A federal jury has found Live Nation-Ticketmaster illegally operated as a monopoly and overcharged fans, delivering a verdict after four days of deliberations in a seven-week trial in New York City. The decision could reshape the music industry. The concert venue and festival giant now faces the possibility of being forced to divest parts of its business, or even split entirely from Ticketmaster, an outcome former Attorney General Merrick Garland called for when the DOJ filed its lawsuit in May 2024.
Live Nation has just responded with the following statement:
“The jury’s verdict is not the last word on this matter. Pending motions will determine whether the liability and damages rulings stand.
Live Nation will soon renew its motion for judgment as a matter of law, which the Court deferred until after the jury returned its verdict. That motion addresses all liability theories. The Court previously noted that Live Nation’s motion raises serious issues.
There is also a pending motion to strike the damages testimony on which the jury’s award was based. The Court deferred ruling on that motion as well, while noting significant concerns with the damages expert’s analysis.
Of course, Live Nation can and will appeal any unfavorable rulings on these motions.
The jury’s award of $1.72 per ticket applies to a limited number of tickets, those sold at 257 venues, which represent about 20% of total tickets, and only to purchases by fans (excluding brokers) in certain states over the past five years. Based on that scope, we believe the aggregate single damages figure would be below $150 million, which would be trebled. In connection with the DOJ settlement, Live Nation has already accrued $280 million toward state damages and civil penalty claims.
Injunctive relief will be determined by the Court after the states make a remedy proposal, which we expect in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the Tunney Act proceedings regarding the DOJ settlement will continue. We remain confident that the ultimate outcome of the States’ case will not be materially different than what is envisioned by the DOJ settlement.”
YOASOBI are heading back to North America this summer, and they’re doing it at arena scale. The Japanese pop duo, comprising composer Ayase and vocalist ikura, have mapped out a six-city headline run produced in collaboration with global anime brand Crunchyroll, bookended by festival appearances at OSHEAGA in Montreal and Lollapalooza in Chicago. The tour closes August 16th at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
The run arrives just as the duo drops ‘E-SIDE 4’, their fourth EP, on April 24th. YOASOBI’s North American track record backs up every bit of the arena-level ambition here. Their 2024 sold-out show at Radio City Music Hall grossed $595,107 from 5,918 tickets, and last summer’s OVO Arena Wembley date in London pulled $1,218,899 from 9,966 tickets. These numbers don’t lie.
A Crunchyroll presale opens April 21st at 3 p.m. local time, followed by an artist presale April 22nd at the same time. General on-sale begins April 23rd at 3 p.m. local time via Ticketmaster. The duo also launched their US online store at yoasobi.store alongside the announcement.
YOASOBI 2026 North American Tour Dates:
July 31 – Montreal, QC – OSHEAGA *
August 2 – Chicago, IL – Lollapalooza *
August 4 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
August 6 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center
August 8 – Hamilton, ON – TD Coliseum
August 12 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena
Charlie Puth is taking his ‘Whatever’s Clever! World Tour’ to Australia and New Zealand this November, a six-date run that marks his most ambitious live undertaking yet. The Live Nation-backed tour hits Spark Arena in Auckland, Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Adelaide Entertainment Centre, and RAC Arena in Perth. General on-sale tickets are available April 23rd at 1 p.m. local time, with an artist presale kicking off April 20th at noon.
Jimmy Eat World just added a run of East Coast dates to their ‘Bleed American’ 25th anniversary tour, and the expanded itinerary makes an already essential summer run even harder to ignore. New stops include The Muse in Nantucket, Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater in Bridgeport, and Stone Pony Summer Stage in Asbury Park. Tickets for the new dates go on sale Friday, April 17th at 10 a.m. ET.
The full tour launches June 9th at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado and runs all the way through November, with dates across the US, Canada, UK, and Mexico. Every night features ‘Bleed American’ played in its entirety, the 2001 album that found its way into a generation of lives and never left. Lead vocalist Jim Adkins describes the intent clearly: “This tour is designed to be an elevated version of our show, a heightened experience with production that reflects 25 years of learning how to stretch artistically in the live environment.”
The guest list alone makes this one of the year’s most stacked tours. Rise Against, Sunny Day Real Estate, Thrice, Motion City Soundtrack, The Get Up Kids, PUP, Hot Mulligan, Minus the Bear, Sparta, Hey Mercedes, Girls Against Boys, Illuminati Hotties, Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, Mom Jeans, and Jay Som all appear on select dates. That’s not a support lineup, that’s a festival bill attached to a headline tour.
‘Bleed American’ turns 25 this year, and Jimmy Eat World are treating the milestone with the weight it deserves. As the band put it when the tour was first announced: “If you were ever in the crowd singing along to these songs with us, this tour is for you.”
‘Bleed American’ 25th Anniversary Tour Dates:
June 9 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre
June 11 – Chicago, IL – Huntington Bank Pavilion
June 12 – Sterling Heights, MI – Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre
June 13-14 – Washington, DC – Warped Tour
June 16 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Paramount
June 17 – New York, NY – The Rooftop at Pier 17
June 19 – Philadelphia, PA – Skyline Stage at the Mann
June 20 – Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall at Fenway
June 22 – Nantucket, MA – The Muse & Pizza Joint
June 24 – Bridgeport, CT – Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater
June 25 – Asbury Park, NJ – Stone Pony Summer Stage
July 3 – Calgary, AB – Spruce Meadows
July 4-5 – Fort McMurray, AB – Hello Summer Festival
July 17 – Bend, OR – Hayden Homes Amphitheater
July 18 – Seattle, WA – WAMU Theater
July 19 – Vancouver, BC – Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre
July 21-22 – Sandy, UT – Sandy Amphitheater
July 24 – Concord, CA – Toyota Pavilion
July 25-26 – Long Beach, CA – Warped Tour
August 14 – Halifax, UK – The Piece Hall
August 15 – Cardiff, UK – Cardiff Castle
August 16 – London, UK – Gunnersbury Park
August 21-22 – Montreal, QC – Warped Tour
August 23 – Toronto, ON – RBC Amphitheatre
September 6 – Phoenix, AZ – Chase Field
September 9 – Austin, TX – Moody Amphitheater
September 10 – Irving, TX – The Pavilion At Toyota Music Factory
September 12-13 – Mexico City, Mexico – Vans Warped Tour
September 17-20 – Louisville, KY – Louder Than Life
September 19 – Atlanta, GA – Shaky Knees
November 12 – Nashville, TN – The Truth Revolution
November 14 – Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
November 14-15 – Orlando, FL – Vans Warped Tour
Beyond 1969 and guitarist Tom “The Suit” Forst have a new album dropping April 24th, and it’s one that arrives with serious credentials behind it. ‘Back To The Blues’ is a ten-song, all-original, live in-studio blues/rock record captured at Connecticut’s Horizon Music Group under producer Vic Steffens. It’s raw, immediate, and built to last.
The lineup is tight and road-tested. Forst, a Blues/Rock Hall of Fame inductee and King Of The Blues finalist, leads the charge on guitar and vocals. Tony Delisio, whose work with the Mighty Soul Drivers kept them at No. 1 on the Roots Music Chart for 16 straight weeks, holds down bass and vocals. Keyboardist Jeff Bousfield and drummer Bryan Caudle round out a band that’s shared stages with Styx, The Marshall Tucker Band, The Edgar Winter Band, and more.
The ten songs on ‘Back To The Blues’ cover the full emotional spectrum of the genre. “Consolation Man,” “Feels So Good To Feel Bad,” “Darkest Before The Dawn,” and “I’m Not Over You Yet” are just a few of the titles that signal exactly what Forst and co-writer Delisio are after. As Forst puts it: “Tony and I wrote these songs about passion, love, loss, lust, loneliness and laughter. Every lyric and note tells a story, one that all humans will relate to.” That’s not a boast. On this record, it holds up.
The blues/rock tradition runs deep in Forst’s story. The late Grammy winner Paul Nelson, a touring member of Johnny Winter’s band, produced a prior Forst album, ‘On Fire’. That lineage is audible throughout ‘Back To The Blues’, a modern blues/rock record that respects its roots while pushing forward. ‘Back To The Blues’ drops April 24th on Amazon, iTunes, and CD Baby.
Courtney Barnett walked into the KEXP studio with Stella Mozgawa on drums and Bones Sloane on bass, and delivered four songs that remind you exactly why she’s one of the most compelling live performers in indie rock today. Hosted by Cheryl Waters, the session pulls from Barnett’s coolest songs including “Stay In Your Lane,” “Mantis,” “Mostly Patient,” and “Sugar Plum” and performed with the kind of loose, locked-in energy that studio recordings rarely capture.
Jon Pardi just dropped the video for “Boots Off,” and it’s exactly the kind of good-time country moment he does better than almost anyone working right now. Directed by Jim Wright and out now via MCA, the clip stars Pardi alongside his wife Summer for a sequin-clad night on the town that ends, predictably and perfectly, with boots on the hotel room floor.
Co-written by Pardi, Luke Laird, and Wyatt McCubbin, “Boots Off” is climbing the Top 30 at radio, and the momentum makes sense. MusicRow called it out for its “rollicking, rump-shaking rhythm, snappy rock-leaning production, and sly, sexy lyric,” and that’s an accurate read. It’s a track that earns its fun without working too hard to convince you of it.
Pardi’s Honkytonk Hollywood Tour 2026 is already rolling, with dates across the US, UK, and Canada running through October. The live show brings fiddle, steel guitar, and a seven-piece backing band to every stop, reinforcing what country audiences already know: this is one of the genre’s most dependable and raucous headliners on any stage, any night.
His fifth studio album ‘Honkytonk Hollywood’ sits behind all of it, a 17-track set that builds on four Top 5 albums, fourteen RIAA-certified singles, six number ones, and 9.3 billion global streams. Pardi’s been at this for over a decade, and “Boots Off” is another strong entry in a catalog that keeps delivering.
Honkytonk Hollywood Tour 2026 Dates:
April 17 – Redding, CA – Redding Civic Auditorium
April 18 – Fresno, CA – Boots In The Park
May 8 – Sacramento, CA – Country In The Park
May 9 – Santa Clarita, CA – Boots In The Park
May 15 – London, ENG, UK – Highways Fest
May 16 – Manchester, ENG, UK – O2 Apollo Manchester
May 19 – Newcastle upon Tyne, ENG, UK – O2 City Hall Newcastle
May 20 – Glasgow, SCT, UK – O2 Academy Glasgow
May 23 – Belfast, NIR, UK – Belfast Waterfront
May 30 – Nashville, TN – Music City Rodeo
June 26 – Ridgedale, MO – Bulls, Bands, & Barrells
June 27 – Nashville, TN – Alan Jackson’s Last Call: One More For The Road – The Finale
July 8 – Cincinnati, OH – Great American Ballpark
July 11 – Calgary, AB, CA – Cowboys Music Festival
July 16 – West Fargo, ND – The Lights
July 17 – Hinckley, MN – Grand Casino Hinckley
July 18 – Minot, ND – North Dakota State Fair
July 31 – Salem, OR – The Pavilion At The Oregon State Fairgrounds
August 1 – Lake Cowichan, BC, CA – Sunset Country Music Festival
Voidmonger isn’t a band so much as a universe. ‘Lies of Aquarius’, the debut concept album from this industrial metal audiovisual project, is out now on all digital platforms and as a limited vinyl edition. It’s the opening chapter of a planned three-part saga, and it arrives fully formed, with crushing riffs, cinematic soundscapes, and a mythology dense enough to get genuinely lost in.
The lore runs deep. At the center of the Voidmonger world is the Juggernaut, a mobile tower-stage of fire and steel. Through it, the Preacher, ambassador of a god-like Creator, delivers judgment on humanity’s failings, flanked by the Mechanic, the Executor, and the Slaves to the Void. It’s sci-fi storytelling with real weight behind it, exploring cosmic justice, the exploitation of faith, and civilizations that collapse under their own moral failures.
Sonically, ‘Lies of Aquarius’ earns every comparison to Mechina, Mick Gordon, and Fear Factory, while carving out space that’s distinctly its own. The album was produced and mixed by Otus Hobst and mastered by Jan Zborovjan, and the craft shows throughout. The industrial architecture is relentless, but it’s the cinematic sweep underneath that makes this one stick.
Voidmonger puts it plainly: “It’s the first step into the Voidmonger universe, where sound, story, and spectacle collide.” On the evidence of ‘Lies of Aquarius’, that universe has a long and compelling run ahead of it.
The video uses AI to interrogate AI itself. Directed by Mads Damsbo of Bacon Lab, the clip pulls back its curtain at the end to reveal a soundstage and crew, then cuts to a blooper reel. The twist: none of those people are real. Every face, every emotional moment, every behind-the-scenes beat is synthetically generated, making the point with chilling precision about where this technology already stands. An exclusive YouTube Afterparty followed the premiere, featuring a 15-minute conversation between González and Damsbo on the making of the video and AI’s role at the intersection of art and science.
González is direct about what the song means. “‘A Perfect Storm’ is about how we ourselves are creating the conditions for a more and more turbulent future,” he says, citing AI researcher Stuart Russell’s image of humanity on a bus headed for a cliff, steering wheel missing, driver blindfolded. The track itself earns that weight, with propulsive fingerpicked guitar building to a distorted, thrilling peak beneath González’s intimate vocal. It’s one of the most gripping performances on an already strong album.
‘Against the Dying of the Light’ spans 13 tracks, drawing from game theory, moral philosophy, and the ethics of modern technology. It’s González’s first collection of original songs in more than four years, and a worthy companion to 2021’s ‘Local Valley’. Highlights include the soulful “You & We,” the Spanish-language “Pajarito” (dedicated to his son Mateo), and the dynamic title track. US dates are underway now, with Toronto-based folk-pop musician Abby Sage supporting throughout. Several dates are already sold out.
Patty Griffin has a summer tour on the books, and it’s a serious one. The two-time Grammy Award winner heads out July 10th with her trio, guitarist David Pulkingham and drummer Michael Longoria, for a run that stretches from Woodstock, NY through New Orleans. The itinerary includes headlining dates, shows with special guest Kathleen Edwards, and a coveted supporting slot with Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit.
The tour travels behind ‘Crown Of Roses’, Griffin’s Grammy-nominated 11th studio album, out now on her own PGM Recordings label via Thirty Tigers. Produced by Craig Ross, the eight-song collection moves through spare folk, gauzy Americana, and gospel blues, drawing equally from Griffin’s adopted Texas and her home state of Maine. It’s among the strongest work of her three-decade career.
The album delivers moments that stay with you. “Born In A Cage” opens atmospherically, “Long Time” features a backing vocal from Robert Plant, and “Way Up To The Sky” lands with spare emotional depth. ‘Crown Of Roses’ continues Griffin’s remarkable ability to turn complex inner lives into songs that feel universal, intimate, and completely her own.
Tickets for all newly announced dates go on sale Friday, April 17th at noon local time. This is a tour worth planning around.
Patty Griffin 2026 Summer Tour Dates:
July 10 – Woodstock, NY @ Bearsville Theater
July 11 – Katonah, NY @ The Venetian Theater at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts
July 12 – Westerly, RI @ United Theatre
July 14 – Brownfield, ME @ Stone Mountain Arts Center
July 15 – Old Saybrook, CT @ The Kate
July 16 – Bethlehem, PA @ Musikfest Cafe
July 17 – Collingswood, NJ @ Scottish Rite Auditorium
July 18 – Lancaster, PA @ American Music Theatre
July 20 – Portsmouth, NH @ Prescott Park Arts Festival
July 21 – Groton, MA @ Groton Hill Music Center
July 22 – Waterville, ME @ Waterville Opera House
July 23 – Bar Harbor, ME @ Criterion Theatre
July 25 – Port Washington, NY @ Landmark on Main Street
July 26 – Hartford, CT @ Infinity Music Hall
July 27 – New York, NY @ Kaufmann Concert Hall
July 28 – Lenox, MA @ Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood
July 29 – Vienna, VA @ Filene Center at Wolf Trap
