Mumford & Sons, Vampire Weekend, HAIM to headline Okeechobee Fest 2020

After a one-year hiatus, the Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival is ready to rock once more.

On Monday (Oct. 14), the central Florida-based music festival announced not only its return but also its complete lineup. Headlining its comeback event will be Mumford $ Sons, Vampire Weekend, and HAIM.

Joining the acts as mentioned earlier on the roster are Rüfüs Du Sol, Bassnectar, Kaskade, Big Gigantic, ARIZONA, Sublime with Rome, Blood Orange, Bob Moses, Glass Animals, and more. As per the festival’s website, over 100 acts are set to appear at the 2020 incarnation of the event.

In the true spirit of diversity, Okeechobee Fest will bring back Jungle 51, their all-hours outdoor dance party as well as Aquachobee, their white-sand beach party.

If dance and beach parties aren’t tour thing, then it may be a good idea to check out Chobeewobee Village. The village will feature a mix of immersive art, food, drinks, yoga classes, workshops, and speakers, a great idea for those who need a little R and R after rocking out all night.

Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival returns to its home at the Sunshine Grove in Okeechobee, Florida, during the weekend of March 5-8, 2020.

Tickets go on sale via the festival’s website this Friday, Oct. 18, at 10 a.m. EST. For more information about Okeechobee Fest 2020, head on over to the festival’s website here.

 

Cage the Elephant, Alicia Keys, and Chance the Rapper lead the 2019 iHeart Radio Music Festival roster

Alicia Keys, Cage the Elephant, and Chance the Rapper are just some of the acts who will make their way to Las Vegas in the fall for the 2019 incarnation of the iHeartRadio Music Festival. On Tuesday (June 4), the media giant announced the genre-diverse lineup for this year’s festivities.

Joining the previously mentioned acts on the roster are a slew of top 20 radio staples as well as some legendary 80s rock bands. Halsey, Miley Cyrus, and Camila Cabello will share the stage with iconic bands like Heart and Def Leppard as well as country staples like Tim McGraw and Zac Brown Band.

This year’s Daytime Stage will feature performances by Juice WRLD, Maren Morris, Billie Eilish, Old Dominion, H.E.R., Zara Larsson, CNCO, Brett Young, FLETCHER, Monsta X, Bryce Vine, and Lauv. More acts are expected to be announced as the event gets closer.

Heart, Def Leppard, Mumford & Sons, Cabello, and H.E.R. will all make their iHeartRadio Music Festival debuts this year. This year also finds several iHeartRadio Music Festival veterans taking the stage. Keys performed at the inaugural event in 2011, McGraw took the stage in 2013, Zac Brown Band brought the country to the main stage in 2014, and Halsey performed on the Daytime Stage in 2017.

The iHeartRadio Music Festival will take over the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas during the weekend of Sept. 20-21.

The festival will be broadcast live on iHeartRadio’s medley of radio stations and will be live-streamed on the CW app and on the CW’s website.

If you miss the two-night event, don’t fret; the CW will re-broadcast the festival for a two-night TV special on Oct. 2 and 3 at 8 p.m. ET.

Tickets for the festival go on sale to the general public next Friday, June 14. More information about the iHeartRadio Music Festival can be found here.

The Weeknd, SZA, Travis Scott share their ‘Game of Thrones’-inspired track ‘Power is Power’

A week after announcing plans to release a “Game of Thrones”-inspired album, HBO and Columbia Records have finally unveiled its first single. On Thursday (April 18), the Weeknd, SZA, and Travis Scott shared their contribution to the fast-approaching new record.

The three-and-a-half-minute collaboration is titled “Power is Power,” a direct quote from HBIC Cersei Lannister to everyone’s least favorite Master of Coin Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish in season two of the series. Listen to “Power is Power” above.

In addition to the trio, For the Throne (Music Inspired by the HBO Series Game of Thrones) will also include contributions from the National, Muse frontman Matt Bellamy, Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers, X Ambassadors, Ellie Goulding, James Arthur, Maren Morris, and many more.

For the Throne (Music Inspired by the HBO Series Game of Thrones) is due out April 26. Additionally, Columbia Records is also offering several vinyl packages. One of the exclusive vinyl packages will feature nine different covers for the customer to choose from. The nine different covers represent the different houses featured on the series. According to the pre-order listing, the covers are “extremely limited” with only 2500 copies available worldwide.

While the digital versions of the album will be available at the end of the month, the vinyl versions will not be available until the end of July (July 26 to be specific). Pre-orders for For the Throne (Music Inspired by the HBO Series Game of Thrones) are available for purchase here. The full track listing for the album can be found below.

The final season of “Game of Thrones” premiered this past Sunday to a massive 17.4 million viewers. This broke HBO’s previous viewership rating record of 16.9 million which is attributed to the series’ season 7 finale.

FOR THE THRONE TRACK LISTING:

1. Maren Morris – “Kingdom of One”
2. SZA, The Weeknd, & Travis Scott – “Power is Power”
3. The Lumineers – “Nightshade”
4. Ellie Goulding – “Hollow Crown”
5. X Ambassadors – “Baptize Me” (Feat. Jacob Banks)
6. A$AP Rocky & Joey Bada$$ – “Too Many Gods”
7. The National – “Turn on Me”
8. James Arthur – “From the Grave”
9. Rosalía – “Me Traicionaste” (Feat. A.CHAL)
10. Lil Peep – “When I Lie (Remix)” (Feat. Ty Dolla $ign)
11. Lennon Stella – “Love Can Kill”
12. Chloe x Halle – “Wolf at Your Door”
13. Mumford & Sons – “Devil in Your Eye”
14. Matt Bellamy – “Pray (High Valyrian)”

Game of Thrones-inspired album to be released at the end of April

It looks like HBO is sparing no expense when it comes to promoting the final season of their massive cult hit, “Game of Thrones.” On Tuesday (April 9), the network announced a partnership with Columbia Records to release an album inspired by the show. Titled For the Throne (Music Inspired by the HBO Series Game of Thrones), the record is due out April 26; a week after the series’ final season is set to premiere.

The record will include contributions from the National, Muse frontman Matt Bellamy, Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers, X Ambassadors, Ellie Goulding, James Arthur, Maren Morris, and many more. The album will reportedly also include a major collaboration from SZA, the Weeknd, and Travis Scott.

A source close to the project confirmed the rumor to Pitchfork over the weekend, revealing that “’Game of Thrones’ asked the Weeknd to record the song for fans. The Weeknd then brought SZA and Travis Scott onto the project.”

The National’s inclusion on the upcoming album shouldn’t come as much of a surprise as the band recorded “The Rains of Castamere” in 2012 for season two of the series.

Pre-orders for For the Throne (Music Inspired by the HBO Series Game of Thrones) are available for purchase here. The album will feature nine different covers to represent the different houses featured on the series. According to Columbia Records, the covers are “extremely limited” and encourage fans to purchase the album with their favorite house as the cover before they run out.

It’s safe to assume that House Stark, House Lannister, and House Targaryen will be the first to go.

The soundtrack comes on the heels of several collaborations including Urban Decay, Mountain Dew, Shake Shack and most recently Oreo.

The final season of Game of Thrones lands on HBO on April 14.

Tool, Mumford & Sons, The 1975 to headline Boston Calling 2017

It’s starting to look a lot like music festival season is right around the corner. Over the past week, the lineup for Coachella, Bonnaroo, Governors Ball, and many more have been unveiled, giving those in the frigid parts of the country something to look forward to. On Thursday (Jan. 12), Boston Calling was the latest to unveiled their massive lineup.

Headlining the eighth incarnation of the music festival will be Tool, Mumford & Sons, Chance the Rapper, Bon Iver, The XX, Major Lazer, Weezer, the 1975, and many more. In total, 45 musical acts are scheduled to hit Boston during the Memorial Day weekend event.

“Between our location and lineup, 2017 will undoubtedly be the most exciting Boston Calling yet,” said Boston Calling Events co-founder Brian Appel. “We are really in awe of the support and success the festival has seen thus far, and we are more excited than ever by the future.”

In addition to the musical acts, the festival also announced that they will add a “film experience” curated by Academy Award winner, Natalie Portman. “This year, in addition to its 45 act lineup performing across three outdoor stages, it will add a film experience curated by Academy Award-winning actress, producer and director Natalie Portman, along with comprehensive food, drink, and visual arts components.” No word yet on what exactly that entails.

Boston Calling is set to take place during the weekend of May 26-28. This marks the first time the music festival will not take place at its past home of City Hall Plaza. Instead, 2017 will mark the first year the festival takes place at its new home of the Harvard Athletic Complex in Allston, Mass. Three-day general admission passes as well as VIP passes are currently available on the music festival’s website. The complete lineup for the three-day event can be seen below.

Mumford and Sons to Take a Long Awaited Break

Sad news for the indie world concerning one of their favorite bands calling it a day.

This weekend, Mumford & Sons revealed that they will be taking “a considerable amount of time off” once they wrapped up their current Babel tour this past Friday, September 20..

The news came out when keyboardist, Ben Lovett, told Rolling Stone that “there won’t be any Mumford & Sons activities for the foreseeable future following Friday’s show.”

But not being able to leave well enough alone, the magazine grilled the keyboard player about what he exactly meant by that statement and how long exactly the band will be taking off in the meantime.

He went on to explain, “we have no idea. We just know we’re going to take a considerable amount of time off and just go back to hanging out and having no commitments or pressure or anything like that. It feels like the last week of school right now, before school holiday when you’re in high school. The atmosphere on the road is one of… I think everyone’s excited about being free of schedules.”

The band released their debut album, Sigh No More back in 2009 and went on to released the hit Babel last year which launched them into mainstream success, sold out tours and several awards. The band though, have been touring non-stop since 2009 in support on both album.

Showing how much they love their fans, it pained them to have to cancel tour dates back in June when bassist, Ted Dwane, had to undergo emergency brain surgery to get rid of a blood clot on his brain.  Right after Dwane was given the okay from the doctors, they were back on stage for Glastonbury.

“We’re just going to rest up. I don’t think we’ve had actually much time in the process to be with other people and living a life outside of the band. I think that’s what’s in place at the moment, to do very little – especially when it comes to Mumford & Sons,” Lovett said about what is in the future for the band as they rest up.

Fun. Frontman Released Message About Cancelled Show

In what was sad news for fans of fun., the band had to cancel their appearance at t festival alongside Mumford & Sons sue to vocal issues that had been plaguing frontman Nate Ruess since the beginning of the year. The band had been scheduled to perform at the Gentlemen Of The Road Stopover in St. Augustine, FL last night, but a doctor had advised Ruess that the best thing he could do was sit out the show due to vocal concerns.

Today, Ruess has taken to the web to explain what exactly went on and why the band were forced to pull out of the event. The full message can be read below:

Hey Guys,

I just wanted to take a second and explain the unfortunate circumstances in which we had to cancel our set today with Mumford & Sons.

Since Xmas time last year, I had been experiencing some crazy and annoying vocal issues. For me it’s been particularly tough, because in all of my years of touring (including the early years of doing 12 straight shows), I’ve never had to cancel a show because of my voice. However, last winter my vocals finally started getting the best of me.

After seeing a doctor, we decided that it was best that we change a few things in the touring schedule, as well as in the way we would approach shows in the future.

Because of that, I’ve been able to get away with almost 10 straight months of touring, without any issues.

But the last few weeks, things have started to change again. This is really hard on me…my voice is my life. As much as it might suck for fans to miss the show, it feels equally as terrible for us. After all, our live performance is what we’ve built this band around, and to be honest, right now in the middle of this tour, we are really rolling.

But in order to keep the tour going (as well as any sort of tour in the future), I found it necessary to cancel the show today. I went to the doctor the other day, fortunately there isn’t any permanent damage, but he concurred that a few days off would be crucial.

It’s a massive drag to cancel a show/festival with a band that we not only admire as artists and live musicians, but also as people. If we could be there, we’d be wearing bells.

Our apologies to the ticket buyers, and to everyone involved in the Mumford show tonight. We promise to make it up to you. We always do.

See you soon,
Nate

As of right now, there has been no comments on whether they will also be rescheduling or cancelling the rest of their Most Nights tour which is scheduled to pick up tomorrow in Tuscaloosa, AL.

Lollapalooza Live Cast Schedule

If you couldn’t make it to this year’s Lollapalooza then don’t sweat it because festival organizers will be live-casting several sets just for those who couldn’t make it to the annual festival. With performers such as the newly revamped Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, The Cure and many more, it’s comes as no surprise that tickets for the three-day festival are sold out.

While the list of the bands who’s set will be live-cast is small compared to the long list of performers in total, at least viewers won’t have to complain over the fact that there will be a lot of conflicting set times (some really good bands are performing at the same time in case you haven’t already seen).

Lollapalooza starts this Friday, August 2 and goes all the way through until Sunday at Chicago’s Grant Park. The webcast will be hosted through the festival’s YouTube page which you can check out here. For the full schedule of those getting the webcast treatment, take a peek at the list below.

LOLAPALOOZA LIVE CAST SCHEDULE:

Friday, August 2: 
2:30 p.m. – Smith Westerns
3:30 p.m. – Icona Pop
4:15 p.m. – Crystal Castles
5:15 p.m. – Imagine Dragons
6:15 p.m. – Queens of the Stone Age
7:30 p.m. – Band of Horses
8:30 p.m. – The Killers
10:00 p.m. – Nine Inch Nails

Saturday, August 3: 
2:15 p.m. – Ben Howard
3:00 p.m. – Court Yard Hounds
4:00 p.m. – Local Natives
5:00 p.m. – Ellie Goulding
6:00 p.m. – The National
7:15 p.m. – The Lumineers
8:30 p.m. – The Postal Service
10:00 p.m. – Mumford & Sons

Sunday, August 4: 
2:30 p.m. – Alex Clare
4:30 p.m. – Two Door Cinema Club
5:30 p.m. – Alt-J
6:30 p.m. – Steve Aoki
7:00 p.m. – Vampire Weekend
8:15 p.m. – The Cure

Mumford & Sons to Reschedule Cancelled Dates

Mumford & Sons revealed that they would be cancelling a few tour stops over two weeks ago so that bassist, Ted Dwane could have brain surgery to removed a blood clot on his brain, the band were hoping that recovery would be fast and they would be performing at the following week’s Bonnaroo.

Due to doctors orders, the band decided withdraw from Bonnaroo to give the bassist time to recover. The festival went ahead and asked Jack Johnson, who was already at the Manchester, TN location for a surprise appearance for his upcoming new album, to fill in the vacant spot on the roster.

A little over two weeks later and the band have announced that everything was good with Dwane (he even posted pictures of his newly shaven head online, letting fans know he was doing great) meaning that it was time to get back to work and continue their tour.

The dates that they had cancelled which included Dallas; Woodlands, Texas; and New Orleans would be rescheduled for a later time, but starting in late-August, the band would beheading out on their “The Full English Tour.” The first stop will be in Toronto and then go through North America wrapping up in Simpsonville, SC o September 11. After that, the band will head down south to perform their rescheduled dates.

The band is currently schedule to perform at Sunday’s Glastonbury Festival in Britain with Dwane returning to his bass on stage. “To be honest, Ted dealt with the whole thing better than any of us could have imagined,” keyboardist Ben Lovett said in an interview with The Radio Times. “All we feel is incredibly grateful and happy that he’s going to be O.K. and that we’re going to get back out on that stage at Glastonbury as four brothers and do what we do.”

FULL TOUR DATES:

Mumford & Sons’ Full English tour dates:
Aug. 26 – Molson Canadian Amphitheatre, Toronto, ON
Aug. 28 – Forest Hills Stadium, Queens, NY
Aug. 29 – First Niagara Pavilion, Burgettstown, PA
Sept. 02 – Klipsch Music Center, Noblesville, IN
Sept. 03 – Marcus Amphitheater, Milwaukee, WI
Sept. 04 – Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN
Sept. 09 – Oak Mountain Amphitheatre, Pelham, AL
Sept. 10 – Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta, GA
Sept. 11 – Charter Amphitheatre, Simpsonville, SC

Rescheduled dates: 
Sept. 16 – Mardi Gras World, New Orleans, LA
Sept. 17 – Cynthia Woods Pavilion, Woodlands, TX
Sept. 18 – GEXA Energy Pavilion, Dallas, TX
Sept. 20 – Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre, Bonner Springs, KS

Jack Johnson to Replace Mumford & Sons

Earlier this week when it was announced that Mumford & Sons were going to be postponing three tour dates due to bassist Ted Dwane having a blood clot on his brain, the band assured fans that they would still be performing at their Bonnaroo stop.

Yesterday, the band had to break the news to those fans that they would not be making to Tennessee for the annual indie festival due to Dwane’s recovery from surgery. To the surprise of many or maybe not, Jack Johnson has been asked to fill in the void that the band had left on the schedule.

According to a statement released by the festival organizers, upon getting the phone call from the organizers, Johnson summoned his band to get it together that they were heading to Tennessee to fill in for the folk-indie band.

“I’ve got a lot of lyrics and chords to relearn by Saturday night,” he admitted when interviewed after the fact. “I was here to play the first Bonnaroo and it is a very special festival to my band. We are excited to hit the stage again.”

Billboard reports that the festival organizers had been simultaneously sending request to both Johnson and Darius Rucker from Hootie & the Blowfish to fill in for the band. Johnson had already been at the Manchester location for a surprise press appearance for his upcoming new album, From Here to Now to You while Rucker’s tour schedule made it almost impossible for him to make it since he would be playing a show in Baltimore in Saturday.

On Thursday, when the band had the unfortunate task of breaking the news to their fans, they had written on their Facebook page that Dwane was actually doing very well following the surgery. In order to give the bassist time to relax and recover properly, they had decided it was in their best interest to just nix the festival stop as well as next week’s stop at Colorado’s Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

“If we could’ve we would’ve, you know that about us,” the post read. “We trust that you can respect our collective desire to encourage Ted to make a full recovery, and that this is based purely on the medical advice we have received.”