint Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center
06-24 Chicago, IL – United Center
06-26 Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena
06-27 Detroit, MI – Little Caesar’s Arena
06-29 Toronto, Ontario – Scotiabank Arena
06-30 Toronto, Ontario – Scotiabank Arena
07-02 Montreal, Quebec- Bell Centre
07-04 Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun
07-07 Newark, NJ – Prudential Center
07-08 Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center
07-11 Boston, MA – TD Garden
07-13 Washington, D.C. – Capital One Arena
07-15 Charlotte, NC – Spectrum Center
07-16 Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena
07-18 Miami, FL – American Airlines Arena
07-21 Orlando, FL – Amway Center
07-23 New Orleans, LA – Smoothie King Center
07-24 Houston, TX – Toyota Center
07-25 Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center
07-27 Denver, CO – Pepsi Center
07-29 Salt Lake City, UT – Vivint Smart Home Arena
07-31 Portland, OR – Moda Center
08-01 Tacoma, WA – Tacoma Dome
08-03 Oakland, CA – Oakland Arena
08-04 San Jose, CA – SAP Center
08-06 Sacramento, CA – Golden 1 Center
08-08 Anaheim, CA – Honda Center
08-09 San Diego, CA – Pechanga Arena
08-11 Glendale, AZ – Gila River Arena
08-14 Los Angeles, CA – Staples Center
08-15 Los Angeles, CA – Staples Center
08-19 San Antonio, TX – AT&T Center
08-20 Fort Worth, TX – Dickies Arena
08-22 Tulsa, OK – BOK Center
08-23 Omaha, NE – CHI Health Center Omaha
08-25 St. Louis, MO – Enterprise Center
08-26 Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
08-28 Cleveland, OH – Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
09-01 Buffalo, NY – KeyBank Arena
09-03 New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
10-11 London, England – O2 Arena
10-12 London, England – O2 Arena
10-13 London, England – O2 Arena
10-15 Newcastle, England – Utilita Arena
10-16 Birmingham, England – Utilita Arena Birmingham
10-18 Glasgow, Scotland – SSE Hydro
10-19 Manchester, England – Manchester Arena
10-26 Antwerp, Belgium – Sportpaleis
10-27 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Ziggo Dome
10-29 Berlin, Germany – Mercedes-Benz Arena
10-31 Munich, Germany – Olympiahalle
11-08 Hamburg, Germany – Barclaycard Arena
11-09 Cologne, Germany – Lanxess Arena
11-12 Paris, France – AccorHotels Arena

Luke Combs Extends 2020 What You See Is What You Get Tour

Luke Combs has extended his headlining What You See Is What You Get Tour through December 2020, adding several new dates with a reconfigured in-the-round stage setup

“I wanted to figure out a way for more of y’all to have an opportunity to come, so we’re putting the stage in the middle of the floor to open up all of the seats in each venue!” Combs wrote on Instagram on Thursday, along with the dates for his new shows.

Among those are Boston’s TD Garden and Combs’ debut at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Supporting him on this leg of the trek will be Ashley McBryde, Drew Parker, and Ray Fulcher, the latter of whom co-wrote Combs’ hits “When It Rains It Pours” and “Even Though I’m Leaving.” Ticket pre-sale begins February 25th at 12 p.m. local time, followed by the public on-sale Friday, February 28th at 10 a.m. local time.

The winter and spring leg of Combs’ What You See Is What You Get Tour got underway earlier in February and resumes in April after Combs returns from a brief European trek. Combs will also return to his home state of North Carolina for his first stadium show, set for May 2nd at his alma mater Appalachian State University’s Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone. The fall leg of the tour picks up in mid-September, following a summer of festival dates, including Carolina Country Music Fest in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Faster Horses in Brooklyn, Michigan. Additionally, Combs is set to join Tim McGraw for a pair of stadium shows in Los Angeles and Philadelphia.

My Chemical Romance Announce Full Reunion Tour

My Chemical Romance have finally announced their full comeback tour. The new North American dates begin in Detroit on September 9. The band made the announcement in a video directed by Kris Mercado, featuring music composed by guitarist Ray Toro and keyboardist Jamie Muhoberac. The visual begins with a young man lacing his shoes and brewing a cup of coffee before playing with a ouija board. He then gets summoned into a realm filled with allusions and imagery from MCR’s history and discography.

 

BTS Announces Dates And Locations For “Map Of The Soul Tour”

Original Article:

BTS will be embarking on their world tour “BTS Map of the Soul Tour”!

On January 22, Big Hit Entertainment shared a poster revealing the dates and locations for BTS’s upcoming world tour.

The first announcement includes a total of 37 shows in 17 cities around the world. The tour kicks off at the Olympic Stadium in Seoul on April 11, and the group will then move on to perform at stadiums in the United States, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain.

The dates and venues of the tour can be found below:

BTS Announce World Tour The massively popular K-pop band will play shows in L.A., Chicago, more

BTS have announced a new world tour. The K-pop group are set to begin a new series of U.S. dates in May, beginning with a performance at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles, California on May 4. Other American cities on the itinerary include Chicago and New Jersey. BTS will also play shows in São Paulo, London, and Paris as well. Check out a teaser video and their full tour schedule below.

BTS are touring behind the release of their most recent full-length, Love Yourself 轉 ‘Tear’. They recently appeared at the 61st Grammy Awards to present the Best R&B Album award.

Read “BTS: How the Biggest Boy Band in the World Stays Radically Korean” over on the Pitch.

FOUR NEW STADIUM DATES ANNOUNCED for PMAC

The FRESHEN UP Tour U.S. Tour 2019

FOUR NEW STADIUM DATES ANNOUNCED

8th June      Lambeau Field, Green Bay, WI
14th June    Globe Life Park, Arlington, TX
22nd June   Petco Park, San Diego, CA
13th July     Dodgers Stadium, Los Angeles, CA 

GREEN BAY TICKETS ON SALE TO THE PUBLIC DECEMBER 10th AT 10am LOCAL TIME

ARLINGTON, SAN DIEGO, LOS ANGELES TICKETS ON SALE TO THE PUBLIC DECEMBER 13th AT 10am LOCAL TIME

EGYPT STATION OUT NOW ON CAPITOL RECORDS

PRE-SALE INFORMATION:

Pre-sale tickets will be available for Green Bay from 10am local time on Wednesday 5th December. To purchase pre-sale tickets on WEDNESDAY, enter the password: PaulFreshenUpGreenBay

Saturday 8th June 2019: Lambeau Field, GREEN BAY  
CLICK HERE FOR PRE-SALE TICKETS! / PASSWORD: PaulFreshenUpGreenBay

Registration for the Arlington Paul McCartney Presale powered by Ticketmaster Verified Fan will close Thursday 6th December @ 10 PM local time. If verified and selected, you will receive your code via text message, two (2) to four (4) hours before your Verified Fan presale begins. Presale tickets will begin to be available on Monday 10th December at 10 AM local. Due to the limited quantity of tickets, they will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Friday 14th June 2019: Globe Life Park, ARLINGTON
Register for ARLINGTON presale tickets by clicking HERE!

Saturday 22nd June 2019: Petco Park, SAN DIEGO
PRE-SALE INFO COMING SOON… !

Saturday 13th July 2019: Dodgers Stadium, LOS ANGELES
PRE-SALE INFO COMING SOON…!

In the wake of the triumphant headline stand at the Austin City Limits festival that the Austin American Statesman called “A Marathon to Remember Forever,”  Paul McCartney has added four new stadium plays to the upcoming U.S. leg of his new Freshen Up tour. The newly confirmed dates make for a total of 12 confirmed shows on Paul’s first extended Stateside run since the One On One Tour that played to some two million fans around the world during 2016 and 2017.

The Freshen Up tour is Paul’s first outing following the release of his #1 charting album, Egypt Station, released September 7th on Capitol Records to stellar reviews: Rolling Stone raved,“Macca keeps adding new gems to his songbook, with nothing to prove except he’s the only genius who can do this… And, oh yeah — in his spare time, he happens to still be the greatest live performer on Earth,”  while Entertainment Weekly described the album as “the still-vital life force of a superstar who has been there and everywhere and is glad just to be here now.”

The newest additions to the U.S. leg of Freshen Up include Paul’s first ever appearances at Lambeau Field in Green Bay WI on June 8th, and Globe Life Park in Arlington TX on June 14th. On June 22nd and July 13th, respectively, Paul will return to Petco Park in San Diego and Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, both of which hosted unforgettable Paul performances to capacity crowds on his 2014 Out There tour.

The Paul McCartney live experience is everything any music lover could ever want from a show: Nearly three hours nightly of the greatest moments from the last 50 years of music, dozens of songs from Paul’s solo, Wings and of course Beatles catalogues that have formed the soundtracks of our lives. Paul and his band have played an unparalleled range of venues and locations throughout the Americas, the UK, Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and all points between: outside the Coliseum in Rome, Moscow’s Red Square, Buckingham Palace, The White House, a free show in Mexico for over 400,000 people, the last ever show at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park where The Beatles played their final concert  in 1966, a 2016 week in the California desert that included two headline sets at the historic ‘Desert Trip’ festival and a jam-packed club gig for a few hundred lucky fans at Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, and even one performance broadcast live into Space! Featuring Paul’s band of the last 15+ years – Paul “Wix” Wickens (keyboards), Brian Ray (bass/guitar), Rusty Anderson (guitar) and Abe Laboriel Jr (drums) –and constantly upgraded state of the art audio and video technology that ensures an unforgettable experience from every seat in the house, a Paul McCartney concert is never anything short of life-changing.

American Express® Card Members in Green Bay can purchase tickets before the general public beginning Wednesday, December 5 at 10am through Sunday, December 9 at 10pm local time and in Arlington, beginning Monday, December 10 at 10AM through Wednesday, December 12 at 10PM local time.

PAUL McCARTNEY
FRESHEN UP Tour U.S. 2019

23rd May  – New Orleans, LA – Smoothie King Arena
27th May  – Raleigh, NC – PNC Arena
30th May  – Greenville, SC – Bon Secours Wellness Arena
1st June  – Lexington, KY – Rupp Arena
3rd June  – Fort Wayne, IN – Allen County War Memorial Coliseum
6th June  – Madison, WI – Kohl Center
8th June  – Green Bay WI – Lambeau Field 
11th June – Moline, IL – TaxSlayer Center
14th June – Arlington TX –  Globe Life Park
22nd June – San Diego CA – Petco Park 

26th June – Phoenix, AZ – Talking Stick Resort Arena
13th July – Los Angeles,CA –  Dodgers Stadium

DEAD & COMPANY ANNOUNCE 2019 SUMMER TOUR

Tickets On Sale To General Public Starting Saturday 12/8 @ 10AM

DEAD & COMPANY –  Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, John Mayer, and Bob Weir, with Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti – announces its 2019 Summer Tour, kicking off on Friday, May 31 and Saturday, June 1st in Mountain View, California at the Shoreline Amphitheatre and returning for two-night stands at iconic venues such as the Hollywood Bowl, Wrigley Field (Chicago, Illinois), The Gorge Amphitheatre (George, Washington), and Folsom Field (Boulder, Colorado), as well as a concert at the New England Patriots’ Gillette Stadium, and PNC Music Pavilion Charlotte on Friday June 28.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public beginning Saturday, December 8 at 10 AM through livenation.com.  Citi cardmembers will have access to purchase U.S. presale tickets for beginning Tuesday, December 4 at 10 AM local time until Friday, December 7 at 10 PM local time through Citi’s Private Pass program. For complete presale details, visit www.citiprivatepass.com. A variety of additional presales are available beginning Monday, December 3, at 10 AM local time. Check deadandcompany.com for complete tour information.

To ensure fans get tickets in their hands directly, Fan Registration is available HEREfor the 2019 tour dates beginning today, Thursday, November 29, at 8 AM ET, through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program; supplies are limited (not available for the July 5-6 concerts at Folsom Field).

Dead & Company was formed in 2015 when the Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann and Bob Weir joined forces with artist and musician John Mayer, Allman Brothers’ bassist Oteil Burbridge, and Fare Thee Well and RatDog keyboardist Jeff Chimenti.  The result was one of the most successful touring bands of the decade.  The inaugural tour kicked off in the fall of 2015 with two sold-out shows at the legendary Madison Square Garden and ending the year with two sold-out performances at the ‘Fabulous’ Forum in Inglewood, California.

Since then, the band has completed five tours, playing to more than 1.5 million fans, and has become a record-breaking stadium act. Dead & Company has headlined iconic stadiums across the country including Folsom Field, Autzen Stadium, Citi Field, Fenway Park and Dodger Stadium. Additionally, the band broke Wrigley Field’s all-time concert attendance record in 2017. Dead & Company’s 2018 Summer Tour ranked in the top 25 of the Top 100 Worldwide Tours and for the past two years, their Summer Tours ranked in the top 15 of the Top Global Concert Tours.

For more information or to purchase tickets go to livenation.com.

 

Ticketfly breach may have exposed data of 26 million customers

Event-ticketing company Ticketfly was still working to get back online Sunday, four days after a hacker reportedly hijacked the site and stole data from more than 26 million customers.

The breach apparently occurred Wednesday night, when a hacker took control of the site and demanded to be paid in bitcoin to release it. Last week, Vice’s Motherboard reported it communicated with someone claiming to be the hacker, who said they had asked Ticketfly for one bitcoin BTCUSD, -1.46%  (around $7,500 at the time) in exchange for sharing details about the site’s vulnerability. The ransom was not paid, and the hacker posted user data online. Ticketfly said it took the site offline as a security measure.

Ticketfly, which is owned by Eventbrite, confirmed on its website that it had been breached, and that some customers’ names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers had been exposed. Passwords and credit-card numbers were apparently not affected.

“Due to a recent cyber incident, Ticketfly.com is offline,” a message on the site read. “We’ve engaged leading third-party forensic and cybersecurity experts to investigate and help us address the issue, and have done this with your security top of mind.

While Ticketfly did not say how many customer accounts were breached, the data-breach-tracking website haveibeenpwned.com said more than 26 million accounts were affected.

Last year, San Francisco-based Eventbrite bought Ticketfly from Pandora Media Inc. P, +3.19%   for about $200 million.

The site’s takedown left a number of promoters and music and comedy clubs in the lurch for upcoming shows.

Fleetwood Mac Announce Dates for First North American Tour with New Members

Tickets go on sale May 4.

Fleetwood Mac are ready to hit the road with their rebooted lineup.

The legendary group featuring Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie announced their first North American tour since the surprise departure of guitarist Lindsey Buckingham earlier this month. With Tom Petty and the Heartbreakersguitarist Mike Campbell and Crowded House‘s Neil Finn in the fold, the Grammy-winning legends will kick off a 50-plus city tour in October with a gig at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The Live Nation-promoted tour will stretch into the spring, with tickets going on sale starting May 4 at 10 a.m. local time; click here for more details. “Fleetwood Mac has always been about an amazing collection of songs that are performed with a unique blend of talents,” Mick Fleetwood said in a statement announcing the tour. “We jammed with Mike and Neil and the chemistry really worked and let the band realize that this is the right combination to go forward with in Fleetwood Mac style. We know we have something new, yet it’s got the unmistakable Mac sound.”

Lindsey Buckingham visits the SiriusXM Studios on Jan. 23, 2018 in New York City. 

Lindsey Buckingham Will Not Tour With Fleetwood Mac This Fall

The group will also launch The Fleetwood Mac channel on SiriusXM on May 1 at 5 p.m. ET, running throughout the month on channel 30, with music, interviews and hosted shows from current and former band members.

“We are thrilled to welcome the musical talents of the caliber of Mike Campbell and Neil Finn into the Mac family,” the group said in the statement. “With Mike and Neil, we’ll be performing all the hits that the fans love, plus we’ll be surprising our audiences with some tracks from our historic catalogue of songs. Fleetwood Mac has always been a creative evolution. We look forward to honoring that spirit on this upcoming tour.”

Fleetwood Mac Tour Dates:

Oct. 3 — Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center

Oct. 6 — Chicago, IL @ United Center

Oct. 10 — Louisville, KY @ KFC Yum! Center (on sale May 11)

Oct. 12 — Lincoln, NE @ Pinnacle Bank Arena

Oct. 14 — Des Moines, IA @ Wells Fargo Arena

Oct. 16 — Indianapolis, IN @ Bankers Life Fieldhouse

Oct. 18 — Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center

Oct. 20 — St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center

Oct. 22 — St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center

Oct. 26 — Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena

Oct. 28 — Milwaukee, WI @ Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center

Oct. 30 — Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena

Nov. 1 — Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena

Nov. 3 — Ottawa, ON @ Canadian Tire Centre

Nov. 5 — Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre

Nov. 7 — Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena

Nov. 10 — Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place

Nov. 12 — Calgary, AB @ Scotiabank Saddledome

Nov. 14 — Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena

Nov. 17 — Tacoma, WA @ Tacoma Dome

Nov. 19 — Portland, OR @ Moda Center

Nov. 21 — San Jose, CA @ SAP Center at San Jose

Nov. 23 — Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center

Nov. 25 — Oakland, CA @ Oracle Arena

Nov. 28 — Phoenix, AZ @ Talking Stick Resort Arena

Nov. 30 — Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena

Dec. 3 — Denver, CO @Pepsi Center

Dec. 6 — Fresno, CA @ Save Mart Center

Dec. 8 — San Diego, CA @ Viejas Arena

Dec. 11 — Inglewood, CA @ The Forum

Dec. 13 — Inglewood, CA @ The Forum

Feb. 5 — Houston, TX @ Toyota Center

Feb. 7 — Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center

Feb. 9 — Austin, TX @ Frank Erwin Center

Feb. 13 — Birmingham, AL @ Legacy Arena at the BJCC

Feb. 16 — New Orleans, LA @ Smoothie King Center

Feb. 18 — Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena

Feb. 20 — Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ BB&T Center

Feb. 22 — Columbia, SC @ Colonial Life Arena

Feb. 24 — Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center

Feb. 27 — Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena

March 3 — Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena

March 5 — Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena

March 9 — Atlantic City, NJ @ Boardwalk Hall

March 11 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden (on sale May 5)

March 13 — Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center (on sale May 5)

March 15 — Hartford, CT @ XL Center

March 20 — Albany, NY @ Times Union Center

March 24 — Baltimore, MD @ Royal Farms Arena

March 26 — Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center

March 31 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden

Apr. 5 — Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center

Get in Formation: Ticketmaster Accidentally Releases Details of Beyonce & JAY-Z Tour, Again

Sources confirm a sequel to the On The Run stadium tour is in the works for 2018.

JAY-Z and Beyonce are indeed touring this summer, two sources tell Billboard, despite the swift, mysterious removal of an announcement on Ticketmaster and Facebook (March 5) for their On The Run 2 tour.

A hold for the tour had been placed at a number of North American stadiums, one of the sources said.

Speculation about a Bey + Jay tour had been rampant since Feb. 22 when a fan spotted U.K. and North American landing pages for a 2018 stadium tour on Ticketmaster, which were also quickly erased after being publicized. The famous couple last toured together in 2014 for the On The Run tour and their 2018 outing is being billed as a sequel to that 19-show jaunt. Tuesday’s revelation comes via screen grab of Beyonce’s Facebook page from Complex, showing a July 30 concert in Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field. Once discovered by Complex, both the Ticketmaster and Facebook information was deleted.

Jay-Z and Beyonce pose backstage at the adidas Originals x Kanye West YEEZY SEASON 1 fashion show during New York Fashion Week Fall 2015 at Skylight Clarkson Sq on Feb. 12, 2015 in New York City.

Billboard has reached out to Live Nation but the concert promoter did not comment. Last year JAY-Z renewed his contract with Live Nation, which is likely promoting the On The Run 2 tour.

One of the delays behind the On The Run 2 tour announcement could be Beyonce’s upcoming appearance at Coachella, April 14 and 21. In the past, Coachella organizer Goldenvoice has required headliner artists to hold off until after the festival to announce new tour dates.

Waiting until April 22 (the Monday after Coachella) would give her 98 days to announce, sell tickets and market the Philadelphia show, which would be shorter than the window needed for most stadium tours, but would probably be enough time since there is likely to be strong demand for the co-headlining show. There’s also the possibility the leak was a planned marketing stunt to generate buzz for the event and remind fans to set aside a few dollars, especially with a busy 2018 summer taking shape with stadium jaunts for Dead and Company, Pearl Jam, Ed Sheeran and Def Leppard with Journey. A July 30 show will come two days after back-to-back shows at nearby Citizens Bank Park for Billy Joel and Eagles, and two weeks after Taylor Swift’s Reputation tour stops at Lincoln Financial Field.

Beyonce and JAY-Z’s 2014 On The Run tour grossed an impressive $95.9 million, averaging $5 million per show, according to Billboard Boxscore, making it the eighth largest tour of 2014. Beyonce also did a solo tour that year that grossed $67 million, while JAY-Z’s tour netted $48 million for the “Hard Knock Life” rapper in 2017.

Elton John Announces Final 300-Date Tour Before Retiring: ‘It’s a Way of Going Out with a Bang

Elton John is retiring from touring — but not quite yet.

The 70-year-old pop icon announced at a press conference in New York City on Wednesday that he’ll embark on one final global tour before leaving behind a life on the road.

“I am not going to be touring apart from the last tour, which will start in September,” John announced at the event, while in conversation with Anderson Cooper. “Last time touring and traveling the world.”

John noted that his priorities have changed since becoming a father with longtime partner David Furnish, 55.

“We had children,” John said of sons Zachary, 7, and Elijah, 5. “And that changed our lives. In 2015, David and I sad down with school schedule, and I thought ‘I don’t want to miss this.’ I’ve had an amazing life, I’ve had an amazing career… My life has changed, the priorities in my life have changed, my priorities are my children, my husband and my family.”

The star added, “And I thought the time is right to say thank you to all of my fans around the world.”

John’s Farewell Yellowbrick Road tour will kick off in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 8, and continue over the course of three years with 300 dates. He teased that it will be the “best production I’ve ever done”

“I’ve had a pretty good run,” John said, adding, “It’s a way of going out with a bang. I don’t want to go out with a whimper.”

He also noted that he’ll continue to make music and that fans can expect more creative projects in the years following the tour’s conclusion.

John began playing piano at an early age and started touring in the mid-1960s as part of the band Bluesology, which got gigs opening for acts like Patti LaBelle and the Isley Brothers.

The musician answered a magazine advertisement in 1967 that put him in touch with lyricist Bernie Taupin, who went on to become a collaborator who launched John into fame with hits like “Rocket Man,” “Crocodile Rock,” “Tiny Dancer,” “Bennie and the Jets” and “Candle in the Wind.”

John became known for his elaborate stage costumes during live performances, which took him around the world for 50 years. This time, his ensembles will be designed by Gucci.

Britney Spears is taking her Las Vegas show on tour in the U.S. and Europe

Catch Britney Spears live, “…Baby One More Time”!

On Tuesday, the pop icon announced she’s taking her Las Vegas concert spectacle, Britney: Piece of Me, on the road. The 23-date limited tour will travel through the U.S. East Coast and Europe in July and August, making stops at famed venues like New York City’s Radio City Music Hall and London’s Manchester Arena. Tickets go on sale Friday. For sales information, visit Spears’ official website.

After performing over 250 shows of Piece of Me at the AXIS at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas over the last four years, Spears concluded her run on New Year’s Eve, during which she appeared on ABC’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest.

A review of two decades of infectious hits, including “(You Drive Me) Crazy” and “Toxic,” the dance-heavy show sold nearly 1 million tickets and brought out everyone from Beyoncé and JAY-Z to Selena Gomez.

Billy Joel to return to Wrigley Field in September

Billy Joel is set to play Wrigley Field for the fifth consecutive year, his team announced Monday.

The Piano Man is slated to perform Sept. 7 at the Cubs ballpark. Tickets are scheduled to go on sale at 10 a.m. Jan. 29. Joel has played Wrigley Field every year since 2014 — a venue record — and he played two shows there with Elton John in 2009.

Pearl Jam’s Website Leaks 2018 North American Tour Dates

Pearl Jam’s official website accidentally leaked their 2018 North American shows on their website on Friday morning before removing the dates.

Seattle Aug 8, 10 – Safeco Field
Missoula Aug 13 – Washington-Grizzly Stadium
Chicago Aug 18, 20 – Wrigley Field
Boston Sep 2, 4 – Fenway Park

They also have an inactive ‘The Home Shows’ section, hinting that a baseball park tour could be marketed outside of Seattle as ‘The Away Shows.’

Taylor Swift Has Concert Industry Embracing ‘Slow Ticketing’ Model

Higher prices, more consumer choice and no instant sellouts are on the horizon for high demand artists.

One day after Taylor Swift tickets went on sale to the general public and a week after presales, hundreds of tickets for every stop on her Reputation stadium tour were still available on Ticketmaster. While some view the lack of sellout dates as a sign of softness in demand, Ticketmaster officials say they have effectively shifted ticket sales back to the primary market, captured more revenue for the artist and are changing the customer experience for fans.

Gone are the days of rapid pace 10 a.m. ticket sales, where consumers stood little chance against bots buying up everything in a matter of minutes and dumping tickets on sites like StubHub, explains David Marcus, executive VP and head of music at Ticketmaster.

“We’d like to sell the last ticket to her concert when she takes the stage each night,” he says. “We’re not trying to sell all of her tickets in one minute; we’re trying to figure out how to sell tickets in a more modern way.”

Welcome to “slow ticketing,” a shift toward slowing the sales to human speed. By requiring consumers to register in advance through Verified Fan and pricing tickets to reflect what consumers are willing to pay, Ticketmaster is reshaping its primary marketplace to look more like the secondary. At any time, consumers can log into Ticketmaster for the Taylor Swift Reputation tour and shop tickets at all price levels as well as secondary tickets through its TicketsNow resale platform.

That means less tickets on sites like StubHub. Unlike her 1989 tour where 30 percent of the tickets were sold via the secondary market, according to Marcus, only three percent of Taylor Swift’s tickets made it to the secondary market this time — about 70,000 tickets of a total of approximately 2.5 million tickets available.

“There’s less inventory on the secondary market and it’s more expensive because the tickets tend to skew toward premium seats,” explains Jesse Lawrence, founder of TicketIQ, a search engine for primary and secondary tickets. Contrast that with the primary where “there are plenty of inexpensive tickets still available.”

The shift could mean an additional $1-1.5 million in revenues per show for Swift and promoter Louis Messina, Lawrence says, noting that during the 1989 tour three years, brokers had marked up tickets on average by 30 percent.

“This time, the artist and promoter are capturing that revenue and not the secondary market,” he said.

Pricing tickets higher isn’t without its pitfalls. Many fans took to Twitter to express shock at the tour’s $1,500 VIP tickets and $800 “Snake Pit” tickets, complaining that front section packages were much more expensive than the 1989 tour. Tour organizers argue that tickets are being priced for what they would sell for on the secondary market, but the sharp increase has some fans feeling gouged.

“Change is not easy,” WME head of music Marc Geiger tells Billboard, explaining that he’s been pushing for smarter, market-driven pricing strategies.

“The idea that a consumer is going to sit in first class with an economy ticket is a holdover from what I used to call ‘rock and roll socialist pricing,'” Geiger explains, saying that consumers have gotten used to seeing tickets priced low on Ticketmaster and the notion that if they can get to them before they go on StubHub they’ll get a better deal.

High prices on Ticketmaster are just “a different thing to complain about,” he says, “We are slowly moving towards hopefully a market economy. And if people don’t like the price of one ticket, then they can either buy a cheaper ticket or not go to the show.”

Besides dealing with sticker shock, Ticketmaster also has to consider how slow it wants slow ticketing to be. Asking consumers to register in advance and then wait to receive an invitation for a specific window to buy tickets, sometimes arriving several hours late, might turn some buyers off.

Marcus said consumers seemed OK with the wait and buy approach. Early returns show a much higher conversion rate — Marcus said 85 percent of fans who shopped on the first two days bought tickets. Depending on the site and what’s being sold, most online stores and e-commerce sites see a two-to-10 percent conversion rate.

Ticketmaster is also looking at whether it can bring more customers into the sales queue at one time, while still not opening up the system to a flood of bots. That allows more fans at once to buy tickets from an interactive seat map as opposed to having to use a “best available option” system where Ticketmaster chooses the seats for the consumer to speed up the transaction.

“Typically, when you have too many people trying to buy a ticket from a seat map, you see sales start to collide as people try the same ticket, over and over in a loop,” he said, noting that on the first day of sales, only four people were allowed in the sales queue at one time, followed by eight people the second day before Ticketmaster switched fans to “best available” on the third day of the presale.

“This experience has taught us that we can have more people using the seat map at once, especially in a stadium where there is so much available inventory,” Marcus said. “It shifts the model from one that is about momentum, which promoters are always trying to keep going during a ticket sale, to a demand-driven approach where fans can come in at a scheduled time and shop from an interactive map. It’s replacing momentum with consumer choice and experience.”

Eagles Announce 2018 North American Tour Featuring Jimmy Buffett, Chris Stapleton & More

n 2014, the Eagles embarked on their History of the Eagles Tour and broke U.S. box office records — selling out Madison Square Garden five times in what was deemed their final-ever outing. In 2018, however, the iconic California rockers will hit the road again with a rotating group of high-profile supporting acts such including Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band, James Taylor & His All-Star Band and Chris Stapleton.

Just as the opening acts are rotating, the Eagles will play both arena and stadium shows throughout the tour, with the opening acts only accompanying the Eagles for the stadium dates. Arena shows are labeled as an “Evening with the Eagles.”

The 2018 North American tour will begin on March 14 at Chicago’s United Center.

Eagles Share Audio of Their First Live ‘New Kid in Town’ Performance From 1976: Premiere
Fans who are eyeing Arlington, Denver or Washington, D.C. dates can begin purchasing tickets on Friday, Dec. 1 at 10 a.m. local time — through Ticketmaster — and all other shows go on sale to the public Dec. 1 at 10 a.m. local time.

Pre-sale advantages exist for American Express Card Members, who can begin buying tickets before anyone else on Tuesday, Nov. 28 at 10 a.m. local time. For complete information, click here.

Below are the Eagles’ 2018 tour dates, divided by opening act.

The Eagles and Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band:
April 14 — Orlando, Fla. @ Camping World Stadium
April 21 — Miami @ Hard Rock Stadium
June 28 — Denver @ Coors Field
June 30 — Minneapolis @ Target Field

The Eagles and James Taylor & His All-Star Band:
July 26 — @ Washington, D.C. @ Nationals Park
July 28 — Philadelphia @ Citizens Bank Park

The Eagles and Chris Stapleton:
June 23 — Arlington, Texas @ AT&T Stadium

“Evening with the Eagles” arena concerts:
March 14 — Chicago @ United Center
Fri Mar 23 — Nashville, Tenn. @ Bridgestone Arena
Thu May 10 — Vancouver @ Rogers Arena
Sun Jul 15 — Toronto @ Air Canada Centre
Fri Jul 20 — Boston @ TD Garden

U2 to become first band to use ‘Verified Fan’ system to sell all tickets for arena tour

The band have paired up with Ticketmaster for the new initiative, which will begin when their ‘Experience + Innocence’ tour goes on sale

U2 will become the first band to make full use of Ticketmaster’s ‘Verified Fan’ platform when tickets for their next North American arena tour go on sale later this month.

The legendary Irish band will embark on their latest jaunt, the ‘Experience + Innocence’ tour, in May next year, with tickets due to go on general sale on November 20.

In an effort to prevent tickets for the tour falling into the hands of touts, U2 are asking their North American fans to sign up to Ticketmaster’s ‘Verified Fan’ system before November 18 in order to buy tickets in the November 20 general sale.

The technology will also be in place for the pre-sales for members of U2’s fan club – fan club members can access tickets from November 14, and those who haven’t already can sign up to the club here before November 12 – meaning that all of the tickets for the North American run of the ‘Experience + Innocence’ tour will be sold through the ‘Verified Fan’ platform.

According to Ticketmaster, sales through the ‘Verified Fan’ platform reduce the opportunity of secondary ticket selling by over 90%.

David Marcus, Executive VP and Head of Music at Ticketmaster, explained more about the system in an interview with Billboard. “Fans register with Verified Fan two to three weeks before tickets go on sale. That gives us a chance to slow the huge rush that takes place when we open the doors and put tickets on sale.

“Verified Fan allows us to weed out bad actors and know exactly how many people want to buy tickets.”

Arthur Fogel, from promoter Live Nation, told the publication that U2 are utilising Ticketmaster’s system due to the “justified outcry of brokers and bots scooping up a fair amount of tickets.

“I think every artist wants their tickets getting into the hands of real fans,” he said. “When you look at what’s happening in the industry and why people are doing Verified Fan, it makes complete sense for U2. There is a very limited amount of inventory and demand will exceed supply.

 

Foo Fighters release statement after fans are turned away from London gig

Scores of ticketholders were refused entry at the door for failing to show photo ID which matched their booking

Foo Fighters have issued a statement after hundreds of fans were turned away at the door of their huge London gig at The O2 last night (September 19) after falling victim to a ticketing mix-up.

The Dave Grohl-led band played a career-spanning set during their one-off show at the 20,000-capacity venue, which was reported to be sold out.

However, hundreds of ticketholders were denied entry to the gig for failing to present a photo ID which matched their booking.

Punters claimed that they were not told of the arrangement prior to the gig, and many were shocked to discover at the door that their tickets were not valid. After numerous complaints, security relented and allowed ticketholders without ID to enter the venue – but by then many of those who had initially been refused entry had left.

“Foo Fighters, SJM and The O2 are frustrated and saddened that despite their best efforts tickets for last night’s show at the O2 fell into the hands of unscrupulous secondary ticket agencies,” said the band in a statement.
Foo Fighters continued: “Unfortunately, this meant a small number of fans purchasing bogus tickets from these unscrupulous outlets did not get into the sold out show… Foo Fighters, The O2 and SJM strongly advise and sincerely hope that in the future ALL fans buy tickets only from legitimate sites to ensure they are not defrauded out of their hard earned money.”
Read more at http://www.nme.com/news/music/foo-fighters-tickets-fans-turned-away-the-o2-mix-up-2142882#VWDI8h1UgItgCDOt.99

Garth Brooks is going to Tacoma as world tour nears end

For the first time in two decades, country music legend Garth Brooks is heading back to the Seattle-Tacoma area.

Brooks and Trisha Yearwood will play at the Tacoma Dome on Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017 at 7:30 p.m.

This will be the last Garth Brooks World Tour concert on the West Coast, and the first time Brooks has performed in the Seattle-Tacoma area in 19 years.

Brooks is the number one selling solo artist in U.S. history.

He even has a song all about Tacoma:

Might make it to Memphis
The Kansas City line
All the way to Tacoma
By then I hope you’re out of my mind
All the way to Tacoma
By then I hope you’re out of my mind

“I can tell you my retiring days are behind me … The only thing that’s going to change after December is, it’s just not going to be a constant appearance. You’re going to have to pick ‘em …,” Brooks told The Boot. “The great thing about the next year, 2018, is, we’re going to play some places for free. That’s what I like — just go for the reason of going there. And you get to play music. That’s cool.”

Tickets go on sale Friday, Sept. 29 at 10 a.m. for $61.65 each plus taxes and fees (total of $74.98).

U2 and Ed Sheeran cancel St Louis shows due to security concerns

Both U2 and Ed Sheeran have cancelled concert dates in St Louis over security concerns amid protests in the city after the acquittal of a white former police officer charged with murdering a black man.

The Irish band were booked to play at The Dome at America’s Center on Saturday night, while English singer Sheeran had sold-out a Sunday night show at the Scottrade Center. Police say they cannot guarantee the typical level of security as the city faces ongoing protests.

Hundreds protested on Friday and Saturday in downtown St Louis, in an upscale section of town and in well-to-do suburbs, leading to at least 32 arrests. More protests were expected Saturday night.