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Avicii And Ash Alliance Launch Charity Tour To Donate $1 Million To Feeding America

Posted 1/5/12 5:04 pm EST by in Breakfast Briefing, dance, Music, tour, Video

By Sam Hendrick

Tonight, Motor City welcomes Grammy-nominated Swedish producer/DJ Avicii and manager "Ash" Pournouri as they kick off their "House for Hunger" tour in the US – it's the first of 26 stops in just 27 days. As part of a personal mission to combat American hunger and give back to a nation that they feel has provided them with so much support over the past year, Avicii and Ash will personally donate $1 million of their tour revenue to Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization. Earlier this week, MTV News sat down with Avicii and Ash to discuss the drive behind their generous donation.

“When he [Ash] approached me with the idea is just felt really natural, especially to do it in the states because for me personally it’s given me so many experiences and good times,” said Avicii, who was one of MTV's Best EDM Artists of 2011. “It felt like giving something back to a country that’s given me so much.”

Ash explained that news of the recession had initially opened their eyes to the problem, but that they weren’t fully aware that millions of Americas still face hunger issues on a day-to-day basis. Read on for more and to see if the tour is stopping through your town! Read More...

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Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry And Justin Bieber Among The Top-Grossing Tours Of 2011

Posted 12/13/11 2:09 pm EST by in Britney Spears, Concerts, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, tour, Tour Dates

Katy Perry

By Zachary Swickey

We already knew that U2 was going to set a new record for highest grossing tour of all time, and of course they have now officially done so – pulling in $293 million more bones this year alone (which means they could pretty much recreate Scrooge McDuck’s swimming pool of money in the real world) from 44 shows as Billboard reports in their list of the top-grossing tours of 2011.

While vets like U2, Bon Jovi, Roger Waters and Take That (Take Who?) take the four top spots, the younger generation of artists aren’t far behind in the money race with birthday girl Taylor Swift rounding out the top five (blowing away several big name acts like the Eagles and Journey who have apparently not stopped believin’). The country charmer grossed a staggering $97 million on her 89-date tour behind Speak Now … 87 of which were impressively sold-out!

Plenty of other MTV favorites managed to make the list. Read on to find out who! Read More...

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Florence Welch Can't Handle Hangovers On The Road

Posted 10/21/11 10:54 am EST by in Concerts, tour

Florence

By Zachary Swickey

Florence Welch, the fiery frontwoman of Florence + the Machine, has admitted to adopting sober living while on tour. The group was an opening act on U2’s record-shattering roadshow this summer, and the demanding schedule required a lot from the singer, which led her to choose sobriety on the road.

Welch explained to UK’s The Sun, saying, “I have stopped drinking on tour. I feel a bit more responsibility for my body and for fans who come to see us. When we toured with U2 it was such a grueling schedule and I had shows every day and I can’t do that with a hangover.”

We’ve seen firsthand how delicate a voice can be with Adele axing two U.S. tours this year due to her crazy schedule, and Welch doesn’t seem keen on running into the same problem as she elaborated, stating, “This is the best job in the world and I don’t want to spoil it. Stopping drinking has made a huge difference in my vocal range too.”

The singer even got a pep talk about performing in high heels from Bono himself: “Bono was great. He gave me advice on how to perform even when I’m wearing huge high-heeled shoes. He told me how to keep my feet on the spot and use my arms.” (Sidenote: Bono is actually known to wear shoes with heels several inches thick due to his short stature, but he’s kind of sensitive about it so don’t tease him).

Check out our recent interview with Welch after the jump for more details about life on the road with the Machine, as well as her culinary skills (or lack thereof). Read More...

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Adele's Tour Cancelation Brings Back Bad Memories Of Other Must-See Tours That Fell Apart

Posted 10/5/11 3:03 pm EST by in Adele, Concerts, tour

By Zachary Swickey

Chart-topping songstress of the year Adele is disappointed just as much as us that she’s had to cancel her U.S. tour once again. It’s easy for fans to be upset, considering this is her second scrapped stateside tour, and there’s no immediate mention of rescheduling the dates. Although, it’s understandably imperative that she properly rests her vocal chords because it appears they never fully healed from the first tour cancellation.

Axed tours are always a bummer, especially when it’s from one of the year’s biggest acts, but she’s not the first heavy hitter forced to cancel. From Kanye to the Lollapalooza festival itself, here are five of the biggest tour cancellations that prompted a universal sigh from fans.

Kanye West and Lady Gaga’s “Fame Kills Tour”
Appropriately, Kanye West visited the ladies on talk show "The View" in June 2009 to announce a co-headlining tour with then-rising star Lady Gaga, who was riding high on the success of her debut The Fame. Dubbed “Fame Kills: Starring Kanye West and Lady Gaga,” the tour would have found West supporting his auto-tune disc 808s & Heartbreak, while Gaga would release The Fame Monster EP during the tour. However, following West’s infamous stage-crashing incident with Taylor Swift at the VMAs, the entire production was canceled (only two weeks after it was even official). Various rumors suggested poor ticket sales, creative differences and feuding between the two icons … but they both seem to be doing all right today.

Read More...

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U2 Still Shattering Tour Records, Gaga And Madonna Not Far Behind

Posted 7/18/11 3:30 pm EST by in Concerts, Lady Gaga, Madonna, tour, U2

Bono

By Zachary Swickey

As U2 begin to wrap up the last leg of their seemingly never-ending 360° tour, they continue to shatter records and cement their place as the top touring act ever. The tour – which began in Europe two years ago in support of their most recent album, No Line on the Horizon – has currently grossed over $675 million during the over 100-show run with each date selling out consecutively.

Anyone who has caught a glimpse of the 167-foot tall “claw” structure that U2 employs as their stage knows just how massive this production is. It has a ridiculous budget of $750,000 a day, a fleet of 120 trucks, and a 400-person workforce. It takes eight days just to set up and take down the rig, and the group has three (at $40 million per “claw”), so that two can be in the process of assembly on the same night they play another gig. This 360-degree stage scenario allows up to 20 percent more tickets to be sold; therefore, further helping U2 slaughter attendance records from South Africa to the U.S.

To put things into perspective, The Rolling Stones’ 2005-07 A Bigger Bang Tour is the second highest grossing tour ever, raking in over $550 million, but selling a paltry 4.6 million in tickets to U2’s 7 million. Similarly, U2’s average attendance of over 65,000 people more than doubled the Stones’ 32,500. AC/DC’s lengthy return to the road – 2008-10’s Black Ice World Tour; their first jaunt in 7 years – is unsurprisingly the third highest grossing tour of all time.

But what about the ladies? Find out below. Read More...

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Lady Gaga Reveals Details Of New Tour On Twitter

Posted 7/6/11 12:50 pm EST by in Concerts, Lady Gaga, tour, Twitter

Lady Gaga is ready to get back out on the road!

Mother Monster only wrapped up her years-long Monster Ball tour in May and she’s already talking about her next tour on Twitter. Here’s what we know so far: She has been calling it the Born This Way Ball and it will kick off early next year. Gaga has already said she views the tour as a continuation of the enormously successful Monster Ball.

Yesterday Gaga tweeted, “I miss the Monster Ball. Can't wait for the next tour.” So it’s no surprise that when she began soliciting fan questions on Twitter earlier today, many were about the tour. Asked by fan HoneybgagaBTW what she wanted to do visually with the Born This Way Ball, Gaga responded, “BTWBall dates announced soon, and I know EXACTLY what I want it to look and feel like down to every detail. Time to build.”

She even answered fan questions about what songs will make the set list! Read More...

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NKOTBSB: Highlights From The Izod Center Show

Posted 6/14/11 12:30 pm EST by in NKOTB, tour, Tour Dates

Last night, I saw the Backstreet Boys (for what feels like the millionth time) and New Kids On The Block (for the first time ever!) hit the stage as the amazing boy band hybrid NKOTBSB at the Izod Center in good old New Jersey.

Was I blown away? Why, yes. To be honest, I'm a huge fan of both groups, but really had no idea what I was getting myself into or what to expect. I was curious how these two massive pop acts would make it work. But make it work they did.

It was marvelous to see the New Kids for the first time – I’ve been a fan of theirs for longer than I'd care to admit – and it was amazing to see that BSB still have it. The room swooned for all nine guys, to say the least.

Read More...

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Britney Spears Previews 'Femme Fatale' Tour, Earns Glowing Reviews

Posted 6/13/11 3:09 pm EST by in Britney Spears, tour

Britney Spears

This week Britney Spears kicks off her Femme Fatale tour to much fanfare and lots of anticipation. Over the weekend, some members of the press were invited to a dress rehearsal of the show, and it seems that she's getting some glowing reviews.

"I really enjoyed this show, and I'm being honest. As a stand alone piece, the FF tour is thoroughly enjoyable," Perez Hilton said. "I’d say Britney sings maybe 40 percent of the show, which is really awesome considering the fact that at the last tour she lip-synched every single song, even the ballads. As a fan, that’s a sign to me that she’s trying, she’s giving, and I love that -- that’s what we want.

"I feel like this time the show and her are on the same level," he added. "Britney seems to have gotten her spark back."

Read More...

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Kylie Minogue Treats 'All The Lovers' To NYC Spectacle

Posted 5/5/11 12:04 pm EST by in tour

Vaughn Schoonmaker

Kylie Minogue's Aphrodite tour wrapped its third consecutive night at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City Wednesday night to a packed house of mostly gay men, with about 5 percent of the audience consisting of her other Tri-State fans (though don't hold me to that for accuracy since it could have been more like 3 percent).

Kylie Minogue has mastered the art of walking in slow motion. Amidst her sultry hip swivels, belly dances and fairy-like arm gestures, the vivacious Australian made use of her enormous classical Rome-styled stage by walking up and down it in perfectly beautiful slow motion on quite a few occasions. While this may seem a minuscule observation, it grabbed my attention because it provided a great contrast to the dynamic and astonishing spectacles surrounding her throughout the dazzling two-hour set.

The most notable aspect of the performance, besides the beautiful singer in various states of goddess attire and her slo-mo expertise, was the sheer size of the stage production. Kylie Minogue is a household name in many parts of the world, especially in the U.K., where she has been known to sell out arenas. In the United States, however, her following is significantly smaller. When she announced that she would bring her massively successful Aphrodite tour to the U.S. for a toned-down version of the show, I expected, well, a toned-down version of the show. Read More...

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Britney Spears Gets Remixes, Mixed Reviews For London Circus Stop

Posted 6/4/09 1:46 pm EST by in britney spears, Britney Spears, tour, Tour Dates

Britney Spears has taken her Circus across the pond and kicked off the European leg of her tour Wednesday night at London's O2 Arena. But instead of just bringing over the same tour she had Stateside, the singer has some new song remixes of old favorites and some new looks as well.


According to her Web site some of the remixed tracks include "Baby One More Time," "Do Something," "Piece of Me," "I'm a Slave 4 U" and "Womanizer." After the show, Britney Tweeted excitedly, "Just wrapped my first show in London. I love all the remixed tracks and new costumes!"

Although we're sure Spears' loyal fans loved the show, the same can't be said of some of her critics. The reviews are in, and some professional concertgoers described it as dull. The Sun said of Brit's performance, "Madonna is twice her age and does double the dancing." Read More...

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