U2 Fined for Noise

U2 was fined by the city of Barcelona last week for playing too long and too loudly during their concert rehearsals last year. Apparently, the band went two hours over schedule with their playing and offended the delicate nature of the citizens living nearby. Isn’t it a bit late to fine them over something that happened a year ago? Where was the complaint when the noise was going on? Anyway, U2 paid $22,000 and promised never to disrupt Barcelona again. I find it ironic that the concert took place at a soccer stadium which happens to be the farthest thing to a place known for peace.

Lilith Fair Charity a Success

Even though this summer’s Lilith Fair had to cancel a lot of dates due to poor ticket sales, the tour still managed to raise over $500,000 for North American charity organizations. Sarah McLachlan said “I have a moral and social responsibility as a human being to give back what I can. Lilith 2010 was an amazing experience for me on so many levels. It felt so great to be back out on the road and sharing the stage with so many talented women. For me, Lilith has always represented a sense of community, and that’s the greatest thing I take away from these shows. To be able to create an environment where both established artists and up-and-comers can join together, learn from one another and feed off each other’s energy is such a great gift.”

U2 Tours with Jay-Z

U2 recently announced that the dates for the Australian leg of their U2360° Tour. The rock band also announced one big opening act in the form of Jay-Z. Who knew that the rapper actually still opens tours instead of headlining them? Tickets for the Aussie dates go on sale on September 3. The tour will make a stop in Auckland on November 25, Melbourne on December 1, Brisbane on December 8, Sydney on December 13 and Perth on December 18. I am so jealous! U2 and Jay-Z could easily make a huge draw and definitely has the capability to rock the house down.

Dr. Dre, Justin Bieber’s professor

After the collaboration with Ludacris and Sean Kingston, Justin Bieber is still snooping around in the hip hop world. Recently he has been in the studio together with the producer and rapper Dr. Dre. Other people wait in line for a long time for a recording session with Dre, but not Justin. “I had the honor to be in the same studio with the legendary Dr. Dre. We recorded a few beats, and he gave me some advice. I was hypnotized. Can anyone blame me?” posted Justin on Twitter. At the moment Justin Bieber is on a North American tour to promote his latest material “My World 2.0”.

Alicia Keys Splits with Manager

After a ten-year long business partnership, Alicia Keys and her manager Jeff Robinson have decided to sever ties and stop working together. The two will continue to collaborate and produce future albums but the singer will be looking over her own career. Her company, AK Worldwide, will take over duties such as tour schedules, licensing to film, television and new business development. Their joint statement reads “This decision will allow Alicia more control over all aspects of her career from singing and songwriting, to leading many business ventures and social causes. The decision was mutually agreed upon and amicable.” I hope it’s all for the best.

Lady Gaga VS Haters

A group of protesters greeted Lady Gaga fans at her concert in St. Louis last Saturday. The group held signs with homophobic phrases and cried out that the princess of pop was immoral. But we all know that the singer and her fans stand for diversity and love. In response to the haters, Lady Gaga took to her Twitter telling fans to ignore the protests. She wrote “Their message is of hatred and divisiveness, but inside at the Monsterball we preach love and unity. My request to all little monsters and public authority is to pay these hate criminals no mind. Do not interact with them, or try to fight. Do not respond to any of their provocation. Don’t waste your words, or feelings, no matter what you hear or see. You are more fortunate and blessed than they are, and in your heart just pray for them. Although I respect and do not judge anyone for their personal views on any politics or religion, this group in particular to me, is violent and dangerous.”

U2: Musics highest-earning stars

Bono and his band U2 have taken the number one spot in a magazine’s list of top-earning musicians, according to reports.

The Irish rockers hit the top spot in Forbes magazine’s list, which counted musicians’ earnings from June 2009 to June 2010.

U2 made grossed an enormous $130m from their 360 tour.

US rock band AC/DC took the number two spot as their tour helped them gross a massive $114m.

If I Were A Boy singer Beyoncé, 28, came in at number three, netting $87m from her world tour and deals with brands such as L’Oréal, while Lady Gaga, 24, made number seven on the list amassing $62m in the year to date.

Other musicians featured in the influential US magazine’s top 10 top earners include the Black Eyed Peas, Coldplay and Madonna.

Source: Splash News

Eminem lip-synching?

Scottish fans are acusing Eminem of lip-synching his performance at T in The Park festival. Fans were “disgusted” by the fact that Eminen had his microphone turned off and only mimed his rapping. There actually are still debating weather Eminem was lip-synching or he was rapping along to the backing track. Another mkistake he made was referring to Edinburgh quite a few times, when actually he was in Balado, half way between Dundee and Edinburgh. Last time Eminem toured in the UK was five years ago. On this new tour he sang songs from his whole career, including from the successful “Recovery”.

Bono ready to resume U2 tour

U2 frontman Bono has recovered from his recent back surgery and is ready to resume the band’s US tour.

The group recently announced in a video message on their website that they will be kick-starting their tour again now that Bono, 50, has recovered.

They were forced to postpone the tour – and pull out of this year’s Glastonbury Festival – after Bono needed emergency surgery after suffering a serious spinal injury.

He told Eonline.com: “I’m ready, rebuilt by German engineering.

“Better design, I’m told.”

The rockers have rearranged their North American tour dates for next summer and the European leg of their tour is still set to go ahead on 6 August.

The Beautiful Day singer said: “I’m very well. I can sit. I can stand. I can move around a bit. Feeling strong, feeling confident, know what I’m saying?”

He added: “I actually wanted to apologise for the trouble that this injury has put you all through and those of you that bought tickets and organised hotels and travel plans, it’s a very big deal… we don’t take you for granted.

“It was not a lot of fun for me, the injury was quite serious.”

Source: Splash News

American Idol Tour Tanks

Considering their crappy ratings and press from losing Simon Cowell, it should be no surprise that the American Idol Live tour isn’t doing so well. I would have actually been surprised if I found out that it was doing well. Things are so bad that organizers behind the tour are wrapping the show up sooner than expected. Eight concerts have already been cancelled and instead of ending the tour’s run on September 16th, there will be a two week hiatus beginning August 31st before the final September 14th show. Neither American Idol nor Live Nation gave a reason for the cancellation.

Scissor Sisters Announce Tour

The Scissor Sisters have announced that they will be touring the US for a set of dates in August and September. The band released a statement saying “We are so thrilled to be back out on the road in the USA, it’s going to be our best tour ever and we can’t wait to see our fans! It’s been too long. We’d also like to thank everyone who’s bought the album, it’s been lodged firmly in the iTunes top ten this last week, and that’s mostly to do with the loyal fans that have supported us through the years.” Are you going to see them in concert?

Taylor Momsen Kicks Off Vans Warped Tour

Taylor Momsen and her band The Pretty Reckless kicked off the Vans Warped Tour in Carson, California this past Friday. The 16-year old former ‘Gossip Girl’ actress turned rock star and her band performed three songs from their self-titled EP which was released earlier this month. Taylor also rocked out on two new songs called ‘Since You’re Gone’ and ‘Miss Nothing’. Their music is good but as far as how Taylor looks, I’m traumatized. Her clothes just keep getting smaller and grosser with her eye makeup getting bigger and darker. I’m starting to think she can’t take it off anymore. And just to gross you out even more, one concertgoer said that they saw a tampon string hanging out from under Taylor’s dress.

Rihanna Cancels in Seattle

Rihanna has cancelled her scheduled concert for this Friday at the White River Amphitheatre in Washington. Live Nation is claiming that the cancellation of the show was due to production changes but we all know the truth. This tour is just not selling well in North America and no one was buying the tickets. This most recent cancellation follows the downsizing of venues in Arizona and Texas. I feel sort of bad for the Barbadian singer but with the mediocre music that she put out and the fact that she’s touring with dirty pop star Ke$ha, what did she expect?

Ke$has summer concert in New York axed

Pop star Ke$ha’s summer concert in New York has been axed after riots broke out following a gig featuring R&B artist Drake and boy band Hanson.

The blonde Tick Tock singer was due to belt out her hits in a free performance at South Street Seaport.

But venue owners have pulled the plug amid security concerns, blaming sponsor Paper Magazine for poorly planning a concert on June 15, when chaos erupted among fans.

More than double the expected crowd packed onto the pier and grew angry when Drake was late appearing on stage.

Bottles and chairs were hurled and police were forced to cancel the show.

Chart-topper Ke$ha was slated to perform at the open-air venue next month, but this has now been axed.

Source: Splash News

New Kelis Video

Kelis has a new music video out for her latest single ‘4th of July (Fireworks)’. The 30-year old singer, who is set to release her new album ‘Flesh Tone’ on July 6, will be performing on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight! I wonder if this is the song that she will be singing or doing a medley or something. In other Kelis news, she will be joining Swedish electro pop artist Robyn on the ‘All Hearts’ tour which will kick off on July 23. Will you be catching her appearance on Leno’s show and at least one concert?

New Video from B.o.B and Hayley Williams

B.o.B. has a new music video out for their song ‘Airplanes’ which also features Paramore’s lead singer Hayley Williams. I say that this is the song for the summer! In other news, Hayley and her band will hit the road as they will play at the Southside Festival in Neuhausen, Germany before performing in concerts all across Europe over the summer. Why are they just touring Europe? I want to see Paramore too! I wonder when they’re going to start making new music. I’m having withdrawals for them already. Can you tell just how big of a groupie I am for them?

Kanye West Surprise

Kanye West gave the audience at the Isle of Wight Festival a huge treat when the rapper joined Jay-Z on stage. I’m sure that a lot of people were happy to see that go down. As big of a douche that he is, I actually miss the guy and I am so ready for Kanye to return to the music scene and his little surprise at the concert is definitely the right way to set things off. I wonder if he will be making any more surprise entrances soon. Just as long as it’s not when he’s going to interrupt someone, I’m good with Kanye.

Ke$ha on Top

Ke$ha recently got some great news are her song ‘Your Love is My Drug’ is number 1 on both of the Top 40 airplay monitors this year. The song is the 23-year old singer’s second number 1 single and third Top 10 track. Congratulations are definitely in order! I’m happy for her. Now that Ke$ha is moving on up in the music world, maybe she can finally work on her live performances. They still suck and she needs to improve before she hits the road to tour with Rihanna on July 2. I’m not going to see it if she still sucks.

New Music from Pink

Pink has unveiled the cover of her new single ‘Glitter in the Air’. The 30-year old pop rock singer will debut her song on iTunes on June 16. Her official site said “Mark your calendars to get both the studio and live from Australia versions of the song.” If you remember, the song is the same one she performed at the Grammys where she received a standing ovation. Pink is currently on tour in Europe but getting in some time for herself too. She recently went on Twitter saying “its a beautiful day for a long motorcycle ride through the country with my lovely boys. [G]otta put my high heel boots on…”

Walk Out on Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston’s tour is a certified disaster as hundreds of people from her Denmark concert walked out midway through, complaining about the singer’s poor performance and faltering voice. One critic wrote “She looked and sounded like a person who doesn’t have many years left to live. At the end of the show she looked like she was ready to explode.” Whitney even went after a section of the audience when some fans booed after she made a speech paying tribute to Michael Jackson. I say just throw in the towel now. She’s never going to be the singer she once was.