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A week after teaming up with his actress wife for a mini-concert, the Days Go By hitmaker dedicates his second Instagram Live concert to ‘all the healthcare workers’ and all of ‘first responders out there.’
Mar 24, 2020
AceShowbiz – Keith Urban staged another impromptu livestream concert on Monday evening (March 23), and asked his wife, Nicole Kidman, to help him promote it.
The couple teamed up in the studio to perform a mini-concert last week (March 16), as musicians around the world began entertaining fans on lockdown with at-home gigs, and it appears they had so much fun, they wanted to do it again, dubbing the virtual show The Urban Underground.
“Everyone seemed to love the home gig last week, so we’re back again,” the barefoot actress said in a video message she posted on her husband’s Instagram Live account minutes before the concert went live. “Well not me, I’m just a roadie, a fan, an audience…”
Keith, who was strumming on a guitar next to his wife in their home studio, added, “Couldn’t do it without you, babe!”
Nicole quickly signed off by saying, “Thank you to everyone and have some fun”, but then stayed in the studio, dancing and singing along to her husband’s music.

The second Instagram Live concert aired on Urban’s account, @KeithUrban Instagram and he began the 30 minute show by dedicating the performance to “all the healthcare workers” and “all of you first responders out there” and adding, “We’re gonna try to bring a bit of sunshine into your screens wherever you are”.
True to her promise, Nicole handed Keith guitars – like “the best roadie in the world” – as he completed songs like “Never Comin’ Down”, “You Gonna Fly”, and new tune “God Whispered Your Name”, and even sat at his feed for part of the gig, during which the singer paid tribute to the late Kenny Rogers by performing the country legend’s signature tune The Gambler, with his actress wife providing backing vocals.
They weren’t the only ‘country’ couple teaming up to entertain fans online on Monday night – Garth Brooks and his wife, Trisha Yearwood, staged a joint virtual jam session as part of Brooks’ weekly Facebook series, Inside Studio G.

The Brooks and Yearwood event appeared at www.facebook.com/GarthBrooks/.
Meanwhile, Diplo, Finn Wittrock and Vanessa Carlton are among the livestreaming highlights available on Tuesday, March 24.
Diplo and Ronatronix will team up for a DJ set, which will begin at 10 pm EST on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/diplo) and “Stranger Things” star Finn, who fronts new band The Aubreys, will host an at-home show on his Instagram Live account (https://www.instagram.com/finnwolfhardofficial) from 4pm EST.
Singer/songwriter Carlton will continue her daily show, during which she performs two songs, on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/vanessacarltonactual) from 6 pm EST.
Meanwhile, previous livestreamed Instagram and Instagram Live concerts staged by Miguel, Evanescence, Bastille, Jewel Kilcher, Rufus Wainwright, Juanes, and Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes are archived and available to view.

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Speaking about the ghoulish encounters, the frontman of the ‘Learn to Fly’ rock band reveals that the landlord of the haunted house forced him to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Mar 24, 2020
AceShowbiz – Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl had terrifying encounters with a ghostly apparition while recording the band’s new record.
The rockers worked on their 10th studio album in a house in Encino, California that dated back to the 1940s – and Grohl claims the sessions were disrupted by ghouls who messed with their equipment.
Speaking about the ghoulish encounters to Britain’s Mojo magazine, the “Monkey Wrench” hitmaker says, “When we walked into the house in Encino, I knew the vibes were definitely off but the sound was f**ing on.”
“We started working there and it wasn’t long before things started happening. We would come back to the studio the next day and all of the guitars would be detuned. Or the setting we’d put on the board, all of them had gone back to zero. We would open up a Pro Tools session and tracks would be missing.”
He explained that the ghosts even recorded their own paranormal material, adding, “There were some tracks that were put on there that we didn’t put on there. But just like weird open mic noises. Nobody playing an instrument or anything like that, just an open mic recording a room.”
The band eventually set up a baby monitor to capture any paranormal activity – but claim it is sworn to secrecy about the findings – after signing a contract with the property owner, to avoid the home losing its value.
Grohl adds, “I had to sign a f**king non-disclosure agreement with the landlord because he’s trying to sell the place. So, I can’t give away what happened there in the past but these multiple occurrences over a short period of time made us finish the album as quickly as we could.”

The Foo Fighters completed their as yet untitled album last month.

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Blaming the changing nature of travel policies and quarantines across the world due to coronavirus, the ‘If I Could Change Your Mind’ trio announce the launch delay for ‘Women in Music Pt. III’.
Mar 24, 2020
AceShowbiz – Singing siblings HAIM are pressing pause on plans to launch their new album until the summer.
The “If I Could Change Your Mind” hitmakers had been due to drop “Women in Music Pt. III” on 24 April, but the trio has since decided now is not the time to debut its third studio project as people around the world continue to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
“Due to everything that is going on with covid-19 and the changing nature of travel policies and quarantines across the world, we’ve decided it is best to postpone the release of women in music pt. iii, to later this summer,” reads a statement posted on Twitter.
“This wasn’t an easy decision for us at all…We can’t wait to reschedule everything we had in mind for you all and we can’t wait to see all of you on the road when it’s 100 per cent safe to do so. in the meantime, we are gonna be dropping some new tunes.”
Meanwhile, the spread of the coronavirus has forced rockers Metallica to rework their upcoming tour plans, delaying their South American trek, scheduled for April, until December, and announcing the cancellation of a trio of U.S.-based festivals in May – North Carolina’s Epicenter, Welcome to Rockville in Florida, and Ohio’s Sonic Temple – which the musicians had been due to headline.

However, James Hetfield and his bandmates are hoping to be back onstage in September, when they have signed up to kick off the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky.
Promising to keep fans updated on their live shows once the pandemic passes, the Metallica members state: “We’ll sign off for now by sending you our love during these trying times. Here’s to looking back on this period soon with renewed appreciation for all the amazing times together with our extended Metallica family around the world.”
“For now, go hang with your significant others, kids, pets, parents… whomever you have in your space. Create your playlists, watch some movies, try some old-fashioned board games and most importantly, stay safe. We’ll keep in touch!”

Country legend Willie Nelson has also stalled the release of his new album, “First Rose of Spring”.
The singer’s 70th solo studio album was originally due to be released on 24 April, but it will now drop on 3 July.

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Keith Urban remains booked as host for the prizegiving that was originally set to take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 5, while its venue would be revealed soon.
Mar 24, 2020
AceShowbiz – The Academy of Country Music Awards (ACM) has been rescheduled for September after being delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Singer Keith Urban had been due to host the prizegiving at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on 5 April but, after U.S. President Donald Trump declared the Covid-19 outbreak a national emergency earlier this month, organisers decided to pull the plug on the event.
It has since been confirmed that the show will now take place on 16 September with representatives from ACM and Dick Clark Productions adding that the venue would be revealed soon, along with an initial list of performers, reported Variety.
The announcement indicates that the show may not take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, as it has for several years. However, 15-time ACM winner and recipient of the 2018 Entertainer of the Year honour Urban remains booked as host.

Maren Morris and Thomas Rhett are among the top nominees for the ACMs, with five nods each.

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During the coronavirus pandemic, millions of people are turning to streaming music services for entertainment and distraction — but how are streaming numbers holding up?At first glance, they seem strong. This week, the Philadelphia rapper Lil Uzi Vert’s “Eternal Atake” holds the top spot on Billboard’s album chart for a second week, with the equivalent of 247,000 album sales in the United States, including 349 million streams — barely down from last week, thanks in part to a “deluxe” version of the LP that included 14 additional songs. And a brand-new album by the Weeknd is shaping up to be a hit, racking up more than 100 million streams around the world on Friday, its first day out.But there are also early signs that the streaming market overall may be down slightly — or, at least, that people’s listening patterns have shifted during the crisis. In the United States, the total number of streams of the top 200 songs on Spotify last week dropped 14 percent from the week before, according to publicly available data from the service; around the world, the decline was 11 percent.Yet that is just the top 200 songs. Older pop hits have been gaining traction as people look to comfort music, and niches like family music have been swelling during the crisis. As the data comes in, it may take several weeks for these trends to become fully clear.On Billboard’s chart, the former One Direction member Niall Horan opened at No. 4 with his second solo album, “Heartbreak Weather.” Lil Baby’s “My Turn” is No. 2, Bad Bunny’s “YHLQMDLG” holds at No. 3 and Jhené Aiko’s “Chilombo” fell three spots to No. 5.The “Frozen 2” soundtrack — which had opened at No. 1 in December — rose eight spots to No. 10 after Disney released the film early to its streaming platform, Disney Plus, “surprising families with some fun and joy during this challenging period,” as the company said. More

The New York Philharmonic canceled the remainder of its season on Monday, bowing to the reality that the coronavirus pandemic will silence large-scale performances in the city for months to come.The orchestra said that it was anticipating a loss of roughly $10 million in revenue because of the decision, and that its endowment had declined by about 14 percent since the crisis began.“There’s nothing I can compare this to,” Deborah Borda, the Philharmonic’s president and chief executive, said in an interview. “The human toll and the possible economic ramifications are simply stunning, and they’re simply not known yet. We don’t have a playbook for this. We’re inventing it as we go along.”In canceling the season, which was to have run through the second week of June and included a European tour in the beginning of May, the Philharmonic said that its musicians’ health benefits would be maintained through the end of their current contract, in September.But pay will be reduced in stages. The musicians will earn their full salaries through March, then receive the orchestra’s base pay (roughly $3,000 per week) in April and 75 percent of that amount (about $2,200 per week) in May. They and the Philharmonic will meet as conditions progress to determine compensation for June and beyond.“We don’t know what this is going to look like,” said the trombonist Colin Williams, the chairman of the musicians’ negotiating committee. “Everything changes every 12 hours. So we’re going to have to get together and reassess.”“We’re all coming together in this unprecedented situation to make sure the institution is as insulated as possible,” he added. “But we’re very grateful for the leadership of Deborah Borda and the board that they’re trying to take care of the musicians.”Ms. Borda said that the relatively small size of the orchestra made it possible to maintain wages, even if reduced — compared with far larger organizations like the Metropolitan Opera, which will not compensate its unionized orchestra, chorus and stagehands after this month, beyond health benefits.“The orchestra is our family,” Ms. Borda said. “It’s 100 people. It’s a different situation than the Met, which has close to 1,000 union employees.”She said the orchestra would be working this week on a plan to further reduce operating costs, including potential pay cuts for senior management and administrative staff. Asked about the possibility of administration layoffs, she said: “I have not finalized that plan yet. The Philharmonic will reopen, and we need to have staff to execute that and put up the fall season.”She added that the orchestra would encourage patrons not to seek refunds for their tickets to canceled performances, which add up to about $1 million in revenue. The Philharmonic is also turning to the challenge of preserving sales for next season, which it said had been strong before the outbreak.“We’ll do all right at fund-raising,” Ms. Borda said. “Of course we’ll take some hits. But I’m more concerned about: Will people buy tickets for next fall?”As part of their agreement with management, the musicians gave broad permission for the dissemination of archival recordings, which will be available through a new portal, NY Phil Plays On (nyphil.org/playson). And every Thursday evening, a past performance will be streamed on Facebook.Ms. Borda was pessimistic about the fate of the Philharmonic’s outdoor concerts in city parks, scheduled for June, as well as its planned tour of China in the beginning of July, though neither has been canceled. More plausible, though still uncertain, are the orchestra’s performances at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival in Colorado, scheduled for late July.The pandemic’s economic repercussions arrive at a delicate moment, as the Philharmonic and Lincoln Center proceed with long-delayed plans to renovate David Geffen Hall, the orchestra’s home. The project is expected to cost $550 million, of which nearly $200 million remains to be raised, and construction is scheduled to begin in May 2022. Ms. Borda said that meetings about the renovation had continued this month.“We’re going to come through this,” she said. “I don’t see a doom-and-gloom future.” More

The idea took root after Jenni Spinner and her wife, Rebecca Kell, watched videos of Europeans, homebound because of the coronavirus, get on their balconies and sing to raise their spirits in the face of crisis.Wouldn’t it be neat, they mused, if they could get the residents of their Chicago apartment building to do something similar?Ms. Spinner said she figured a handful of friends might be game for a karaoke-style communal singalong to “Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi, which they said was easy to sing and well known. Thus, a Facebook event page for a “Chicago-Wide Window Sing-a-Long” on March 21 was born.Three days before it was set to take place, 100 people responded that they either planned to participate or were interested in doing so. By the night of the event, that number had swelled to 19,000.“It kind of blew up,” Ms. Spinner said on Monday. She said she and Ms. Kell were planning another singalong for Saturday; this time the tune will be “ABC” by the Jackson 5. She said they would probably continue the singalongs every Saturday until the crisis has lifted.The impromptu musical performances springing up in some of America’s largest cities appear to have started in Italy, which has been ravaged by the outbreak.Italians sang their national anthem from windows and balconies. Some played the violin and others clanged pots and pans. In Florence, the opera singer Maurizio Marchini serenaded the city from his balcony.Much the same way that Italians joined in song to show their solidarity, Chicago and Dallas residents under stay-at-home orders sang from their apartment windows and balconies.In downtown Dallas on Friday, residents joined in a rendition of the Bill Withers classic “Lean on Me.” In New York City, a video showed apartment tenants singing tunes like “Yellow Submarine” and “My Girl.”In other cities, residents have taken out musical instruments to play, while others have joined “virtual parties” on Instagram hosted by a notable DJ and “attended” by headliners like Drake, Naomi Campbell and Sean Combs.Raising your voice in song with others can be an intimate shared social experience — and the song choice matters little, said Steve Waksman, a professor of music at Smith College in Northampton, Mass., about 100 miles west of Boston.“Why do we sing at sporting events? Why do we sing in churches?” he said on Monday. “There is something distinctly communal about singing in harmony. It’s like touching someone without touching them.”Staying away from others is the prime directive of health officials who are imposing more restrictions to help curb the pandemic.But what better way to connect with others — from a distance — than through song?Colin Boyle, a photojournalist, covered the Chicago singalong for Block Club Chicago. He stood in the courtyard of the U-shaped apartment building of about 50 units where Ms. Spinner and Ms. Kell live.“As it gets close to 7 p.m., people started singing and other people started looking out their windows, ‘What’s going on? What’s this singing?’” he said.A Chicago classic-rock radio station also played the song at the appointed hour.Ms. Spinner said she and Ms. Kell were singing loudly, so she could not be sure how many others participated, but she was struck by how it brought tenants together.She described looking out the window: “There are people you rarely talk to hanging out their window and you go, ‘Hey, there you are.’”For his part, Jon Bon Jovi expressed his support in an Instagram post.“In these trying times I am with you with all of my heart and my soul, sending my love to everybody in Chicago and across America,” he said in the post. “Sing it out, baby. We’re all going to come through this together. Be strong.” More

Aurlus Mabele, the Congolese singer who was called “the king of soukous,” the energetic dance hall music that blends traditional African and Caribbean rhythms with pop and soul, died on Thursday in Paris. He was 66.His death, at a hospital, was confirmed by his daughter, the singer Liza Monet, who said her father had contracted the coronavirus. He had had a stroke a few years ago and had been in fragile health.The coronavirus pandemic has continued to surge in France, with more than 16,000 cases and almost 700 deaths as of Monday.Mr. Mabele rose to fame across Africa in the 1970s and ’80s with his up-tempo hits and high-wattage performances highlighted by spectacular dance moves. In his early 20s he founded the musical group Les Ndimbola Lokole in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo, gaining popularity with recordings of songs like “Waka Waka” and “Zebola.”After moving to France in the 1980s, he helped start the band Loketo, which means “hips” in Lingala, the language spoken in parts of both the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. As the group’s lead singer, Mr. Mabele worked alongside the renowned guitarist Diblo Dibala.The band thrived on developing and playing soukous, a modern variation of the Congolese rumba music. The word soukous is derived from the French word “secouer,” which means “to shake,” and as Mr. Mabele’s band Loketo gained fame, the genre took hold in dance halls around the world, including in France.Before breaking up in the 1990s, the band recorded bouncy songs like “Extra Ball,” “Douce Isabelle” and “Choc a Distance” and sold millions of albums worldwide. The group toured Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and the United States.Performing in Lower Manhattan at the club S.O.B.’s (for Sound of Brazil) in 1989, Loketo “did what it does best: packed the dance floor,” Peter Watrous wrote in his review in The New York Times.“And while the show had its visual side — two women came out and invited audience members to bump and grind onstage with them — it was the intense interlocking of instruments, feeding off Diblo’s guitar figures, that kept the music effective,” Mr. Watrous added. “Like a mosaic, each little part contributed to a bright, gleaming whole that added up to a wicked dance machine.”Mr. Mabele was born Aurélien Miatsonama on Oct. 24, 1953, in Brazzaville. In addition to Ms. Monet (who was born Alexandra Marie), his survivors include 12 other children.His death drew messages of condolence from around the world. Mav Cacharel, a member of Loketo, said on Facebook, “May the peace and protection of the Lord remain in us.” More