By Armando

“All things must come to an end,” announced today by founder Kevin Lyman on Warped Tour’s official website that 2018 will be its final time to hit the road.

“I have been a very lucky person to have traveled across the country and sometimes around the world as one of the founders and producers of the Vans Warped Tour. Today, with many mixed feelings, I am here to announce that next year will be the final, full cross-country run of the Vans Warped Tour.”

Although next year will be its last, Lyman also teased that there will be a celebration to “commemorate the tour’s historic 25th anniversary in 2019.”

The traveling festival has been touring annually each summer since 1995 in the United States and Canada. It later became known as “Vans Warped Tour” after the manufacturer of skateboarding shoes became the main sponsor in 1996.

The tour has since diversified into featuring acts of various genres beyond its original punk rock roots, and has seen performances from Fall Out Boy, No Doubt, Blink-182, Paramore.

“I am so grateful to have worked with more than 1,700 bands over the last 23 summers. I wish I could thank every band that has played the tour,” says Lyman.

2018 will bring Warped Tour to Camden, Hartford, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pittsburgh.

By Michelle Bordage

U2, one of the world’s most beloved spiritual, political and poetic bands, is releasing album # 14! The new title to these Irish rockers album is Experience + Innocence and promises thirteen tracks of U2 at its finest. Release date is set for December 1st, 2017.

If that wasn’t enough excitement for U2 fans, the new album is hitting the road as U2’s “Experience + Innocence North American Tour 2018”. Tickets will be going on sale November 20th beginning at 10am at the one and only (Ticket master.com). But, on good authority, it has been stated that these tickets have an early special peek- a- boo on November 14th! (Just a heads up).

U2, from Dublin Ireland, is an Irish Rock band that has had an (edge) on rock music since 1976. Members, Paul David Hewson (Bono) Lead vocals, David Howell Evans (Edge) lead guitar, Adam Clayton bass guitar, and Larry Mullen Jr. on drums have made such a large impact in the world of music over the decades and so many walks of life have had the pleasure to see them in concert, you don’t want to miss this opportunity, it promises to be spectacular.

In 2015, U2 went out on the “Innocence + Experience tour which brought U2 to 19 cities through Europe as well as the U.S… The 2018 “Experience +Innocence tour has (as of so far) fifteen booked dates in the United States alone. Here is a listing of their up-and-coming 2018 Tour dates, and where you can catch them:

* Wednesday: May 2, 2018. Tulsa, OK (Bok Center)
* Friday: May 4, 2018. St. Lewis, MO (Scottrade Center)
* Monday: May 7, 2018. San Jose, CA (Sap Center at San Jose)
* Friday: May 11, 2018. Las Vegas, NV (T-Mobile Arena)
* Tuesday: May 15, 2018. Los Angeles, CA (Forum)
* Tuesday: May 22, 2018. Chicago, IL (United Center)
* Saturday: May 26, 2018. Nashville, TN (Bridgestone Arena)
* Monday: May 28, 2018. Atlanta, GA (Infinite Energy Arena)
* Tuesday: June 5, 2018. Montreal, QC CA (Bell Centre)
* Saturday: June 9, 2018. Uniondale, NY (NYCB Live. Home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial co)
* Wednesday June 13, 2018. Philadelphia, PA (Wells Fargo Center)
* Sunday: June 17, 2018. Washington, DC (Capital One Arena)
* Thursday: June 21, 2018. Boston, MA (TD Garden)
* Monday: June 25, 2018. New York City, NY (Madison Square Garden)
* Friday: June 29, 2018. Newark, NJ (Prudential Center)

http://www.u2.com/tour/

By Andy Speck

“Rock is deader than dead, Shock is all in your head”. Marilyn Manson has been in the business of shocking the world around him for as long as he’s been singing. On his 10th studio album, Heaven Upside Down, the Antichrist Superstar attempts reconnect with the very familiar trope of shocking once again, with mixed results.

In terms of sound, the album has a unique flavor amongst Manson’s records. The tracks, especially “KILL4ME” and “Blood Honey”, are all filled with energizing, synthesized beats that quite effectively get you pumped up, but for fans of Antichrist Superstar, there is something to be desired. Manson’s vocals flow infinitely well into the thrashing of a guitar, and unfortunately that presence just isn’t felt.

Lyrically, Heaven Upside Down is strewn about featuring provocative language in some places, with lyrics that sound juvenile in others. Manson is an artist, and through his back catalog of some amazing work, he’s proven competent at writing some of the most intriguing lyrics anyone in the industry has to offer. That’s where a lot of his long-time listeners will take issue with the album. “Je$u$ Cri$i$” not only looks like a punk kid wrote the title in his history notebook, it would appear to the untrained eye one the lyrics were inscribed there too, with “I write songs to fight and to f*ck to” being part of the hilarious chorus.

Stand-out tracks of the album include “Saturnalia” and “Blood Honey”. The mood perpetuated by the former is ominous, as the lyrics at times are drowned out by the sheer atmosphere created by the way the track is mixed. “Blood Honey”, a song about Manson’s battle with attempting to find what his fans want him out of him, does a great job of evoking songs such as “Coma White”, while still evolving his career.

Since the outcry of conservatives the world round in the nineties with the release of his debut album, Marilyn Manson edified his spot as a controversial figure. In this third act of his career, it seems Manson is still somewhat stuck in the nineties. A quick look at the music videos for tracks on this album will show the sexy nun, and other perverted Christian imagery that quite frankly is no longer shocking because a couple of decades ago, those same tropes were already used extensively. In this era of everything going on in the world, we need someone to challenge those social norms, to try and take on what society has become.

Chris Stapleton, Brothers Osborne Night’s Top Winners At “The 51st Annual CMA Awards”

NASHVILLE – “The 51st Annual CMA Awards” walked the line between celebration and commemoration Wednesday night as Garth Brooks won Entertainer of the Year for a record-extending sixth time while Chris Stapleton and Brothers Osborne took home two Awards apiece.

An all-star group that included Kelsea Ballerini, Brooks, Kix Brooks, Eric Church, Ronnie Dunn, Faith Hill, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Thomas Rhett, Darius Rucker, and Keith Urban struck a chord of togetherness through the ABC Television Network broadcast with an emotional collaboration that began with Church singing “Amazing Grace” a cappella in silhouette, then the rest of the group joining in on Rucker’s uplifting hit “Hold My Hand” from his time as the lead singer of Hootie & The Blowfish.

Co-host Carrie Underwood then summed up the evening’s mission statement in the opening of her 10th year monologue with Brad Paisley: “Las Vegas. Charlottesville. New York. Sutherland Springs. Historic storms in Texas, Puerto Rico and Florida. The list goes on and on. This has been a year marked by tragedy, impacting countless lives, including so many in our Country Music family. So tonight we’re going to do what families do – come together, pray together, cry together and sing together.”

By the end of the night, fans and members of the industry had done a little of all those things, celebrating the best music of the last year while calling for unity in a nation torn asunder by violence and tragedy, to remembering departed heroes such as Glen Campbell, who lost his fight with Alzheimer’s disease, to Troy Gentry, one half of the duo Montgomery Gentry, taken too soon when his helicopter crashed on the way to a gig. The later was honored with a performance by Dierks Bentley, Rascal Flatts, and surprise guest and bandmate Eddie Montgomery.

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