Pearl Jam's new album, Dark Matter, has debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200.
The 12th studio effort from the grunge veterans moved a total of 59,000 equivalent album units, 52,000 of which were traditional album sales.
Dark Matter earned the second-highest debut on the Billboard 200 for the week of May 4, behind Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department, which notched over 2.6 million equivalent album units.
All of Pearl Jam's previous 11 albums have also reached at least #5 on the Billboard 200. Five of their records hit #1: 1993's Vs., 1994's Vitalogy, 1996's No Code, 2009's Backspacer and 2013's Lightning Bolt.
Pearl Jam will launch a North American tour in support of Dark Matter Saturday, May 4, in Vancouver.
Billie Eilish's fans won't have to wait long for her to hit them with some live dates.
She's announced HIT ME HARD AND SOFT: THE TOUR, launching September 29 in Québec, Canada. The North American leg is scheduled to wrap up December 17 in Inglewood, California, and starting in February of 2025, she'll head to Australia, followed by Europe, the U.K. and Ireland. You can see the entire list of dates at BillieEilish.com.
An American Express® Presale starts April 30; tickets go on sale to the general public on May 3 via billieeilish.com.
Because this is Billie Eilish we're talking about, there are many different sustainability initiatives attached to the tour. She's teaming with REVERB to reduce single-use plastic waste, compost and recycle other waste and encourage plant-based food options. REVERB Eco-Villages at each show will allow fans to learn about and take part in the initiatives.
Fans are encouraged to take public transportation or carpool to and from the shows, and will receive emails about their options before each concert. Fans can bring empty reusable water bottles to the show and fill them up at free water refill stations. In addition, fans are encouraged to wear thrifted, upcycled or borrowed clothing to the shows, instead of buying new outfits.
Billie's new album HIT ME HARD AND SOFT arrives May 17.
Kaleo has released a new live video for their latest single, "Lonely Cowboy," filmed at the famed Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. In introducing the performance, front man JJ Julius Son quips, "A young man came up to me and asked me if I was a real cowboy. And I said, 'No son, I'm from Iceland.'"
In making a song about such a classically American image, Julius Son tells ABC Audio, "Part of being a writer is really just daydreaming."
"I wrote [the Kaleo song] 'Automobile' before ever visiting America, which is basically about driving around California," Julius Son shares. "[It] depends on if you're telling stories from your own life, but sometimes it's also just, music writing to me is just daydreaming, putting yourself in other people's shoes."
That Julius Son would daydream about being a cowboy is probably not a surprise to anyone who's seen Kaleo live. He often sports a cowboy hat during concerts and rocks a fringed jacket in the Grand Ole Opry video.
"Obviously I do like Westerns, and I do like the lifestyle, the Western lifestyle and stuff from back in the day," Julius Son says. "I like cowboy songs a lot. I was listening to a lot of [outlaw country artist] Marty Robbins for awhile."
Julius Son has also performed "Lonely Cowboy" in a place even more historic than the Grand Ole Opry: the Rome Colosseum. Kaleo filmed an acoustic video inside the ancient arena in between filming a full electric concert outside of it in March.
"We kinda had to rush in there and try to capture this before it got dark, because I wanted to do it during daylight," Julius Son shares. "[I'm] just very lucky, actually, to get the permission from them, so I'm grateful. They were very nice."
Green Day is causing a "Dilemma" on multiple Billboard charts.
Having already hit #1 on the Mainstream Rock Airplay ranking, "Dilemma," the current single off the punk trio's new Saviors album, now also leads the Alternative Airplay tally.
"Dilemma" is the lucky 13th Green Day song to reach #1 on Alternative Airplay, good enough for second in the chart's 35-year history. Red Hot Chili Peppers have the most with 15.
Saviors, which was released in January, also includes the lead single "The American Dream Is Killing Me." Green Day will launch a U.S. stadium tour in support of Saviors in July, during which they'll also be playing their 1994 and 2004 albums Dookie and American Idiotin full in honor of their respective 30th and 20th anniversaries.
Coldplay's debut single, "Brothers & Sisters," is being reissued in honor of its 25th anniversary.
The track was first released on April 26, 1999, on Fierce Panda Records. A quarter of a century later, the label is putting it out an anniversary 7-inch vinyl single, which you can preorder now.
Following "Brothers & Sisters," Coldplay released their debut album, Parachutes, in 2000, setting the stage for them becoming one of the biggest bands in the world. Who knows, without Fierce Panda Records, we may never have gotten to hear "Yellow," "Clocks" or "Viva la Vida," or become aware of the phrase "conscious uncoupling."
Coldplay's most recent album is 2021's Music of the Spheres. They'll resume their world tour in support of it in June.
After launching a reunion tour in 2023, blink-182 is returning to the road for another U.S. trek in June in support of their comeback album, ONE MORE TIME... . If you caught one of the shows on the first go-round, you may be in for a surprise should you choose to see blink, well, one more time.
A press release declares that the production for the upcoming tour "will now offer fans a brand-new show, increasing seating capacity across all shows and offering a full 360-degree view of the performance in the arenas."
Those newly added seats are now on sale via blink182.com.
Blink's U.S. tour launches June 20 in Orlando, Florida. Openers include Pierce the Veil, jxdn and Travis Barker's son, Landon Barker.
ONE MORE TIME..., the first blink album in over 10 years to feature Travis, Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge, was released in October.
In a Facebook post, the "Stressed Out" duo has shared a photo teasing something happening in New York City on May 2. For more info, you're instructed to text the word "Citizen" to the number 325-425-2629.
Fans in the comments are theorizing that Twenty One Pilots are putting on a small NYC show to film a music video. As previously reported, the band is filming videos for each song off their upcoming Clancy album, which caused its release date to be delayed from May 17 to May 24.
So far, three Clancy tracks have been released: "Overcompensate," "Next Semester" and "Backslide," all of which have videos.
Twenty One Pilots will launch a full U.S. tour in August.
Here are some of the New Music Friday releases from alternative artists:
Wallows have shared a new song called "Bad Dream." It's the third track to be released off their upcoming Model album, due out May 24, following "Calling After Me" and "Your Apartment."
Cold War Kids have dropped a surprise, self-titled EP. The five-track set follows their 2023 self-titled album.
jxdn has dropped two new tracks, "STRAY" and "SAD OCTOBER." Both tunes will appear on his upcoming album, WHEN THE MUSIC STOPS, which will be released June 28.
Tame Impala guests on another new Justice song, "Neverender." The Kevin Parker-led outfit previously collaborated with the electronic duo on the track "One Night/All Night."
Manchester Orchestra has released Cope Live at The Earl, a live album capturing a 2023 set featuring a full-album performance of their 2014 effort, Cope. It's out now on digital outlets and will be available on physical formats on September 6.
Rainbow Kitten Surprise has put out a track called "SVO." It's a cut from the band's upcoming album, Love Hate Music Box, which drops May 10.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' score for the new movie Challengers is out now.
The Zendaya-starring tennis drama joins the many other films featuring music from the Nine Inch Nails duo, including The Social Network and Soul, for which they won Oscars.
Reznor and Ross previously released Challengers [MIXED], which featured songs from the score "deconstructed and subsequently reimagined with additional production" by German electronic artist Boys Noize.
Yungblud has released a cover of the KISS song "I Was Made for Lovin' You."
The track was recorded for the upcoming movie The Fall Guy, starring Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling. Yungblud's version starts with a slow piano buildup before breaking into a more bombastic sound befitting of the "Rock and Roll All Nite" outfit.
You can listen to the cover now via digital outlets. The Fall Guy hits theaters May 3, and its soundtrack will be released the same day.
In other Yungblud happenings, he'll be releasing an illustrated book, You Need to Exist, and holding his own music festival, Bludfest, in August.
The Smashing Pumpkins have welcomed new guitarist Kiki Wong to the band.
Billy Corgan and company chose Wong after going through a reported 10,000 submissions for the position, which they'd opened up in January to anyone interested in applying.
"Reviewing the work of these incredible musicians was a herculean, albeit worthy effort," Corgan says. "First off, I really want to thank everyone who submitted materials for consideration. It wasn't an easy decision with how much great guitar playing we were lucky enough to hear and see over the past few months."
"I was a fan of Kiki's before she submitted her name to be considered -- and it's great that someone of her acumen will be part of our touring family," he continues. "I can't wait to hit the road with Kiki as part of our mad circus."
Wong, who's played with artists including Taylor Swift, Usher and Bret Michaels, adds, "It’s been an absolute wild ride, but I am beyond honored and humbled to be chosen to perform alongside some of rock's greatest and most influential musicians of all time."
"I never thought little ole 15-year-old me playing metal guitar in my bedroom would amount to this moment," she says. "It goes to show hard work and perseverance truly pays off if you're willing to push through the tough stuff, so never lose hope out there. I am so grateful for this opportunity and can't wait to share the stage with The legendary Smashing Pumpkins!"
Wong, who joins the Pumpkins following the 2023 departure of longtime guitarist Jeff Schroeder, will make her live debut with the band on their European tour, which launches in June. They'll launch a U.S. tour in July, including dates with Green Day.
Pearl Jam is raffling off tickets to one of their upcoming sold-out shows at New York City's Madison Square Garden.
The grand prize winner will receive two tickets to PJ's September 3 concert at the famed arena. Round-trip travel and a two-night hotel stay will be provided, as well.
You'll also go home with a signed poster and vinyl copy of the new Pearl Jam album, Dark Matter.
The raffle is being run through the platform Fandiem and is open through June 26. A portion of the proceeds raised will benefit Pearl Jam's Vitalogy Foundation charity organization.
Dark Matter, the 12th Pearl Jam album and the follow-up to 2020's Gigaton, dropped April 19. Pearl Jam will launch a North American tour in support of the record May 4 in Vancouver.
The Lollapalooza docuseries now has a premiere date.
The three-part Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza will debut May 21 on Paramount+. It'll follow Lollapalooza's history from its formation in 1991 as a touring festival to becoming the Chicago destination event it is today, all while exploring the "exciting and strangely symbiotic 30+ year relationship" between Lolla and its founder, Jane's Addiction front man Perry Farrell.
"Finally, someone cares about the generation that no one cared about," Farrell says in a press release.
Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza was first announced in 2023 and debuted during the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in January.
Meanwhile, Lollapalooza 2024 takes place August 1-4 and features headliners including blink-182, The Killers and Hozier.
Weezer has announced a surprise Southern California concert, taking place Monday, April 29, at the Observatory in Santa Ana.
"Word on the street is that we've got another tour warm up show coming your way," Rivers Cuomo and company tease in a Facebook post. Tickets are on sale now.
Weezer previously played a last-minute Los Angeles show in March, during which they played their 1994 self-titled debut aka the Blue Album in full.
In September, Weezer will launch a full-scale U.S. tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Blue Album.
The Linda Lindas will be performing their cover of Talking Heads' "Found a Job" during an upcoming screening of the latter's 1984 concert film, Stop Making Sense.
The event, taking place June 13 at Brooklyn's Kings Theatre, will also feature a live discussion with Talking Heads moderated by The Roots drummer Questlove and a fan Q&A session. Though Talking Heads have long been and remain broken up, the band members have been taking part in panels and interviews together to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Stop Making Sense.
A presale for the screening is open now. Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday, April 26.
The Linda Lindas recorded "Found a Job" for the upcoming Stop Making Sense tribute album, Everyone’s Getting Involved. The compilation, due out May 17, also includes contributions from Paramore, Lorde, The National, girl in red and Miley Cyrus.
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