Music

In a new cover story with Harper’s Bazaar, Beyoncé confirms that new music is indeed on its way.
 
“With all the isolation and injustice over the past year, I think we are all ready to escape, travel, love, and laugh again,” she tells the mag. “I feel a renaissance emerging, and I want to be part of nurturing that escape in any way possible.”
 
She adds that she’s been in the studio for a year and a half, meticulously crafting new songs.
 
“Sometimes it takes a year for me to personally search through thousands of sounds to find just the right kick or snare,” she says. “One chorus can have up to 200 stacked harmonies.”
 
Beyoncé says making music still feels “just as exciting as it did when I was nine years old” and nothing compares to  “the amount of love, passion, and healing that I feel in the recording studio.”
 
“Yes, the music is coming!” she says.

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Foo Fighters have announced a pair of Northeast concerts taking place next month.

The shows will be held September 15 in Syracuse, New York, and September 17 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Tickets will go on sale this Friday, August 13, at 10 a.m. ET via FooFighters.com.

Attendees must be either full vaccinated against COVID-19 or receive a negative diagnostic test within 48 hours of entering the venue.

Foo Fighters have been playing concerts this summer while celebrating their 26th anniversary after their 25th anniversary plans for 2020 were scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The outing will continue August 17 with the band’s first ever show in Alaska.

Meanwhile, you can also catch the Foos at the Bonnaroo and BottleRock Napa Valley festival in September.

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The trailer for the upcoming Oasis documentary chronicling the band’s historic 1996 concerts at England’s Knebworth Festival has been released.

The clip includes footage from the shows, along with voiceovers from awed concertgoers who were lucky enough to attend the massive gigs. You can watch it now streaming on YouTube.

Fittingly, the trailer premieres on the 25th anniversary of the first Knebworth date: August 10, 1996.

The film, simply titled Oasis Knebworth 1996, will premiere in theaters September 23. As previously reported, both Liam and Noel Gallagher are executive producers on the doc, though it’s unclear how much, if at all, the estranged brothers and former band mates worked together directly on the project.

Oasis Knebworth 1996 will be released as a live album and on Blu-ray/DVD on November 19.

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In the spirit of his fun-loving new song, “Redneck Be Like,” Thomas Rhett is trying something new. The singer grabbed a dozen or so of his closest friends to help him pull off a TikTok dance set to his new single.

It’s his first-ever dance on the social media app, and the singer jokingly wrote in his caption, “Never thought I’d see the day where I’d be doing a TikTok dance, but here we are.” 

The clip is set to the chorus of “Redneck Be Like,” and shows off Thomas’ choreographed dance moves. But the real star of the show is his hat collection: The singer and his backup dancers all wear cowboy hats in the video, which is filmed in front of a wall decorated with — you guessed it — even more hats. 

As it happens, Thomas’ wall of hats — and the room in his house where they reside — was featured in the August/September 2021 issue of House Beautiful. In the magazine, the country star and his wife, Lauren, invited fans inside their Nashville-area home, with designer April Tomlin explaining the inspirations behind their home decor. 

According to the article, TR’s hat wall was assembled from his own personal collection of cowboy hats, supplemented with others found on Etsy, and is located in a “low-key eating area in the basement” of his home. 

On TikTok, the singer invited fans to tag him in their own versions of the “Redneck Be Like” dance. 

You can also catch Thomas’ live performance of “Redneck Be Like” when he hits the road for the return of his The Center Point Road Tour this week. 

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Shaquille O’Neal is hosting a charity event in Las Vegas and he’s tapped some stars to participate that are almost as big as he is.

Justin Bieber, Kelly Clarkson, Imagine Dragons and Snoop Dogg will all perform at “The Event,” which will raise money for Shaq’s charity Foundation.  The Foundation was created to help underserved youth in Las Vegas and Atlanta, and is partnered with Boys & Girls Clubs and Communities in Schools.

Tickets for the inaugural gala, scheduled for October 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, go on sale today via AXS.com/ShaqEvent2021.

“I’m honored to have so many people in the Las Vegas community and beyond, join our efforts to help underserved youth.” said O’Neal in a statement.

He adds, “We are proud to create an inclusive event, one that everyone can be a part of, from the more approachable concert ticket options to the higher-priced table sponsorships. Together, we can provide opportunities and resources for the kids who need them the most.”

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Ed Sheeran will perform his debut album + (Plus) in its entirety next month at a special concert in London.

The multi-million-selling album, which was originally released September 9, 2011, helped start Ed on his path to superstardom, thanks to singles like “The A Team” and “Lego House.”  The gig at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire will take place September 2, and it’ll mark Ed’s first time playing that venue, which holds just 2,000, since 2011.

Music Week quotes Ed as saying, “While I’ve been lucky enough to continue playing shows across the world, Shepherds Bush Empire is still really special to me.”

“When I first set out in music, one of my main goals was to one day headline SBE and my first gig there is still one of my favorite shows that I’ve played,” he adds. “I can’t wait to get back and celebrate 10 years of + with you.”

You can enter to win tickets on Ed’s website through Sunday, August 15.

The London show will be Ed’s first headlining concert since he wrapped up his record-breaking Divide tour in August of 2019.

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As a member of Slipknot, Shawn “Clown” Crahan is used to wearing a mask. But that’s not the reason he’ll continue to wear a face covering, even in a post-pandemic world.

Speaking with Forbes, Crahan revealed that he’s “not ever going to stop wearing a mask, COVID or not.” Why? Because “people are filthy all over the world.”

“We live in a filthy world, and we live in a world where people don’t wash their hands, they wipe their nose and they open the door and then you touch it,” Clown says. “I have four children and I know what it’s like to drop your kid off at school and they come home sick and then you’re sick.”

Of course, Clown’s comments probably aren’t surprising to anyone who’s heard Slipknot’s Iowa classic, “People=S***.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Clown speaks about the progress on new Slipknot music, and how the pandemic has affected the “highly intense” recording process.

“When we were in the studio if we were in the control room and around the engineers that worked for the studio, we had to wear masks,” Crahan explains. “If we were in the live room where we were recording around each other, and we had all been tested, we didn’t have to wear masks. But, if an employee was in there we’d have to put them on.”

“Now I think about nine months ago and it was even more restrictive,” he adds. “So it’s been very challenging to say the least.”

Slipknot’s most recent album is 2019’s We Are Not Your Kind.

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Jack White is going London calling.

The White Stripes frontman has announced the opening of a Third Man Records store in the English capital city. It’ll be the label’s first international physical location, and third overall, joining shops in White’s birthplace of Detroit and his adopted hometown of Nashville.

Third Man Records London will feature two levels of retail space and a live performance venue dubbed The Blue Basement. It’ll also serve as TMR’s European headquarters.

To celebrate the store’s grand opening on September 25, Third Man is putting out a series of exclusive new releases from U.K. artists including The Jesus and the Mary Chain, Paul Weller and Gina Birch of The Raincoats. The pieces will be available at all three TMR physical stores and online, though special limited edition yellow vinyl versions will be exclusive to the London location.

We’d tell you to alert the Queen of England, but then again, she already knows about it.

For more info, you can visit ThirdManRecords.com.

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The Kid LAROI had both good news and bad news yesterday, but then it suddenly became all good.

When the Australian rapper found out Monday that he was number one on the Billboard 100 with “Stay,” he also posted a video announcing that he and his girlfriend had COVID-19.  But then, about 20 seconds into the video, you see him announce that he’s just received a text stating that he was now COVID-19-free.

“Wow that’s so crazy just got the text I’m now COVID free now as well lol. God works in mysterious ways,” he tweeted.

On Instagram, he posted an image of the Billboard Hot 100 with his song at number one, and then wrote a lengthy caption expressing how grateful he is for being able to say he’s topped the chart in the U.S.

“WOAH. number f**king 1!!! first of all, thank you to every single one of you mfs for streaming, buying and supporting the f**ck out of this record & thank you to my brother @justinbieber for being apart of this and going so hard for me constantly,” he wrote.

“This is not only a big moment for me, but a really big moment for Australia. growing up all I ever wanted to do was ‘make it big’ in America and show everyone what we have to offer,” he continued.

He concluded. “I LOVE YOU I LOVE I LOVE YOU ALL FAM AND AGAIN THANK YOU SO F**KIN MUCH. NONE OF WHAT I DO IS POSSIBLE WITHOUT YOU!!!!”

He also reposted his “Stay” duet partner Justin Bieber‘s Instagram Story, in which the “Peaches” singer wrote, “Congrats bro thank you for allowing me to be a part of it. ur the one.”

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