Genesis has announced highly anticipated return to North America for the first time in 14 years with The Last Domino?
Tour dates that will have Tony Banks, Phil Collins, and Mike Rutherford, playing major cities across the U.S. and Canada this November and December 2021. Kicking off at Chicago’s United Center on November 15th, 2021, the group will be joined by Nic Collins on drums, and the band’s long-time lead guitar and bass player Daryl Stuermer. Stops along the tour include Madison Squire Garden which Genesis will be playing at on December 5th, 2021.
Genesis The Last Domino? North American Tour will be one of the first concerts at the brand-new UBS Arena in Belmont Park, New York with the Friday, December 10th , 2021, show. Opening this fall, UBS Arena is a $1.1 billion world-class multipurpose arena next to the Belmont Park racetrack. In addition to being the new home to the famed New York Islanders Hockey Club, UBS Arena is one of the few venues in the world designed with a sharp focus on music.
The Last Domino? North American Tour marks the first time Genesis has performed stateside since 2007’s Turn It On Again: The Tour which went on to be one of the biggest grossing tours of that year playing sold-out arenas and stadiums around the world. One of the most successful and legendary rock bands of all-time, Genesis has sold more than 100 million albums with numerous top 20 hits.
Beginning May 7, tickets will be available through a public on-sale. Visit www.genesis-music.com for tour, ticket, and official VIP package information.
Psychedelic funk-rock group, The Chris Ruben Band, released their new album Madness on Repeat on April 20.
Cover Art Credit: Will Wood Visuals and Mark DiMattei
This six-piece Long Island band is nothing short of their fiery and forceful reputation. What started off as Chris Ruben writing his own songs at 16 began to turn into something more in 2014. At this time, The Chris Ruben Band was initially formed, but players got interchanged until the ideal lineup was created.
The band started off playing in basements, but they shortly made their way onto the local music circuit. The group consists of Chris Ruben on lead guitar/vocals, Brendan Allan on bass, Frank Iovine on synthesizers/saxophone, Eugene Iovine on keyboards/cello, Nick Marino on guitar, and Russell Miller on drums.
Photo Credit: Mark DiMattei
Madness on Repeat is the culmination of eight years of songwriting and use of numerous studios. The album is reminiscent of old-school rock while also layering a psychedelic tone. Ruben’s vocals drive each head-banging track alongside the dynamic guitar work. The group smoothly blends their sounds together to develop a modern funk.
“Unsure” opens the album with a sense of groove and hard-hitting lyrics. It eases listeners into the liveliness of Madness on Repeat, and the high-octane energy developed. The Chris Ruben Band keeps the album upbeat throughout with an epic guitar solo in “Starfish” and driving drums in “Prayer for Sadness.” Madness on Repeat closes with a sensational saxophone on “Hernia” while not losing that driven passion they provide.
The Chris Ruben Band has become a staple in the Long Island music scene. They have performed at various venues there in addition to their performances at SXSW, The Jones Beach Bandshell, and more. Until those events are back up and running, The Chris Ruben Band has a livestream performance on April 29. The group will be live-streaming Madness on Repeat, tickets available here.
Los Angeles based artist, Jake Miller, announces his tour “hi, i missed you” and releases his new single, “I Hope I Die First” from his upcoming album.
Photo Credit: Zack Caspary
Miller is an independent artist who has gained a following over the years from his music and social media presence. He has over 200 million streams and headlined eight tours throughout the country. Ariana Grande, Shawn Mendes and Fifth Harmony are some of the talents that Miller has shared the stage with.
In 2019 he wrote and produced his six song EP Based on a True Story in his bedroom and received 15 million streams. His single “Wait for You” off the EP made it to Billboard Top 40. Miller became a hit on Tiktok with his viral series “Quarantunes”. Throughout 2020, he released eight singles displaying his craft with different sounds.
Miller’s “hi, i missed you” tour comes after last year’s releases and is the beginning of his journey for 2021. The tour consists of 33 dates and will be stopping in major cities across the nation including New York, Toronto, Chicago and Los Angeles. The stop in New York City will be at Le Poisson Rouge on September 30. Indie pop duo, Fly By Midnight, and the triplet pop group, Just Seconds Apart, is joining Jake Miller on tour. Tickets for the “hi i missed you” tour are currently on sale on Miller’s website, with meet and greet packages included.
Along with the announcement of the tour, Miller also released his newest single titled “I Hope I Die First”. The song was written before the pandemic with the help of five of his best friends. It touches on the feeling of having someone that you love by your side and not wanting to live without them. For Miller, the ballad means that even when the world seems crazy, having someone special with you makes things better. The single is available on all streaming platforms through The Orchard.
The highly anticipated upcoming remake of West Side Story gives a glimpse in its trailer of the classic musical with a brand new cast. The trailer aired during the 2021 Academy Awards telecast on Sunday, April 25.
After sixty years, the love story of Tony and Maria returns to theaters. The clip is a minute-and-a-half long, giving a quick look at the beloved romantic musical drama.
The trailer begins with a New York City morning, the dawn sky and quickly shifting vignettes of the city. The town, divided in its gangs, ramps up into action with a beautiful orchestral drone in the background.
The Jets and the Sharks, the indelible rivaling gangs, collide in small action sequences. Within the tumultuous community, the two star-crossed lovers find each other, their tragic love story illuminating the screen.
20th Century Studios / Youtube
The leads in Spielberg’s production are Rachel Zegler as Maria and Ansel Elgort ofThe Fault in Our Stars as Tony. The film also features talented actors such as David Alvarez as Bernardo, Ana Isabelle as Rosalía, and Mike Faist as Riff.
The film, as well as the original, was heavily based off of Romeo and Juliet, written by Arthur Laurents in 1957 as a Broadway musical. An interesting fact about the 2021 remake is that Rita Moreno, who played Anita in the original 1961 movie, returns as a shop owner named Valentina, who employs Tony.
West Side Story, directed by Steven Spielberg, is set to hit theaters in December 2021.
Kicking off on September 9th in Minneapolis, MN, Machine Gun Kelly will embark on a tour of the country. MGK will feature his latest hit album Tickets To My Downfall at venues for the first time since release, including fan favorites such as “Bloody Valentine” and “My Ex’s Best Friend.”
Starting Tuesday, April 27, tickets are available for pre-sale, then going on sale to the public by Friday, April 30. Everything regarding ticket sales can be found through MGK’s website, as well as the national tour dates and locations.
On September 13, Machine Gun Kelly will perform live at Central Park SummerStage, the only show of the tour to take place in New York.
The tour across the United States will come to a close on December 18, in the artist’s hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
Machine Gun Kelly’s “Tickets to My Downfall” 2021 Tour will include performances from special guests such as carolesdaughter, jxdn, and KennyHoopla.
Central Park is not only the continent’s first public park, but arguably the most iconic. Artists have traveled from across the globe inspired to paint, play and write about the 843 acres of beauty.
The sacred space is surrounded by world-renowned music venues, museums, and galleries. Harlem’s home for R&B and soul, the Apollo Theater, sits just 15 blocks north of the park while Carnegie Hall attracts world-class orchestral talent just two blocks south of it (slightly northeast of Radio City Music Hall). Rock aficionados frequent the Beacon Theatre on West 72nd street to the west of the park while sophisticated symphony-enthusiasts admire the NY Philharmonic at Lincoln Center. Hugging Central Park on the east, art-lovers marvel at the rotating and static exhibits on Museum Mile and photographers snap photos of New York’s impressive architecture.
It would be hard to imagine one of the world’s most culturally blended cities without a gathering place for people to connect with nature and community. And some of the most memorable gatherings in the early to mid-twentieth century occurred at Sheep Meadow between West 66th and 69th streets. To bookmark the tumultuous 1970’s in the drug-infused, crime-filled, disco and punk era, James Taylor played the last big concert at Sheep Meadow in front of a quarter-million people. After Sheep Meadow closed its grass to tarps, blankets and bare feet, large concerts were given a new space on the Great Lawn located mid-park between 79th and 85th street.
They don’t call it the Great Lawn for nothing. Some of the largest crowds in recorded history packed the 55-acre plot of land to “be a part of it” as Frank Sinatra would say. Maybe it’s the park’s natural setting that makes it so appealing for concert goers or it could be the central hub, but many performances in the ‘80s created a sense of hope and peace during some of the roughest years. While the NY Times called 1980, “the worst year of crime in the city’s history,” music provided a momentary lapse of chaos. In June 1980, an estimated 200,000 spectators on the Great Lawn welcomed Pavarotti and then two months later, Elton John entertained 400,000 fans.
The following September, Simon & Garfunkel reunited for their first live performance in 11 years as a duo. The free benefit concert supporting the nonprofit Central Park Conservancy was expecting around 300,000 guests, but an estimated half a million people showed up for the legendary reunion. After opening with “Mrs. Robinson” and “Homeward Bound,” Simon commented, “Well, it’s great to do a neighborhood concert,” and thanked the police, the fire department, the park administration. The subsequent live album recorded that night went on to peak at number six on the Billboard 200 chart in 1982 and was positively received by music critics and worldwide fans of NYC-based folk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OegZZNPsKA
While the magic created that night in Central Park between the future Rock and Roll Hall of Famers sparked a world tour the following spring, the relationship between the two musicians was creatively impossible to maintain, so they decided to call it quits before ever releasing a reunion album. On the positive side, their benefit concert to support the park’s restoration and maintenance plans was reimagined by other artists on the Great Lawn for decades to come.
Another major Great Lawn milestone took place in June of 1982 as part of the “No Nukes” movement. Central Park’s Rally for Nuclear Disarmament was held on June 12, 1982, and invited chart-topping musical guests including Bruce Springsteen, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor and Jackson Browne to play in front of an estimated crowd of 750,000. Four years later, in July 1986, a record-breaking 800,000 people were reported at the New York Philharmonic and U.S. Marine Band joint concert to celebrate the restoration and reopening of the Statue of Liberty.
In April 1990, another massive crowd of three-quarters of a million packed Central Park for Earth Day. The musical guests were the B-52’s, Hall & Oates and Eddie Brickell. That same year, the Central Park Conservancy’s SummerStage concert series was moved to Rumsey Playfield, located just off the East 69th and 5th Avenue entrance to Central Park. While not as big as the massive Great Lawn and Sheep Meadow gatherings, the SummerStage has brought world-class acts to the area for over three decades, promoting everything from Central Park preservation, Greenpeace, voter awareness and social justice.
Paul Simon returned in 1991 to a giant crowd on the lawn, but every attendance record for a single artist was destroyed by Garth Brooks in 1997 for a show better known as “Garthstock” due to the giant turnout in a city not known for country music. Dave Matthews Band would bring the free benefit show back to the Great Lawn in 2003 to support music and art education in the NYC public school system, drawing an estimated 85,000. Matthews greeted the crowd saying, “So nice to run into you in the park here, the greatest park in the world, and the greatest city in the world.”
The Black Eye Peas filled the Great Lawn in 2011 for yet another benefit concert raising over $4 million for the Robin Hood Foundation. In 2019, nearly $1 billion was raised during the Global Citizens Festival supported by headliners: Queen + Adam Lambert, Pharrell Williams, Alicia Keys, OneRepublic, H.E.R., and Carole King. The city’s incredible fundraising ability is only as powerful as the people that support the events — artists, promoters, attendees. Concerts on the Great Lawn are not only legendary due to the phenomenal performances in the epic “green lung” of the country’s largest city, but many of the concerts have transcended music and focused on the greater impact of people helping people.
What’s so special about Central Park is that you don’t have to be one of the hundreds of thousands to enjoy a memorable live music experience in Central Park. The grounds are full of talented performers from all over the world, and the magic of New York’s most iconic park is that you never know who you’ll run into playing in the paths and park entrances.
If you happened to be in the park during 2013’s installment of Jazz and Colors (a Peter Shapiro sponsored event), you might have run into an impromptu jazzy set with a touch of psychedelia. Bassist Phil Lesh, guitarist Eric Krasno, and drummer Joe Russo dropped their equipment on a random path and started playing to a crowd of zero, then a few dozen, then a few hundred. It’s moments like these that accentuate the excitement of being in the park on a fall afternoon.
Just this past September, as the leaves began to turn during a global pandemic, you might have run into Phish’s Trey Anastasio playing solo acoustic in support of the Parks Foundation’s SummerStage Jubilee. When asked the energy of a quarantined city, Anastasio remarked, “Yes, it’s weird walking through Times Square right now, but Times Square was tourists. But if you go into residential neighborhoods, I mean listen, it’s the greatest city in the world…always has been.”
Alt-pop trio Lovelytheband alongside fellow alt-rockers Sir Sly announce their 24-date tour across North America coming this fall: Conversations with Loverboy.
Lovelytheband is riding high from the release of their 2020 sophomore album, Conversations with myself about you, that earned the group their third Top 10 radio hit “loneliness for love” as well as Top 20 hit “buzz cut” which received a remix featuring indie pop band Misterwives. Most recently, the trio joined singer-songwriter Tessa Violet for the collaborative single “Games,” a standout from Violet’s debut album.
We are in tears still from announcing a tour! we can’t wait to share a space with fans and friends and get back to doing what we all love to do.
Lovelytheband
Lovelytheband consists of vocalist Mitchy Collins, guitarist Jordan Greenwald, and drummer Sam Price. Hailing from Los Angeles, the trio solidified their place in alt music history when they broke Billboard’s Alternative Songs Longevity Record with a total of 76 weeks on the chart, 9 weeks at #1, and over 300 million streams worldwide with their debut hit single, “broken.” Tickets for the nationwide trek — which includes stops in major cities including Los Angeles (The Fonda Theatre, 11/16), New York City (TBA, 12/1), Nashville (Cannery, 12/6), and Austin (Emo’s, 12/13) are available here, other dates include:
TOUR DATES
11/12/21 – Sacramento, CA – Ace of Spades 11/14/21 – San Francisco, CA – The Regency Ballroom 11/16/21 – Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theatre 11/17/21 – San Diego, CA – Observatory Northpark 11/19/21 – Denver, CO – Summit Music Hall 11/21/21 – Kansas City, MO – Truman 11/22/21 – Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater 11/24/21 – St. Louis, MO – Delmar Hall 11/26/21 – Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall 11/27/21 – Detroit, MI – St. Andrews 11/29/21 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club 12/1/21 – New York, NY – To Be Announced 12/4/21 – Washington, D.C. – 9:30 Club 12/6/21 – Nashville, TN – Cannery 12/7/21 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade (Heaven) 12/9/21 – Orlando, FL – House of Blues 12/10/21 – Fort Lauderdale, FL – Culture Room 12/13/21 – Austin, TX – Emo’s 12/14/21 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall 12/17/21 – Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theatre 12/18/21 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren 12/19/21 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues 12/29/21 – Seattle, WA – Showbox 12/30/21 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
The Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF) has announced its 24th annual installment, running from June 4 to June 13. 2021’s lineup includes the online premiere of 140 films, available to stream any time throughout the 10-day period. It also sees the return of in-person screenings, at Windmill Studios in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, from June 5 to June 13.
This year’s theme is ‘The Clearing.’ Cinemas are slowly reopening after spending the last year shuttered, signaling the end of a lost year. While the 23rd Brooklyn Film Festival was fully virtual, the 24th will be a hybrid, featuring distanced in-person selections.
For this year’s festival alone, BFF received 2,615 submissions from 91 countries. The 140 chosen films will air as 33 program blocks, with feature-length films playing alone and shorts grouped together by category and direction. There are six categories overall (Feature Narrative, Documentary Feature, Short Narrative, Short Documentary, Experimental and Animation), but all films are eligible to win the festival’s top award: the Grand Chameleon. There are also 29 minor awards, with each winner receiving a prize totalling $50,000 in cash, film services and products. While judging panels determine some of the winners, the BFF Audience gets to vote online for their favorites.
New York residents are getting vaccinated in large numbers and are diligently observing the city rules regarding safe distancing and mask wearing. Cinemas are re-opening with new, safer policies and criteria. Because of this, we feel a sweet sense of optimism, as if we were experiencing a slow awakening from a one-year hibernation. That is why BFF is ready to show indie films to live audiences. Considering the amazing success of last year’s virtual festival, BFF will offer the full lineup online, again this year. ‘The Clearing’ is about safe distancing also from all the accumulated pain and anger of the past year, and is about getting re-acquainted with life’s important values. Fundamentally, ‘The Clearing’ is a message of hope that we want to spread, while trying to leave the ‘Covid tunnel’ behind us.
BFF Executive Director, Marco Ursino
The 17th Annual KidsFilmFest will also stream online from June 4 to June 13. There are two programs: one for ages 3 to 7, and another for ages 8 to 15. All children’s films are rated G.
For six weeks in the summer of 1969, and nearly 100 miles south of Woodstock, another groundbreaking cultural event was taking place. The Harlem Cultural Festival, filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park), celebrated African American music and culture, and promoted Black pride and unity. While the footage was never seen and largely forgotten, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson brings ‘Black Woodstock’ to light in his debut documentary, Summer of Soul(…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised).
The trailer debuted during the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, April 25, where Questlove was serving as music director and DJ for the evening. Part concert film and part historical record, the documentary is an important piece of history that stands as a testament to the healing power of music during times of unrest, both past and present.
While this is Questlove’s first directing jawn, he has appeared in numerous music documentaries, including Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest, Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown, and served as co-executive producer of Finding the Funk.
Summer of Soul features performances by B.B. King, Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples, Hugh Masekela, Mongo Santamaria, Nina Simone, and Sly & the Family Stone, among many more. Included in Summer of Soulare never-before-seen concert performances by Wonder, Nina Simone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Ray Baretto, Abbey Lincoln & Max Roach, the 5th Dimension, David Ruffin, and more.
All this from an historic six week music festival that would be overshadowed by the one weekend Woodstock festival that summer. With over 300,000 people in attendance, it rivals the attendance of the iconic festival, yet received virtually no coverage from the mainstream media.
40 hours of never-seen-before footage has remained in storage in a basement for the past 50 years, keeping this incredible event in America’s history lost, until now. Questlove, speaking of the personal significance of the footage, told Indiewire, “What would have happened if this was allowed a seat at the table? How much of a difference would that have made in my life? That was the moment that extinguished any doubt I had that I could do this.”
Summer of Love premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 28, 2021, where it won the US Grand Jury Prize in the documentary category.
Summer of Soul (Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) will hold special engagements at two theaters ahead of wide release on 600 screens, and on Hulu, starting Friday, July 2. Early screenings will be held at El Capitan Theater in LA and the Magic Johnson AMC Harlem.
Antiboy has partnered up with Jason Ebeyer and The Phluid Project for the creation of their ‘One Love’ T-shirt, in conjunction with the upcoming release of their new anthem, One Love which is due out April 30. All proceeds of the shirt will be donated to The Hendrick Martin Institute.
Antiboy is the musical persona of the late actor, musician and model Harry Hains who unfortunately passed away from an accidental fentanyl intoxication on January 7, 2020. Hains’ debut album A Glitch in Paradise was released posthumously to critical acclaim back in December of 2020.
The album included 10-tracks and the musical and visual release of, ‘Dream’ starring Andrej Pejic, which has surpassed over 1 million views on YouTube. ‘One Love’ will be the first single off yet to be announced future Antiboy project. The project was produced by Fernando Garibay and Red One. ‘One Love’ is a poignant declaration of self-love and it features Jane Badler’s vocals who is Hains Mother. Red One and Fernando Garibay last collaborated on Lady Gaga’s incredibly successful ‘Born This Way’ album.
Jason Ebeyer is a graphic designer who created the graphic for the t-shirt. The Phluid Project is a NY-based company that was launched in 2018. It’s known worldwide as a gender free fashion brand. The limited-edition ‘One Love’ T-shirt will donate 100% of the proceeds directly to benefit The Hendrick Martin Institute which is the United States largest LGBTQ+ youth services organization. The organization helps over 2000 children from 38 states across the country every year. The programs include: Arts & Culture, Health & Wellness, Counseling, Education, and Job Readiness. Each year over 11,000 hot meals are served at their facility in New York City, with over 21% of LGBTQ youth stating that finding a hot meal is a primary reason for coming to Hendrick Martin Institute.
For more information on the shirt and the upcoming Antiboy release of One Love visit their Instagram.
