Music fans in Chicago are in for a treat as a new music and comedy festival is coming to the Windy City.
The inaugural VERSA Festival is the biggest women-led and women-powered festival in decades and will feature performances from some of the biggest names in music and comedy. Of the many musicians set to perform include Ellie Goulding, Kali Uchis, Kim Petras, Liz Phair, Monica, Jamila Woods and many more. Several comedians are also scheduled to perform at the festival, including Chelsea Handler, Fortune Feimster and more.
The VERSA festival will take place on Saturday June 11th and Sunday June 12th at Chicago’s Lincoln Park. Fans can grab tickets at the festival’s official website here.
Check out the full lineup poster for the inaugural VERSA festival below.
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!
Tickets for iHeartRadio and 103.5 Kiss FM‘s Jingle Ball went on sale only hours ago and it won’t be long until Chicago’s Jingle Ball becomes sold out like New York and Los Angeles. And with amazing Jingle Ball artists like Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, Bruno Mars, the Backstreet Boys, Ellie Goulding and more, it is no surprise why tickets are moving fast.
So whether you got your tickets the minute they went on sale, or if you’re one of the lucky ones who grabs some before they sell out, we have compiled a list of some of our favorite songs that we need to hear at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont on December 14th. From Ellie Goulding’s ‘On My Mind’ to the classic Backstreet Boy record ‘I Want It That Way’, there are a bunch of must hear songs at the Jingle Ball this year.
Hit the jump and check out our list of the 10 songs that we need to hear at this year’s 103.5 Kiss FM Jingle Ball, and if you haven’t yet, get your tickets now while you still can, and check out the other dates for iHeartRadio’s Jingle Balls here!
With a huge lineup of the biggest artists in music, from pop superstars like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, the most exciting emerging artists like Alessia Cara and Daya, ’90s pop legends with Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys, rappers like G-Eazy and Pitbull and some of the biggest names in EDM with The Chainsmokers and Martin Garrix, the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball is the best it’s ever been in 2016.
Kicking off November 29th in Dallas, TX, and making stops in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and more, until the tour concludes December 18th in Miami, the Jingle Ball is the can’t miss event of the year, so stay tuned at iHeartRadio’s official website for information on how you can get your tickets before they are all gone.
And to get you excited for the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Presents by Capitol One, we have compiled our list of our 20 most anticipated artists for the big show, in no particular order.
iHeartRadio and 103.5 KISS FM are bringing their Jingle Ball back to Chicago’s Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL and its lineup is bigger than ever. Performing at this year’s Chicago stop on the Jingle Ball, which will take place on December 14th, will be Ariana Grande, Ellie Goulding, Tove Lo, the Backstreet Boys, Hailee Steinfeld, Daya, Lukas Graham and a surprise appearance by One Direction’s Niall Horan.
And if you have a Capitol One credit card, a special pre-sale is available from October 13th at 10:00 AM until the 16th (or until tickets sell out). With names like Ariana Grande and Ellie Goulding, this will definitely be a Jingle Ball for the ages, and not one that you’ll want to forget.
Check out our photos from last year’s 103.5 KISS FM Jingle Ball and get more information on tickets at 103.5 KISS FM’s official website here.
Just a few weeks removed from her huge headlining performances at Coachella, Ellie Goulding brought her Delirium World Tour to Chicago’s Allstate Arena in Rosement, IL. What will be Goulding’s second Windy City performance of the summer, as she is scheduled to perform at Lollapalooza’s big 25th year anniversary, the arena was packed with Goulding’s fans who came ready to dance the night away. The ‘Love Me Like You Do’ singer didn’t come alone however, as the English singer/songwriter brought British electronic trio, Years & Years, and the immensely talented, Bebe Rexha.
Kicking off the night as the arena began to fill up was singer/songwriter Bebe Rexha. Perhaps known best now for her G-Eazy collaboration, ‘Me, Myself & I’, a record that Rexha wrote before it found its home on the Bay Area rapper’s most recent LP, Rexha is one of the most underrated songwriters of the past half-decade. Rexha got her big break when Eminem bought her track ‘Monster’, a record that previously had little backing from label heads. Lucky for Rexha, ‘Monster’ became a hit and ever since then the Brooklyn native has continued to prove her doubters wrong. Rexha has had some big festival appearances, has worked with the likes of Selena Gomez, Nick Jonas, David Guetta and Nicki Minaj (to name a few), and now of course she is on a huge U.S. tour leg with Ellie Goulding. During her live performances, Rexha converses with the crowd, reminding fans of catalog of records that she has worked on behind the scenes. Don’t be mistaken though, Rexha is much more than just a talented writer and is well on her way to putting “Bebe Rexha the artist” at the forefront of the records that she produces.
Following Rexha’s performance, electronic trio and London natives, Years & Years, hit the stage in Rosemont. Consisting of frontman Olly Alexander, Mikey Goldsworthy (bass guitar) and Emre Turkmen (keys), Years & Years has seen a great amount of success back home, especially with their hit single ‘King’, and that success has been carrying over to the states. Tonight fans saw performances of a number of the band’s records from their 2015 debut, Communion. Although they have been together since 2010, they really took their time in putting together a quality first studio project, and the results showed. Not only did their debut receive great reception from critics across the board, but its live performances tonight were definitely embraced by Ellie’s electropop fans in attendance.
After a brief intermission between sets, it was time for Ellie Goulding to hit the stage. Goulding has consistently raised in popularity in the U.S., and the energy throughout the arena was evidence of just that. After her 2010 debut, Lights, it would have been hard for many Chicago fans to imagine Ellie headlining her own show at the Allstate Arena. Just a few years ago, Goulding performed at Chicago’s Schubas Tavern, an intimate 550-capacity club in the city’s Lakeview neighborhood. In just a couple year’s time, Goulding would return to the city for a daytime set at Lollapalooza in 2013. So for the Delirium singer to headline an arena show that foreshadows a headlining Lolla performance is huge and indicative of her global success in the past few years.
Goulding’s performance tonight was very similar to her headlining set at Coachella this year, a performance which many thousands caught, whether live in Indio or via the festival’s live webcast. Opening with the Intro to her 2015 album, where the tour get its name, and transitioning into the LP’s second track, ‘Aftertaste’, Goulding performed the majority of Delirium, which brought fans singles like ‘Something In The Way You Move’ and ‘Love Me Like You Do’. Ellie Goulding’s performance tonight was much more than just a carbon copy of the album however. Mixing in intimate acoustic performances, a beautiful tribute cover to Prince’s ‘When Doves Cry’, and performing a few fan favorites from her first two albums, Halcyon and Lights, Ellie certainly put on a memorable performances that fans in attendance will definitely want to relive when Ellie returns to Lollapalooza this year on July 31st, as one of the festival’s final performances celebrating a quarter-century of great live music. If you get a chance to catch Goulding at Grant Park this year, jump on the opportunity.
Check out our photos from tonight’s performance below and check out the remaining dates for the Delirium World Tourhere.
There is nothing more exciting than when the Coachella lineup drops. Even if you aren’t traveling to Indio to see it for yourself, Coachella often paves the way for how music festival lineups will look like in the summer to come. Coachella always goes big, continuing to live up to its reputation of America’s premiere music festival, and this year is no exception.
Coming to Coachella this year will be some big headliners (new and old) including LCD Soundsystem, Guns N’ Roses, Calvin Harris, Ellie Goulding Jack U, Disclosure, Ice Cube, Sia, and Major Lazer. Also performing this year will be Sufjan Stevens, G-Eazy, Rae Sremmurd, James Bay, Halsey, A$AP Rocky, Vince Staples, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and Death Grips to name a few.
If you don’t have your tickets yet, learn more about how to purchase tickets to Coachella here!
Is it festival season already? Well… not quite yet, we still have winter to come, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start getting excited for the great musical festivals that 2016 will have to offer. And today fans in Delaware can be that much more excited as Firefly has released its 2016 lineup. The Dover, Delaware’s lineup this year doesn’t look too different from some major festival lineups from 2015, but it certainly sets the tone for what fans will likely see when Coachella, Lollapalooza, & Bonnarro begin to make their own announcements.
Taking place from June 16-19 this year, fans will see some great headlining sets from Mumford & Sons, Kings of Leon, Florence & the Machine, deadmau5 and more. The strength of this festival isn’t just on the top row, as Firefly is inviting a number of great acts irregardless of what set-time and stage they play on. With performances from Ellie Goulding, Blink-182, Tame Impala, A$AP Rocky, Major Lazer, Ludacris, Earth Wind & Fire, Fetty Wap, Vince Staples and many more, Firefly will have something for everyone.
Check out official lineup poster for Firefly 2016 below and be sure to get your passes when they go on sale this Friday (November 20th) at 11AM EST.
A couple of weeks ago Consequence of Sound posted a feature titled “Let’s Play Moneyball with a Summer Music Festival” about a piece wrote by The Early Registration’sDan Garcia. In the piece Garcia used price quotes of popular artists in music to drop and add acts to the World’s Largest Music Festival, Summerfest, located in Milwaukee, WI in attempts to also make it the world’s best music festival.
The Early Registration 