Music

Maroon 5 has announced new 2024 dates for their M5LV The Residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas, and the 16 new shows go on sale December 9 at 10 a.m. PT via Ticketmaster. Guitarist James Valentine says they’ve been pleasantly surprised at how well the residency, which launched in early 2023, has been going. 

“We were a little apprehensive. We didn’t know about the crowds and how they were going to react or if we were going to get the same sort of energy that we would get from being on the road,” James tells ABC Audio, saying the “amazing” crowds “really brought it every single night.”

“I think everybody comes to Vegas to have a good time, so there was sort of like a Friday night energy even on the Wednesday night shows,” he adds.

And he loves having fans come to them.

“For us, who have been in the game for a few years now … it was very nice to just set up camp and be in one place,” says James. 

James says singer Adam Levine, a big gambler, has even been “controlling himself a little bit more.” However, James laughs, “I did start playing craps maybe a little bit more than I should … I probably need to slow down a little bit.”

James says they’re “definitely going to change some stuff up” for 2024. So for fans who missed them in 2023, “You get a second chance. It’s an amazing time every single night … it’s a little more intimate. And you just can’t match that Vegas energy. So you’ve got to come check it out.”

Shows have been added for May 17, 18, 22, 25, 26, 29, 31; June 1; September 27, 28; and October: 2, 4, 5, 9, 11, 12.

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On Royal Blood‘s new album, Back to the Water Below, the band continues to experiment and tinker with their sound after they took an unexpected turn into dance-influenced music with their last record, 2021’s Typhoons. Speaking with ABC Audio, frontman Mike Kerr shares how making Typhoons opened the duo’s eyes to different avenues they could pursue with future music.

“It freed us up to not let our limitations kind of hold us back,” Kerr says.

”Typhoons just invited the right amount of extra layers and production, and it broadened the palette,” he adds. “And I think we kind of walked into [Back to the Water Below] with that same palette in our hand.”

Not only that, but Royal Blood felt freer to select and combine the colors on that palette in different ways. As a result, Back to the Water Below is perhaps Royal Blood’s most dynamic and diverse-sounding record.

“[An album] doesn’t have to be all one thing,” Kerr muses. “That was quite liberating for us, to kind of have all these different gears and use all of them.”

Overall, Kerr felt “empowered” to keep experimenting with Back to the Water Below coming off of Typhoons, which helped reinforce why he wanted to make music in the first place.

“I felt like, ‘You know what? We can do whatever we want as long as we like it,'” Kerr says. “That mantra is the same as it was at the beginning, and it shouldn’t be any different now. It should be an indulgent affair.”

Back to the Water Below is out now.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

If you have a favorite Christmas album, chances are super-producer David Foster was behind it: His resume includes producing hit holiday albums by Michael Bolton, Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Michael Bublé and Josh Groban. But if you want Foster to point to which of his productions is the ultimate Christmas album … it’s Bublé all the way.

“They all have a different place in my heart … they all did extremely well, like, millions and millions of copies each,” David tells ABC Audio. “But I think when you drop the needle on, and when you hear Michael Bublé go, ‘It’s beginning to look a lot,’ that just feels like Christmas to me. And that album … it sells a million copies every year.”

David says Michael’s 2011 bestselling holiday album is so quintessentially Christmas because of his voice.

“Nobody sounds like Michael Bublé,” Foster says. “He just sounds like Christmas. He’s got a combination of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin and Elvis Presley all mixed up into one. And it’s just, his vocals are just insanely great.”

However, David’s quick to note that Josh Groban‘s 2007 holiday album was no slouch either, especially when it comes to sales.

“Josh’s album Noël was the biggest-selling overall album of 2007, let alone just Christmas,” he says. “So, I dunno, they’ve all just done so well, and I’m proud of all them.”

David is also proud of Christmas Songs, the newly expanded version of the EP he and his wife, Katharine McPhee, released last year. It features their single “Carol of the Bells,” as well as favorites like “Jingle Bell Rock” and the modern Christmas classic “My Grown-Up Christmas List,” which David co-wrote in 1989.

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In the upcoming docuseries Are Bass Players Human Too?, Rush‘s Geddy Lee interviews fellow bassists about their lives outside playing the four-string. That apparently includes learning how to operate heavy machinery from Primus‘ Les Claypool.

Consequence.net has premiered a clip from the show, in which Claypool introduces Lee to his own personal excavator.

“I come from a long line of auto mechanics,” Claypool shares. “My dad was a mechanic, my grandpa was a mechanic, my uncles were mechanics. I just like cool machinery.”

“I’m trying to show the world that a bass player can do many things,” Lee remarks. “This, I didn’t expect, I have to admit.”

Are Bass Players Human Too? premieres Tuesday, December 5, on Paramount+. Other guests include Nirvana‘s Krist Novoselic, Metallica‘s Robert Trujillo and Hole‘s Melissa Auf der Maur.

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Selena Gomez attended the 2023 Academy Museum Gala on Sunday with her friends Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz to celebrate the anniversary of when they met. The trio first connected at the same event the previous year and have since become close pals. Brooklyn posted photos with Selena and Nicola on Instagram, writing, “Our anniversary xx,” in the caption.

What if she told you none of it was accidental? Taylor Swift is on the short list to become Time‘s Person of the Year for 2023. Time credits this to her wildly successful Eras Tour, its accompanying record-breaking concert film, and the release of her rerecorded versions of Speak Now and 1989. She previously graced the cover of Time‘s Person of the Year in 2017 alongside other “silence breakers” who spoke out about sexual misconduct.

Speaking of Taylor, she has responded to Mariska Hargitay naming her cat after her song “Karma.” “Are you serious?!!!! Nothing has ever come more full circle,” Taylor commented on Mariska’s Instagram post. “LOVE THIS SO MUCH!!” She ended her caption with a cat with heart eyes emoji, naturally.

Harry Styles‘ brand Pleasing is doubling down on the three new scents used for its first-ever fragrance collection. The smells will now be available to enjoy in scented candles, named to match the fragrances: Rivulets, Closeness and Bright, Hot. They’re available for purchase now from Pleasing’s online store.

Yeah! Usher posted a TikTok dancing with his “Standing Next to You” collaborator, Jung Kook, on Sunday. The duo danced to Usher’s hit track “Yeah!” Usher also teased that there is more in the works from them. “Stay tuned,” he captioned the video.   

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