British rock band The Darkness stopped by The Agora in Cleveland on Sunday 9/21. The Darkness will continue their “Dreams on Toast” tour across the sea in Europe but will be back for some US performances in November.
Opener Mark Daly gave a high-energy performance for an excited crowd. Headliners The Darkness put on an incredible performance highlighting hits both old and new and of course featured their monster hit “I believe in the thing called love.” Be on the lookout for The Darkness while they continue their world travels for their “Dreams on Toast” tour. Check out photos from the evening below.
The annual Sips and Sounds Fest started on the first day of SXSW this year in Austin with some impressive artists, including night one headliner Halsey, who played rock inspired versions of her hits. Fans had lots of activations to enjoy, including a Silent Disco and Coca Cola Fan Zone, where they could relax and grab a drink.
There were many fun musical highlights from day one. Ashe arrived in a sparkly pink dress and twirled the stage as she sang her hits, along with a cover of “Unwritten” by Natashia Beddingfield and “Love Story” by Taylor Swift.
Ashe
Disko Cowboy DJ’d a hype set of country hits mixed with EDM beats, and the crowd was loving it. He was accompanied by two dancers donned in sparkly cowboy hats.
Suki WaterhouseDisko CowboyBlusher
Suki Waterhouse brought out Ashe as a surprise guest to sing their collab song, “Pushing Daisies.” Australian trio Blusher had choreographed moves to go with their upbeat pop-inspired songs.
The two-day fest was sponsored by Coca Cola, with an option to recycle bottles and cans to redeem festival swag. To make recycling easy and accessible, “Recycle & Refresh” stations were set up throughout the festival grounds, supported by volunteers from Keep Austin Beautiful. With Austin food favorites like Amy’s Ice Cream and Southside Flying Pizza, there were plenty of tasty options for festival goers.
The Cinemark activation provided a bit of shade in the hot Texas heat, with a cool building you could enter to watch movie trailers and get free popcorn.
Khalid
The Austin skyline sparkled prominently in the background as the sun set over the city, and Khalid serenaded the crowd with hit after hit, including fan favorites “On The Way,” and “Location.”
Halsey pranced around in black cowboy boots and a white dress, singing her songs to the large crowd in downtown Austin, including her new single, “Safeword.” She closed the Friday fest with her popular song “Without Me.”
Paul RussellNessa Barrett
Day two was a bit cooler in temperature but with just as much excitement. Paul Russell kicked off the day with his TikTok hit “Boo Thing.” Nessa Barrett brought the brooding vibes and strummed guitar to her set.
Chelsea Cutler and Jeremy ZuckerClaire Rosinkranz
Musicians Chelsea Cutler and Jeremy Zucker performed emotional songs from their collaboration project “Brent.” Singer songwriter Claire Rosinkranz told the crowd that she would be performing mostly new material to get a feel from the crowd if they like them or not (they liked them!).
AJR
AJR was a wild set of chaos, dancing, and hats. Brothers Adam, Jack and Ryan (hence the name) performed their hit songs, building up the songs and creating fun moments for the crowd. They ended with their song “Weak.”
Benson Boone
Benson Boone closed out the weekend with a performance full of backflips, fireworks and glitter. He kept the crowd entertained and singing along despite the chilly weather.
This iteration of Sips and Sounds Fest was the best yet. Fans loved the downtown location, impressive lineup, and great weather. We can’t wait to see what’s in store next year.
EDM staple Dillon Francis went on an electrifying run of LA shows from The Roxy to The Mayan Theatre before capping it off at Shrine LA to a packed house of electronic music lovers. Drawing inspiration from the infamous Nicole Kidman AMC commercial, Dillon Francis continued his comedy-infused electronic music brand by coming up with his own version to open the set, much to the delight of his audience (and really hitting home for those who really got the joke).
With a stacked roster of DJs playing from 8pm until the venue closed, the energy was building. The last headlining DJ of the night, Nitti (Formerly ‘Nitti Gritti’) built the crowd for Dillon Francis’ set, with intermittent moments of gratitude towards the audience and the city of LA. Many of his most known hits were in full effect, such as “Your Body” and “What You Got” sending shockwaves into the bouncing crowd.
Dillon’s closing set could only be described as a nonstop dance party filled with lots of lasers and EDM bangers. He dove into some of his classics like “Get Low” and “Move It”, while also treating the crowd to his newer tracks “LA On Acid”, “Can’t Stop Me Now”, and many other mixes from his 2023 release This Mixtape is Fire TOO. Fans also heard a few songs from anti everything, another album released this year in collaboration with DJ Hanzel, who was also featured as an opener for the night.
There was no shortage of good vibes at Shrine LA, and fans went home happy after dancing and vibing all night to Dillon Francis’ head pounding mixes. Check out the images below, taken by Kenny Jusino.
It felt like early 2000’s again when the guitar riff’s came in at the end of the night at Stubb’s Amphitheater in Austin, Texas on Monday. Lead singer Martin Johnson of pop-punk band Boys Like Girls crooned the intro line to arguably one of the best songs of 2006, “The Great Escape.”
The band had been dark for nearly 12 years before making a comeback and announcing a new album earlier in May, to the thorough excitement of fans.
The show was a throwback to the angsty, screamy love songs, leather jackets and spikey hair, with fans crowdsurfing the upbeat songs and swaying to the slow ones.
Boys Like Girls played a great combination of their old hits–“Thunder,” “Hero/Heroine,” “Love Drunk,” and “Dance Hall Drug” and a few off their new album, including the first single, “Blood and Sugar.”
They ended the show playing, “The Great Escape,” first so that the crowd could record it, and then requesting that they play it again with no phones so fans could enjoy the song like it was 2006 again. The encore was a stripped down acoustic version of “Two Is Better Than One.” See the photos below, taken by Gaby Deimeke.
Last week at Huntington Bank Pavilion in downtown Chicago, 5 Seconds of Summer showed us a proper rock show. The band, comprised of four members–Calum Hood on bass, frontman Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford on guitar, and Ashton Irwin on drums–played to thousands of screaming fans all their hits: She Looks So Perfect, Amnesia, Teeth, and ending with their smash Youngblood.
With fun video interludes throughout the show, a giant inflatable pair of dice donning the names of fan favorite songs, and an encore where they came onto the stage wearing bathrobes, the show was nothing short of a hype and hilarious ride. Check out the photos below, by Gaby Deimeke.
The Jonas Brothers kicked off their new tour “Five Albums. One Night.” last night at Yankee Stadium to 46,500 screaming fans in the Bronx. They played hits from all five of their albums, including older fan favorites, “SOS,” “Year 3000” and “Hello Beautiful,” as well as newer hits, “Waffle House,” “Wings,” and “Sucker.”
They welcomed surprise guests Jon Bellion and Kirk Franklin to join them in singing, “Walls,” as well as a surprise from Big Rob during the rap verse on “Burning Up.” Check out the photos below from the show, taken by Gaby Deimeke.
Arlington, Texas turned into a Swiftie party this weekend as Gayle, Muna and Taylor Swift graced the stage for the iconic Eras Tour. Taylor played hits from all of her Eras and put on a spectacular show. Check out the photos below, taken by Gaby Deimeke.
February 12, 2023 was a night to remember – and not because of the Super Bowl – as P1Harmony became the first K-pop band to play the historic Grand Ole Opry in Music City. Their setlist included songs across their discography, including “Back Down” and “BFF” from their latest EP Harmony: Set In, as well as favorites from past releases such as “Doom Du Doom” and “Follow Me,” the latter in which the crowd was delightfully shocked when streamer cannons shot off towards the end of the song.
Being in Nashville, the band naturally thought to give a shout out to country music. Soul decided to sing an a capella rendition of “Home on the Range,” which was hilarious and at the same time beautiful, and the entire audience sang along with smiles on their faces.
The band acknowledged that it was Super Bowl Sunday, and everyone could have been at home watching Rihanna play. But they weren’t, so P1Harmony was grateful to their fans for being there. Judging by the cheers, deafening screams, and dancing throughout the concert, we don’t think it was a tough decision for them.
Tove Lo kicked off her North American Dirt Femme Tour in Music City with a sold out show at the historic Ryman Auditorium. She started the night with high energy, opening with “Pineapple Slice” before moving into “Attention Whore,” both songs off of her latest album Dirt Femme. She then laid down some ground rules for us before continuing, which included dancing with her, crying with her, and feeling sexy at least once.
We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the wardrobe! Tove Lo started the night in her iconic golden piece most notably featuring faux nudity, and later changed into a sparkling, fringe-covered outfit with rips all the way up and down the pants. Tove Lo commented on her wardrobe after singing “Grapefruit,” a powerful song about her past experience with disordered eating and her relationship with her body. She told us how it was a long journey, but “I’m glad I did the work,” and that now she is clearly “comfortable being half-naked on stage.” She reminded us that her concerts were a place where she wants everyone to be themselves, resulting in cheers and hugs in the audience.
The setlist included songs from each of her albums, but a highlight of the night was when Nashville was treated to being the first to hear a brand new song called “Borderline” – which we can confidently say is a banger and you’ll want to add it to your playlist when it comes out in a couple of days!
When Tove Lo came out for her encores, we were surprised by the third outfit of the night, this one all metallic! As she took the stage again, she told us that she had met a man in Nashville the day before and asked him what he wanted to hear at the show. So the crowd was blessed to hear “Stranger” played live for the first time ever, before Tove Lo closed out the night with the song that started it all – “Habits (Stay High)” – and the beginning of Dirt Femme – “No One Dies From Love.” These two were significant to end the night with, as Tove Lo noted that “Habits” was released independently, and Dirt Femme is her first album as an indie artist, bringing her full circle.
If you weren’t with us in Nashville last night dancing and singing and banging on the benches of the Ryman, we hope you’re catching this show during the rest of the tour!
BANKS came to play at Marathon Music Works in Nashville, one of the first stops on her Serpentina Tour. Serpentina is Banks’s fourth album, so she had plenty of songs to choose from when getting ready for this tour. “It was hard to make a setlist,” she said, “Each song is my baby.”
Banks opened with “Misunderstood” to a screaming crowd, flanked by two dancers who struck acrobatic poses as often as they danced in sync with Banks herself. It’s hard to say which songs she played were fan-favorites, as the crowd cheered enthusiastically at the start of each and every new track. But some include “Gemini Feed” off of Serpentina, “Fuck With Myself” from her second album The Altar, and “Beggin For Thread” from Goddess, her first. Before playing “Gimme,” a song from her album III, Banks reminded us all that “it’s time for everyone – especially women – to demand what they want from the Supreme Court.” And we agree that “Gimme”is the perfect anthem for that statement.
Banks told us before playing one song in particular that it was eight years old, but she had only started playing it live for the first time this week on her tour. That song was “Someone New,” and the crowd sang along to every word of the ballad.
Take a look at the gallery below and stream Serpentina wherever you listen to music!
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