MUSIC | Lykke Li Is Going On Tour!

After just releasing I Never Learn the third installment of her album trilogy consisting of 2011’s Wounded Rhymes and her 2008 debut record Youth Novels, Lykke li has announced a North American tour for this fall. Following a handful of sold-out New York and Los Angeles shows – including one at NYC’s legendary Apollo Theater and a performance at MOMA’s Party In The Garden – Lykke will perform new material off of her latest album in the U.S. for the first time during the “I Never Learn Tour.”

Tickets go on sale this friday and are available to purchase here. 

U.S.Tour Dates:

8/1/14              Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza – BUY NOW

8/3/14              Montreal, CAN @ Osheaga Festival – BUY NOW

8/8/14              Vancouver, CAN @ Squamish Festival – BUY NOW

8/10/14            San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands – BUY NOW

9/17/14            Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre

9/19/14            Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom

9/22/14            San Diego, CA @ North Park Theatre

9/23/14            Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium

9/27/14            Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theatre

9/28/14            Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue

9/30/14            Toronto, ON @ Kool Haus

10/1/14            Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer

10/3/14            Boston, MA @ House of Blues

10/4/14            New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall

10/6/14            Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club

10/8/14            Atlanta, GA @ The Tabernacle

10/9/14            Orlando, FL @ House of Blues

10/10-12/14     Miami, FL @ MANA Wynwood – BUY NOW

 

MUSIC | SAM SMITH FEAT. MARY J BLIGE

 

Sam Smith delivers the hit single ‘Stay With Me’ with a rendition that includes vocals from the legendary Mary J Blige.  His recently released album, In the Lonely Hour is dominating UK charts – even knocking out heavyhitters Coldplay out the #1 spot and earning him the current title of fastest selling album in 2014.

 

 

It gets better – SS has also announced a special concert at the renowned Apollo Theater in Harlem, NYC – upon which he will join many of the R&B legends that have inspired him.

For American fans of Sam Smith, In the Lonely Hour releases in the US on June 17th.  See below for Sam Smith’s upcoming US and UK tour dates.

 

SAM SMITH AUTUMN NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

September 15               Boston, Mass.              House of Blues

September 16               Washington, D.C.          Echostage

September 19               New York, N.Y.             Hammerstein Ballroom

September 21               Toronto, ONT                Kool Haus

September 22               Chicago, Ill.                   Riviera Theater

September 24               Vancouver, BC              Orpheum Theatre

September 25               Seattle, Wash.               Paramount Theater

September 26               Portland, Ore.               Crystal Ballroom

September 30               Los Angeles, Ca.           The Greek Theatre

October 4                     Houston,                       Texas   House of Blues

October 6                     Atlanta, Ga.                   Tabernacle

October 7                     Nashville, Tenn.             Ryman Auditorium

October 9                     Dallas, Texas                House of Blues

 

UK AUTUMN TOUR

23^rd October                  Glasgow                       O2 ABC

24^th October                  Leeds                           O2 Academy

25^th October                  Newcastle                     O2 Academy

27^th October                  Birmingham                   O2 Academy

28^th October                  Nottingham                   Rock City

29^th October                  Manchester                   Albert Hall

3^rd November                Cambridge                    Corn Exchange

4^th November                 Bristol                           Colston Hall

6^th November                 London                         Eventim Apollo Hammersmith

 

MUSIC | The 1975 Announce New Tour!

Hot off completely selling out their last tour, UK darlings the 1975 have announced the dates for their new Autumn US and UK tour which kicks off this September in Glasgow.
Those who sign up for band’s mailing list will receive exclusive access to tickets at 9am on June 4. Tickets on sale to the general public on Friday, June 6.
Check the full tour dates below!

September:
25 – Barrowland – Glasgow
26 – O₂ Apollo – Manchester
29 – Civic Hall – Wolverhampton
30 – Alexandra Palace – London

November:
1 – Metropolis – Montreal, QE
2 – Kool Haus – Toronto, ON
4 – The Fillmore – Detroit, MI
7 – Eagle Ballroom – Milwaukee, WI
8 – The Myth – St Paul, MN
11 – The Fillmore – Denver, CO
13 – Roseland Ballroom – Portland, OR
14 – Vogue Theatre – Vancouver, BC
15 – Vogue Theatre – Vancouver, BC
16 – The Paramount – Seattle, WA
19 – The Palladium – Los Angeles, CA
21 – Soma – San Diego, CA
22 – Commercia Theatre – Phoenix, AZ
24 – South Side Ballroom – Dallas, TX
25 – Austin Music Hall – Austin, TX
26 – Bayou Music Hall – Houston, TX
28 – Track 29 – Chattanooga, TN
29 – Tabernacle – Atlanta, GA
30 – The Ritz – Raleigh, NC

December:
2 – Echostage – Washington, DC
3 – Tower Theatre – Philadelphia, PA
4 – Terminal 5 – New York, NY
5 – Terminal 5 – New York, NY

MUSIC | ‘The Righteous One’ – The Orwells

Check out the new video for the Orwells’ ‘The Righteous One’ directed by Eddie O’ Keefe.  It is a monochromatic, trippy mess – in the best way! You can check them out on tour on these dates below!

MARCH
4 Allston, MA Great Scott http://bit.ly/1dfjBPy
6 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom http://bit.ly/1dCpgp5
7 Philadelphia, PA First Unitarian Church http://ticketf.ly/KnPBdx
8 Washington, DC U Street Music Hall http://ticketf.ly/1eRmpHE
10 Atlanta, GA The Masquerade – Hell Stage http://bit.ly/1awUriC
11 New Orleans, LA One Eyed Jacks http://tktwb.tw/1cC1cwj
16 Dallas, TX Spillover Music Festival http://bit.ly/19AjPpF
19 Phoenix, AZ Rampage Fest http://ticketf.ly/1kHm2nT
20 Santa Ana, CA The Observatory http://tktwb.tw/1adykQS
21 San Diego, CA Che Café http://bit.ly/1awnxf9
22 Los Angeles, CA Troubadour http://ticketf.ly/1b8xgrU
23 San Francisco, CA Slim’s http://bit.ly/LgLxfU
25 Seattle, WA Neumos http://bit.ly/1cC1p2t
26 Portland, OR Star Theater http://bit.ly/1dv4Dsh
APRIL
1 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall http://bit.ly/1b8xJu8
2 Minneapolis, MN Triple Rock http://bit.ly/19AkjMf

WE HEART | Hanson

If you were old enough to listen to music in the 90’s then it’s fair to say the majority of our generation has grown up loving the ‘MMMbop’ trio Hanson are.

Earlier this year they released their sixth studio album ‘Anthem’, I was lucky enough to talk to Taylor Hanson without fan girling too much during their UK promotional visit of the ‘Anthem World Tour’. “The tour will be kicking off in South America as of late July; we’re currently enjoying it but definitely looking forward to the next few dates.” Taylor tells me.

With sixty dates in total the pop-rock band will kick off in Buenos Aires on the 18th of July and finish in Milan on the 17th of December.

Summer is a key time for music lovers to head out to festivals all over the world, however Taylor says, “we prefer concerts to festivals. Simply because we enjoy performing for a crowd that knows our songs rather than random people you mostly find at festivals.” Their long list of tours dating back to 1998 show that Hanson have been rocking live shows almost every year since. “I mean festivals are cool but you get loads of people who just turn up and don’t know the words or don’t get into it as much as a proper fan, it’s less intimate.”

Some of us do also forget that the band are now old enough to drink alcohol and it may come as a shock that Hanson released a beer in partnership with Oklahoma craft beer company, Mustang Brewing. “We created a beer because as a band we like doing things that our fans can enjoy. We also enjoy drinking beers so it seemed logical to make MMMhops.” The beer was created as a celebration of their twenty-first anniversary together. MMMhops merchandise can be bought via Hanson’s website and all proceeds of the beer and merchandise will go toward helping victims of the Oklahoma tornados which hit the boy bands hometown earlier this year.

Check out their hit single ‘Get The Girl Back’ off new album Anthem, out now!

Catch Hanson on tour: 

Tour Dates:

3 Dec Glasgow UK ABC

5 Dec Manchester UK Ritz

6 Dec Cardiff UK Solus

7 Dec Birmingham UK HMV Institute

8 Dec London UK Indigo O2

10 Dec Tilburg NETHERLANDS 013

11 Dec Cologne GERMANY Luxor

13 Dec Paris FRANCE Trabendo

14 Dec Solothurn SWITZERLAND Kofmehl

16 Dec Rome ITALY Palatlantico

17 Dec Milan ITALY Magazzini generali

 

 

Words | Umps Machaka

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MUSIC | In the presence of Lorde: you better BOW DOWN

WORDS | Moeima Dukuly

 

Wide eyed, long haired and sixteen. That only begins to break the ice that is Ella Yelich O’Connor – better known as Lorde, New Zealand’s beautiful virtuoso. Lorde blesses us with her EP, Love Club and the devastatingly new single you won’t want to keep out of your head (even if you tried) – ‘Royals’.

XO had the pleasure of getting to know Lorde better and our love, instantly turned into obsession. Take a look as we rap about everything from high school, Lana del Rey’s dream world, mean boys and girls and being broke (but beautiful).

—

On music and her beginnings: “I have always sung. And I was in my school talent show, singing some Duffy song and it got [people made] videos and it ended up getting to my record company…I wrote stuff I was proud of… and I just put it out, really. I feel like I haven’t gone through that ‘musician’s suffering’, you know? A decade of playing shows and no one appears or whatever…I think my way of doing it, is just as good, I guess. Just as valid.”

What inspired,’Royals’: “I’d just listened to the Lana del Rey [Born to Die] album. My response from all of that was, these different types of music talk about this extravagance  this opulence…beautiful clothes, nice cars, all that sort of thing. I could listen to it and enjoy it, but I’d been talking to my friends about all this stuff, and we kind of all decided that that was bullshit! I mean..no one’s got a Maserati! …It was more of an inside joke with my friends, than anything.”

Being too broke to pay for Subway: “Oh my gosh!! That was the most embarrassing thing in the world. It was really bad, I’m from a really small country so people kind of recognize me in the street here … the guy who made my subway was about my age, I could tell he recognized me. It got to the end and I couldn’t pay for it and it was SO embarrassing ..you have no idea. And it’s not like you could put it back, you know? I had to get my producer to pay for it. Oh man.”

Her upcoming tour in NY/LA: “I’ve only been to one other city [besides her own] in my country. It’ll be cool to see how people are responding and stuff…I’ll be coming out to New York and LA. Everyone keeps saying, ‘Oh, you’ll New York, you’ll love New York.’ It’ll be rad to just explore, meet some people…and just hang out really!”

On being young and in the music industry: “I think alot of people forget, that I am a high school student. High school can be SO nasty, so…challenging and I think that’s the best possible training you can have for an industry like this. Now everyone that I deal with [in the industry] seem so nice! Some people are just so busy judging you on how big your boobs are! I think the advice I would give is, maintain control. People underestimate young people’s visions…we know what’s cool. 40 year olds know what’s cool…but they kind of don’t. Young people like me across the world, are going to be the art directors and the creatives in a few years. We know what’s going on. Maintain your control. Have input.”

See? Love her.

Take a peek at Lorde’s recently released video below, ‘Royals’ and give a listen to her EP, Love Club – out now.

 

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#POP | Icona Pop, Everywhere at Once

While you’re gazing at how awesome our #POP issue covers are – XO cover stars Icona Pop, are killing everything moving.  They played a kick ass performance, on last night’s Jimmy Fallon AND again this morning on Good Morning America. Their single, ‘I Love It’ has sold over 1,000,000 copies AND hit the #3 spot on billboard’s New Artist chart. 

Additionally, they’ve released some North American festival dates for you to check out below. 

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES
06/02 – Wakarusa Festival – Mulberry Mountain – Ozark, AR
06/08 – The Governor’s Ball Music Festival – New York, NY

08/02 – Lollapalooza Festival – Chicago, IL

08/03 – The Grove Music Festival – Toronoto, Canada
08/04 – Osheaga Festival – Montreal, QC

Tickets

 

MUSIC | Charli XCX announces debut album – True Romance

Its finally here – well almost, the debut album Charli XCX, True Romance. Its available for pre order here.  She’ll also be on tour in both the US and UK, supporting and headlining with fellow UK popstresses Marina & the Diamonds and Ellie Goulding , check out the dates and album track listing  below! 

ALBUM TRACKLISTING:
1. Nuclear Seasons
2. You (Ha Ha Ha)
3. Take My Hand
4. Stay Away
5. Set Me Free
6. Grins
7. So Far Away
8. Cloud Aura ft. Brooke Candy
9. What I Like
10. Black Roses
11. You’re the One
12. How Can I
13. Lock You Up

SXSW:
3/12 – Austin, TX @ The Warner Sound Captured by Nikon – The Belmont
3/13 – Austin, TX @ Hype Machine’s Hype Hotel – 3rd & Jacinto
3/13 – Austin, TX @ Paradigm Showcase – Club Deville
3/14 – Austin, TX @ Filter Magazine’s Showdown on Cedar St.
3/14 – Austin, TX @ IAMSOUND / MFG SXSW Party – Mohawk Lounge
3/15 – Austin, TX @ Urban Outfitters Event
3/16 – Austin, TX @ ASOS Event
3/17 – Austin, TX @ Perez Hilton’s One Night in Austin – Austin City Music Hall

SUPPORTING ELLIE GOULDING:
4/6 – Belfast, UK @ Waterfront Hall
4/7 – Dublin, Ireland @ Olympia Theatre
4/9 – Amsterdam @ Paradiso
4/10 – Kobenhavn, Denmark @ VEGA
4/12 – Oslo, Norway @ Rockefeller Music Hall
4/13 – Stockholm, Sweden @ Strand
4/15 – Helsinki, Finaland @ TAVASTIA – klubi
4/16 РTallinn, Estonia @ Rock Caf̩
4/17 – Riga, Latvia @ Palladium Riga
4/18 – Vilnius, Lithuania @ LOFTAS
4/20 – Warszawa, Poland @ Klub Stodola
4/21 – Prague, Czech Republic @ SaSaZu
4/23 – Bratislava, Slovakia @ Atelier Babylon
4/24 – Milan, Italy @ MAGAZZINI GENERALI
4/25 – Vienna, Austria @ WUK
4/27 – Berlin, Germany @ Frannz Club
4/28 – Munich, Germany @ Ampere
4/29 – Cologne, Germany @ Essigfabrik
5/1 – Brussels, Belgium @ Ancienne Belgique – AB
5/2 – Paris, France @ Le Bataclan
5/3 – Luxembourg @ den Atelier
5/4 – Zurich, Switzerland @ Harterei

UK HEADLINE SHOWS:
4/17 – London, UK @ Old Blue Last TICKETS
4/18 – Glasgow @ ABC2 TICKETS
4/19 – Manchester @ Deaf Institute TICKETS

SUPPORTING MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS:
5/6 – San Francisco, CA @The Warfield
5/7 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
5/10 – San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
5/11 – Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Exposition Center
5/13 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Club Sound
5/14 – Englewood, CO @The Gothic Theatre
5/16 – Lawrence, KS @ The Granada
5/17 – St Louis, MO @ The Pageant
5/19 – Minneapolis, MN @ Skyway Theater
5/20 – Chicago, IL @ The Vic Theatre
5/22 – Detroit, MI @ Saint Andrew’s Hall
5/23 – Toronto, ON @ Sound Academy
5/24 – Montreal, QC @ Metropolis
5/28 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
5/29 – New York, NY @ Rumsey Playfield: Central Park SummerStage

BONNAROO:
6/13-16 – Bonnaroo Festival

Read our interview with charli here. 

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