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LCD Soundsystem Hits the Road This Summer With Red Rocks, Feist, and Victoryland in Tow

Eric Alper
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LCD Soundsystem Hits the Road This Summer With Red Rocks, Feist, and Victoryland in Tow

LCD Soundsystem is back on the road this summer, and the routing is exactly as good as you’d hope. The New York dance-punk institution has announced a run of North American dates that stretches from a four-night residency at Roadrunner in Boston through a September appearance at Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta, with two nights at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado as the centrepiece. Last August, they grossed nearly $975,000 at Red Rocks off 8,852 tickets sold. Demand is not in question.

Victoryland supports on select dates, with Feist joining for the two Red Rocks nights. The summer run kicks off August 7 at Freedom Mobile Arch in Vancouver before moving through two nights at McMenamins Edgefield Amphitheater in Troutdale, stops at KettleHouse Amphitheater in Bonner, Montana, The Armory in Minneapolis, and a three-night stand at College Street Music Hall in New Haven. The fall stretch brings the tour to Portland’s Thompson’s Point, Hellbender in Asheville, and the Shaky Knees Festival closer in Atlanta.

General on-sale begins May 1 at 10 a.m. local time. An artist presale opens April 28 at 10 a.m. Tickets and full details at lcdsoundsystem.com.

LCD Soundsystem 2026 North American Tour Dates:

April 30 – Boston, MA – Roadrunner

May 1 – Boston, MA – Roadrunner

May 2 – Boston, MA – Roadrunner

May 3 – Boston, MA – Roadrunner

May 23 – Napa, CA – BottleRock Napa Valley

May 24 – Reno, NV – Grand Theatre

Aug. 7 – Vancouver, BC – Freedom Mobile Arch*

Aug. 8 – Troutdale, OR – McMenamins Edgefield Amphitheater*

Aug. 9 – Troutdale, OR – McMenamins Edgefield Amphitheater*

Aug. 12 – Bonner, MT – KettleHouse Amphitheater*

Aug. 13 – Bonner, MT – KettleHouse Amphitheater*

Aug. 15 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre*^

Aug. 16 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre*^

Aug. 18 – Minneapolis, MN – The Armory*

Aug. 22 – Pasadena, CA – Just Like Heaven

Sept. 9 – Portland, ME – Thompson’s Point*

Sept. 10 – New Haven, CT – College Street Music Hall*

Sept. 11 – New Haven, CT – College Street Music Hall*

Sept. 12 – New Haven, CT – College Street Music Hall*

Sept. 17 – Asheville, NC – Hellbender*

Sept. 20 – Atlanta, GA – Shaky Knees Festival

*with Victoryland ^with Feist

Ontario’s Anti-Scalping Law: I Want It to Work. Here’s Why I’m Not Sure It Will.

Eric Alper
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Ontario’s Anti-Scalping Law: I Want It to Work. Here’s Why I’m Not Sure It Will.

I want to be clear about something before I say anything else: I get it. I really do.

When Blue Jays fans were paying $16,000 for World Series tickets last fall, something was broken. When a family of four can’t afford to see their favourite artist without taking out a second mortgage on their summer, something is wrong. The frustration that drove Ontario Premier Doug Ford to this legislation is completely legitimate, and the instinct to protect fans from being gouged is one I share deeply.

I work in this industry. I’ve watched people get priced out of live music for years (original ticket price not included, that’s a whole other side). Nothing about what follows is a defence of scalpers.

But here’s where I find myself, quietly, honestly, trying to make sense of whether this new law actually helps the people it’s meant to help.

We’ve been here before.

In 2017, Ontario passed broadly similar legislation, capping resale at 50 per cent above face value. It felt like progress. It was celebrated. Then the Ford government shelved it in 2018, with their own spokesperson calling it “unenforceable.” Their words, not mine.

What’s changed since then to make a stricter version of that same law, a full face-value cap this time, suddenly workable? I’ve been looking for that answer and I haven’t found it yet. The internet is the same. The global platforms are the same. The scalpers operating from outside Ontario’s borders are the same. I’m genuinely asking, not rhetorically: what’s different now?

The part that worries me most is where the tickets go.

Capping prices on regulated platforms doesn’t make high-demand tickets less desirable. It just moves the transaction somewhere less safe.

When a Ticketmaster or StubHub resale listing has to be priced at face value, the economic incentive for those platforms to operate a secure, fraud-protected marketplace disappears. And when those regulated options shrink, the tickets don’t disappear. They show up on Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji, in DMs, in cash deals outside venues. Places with no buyer protection, no fraud guarantees, no recourse if the ticket turns out to be fake.

Richard Powers at the Rotman School of Business said it plainly: without a profit incentive, legitimate platforms will pull back, and that will push sales toward the unregulated market. StubHub said the same thing when the law was being debated, that price caps “expose fans to a massive increase in ticket fraud, but don’t bring costs down.”

I don’t love defending resale platforms. But a fan losing $300 to a scammer on Kijiji is a worse outcome than a fan paying $50 over face value on a platform with a money-back guarantee.

The fines aren’t built to actually deter anyone.

The law sets penalties of up to $10,000 for businesses that break the rules. I understand why that number is in there. But a professional broker clearing tens of thousands of dollars on a single FIFA World Cup match isn’t lying awake at night worrying about a $10,000 cap. And many of the platforms doing the selling are headquartered outside Ontario, which makes enforcement even more complicated.

Manitoba has had anti-scalping legislation for years. Quebec too. Both provinces will tell you enforcement has been difficult at best. Ontario hasn’t shown us the infrastructure that would make this work differently here.

The deeper issue this law doesn’t address.

Here’s the thing I keep coming back to. Scalpers are a symptom. The disease is primary market pricing.

Dynamic pricing. Platinum tickets. Surge pricing applied at the moment of the original sale, before a ticket ever reaches the secondary market. A ticket that starts at $400 on Ticketmaster didn’t get expensive because of scalpers. It got expensive at the source.

Ontario’s law caps what you can charge when you resell. It does nothing about what Ticketmaster charges you when you buy. And it’s worth noting, carefully, that Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, was among the first to publicly support this legislation. A company found last week by a U.S. jury to have illegally monopolized the live music industry came out in favour of a law that limits its competitors while leaving its own primary pricing untouched. That detail deserves more scrutiny than it’s gotten.

I still hope I’m wrong.

None of this means I’m rooting against the law. I’m rooting for fans. I’m rooting for the kid who’s been saving up to see their favourite artist and deserves to pay a fair price through a safe platform. That person is who this is supposed to be for. Not the bots. Not the insiders who can re-sell that ticket for three times the original price.

But wanting something to work and believing it will work are two different things. Ontario has tried versions of this before, walked it back, and is now trying again with higher stakes and the same unresolved questions about enforcement.

The government’s heart is in the right place. The music industry needs more protection for fans, not less. I just hope the mechanisms catch up to the intention, because right now, the gap between the two is where the scalpers live.

Cowboy Troubadour Dalton Davis Freezes Time With Slow-Burning New Single “Blue”

Eric Alper
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Cowboy Troubadour Dalton Davis Freezes Time With Slow-Burning New Single “Blue”

Dalton Davis has a way of making country music feel lived-in, and his new single “Blue” is no exception. Out now via MCA/Republic Records, the track is built around slow-burning melody and vivid imagery, anchored by the refrain “It’s a blue feelin’, watchin’ you leavin’, deep as the ocean, all in slow motion.” It’s a proper country cryin’ song, and Davis knows exactly what he’s doing with it. Listen here.

Davis described the feeling precisely: “‘Blue’ is about the music and roots of what we do in country music. It’s not just sadness, it’s everything feeling heavier, quieter, and somehow frozen in time.” That stillness is all over the track, from the way the melody moves to the way the lyrics sit inside moments that won’t quite let go. It lands with the kind of raw emotional honesty that defines the best outlaw-adjacent country writing.

The North Carolina native has been building steadily since signing to MCA/Republic Records, with “Cows In The Front Yard” and “Redneck and You Know It” already establishing his voice in the conversation. Earlier this year, his song “Fireproof,” co-written by Billy Bob Thornton, Ronnie Bowman, and Mark Collie, appeared on the Landman (Songs From and Inspired By The Paramount+ Original Series) Volume II soundtrack. Davis has opened for Kameron Marlowe, Brantley Gilbert, Midland, Ashley McBryde, Gary Allan, and Dwight Yoakam, and the stage experience shows.

Dalton Davis Tour Dates:

April 25 – Columbus, OH – Ohio Stadium (Luke Combs Pre Show Tailgate)

June 25 – Cadott, WI – Hoofbeat Country Fest

August 28 – Ocala, FL – Rock The Country Ocala

September 11 – Hamburg, NY – Erie County Fairgrounds

Ottawa’s Gentlemen Of The Woods Deliver a Rich and Deeply Felt ‘November Embers’

Eric Alper
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Ottawa’s Gentlemen Of The Woods Deliver a Rich and Deeply Felt ‘November Embers’

Gentlemen Of The Woods are back with ‘November Embers,’ their third album and their most fully realized recording to date. Tracked at Ottawa’s Breezehill North Studio over the winter of 2025/26 with collaborator Jeff Watkins, the 10-song record is equal parts revelry and elegy, built in careful layers to capture the warm, rich texture the band has always chased in their live performances. It sounds like it was made with care, patience, and the last bottle of bourbon in the city.

The album opens with “Everything Old Is New Again,” a track the band describes as running into an old friend, familiar but changed. From there, ‘November Embers’ moves through a range of emotional terrain: “That Song You Wrote” traces a youthful adventure with a lingering undercurrent of loss, while “Worst Kind Of Weather” rides through the endless black spruce of northern Ontario with a trucker who might be ready to pull off the highway for good. Play that one loud.

The emotional centre of the record is “Campfire,” the song that gives the album its title, a poetic look at the memories you’d want to hold forever. Geoff’s lyrics are sad and grateful and quiet, and Mike’s guitar solo sends sparks into the night. It’s the kind of track that earns its place as the heart of a record.

Side two opens with “In Need Of Repair,” Doug’s Byrds-flavored lick leading a song about hard-won regret, before “Red Cars” brings his banjo back into the mix on a Grapes of Wrath-era portrait of riding streetcars in search of work and purpose. “Holes In My Shoes” is the band at the peak of its songwriting, folk sensibilities with pop flair, hooky lead guitar, and soaring three-part harmonies. The album closes with “Home,” an anxious, coiled build anchored by Geoff’s lyrics about a complicated but deeply loving father-daughter relationship, with a Hammond B-3 organ spot courtesy of Ottawa music legend Dave Draves.

‘November Embers’ is out now on all streaming platforms, with vinyl on the way. Like the sad-eyed bison on Doug’s album artwork, it watches the world with some apprehension and a whole lot of wonder.

‘November Embers’ Tracklist:

Everything Old Is New Again

That Song You Wrote

Worst Kind Of Weather

Campfire

There Will Be Poems

In Need Of Repair

Red Cars

Holes In My Shoes

Old Road

Home

Suki Waterhouse’s “Tiny Raisin” Is a Gloriously Imperfect Love Song With a Vintage Convertible

Eric Alper
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Suki Waterhouse’s “Tiny Raisin” Is a Gloriously Imperfect Love Song With a Vintage Convertible

Suki Waterhouse’s new single “Tiny Raisin” is out now, and it’s exactly the kind of song that makes you want to drive too fast with the windows down. The second track from her forthcoming album ‘Loveland,’ due July 10th via Island Records, was written by Waterhouse alongside Steph Jones, Carrie K, and producer Gabe Simon, and it arrives with a visualizer that leans fully into its vintage, effortlessly cool energy.

Waterhouse was direct about what the song means to her: “‘Tiny Raisin’ is a love song at its core. It’s a song that stands by the fact that real love in its truest essence can be chaotic, ridiculous, and imperfect, while still being something that is absolutely worth choosing over and over again.” That combination of self-awareness and warmth is all over the track, and it gives the song a charm that’s hard to shake.

“Tiny Raisin” follows “Back in Love,” ‘Loveland’s’ buoyant lead single, which Harper’s Bazaar called “a super joyful track made for late summer nights dancing around with friends.” Two singles in, the album is already building a distinct world, lush, life-affirming, and confidently its own. ‘Loveland’ arrives July 10th.

Demi Lovato Keeps the Party Going With ‘It’s Not That Deep (Unless You Want It To Be)’ Deluxe

Eric Alper
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Demi Lovato Keeps the Party Going With ‘It’s Not That Deep (Unless You Want It To Be)’ Deluxe

Demi Lovato’s deluxe album ‘It’s Not That Deep (Unless You Want It To Be)’ is out now, and it arrives on one of the biggest nights of her current run: a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden. Eight new tracks expand the original album’s late-night, celebratory energy, led by the sultry new single “Low Rise Jeans,” with additional features from Cobrah and Rose Gray. It’s the sound of an artist fully locked in, and the live show confirms it.

The It’s Not That Deep Tour opened last week to immediate critical praise. The Hollywood Reporter called the show “triumphant,” noting Lovato’s “new air of confidence” and her “clear understanding of the power she holds with her microphone.” USA Today praised her voice as “a potent instrument” that “never wavered.” Variety declared her “one of the singular vocalists of her time.” The reviews landed as a unified statement: Lovato is at the top of her game.

The tour marks her first North American headlining arena run in nearly eight years, and the demand has been there from the start. Produced by Live Nation, the remaining dates run through May 25 in Houston, with stops in Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, and more still ahead. Tickets are available now at DemiLovato.com/tour.

‘It’s Not That Deep (Unless You Want It To Be)’ Tracklist:

Disc 1

  1. Low Rise Jeans
  2. Love Controller
  3. Fantasy ft. Cobrah
  4. Confetti
  5. Joshua Tree ft. Rose Gray
  6. After Hours
  7. Nothing On But The Lights
  8. Pretty Catatonic

Disc 2

  1. Fast
  2. Here All Night
  3. Frequency
  4. Let You Go
  5. Sorry To Myself
  6. Little Bit
  7. Say It
  8. In My Head
  9. Kiss
  10. Before I Knew You
  11. Ghost

Demi Lovato: It’s Not That Deep Tour Dates:

Mon Apr 13 – Orlando, FL – Kia Center (Played)

Thu Apr 16 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena (Played)

Sat Apr 18 – Philadelphia, PA – Xfinity Mobile Arena (Played)

Mon Apr 20 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena (Played)

Wed Apr 22 – Boston, MA – TD Garden (Played)

Fri Apr 24 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden

Mon Apr 27 – Columbus, OH – Nationwide Arena

Wed Apr 29 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena

Fri May 1 – Chicago, IL – United Center

Sat May 2 – Minneapolis, MN – Target Center

Sat May 9 – Anaheim, CA – Honda Center

Mon May 11 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center

Wed May 13 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena

Sat May 16 – Los Angeles, CA – Kia Forum

Tue May 19 – Glendale, AZ – Desert Diamond Arena

Fri May 22 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center

Sun May 24 – Austin, TX – Moody Center

Mon May 25 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center

KAROL G and Greg Gonzalez Turn a Coachella Surprise Into a Global Moment With “Después de Ti”

Eric Alper
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KAROL G and Greg Gonzalez Turn a Coachella Surprise Into a Global Moment With “Después de Ti”

KAROL G didn’t announce “Después de ti.” She just performed it at Coachella, and the crowd felt it immediately. The surprise debut of the track, featuring Greg Gonzalez of Cigarettes After Sex, landed as one of the most talked-about live moments of the year, a quiet, emotionally charged shift in the middle of a festival set that nobody saw coming and nobody forgot.

The song is out now on all streaming platforms, arriving as a surprise drop following that Coachella performance. It’s a reflection on grief and loss, built around the stillness that follows absence. Gonzalez’s signature ethereal melancholy meets KAROL G’s raw, restrained delivery, and the result feels suspended in time. Delicate and haunting, it’s the kind of record that doesn’t need a rollout to find its audience.

It found one anyway. Within hours of the Coachella performance, clips spread across social media alongside something more personal: fans sharing their own stories, photos, and videos of loved ones no longer here. “Después de ti” became a space for collective grief, and that reaction prompted the immediate release. Some songs don’t wait for a release date. They arrive exactly when they’re needed.

The surprise drop follows KAROL G’s history-making Coachella performance and arrives alongside the announcement of her “Viajando Por El Mundo TropiTour,” a global stadium run that will make her the first Latina artist to headline stadiums across Europe as part of a global tour. Tickets are promoted by Live Nation, with presales beginning Monday, April 27 for fans who register at karolgmusic.com. General on-sale timing varies by market.

Conan Gray Expands ‘Wishbone’ With Five New Tracks and Lead Single “Door”

Eric Alper
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Conan Gray Expands ‘Wishbone’ With Five New Tracks and Lead Single “Door”

Conan Gray’s ‘Wishbone Deluxe’ is out now via Republic Records, and it arrives with five brand new tracks that push the project further into the emotional territory that made the original album a career peak. Leading the expansion is new single “Door,” joined by fan-favorite “The Best,” plus “Do I Dare,” “House That Always Rains,” and “Moths.” These aren’t filler additions. They’re songs written and recorded after the original release, conceived from inside the same headspace that produced one of his most acclaimed records.

‘Wishbone’ debuted at number one on the Billboard Album Sales chart and Top 3 on the Billboard 200 when it arrived in 2025, marking the biggest debut week of Gray’s career. Written entirely by Gray and executive produced by GRAMMY-winning collaborator Dan Nigro, the album signaled a return to his singer-songwriter roots with a new level of emotional precision. The deluxe edition extends that narrative rather than padding it.

Gray is currently mid-run on his sold-out global Wishbone World Tour, having already headlined arenas across North America including Madison Square Garden and the Kia Forum in Los Angeles. The tour now moves into Europe before heading to Australia and New Zealand later this year. With over 12 billion global streams and a catalog that includes the two-billion-stream “Heather,” written entirely by Gray himself, his connection with audiences remains as direct and durable as ever.

‘Wishbone Deluxe’ Tracklist:

Actor

This Song

Vodka Cranberry

Romeo

My World

Class Clown

Nauseous

Caramel

Connell

Sunset Tower

Eleven Eleven

Care

Do I Dare

House That Always Rains

Door

Moths

The Best

Ringo Starr Hits the ‘Long Long Road’ With T Bone Burnett and an All-Star Cast

Eric Alper
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Ringo Starr Hits the ‘Long Long Road’ With T Bone Burnett and an All-Star Cast

Ringo Starr’s 22nd solo album ‘Long Long Road’ is out now via UMe, and it arrives as one of the most warmly crafted records of his solo career. The follow-up to last year’s chart-topping ‘Look Up,’ the 10-song album reunites Starr with producer T Bone Burnett for a second time, and the collaborators they’ve brought in make it something genuinely special. Sheryl Crow, St. Vincent, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, and Sarah Jarosz all appear across the record, lending their voices and instruments to a collection that feels rooted, warm, and alive.

The title track anchors the album and arrives today with a video directed by Francesca Gregorini, Ringo’s stepdaughter. The clip follows Starr through scenes from across his life, incorporating personal and never-before-seen photos alongside new technologies. It’s sentimental without being heavy-handed, and Sheryl Crow’s harmony vocal on the track gives it a timeless, open-road quality that suits the song perfectly.

Starr reflected on the album’s central theme with characteristic warmth: “Starting in Liverpool, being in several bands, then with The Beatles, all those stops on your walk of life, it’s so far out. I took this path and ended up here, still on this Long Long Road.” T Bone Burnett added his own perspective, noting that he’s “always heard Ringo as a Texas artist,” and set out to surround him with what he called “extraordinary young energy happening around Nashville.”

The album’s 10 tracks span a range of moods and textures, from the fiddle-laced “She’s Gone” with Molly Tuttle to the guitar-driven “Baby Don’t Go” featuring Billy Strings, to the quietly powerful “Choose Love” with St. Vincent on vocal harmonies. Six of the songs were written or co-written by T Bone Burnett, with additional credits shared between Starr, Bruce Sugar, Mark Hudson, Gary Burr, and others. The record was co-produced by Daniel Tashian and Bruce Sugar, and recorded across multiple Nashville and Los Angeles studios.

For a man who has earned nine GRAMMY Awards, been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, and spent 37 years touring with his All Starr Bands, ‘Long Long Road’ doesn’t feel like a legacy project. It feels like an artist still fully engaged, still finding new collaborators and new reasons to make music. Ringo and His All Starr Band hit the road starting May 28, wrapping at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on June 14. Full tour information is at ringostarr.com.

‘Long Long Road’ Tracklist:

Side One

Returning Without Tears

Baby Don’t Go

I Don’t See Me In Your Eyes Anymore

It’s Been Too Long

Why

Side Two

You and I (Wave of Love)

My Baby Don’t Want Nothing

Choose Love

She’s Gone

Long Long Road

Billie Eilish and James Cameron Bring the Hit Me Hard and Soft Tour to Theatres in 3D

Eric Alper
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Billie Eilish and James Cameron Bring the Hit Me Hard and Soft Tour to Theatres in 3D

Billie Eilish has released “INTRO (HIT ME HARD AND SOFT TOUR),” the under-two-minute electrifying track she and her brother Finneas created to open each night of her sold-out world tour. It’s a jolt of pure anticipation, and it arrives now as the lead-in to something much bigger: her concert film BILLIE EILISH – HIT ME HARD AND SOFT: THE TOUR (LIVE IN 3D), hitting theatres on May 8, 2026.

The film is directed by Academy Award winners James Cameron and Billie Eilish, and it delivers exactly what that pairing promises. Captured across her sold-out global run, the immersive 3D concert experience puts viewers in the room in a way that a standard live recording simply can’t. Presented in Dolby Cinema, RealD 3D, and Premium Large Formats, it’s a full-scale theatrical event for the price of a movie ticket.

The official trailer has already cleared 150 million views across platforms since its debut earlier this year. For fans who can’t wait until May 8, Early Access screenings are set for Wednesday, April 29 at 7PM local time, presented exclusively in Dolby 3D and RealD 3D at participating theatres. Tickets are on sale now at hitmehardandsoftmovie.com.

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That Eric Alper

Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.

Contact me: eric@thatericalper.com

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