Concert Dates, Concert Tour News, Artist Information

CMAs Honor Taylor Swift

19-year-old country crossover star Taylor Swift became the youngest-ever artist the win the coveted Entertainer of the Year honor at the 43rd annual CMA Awards last night (Nov. 11). A teary-eyed Taylor told the audience when accepting the award, “I will never forget this moment because in this moment everything I have ever wanted has just happened to me. You guys, this album is my diary, and so to all the people who voted for me for this … thank you for saying you love my diary because that’s the nicest compliment.” Swift broke country star Kenny Chesney’s three-year winning streak in the category and also made here the first solo female artist to win the award in over a decade (Shania Twain took home the honor in 1999).

In addition to the Entertainer of the Year award, Swift took home awards for Female Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year (for her standout sophomore album Fearless) and Video of the Year (for “Love Story”). During her acceptance speech for Female Vocalist, Swift took a stab at rapper Kanye West for interrupting her acceptance speech at the VMAs saying, “I want to thank every single person in this room tonight for not running onstage during this speech.”

Get all your Taylor Swift tickets to see the country music sensation live at StubHub.

Phish Is Scheduled to Play Miami on New Year’s Eve

Phish is going to ring in 2010 with a four-night stand in Miami, Florida.  The shows will take place Dec. 28-31 at the AmericanAirlines Arena.  As it turns out, the stints will mark the group’s first time playing in the Sunshine State in six years.  In addition to their New Year’s Eve bash, Phish is also gearing up for a fall tour which kicks off on Nov. 18 at Cobo Arena in Detroit.  Additional performance dates include: two shows at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati on Nov. 20-21; two shows at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia Nov. 24-25; two shows at Times Union Center in Albany, New York Nov. 27-28 and three shows at Madison Square Garden Arena in New York Dec. 2-4.  The tour will wrap up on Dec. 5 at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Don’t miss out on the concert festivities this year!  Get your pair of Phish tickets today from StubHub.

Morrissey takes a bottle to the head, cancels show

Oh, Morrissey. Drama just seems to follow you wherever you go. The Moz collapsed on stage a few weeks back just after his first song, leaving fans wondering if he would even live. But the other night, he canceled a show early not because of health problems, but because he became upset after being hit in the head with a water bottle.

Pitchfork reports that Moz was singing “Black Cloud,” the second song in his set, and crouched down to sing to the audience when a partially full water bottle flew out of the crowd and smacked him right in the forehead. He’s certainly earned a few enemies over the years, but would they really pay for concert tickets just to show up Morrissey? Possibly.

In any case, he wiped the water off his face, said “Goodnight,” and walked off stage, drawing boos from the entire crowd. Of course, as things happen these days, it was all captured on video and uploaded to YouTube, which Pitchfork is hosting as well.

Morrissey can certainly be a lot to deal with, but if you still want to get tickets for his show, look for them on StubHub.

Glen Hansard could have been Rorschach

With the Frames, Glen Hansard’s achingly sensitive singer-songwriter fare earned a cult audience among indie-rock listeners. But it was his partnership—both personal and professional—with longtime friend and musician Marketa Irglova that made both of them known to the general public. They co-starred in Once, a sweet musical about two musicians who bond over their creative impulses and fall deeply in love. The film became a critical darling, and Irglova began touring with Hansard under the name The Swell Season.

The AV Club recently spoke to Hansard about what the result of their newfound fame has been. In a word: Shocking. They’ve found themselves invited to the Simpsons to have a parody done of their movie, and Hansard was personally asked by Bono to sing at the funeral of Eunice Kennedy Shriver. He was greeted at the door by Arnold Schwarzenegger and sat next to Oprah during the wake. And weirdest of all, he was offered to audition for the role of Rorschach in the Watchmen film, which he sadly declined to do. He ultimately decided that he was just too sunny a personality for the role, but it’s fun to speculate what his turn in it would have been like.

With the Swell Season going on tour, make sure you get concert tickets at StubHub.

No Beer For Morrissey

Morrissey cut his U.K. short right in the middle of his performance because a bottle of beer was thrown onstage.  The incident occurred during the middle of his second song on the set list: “Black Cloud.”  The singer apparently reached down into the crowd to shake hands with elated fans when he was hit by a plastic beer bottle thrown on the stage.  It is unclear whether Moz was actually hit by the bottle or whether the beer simply splashed on his face, but either way he was not pleased with the gesture.  After he briefly wiped his face, he stopped, said goodnight and walked off of the stage.  Fans were told that the show was not going to go on, but they would receive a full refund.  The venue’s general manager, Tim Banfield told the Daily Mail, “We are exceptionally disappointed that one individual should choose to recklessly cause the concert to be abandoned, ruining what should have been a brilliant night out for thousands of Morrissey fans.”

Get Morrissey tickets from StubHub...and leave the beer at home.

More ‘Love’ from Michael Buble

Billboard.com reports that Canadian crooner Michael Buble is planning to reissue his album Crazy Love in 2010. The effort enjoyed two weeks at the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart after its debut and is currently holding court at No. 7. Buble recently told Billboard.com that the reissue will include songs that he recorded during the sessions that didn’t make it onto the original album, such as “Hollywood Dead,” set to be the third single off Crazy Love after “Have I Met You” and “Hold On.”  Buble co-wrote the track with Toronto-based songwriter Robert Scott and gushed to Billboard.com, “That’s probably the best pop song I’ve ever been part of. It’s kind of like our take on the culture of celebrity and how f***ed up it is and how people lose their way in the hunt for fame … It’s just one of those things saying, ‘If you’re gonna go for it, don’t give everything up for it. Remember where you came from … You need to remember what you asked for when you get it.”

The expanded version of Crazy Love may also include “The End of May,” a track by The Actual Tiger which Buble describes as “so beautiful I can’t even tell you,” also saying it “might be one of the best vocal performances I’ve ever given.” Although a release date for the album is not set, Buble will hit the road in March 2010 in North America and will remain on tour into 2011.

Get your Michael Buble tickets at StubHub.

Mariah’s New Year’s Eve Plans

There is another reason to attend the New Year’s Eve celebration in New York City in Dec. 2009.  Singing diva Mariah Carey will ring in the New Year at Madison Square Garden when the famous ball drops, announcing the start of 2010.  Fans should expect a sprinkling of some of Mariah’s greatest hits as well as some tracks from her latest album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel.  The record recently debuted at the No. 1 spot on the R&B charts and spawned the platinum-selling single, “Obsessed,” as well as another hot song, “H.A.T.E.U.”  This will truly be an unforgettable event and should be attended by any true Mariah Carey fan.

The best place to find a pair of Mariah Carey tickets to an upcoming performance is StubHub.  The diva will not only be featured at the NYC bash, but she also has several other tour dates lined up.  Pick a date and invite some of your closest friends.

Iggy and the Stooges to record unreleased material!

Fans of proto-punk rockers Iggy Pop and the Stooges got a welcome surprise last week when the band announced that they were heading back out on tour. But there’s more news on Spinner today: Pop and the band apparently have some songs that they had only ever performed live, but will be recording for the first time ever.

Effectively, this means new Stooges material, which indie-rock fans everywhere are going to be excited about. Spinner reported on the story, going on to note how the band’s image has developed over the years. In regards to Pop and the boys making it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Pop was quoted as saying, “I snuck in first, it started about 10 years ago, and the Stooges are knocking on the door now. They’re putting us in in-flight magazines and what have you, so we kinda bum rushed the thing and, I guess, here we are.”

It’s going to be cool to hear new Stooges music after so many years—and even cooler to see them perform it live. Get concert tickets when they tour in 2010 at StubHub.

The Jo Bros Return to Their Disney Roots

According to Billboard.com, the Disney Channel has signed the Jonas Brothers for another season of their comedy series Jonas, although the show’s executive producers have been swapped out. Michael Curtis and Roger S.H. Schulman have been replaced by Lester Lewis (The Office) and director Paul Hoen (a Disney vet who has shot nine Disney films). While unable to match the success of Disney Channel shows like Hannah Montana, Jonas premiered to strong numbers this spring and has been doing well in its Sunday night time spot, averaging 3.4 million viewers from the all-important kids demographic. The Jo Bros are expected to begin shooting Season 2 of their show in February, with the second season to hit the small screen during the middle of 2010. The second season of Jonas will chronicle the brotherly trio on summer vacation is L.A., where they score a show business job.

Disney has also renewed the short-form reality series Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream for a second season as well, and Joe, Nick and Kevin are already taping the show (set to premiere in early 2010). Disney Channels Worldwide entertainment president Gary March said of the Jo Bros, “These guys are the superstars of their generation. We had the opportunity to extend our relationship with them, which we did.”

Get your Jonas Brothers tickets at StubHub.

Goth icon Peter Murphy appearing in the third Twilight movie

There’s been a lot of news about the soundtrack to New Moon, the second Twilight film, being filled with some of today’s biggest indie-rock stars, from St. Vincent to The Killers. But news has broken about the third movie, Eclipse, which will actually feature an alternative music star in its cast: Peter Murphy, frontman of iconic goth-rockers Bauhaus.

Pitchfork reports that Murphy will be appearing in the film during a flashback sequence as a Spanish vampire. This is perfectly suited to the gaunt and looming Murphy, who descended upside-down from the top of the stage at Coachella in 2005. The bat-like entrance delighted fans, and the band has continued to earn support from indie-rock fans with a taste for darker material. Naturally, pseudo-goths who have bitten into the Twilight series are the kind of people who would be impressed by this news—if this was 1983. Chances are, most of Twilight‘s readers haven’t listened to an alternative band that was a big deal in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.

As Pitchfork notes, however, it’s great to see Murphy in a film again. The last one he was in actually was in 1983, when Tony Scott’s vampire flick The Hunger came out (and while it’s not great, it’s not as bad as Pitchfork seems to think). If you see Bauhaus touring, get concert tickets at StubHub.