The Cure’s Robert Smith Continues His New Part-Time Job as Ticket-Price Enforcement Officer

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor For those without long memories, Everything But the Girl are a British duo that first emerged in the early 1980s as a sort of neo-jazz outfit combining Tracey Thorn’s virtuoso but downcast vocals and Ben Watt’s formidable guitar playing. Over the next 15 years they morphed impressively through different styles — from Smiths-style jangly alt-rock to the slick pop of “The Language of Life” — but with 1994’s “Amplified Heart,” electronics began to enter their latest jazz-trio-ish incarnation. And when house music producer Todd Terry’s dancefloor-driven remix of that album’s “Missing” became a surprise global hit, Watt immediately embraced the then-burgeoning drum n’ bass scene in the U.K. and within months was behind the turntables for nearly all of the group’s live sets. The next two albums, “Walking Wounded” and “Temperamental,” evolved this sound, with beats and atmospheric keyboards creating the backdrop for Thorn’s increasingly soulful singing.

Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band have announced the support acts for their BST Hyde Park shows in London.Announced today (April 20), The Boss shared the three acts that will be joining his band on July 6 and 8.On the first date they will be supported by The Chicks and Frank Turner and his touring band The Sleeping Souls.The Chicks will also return for the second date along with James Bay. The shows are part of Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band’s forthcoming UK tour which also includes shows at BT Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh on May 30 and Villa Park in Birmingham on June 16.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Emmylou Harris, Sheryl Crow, Amy Grant, Kacey Musgraves, Jason Isbell, Maren Morris, Margo Price, Mickey Guyton, Kelsea Ballerini and dozens of other top Nashville musicians are calling for the Tennessee General Assembly to pass “common sense gun safety legislation” before lawmakers end their session a few days from now, according to a report in the Tennessean. (A complete list of signees is below.) The letter calls for extreme risk protection laws and legislation strengthening requirements around secure storage of firearms. The letter was drafted after of the deadly Covenant School shooting last month, in which three adults and three nine-year-old children were killed. It was the 19 th shooting at a school or university in 2023 alone — one of hundreds of mass shootings in a country with a government that, largely due to Republican obstruction, refuses to pass more-thorough gun-control laws.

The Governor is giving The Boss his own day of honors.

Michele Amabile Angermiller The inaugural American Music Honors awards show — a fundraiser for the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University — launched Saturday night without two very important presenters in attendance: Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa. Bob Santelli, the Archives’ executive director, broke the news that the Springsteens were both diagnosed with COVID-19 just hours after Springsteen took a final bow Friday night at the Prudential Center, wrapping the first part of his 2023 tour with the E Street Band. “It broke our hearts around 6 a.m. this morning when I got a call that two of the most important people who were supposed to be here, Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa, unfortunately came down with COVID.”

Bruce Springsteen is set to be held in New Jersey later this year.Governor of Garden State Phil Murphy confirmed Bruce Springsteen Day will be held on September 23 at the inaugural American Music Honors, which were held at the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music last night (April 15).“Bruce Springsteen is one of the most recognisable, iconic and influential musicians – and New Jerseyans – of all time,” said Governor Murphy.“It is important that we recognise Bruce for all he has done and will continue to do, from giving us the gift of his music to lending his time to the causes close to his heart, including making the Archives and Center for American Music a repository that will inspire tomorrow’s songwriters and singers. We thank him for showing the world what it means to live our New Jersey values.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor The Coachella festival probably has more top-shelf musical talent in one place at one time than any other event in the world, and 2023’s day one was no exception: All three Boygeniuses — Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus — joined Muna for an afternoon finale, the two surviving members of De La Soul united with Gorillaz for their 2005 joint hit “Feel Good Inc.,” and Metro Boomin’s hour-long set featured more guests than a DJ Khaled album, with the Weeknd taking the stage for six songs and features from Future, 21 Savage, Diddy, Don Toliver, Mike Dean and more. Less successful was a hotly rumored team-up of main-stage headliner Bad Bunny with Post Malone, which was hobbled by major sound problems — “Something happened to el cabron cable!” Bunny fumed — but his duets with Jowell & Randy and Nengo Flow and Jhay Cortez were more successful (hey, there’s always next weekend). Elsewhere, Kaytranada brought out Kali Uchis and Amine, and the National’s Aaron Dessner joined Taylor Swift at — wait, that was a different concert…

The Anchoress, aka Catherine Anne Davies, has spoken to NME about her new single – a cover of New Order’s ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ – as well as her new album and upcoming Spring tour.Davies has shared a number of covers over the past year as part of ‘Bandcamp Friday’ – with her rendition of New Order’s 1986 the latest in a line of indie classics. She recently received kudos from collaborators Manic Street Preachers for her take on ‘This Is Yesterday’.“Whenever I’ve done covers, the criteria has always been: is this a great song, and is there something new or different I can bring to it?” Davies told NME, having already covered songs by the likes of The Cure, Depeche Mode and Blur.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3, saying it is “about the Guardians saving themselves”.The third film in the series is due out in UK cinemas on May 3, and sees Gunn returning to direct alongside star Chris Pratt.“It is a trilogy,” Gunn told Empire of the series’ overall narrative arc. “The first movie is about the mother, the second movie is about the father and the third movie is about the self.

Lucinda Williams has shared details of a new album and released its first single – listen to new Bruce Springsteen collaboration ‘New York Comeback’ below.The new single, which also features Springsteen’s wife Patti Scialfa on backing vocals, is the first preview of new LP ‘Stories From A Rock n Roll Heart’, which is due out on June 30 via Highway 20 Records/Thirty Tigers.The album comes after Williams had to re-learn to play guitar and to walk again after a severe stroke, while her house in Nashville was also damaged by a hurricane just before the start of the COVID lockdown.On April 25, Williams will also release a new memoir titled Don’t Tell Anybody The Secrets I Told You.‘Stories From A Rock n Roll Heart’ also features contributions from a host of artists including Angel Olsen and Margo Price.See its full tracklist and listen to ‘New York Comeback’ below.Last year, Angel Olsen – one of the new album’s collaborators – shared a cover of Williams‘ track ‘Greenville’ as part of the Amazon Originals series.“There is no one like her out there,” Olsen said of the country folk singer. “It’s clear to me that her songs come from a very real place, and that’s the only kind of writing I like.”Discussing her 2021 stroke in an interview with Rolling Stone, Williams said: “An ambulance came and got me and we told them not to put the big siren on.

Can’t help himself! Matthew Koma has earned a reputation as a troll over the years, getting laughs at the expense of other celebrities.

The Cure have added a handful of new dates to their upcoming tour of North America, bringing their two-month itinerary up to a total of 34 shows.The four new gigs comes as those previously announced in San Diego, Montreal and Atlanta sold out with unprecedented speed; they’ll play second shows in those respective cities on Sunday May 21, Saturday June 17 and Wednesday June 28. The band have also added a night in Portland – where they’ll play at the Moda Centre on Wednesday May 31 – with frontman Robert Smith describing that gig as “an ‘experiment’ to see whether non-transferable tickets are enough protection”. Unlike other dates on the tour, that show will not require a ‘Verified Fan’ code from Ticketmaster to access the public sale. FOURTH EXTRA SHOW WILL BE 31ST MAY PORTLAND MODA CENTER – AS AN ‘EXPERIMENT’ TO SEE WHETHER NON-TRANSFERABLE TICKETS ARE ENOUGH PROTECTION, TICKET PURCHASE WILL NOT REQUIRE TM VF #ShowsOfALostWorld2023 4/5— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) April 5, 2023In other tweets announcing the shows, Smith – who recently expressed his frustration at Ticketmaster’s methods of operating – noted that fans who’d been issued ‘Verified Fan’ codes, but were unsuccessful in purchasing tickets, would have the “first option” to grab seats at these upcoming shows.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched the Season 9, episode 8 of “The Masked Singer,” which aired April 5 on Fox. We’re not gonna take it. No, we ain’t gonna take it. Dee Snider’s not gonna be on “The Masked Singer”… anymore! That’s right, the Twisted Sister frontman was the next celebrity to be revealed on Wednesday’s edition of “The Masked Singer,” as the Doll. Snider had won the previous week as Doll, but his journey ended here. For Doll, no one got it right. Panelist Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg thought it was Iggy Pop. Robin Thicke went with Gene Simmons, Nicole Scherzinger named David Lee Roth and Ken Jeong guessed Austin Butler.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and 13-Time Grammy winner Pharrell Williams will be honored by the Recording Academy at its annual Grammys on the Hill Awards, taking place on April 26. The event is intended to bring together congressional leaders and music makers to recognize those who have led the fight for creators’ rights, and the three will be honored for their contributions to support music creators. Special guests and attendees will be announced in the coming weeks.  “Grammys on the Hill is a celebration like no other, spotlighting music’s unifying power as we bring together our nation’s leaders with some of the most renowned artists in the world,” said Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy. “It’s a privilege to honor Pharrell alongside Senate Majority Leader Schumer and Senator Cassidy, all of whom have fought tirelessly for pro-music policy that protects the creatives that make up our community.”

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor On May 30, Foo Fighters will headline the opening night of a new Washington D.C. venue called the Atlantis, an intimate 450-capacity room opened by independent promoter I.M.P., which also owns and operates area venues the 9:30 Club and the Anthem and operates the Lincoln Theatre and Merriweather Post Pavilion. The venue kicks off the season with a robust opening lineup that includes Maggie Rogers, Parliament Funkadelic, Yo La Tengo, Darius Rucker, Joan Jett, Tove Lo, Jeff Tweedy, Tank and the Bangas, Portugal. The Man, and Billy Idol, among others (full lineup below). The new club was accidentally announced by D.C.-area native Dave Grohl in September of 2021, when Foo Fighters played the re-opening night of the long-running 9:30 Club after months of pandemic shutdown. He said I.M.P. was going to open a new, smaller venue fashioned as a near replica of the original 9:30 Club, where he got his start. He gave no additional details but added, “We’ll probably be the band that opens that place, too, right?”

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.3 has arrived online – featuring the likes of Radiohead, Florence + The Machine, Bruce Springsteen, Beastie Boys and many more. Check it out below.The last in the travel of the sci-fi Marvel franchise is due for cinematic release in May – but fans can check out the latest of the movie series’ now legendary ‘mixtapes’ now.The mixtape opens with an acoustic rendition of Radiohead’s classic ‘Creep’, before rolling through other indie staples including The Flaming Lips‘ ‘Do You Realize??’, ‘This Is The Day’ by The The, and ‘Dog Days Are Over’ by Florence + The Machine – as well as classic rock cuts by the likes of Springsteen, David Bowie, 10CC, Fleetwood Mac, Glen Campbell, and Cheap Trick.Speaking to Rolling Stone, director James Gunn explained how this stripped-down version of Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ sums up the vibe for the film.“It doesn’t start with ‘Mr. Blue Sky’ [like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.

#GotGVol3 soundtrack is now live. Listen to the music before seeing the film in theaters on May 5.

The Cure‘s Robert Smith has confirmed the band have cancelled 7,000 tickets found on secondary resale websites in a bid to tackle touts.As part of the on-sale process for their forthcoming North American tour, the frontman opted out of Ticketmaster’s “platinum” and “dynamically priced” ticket options, and restricted ticket transfers in markets where he was legally allowed to do so in places like New York, Illinois, and Colorado, which have all enacted legislation protecting resellers.Following the band’s move to do this, Smith tonight (March 31) announced: “Approx 7k tickets across approx 2200 orders have been cancelled. These are tickets acquired with fake accounts / listed on secondary resale sites.”‘IHBT’ #? “Approx 7k tickets across approx 2200 orders have been cancelled.

Thania Garcia The Cure‘s Robert Smith continues his long-drawn-out battle against the many monetary hurdles of the ticketing world — this time, he’s taking on secondary resale websites. Just a few weeks ago, Smith was able to secure several refunds from Ticketmaster for fans looking to catch the British band on their forthcoming “Lost World” tour. Now, Smith says they’ve managed to cancel 7,000 scalped tickets and further announced a plan to donate the original fees to the charity Amnesty International. Meanwhile, tickets will be resold to fans. When the tour — the band’s first North American trek in seven years — was first announced on March 9, the Cure opted out of Ticketmaster’s “platinum” and “dynamically priced” ticket options, both of which have infamously been the cause of a massive uptick in ticket prices.

Robert Smith has asked Ticketmaster to explain why tickets in its promised face value ticket exchange are “weird” and “over priced”.The Cure singer and guitarist has taken the ticketing platform to task in recent weeks over its “unduly high” service fees for tickets to his band’s upcoming North American tour. Some fans claimed that Ticketmaster fees, including service fee, facility charge and order processing fee, exceeded the price of the actual tickets.Earlier this month Smith said that he was “sickened” by high Ticketmaster fees after the platform had vowed to the band to keep prices affordable for their fans.Now, some fans have claimed that tickets marked as face value are selling beyond the price of a standard ticket, and Smith has responded to what’s been alleged.