Touring Out Loud: Ed Sheeran unveils slew of North American tour dates

Touring Out Loud: Ed Sheeran unveils slew of North American tour dates
Touring Out Loud: Ed Sheeran unveils slew of North American tour dates
Warner Music Group

Ed Sheeran‘s North American fans woke up to the long-awaited news that he’s finally bringing his Mathematics Tour — stylized as + – = ÷ x Tour —  across the pond.

The Grammy winner made the welcome announcement that he’s finally touring the U.S. and Canada on Monday after a nearly 5-year wait. The North American trek commences on May 6 with a pitstop in Arlington, Texas.

There, Ed will trek across the continent for nearly two dozen dates and hit other major cities such as Detroit, Nashville, Minneapolis, Seattle, Toronto and more.

The “Shape of You” hitmaker wraps his tour on September 23, 2023 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

Ed also unveiled a slew of tour openers, who will assist him on certain dates of his North American trek; all shows will feature two openers. Khalid will open for Ed for a majority of his tour dates but will be unable to perform during his final three performances.

Others opening for Ed include RussDylanRosa LinnCat Burns and Maisie Peters.  

Tickets for the multi-date tour will go on sale on Ticketmaster next Friday, October 14 at 10 a.m. local time — but there are a few ways fans can get their hands on tickets a little earlier. 

First is by registering with Ticketmaster via its #VerifiedFan system now through Sunday, October 9 at 10 p.m. ET. That opens the door to an exclusive pre-sale on Wednesday, October 12 at 10 a.m. ET that closes the following day at 10 p.m. ET.

American Express card members can also cut the line that Wednesday as part of the company’s American Express’ Member Week.

The Mathematics Tour supports Ed’s latest album Equals (stylized as “=”) that features the hit songs “Shivers” “Bad Habits” and more.

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Arctic Monkeys announce 2023 US tour supporting upcoming album, ‘The Car’

Arctic Monkeys announce 2023 US tour supporting upcoming album, ‘The Car’
Arctic Monkeys announce 2023 US tour supporting upcoming album, ‘The Car’
Domino; Credit: Matt Helders

Arctic Monkeys have announced a 2023 U.S. headlining tour supporting their upcoming album, The Car.

The late summer outing launches August 25 in Minneapolis and will wrap up September 29 in Los Angeles. Tickets go on sale this Friday, October 7 at 10 a.m. local time. You can register for the Ticketmaster Verified Fan presale now through Tuesday, October 4, at 10 a.m. ET.

For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit ArcticMonkeys.com.

The Car, the seventh Arctic Monkeys album and first since 2018’s Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, will be released October 21. It includes the previously released songs “There’d Better Be a Mirrorball” and “Body Paint.”

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Bono to launch worldwide ‘Stories of Surrender’ book tour in November

Bono to launch worldwide ‘Stories of Surrender’ book tour in November
Bono to launch worldwide ‘Stories of Surrender’ book tour in November
Live Nation/ Penguin Random House

U2‘s Bono will support his forthcoming memoir with a 14-city world tour that kicks off November in New York City.

Bono’s memoir Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story will be released November 1. The first date of the tour is November 2 at New York’s Beacon Theatre. He’ll then visit Boston, Toronto, Chicago, Nashville, San Francisco and Los Angeles before heading overseas for appearances in the U.K., Ireland, Germany and France, and wrapping things up in Madrid, Spain on November 28.

The tour is described as “an evening of words, music and some mischief,” which means Bono won’t only be talking about his life, he’ll be singing about it too. In a statement, he says, “I miss being on stage and the closeness of U2’s audience. In these shows, I’ve got some stories to sing, and some songs to tell.”

He adds, “Plus, I want to have some fun presenting my ME-moir, Surrender, which is really more of a WE-moir, if I think of all the people who helped me get from there to here.”

Tickets for the book tour go on sale this Friday, October 7 at 10 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster, and each ticket comes with a copy of Bono’s book. There’s a two-ticket limit per person.

Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story has 40 chapters, each named after a U2 song. They tell Bono’s story from his days as a child growing up in Dublin, to the loss of his mother when he was 14, to the founding of U2 and their rise to global stardom. It also covers Bono’s activism, working to fight AIDS and extreme poverty. The singer’s also created 40 original drawings for the book.

 

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Taylor Swift keeps ‘Midnights’ mayhem going with new song title

Taylor Swift keeps ‘Midnights’ mayhem going with new song title
Taylor Swift keeps ‘Midnights’ mayhem going with new song title
Beth Garrabrant/TAS Rights Management

Taylor Swift has revealed another song title on her forthcoming new album, Midnights.

As part of her Midnights Mayhem With Me TikTok series, Taylor plucked another ball from her spinning bingo cage and revealed it as track three: “Anti-Hero.”  We now have six track titles from the album, as “Anti-Hero” joins “Maroon,” “Midnight Rain,” “Question…?” “Vigilante S**t,” and “Mastermind.”

Taylor also announced that CDs of Midnights, featuring artwork hand-signed by her, are now for sale at her merch store.  They’re available in four colors — Mahogany, Jade Green, Blood Moon and Moonstone Blue — but only until Tuesday at 11:59 pm ET.  

Midnights, Taylor’s 10th studio album, is out October 21.

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Beyoncé celebrates sister Solange’s New York City Ballet composition

Beyoncé celebrates sister Solange’s New York City Ballet composition
Beyoncé celebrates sister Solange’s New York City Ballet composition
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Coachella

Beyoncé is one proud big sister.

Taking to social media over the weekend, the mega star showed love to her younger sister, Solange Knowles, for her latest accomplishment of composing an original score for the New York City Ballet.

Alongside two photos of Solange — one of her holding several flower arrangements and another of her looking and waving to someone out of frame — Beyoncé wrote in an Instagram post. “My beloved sister, there are no words to express the pride and admiration I have for you.”

“You are a visionary and one of one,” she continued. “Congratulations on being the first African American woman to compose for the New York City Ballet. The piece you composed is phenomenal.”

“I love you deep,” the “CUFF IT” singer added. “Might I suggest you don’t f*** with my sis.”

Solange debuted her work at the annual Fall Fashion Gala at New York’s Lincoln Center on September 28.

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HARDY injured in tour bus crash

HARDY injured in tour bus crash
HARDY injured in tour bus crash
Douglas Sacha

HARDY is asking for prayers after his tour bus was involved in an accident. 

“Following last night’s show, our tour bus was in an accident on our way home from Bristol,” he tweeted on Sunday afternoon. “There were just four of us, including myself, on the bus, however we were all treated for significant injuries.”

“Our friend, and bus driver, needs your prayers as he is still in the hospital,” HARDY continued. “His family is with him while he is being treated and we’re all pulling and praying for him.”

The “wait in the truck” singer added that he’s been released from the hospital but was “ordered by doctors to recover for the next few weeks which may cost us at a couple of shows.”

“My team and I will keep the fans updated on that as I rest in the coming days,” he shared. 

“Please keep our road family in your prayers and I promise to keep you updated in the days to follow,” he concluded. “God bless our medics and local and state officials for their quick response and incredible service.”

HARDY and his team were traveling from Bristol, Tennessee to Nashville early Sunday when the incident occurred. His next scheduled appearance is on October 8 with Morgan Wallen. It’s unclear if that will still happen. 

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Ciara says her “super R&B” new album feels just like her first project

Ciara says her “super R&B” new album feels just like her first project
Ciara says her “super R&B” new album feels just like her first project
Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for BET

If you didn’t know, R&B diva Ciara has been working on a new album and revealed this week that she’s just as excited for it as she was for her very first project. 

Though Goodies debuted close to two decades ago, the singer says it’s still her best body of work. That may or may not be the case after creating her newest album — one that she says has her feeling like the old Ci Ci again. 

“I really mean this, my first album to me was my best album of my whole journey,” she told Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe. “I feel like this album has taken me right there where that album was, energetic, energy wise, tonality, the R&B core that’s in this record.”

The singer admits she isn’t fond of listening to her own records. “It’s not that I don’t love my music,” she said, “It’s just, I feel weird listening to myself.” 

But with the new, unnamed project, she doesn’t feel that way. Maybe it’s due to the “super,” “hardcore R&B” throughout? Maybe it’s because of the album’s ability to make people want to dance? Either way, “there’s something about this record that just feels complete.”

The Grammy winner released her latest single, “Better Thangs” featuring Summer Walker, on September 28. The carefree, upbeat vibe of the track could be a symbol of what’s to come on the album. This summer she teased and released her now-popular hit “Jump” and the many accompanying dance videos on social media. 

As for what fans can expect from the new album, the star says there’ll be some “fun treats and surprises.”

“The fans have asked for a few things over the years, and they’re going to get what they wanted with this album,” Ciara says.

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“You’re Drunk, Go … to the studio”? Kelly Clarkson shares the hilarious story behind Kelsea Ballerini duet

“You’re Drunk, Go … to the studio”? Kelly Clarkson shares the hilarious story behind Kelsea Ballerini duet
“You’re Drunk, Go … to the studio”? Kelly Clarkson shares the hilarious story behind Kelsea Ballerini duet
ABC/Heidi Gutman

Kelly Clarkson lends her vocals to “You’re Drunk, Go Home,” one of the tracks on Kelsea Ballerini’s recently released Subject to Change album, along with Carly Pearce. And while Carly is a noted wine enthusiast, it was actually Kelly who might have been just a little bit overserved when she went to the studio to record her part of the song.

Kelly shared the story — at least, the parts of it fit for television — during a recent episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, where Kelsea was on hand to discuss her new record.

The day Kelsea texted her about a duet, Kelly says, was last day of work before taking some time off, and she’d already gotten a head start on her vacation.

“I had already been celebrating that it was my last day of work,” the singer explains. But when she heard the song and got Kelsea’s request for a duet, she knew she had sing on it — so she went to the studio.

“So I had to sing a song called ‘You’re Drunk, Go Home,’ inebriated, trying to sing for soprano parts like I’m fine,” Kelly continues.

In fact, there’s a full recording that no one — not even Kelsea — has heard yet, the singer goes on to say. “There is a full track that we have to send to you of me just crying and laughing so hard,” Kelly says. “I almost peed my pants.”

Subject to Change came out September 23.

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Idina Menzel says ‘Loud Mouse,’ children’s book she wrote with her sister, may inspire an album

Idina Menzel says ‘Loud Mouse,’ children’s book she wrote with her sister, may inspire an album
Idina Menzel says ‘Loud Mouse,’ children’s book she wrote with her sister, may inspire an album
ABC Audio

Idina Menzel and her sister Cara Mentzel have collaborated on a new children’s picture book called Loud Mouse, about a young mouse named Dee who’s able to be her best self when she sings. Idina has written and recorded an original song to go with the book called “The Loud Mouse Song,” which is streaming now — and she says she could see making an entire Loud Mouse album in the future.

“I wanted to have a song that accompanied the book that kids and their parents could just sing…for days…ad nauseum, you know?” Idina laughs. Referring to her inescapable Frozen hit “Let It Go,” she jokes, “Because that’s what I like to do. I like to be the voice of songs that parents just love me for!”

Cara says the relationship between Dee and her sister Cara Lee in the book mirrors the “supportive” relationship she had with Idina growing up, when “being adjacent to this big talent was a joy and an adrenaline rush.”

Meanwhile, Idina thinks Loud Mouse is “in the tradition of” her Frozen character Elsa — and of her Wicked character, Elphaba — in the sense that it “gives [kids] the permission to be your biggest, bravest, loudest self.”

“I think that that sort of all comes together and is very meaningful for them, and for us,” she notes.

The sisters have already written a sequel to Loud Mouse, and Idina tells ABC Audio, “I’d like to start curating a list of children’s music, and writing children’s music” for the book series.

Idina explains that she discovered that while touring the world singing “Let It Go, “There’s just nothing better for a performer than…to be able to hold the microphone out and have [kids] sing your song, and to do that with them, and with their parents.”

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Where is their mind? Pixies’ “brain opens up” on new album, ’Doggerel’

Where is their mind? Pixies’ “brain opens up” on new album, ’Doggerel’
Where is their mind? Pixies’ “brain opens up” on new album, ’Doggerel’
BMG

Pixies have never been a band to stick to a particular sound, and recording a new album for the first time during the pandemic era gave them even more license to experiment.

“When you go to record, you’re, like, ‘Well, I don’t know if anyone’s gonna be able to see this or play this, so why not? F*** it! Just do whatever you want,'” bassist Paz Lenchantin tells ABC Audio. “Your brain kinda opens up to this place that was different than before.”

The result of said brain-opening is Doggerel, the eighth Pixies studio effort. Among the new things the “Where Is My Mind?” outfit brought to the record were songs co-written by guitarist Joey Santiago for the first time. Having played in Pixies for nearly 40 years, Santiago couldn’t help but write a Pixies song.

“To be honest, I did have something in mind that it’s got to fit within the vernacular of Pixies,” Santiago shares. “Unbeknownst to me, these little tricks that we were doing were coming out.”

Doggerel is now the fourth album Pixies have released since the group reunited in 2004, matching the four-record output of their pre-breakup era between 1986 and 1993. Santiago sees the post-reunion albums as a “linear” continuation of Pixies’ earlier work.

“It went in the path where we should be,” Santiago says.

“None of our records really sound alike, none of them,” he adds, while noting, “There’s always a signature in them, and the signature’s still there.”

Doggerel is out now. Pixies are currently playing a run of U.S. headlining shows in support of the record, which continues Monday in Los Angeles.

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