Sting, Norah Jones, Trey Anastasio, More to Perform at Summerstage Benefit Thursday

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn a week when nearly everything you read makes you wince, duck or want to run, here’s a bunch of songs that both reflect and offer refuge from the trainwreck of 2020.Two songs that reflect this reality have already been covered in Variety’s virtual pages this week: Maren Morris’ brave and conscience-tugging “Better Than We Found It,” a clear call from a new mom to take this moment to reflect on the decisions we’re making today and what they’ll mean for future

Night 4 of “BTS Week” went off in style.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMariah Carey has always been about control: over her career, sure, but also over her extraordinary voice, which is her greatest asset as a performer. And that voice is in full bloom on “The Rarities,” her new compilation of previously unreleased and low-profile B-sides.Although releasing an album of rarities and outtakes can be like sharing baby pictures with the world, based on the evidence presented here, Mariah never really had much of an awkward stage.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorTrey Anastasio and MSG Entertainment have announced “The Beacon Jams,” an eight-week virtual residency to be streamed for free exclusively on Twitch, live from New York City’s historic Beacon Theatre every Friday at 8 p.m.

BTS Week are continuing in style.

BTS‘ week-long residency on The Tonight Show (September 29), the K-pop superstars offered up a unique performance of their 2019 EP ‘Map of the Soul: Persona’ cut, ‘Home’.BTS are the focus of the Jimmy Fallon-hosted show all this week, and their appearance on Tuesday September 29 saw BTS take a more homely approach to their performance, delivering this portion of their residency from overseas as opposed to in-house.Watch BTS perform ‘Home’ below:‘Home’ follows on from BTS’ explosive performances

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe pandemic has wreaked havoc on nearly every corner of the music industry, but along with musicians, independent venues are certainly among the hardest hit — a recent survey by the National Independent Venues Association says that 90% of such venues are in danger of closing permanently if they do not receive federal aid.While there’s a $10 billion “Save Our Stages” aid package slowly working its way through an apparently frozen Congress, one of the many things

first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden. In addition to celebrities reacting on social media to the widely panned shouting match between the two candidates, many late night hosts also gave their live reactions to televised event. Jimmy Fallon addressed his audience with a heavy sigh, saying, «Man what the hell was that? Was that a debate? I am so… what was it? I am so stressed right now.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIt’s an early step, but it’s a step forward nonetheless: On Monday an updated Heroes Act, which includes provisions of the $10 billion bipartisan Save Our Stages  Act designed to provide financial assistance to independent music and live-entertainment venues across the U.S., was introduced in the House of Representatives.Independent venues have been devastated financially by the pandemic; according to a poll taken by the 2,600-member National Independent Venues

Sting has announced the release of his upcoming album set for a Christmas date, revealing details of his new musical project during his recent appearance on the popular late night NBC show hosted by Jimmy Fallon. The 68-year-old rock legend is releasing a collection of duets that have been recorded over time with other iconic musicians like Eric Clapton and Herbie Hancock.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLil Yachty was arrested and charged with driving more than 150 mph down an Atlanta interstate, according to the city’s WSB-TV.Yachty (real name: Miles McCollum), was pulled over on Sept. 21 on the Downtown Connector near University Avenue in Atlanta.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOn a week like this, with a crushing onslaught of strong contenders for the coveted Fri 5, your faithful reviewer feels like an “American Idol” judge, with a whole load of self-imposed rules about what constitutes a great single (as opposed to a great song), trying to disregard considerations like how popular an artist is or isn’t, which record label it’s on, etc. Like…“The new Lil Wayne song ‘Life of Mr.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSuperstar DJ Tiesto, alt-rock group Fitz & the Tantrums, bluegrass artist Billy Strings and funk-jam band Lotus will perform concerts from Red Rocks Amphitheater that will be livestreamed in 4K via Nugs.net, from Thursday to Sunday this week.There will be an “extremely limited number” of in-person tickets made available for purchase via axs.com and redrocksonline.com and in strict accordance with venue and local government safety guidelines, according to the

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLike everyone else, BTS and NPR have been forced to pivot during the pandemic — and for their first performance on NPR’s “Tiny Desk” concert series, the K-pop superstars performed from the record store VINYL & PLASTIC in BTS’s hometown of Seoul.The group drew more than half a million viewers for the premiere of the concert, which saw them tearing through three songs accompanied by a live band, including their current hit single “Dynamite.” The group also performed

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBTS and NPR announced on Sunday that the K-pop titans will be performing on NPR’s “Tiny Desk” concert series on Monday, Sept. 20 at 9 a.m.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSO. MANY.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorNew York City venue (Le) Poisson Rouge is launching LPR.tv, a subscription-based service through which they will livestream concerts held in their downtown venue (without an audience) in high-definition video with full production and soundboard audio.The venue has booked an impressive array of indie-leaning artists for LPR.tv’s inaugural lineup, including Cults, Kimbra, Sunflower Bean, !!! (Chk Chk Chk), San Fermin,  Kevin Devine, Son Little, Laraaji, Too Many

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorUPDATED: Kanye West launched a new social-media campaign to gain control of the rights to his recorded music and publishing on Monday night, claiming “I’m not putting no more music out till I’m done with my contract[s]” with his record company, Universal Music Group, and his publisher, Sony/ATV Music Publishing.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJ Balvin, Ellie Goulding, FKA twigs, Grimes, Matt Healy from the 1975 and Chaeyoung from Twice are all starring in the new season of Google Arts & Culture’s Art Zoom series, which takes viewers on a guided tour of some of the world’s most famous masterpieces through the narration of famous musicians.Through Google’s “gigapixel” Art Camera — a robotic camera custom-made to create the highest possible resolution images of paintings — users can zoom into an artwork at

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSiriusXM today announced that Chief Executive Officer Jim Meyer intends to retire on December 31, 2020.Upon his retirement, Jennifer C. Witz, President of Sales, Marketing and Operations, will become the Company’s new CEO.Gregory B.