Nicki Minaj to tour with Britney Spears

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It’s basically official: Multiple sources, including TMZ, are reporting that Nicki Minaj will be the opening act on Britney Spears’ upcoming tour. The slot was reportedly initially offered to Enrique Iglesias however apparently those negotiations fizzled out because he wanted to be billed as a co-headliner instead.
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A few days ago Minaj told MTV that she was up for the Britney tour but didn’t confirm that she would be a part of it. “I am in talks of joining Britney Spears, yeah,” Minaj said last week. “I’m in talks about a lot of things, ya know. I don’t know — oops, I did it again.”
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Logistically the pairing makes sense: Minaj is currently on Lil Wayne’s “I Am Still Music” tour which ends on May 1st in East Rutherford, New Jersey and Brit’s tour doesn’t start until June 17th in Sacramento, Calif. Personally, we think that Minaj and Britney is a way better pairing for the kick-off to Britney’s “Femme Fatale” tour than touring with Julio Iglesias’ son… plus it doesn’t hurt that Minaj has two singles in the Billboard Top 100 right now (“Moment 4 Life” and “Did It On ‘Em),” either.
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The Rundown: Jack White, Demi Lovato etc.

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–Jack White recently discussed his life post White Stripes. It has also been announced that The White Stripes will release a new live CD/DVD recorded during a 2007 performance in Mississippi.
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–Demi Lovato, who recently was released from a treatment center for “personal issues,” has opened up in the new issue of Seventeen, admitting she had an eating disorder.
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–A producer close to the group says the Fugees will reunite.
.–Muse, Arcade Fire, Phish and more have been announced as the headliners for San Francisco’s Outside Lands Festival.
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–Limp Bizkit have announced the release date for their new record Gold Cobra. The album, their first since 2005, will be released on June 28th.
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–Lady Gaga’s new video for “Judas” isn’t even out yet but people are already protesting it:
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–Prince has announced he will play 21 shows this April in LA:
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–Anberlin, Sum 41, Alice in Chains and more have been announced as performers at Rock On The Range Canada.
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–All Time Low will be the first celebrity figures to appear in the iPhone game “Mike Tyson: Main Event”

U2 tour is most successful of all time

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U2’s current 360 tour has officially become the most successful tour of all time. Following Sunday night’s sold-out show at Morumbi Stadium in Sao Paulo, U2 broke the previous record, held by The Rolling Stones’ Bigger Bang tour which grossed $554 million from 2005 to 2007.
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U2 has 20 dates remaining on their trek, but when it concludes on July 30th, the tour will have grossed over $700 million. This means the 360 will also set the record for the highest grossing tour of all time. The tour will also have sold over seven million tickets and landed in 110 venues in 30 countries, according to USA Today.
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U2’s manager Paul McGuinness said, “That dollar figure for the gross looks enormous! Of course I can’t tell you what the net is, but I can tell you that the band spend enormous sums on production for their audience. Fans all over the world agree that a ticket to U2 ‘360′ is good value for money. We’re really proud of this tour and this achievement is great news, coming as we head back into North America.”

Joe Jonas teams up with Chris Brown

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Can we expect a collaboration from Chris Brown and Joe Jonas? It looks like the answer is yes. The  F.A.M.E. singer has apparently teamed up with the squeaky-clean Disney star for some work in the studio.
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The duo went into the studio with producer Hit-Boy over the weekend and the producer, who has previously worked with Nicki Minaj and Pusha T, tweeted a photo of the three after they’d finished a new track. Hit-Boy tweeted, “Swag! @joejonas @HitBoy_SC @chrisbrown just did a smash! Whoooo #SurfClub” along with the picture.
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It’s unclear exactly what this song is for, but we’re guessing it will appear on Jonas’ upcoming solo disc, which the singer has been working on for a few months. If you’re thinking “What in the world does a Chris Brown/Joe Jonas track sound like?” you’re not alone. But it may make sense considering that the middle Jonas brother is aiming to embrace a new style on his solo disc. Earlier this year, Jonas told EW.com, ”It’s not just a cheesy pop record,” adding, ‘The dance element is where my heart is.”

Jonny Craig is no longer in Emarosa

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This morning Alternative Press reported that Jonny Craig is no longer a member of Emarosa. The band sent the magazine a statement reading, “As of today, Jonny Craig is no longer a member of Emarosa. This decision has been a hard one to make, but we feel it is in the best interest for the band going forward.”
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Craig joined Emarosa four years ago after he was kicked out of the band Dance Gavin Dance (which he recently rejoined.) You may remember that Craig made headlines in February when he scammed his fans out of thousands of dollars by pretending to sell  them laptops that never existed. He has since gone to detox and been released and his label and management company have promised to repay his fans.

Johnny Marr is no longer in the Cribs

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The Cribs can now start out conversations by saying, “Remember when that guy from the Smiths was in our band?” The act, who originally hail from England, have released a statement that they will be continuing on as a three piece without legendary guitarist Jonny Marr. It reads, “So, as some of you may know by now The Cribs are gonna be a 3-piece again. That is a slightly less dramatic way of saying that Johnny Marr is no longer in the band. We don’t want it to be seen as a split, that just has so many negative connotations and really doesn’t represent the way everyone is feeling right now.” .
They went on to explain, “The truth is that, as Johnny said, we did more than we ever set out to do together really – we were initially just playing together as friends, and decided it might be fun to do a trademark Cribs ’surprise one-off seven inch’ or something of that ilk, but as we went along we just kept writing. First it was a single, then an EP, we just happened to really enjoy playing together and ended up writing a full album. We were/are all really proud of the work we did together and we did mean it in our assertions that Johnny was very much a full-time member of the band.”

American Idiot' headed for the silver screen

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First it was an album, then it was a Broadway play and now it looks as if American Idiot is headed for the silver screen. Universal is reportedly in negotiations to pick up the movie rights to the Broadway musical based on the Green Day album of the same name and have hired Michael Mayer, the director of the stage production, to shoot the film.
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While nothing is confirmed, Dustin Lance Black (who won an Oscar for directing Milk) is in talks to write the screenplay and the band will serve as the producer alongside Tom Hanks. While this pairing might sound weird on paper, it’s really not that strange when you consider that Hanks and his business partner were producers of the film adaption of Mamma Mia, a musical based on the music of ABBA.

Justin Bieber retires from Twitter

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Justin Bieber has nine million followers on twitter, which is about nine million more than most of us. However, maintaining his twitter persona is apparently so taxing on the 17-year-old pop sensation that he’s decided to retire from the micro-blogging web site until further notice.
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Bieber made the announcement yesterday while he was on the Israel leg of his world tour, tweeting,” “I’m just excited at this point to get on stage and perform, gonna take a little break from twitter and enjoy this time with my family.” At about the same time he also tweeted, “i want to see this country and all the places ive dreamed of and whether its the paps or being pulled into politics its been frustrating.”

Taking Back Sunday to release new album on June 28

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Taking Back Sunday have announced the release date of their next album. Their upcoming self-titled LP (their fifth overall) will be released on June 28th. The disc will be the first release with the band’s original lineup since their 2002 breakthrough debut, Tell All Your Friends, which has sold over a million records worldwide and helped established TBS as one of the emo era’s most successful acts.
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The band’s new album was recorded in Los Angeles with producer Eric Valentine (Queens Of The Stone Age, All-American Rejects) and the disc’s first single “Faith (When I Let You Down)” is set to be released on May 3rd (the band made the song “El Paso” available late last month). A special pre-order for the album containing limited-edition packaging and a bonus disc of demos, among other collectibles, will be available on the band’s official website starting today.

Odd Future announce tour dates

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Wondering about the insane hype regarding buzzing hip-hop group Odd Future, also known by their full name (Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All)? Well, wonder no more: the buzzing hip-hop collective have announced tour dates beyond their scheduled festival appearances.
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The group, who will play Coachella this weekend, kick off their tour on May 12th in Boston and head around the East Coast and Canada until their May 20th gig in Philadelphia. The band wrote on their Tumblr page, “OFWGKTA Will Be Doing An East Coast Run. Click The Fucking Photo For Tickets And Shit.” Which means tickets are now on-sale for all seven dates. You can snag those here.
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The band will also trek overseas to play several festivals, including Reading & Leeds, Spain’s Primavera Sound Festival and London’s Camden Crawl. An appearance at the Pitchfork Music Festival on July 17th in Chicago has also been confirmed. It’s unclear if the group will add additional North American club shows, but it seems likely.
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The group also recently released a video for their tune “Yonkers,” which is interesting but definitely rated NC-17. Check that out here and then see a complete list of tour dates below.

Wiz Khalifa announces summer tour with Big Sean

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Wiz Khalifa has announced tour dates for this summer when he will embark on his official “Rolling Papers” tour. Khalifa, who is currently on a tour of colleges, will kick off his summer trek on June 12th in Maryland Heights, Mo. and will wrap up on August 3rd in Canandaigua, N.Y.
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Joining Wiz on the road will be Big Sean, whose debut album, Finally Famous: The Album, will drop June 21st. Also opening is Chevy Woods, who is a member of Khalifa’s Taylor Gang crew. Tickets for the tour will go appropriately go on sale April 20th, however if you are a member of Khalifa’s official fan club, you can score tickets tomorrow. Join the club here. Khalifa is also confirmed to perform this weekend at Coachella as well as at Bonnaroo on June 11th
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Khalifa’s new album, Rolling Papers, debuted at Number Two on Billboard last week and has slid down a few slot to Number Five this week, selling 59,000 copies.

Foo Fighters headed to Number One

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It looks like Foo Fighters will score their first ever Number One album. The band’s new disc, Wasting Light, is expected to sell upwards of 200,000 copies in its first week, which should be enough to beat out new releases from, among others, TV On The Radio, Paul Simon, Jessie J and Alison Krauss and Union Station.
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The fact that this would be the band’s first Number One album is sort of insane when you consider that they’ve released six studio albums, a live disc and a greatest hits collection. Five of those past releases have made it into the Top 10, but Wasting Light would be the first Number One. 2005’s In Your Honor was the band’s previous best-seller, coming in at Number Two in its first week.
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In other Foos news, the band recently revealed that after recording Wasting Light, they destroyed the original master tapes. But the pieces aren’t gone for good. Dave Grohl says that a small chunk of tape has been inserted in the albums you can purchase. Grohl told LA Weekly, “Everyone was so precious about tapes, so afraid they’re gonna shed or break or something will happen to them. That just made me want to destroy it. To prove a point to everybody to show how intangible a real tape can be. I thought, let’s chop it up into a million pieces, and give it to the people who buy the album so they can hold it in their hands and see it. A lot of the records you buy, there’s nothing you can hold in your hand, it’s all 1’s and 0’s, this digital cloud floating in the ether. but with analog albums, you can hold it in your hand.”

Asking Alexandria turn down Charlie Sheen

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As if Charlie Sheen needed any more debauchery in his life, the actor-turned-comedian, who specializes in “winning” and possesses “tiger’s blood,” recently reached out to U.K. metalcore titans Asking Alexandria to see if they would be the opening act for his “My Violent Torpedo of Truth Tour.” Apparently, Sheen caught wind of the band’s notoriously riotous behavior and thought they would perfectly compliment his “bangin’ seven gram rock” antics.
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Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts, the band was forced to decline Sheen’s offer. In an official press release, the band issued the following (brilliant) statement: “The group would like to publicly thank Sheen for this special invite and promise him that the tiger’s blood runs deep in all of them. Sheen claims to be a rockstar from Mars, but the real question is if he can hang with these British titans. Hopefully their paths will cross one of these days. Winning!”

Radiohead not putting out ‘King of Limbs’ sequel

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The latest Radiohead album King Of Limbs is pretty brief, which has lead some fans to predict that a companion album would follow it in the near future. Unfortunately BBC 6 Music dashed our hopes when they recently talked to guitarist Ed O’Brien about this seemingly plausible theory.
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“There are [other] songs that we have started, that we never finished, but there’s not like seven or eight finished songs waiting in the wings to be released now, or in the autumn, or something,” O’Brien explained. “When we start a new record, we tend to start afresh. It’s kind of an evolutionary thing… only the fittest survive.”
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If you do want to hear some new Radiohead material,  you’re going to have to get up early this Saturday and head to your favorite retailer because to celebrate this year’s Record Store Day the band will release a single featuring two new songs: “The Butcher” and “Supercollider.” O’Brien also confirmed that those two tracks are the final songs from the King Of Limb sessions that will be released to the public. (The band have been performing “Supercollider” live for years, but this will be the first time that a studio version of the track will be released.)
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Then again, this is Radiohead, so for all we know they could have a new double album ready to go next week… or at least that’s what we’re going to keep telling ourselves so we can fall asleep at night.

Black Cards release new demo

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Black Cards seem to be taking their sweet time releasing their debut album. Luckily the Pete Wentz-fronted band have leaked a new demo for a track called “Paradox.”
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The song, which the group has been playing on tour, appears in a YouTube video which documents a computer screen as it plays the track’s demo. It’s a little stripped down and sort of whiny, but then again it’s not the final version of the track.
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Black Cards frontman Pete Wentz recently told MTV News the band’s album is complete and that he hopes to release it this summer. He said, “Summer, the month of summer is when we want the album to come out. It’s done and I’m just going to keep putting songs out, so we have to keep putting more songs on the album.”
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Wentz has also confirmed that the disc features guest appearances by Travie McCoy, Neon Trees frontman Tyler Glenn and Shaggy (yes, really). He mentioned that one of the delays involves his record label Island/Def Jam. “I don’t feel like there is a holdup. I feel like people know that it’s a new project at the label and really want to roll it out in the right way, and the building has really gotten behind it,” Wentz said. “But it’s different than Fall Out Boy, and it’s different than stuff we’ve done before, so… with Fall Out Boy, it’d be like, ‘OK, this is rollout, we’ve got it, we’ll go around the world.’ And with this, it’s new and it’s new territory, so we’re working with new people and it’ll be exciting.”

Record Store Day: What we're grabbing

Christmas and Hanukkah are all well and good, but if you’re a hardcore music fan your favorite holiday inevitably falls tomorrow when music stores all over the country celebrate the fourth annual Record Store Day (click on the link to find a participating store near you). In addition to in-store appearances by everyone from My Chemical Romance to Obits at stores all over the country, the day will feature tons of exclusive vinyl releases that will only be available in limited quantities on Saturday. Below is a list of ten items that we’re going to be first in line to pick up tomorrow… we just may need to take out a small loan in order to purchase them all at once. Let us know if you know anybody who can help with that, okay?
Built To Spill “Ripple” — This limited edition picture disc only features one track, an epic cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Ripple.” Built To Spill have put out versions of their covers of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” and Neil Young’s “Cortez The Killer” but this will be the first time this version of “Ripple,” which was recorded live in North Carolina in 2010, will be officially released.
Deftones “Covers” — Speaking of covers, Deftones will be releasing a 12-inch composed solely of some of their favorite cover songs which have previously only been available digitally and on pricy CD imports. This 11-track album sees the band taking on everyone from the Cure and the Smiths to Drive Like Jehu and Jawbox as well as Sade’s “No Ordinary Love.” No, seriously.
Green Day/ Hüsker Dü — We are willing to fight someone much bigger than us to get this: A split 7-inch that pairs Hüsker Dü’s original version of “I Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely” with Green Day’s stellar cover of the song. This is part of RSD’s Side By Side Series and is sure to excite both Green Day enthusiasts as well as those of us who have been listening to Hüsker Dü for decades
Jimmy Eat World “Bleed American” — Jimmy Eat World’s self-titled commercial breakthrough has been out of press on vinyl for years, but on Record Store Day the band will make up for it by issuing the album under its original title Bleed American as a triple-LP set packed with a full disc of rarities and B-sides. This one will inevitably be pricy, but it will also be worth every dollar.
Mumford & Sons/Laura Marling “Dharohar Project” — This split 10-inch single sees the celebrated act Mumford & Sons and Laura Marling’s collaborative recordings with a group of Rajasthani folk musicians that were recorded at an arts & culture school in Delhi during their tour of India two years ago. We have no idea what to sonically expect with this release, but if we snag a copy we’ll be the first to let you know.
Nirvana “Hormoaning” — If you already have this EP either you’re a huge Nirvana fan or you live in Australia or Japan since those are the only places it was initially available at when it was released back in 1992. Thankfully this collection which features Nirvana’s covers of Devo, the Vaselines and the Wipers will be available again in this version for the first time in nearly two decades on Record Store Day.
Fucked Up “Town Comp” — If you’re not a fan of Fucked Up this is kind of hard to explain, but we’ll try. Basically while recording their upcoming album David Comes To Life the band had some extra songs leftover, so they decided to compile them as a fictitious compilation from a fictitious British town circa 1978 – 1983. This songs will not be featured on the upcoming album and are all unreleased.
Red Hot Chili Peppers/Ramones “Havana Affair” — This one is pretty self-explanatory: Like the Green Day/Hüsker Dü split this is part of the RSD Side By Side series that features the original track on side and a cover on the other. However, this 7-inch is extra special because it features the Red Hot Chili Peppers covering the Ramones. Let’s just hope that Flea cools it with the slap bass on the RHCP version of the song.
Ryan Adams “Class Mythology EP” — Ryan Adams has been known to release pretty much every song he’s ever recorded but this gatefold double 7-inch sounds like something truly special: Four unreleased outtakes from his Cardinology era, featuring collages done by Adams himself and never-before-seen photos on the mini-gatefold. One disc is yellow, the other is orange and Adams’ fans will be foaming at the mouth to pick this up.
The Flaming Lips “Heady Nugs: The First 5 Warner Bros. Records 1992 – 2002″ — This is the mother load, a six-LP boxed set featuring the following Flaming Lips albums on wax: 1992s Hit To Death In The Future Head, 1993’s Transmissions From The Satellite Heart, 1995’s Clouds Taste Metallic, 1999’s The Soft Bulletin (as a double LP) and 2002’s Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. Every album except The Soft Bulletin have been unavailable on vinyl for a decade and this collection is also limited, numbered and will probably cost you about $125. Any news on that loan yet?

Schedule suggestions: What we're seeing at Coachella

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Every year, Coachella brings all of the hottest bands together for one of the greatest weekends in music. Unfortunately, no matter how hard you try, you can’t be in five different places at once to see every band you want. Luckily, we’re here to help out. Here’s how we’re putting together our Coachella schedule, and what bands in particular we definitely don’t want to miss out on. Take a look below.

TVOTR funk up Letterman

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Check out the full recording of TV on the Radio’s performance on “Live on Letterman” from last night.

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Day One of Coachella had its highs (simultaneous killer sets from Cut Copy and The Black Keys), its lows ( a disastrous set from Cee-Lo Green) and its moments caught somewhere in the middle (Lauryn Hill’s still-work-in-progress-of-a-comeback). But there was a constant. It was hot. Very hot. We’re talking boiler-plate hot. But when we weren’t stuffing our face in crushed icy lemonade, we caught a slew of good live music. Here’s some of the most “memorable” aspects of Day One at Coachella.

Courtesy of KROQ
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While the rest of the festival is scorching in the blistering heat, our friends at KROQ have set up shop at the KROQ house just offsite, where they’re ushering in some of the finest talent for special performances and interviews. Every day we’ll be featuring our favorite gig of the day, but sure to check out all that KROQ has to offer from Coachella right here. In the meantime, check out the rowdy performance from Flogging Molly yesterday at the KROQ House @ Coachella. Watch below.