Concert Dates, Concert Tour News, Artist Information

John Legend joins other artists to launch online music magazine

R&B star John Legend has the perfect surname considering his talents. His fans certainly recognize that—hopefully they’ll check out a new endeavor of his that will benefit AIDS awareness and those infected by HIV in Africa. According to a Billboard story, the new magazine, called RED(WIRE), launches Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, and getting a subscription will give readers access to exclusive songs that participating artists make available through the site. A $5 subscription gets you a new issue every week, and new users can give two new issues to friends in order to get them interested.

U2, Coldplay, the Dixied Chicks and many more artists are allowing some of their music to be hosted on the site so that readers will have access to those select songs. The Killers, Elton John, The Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant even teamed up for one exclusive song. Elvis Costello has offered a few of his own tracks. And, of course, John Legend has contributed his considerable talent as well.

Whether you get the magazine or not, consider also seeing Legend live by getting concert tickets. John Legend tickets are available at StubHub.com.

Lil Wayne and his awesome album cover

Pitchfork seems to be astounded by Lil Wayne’s recent album cover. And why shouldn’t anyone be? It’s definitely a different tact for the young rapper, featured on his new record with angel wings in what appears to be a river of blood, with a babe (his new son?) cradled in his arms. Is this 1986 and is Lil Wayne in fact a metal artist?

The Drought is Over: Part Six certainly has a dramatic flair to it. The best part of this cover? Undoubtedly the fact that the baby is wearing converse hi-tops. This is all a bit egotistical, and for that reason amusing, but one has to appreciate the ambition of Weezy. In addition to this cover, he’s given the world a host of new tour dates, which ensures that you’ll have a chance to see the world’s greatest rapper, as he refers to himself, when he comes by your hometown. Concert tickets will probably sell out pretty fast, though.

Make sure you get your Lil Wayne tickets at StubHub.com.

All Hope Will Be Gone, If You Don’t See Slipknot Live!

Slipknot has announced an upcoming headlining tour in support of its August album release called All Hope Is Gone.  The band will be taking over concert stages across the nation starting January 23 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota and is planning to stay on the road until mid-March.  Some other stops include: Des Moines, Iowa; Indianapolis, Indiana; Nashville, Tennessee and San Antonio, Texas, among other.

Slipknot is a well-known heavy metal band that hails from Des Moines, Iowa that first formed in 1995.  The independent release, Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. followed a year later.  Their self-titled debut studio album was released in 1999 and was soon followed by Iowa in 2001 and Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) in 2004.  Their fourth studio studio effort is All Hope Is Gone, which debuted at the top spot on the Billboard 200 charts.  Be sure to get your very own pair of Slipknot tickets as soon as possible.

Third Straight Number One for Beyonce

Congrats Beyonce! The diva scored her third straight No. 1 debut on The Billboard 200 with the double-disc I Am ... Sasha Fierce this week. Released via Music World/Columbia, the album has shifted 482,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. “If I Were a Boy” and “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” are two hits from the album, which cited credit to both Beyonce and her new alter-ego Sasha Fierce. These are competitive sales for Beyonce, whose 2003 solo debut Dangerously in Love debuted with 317,000 and 2006 follow-up B-Day shifted 541,000.

In other Beyonce news, the premier for Cadillac Records was this week (the film chronicles the rise and fall of legendary label Chess Records). Beyonce plays the one and only Etta James and contributes a cover of James’ “At Last” to the soundtrack, which will be released Dec. 2 via Columbia. Cadillac Records hits the big screen Dec. 5 in the U.S. and Song BMG Music Entertainment chairman Andrew Lack (who produced the film with Sony BMG Films executive VP Sonia Sondervan) says it shows “a Beyonce I don’t think anyone’s seen yet.”

Get your Beyonce tickets at StubHub.com.

Miley Cyrus’s Sweet 16

You may know her as her alter-ego, Hannah Montana, but the talented girl behind it all is really Miley Cyrus and it is Cyrus who is celebrating her Sweet 16 Birthday this year.  Already the young star closed down Disneyland for a private celebration with friends but her father, Billy Ray Cyrus had other plans for the perfect gift for his singing sensation daughter.  Cyrus bought his daughter her very own recording studio, saying that Miley did not want a Mercedes, but a new place to record her music.

Billy Ray Cyrus also hopes to spend time in the studio as well, although Miley doesn’t seem quite as keen on the idea.  We’ll have to keep tabs if there are any father-daughter melodies scheduled to be released sometime soon.  Be sure to make a little birthday wish for Miss Miley and keep an eye out for upcoming releases that most likely will have been recorded in her brand new music studio!  Get your Miley Cyrus tickets from Stubhub.com. today!

Animal Collective song leaks on web—but the Web Sheriff is there to plug it up

Who watches the Watchmen? Or the Internet, for that matter? ISPs all have policies regarding what’s appropriate/legal content and what’s not, but they don’t always enforce it. That’s apparently where companies like Web Sheriff step in.

Stereogum reports that indie band Grizzly Bear, who are fans of freak-folkers Animal Collective, got their hands on one of the band’s new songs (which was not ripped by them) and liked it so much they posted it on the Grizzly Bear Web site. Within a short time, Web Sheriff got to policing, requesting the band take down the song and saying that their blog was the source of a “global leak.” The band posted an apology and carried on. But Stereogum has been blogging about the Web Sheriff for a little while now—there’s more to read here—and there are questions being asked by bloggers about what their role is online. They “police” these blogs, but they also leave comments thanking sites for reviewing apparent clients. Sometimes these blogs don’t have any .mp3 samples up, so many feel like in those cases, the Sheriff’s presence is unjustified.

In any case, Animal Collective is probably happy to know someone’s watching out for their music. If you were hoping to hear them live, get some concert tickets! Animal Collective tickets can be bought or sold online at StubHub.com.

Kanye West and Chris Brown Big Winners at American Music Awards

The American Music Awards were held Sunday night and Chris Brown and Kanye West were among the biggest winners. Although West threw a tantrum four years ago when he lost the Favorite New Artist award, the rapper took home two trophies last night (Favorite Male Rap/Hip-Hop Artist and Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album for 2007’s Graduation) and offered advice to his contemporaries: “It’s our responsibility as musicians to keep pushing each other. We will be the new Beatles, the new (Jimi) Hendrix. I want to be Elvis.” Brown was awarded the night’s top honor, Artist of the Year, as well as Favorite Male Artist in both Soul/R&B and Pop/Rock categories. Backstage the 19-year-old told Billboard.com, “I was shocked. I’m so thankful and grateful. I thought Coldplay should have won the award, but I’ll take it.” Brown’s rumored leading lady Rihanna walked away with Favorite Female Artist in both Soul/R&B and Pop/Rock categories and performed “Rehab” for an enthusiastic crowd.

Alicia Keys’ album As I Am won in both Soul/R&B and Pop/Rock album categories and Annie Lennox won the Award of Merit, telling the audience, “I never thought I would live to see the day that I could be 53 years told standing on a stage. It’s been an incredible journey. Music: my friend, my accompaniment through life.” Among the star-studded lineup of performers were Beyonce, Ne-Yo, Miley Cyrus, Ne-Yo, Christina Aguilera, the New Kids on the Block, the Pussycat Dolls, the Jonas Brothers, Coldplay and Annie Lennox.

To be in the audience at next year’s show, get your American Music Awards tickets at StubHub.com.

Everybody’s a critic—even the Chinese government

Well, the reviews are in. For the most part, Guns ’N’ Roses first album of original material in about two decades has been warmly received as a long-overdue rock record. But they’ve garnered a few negative reviews, as well—the loudest being from the Chinese government, who clearly object to the album’s title, Chinese Democracy, and the title track it’s named after, about the oppressed spiritual group Falun Gong.

“According to my knowledge, a lot of people don’t like this kind of music because it’s too noisy and too loud,” said foreign minister Qin Gang, who clearly doesn’t know how to rock. The quote comes from a BBC article on the disappointment the Chinese government seems to be expressing for Chinese Democracy turning “it’s spear point on China.”

If you aren’t suffering from culture shock while listening to GNR, than you might actually enjoy getting concert tickets to see them live. Guns ’N’ Roses tickets can be purchased at StubHub.com.

Boy George arrested for chaining male escort

Boy George has found himself in spots of trouble with the law in the past, but recent events are pretty hard to believe. George O’Dowd, as he’s known to his family, was arrested recently after being charged for chaining and beating a male escort whom he had accused of hacking into his computer.

There are plenty of sordid details in this little story, all of which can be found in a recent BBC report. There’s certainly sex and drugs involved, and O’Dowd appears to be providing the rock ’n’ roll (even if his music as Boy George might not be the most rockin’ stuff the ’80s produced). You wouldn’t picture the person who sang “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?” would ever be accused of this, but then, with prior drug arrests, it’s hard to tell if there’s some credibility to the escort’s story.

It’s safe to assume you won’t be able to see Boy George live for a while, but concert tickets to other ’80s acts can be found at StubHub.com.

Jay-Z and Coldplay to tour together

You wouldn’t imagine the Brit-pop of Coldplay and the hip-hop of Jay-Z have much to do with one another. But the music world makes strange bedfellows. Apparently, the rap superstar (who has collaborated with Coldplay in the past) will be joining the British rockers on their upcoming tour. Not their entire tour, of course, but a few select dates will nab you two great artists for your money.

While the band only has a few dates left in America, most of their upcoming dates are in Europe, and specifically in their native U.K. Still, that’s pretty exciting news. Not quite as exciting for Jay-Z fans as the rumors that he’ll be performing at Barack Obama’s innauguration in January, but those rumors, coming to you from Pitchfork via British tabloid The Sun, don’t sound too credible.

In any case, Coldplay fans have a lot to look forward. Well, so long as you have concert tickets. But the way Coldplay tickets sell out, you might have trouble finding some. Grab yours at StubHub.com.