andPOP » concert

Jay-Z and Beyonce Surprise Fans at Alicia Keys New York Concert

andPOP Staff — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:48:06 +0000

Talk about one hell of a bang for your buck! All in one concert - Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Robin Thicke, Melanie Fiona, and Jermaine Paul. Wow!

That’s what New York City fans were treated to last night at the Alicia Keys concert at Madison Square Gardens, reports MTV News. Before Keys hit the stage, fans were treated to Thicke, Fiona and Paul. Then Keys hit the stage appearing in a chain-wrapped cage, amidst the smoke that slowly flooded the stage.

After a few songs Beyonce surprisingly joined her fellow diva on stage for “Put It in a Love Song” that got fans riled up. And if that wasn’t enough, Jay-Z hit the stage later for “Empire State of Mind.” (see clip below)

That’s a lucky group of fans!

Marie Osmond Dedicates her Return Concert to Deceased Son

Graham Slaughter — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:23:32 +0000

Last night, Marie Osmond stepped back on stage for the first time since the tragic death of her son, reports TMZ.

At her Las Vegas performance, Osmond spoke to the audience about her recent loss.

“The way Osmonds survive is we keep singing and that’s what we want to do tonight … I know my son would want that. He was full of love and laughter and this show is for him, ” said an emotional Osmond.

The ’90’s singing sensation stayed grounded for most of the concert. That is, until her brother Donny Osmond closed the show with the line, “May God keep you in his tender care.”

Osmond’s son Michael Bryan, 18, took his own life on February 26, 2010. The funeral for Bryan was held on Monday.

Top Canadian Urban Artists Raise Money for Haiti

Jordan Bortolotti — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 03:56:13 +0000

Although the Haiti relief effort has lost some attention from the media in recent weeks, this still remains a serious humanitarian issue. To help raise funds, CP Records had some amazing Canadian Urban artists perform a benefit concert to help raise money. We had a chance to speak to Choclair, Karl Wolf, Danny Fernandes, and Belly who all performed at the event.

Olympic Alexisonfire Concert Cancelled After Barricade Broke; 20 Injured

Graham Slaughter — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:33:11 +0000

Popularity hurts.

It only took ten seconds last night for the Olympic Alexisonfire concert in Vancouver to get shut down by chaotic fans, reports the Vancouver Sun.

The concert held in Yaletown LiveCity was brought to a fast halt after fans knocked down a barricade separating the crowd from the stage. The crowd then surged forward toward the band, injuring 20 crowd members and hospitalizing nine.

As soon as the mob rushed at the stage, the band stopped playing and the concert was promptly shut down.

“The reality of the situation is that it’s completely destroyed and it’s really dangerous and there’s an incredible amount of sharp objects up here and a lot of people got hurt when that happened,” says Alexisonfire guitarist and singer Wade MacNeil.

Organizers of the Olympic concerts are reassessing barricades to ensure that no one is injured at tonight’s musical line-up.

Live Nation, Ticketmaster Merge Gets Approval

Sara Harowitz — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:26:24 +0000

The U.S. Department of Justice approved the Live Nation and Ticketmaster merge on Monday, according to rollingstone.com. The joining of the two biggest pieces in the $4.4 billion (U.S.) worldwide concert business is sure to affect every live-music fan, artist, agent, manager, and promoter.

In a statement, Ticketmaster’s chief executive, Eagles manager Irving Azoff, called the decision “a great win for fans,” but some people in the business fear the combined power of the two companies will make it hard for outsiders to promote and sell tickets.

“It’s disappointing to me,” said Buck Williams, who represents R.E.M. and Widespread Panic. “It’s just another step in eliminating competition.”

“They’ve pulled the rug out from under the entrepreneurs, to some degree,” he added.

The new Live Nation Entertainment, which will begin its merge as early as tomorrow (Wednesday), will own a large chunk of the business: Ticketmaster’s Front Line management company represents the Eagles, Jimmy Buffett, Christina Aguilera and many others, while Live Nation’s clients include Madonna and Jay-Z. Ticketmaster has exclusive ticketing deals with most of the major U.S. arenas, while Live Nation owns and operates 140 top venues overall, including most of the ampitheatres. And Ticketmaster alone sells about 140 million tickets a year.

These combined assets make some people in the business optimistic. “My hope and belief is that there is going to be an expanded opportunity for touring artists to [experiment with] a variety of different products,” said Jim Guerinot, manager of the likes of No Doubt and Nine Inch Nails. “And I look forward to trying those things.”

Azoff and Live Nation’s CEO, Michael Rapino, said that the new Live Nation Entertainment would have the power and flexibility to make more money, cut costs, and ultimately reduce ticket prices and service fees. The Justice Department mostly agreed, but before approving the merger, U.S. attorneys forced Ticketmaster to license its software to top competitor AEG Live and forbade the combined company from retaliating against any concert venue that uses a non-Ticketmaster outlet.

The agreement “promotes robust competition for primary ticketing services and preserves incentives for competitors to innovate and discount, which will benefit consumers,” said Christine Varney, an assistant attorney in the Justice Department’s antitrust division, in a statement.

Some artist representatives are still skeptical. “I don’t think prices are going to come down,” said Tom Windish, an agent who represents Animal Collective, Hot Chip, and dozens of other top indie artists. “I don’t think it’s going to change that much. I don’t see Live Nation getting less money, I don’t see artists getting less money and I don’t see Ticketmaster charging a surcharge that’s lower than [what] they can possibly get. If anything, it’ll be higher.”

Virgin Radio Toronto’s Planet Maurie’s Wedding

andPOP Staff — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:38:29 +0000

Virgin Radio Toronto’s Planet Maurie, who got engaged on stage in Las Vegas to his partner Matthew in front of Mariah, is on a quest to complete the story by getting married during Mariah’s Toronto show on February 9. Before he can do this, with the hope that he gets the green light from Mariah’s people, he needed to take the Virgin Radio headcam to the National Bridal Show.

Movie Review: This Is It

Eric Emin Wood — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:00:49 +0000

Dunno if you heard, but a concert documentary, starring a little-known performer who died recently, opened across the country at 12:01 this morning.

This performer, Michael Jackson, would likely have been plagued by scandal through much of his adult life had anyone actually heard of him, so perhaps it’s just as well.

To Sony’s credit, This Is It does not feel like a quickie cash-in on Jackson’s death. A bit over-adulatory perhaps, but that’s to be expected. It must be said, however, that Jackson’s death casts a pall over the movie’s early proceedings; to me, his fake cleft chin and overly manufactured nose make his face look like melted wax, his voice occasionally lilts – not in a good way – and some of his dance moves look robotic.

But as time passes, the rehearsals have an obvious effect on him; his dancing becomes smoother, his singing becomes stronger, and he appears to become younger. Performing came as naturally to Jackson as breathing, and while his voice occasionally disappears, he’s never off-key (and explains more than once that he’s trying to save his vocal cords), and every number yields enthusiastic applause from the gathered technicians and back-up dancers.

If there’s an aspect of This Is It worth complaining about, it’s that a series of early interviews with Jackson’s back-up dancers never mentions their names, nor does the movie return to them, making their initial praise of him and nervousness when auditioning both creepily voyeuristic and shamelessly sentimental. It’s also worth noting that we never learn anything about Jackson himself; whenever he’s talking it’s all business, though it’s enlightening to learn just how clearly he knew his music inside and out. As you might expect, Jackson is very affectionate with the people he works with, and the choreographers, musicians, back-up singers and dancers all speak highly of him.

And what of the performance itself? Jackson and High School Musical director Kenny Ortega created a very cinematic production – show-stopping sequences were filmed for at least five of the songs – and after a clumsy introduction, the movie soon feels like a private concert.

Most of the expected hits are here – half of Thriller (the title track; “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”; “Billie Jean”; “Human Nature”; “Beat It”), some of Michael’s early stuff with the Jackson 5 (“I’ll Be There,” “Dance and Shout”), half the singles from Bad (“Smooth Criminal,” “Man In The Mirror”; “The Way You Make Me Feel”) and some of his most popular late-period work (“Black or White”; “Heal the World”; “They Don’t Care About Us”).

Watching This Is It, I couldn’t help but think about what Jackson’s detractors would have thought of the final product. Would they have seen his show and enjoyed it, or dismissed it as overproduced fanservice mounted by a fallen icon? Hard to say, since those detractors won’t see the movie; as for his fans, those who haven’t seen it already can expect a fond farewell. Whatever his faults, Jackson wrote some great music and remained a terrific performer until the end, and my impression is that anyone lucky enough to get a ticket would have seen a hell of a show.

Fame Kills Tour Cancellation A Mutual Decision

Joelle Tomlinson — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:03:04 +0000

Lady Gaga and Kanye West shocked fans on Thursday when they announced they would be canceling their much-anticipated Fame Kills tour without explanation.

But on Friday at an event in New York City, Gaga, who didn’t get into specifics about the cancellation, did say West would be taking some time off and she would be hitting the road on her own.

“Well, actually, it was a mutual decision to cancel the tour,” she told MTV News. “But I’m not taking any time off, so I’ll be leaving just a week later than I was supposed to on my own solo tour. IT will be the same places. So I will see you guys there. I’m putting out my re-release as well – The Fame Monster on November 24.”

According to mtvnews.com, she added an announcement about who will be joining her on this trek, hinting that the identity would be released soon. As for the look of the tour, she told reporters she would be starting from scratch.

“In respects to the creative work that Kanye and I did together, I won’t be doing any of the things that we designed for the tour,” she explained. “It will be entirely new, and it will be just as amazing and memorable and epic.”

Jay-Z Remembers 9/11 At Madison Square Garden

Joelle Tomlinson — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 01:34:46 +0000

Jay-Z is doing what he knows best on the eighth anniversary of Sept. 11. Tonight, at the Madison Square Garden, the talented rap artist will be giving a memorial benefit concert. All proceeds from the Answer the Call Tribute Show will be donated to the New York Police & Fire Widows’ & Children’s Benefit Fund.

According to MTV news, if the star’s secret show at the Blender Theatre on Wednesday was any hint of what he has in store for his MSG show, fans can expect old hits and fresh cuts off his just released album, The Blueprint 3. At Blender, Jay popped off classics like “Show Me What You Got,” “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)” and “Izzo (H.O.V.A.),” and new songs, such as “Run This Town” and “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune).”

Jay-Z’s first Blueprint album was released on Sept. 11, 2001.

“I’m humbled by this whole entire process, just my whole evolution coming to this place,” he told MTV News after an August press conference to announce the show. “It just all worked out this way. The first album came out on this exact day. I was in Los Angeles and couldn’t help out physically. For it to come full circle and us to be here and play Madison Square Garden and 100 percent of the proceeds going to the Answer the Call organization, I’m just humbled by the experience.

Sony Confirms Release Date For Michael Jackson’s This Is It

Ilan Mester — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:49:43 +0000

Sony Pictures confirms Oct. 30 as the release date for Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” movie, which documents the King of Pop’s final concert rehearsal.

The film is being produced with the full support of The Estate of Michael Jackson and will be drawn from hundreds of hours of rehearsal and behind-the-scenes footage – all captured in high definition.

To add to the experience, “This Is It” will also offer certain sequences in 3-D, along with interviews with some of Jackson’s closest friends and creative collaborators.

“This Is It will offer Jackson fans and music lovers worldwide a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the performer, his career, and the stage spectacular that would have been,” read part of the statement released by Sony. “The film will provide moviegoers with an unforgettable front row experience compiled from extensive footage that shows Jackson’s meticulous preparation for his 2009 London shows.”

Most of the footage was shot in June, 2009 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California.

“Michael lives on through his songs, his creative genius, his body of work and his passion for his art,” said Rob Stringer, Chairman of Columbia/Epic Label Group, in a statement. “He was a perfectionist on stage and through this unique film, audiences will be able to see, many for the first time, how much Michael poured into making his performances as special as they were perfect”.