Skepta to launch new house label at KOKO’s first birthday celebrations

Posted on April 1, 2023 by HD Radio Network

Skepta is set to launch a new house music label, hosting a launch party as part of KOKO’s first birthday celebrations.

The legendary Camden venue reopened last year after three years of restoration and redevelopment. It had initially shut in 2019 for a planned one-year refurbishment before a fire broke out in January 2020, while the coronavirus pandemic and “colossal water damage” also held up progress.

To mark the first anniversary of its reopening, KOKO are throwing a number of parties over a weekend in late April, including a launch event for Más Tiempo, Skepta’s new house label.

On April 30, he will be joined at his KOKO show by Benji B, Maximum and Jammer, the latter of whom he has collaborated with on ‘Mass Murder’, the first release on the label.

Others to play KOKO’s first birthday celebrations include a DJ set from Foals and a Next Wave showcase of African talent featuring DJ Simz (both April 28).

Find more details on all the shows below.

It’s our 1st Bday! 🎉 From @arcadefire to #Stormzy and some of the most unforgettable shows in London, it’s been a wild ride. But we’re just getting started! Join us for a weekend of performances w/special guests when we kick of celebrations on April 28th: https://t.co/8yIF5xpKh3 pic.twitter.com/PSwaZaNjzY

— KOKO Culture (@KOKOLondon) March 31, 2023

Arcade Fire played the first gig back at the newly renovated Camden venue on April 29, before Luciano headlined the first KOKO Electronic night the following evening.

Speaking to NME in May, the venue’s head of music Nick Lewis said: “Fans watching a show at KOKO always felt the grandeur of the theatre, but when we re-open I think it’s going to be an even richer experience.”

He continued: “We’ve vastly improved the sound and lighting, added high spec viewing screens on the top floor, put in more bars to get a (good) drink, and with live streaming integrated throughout, we will be producing hybrid events for those who can’t make the gig in-person. But most importantly, I’m proud of our eclectic opening music programme and I hope NME readers approve of it too!”

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Bring Me The Horizon tease new music with launch of YouTube series

Posted on April 1, 2023 by HD Radio Network

Bring Me The Horizon have shared snippets of new music as part of the launch of a new YouTube series.

READ MORE: Bring Me The Horizon: “Headlining Reading & Leeds is amazing. It’s been a crazy journey”

The new series, BMTHS5: Post Human EU, documents the band’s recent European headline tour, which wrapped up in February.

On the first episode, the band hit the road and linked up with Rammstein frontman Till Lindemann in Berlin, who “gave us booze” as the video’s caption reveals.

Included in the video are snippets of new music, though the release of any new music isn’t confirmed yet.

For now, watch the new video and hear the snippets of new music below.

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Last month, Bring Me The Horizon drummer Matt Nicholls said the band are set to release new music “pretty soon”.

The drummer confirmed in a new interview, that BMTH wrote and recorded “a bunch of stuff” during their tour of the US at the end of 2022, and “hopefully” a new single will be arriving in the near future.

The band have been working on new music in a studio built into the back of their tour bus with producer Zakk Cervini (who also produced their last release, 2020’s ‘Post Human: Survival Horror’).

“New songs coming? Yeah,” the drummer told Impericon. “We’re actually working on them at the minute. We’ve got a studio on our bus. We did it in America – we wrote a bunch of stuff, actually, and recorded some stuff in America as well. So hopefully one pretty soon.”

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The Cure’s Robert Smith says the band have cancelled 7,000 tickets on secondary resale websites

Posted on March 31, 2023 by HD Radio Network

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. These are tickets acquired with fake accounts / listed on secondary resale sites. TM have identified specific locations from secondary postings” #ShowsOfALostWorld2023

— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 31, 2023

Earlier today he also warned ticket buyers from attempting to circumvent ticket transfer rules.

“OFFERING TO SELL/SEND ACCOUNT LOGIN DETAILS TO GET AROUND TM TRANSFER LIMITATIONS… ANY/ALL TICKETS OBTAINED IN THIS WAY WILL BE CANCELED, AND ORIGINAL FEES PAID ON THOSE TICKETS WILL NOT BE REFUNDED,” Smith added.

“..ORIGINAL FEES PAID ON THOSE TICKETS WILL BE DONATED TO AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, AND THE TICKETS THEMSELVES WILL BE RESOLD TO FANS.”

1 OF 2
BEWARE ANOTHER SCALPER SCAM: OFFERING TO SELL/SEND ACCOUNT LOGIN DETAILS TO GET AROUND TM TRANSFER LIMITATIONS… ANY/ALL TICKETS OBTAINED IN THIS WAY WILL BE CANCELED, AND ORIGINAL FEES PAID ON THOSE TICKETS WILL NOT BE REFUNDED… #ShowsOfALostWorld23

— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 31, 2023

2 OF 2
…ORIGINAL FEES PAID ON THOSE TICKETS WILL BE DONATED TO @amnesty AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, AND THE TICKETS THEMSELVES WILL BE RESOLD TO FANS #ShowsOfALostWorld23

— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 31, 2023

The Cure singer has taken Ticketmaster 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 persuaded Ticketmaster to issue small refunds to verified ticket buyers over the “unduly high” service fees.

He wrote on Twitter on March 16 following the launch of The Cure’s US tour tickets: “After further conversation, Ticketmaster have agreed with us that many of the fees being charged are unduly high, and as a gesture of goodwill have offered a $10 per ticket refund to all verified fan accounts for Lowest Ticket Price (‘LTP’) transactions.”

The band announced a 30-date tour across the US, which is set to kick off at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on May 10 before closing out at the Miami-Dade Arena in Florida on July 1, earlier this month.

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Taylor Swift has street re-named after her ahead of Arlington shows

Posted on March 31, 2023 by HD Radio Network

Taylor Swift has had a street re-named after her ahead of her shows which kick off in Arlington tonight (March 31).

The singer-songwriter is set to perform three concerts in a row at the AT&T Stadium in the Texas city as part of her North American ‘Eras Tour’.

To celebrate her arrival “Taylor Swift Way” has temporarily replaced Random Mill Road and the city is set to light up its four story steel sculptures in front of city hall red from today through to Sunday (April 2).

Swift will also be presented with a key to the city by Mayor Jim Ross.

Arlington Government says that they are participating in a friendly competition with other U.S. cities in hosting Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour

“Arlington is participating in a friendly competition with other U.S. cities hosting The Eras Tour to demonstrate its “Reputation” as.. pic.twitter.com/1zXGd7dzAs

— The Swift Empire (@theswiftmpire) March 31, 2023

A statement released by the local government, with plenty of word play on Swift’s songs, said: “Arlington is ‘Enchanted’ to welcome Taylor Swift back to AT&T Stadium for The Eras Tour this weekend and has put together some fun ways for our Swifties to celebrate the singer’s fifth visit to The American Dream City.

“‘Long Story Short’, Arlington knows the tens of thousands of fans heading to the Entertainment District this weekend will have ‘The Best Day’ ever while attending The Eras Tour in The American Dream City.”

It comes following an eventful tour which has already seen Swift responding to a letter from a seven-year-old fan in the audience, dedicating ‘Our Song’ to support act Beabadoobee, and giving a shout-out to Lana Del Rey before giving their collaboration ‘Snow On The Beach’ its live debut.

A couple even got married mid-show at the second gig in Glendale, Arizona while the singer-songwriter also quietly made “generous” donations to local food banks in the cities where she performed as part of her ‘Eras Tour’.

Arlington acknowledged some of the gestures to the singer in other cities by stating: “Arlington is participating in a friendly competition with other U.S. cities hosting The Eras Tour to demonstrate its ‘Reputation’ as one of Swift’s biggest fans. We don’t have any ‘Bad Blood’ with Las Vegas, which recently lit its Gateway Arches in colors that correspond with Swift’s various musical eras, but never in our ‘Wildest Dreams’ would we go so far as to ‘Change’ Arlington’s name as our friends in Glendale, Ariz., did when it rebranded as Swift City.”

The shows have seen the singer treat fans to a 44-track, career-spanning set that lasts over three hours.

Each night, the concert has incorporated a different “surprise acoustic song” or two. Among the rarities to have been aired so far are ‘Mirrorball’, ‘This Is Me Trying’, State Of Grace’ and ‘Cowboy Like Me’ (featuring special guest Marcus Mumford).

Earlier today, Swift also shared an acoustic version of her recent single ‘Lavender Haze’.

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Three men arrested over Tekashi 6ix9ine assault in Florida gym

Posted on March 31, 2023 by HD Radio Network

Three men have been arrested in connection with an alleged assault on Tekashi 6ix9ine at a South Florida gym earlier this month.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office claims Rafael Medina Jr., 43, Octavious Medina, 23, and Anthony Maldonado, 25, assaulted and robbed the rapper at about 8.45pm local time on March 21 at Lake Worth’s L.A. Fitness, according to The Associated Press.

The assault left the rapper, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, with several injuries to his face and bruising from the incident, his lawyer Lance Lazzaro previously said.

“Employees heard the disturbance and the perpetrators fled,” Lazzaro added at the time. “Police in South Florida were called and he was transported via ambulance to a local hospital.”

Tekashi 6ix9ine CREDIT: Johnny Nunez/Getty Images

He was taken to a hospital but his injuries were not considered life-threatening, officials added. The three suspects were arrested in connection with the assault last night (March 30).

Video footage of the alleged attack has since emerged online.

The alleged assault comes after 6ix9ine was previously convicted after pleading guilty to his involvement with the Nine Trey Bloods gang, which included charges ranging from drug trafficking to firearm offences. In December 2019 he was sentenced to 24 months in prison but served a few months after a judge granted him a motion for compassionate release over his COVID health risks.

Hernandez’s lawyer said at the time that he planned to ensure that the rapper got some protection after he was released from federal prison in April 2020.

Meanwhile, in the last year Hernandez has released new music including ‘GINÉ’ and ‘ZAZA‘.

Both tracks followed his 2021 releases ‘Gooba’,‘Trollz’,‘Yaya’ and ‘Punani’, which all appeared on his second album ‘TattleTales’ .

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