New York’s Governors Ball has announced its official 2017 lineup, and wow is it deep. Topping the lineup this year are names like Tool, Chance The Rapper, Phoenix and Childish Gambino, and the quality of talent stays high from top to bottom. Also performing at New York’s Randall’s Island Park from June 2nd – 4th this year will be Lorde, Cage The Elephant, Flume, Wiz Khalifa, Wu-Tang Clan, Phantogram, YG, Mac Demarco, Banks, Tove Lo and many more.
Perhaps the biggest winner with today’s announcement, besides New Yorkers of course, is Chance The Rapper who is second billing for the entire festival. A rapper who was relatively unknown on a wide scale, opening for Childish Gambino in intimate venues only a few years ago, is now one of the top headliners on a major music festival, many miles from his hometown of Chicago.
And don’t forget to get your wristbands for this amazing lineup at Governors Ball’s official website when they go on sale this Friday (1/6) at 12PM EST.
WGCI’s Big Jam returned this year to the United Center with featured performances of the biggest names in business. The sold out show continued.
Chicago natives came in strive with performances from G-Herbo, Lil Bibby, and Dreezy. The Chicago fans came to represent with an early crowd to support the local talent. G-Herbo and Lil Bibby joined forces sharing the stage starting off Big Jam. Dreezy wasted no time showing love to the hometown crowd. The only female artist on the lineup made sure she dominated her performance.
The strict time schedule was a definite mood killer with sets being cut short, but with so many big names on just one lineup, what else can you do? Without proper goodbyes from the artist though, it created some confusing moments in the energy filled night.
Fan favorite Lil Yatchy added his personal flare to the star-studded event. Hit records like “Night”, “Minnesota”, and “Broccoli” had the sold out crowd wanting more.
Definitely one of the most talked about performance of the evening came from Desiigner. Desiigner from start to finish left Big Jam fans in awe. His adrenaline filled set was a spectacle, you couldn’t look away.
A true crowd pleasure, a.k.a. Mr. Steal Your Girl, Trey Songz had the sold out crowd in a complete frenzy. The roaring was matched with Songz’ charismatic performance. With some speculation to whether or not Songz was going to perform due to an onstage breakdown of stage equipment last week. Songz didn’t disappoint the United Center with his stellar performance.
Co-heading Big Jam was R&B juggernaut Chris Brown. Brown a true showman used every inch of the platform to dance every single of his signature hits. Brown led the United Center in the ultimate dance party. Without skipping a beat Brown didn’t stop giving one second of a showstopper performance.
Young Thug ended the night with some of his crowd favorites. Young Thug’s performance was unfortunately cut short due to his allotted set time. Regardless of the awkward transitions and premature ending sets Big Jam was one big Chicago house party. There wasn’t a better way to close off 2016 then seeing some of the best is hip-hop and R&B.
Last night, Jon Pardi, Maren Morris and everyone in attendance beat the winter storm and made it out to The Rave in Milwaukee, WI for a night of great music. With inches of snow falling from the moment the doors opened until Jon Pardi stepped off stage, all while 25 MPH winds crashed against the venue, for a few hours fans got to escape it all and enjoy two of the biggest emerging artists in country music today.
To get things started, the CMA’s New Artist of the Year and the Best New Artist Grammy nominee Maren Morris hit the stage. Thanking fans for fighting mother nature to come out, Maren performed a number of tracks from her debut and critically acclaimed LP, Hero. From start to finish her set was filled with great performances, that you didn’t even have to be a country fan to enjoy. But the highlight of her set however came at the end, where Maren finished with two of her biggest singles to date, her uber catchy ’80s Mercedes’ and her debut single, ‘My Church’. Morris has visited Wisconsin twice in the past couple months, and with a state that loves its country music and Maren Morris rising to stardom, this certainly won’t be the last you’ll see of her in Wisconsin.
Next up was the night’s headliner, Dixon, California native Jon Pardi, also one of the most exciting new acts in country music today. Bringing his full band to perform in support of his new album, California Sunrise; whether it was with his LP’s title track or his singles ‘Head Over Boots’ and ‘Dirt On My Boots’, Pardi brought the party to Milwaukee last night. Girls were head over heels and guys were dancing along raising their beer, and while most people stayed bundled up in their homes last night, Jon Pardi’s loyal fans were determined to have a night that they will not soon forget.
Peep our photos from last night’s performance below and check upcoming tour dates from Jon Pardi and Maren Morris.
Kid Cudi is back with his sixth studio album, Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin’. After things were going downhill, with a trip to rehab and public beefs with Drake and his former label-head and friend, Kanye West, Kid Cudi seems to be doing great and perhaps better than ever. And with a new album, with Grade A features from Andre 3000, Pharrell, Travis Scott and more, what can possibly be wrong?
The new LP already has one big, and especially meaningful co-sign, as Kanye West shared the link to the album this afternoon, and dubbed the LP as “super inspiring”. Not only is this significant because it’s Kanye West, but given the up-and-down history between Kanye and Cudi, we are sure that this co-sign has a little more meaning for the Man on the Moon. So see what all Kanye’s hype is about, and downloadPassion, Pain & Demon Slayin’ now!
Last night iHeartRadio and 103.5 KISS FM brought the Jingle Ball Tourto Chicago’s Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL. With the sold-out Windy City crowd watching, some of the biggest names in music brought a memorable night of live music to the Allstate. Artists like Ariana Grande, the Backstreet Boys, Ellie Goulding, Daya and Hailee Steinfeld (just to name a few) were there to give the packed arena a night that they will not soon forget.
First up for the night was the lovely and diversely talented, Hailee Steinfeld, who kicked things off with her track ‘You’re Such A’. Also performing tracks like her DNCE collaboration ‘Rock Bottom’, ‘Love Myself’ and ‘Starving’, which went platinum early this week, Steinfeld put on a great opening set for her Chicago fans, dubbing 2016 one of the best years of her entire life. And with a platinum single and a critical acclaimed film in theaters now, with “The Edge of Seventeen”, can you blame her?
Next up, emerging singer Daya greeted the Jingle Ball crowd, calling her recent Jingle Ball performances as “such a dream”. Daya performed songs like ‘Sit Still, Look Pretty’, ‘Words’, ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ and of course the track that changed her life, ‘Hide Away’.
After Daya thanked the sold-out arena, it was time for Lukas Graham to hit the stage. Perhaps one of the top performances of the entire night, Lukas Graham exceeded the expectations of many. Like so many artists on the Jingle Ball lineup, Lukas Graham also have a lot to celebrate. Fresh of their three Grammy nominations, jumping from a spring Chicago performance of about 700 people to performing for a sold-out arena in Rosemont, and getting the crowd engaged with their tracks ‘You’re Not There’, ‘Mama Says’, ‘Strip No More’, ‘Drunk In The Morning’ and their big single ‘7 Years’, it’s a great time to be in Lukas Graham.
After fans finished singing along to ‘7 Years’, One Direction’s Niall Horan blessed the stage with a performance of his new solo track, ‘This Town’. Horan called Chicago his favorite city in the United States, a place where he would spend a lot of time while touring. Unfortunately for Niall though, he told the fans “it makes me upset that I only have one song to perform.” Don’t worry Niall, we are sure you’ll be back very soon with a debut solo album to perform.
Next on the Jingle Ball stage was Tove Lo, who not only played her biggest singles like ‘Habit (Stay High)’ and ‘Talking Body’, but also gave fans some awesome performances from her new LP, Lady Wood, including ‘Cool Girl’ and ‘True Disaster’.
And then it was time for probably the biggest performance of the night. That’s right, the Backstreet Boys are back, and they made a huge stop in Chicago before their forthcoming Las Vegas residency. Whether you were a mom who brought your daughter and her best friends or a ’90s baby (but birth certificate or just at heart), you probably lost your voice or hearing from all the screams. Opening with their mega-hit ‘Everybody’, which was the perfect opening track to set the tone for the rest of their performance, and later ending with their equally huge, ‘Larger Than Life’, BSB gave us years of hits and still was able to leave us wanting more. If you missed out on the Jingle Ball or if you were there and just a half hour of the Backstreet Boys left you feeling “incomplete”, well make your way to Planet Hollywood in Vegas from March to June and see what the Backstreet Boys “got going on”.
Met with the very difficult task of following one of the best selling groups of all-time, Ellie Goulding met the challenge head on and surely delivered. Goulding opened with her big hit single, ‘On My Mind’, and whether or not the track was inspired by Ed Sheeran’s displeasure of her rumored fling with fellow Jingle Ball artist Niall Horan, Ellie killed it. Goulding also performed tracks like ‘Anything Could Happen’, ‘Love Me Like You Do’ and busted out the guitar for her hit single ‘Burn’. Ellie hasn’t been around as long as BSB, but still her entire set was hit after hit. Ellie Goulding live will never disappoint.
While the Backstreet Boys were certainly the highlight for the moms in the audience, the night’s headliner was all about the daughters, as Ariana Grande closed out the Chicago stop on the Jingle Ball Tour. Ariana of course got things going with her huge 2016 single, ‘Side To Side’, and although she wasn’t joined by Nicki Minaj for the performance, Ariana didn’t need it. Grande kept the fans screaming and ended the night on a high note, and who can hit those high notes better than Ari? From top to bottom, everyone delivered for Chicago last night.
Check out our photos from the Jingle Ball last night in Chicago below, and peep the remaining dates on the Jingle Ball Tour here!
Teaming up again with fellow SAVEMONEY artist, Vic Mensa, KAMI has released his new track, ‘Right Now’. And with production from familiar faces, Smoko One and Knox Foture, ‘Right Now’ is a great record and it’s all Chicago.
If you like what you hear, you’re in luck, as KAMI (who is 1/2 of SAVEMONEY’s rap duo, Leather Corduroys) is set to drop his debut project early next year.
Earlier this morning, Zayn Malik paid a visit to Elvis Duran and the Morning Show to talk a number of topics, including his solo career, his new self-titled autobiography, his new Taylor Swift collaboration and even his departure from One Direction and the gratitude that the ‘Pillow Talk’ singer feels to the opportunities he had before he went solo.
And if you have yet to hear Zayn and Taylor’s new track, written for the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack, then you must live under a rock, but fortunately you can the download the collaboration now on iTunes. Despite the huge shadow casted by the success of the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack, the sequel certainly has the opportunity to be even greater, as Zayn and Taylor make for an excellent team on ‘I Don’t Wanna Live Forever’.
Watch Zayn’s full interview with Elvis Duran and the Morning Show below and get his new autobiography now.
Kanye West received a ton of backlash after telling fans at his Saint Pablo Tour that while he didn’t vote, if he would have, it would have been for Donald Trump, and from there it all seemed to go downhill. It wasn’t long after until Kanye cancelled his remaining tour and went to the hospital, and fans and musicians everywhere prayed for the rapper’s mental health.
And in only his second public sighting since checking out of the hospital, Kanye was spotted this morning at the Trump Tower in New York, where he met with the President elect. While the internet went crazy, and people speculated why Kanye would be meeting with Trump, Mr. West has now broke the silence over the head scratching meeting.
Taking to Twitter, Kanye wrote, “I wanted to meet with Trump today to discuss multicultural issues.” According to Ye himself, these issues include bullying, supporting teachers, violence in Chicago and more. Kanye also hinted at a presidential run in 2024 (not 2020, which assumes 8 years for Trump), and added “I feel it is important to have a direct line of communication with our future President if we truly want change.” Well said Kanye, we can’t argue with that.
GOOD Music rapper Big Sean has bounced back with Kid Studio directed visuals for his brand new track. ‘Bounce Back’ is everything we love from the Sean Don, and the new colorful visuals are just as good as Sean’s verses and the Metro Boomin production.
Following his Dark Sky Paradise LP, his best album to date, and his collaborative EP with girlfriend Jhene Aiko, Big Sean sure doesn’t have much to bounce back from in 2016 as he has been killing it in the past couple years, and it looks like he is only gaining momentum from here on out.
Watch Big Sean’s new music video for ‘Bounce Back’ below.
Last night B96 and Pepsi brought an amazing lineup to Chicago’s Allstate Arena in Rosement, IL with their annual Jingle Bash concert. Unlike last year, which was likely the warmest Jingle Bash on record, Chicago fans weathered the storm to catch performances from Britney Spears, The Chainsmokers, One Republic, G-Eazy, Alessia Cara, Fifth Harmony, DNCE and Shawn Mendes. The holiday show had something for everyone, and no matter who you were there for, last night was a holiday hit!
Shawn Mendes kicked off the night at 6:30, setting the tempo for the rest of the night’s performances on the guitar. Next up, super-emerging artist, Alessia Cara greeted her Illinois fans with performances of some of her biggest records, including ‘Here’ and ‘Scars To Your Beautiful’. Then, DNCE gave Rosemont a little flavor with their wacky energetic set.
Next up, One Republic hit the stage, cracked a few jokes and showcased their knowledge on surrounding Chicago suburbs with a hilarious Naperville shoutout. Soon after, G-Eazy stole the show with a not-so-radio-friendly performance at the radio concert. G may have left some parents scratching their heads with some of the tracks he performed, but he definitely killed it.
Then it was time for the artist who probably sold more seats than anyone, pop superstar Britney Spears. Although some hits were left out of her 30-minute set, Britney brought a big piece of her Pieces of Me show from Vegas to Chicago. With guest appearances from G-Eazy and Tinashe, and an elaborate dance routine, Britney easily delivered the best performance of the night.
Soon after, Fifth Harmony blessed the Chicago crowd with some of their biggest records. And then as the girls stepped off stage, EDM duo The Chainsmokers closed out the night with a huge dance party, putting a memorable ending on a memorable night.
Check out our photos from the B96 Pepsi Jingle Bash below.
