R.E.M. kicked off a five night residency in Dublin, Ireland, which was billed as a “working rehearsal” for their 14th studio album Accelerate.
The shows took place at the Olympia Theatre, and featured live debuts of songs off that album, many of which were still considered a work in progress.
Throughout the five nights they also played several songs they hadn’t performed live in decades.
In 2009, R.E.M. released a live album Live at The Olympia, featuring performances from the five nights of shows. The two-CD release featured 39 songs, and included an accompanying DVD with a documentary, This Is Now a Show, about the residency.
Cole Swindell‘s Spanish Moss is now creeping into the ears of country fans, after the release of his fifth studio album on Friday.
The 21-track collection already includes his 13th #1, “Forever to Me,” written for his wedding to Courtney Little on June 12, 2024.
Even though it’s a serious, sentimental song, Cole’s got jokes.
“It felt like it took forever to me to get there,” he quips. “I could not be more thankful. … The ones that make you a little nervous, that are personal sometimes are big risks that are worth it.”
He tells ABC Audio, “And for me to have a song that special for me, our first dance at our wedding, my wife could have said, ‘Hey, you wrote a song for me for our wedding.’ But to say it’s a #1 song is something that nobody can ever take away. And that’s just, it’s very special.”
Something else that’s pretty special? Cole and Courtney are expecting their first child, a little girl, in late August.
Meanwhile, his new single from Spanish Moss travels to the opposite end of the spectrum. It’s “We Could Always Move On.”
The Beach Boys will be spending July Fourth in Washington, D.C.
Mike Love and the band are booked to play A Capitol Fourth, the annual PBS special celebrating Independence Day.
The celebration will air July 4 at 8 p.m. ET and will feature a telecast of the fireworks live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol.
The program will be hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro and will also feature performances by The Temptations, Trombone Shorty, country stars Josh Turner and LOCASH, Yolanda Adams and others. There will also be a special tribute in honor of the 250th anniversary of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, as well as tributes for World War II heroes and first responders.
And speaking of The Beach Boys, following the news of Brian Wilson’s death on June 11 at age 82, music fans have been revisiting the band’s catalog.
Billboard reports that for the first time in over a decade, The Beach Boys have returned to the top 40 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. Their 2003 compilation, Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach Boys, climbed to #14.
The last time The Beach Boys were in the top 40 was with their 29th studio album, That’s Why God Made Radio, which was released in 2012 and got as high as #3. It was the last album to feature Wilson.
Lizzo flexes her rap skills on her surprise mixtape, My Face Hurts From Smiling, a project she feels has healed her depression. The mixtape, she tells Rolling Stone, was a spontaneous one inspired by the success of her freestyle to “Whim Whammie” by Pluto and YK Niece.
“The process for this mixtape has been honestly one of the most rewarding, fulfilling, exciting, and healing I’ve had in a long time as an artist and as a person,” Lizzo says. “It’s been the happiest two weeks I’ve had in such a long time, and I genuinely feel like it cured my depression. And you don’t realize you’re really depressed until you’re out of it, but I was like, ‘Oh, wait, I was really down bad. I needed this.’”
Working on the mixtape, Lizzo adds, reminded her of how it feels to have creative freedom, especially now that she’s a mainstream star signed to Atlantic Records.
“It felt really, really good and refreshing not being told what to do,” Lizzo says. “And a lot of times it’s out of protection for me, because I also am in a place now where there’s certain things I can’t post on the internet. There’s certain things I can’t say anymore. There’s certain things I can’t put on my TikTok, though I really want to. And that was really suffocating me because the only thing that brings me joy in this life is expressing myself.”
My Face Hurts From Smiling, Lizzo clarifies to Rolling Stone, is a different sound and vibe than what fans will hear on her upcoming album.
“The album that I’m putting out is two years of really constructed … my pop, rock, rap genre of music,” she says. “It’s a little moodier, it’s a little darker. It talks about the dark times.”
Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood; Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Rod Stewart‘s “Legends Slot” performance Sunday afternoon at the U.K.’s Glastonbury festival featured not one, not two, but three different guest stars.
Lately, Rod’s live sets have included his version of the Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes song “If You Don’t Know Me by Now.” So on Sunday, about 15 songs into his set, he was joined by Mick Hucknall of the band Simply Red, who had a #1 hit with the tune in 1989. The two sang the song together.
Rod had previously teased that his former bandmate in the Faces, Ronnie Wood — who now plays guitar for The Rolling Stones — would be joining him at Glastonbury, and so he did: The two teamed up to perform the Faces’ classic song “Stay With Me.”
Wood then stuck around to play on a version of “Hot Legs,” during which Rod was joined by Lulu, the Scottish singer who’s best known in the U.S. for her 1967 #1 hit “To Sir With Love.”
Rod — who performed plenty of his own hits, including “Maggie May,” “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?,” “Some Guys Have All the Luck” and “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)” — closed his set with “Sailing,” a song that flopped in the U.S., but is a beloved classic in the U.K. In fact, it remains his biggest-selling single there.
Robert Smith; Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images; Olivia Rodrigo; Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images
Olivia Rodrigo can’t stop welcoming guests to her festival performances.
When she played New York’s Governors Ball on June 7, she brought on David Byrne of Talking Heads for a rendition of that band’s hit “Burning Down the House.” When she played London’s Hyde Park on Saturday as part of the British Summer Time concert series, she welcomed Ed Sheeran for a performance of his hit “The A Team.” And when she headlined the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival on Sunday, her special guest was Robert Smith of Rock & Roll Hall of Famers The Cure.
Calling him “a Glastonbury legend” and “a personal hero of mine,” Olivia introduced Smith, who came onstage wearing a sparkly black top and carrying a black-and-white acoustic guitar. The two played two of The Cure’s best-known tunes: “Friday I’m in Love” and “Just Like Heaven.”
In November of 2024, The Cure released their first new album in 14 years, Songs of a Lost World. They’re said to be working on at least two more albums, one of which will be a “companion piece” toSongs of a Lost World.
Rodrigo will next play June 30 and July 1 in Manchester, England, followed by Denmark’s Roskilde Festival.
Beyoncé‘s hometown show in Houston Saturday was marred by a scary moment.
Towards the end of her show, Bey performs “16 Carriages” while riding in a red Cadillac that’s suspended in the air. But on Saturday night, the car began tipping to one side, and then got stuck that way, leading to Beyonce saying, “Stop. Stop. Stop.” As seen on social media, the car was eventually lowered down; Bey told the crowd, “Thank you for your patience.”
After she returned to the stage to continue the song, she said, “I want to thank y’all for loving me. If ever I fall, I know y’all will catch me.” She then concluded the show.
On Instagram, Beyonce posted a photo of the car tipping over in mid-air, along with a collection of other photos and videos from the show at NRG Stadium.
A statement posted on Instagram by Bey’s company, Parkwood, reads, “Tonight in Houston, at NRG Stadium, a technical mishap caused the flying car, a prop Beyonce uses to circle the stadium and see her fans up close, to tilt. She was quickly lowered and no one was inured. The show continued without incident.”
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Paul Simon has been forced to cancel his June 28 and 29 shows at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music due to back problems.
“Paul has been struggling with chronic and intense back pain,” read the announcement on social media. “Today it became unmanageable and demands immediate attention.”
The post notes that both shows will not be rescheduled immediately. However, it adds, “We are hopeful after this minor surgical procedure which has been scheduled in the next few days, Paul will be able to complete the tour as well as look into returning to make up these dates.”
Full refunds will be given to those with tickets to the two Philly shows.
Simon is currently on his A Quiet Celebration tour, which is his first full tour since 2018 and his first tour since releasing his 2023 album Seven Psalms. His next show is scheduled for July 7 in Long Beach, California. A complete list of dates can be found at PaulSimon.com.
Fitz and the Tantrums have shared a new song called “OK OK OK,” a track off the band’s upcoming album, Man on the Moon.
“‘OK OK OK’ doesn’t ask politely—it kicks the door in and drags you to the dance floor,” says frontman Michael “Fitz” Fitzpatrick. “It’s about dropping your brain and actually being in your body for once. That lightning-bolt feeling when the right song hits at exactly the wrong time—and it saves your a** anyways.”
“OK OK OK,” which is out now on digital platforms, is the third track to be released from Man on the Moon, following “Ruin the Night” and the title track. The album will arrive in full on July 25.
Fitz and the Tantrums will launch a U.S. tour in July.
Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Blue Jacket Fashion Show
It’s been 20 years since the release of Jeezy‘s Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101, which he now considers “the blueprint” to his success.
“When I look at 2Pac’s All Eyez On Me and Makaveli, more so Makaveli, it was the blueprint for me — because it just had real rules and guidelines in it. Beliefs, values — he was a revolutionary,” he explains to Billboard.
Similarly, Jeezy believes his journey as a corporate thug served as an inspiration to others. “I believe I was able to motivate because of what I had been through, and what I had to motivate people through,” he tells Billboard.
Given his wins and accomplishments over the years, he notes that “the proof of concept is there” as he overcame his obstacles to be the successful man he is today.
“I told you what I was gonna do. Corporate thugging and being a soul survivor. That’s what this is. Look at all the things I endure and all the things I was able to navigate. That’s what a soul survivor does,” he says.
Jeezy tells Billboard that TM:101 encompasses his journey, and is generally a great representation of who he is and what he’s about.
“If there was nothing else in the world, no book or other mixtapes and albums to represent me, I think people can see who I am and my character, my moral compass, my integrity and everything I’m about in that one body of work,” he shares. “That’s why I call it ‘the blueprint.’ That’s him, Jay ‘Jeezy’ Jenkins.”
