Beyoncé Flash-Released New Album, Lemonade, on April 23

BEYONCE CONCERT IN CENTRAL PARK 2011 Good Morning America's Summer Concert Series - Central Park, Manhattan NYC - 070111
By Asterio Tecson [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Pop singer Beyoncé flash-released her new album, Lemonade, on the evening of Saturday, April 23. The album explores discord in her relationship with husband Jay Z, a variety of feelings, female solidarity, and reconciliation.

Lemonade was released right after HBO aired the one-hour “visual album” version. The video combined the songs with poetry written by Somali-British author Warsan Shire, images of women and families, and Beyoncé in both glamorous and unglamorous outfits and poses. She also released a full-length video to accompany her album Beyoncé, which was released in 2013.

Beyoncé was able to release a streamed album and be guaranteed an audience because of her superstar status. She was not constrained by the traditional demands of producing an album intended for radio. Fans can stream the entire album at once, rather than being introduced to it by one single.

The album showcases Beyoncé’s versatility. It includes a brass band, blues-rock, and R&B. Beyoncé collaborated with a series of other artists on Lemonade, including the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Father John Misty, Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend, Animal Collective, Jack White, and James Blake. Beyoncé’s single “Formation” is the last song on Lemonade, but it is not in the extended video. On “Freedom,” Beyoncé mixes preaching, a prison song, a rap, and 1960s fuzz-tone psychedelia.

Even though the album addresses problems in her marriage, it is by no means an indication that Beyoncé and Jay Z are heading for divorce. The album lists the singer, songwriter, and director as Beyoncé Knowles Carter. Additionally, the songs on Lemonade ultimately trend toward reconciliation between Beyoncé and Jay Z.

The title of the album comes from a comment made by Jay Z’s grandmother at her 90th birthday party. She said she was served lemons but made lemonade. buyTickets.com has tickets to see Beyoncé perform at upcoming concerts on her Formation World Tour. You can watch her perform new songs from Lemonade, as well as many other hits. Order your tickets today.

Axl Rose Sings with Broken Foot on Dave Grohl’s Throne

Axl rose 2010 concert
By andres fernando allain (Author) [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose did not let a broken foot stop him from performing with his band on their reunion tour at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on April 8. He sat on the rock ‘n roll throne that Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl sat on during concerts when he was recovering from a broken leg.

The throne is decorated with guitar necks and stage lights and has a stirrup that allowed Rose to elevate his injured foot. Rose thanked Grohl for his generosity in loaning him the throne so he could perform.

Rose fractured the fifth metatarsal bone in his foot when he was performing a warm-up concert at the Troubadour in Los Angeles recently. He had to have surgery to have a metal plate inserted to reinforce the bone. Rose will be unable to put weight on his foot for a month.

Guns N’ Roses reunited for their first arena show in 23 years on April 8. During the show, Rose sometimes tapped his good foot to the music, but he was forced to remain seated and could not do any of the dancing for which he is known. Being forced to remain seated during the concert did seem to have one positive effect: it allowed Rose to focus exclusively on his vocal performance.

The Las Vegas set list contained songs from throughout Guns N’ Roses’ career, beginning and ending with their 1987 debut album, Appetite for Destruction. The band performed “It’s So Easy,” “Paradise City,” “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” and several other hits.

Foo Fighters Fenway Park 2015
By Danazar (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
The group performing included original members Rose, guitarist Slash, and bassist Duff McKagan. Rose had said for decades that he was completely opposed to the idea of performing with his former Guns N’ Roses bandmates, but they worked out their differences and decided to reunite. The rest of the lineup for the “Not in This Lifetime” tour includes guitarist Richard Fortus, drummer Frank Ferrer, keyboardist Dizzy Reed, and new keyboardist Melissa Reese.

Rose’s doctors expect his foot to be healed in time for stadium dates this summer, but he will still need to be seated for performances at Coachella and in Mexico City later this month. buyTickets.com has tickets to performances by Guns N’ Roses, as well as many other musical acts and sporting events.

Artists to Be Inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame April 8

A new set of artists will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Friday, April 8. The inductees will include Deep Purple, N.W.A, Cheap Trick, Steve Miller, and Chicago. The induction ceremony will be shown on HBO later this month.

Deep Purple

Deep Purple was an early heavy metal and hard rock band formed in Hertford, England in 1968. They were originally a progressive rock band, but their sound became heavier in the 1970s. They have sold over 100 million albums around the world. Deep Purple released their most recent album, Now What?! in 2013. It was their first studio album in over seven years. The band has some dates scheduled in Europe this summer.

N.W.A.

N.W.A was a hip hop group from Compton, California. They were one of the earliest groups to produce gangsta rap and West Coast hip hop. N.W.A was active from 1986 to 1991 and sold over 10 million albums. Their music was controversial because of lyrics about police, women, and drugs. Former members Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and MC Ren went on to become platinum-selling solo artists. The group was the subject of a film called “Straight Outta Compton” that was released in 2015.

Cheap-trick
By Nick Ares [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Cheap Trick

Cheap Trick is an American rock band formed in Rockford, Illinois in 1973. They have released 17 studio albums, including their most recent, Bang, Zoom, Crazy…Hello, which came out on April 1, 2016. Cheap Trick is known for touring almost continuously for 40 years and for their use of unusual and vintage instruments in their performances. Cheap Trick is currently touring in North America.

Steve Miller

Steve Miller is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He started out in blues and blues rock, but his style evolved to more of a pop sound from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. He released several albums with the Steve Miller Band, which was formed in 1966. The band toured with Journey in 2014. The Steve Miller band is currently touring across the United States.

Chicago

Chicago is an American rock band named after the city where the group was formed in 1967. They produced several hits in the 1970s and 1980s and became one of the longest-running and most successful rock groups. They have sold over 100 million albums worldwide and have had five number-one albums and 21 singles in the top 10. Chicago currently has concerts scheduled across the United States and Canada.

buyTickets.com has tickets to concerts featuring Deep Purple, Cheap Trick, the Steve Miller Band, and Chicago. You can order tickets online to see these newest members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Iha & Smashing Pumpkins Together Again for Two Performances

James Iha
Tiffany Bauer [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Guitarist James Iha joined his former bandmates Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin of The Smashing Pumpkins for the first time in 16 years when they performed together at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles on the evening of Saturday, March 26. The performance came as a surprise to members of the audience.

The reunited band played several tracks off their 1993 LP Siamese Dream, which sold 10 million copies worldwide. The set list included:

• “Mayonaise”
• “Soma”
• “Rocket”
• “Today”
• “Disarm”
• “Spaceboy”
• “Whir”

The Smashing Pumpkins led the crowd in a rendition of “Happy Birthday” for Iha. March 26 was his 48th birthday.

Iha joined Corgan and Chamberlin again for another performance at the Ace Hotel on Sunday, March 27. Iha performed on seven tracks halfway through the show. Iha and guitarist Jeff Schroeder took turns playing lead guitar on “Today.” The encore at the second show included a cover of the ballad “Angie,” which was written by the Rolling Stones.

Siamese Dream was The Smashing Pumpkins’ second studio album. It received generally positive reviews and solidified their reputation as an important band in the alternative music genre. Their 1995 double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness debuted at Number One on the Billboard 200 charts. The band has sold over 20 million albums in the United States.

Iha left the Smashing Pumpkins when the band broke up for the first time in 2000. The group reformed with several other members, but Iha never resumed his role as guitarist. Relations between the former bandmates seemed to improve earlier this month when they issued a joint written threat to sue the person or persons responsible for leaking some of the band’s early demos.

Corgan said in an interview with Consequences of Sound published on January 7, 2016 that he would like to make peace with former members of the band. He also said that he was not interested in a reunion involving the original members of the Smashing Pumpkins.

The Smashing Pumpkins are currently performing dates on their In Plainsong tour across the United States. You can attend an upcoming performance with tickets from buyTickets.com.

Kanye’s Post-Release Updates to Life of Pablo

Kanye West Lollapalooza Chile 2011 2
By rodrigoferrari (Kanye West 05) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Kanye West released his most recent album, The Life of Pablo, on February 14, but he still has not finished it. West has been revising lyrics, changing the song order, and adding and removing tracks. He plans to continue making changes indefinitely.

This is possible because West’s music was released through a streaming service, rather than as a finished CD. The Life of Pablo is available exclusively from Tidal. Right after he released the single “No More Parties in L.A.” in January, West uploaded a new version. He updated one track, “Wolves,” and added a new track on March 15. West has said that the album will never be sold anywhere except Tidal. Since he does not plan to release a definitive CD version, the album may never be finished.

West’s practice of reworking songs and releasing updated versions is similar to the way developers patch their software. Software as a service (SaaS) is a model in which software is sold on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. The Life of Pablo is called a minimum viable product. That is a product that is released and can be continuously improved in response to customer feedback.

This principle is used in cloud computing and with many versions of software. The model is used for numerous business applications, games, content management, and antivirus products. The Life of Pablo is the first SaaS album.

By making changes to his album after it was released, West is turning an album from a product into a service. This allows subscribers to follow his creative process.

Streaming and continuously updating music can be beneficial to artists. It can frustrate music pirates because there may never be a definitive completed version of an album for them to sell. It can enable artists to respond to feedback from fans and make adjustments and improvements. Having music that changes often could also help streaming services become more viable because they could offer something that a CD or download cannot.

It is unclear how changing songs after an album is released might affect performances when artists go on tour. An audience in one location might hear the most recent version of a song one night, and a different audience could hear a different version the next night if the artist decides to make changes. Some artists have traditionally played live versions of songs that differ from studio versions. That practice could become more common now that artists can change their music at any time.

Kanye West will be performing at the Governors Ball Music Festival on Randall’s Island in New York from June 3 to 5. buyTickets.com sells tickets to concerts, sporting events, and theater performances.

Rolling Stones to Play Free Concert in Cuba March 25

Rolling Stones to Play Free Concert in Cuba March 25

Rolling Stones - buyTickets.comThe Rolling Stones, who are currently on tour in Latin America, have added a stop in Cuba. The band will play a free show they are calling the Concert for Amity at the Ciudad Deportiva de la Habana in the capital of Havana on March 25.

The concert will be historic because it will be the first time a British rock band has performed in Cuba. The Rolling Stones said in a joint statement on their website, www.rollingstones.com, that the concert will be a “landmark event” for them. The Rolling Stones have been planning the show for several months. They are planning to play classic hits and “special gems” for the audience, the statement said.

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