Concert Dates, Concert Tour News, Artist Information

Junior Boys set to celebrate Halloween—all month long

Junior Boys aren’t a terribly dark band. Their music is dance-ready indie-pop that isn’t likely to get anyone banging their heads. But that doesn’t mean they don’t love Halloween just as much as the most pitch-black metal band.
Proof of this is in a recent press release, which Pitchfork turned into an interesting little story. Apparently the band is asking that fans come to their shows dressed in costume throughout their upcoming tour, which runs through October and into November. They’ll be handing out some awards for best costumes, and generally want to keep the spirit of Halloween fresh throughout the tour.
Here’s a quote from the press release from frontman Jeremy Greenspan: “Part of being a young Jewish kid to me was directing all of your excitement that should’ve been for Christmas towards Halloween. I was obsessed with Halloween as a kid, I waited for it impatiently, lamented it when it was over. All of my childhood obsessions with science fiction, horror stories, weird movies and strange music all seemed to converge at Halloween.”
Definitely bring some candy to these shows. Concert tickets for their tour should be available soon.

Tim and Eric and Depeche Mode

Adult Swim has been a repository for absurd, animated weirdness for a number of years now, but one of the most left-field (and divisive) shows on the entertainment bloc has been Tim and Eric, Awesome Show, Great Job! If you haven’t seen it—well, it seems like most people hate it. But some find it to be bizarre, absurd humor at its best, with the show spoofing late night cable TV shows and Home Shopping Network ads. It’s essentially a really, really strange sketch show made by guys who really love playing with editing equipment.
And their singular “style” has impressed more than a few bands, earning Eric Warheim some offers to direct music videos. The latest comes from Depeche Mode for their song “Hole to Feed.” It involves a lot of face licking, so if you’re cool with seeing some attractive (and some very ugly) getting their mack on, check out his new video up on the AV Club. As you can tell from the comments, T&E has a reputation for stirring up contention. Just relax and enjoy the show, people.
And if you see Depeche Mode stopping near your hometown, get concert tickets and check them out.

New Album from RJD2

After a few years of remaining largely silent, hip-hop producer and musician RJD2 is back with a new album. The last time we heard from RJD2, aka Ramble John Krohn, was when he released the unfortunate indie pop effort The Third Hand, in 2007, although he is responsible for the theme to the popular AMC show Mad Men. Pitchfork reported last month that RJD2 created his own record label, RJ’s Electrical Connections, and now he is in the midst of reissuing his entire back album. In addition, RJD2 is readying the release of his fourth official album, The Colossus.

According to Pitchfork, The Colossus, which will arrive Jan. 19 via his own label, will show off the sample-based musings of his acclaimed debut album, Deadringer, as well as the live instrumentation he has been toying with lately. RJD2 scored Little Brother rapper Phonte Coleman and Kenna to make cameos on the album.
The track listing for The Colossus:

1. “Let There Be Horns”
2. “Games You Can’t Win” (ft. Kenna)
3. “Giant Squid”
4. “Salud 2”
5. “The Glow”
6. “A Spaceship for Now”
7. “The Shining Path” 9ft. Phonte Coleman)
8. “Crumbs Off the Table” (ft. Aaron Livingston)
9. “A Son’s Cycle” (ft. the Catalyst, Illogic, NP)
10. “Tin Flower” (ft. Heather Fortune)
11. “Small Plans”
12. “Gypsy Caravan”
13. “The Stranger”
14. “Walk With Me”

Get all your RJD2 tickets at StubHub.

Blink 182 Pledges $100,000 to Burn Centers

Blink 182 has pledged a very generous donation of $100,000 to the burn centers that helped treat their drummer Travis Barker, after his near-fatal plane crash in September 2008.  The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Barker is planning to donate the proceeds from the band’s Phoenix show on Saturday to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Georgia and the Grossman Burn Center in California, which were instrumental in helping Barker recover from second and third degree burns on his body.  The drummer recently updated his Twitter page, tweeting: “Not a day goes by that I don’t remember how they saved my life.”  The Blink 182 bandmember is the only remaining survivor of the crash, which took the lives of his close friends Chris Baker and Charles Still as well as both pilots.  Barker’s buddy DJ AM also survived, but died last month from a drug overdose.

Want to see Blink 182 live onstage?  Cruise on over to Stubhub’s page and peruse a list of Blink 182 tickets for upcoming tour dates for this popular rock band.

Modest Mouse to Kick Off European Run in Dublin

As reported by NME.com, Modest Mouse has announced plans to play Dublin Academy on December 7, prior to embarking on a string of shows across the pond in the U.K. Modest Mouse is expected to play songs from 2007’s We Were Dead Before The Ship Sank, which featured former Smiths member Johnny Marr (who currently plays guitar for The Cribs) in Dublin. Last month Modest Mouse released the four-track EP No One’s First And You’re Next, which boasts unreleased material from studio sessions for Good News For People Who Love Bad News and We Were Dead Before The Ship Sank. No word yet on whether Johnny Marr will take the stage with Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock and the rest of the Seattle-based band, reports Hotpress.com.

After Modest Mouse’s Dublin gig, the band will play a batch of dates in Europe, including the following shows:

Dec. 10: Glasgow O2 ABC
Dec. 11: Minehead Butlins Holiday Centre
Dec. 14: London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Dec. 15: London Electric Ballroom

Get all your Modest Mouse tickets at StubHub.

Marilyn Manson Not Diagnosed With Swine Flue

It’s hard to know when shock rocker Marilyn Manson is being serious.  Just last week Manson updated his Facebook, MySpace and Twitter pages saying: “So I have officially been diagnosed, by a real doctor, with THE SWINE FLU.  I know everyone will suggest that f***ing a pig is how this disease was obtained.  However, the doctor said my past choices in women have in no way contributed to me acquiring this mysterious sickness.  Unfortunately, I’m going to survive.”  How charming.  Apparently he sort of gave away his health when he performed at the Bell Centre in Montreal the day after he posted about his ailment.  Fans were skeptical being that Manson’s shows are generally not done merely sitting down.

So Marilyn Manson doesn’t have the swine flu, which means that you can see the singer live at one of his upcoming concerts.  Go to Stubhub, the best place to find Marilyn Manson tickets as well as other concert tickets, sports tickets and theater tickets!

Warner Bros. smooths over relationship with YouTube

There’s a great story up on Advertising Age (via Pitchfork) that talks about why it’s been so hard to catch Deathcab for Cutie, Madonna and REM music on YouTube these days. Apparently, Warner Music Group had a falling out over the use of YouTube to post videos from its artists, leading to thousands of videos being taken down. According to Ad Age, the big news behind this is that Warner is signing on with Vevo, a “Hulu for music” that is being set up by YouTube with Universal. The site isn’t operational right now, but ultimately, it will give music companies an outlet where they can get music and videos out to consumers and have control over them, as well.
Obviously, this has been a problem for them on YouTube, which is rife with videos of people playing old vinyl or just uploading music with photo slideshows that allow consumers to enjoy…well, free music. Warner sees that as a threat, and wants to be able to control what goes out on the Web, which is understandable. Vevo sounds like it’ll be a happy medium, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
In the meantime, get some concert tickets, get up from your computers and check out your favorite artists live.

Thom Yorke forming his own band (with Flea)

Some pretty wild news up today on Pitchfork, which is pointing its readers toward Radiohead’s official site, where Thom has announced the formation of a band for his solo material. They don’t have an actual name yet, and they sound as if they’ve only recently formed. The shocker: One of the band’s members is Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. You wouldn’t put these two together in your imagination, but reality can be strange, sometimes. Another surprising member: Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich.
Thom somewhat bashfully admits on Dead Air Space (Radiohead’s site) that the new band hasn’t scheduled shows largely because they just don’t have that much material. “In the past couple of weeks i’ve been getting a band together for fun to play the eraser stuff live and the new songs etc.. to see if it could work!” He’s got to know that Radiohead fans all over are nodding their heads in confirmation: Yes, it could work. Very well, indeed.
There’s two shows scheduled for the Orpheum Theater, though Thom warns that they won’t be very long (the lack of material thing), but they should definitely be exciting. Keep checking StubHub.com for concert tickets.

Lady GaGa is Billboard’s Rising Star

Billboard has announced today (September 28) that Lady GaGa will be hailed its “Rising Star” at the upcoming 2009 Billboard Women In Music event, to be held in New York City on October 2. Beyonce is also slated to be honored at the event; the “Single Ladies” singer and Grammy winner will be honored with the Billboard Woman of The Year Award. Rewarded to “artists that have achieved a level of success and proven to have vast potential in the early stages of their career,” it is no surprise that the “Rising Star” honor goes to Lady GaGa, as her debut album, The Fame, has launched four Billboard Ht 100 hits, such as “Poker Face” and “Just Dance,” which both shimmied to the No. 1 spot on the chart. The Fame is the best-selling album from a debut artist for 2009, selling 1,441,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Lady GaGa also became the third artist in the history of the Mainstream Top 40 Airplay chart to spawn three No. 1 singles from a debut album. Lady GaGa’s success can partly be attributed to her knack for songwriting, as she wrote all of the songs on her debut album and previously penned songs for artists like Britney Spears, New Kids on the Block and the Pussycat Dolls. Editorial Director of Billboard Bill Werde said, “Lady GaGa is one of those rare examples of a truly unique artist with mass appeal. She has established herself as one of today’s top songwriters, and the whole world is waiting to see what her next outrageous but brilliant move or style will be. It is that ongoing anticipation, combined with her success that makes her a rising star.”

Get Lady GaGa tickets to see Billboard’s Rising Star of 2009 live at StubHub.

He Wolf, She Wolf

Man, Shakira’s new music video is creating quite the internet sensation…as well as controversy.  The video for “She Wolf” is quite promiscuous, with Shakira jerking, shaking and gyrating, whilst nearly fully nude.  And now…there’s a fan-made parody video floating around out there in internet world that mimics the Shakira video almost entirely, except in Shakira’s place there is a male singer/actor.  The 19-year-old maker of the video has maintained that he is simply trying to portray the ridiculousness of “She Wolf” and is upset that his is the version getting negative attention.  (YouTube) flagged the parodied version saying it was “inappropriate.”  Check out the original and the parody and see what you think.  I’m thinking echoes of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” here.  Remember Joe Jonas...who by the way looks pretty darn good in heels.

Want to see the sexy Shakira live onstage?  Reserve a spot at this sizzling Latin sensations next performance by going to Stubhub and getting your very own pair of Shakira tickets as soon as possible.