Miami Beach Pop Festival to bring genre-diverse lineup to the sunny beach in November

While the City of Miami’s relationship status with Ultra Music Festival is still classified as  “it’s complicated” (do they want it to return to downtown or not?!), Miami Beach just announced plans to launch their own music festival in the fall. On Thursday (June 20), concert promoters Paul Peck and Steve Sybesma (Bonnaroo and the Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival) unveiled the lineup for the inaugural Miami Beach Pop Festival.

As previously promised, the roster boasts a diverse list of acts from different genres (and countries) of music including rock, R&B, electronica, jazz, country, reggae, and Latin pop.

The lengthy catalog includes Chance the Rapper, Jack Johnson, Daddy Yankee, KYGO, The Raconteurs, Juanes, Leon Bridges, Maggie Rogers, The Roots, Nile Rodgers and Chic, Sean Paul, T-Pain, Jessie Reyes, DJ Windows 98 (aka Win Butler of the Arcade Fire), and more.

In an earlier press statement, Peck and Sybesma promised to bring in some local acts and that they did. They enlisted The Miami Beach Senior High Rock Ensemble, local electronic act Afrobeta, Magic City Hippies, Roosevelt Collier, and the Frost School of Music American Music Ensemble will perform some of Ben Folds’ music with the musician himself.

“Miami Beach Pop is a celebration of one of the most extraordinary cities in the world,” shares Peck in a recent statement.

“This unmatched, vibrant culture and iconic beach provide a rare combination of natural beauty and city excitement. The core purpose that drives the vision for this festival has been to celebrate the unity of human connection. We are honored to include artists such as Chance the Rapper and Jack Johnson, who are two of the most socially-conscious and inspiring figures in the contemporary cultural landscape.”

Tickets go on sale this Friday, June 21. The will be several ticket tiers to pick from including general admission, VIP, platinum ticket passes, hotel packages, and more. For those who went a little crazy planning their summer trips, Miami Beach Pop is offering payment plan options.

Miami Beach residents are eligible to receive a 20% discount on general admission tickets. For more information about the lineup, tickets, or general inquiries, head on over to Miami Beach Pop Festival’s website here.

The three-day music festival will take over South Beach during the weekend of Nov. 8-10. The weekend-long festivities will take over the sunny sands of the beach between Fifth and 10th Street right off Ocean Drive.

Watch Metallica play ‘Enter Sandman’ with toy instruments

Metallica’s new album is set to hit stores in less than 24 hours,but like any hardworking band, they are currently in the midst of doing their publicity rounds. On Wednesday (Nov. 16), the iconic rock band headed over to Jimmy Fallon’s late night show on NBC to promote their tenth studio album. During their time there, they joined forces with house band, The Roots, to perform a “different” version of their famous song, “Enter Sandman.”

Instead of using real instruments, the band was given toy instrument which could be found at any elementary school. Armed with kazoos, toy drums, xylophone, and a baby guitar, the two groups, as well as Fallon covered the song. It’s also a good time to point out how the members of The Roots, and Fallon, are wearing Metallica shirts while drummer Lars Ulrich is wearing a The Roots shirt and vocalist James Hetfield is rocking a “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” shirt. Watch the funny clip below.

Metallica’s tenth studio album Hardwired…To Self-Destruct is set to be released this Friday, Nov. 18. Hardwired…To Self-Destruct is the follow-up to  2008’s Death Magnetic. Between the eight-year gap, the band released Lulu, their collaborative record with Lou Reed as well as an EP titled Beyond Magnetic in 2011.

In anticipation of the new record’s release, the band revealed that they would be releasing a string of music videos to give a “sneak peek” at every track on it. Earlier in the day, the band released the music video for “Spit Out the Bone.” Watch that clip here.

Lipton Tea to Launch ‘Be More Tea’ Festival

It seems like every year, we see the creation of more and more music festivals which to music fans like ourselves, is a pretty great thing.

Today, Lipton Tea announced they would be putting their hat into the music festival ring this year with their inaugural Be More Tea Festival.

The beverage brand’s festival will take place in North Charleston, S.C. at the Riverfront Park on Oct.24. The company hopes to inspire attendees to “Be More Tea,” the brand’s philosophy that encourages people to take time to engage with others and enjoy the world around them as well as celebrate their 125th anniversary.

Yes, that yellow box of tea you currently have in the back of your cabinet is turning 125 this year.

With the announcement, the beverage company has also revealed the first handful of artists slated to take the stage at the one day festivities. Jimmy Fallon house group The Roots, festival staple Passion Pit, Top 100 darlings Walk the Moon, and St. Lucia will all be making the trip to South Carolina this Fall for the event.

According to Melanie Watts, Lipton’s director of marketing, the festival will include one main, continuous festival stage as well as a neighborhood block party-meets-carnival vibe with “food, attractions, games, and rides.”

The one day party will also offer attendees different tea-based tasting booths that will highlight their products including their top-selling hot teas to their recently launched Lipton Sparkling Iced Tea. Watts also hinted they there will be some “fun tea-based cocktails.”

Do we smell their own version of a Long Island Iced Tea on the menu?

In honor of all the celebration, Lipton is also hosting the Be More Tea Sweepstakes. The sweepstakes will award 125 tea drinkers, and guests, trips to the music festival. The sweepstakes began on May 18 and will wrap up 125 days later on Sept. 19. For more information about the sweepstakes or to just enter, head on over to the Be More Tea Festival website.

Jimmy Fallon Fills in for Bono on “Desire”

Jimmy Fallon is one hell of a good sport and we mean that. This week on his late night show, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, U2 were supposed to take the stage as the house band for the full week.

Due to an injury that Bono obtained during the weekend in a freak bicycle accident in Central Park which required surgery, the band had to pull out of their duties leaving the late night program performer-less.

Insert Fallon and The Roots.

Instead of just leaving it at that, a week without musical guest, Fallon and The Roots decided to give an unexpected performance of them covering “Desire.”

The best part of the performance? Fallon came out on stage decked out like Bono in both clothing and eyewear.

Check out the video from the show last night below.

As of now, The Tonight Show has not announced what they will do for musical guests this week since U2 were booked until Friday and one can’t exactly go from the operating room to the stage in less than a day.

Considering Fallon started out the week like this, we’re going to assume that he (and everyone who works on the show) might have something up their sleeve.

Watch No Doubt and Sting Perform “Message in a Bottle”

It’s been a couple of years since No Doubt have been on the stage together, but the band hit the stage last night at the Global Citizen Festival in New York City.

For their encore, the band were joined on stage by Sting to perform his song, “Message in a Bottle.”

The special performance wasn’t so much of a surprise considering that earlier in the week, it was revealed Sting would be hitting the stage with the California band, but that was all that was announced.

Check out the video of the performance.

No Doubt and Sting were just some of the acts that performed at the third annual Global Citizen Festival. Also taking the stage were power-couple Jay-Z and Beyoncé who teamed up for Jay-Z’s “Holy Grail,”  like they did during the “On the Run” Tour with Beyoncé filling in on Justin Timberlake’s parts, and “Forever Young.”

The Roots, fun., Alicia Keys, and Tiesto also performed at the festival is sponsored by the Global Citizen movement, an initiative of the Global Poverty Project, which works to end extreme poverty by 2030.

The goal of the festival is to raise awareness and promote activism to end poverty. This year, Global Citizen is striving for commitments in vaccines, education and sanitation.

Boston Calling 2014 Reveal Line-Up

Festival season is in full effect now and another one has just announced its lineup.

Boston Calling has announced the artists that will be taking the stages at this year’s event. The show, which will take place during the weekend of September 5-7 will include headlining acts such as The Replacements, Lorde, The National, Nas and the Roots, Childish Gambino, the 1975 and many more. The full lineup list can be seen below.

By the time Boston Calling is set to begin, many of the artists on the list would have already performed at several other festivals that have taken place during the Spring and Summer. This past weekend, Lorde and The Replacements took the stage at Coachella for the second time.

Unlike Lorde, The Replacements got a little help from Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong on vocals due to Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg suffering from a reported back injury. Here’s hoping that by September he’ll be able to perform.

Replacement’s manager, Darren Hill, revealed that the reconstructed band have been asked to play almost every festival this year, but have been choosy about which to do. Hill admits the band decided on Boston Calling because of the connection that they have to the scene.

“The Replacements always had an affinity, a really strong connection, to Boston and the Boston scene,” said Hill. “I’m sure you can expect a surprise in Boston.”

Pre-sale tickets for the three-day show will go on sale beginning Thursday through Ticketmaster. Three-day general admission passes will run you $150 while the VIP passes cost $250.

Watch the official announcement from festival organizers.

Idina Menzel and Jimmy Fallon Take on ‘Frozen’

Last night, Idina Menzel or shall we call her Adele Nazeem took to The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to perform her Academy Award winning song “Let it Go” from Frozen.

The cute video features Fallon, The Roots and Menzel playing kiddie instruments that you would find in a music class at your local elementary school including the likes of a small electronic piano, a color xylophone, a triangle and a couple of blocks.

If the scene looks familiar to you, then you’d be right. Last Summer, Fallon did the same kind of skit with Robin Thicke where they performed “Blurred Lines” with the same kiddie instruments.

Watch the adorable clip below and have fun singing along to it.

Robin Thicke and Jimmy Fallon Sing ‘Blurred Lines’

What happens when you combine Robin Thicke, Jimmy Fallon, The Roots and kid instruments?

The answer to that would be this cute and equally funny video. The singer, the late night show host and the band look like they ransacked an elementary school, taking all the kids’ instruments like the color xylophone, a make-believe piano, a flute, some maracas and a…banana?

Check out the stripped down version of Summer’s biggest and catchiest hit yet.

This isn’t the first time that Fallon has performed some stripped-down versions of hit songs on his show. In the past he’s done the same with the likes of  Carly Rae Jepsen, Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey.