Concert Dates, Concert Tour News, Artist Information

Pitchfork gives the 5-10-15-20 treatment to Sara of Tegan and Sara

Pitchfork has a new installment of 5-10-15-20 up, where musical artists talk about their favorite albums at five year increments throughout their life. The latest volunteer: Sara Quinn of indie-folk duo Tegan and Sara.
What we’ve noticed with this feature is that some of the most interesting picks are at the very start. That’s natural—people are much less discriminating at five years of age, and usually creative types have more interesting picks from this point in their lives then others might. At the very least, they have more to say about them.
In this case, it’s a case of it being very, very interesting: Sara says she and Tegan apparently loved the soundtrack to the 1974 cult film Phantom of the Paradise. It’s really not an appropriate film for kids, but she said her parents just let them listen to the soundtrack and dance around to it.
“It’s still, to this day, in a very strange way, one of my favorite films,” she said. “There’s so much nostalgia associated with it when I watch it. Tegan and I still listen to that soundtrack and watch that film, and we feel like it’s our childhood memories all wrapped up in a weird, creepy rock opera.”
The rest of her list is pretty awesome, too. Check it out, then get concert tickets for the sisters when they’re on tour and check out their music.

Weezer teams up with Kenny G and Chamillionaire

Weezer seems determined to keep us surprised. From their most recent album cover to the name of the record—Raditude—they’ve been showing a much less serious side than the sweater-unraveling emo image that Rivers Cuomo first gave off back in the early ‘90s. But then again, they did have that one Happy Days video, so maybe the sense of humor has been there all along.
In any case, Spinner’s recent news about Cuomo teaming up with Kenny G and Chamillionaire is mind-boggling. He apparently invited them down as part of a recording of songs for AOL’s Sessions, inviting songstress Sara Bareilles as well. Kenny G apparently lives down the street from Cuomo, but had pretty much no idea who Weezer is.
Cue priceless quote: “I don’t know anything about Weezer—nothing,” Kenny G, who’s sold 75 millions albums worldwide, admitted to Spinner. “I’ve heard the name, but I never knew any of their songs [except] some song about a sweater ... with the wool coming apart?”
Chamillionaire was invited to fill in for Lil Wayne, who sings on a song from Raditude but obviously couldn’t be present because of his legal troubles (he pleaded guilty for illegal gun possession Thursday).
If Cuomo can bring these guests out on tour with Weezer, then concert tickets will be a must.

Garth Brooks’ Residency in Sin City

Country music great Garth Brooks announced his residency at the Encore Theatre at Wynn, Las Vegas earlier this month.  The acclaimed musician has decided to come out of retirement in order to perform four shows a weekend - one show Friday night, two on Saturday and one on Sunday - playing 15 weekends a year.  Brooks officially retired in 2001 in order to spend more time with his wife, country singer Trisha Yearwood as well as his three young daughters, ages 17, 15 and 13.  Brooks decided to agree to the residency because it will still allow him to spend time with his family, as the Wynn sweetened the deal with a private jet to get him back to his home in Oklahoma as soon as possible.

Want to see Brooks take the stage?  Catch this country crooner live by going to Stubhub and getting your own pair of Garth Brooks tickets.

R. Kelly Gives a Release Date for ‘Untitled’

Billboard.com reported earlier this week that R. Kelly will release Untitled, his tenth studio album, via Jive Records on Dec. 1. The first single off Untitled, “Number One” featuring Keri Hilson, has already soared to the No. 8 spot on Billboard’s Hop R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts and climbed to No. 68 on the Hot 100 Chart, selling 91,000 digital downloads so far. R. Kelly also surpassed Nat King Cole’s record of having the most Top 10 hits on that chart thanks to “Number One,” which is his 35th Top 10 single on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Another single from Untitled, “Religious,” entered the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at No. 95.

R. Kelly recorded Untitled outside of his native Chicago and worked with producers like Lil Ronnie, Chris Henderson and Infinity. As reported by Consequence of Sound, R. Kelly revealed that he tested the album on party guests, saying “For three months straight, I threw a party at my house every weekend … Like 200 girls come over, and there’s some guys too, like four or five, but no pictures, so we can all be ourselves. Then I’d play the music and see how they would react … if they didn’t feel it, I’d go back downstairs and rework it …”

Get your R. Kelly tickets at StubHub.

Who Doesn’t Love Lady GaGa?

Apparently Lady GaGa is not only a hit with fans these days, but other music artists are lining up for a chance to perform with the daringly different performer.  Lady GaGa has previously worked with a whole lot of people since her arrival onto the music scene in 2008.  Some of the lucky collaborators include: Britney Spears, Wale, Marilyn Manson, Kid Cudi and Michael Bolton (yes that Michael Bolton).  The most recent word is that Lady G has received a call from Beyonce (yes that Beyonce).  The word is that the pair will appear in the video for a reworked version of the next single from I Am…Sasha Fierce, “Video Phone.”

Get in on the excitement and see the grand Lady G live onstage by going to Stubhub and getting your own pair of Lady GaGa tickets today.

Trent Reznor’s first post-tour music is revealed

Nine Inch Nails fans had a lot to mull over this past year when it became clear Trent Reznor was not going to continue his musical career in the way he had been. We know he’s a bit of a workaholic, but he wanted to point his ambition in other directions, whereas in the past his touring and recording seemed to eat up all his time. Well, Pitchfork is saying that the first of many projects will be out soon, and it’s going to be on TV.
Reznor is apparently friends with JJ Abrams, who asked to use a song of his (“Zero-Sum,” off Year Zero) for a promo trailer for his show “Fringe.” Reznor not only agreed—he actually got involved, recording some new lyrics based on lines read by one of the characters on the show, and reworked the track a bit. The result is now available on YouTube, and sounds great.
We’re hoping we’ll see even more of his work in the future. Who knows—maybe we’ll even see more concert tickets in the distant, unpredictable years to come.

Andrew Bird invites us to church

Churches are actually a pretty common performance space for bands that are just starting out. Granted, a lot of them happen to be playing worship music in the first place, but singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird has decided that this winter, he’s going to be doing a sort of mini-tour of churches in Chicago and Minneapolis. He even taught us a new word to describe the tour. Say it with us, folks: Gezelligheid.
According to Pitchfork, it’s a Dutch word. Bird said that it doesn’t translate very well into English, with the closest approximation being “coziness.” In his words, coziness is “a term that fails to fully describe the more intensely warm, amicable and joyous atmosphere the word expresses in its native language.”
The idea is to give people a warm and even sacred place to enjoy and reflect upon his music. All the church shows will be done solo, and many of the pieces will be instrumental. If you happen to live in the Midwest and he’s passing through, don’t miss out on concert tickets. This seems like it could be the perfect way to pass some time this winter.

MGMT’s Sophomore Album, ‘Congratulations,’ Slated for 2010 Release

Billboard.com reports that MGMT will release its sophomore album, Congratulations, in early 2010. MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden spent nine months recording the effort in a Malibu home studio, when not surfing, of course, and recently revealed the approximate arrival date for the group’s second set to the San Francisco Examiner at last weekend’s Treasure Island Festival. Produced by Pete “Sonic Boom” Kember (of Spacemen 3/Spectrum) and featuring vocals by Jennifer Herrema (of Royal Trux), Congratulations is the follow-up to MGMT’s standout 2007 debut Oracular Spectacular. When Oracular Spectacular arrived it propelled the Brooklyn-bred electronic duo into the mainstream and, according to Nielsen SoundScan, sold 508,000 copies.

MGMT’s VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser took a break after settling a lawsuit with French President Nicolas Sarkozy (Sarkozy’s UMP party used MGMT’s “Kids” without permission) to escape their newfound fame and concentrate on recording in Southern California. In speaking to the Examiner about MGMT’s upcoming release, VanWyngarden said, “The song ‘Congratulations’ itself is pretty dark. It’s us trying to deal with all the craziness that’s been going on since our last album took off. Sometimes it just doesn’t feel natural.”

Get your MGMT tickets at StubHub.

Darn…The Damned Tour Canceled

The punk outfit The Damned have recently called off their upcoming October tour around the United States.  Apparently the State Department still has not approved their U.S. visas.  The forthcoming Halloween journey was scheduled to start off on Oct. 22 in Cincinnati and wrap up on Nov. 1 in Portland, Oregon.  The band made an official apology on their website, saying, “We are devastated to be disappointing our fans in the U.S. who wished to see us on this tour, and sympathize with all those who have made travel arragements and other commitments.” Fans should keep checking back for more info and to inquire about refund information.

Make plans now to see The Damned once they get approved for their visas!  You can go to Stubhub and get your very own pair of The Damned tickets today!

Mason Jennings Enters Rock Territory with New Album

When Mason Jennings released his follow-up to 2008’s In the Ever earlier this year, he was afraid his record label, Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records, would drop him due to the rock sound of Blood of Man. The singer-songwriter recently sat down with Billboard.com to talk about his loudest and least-mellow album, which was ironically recorded in the woods of Minnesota. Said Jennings, “Most of what they do is pretty peaceful and mellow and this record is a little more rock—certainly more so than [2008’s] In the Ever. So I didn’t know what they were going to think of it or if they’d want to put it out. But they called and said it’s their favorite [album] of mine. It’s awesome they’re willing to stretch out what the parameters of the label are for this.”

After recordings 23 songs in Minnesota, where he recuperated from his In the Ever tour with his wife and two young children, Jennings paired down his recordings to the 11 songs which can be found on Blood of Man. Jennings is currently on tour in support of his eighth album and revealed that audiences seem “polarized” in their response to the new material saying, “A lot of people are going, like, ‘Whoa, what are all these new songs?’ and the other half are really excited. But the ones who like it are responding right away, even if they don’t know the stuff. They can latch on to it right away, which hasn’t always been the case in the past with new material for me. I like when you have interesting reactions like that.”

Get all your Mason Jennings tickets at StubHub.