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Enuff Z’Nuff Founder Donnie Vie Drops Hook-Driven New Single “Plain Jane” on Wicked Cool Records

Eric Alper
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Enuff Z’Nuff Founder Donnie Vie Drops Hook-Driven New Single “Plain Jane” on Wicked Cool Records

Donnie Vie is back with “Plain Jane,” a hook-driven new single released on limited-edition 7-inch vinyl and digital platforms through his new deal with Wicked Cool Records. The original Enuff Z’Nuff frontman hasn’t lost a step, and this single lands with the melodic grit and vocal character that has defined his work for decades.

The release comes with a B-side that earns its place: a cover of John Lennon’s “Instant Karma,” delivering attitude and energy to match the A-side’s pop craftsmanship. Together the two tracks capture both sides of what Vie does best, heartfelt melodic songwriting and raw rock ‘n’ roll directness, in a tight, satisfying package.

“Plain Jane” is out now on limited-edition 7-inch vinyl and across all platforms.

Mac DeMarco Takes ‘Guitar’ to the Hollywood Bowl This October

Eric Alper
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Mac DeMarco Takes ‘Guitar’ to the Hollywood Bowl This October

Mac DeMarco is headlining the Hollywood Bowl on Friday, October 9, and the show is built around his 2025 album ‘Guitar,’ a record that marks a deliberate return to his signature guitar-and-vocals style. For a self-produced multi-instrumentalist who has spent over a decade cultivating one of indie music’s most devoted global fanbases, a Hollywood Bowl headline is a genuine milestone.

‘Guitar’ is DeMarco at his most direct. “I think Guitar is as close to a true representation of where I’m at in my life today as I can manage to put to paper,” he shares. “I’m happy to share this music and look forward to playing these songs in as many places as I’m able.” The October 9 show promises material from the new album alongside a catalog that stretches back through ‘Salad Days,’ the 2014 record that cemented his place in the indie world.

His 2025 North American, European, and UK tour sold out entirely, which makes this Hollywood Bowl date one of the hotter tickets of the fall season. Tickets are on sale now.

The Flaming Lips and The Beta Band Are Co-Headlining Dreamland Margate This July in a Rare Double Bill

Eric Alper
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The Flaming Lips and The Beta Band Are Co-Headlining Dreamland Margate This July in a Rare Double Bill

Two of alternative music’s most distinctive and enduring acts are sharing a stage this summer, and the setting couldn’t be more fitting. The Flaming Lips and The Beta Band are co-headlining the Scenic Stage at Dreamland Margate on Saturday, July 18, a rare outdoor UK performance from both acts and one of the more genuinely exciting double bills of the summer season.

The Flaming Lips need little introduction. Formed in Oklahoma City in 1983, the band has spent over four decades pushing alternative rock into places no one else dared to go. Multiple Grammy Awards, a Tony nomination, a gold-certified album in ‘Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots,’ and a live show reputation that borders on theatrical spectacle, they remain one of the most creatively alive forces in contemporary music.

The Beta Band brings equal weight to the bill. Formed in 1996, the Scottish group built a devoted following through three albums, ‘The Beta Band,’ ‘Hot Shots II,’ and ‘Heroes To Zeroes,’ that blended indie rock, folk, electronica, and psychedelia into something entirely their own. Their recent reunion shows have reminded anyone paying attention exactly why they matter.

Dreamland Margate, the historic seaside amusement park on the Kent coast less than 90 minutes from central London, continues to cement its reputation as one of the UK’s most distinctive live music destinations. Festival-style atmosphere, vintage rides, street food, and now this.

Frontiers Rock Festival 2026 Reveals Full Lineup With Nelson, Confess, Atlantic, Frontline, and It’salie

Eric Alper
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Frontiers Rock Festival 2026 Reveals Full Lineup With Nelson, Confess, Atlantic, Frontline, and It’salie

Frontiers Rock Festival 2026 has its full lineup locked in, and it’s a deep, genre-spanning bill for anyone who lives and breathes melodic hard rock and AOR. The three-day event runs May 1, 2, and 3 at the Live Club in Trezzo sull’Adda outside Milan, Italy, with 21 acts confirmed across the weekend. The five final additions, Nelson, Frontline, Confess, Atlantic, and It’salie, round out a lineup that already includes the reunited original lineup of Giant.

Nelson brings genuine star power to the bill. Matthew and Gunnar Nelson topped the Billboard Hot 100 with “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection,” moved over 6.5 million albums worldwide, and racked up five Top 40 singles and five number one MTV videos. Their multi-platinum debut ‘After The Rain’ remains one of the defining records of the early ’90s rock era.

German AOR veterans Frontline are making a serious return. Founded in 1989 in Nuremberg, the band built an international reputation for catchy melodies and precise musicianship, with their 1994 debut ‘The State Of Rock’ regarded as a genre milestone. They’re coming to Milan with a new studio album planned for 2026, making this appearance a genuine event for longtime fans.

Swedish sleaze-metal outfit Confess arrive fronted by John Elliot, whose credentials include a run with the legendary Crashdiet. Their new album ‘Metalmorphosis’ arrives in May, giving the festival set an immediate shot of new material alongside the catalog. British melodic rockers Atlantic, built around guitarist and songwriter Simon Harrison and vocalist Mark Grimmett, bring their 2024 album ‘Another World’ to the Italian stage alongside a new record currently in progress. Rounding out the additions is It’salie, the project led by vocalist Giorgia Colleluori, with a highly anticipated third album coming later this year.

Boyz II Men Are Headlining The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan Again This August for Four Nights Only

Eric Alper
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Boyz II Men Are Headlining The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan Again This August for Four Nights Only

Boyz II Men are returning to The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas for the third consecutive year, with four nights locked in on August 14, 15, 21, and 22. For a group that has sold 64 million albums and holds the title of best-selling R&B group of all time, a Las Vegas residency feels like a natural fit, and the demand clearly hasn’t cooled.

The four-time Grammy winners are having one of the busier stretches of their career. They’re part of the massive New Edition Way Tour alongside Toni Braxton, a biopic and documentary are in the works, and they recently recorded the opening serenade and closing credits for the latest season of The Simpsons. They also contributed a feature for Disneyland’s 70th anniversary. The group’s cultural footprint in 2026 is substantial, and these Chelsea dates sit right in the middle of it all.

Four nights, one of Las Vegas’s premier intimate venues, and a catalog that includes some of the most enduring R&B recordings ever committed to tape. Tickets are on sale now.

Wyoming Country Hitmaker Ian Munsick Expands the “Eagle Flies Free Tour” With Ten New Dates Through Summer

Eric Alper
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Wyoming Country Hitmaker Ian Munsick Expands the “Eagle Flies Free Tour” With Ten New Dates Through Summer

Ian Munsick has added ten new dates to the “Eagle Flies Free Tour,” stretching the run deep into summer 2026 with Kenny Whitmire joining as support on the newly added stops. The Wyoming native is firmly in motion, building on his third studio album ‘Eagle Feather’ with a touring schedule that keeps growing and a Red Rocks headline date on August 25 waiting at the finish line, his first appearance back at the venue since selling it out in 2024.

The expanded tour is already well underway, covering serious ground across the country with Ernest, Lanie Gardner, Ben Haggard, Ned LeDoux, Tyler Nance, and Jake Worthington joining on select dates. The setlist draws from ‘Eagle Feather,’ and Munsick is also teasing new music ahead, having debuted the official video for “Geronimo,” his first release under West to the Rest Records/Triple Tigers, earlier this year. Directed by Ben Christensen and shot in Wyoming by Isaac Spotts, the video signals a new chapter worth paying attention to.

The remaining dates cover the Southeast, Midwest, and beyond before that Red Rocks finale. Tickets are on sale now.

“Eagle Flies Free Tour” Upcoming Dates:

April 25 — Marietta, OH @ Peoples Bank Arena

May 22 — Isle of Palms, SC @ The Wind Jammer

May 23 — Pelham, TN @ The Caverns

May 30 — Cocoa, FL @ Cocoa Riverfront Park Amphitheater

June 5 — Louisville, KY @ Fourth Street Live

June 27 — Libby, MT @ Happys Inn

August 25 — Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Kirk Franklin, Andra Day, Mannie Fresh, and More Headline New Orleans’ Inaugural FamiLee Day This May

Eric Alper
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Kirk Franklin, Andra Day, Mannie Fresh, and More Headline New Orleans’ Inaugural FamiLee Day This May

New Orleans is getting a brand new festival, and the inaugural FamiLee Day is built around something the city already does better than anywhere else: food, music, and community. Set for May 16 at UNO Lakefront, the single-day event is a joint venture from Live Nation Urban, influencer and food critic Keith Lee, and Morrow Hospitality, and the lineup they’ve assembled for the first edition is no small statement.

Kirk Franklin headlines, with Andra Day, Mannie Fresh, Tobe Nwigwe, and La Reezy also on the bill alongside Subtweet Shawn, DJ RBD, Rude Jude, Ha Sizzle, DJ Keith Scott, Neace Robinson, DJ Arie Spins, Shamar, and more. NAACP Image Award-winning comedian Kevin “KevOnStage” Fredericks hosts the event, keeping the energy moving between sets.

The festival’s roots are personal. Keith Lee has made no secret of his love for New Orleans, its culture, its resilience, and especially its food scene. FamiLee Day translates that admiration into something tangible, centering independently owned restaurants in a curated food village that includes Thistle & Rye, Velvet Grain, Salt + Sage, Iron Kettle, Copper Root, and more. Beyond the music and food, the event features carnival rides and a family obstacle course, making it a genuine all-ages experience.

FamiLee Day is built to give back to a city that gives a lot. Tickets are on sale now.

Ingrid Andress Channels Hard-Won Self-Discovery Into Powerful New Single “Now I Know”

Eric Alper
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Ingrid Andress Channels Hard-Won Self-Discovery Into Powerful New Single “Now I Know”

Ingrid Andress doesn’t write around the truth. “Now I Know” is out now, a deeply personal new single co-written with longtime collaborators Derrick Southerland and Sam Ellis, and co-produced with Ellis, that chronicles the journey from naive love to hard-earned self-awareness. Released on the eve of Valentine’s Day, the timing is pointed and the message is clear.

The song isn’t about heartbreak for its own sake. It’s about what comes after, the moment you realize the most important relationship you can repair is the one with yourself. Andress writes from that place with the kind of unflinching honesty that has defined her career from the start.

“I wrote ‘Now I Know’ to encourage myself and others to face and let go of the things that no longer serve us,” she shares, “because we are capable of having the happiness we’ve imagined for ourselves.”

The single arrives as Andress puts finishing touches on her third studio album, the follow-up to ‘Good Person’ and her landmark debut ‘Lady Like,’ which set the record as the highest-streaming country female debut album of all time. ‘Good Person’ featured her Grammy-nominated, platinum-certified number one “Wishful Drinking” with Sam Hunt, and “More Hearts Than Mine” made history as the only debut single from a solo female artist to crack the Top 20 on country radio in 2019.

“Now I Know” is out now, and more music from Andress is on the way throughout the year.

Alcalá Norte Delivered a Stunning Live on KEXP Set at Bilbao’s Iglesia de la Encarnación

Eric Alper
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Alcalá Norte Delivered a Stunning Live on KEXP Set at Bilbao’s Iglesia de la Encarnación

Alcalá Norte brought their full six-piece presence to Bilbao’s Iglesia de la Encarnación for a Live on KEXP session recorded in partnership with BIME, and the setting couldn’t be more fitting. The Spanish outfit moved through five tracks including “La Sangre del Pobre,” “420N,” “La Calle Elfo,” “Westminster,” and “La Vida Cañón,” with Álvaro Rivas on vocals, Jaime Barbosa on drums, Carlos Elías and René del Hoyo on guitars, Pablo Prieto on bass, and Laura de Diego on keys delivering a performance that showcases exactly why this band commands attention. Intimate, precise, and loaded with atmosphere, it’s the kind of session KEXP does better than anyone.

Las Vegas Producer-Turned-Artist Sylvaner Goes Deep and Dance-Floor Ready on New Single “Plastic Love”

Eric Alper
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Las Vegas Producer-Turned-Artist Sylvaner Goes Deep and Dance-Floor Ready on New Single “Plastic Love”

Sylvaner grew up inside music. His father ran several record stores, and whatever vinyl passed through the house became the soundtrack to his childhood. That immersion eventually pulled him from engineering other artists’ records into building a sound entirely his own, and “Plastic Love” is the most fully realized version of that sound yet.

The new single started as a brooding, Chicago house-inspired demo, something Sylvaner describes as sounding “like you were in the bathroom while the club was going on outside.” After completing most of his album, he recognized there was nothing to move to, and rebuilt the track from the inside out. The result is a steady-beat, groove-driven piece layered with ethereal vocals and textural synths that pulls in two directions at once, desire and emotional absence held in deliberate tension.

The lyrical thesis is direct. “I need a plastic love is the thesis of the lyrical content,” he explains. “It came from a place where I didn’t want to settle with someone, but I still wanted my fun. I knew I wasn’t alone in feeling that, especially growing up in Las Vegas. But I also acknowledge the sacrifice and the emptiness in that choice.”

“Plastic Love” follows his debut single “Pentimento,” a soulful, minimalist self-produced introduction that established his emotional instincts and meticulous studio craft. This new track expands the picture considerably, revealing an artist willing to pivot hard and lean into contradiction. It’s made for the dance floor and built to linger well after the night ends.

Sylvaner is one to watch, and “Plastic Love” is out now.

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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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