The Strokes and LCD Soundsystem are headlining the revived This Ain’t No Picnic festival.
Originally launched in 1999 by Coachella promoters Goldenvoice, This Ain’t No Picnic has been on hiatus for the past two decades. It’s now set to return in 2022, taking place August 27-28 at the Brookside golf club outside the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
Other artists on the bill include Kathleen Hanna‘s reunited electronic rock group Le Tigre, Phoebe Bridgers, Wet Leg, Turnstile, and Courtney Barnett.
Registration for pre-sale tickets is open now. For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit ThisAintNoPicnic.com.
Zero 9:36 has released a new single called “I’m Not.”
The defiant track finds the “Adrenaline” artist declaring, “I’m not making your decisions/ Because you’re everything I’m not.” You can download it now via digital outlets.
“I’m Not” follows Zero’s EP …If You Don’t Save Yourself, which was released earlier this year. In addition to the top-three Billboard rock single “Adrenaline,” the set includes collaborations with Blink-182‘s Travis Barker and Hollywood Undead.
Zero’s also released collaborations with We Came as Romans and Atreyu.
You can catch Zero 9:36 on his current tour with Neck Deep, which wraps up December 11 in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Backstreet Boys star Nick Carter has opened up about one of the “scariest” moments in his life, when his newborn daughter, Pearl, spent five days in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Speaking with People, the singer recalled the traumatic moment following his daughter’s birth in April. His wife, Lauren, had been “experiencing some minor complications” while in labor, and there were further problems after Pearl arrived.
“To see your child being born and then having to be put in the NICU … it’s the scariest thing,” Nick explained. He called the five days Pearl spent in the NICU “really emotional” and noted they were waiting for her oxygen levels to rise, but declined to go into further detail about her condition other than saying, “It was tough.”
Pearl, who is now seven months old, is now home and enjoying life with her two other siblings, five-year-old Odin and two-year-old Saoirse.
After experiencing such a scare, Nick calls it a “blessing” to watch his baby grow up healthy, adding, “I’m very happy that she’s here in our lives and we will do everything that we can to make sure that all of our kids are protected and love.”
Nick hopes that, by sharing his daughter’s story, he can “help someone else feel a little better if it did happen to them. You can make it through. Maybe that’s a silver lining.”
Nick will host Home 4 the Holidays, a virtual dinner and singalong, on December 16 to benefit the Cure 4 the Kids Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to cure and prevent childhood diseases.
Luke Bryan and Morgan Wallen have just been announced as the headlining acts for TidalWave Music Festival, a brand-new country event that’s coming to the beach of New Jersey’s Atlantic City in 2022.
The three-day fest will take place August 12-14. Luke and Morgan are each scheduled to headline one day, with an additional headliner expected to be announced soon.
Taking place alongside Atlantic City’s Boardwalk, concertgoers will be able to take in the area’s many attractions — such as saltwater taffy shops, casinos and the Steel Pier amusement park — in between sets.
Other artists performing on the main stage include Riley Green, Hardy, Runaway June, Travis Denning, Breland and more. The event will also feature a second stage, with a lineup to be announced in the coming weeks.
Tickets for TidalWave Music Festival go on sale December 13 at 10 a.m. ET. Three-day general admission passes start at $249, and VIP packages are available.
Styx and REO Speedwagon will sail away together next year on a U.S. co-headlining tour, and they’re taking Loverboy with them as their special guest.
The Live & Unzoomed Tour kicks off on May 31 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and is plotted out through an August 21 concert in Wantagh, New York. The trek, which currently features 35 dates, includes one show in Canada, an August 16 event in Toronto.
To announce the tour, a hilarious video has premiered on YouTube featuring Styx’s Tommy Shaw, REO Speedwagon’s Kevin Cronin and Loverboy’s Mike Reno chatting via Zoom about what they’ve been up to at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tickets for various dates of Live & Unzoomed Tour will go on sale to the general public on Friday, December 10, at 10 a.m. local time at LiveNation.com. Styx and REO Speedwagon will be making available VIP packages and exclusive pre-sales starting Monday, December 6, at 10 a.m. local time at StyxWorld.com and REOSpeedwagon.com.
Citi cardmembers will be able to buy pre-sale tickets for the U.S. shows beginning Tuesday, December 7, at 10 a.m. local time; visit CitiEntertainment.com for more details.
“I can’t think of a better way of touring the USA next year than with good friends we’ve known for years and performed with on many a stage,” Shaw says in a statement. “What a great night of music this will be!”
Adds Cronin, “Tommy and I have done a number of Zoom performances together during the pandemic, and REO and Styx are ready to go get UnZoomed, and out on the road for our fifth U.S. tour together. Add our great friends Mike Reno and the Loverboy guys, and I am totally psyched.”
Meanwhile, Reno declares, “Best tour of the summer…guaranteed.”
Lady Gaga is already off to a good start this awards season.
The singer/actress has been named Best Actress by the New York Film Critics Circle for her role in House of Gucci. In the Ridley Scott-directed film, Gaga plays Patrizia Reggiani, the woman who was famously convicted of arranging the murder of her ex-husband, Italian fashion heir Maurizio Gucci.
Gaga has been generally getting rave reviews for her performance, though the Gucci family has spoken out decrying the film’s portrayal of the protagonists as inaccurate.
House of Gucci is Gaga’s acting follow-up to her Oscar-nominated role in 2018’s A Star Is Born.
The New York Film Critics Circle also named Benedict Cumberbatch as Best Actor for The Power of the Dog while Drive My Car was chosen as Best Film.
New music Friday continues with Doja Cat, who gave her single, “Woman,” a music video makeover that once again takes us back to Planet Her.
The sultry video follows a queen, played by Teyana Taylor, and her generals seducing the men who want to steal her crown. The creation is rich with colorful visuals and killer choreography, which fans have come to expect with Doja’s work. However, this goes a little further than just serving as a piece of eye candy. The “Woman” music video is also interactive and urges her fans to take a crack at coding.
Doja teamed with Girls Who Code to create the DojaCode, which fans can use to unlock exclusive content in the music video. Girls Who Code claim this is “the first ever codable music video” out there and are looking forward to seeing how fans “control the story using code.”
Doja was also excited about the partnership and said in a statement, “I am so excited that Girls Who Code has partnered with me to make my ‘Woman’ music video the world’s first codable music video. Fans all over the world will get to input code via a microsite and unlock some really cool special features. It’s going to be awesome.”
“Woman” is featured on Doja’s Grammy-nominated album, Planet Her.
Thomas Rhett’s “Slow Down Summer” tells the story of young love that’s racing against the clock, with both people in the relationship desperately clinging to the time they’ve got left together before the seasons change and their busy lives pull them apart.
In his just-released music video, the singer sets a visual component to his song, following two people as they head into colder weather but can’t forget the memories of those blissful summer days.
In one scene, a young guy is driving along a snow-covered road, and when he looks over to the passenger seat, the weather instantly changes to hot and sunny, and he sees the girl he lost smiling back at him from the shotgun seat.
“Slow Down Summer” is the lead single from Thomas’ next album, Where We Started, due out in early 2022. He’s been on a creative hot streak lately, as Country Again: Side A just came out earlier this year, and Side B of that double album is due out in the fall of 2022.
Motown legends The Temptations will continue their 60th anniversary celebrations next year when they release a new studio album titled Temptations 60 on January 28.
The 12-track collection includes the recently released single “Is It Gonna Be Yes or No,” which was written, produced and features guest vocals by fellow Motown great Smokey Robinson.
Temptations 60 offers a mix of modern and classic influences and, reflecting the group’s historic catalog, offers a mix of love songs and topical tunes.
In addition to Robinson, who produced and co-wrote many of The Temptations’ early recordings, the album features contributions from a number of other producers with whom the group has collaborated over the years, including current Journey drummer Narada Michael Walden, Dennis Nelson, and Thomas “TC” Campbell.
Otis Williams, the last surviving original Temptations member, executive-produced the album and co-produced five of the tracks.
“Our new album carries with it, our legacy, our love of music and our hope that through our music we can uplift and bring people together,” Williams says. “Most of all, we want fans to enjoy it and share it with family and friends around the world. It’s a thank you gift from our hearts to all of our fans, past, present and future.”
Among the songs Otis co-produced is an updated version of “Come On,” which Williams first recorded in 1959 with his pre-Temptations outfit The Distants. The tune also features a special monologue about The Temptations’ history.
Longtime Temptations singer Ron Tyson, who joined the group in 1983, also co-produced two tracks on the album.
Temptations 60 kicks off with “Let It Reign,” which showcases the talents of Queens, New York, rapper K. Sparks. You can pre-order the album now.
Here’s the full Temptations 60 track list:
“Let It Reign” — featuring K. Sparks
“When We Were Kings”
“Is It Gonna Be Yes or No” — featuring Smokey Robinson
“Time for the People”
“Elevator Eyes”
“My Whole World Stopped Without You”
“You Don’t Know Your Woman (Like I Do)”
“How Do You Spell Love”
“Calling Out Your Name”
“I Want It Right Now”
“Breaking My Back”
“Come On”
The Three 6 Mafia and Bone Thugs-N-HarmonyVerzuz nearly became violent Thursday night as the two groups faced off at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles.
The tension began after Bizzy Bone performed “Buddah Lovaz” and accused Three 6 Mafia of disrespecting him, according to Billboard.
“Ain’t finna to be mocking me while I’m on mutha f***in’ stage,” Bizzy said. “OK? Straight the f**k up.”
Later, the Bone Thugs member threw a water bottle that nearly ignited a fight. However, security intervened as the event was paused while order was restored. Eventually, Bizzy cooled down and said, “I wanna apologize to everybody the f**k out there, on both sides…Pardon me. Let’s keep the mutha f***in’ party going.”
They then took the party to a another level with a surprise appearance by Chamillionaire to perform his Grammy Award-winning hit, “Ridin’,” with Krayzie Bone, followed by Lil Wayne for his feature on Juicy J’s “Bandz a Make Her Dance.”
Bone Thugs brought out Lil Jon and Satasha Williams, then Three 6 Mafia responded with Project Pat for his feature on Drake’s Certified Lover Boy hit “Knife Talk,” and his own hit, “Chickenhead.”
Wiz Khalifa, Young Buck and 8Ball & MJG joined Three 6 Mafia, followed by the biggest surprise of the night from a member of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Terrence Howard, who performed the group’s Oscar winning “It’s Hard out Here for a Pimp” in Hustle & Flow, arrived on stage and rapped the classic track.
The night ended with the groups hugging on stage and performing Bone Thugs-N-Harmony 1996, RIAA double-Platinum track “The Crossroads,” which was dedicated to rappers who passed away, including Eazy-E, The Notorious B.I.G., 2Pac, Nipsey Hussle and Young Dolph.
