Event News - Latest News On Concert, Sports, & Theater Events

The upcoming PGA Championship golf tournament, being played from August 7-10 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, has run into ticketing errors. A system glitch caused hundreds and possibly thousands of additional tickets to be printed and shipped out, which have since been marked as void. The PGA has contacted ticket holders and will be supplying them with postage paid, SASE’s to return any additional tickets they received.

If the tickets have already been invalidated, I don’t entirely understand the point of going to the trouble of getting them all back, but what do I know about ticket issuing procedures (the answer is not a lot)?
The PGA is lucky that anyone is buying tickets, consider world number 1 and defending champion Tiger Woods will be forced to miss the tournament, as he continues to recover from knee surgery for the remainder of 2008. This will leave the likes of Lucas Glover and Zach Johnson to battle it out for the title.
I do in fact jest, I’m sure the tournament should be outstanding, though let’s hope they decide to extend an invite to the popular Fred Couples, who may otherwise not qualify. In the heyday of his PGA career, Couples has had a strong campaign this year with three top-10’s, after missing most of last year due to his cranky back. Despite a limited playing schedule for many years, the 48-year-old Couples, winner of the 1992 Masters and a former world No.1, remains one of the biggest draws on tour. And one of the biggest hitters, if you can believe that. Oh, that silky smooth swing (drool).

Tim McGraw’s Live Your Voice tour came to a close on July 7, with organizers estimating a $20 million take from the 500,000 fans who attended the tour’s 34 shows. The tour launched May 9, and was the first solo tour for the singer since his smash hit tours with his equally popular wife Faith Hill.

Buy your free tickets here! Yes, this is the motto of some of New York’s finest scalpers, who recently took it upon themselves to snatch up some of the 60,000 tickets that were being distributed freely by the city of New York for the upcoming Bon Jovi concert in Central Park. Hundreds of these free tickets have since shown up on auction sites, with listings as high as $1,500. City officials and concert organizers are quite peeved by the whole thing.

All of this of course begs the question: In this age of auction sites and ticket resellers, why bother issuing free tickets in the first place? Why not just let the first 60,000 that show up get in, and tell everyone else to hit the road?

Reports indicate that the NHL is about to make the Heritage/Winter Classic an annual event, and that next year’s iteration will take place at Wrigley Field in Chicago, in a game between the Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings.

Last season’s Winter Classic took place in Buffalo, drawing 71,000 fans to Ralph Wilson Stadium for a contest between the Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins. It was also one of the highest rated games in years. The first outdoor game, dubbed The Heritage Classic was played in Edmonton between the Oilers and Montreal Canadians in 2003.

While the NHL doesn’t want to overplay this potential ace-up-their-sleeve with too many of these spectacles, the more exposure they can bring to the sport, the better. More a league struggling as badly as it is in the U.S, one of these a year just doesn’t seem like enough.

Broadway tickets hit a snag this past week, though not an unexpected one. With the combination of last week’s gloriously high figures, and this week having the 4th of July dissect it, ticket sales fell over $1.5 million, the largest drop-off in back-to-back weeks since 2004. As it is, Broadway pulled in a respectable $18.8 million after reeling in over $20.4 million a week earlier.

The usual suspects kept the seats filled, led by the Wicked, The Lion King, and Jersey Boys. Rounding out the top 5 were The Little Mermaid and Mary Poppins. August: Osage County was the top performing play for the week, though Les Liaisons Dangereuses was the only play to pack them in to near capacity. The sex driven tale, which has seen adaptation in many forms including television, movies, and operas, was originally published in 1782, and stars Alan Rickman.

Mamma Mia! pulled in the greatest seat coverage at 101.5%, which begs the question, where were those extra 1.5% sitting during each show? These are questions that keep one up at night, or at least one like me. Jersey Boys, The Lion King, and The Phantom of the Opera also performed to above-capacity crowds. Passing Strange was the stinker of the week, filling just 37.9% of the seats, while the newcomer of the week, [Title of Show] opened its run with three previews, pulling in 53.9%.

The Country Girl saw the biggest attendance jump of the week, filling 30% more seats than a week ago. Avenue Q was next at 15.3%, while the now Clay Aiken-less Spamalot rose 12.1% from the previous week. The big falling was the aforementioned Passing Strange, which tumbled 13.6% from an already dismal 51.4%. the only other notable decline saw Xanadu fall 2.9% from a week ago.

As mentioned, [Title of Show] made its debut this week with 3 previews this past week, and 9 more scheduled before the musical opens in full force on July 17 at the Lyceum Theater. The musical won multiple Obie Awards for its off-Broadway run in 2006 at the Vineyard Theater, and stars writers Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell, as well as Heidi Blickenstaff and Susan Blackwell. All cast members are reprising their roles from its off-Broadway run.

In yet more Passing Strange news that truly is passing strange, Spike Lee is set to film a movie about the play. Filming will take place during the play’s matinee and evening performances on July 19, with additional shooting taking place without an audience presence.

The talented and controversial director is a big fan of the musical, which tells the tale of a musician on a journey through Europe in search of drugs, sex and Rock ‘n’ Roll. The musical stars Daniel Breaker and was written by Mark “Stew” Stewart.

Hopefully the filming of the movie will help lift the beleaguered sales of the past few weeks, which have seen the musical drop below 50% attendance, as noted above. Passing Strange is currently running at the Belasco Theater.

An A-list collection of musical talent helped last weekend’s Essence Music Festival in New Orleans hit record attendance figures. The three day event which took place from July 4-6 pulled in 270,000 attendees from across the United States and worldwide.

Started as a one-time event in 1995 to celebrate Essence Magazine’s 25th anniversary, the festival has since become an annual event, and the largest gathering showcasing and celebrating the music and culture of African-Americans.

In addition to musical performances from standout stars such as Kanye West, LL Cool J, Keyshia Cole, Chris Rock, Musiq, Mary J. Blige and rumoured partners Chris Brown and Rihanna (who still deny any romantic relationship, despite an apparent confirmation from Chris’ own mother), the festival also delivers powerful seminars from renowned speakers like Dr. Bill Cosby, Rev. Al Sharpton, Dr. Juanita Bynum and Mayor C. Ray Nagin.

Next year’s event, taking place from July 3-5 will be headlined by Beyonce, who performed at the 2005 event with her former group Destiny’s Child.
Long lived German hard rockers Scorpions have released dates and locations for their upcoming Humanity tour, which will feature performances of tracks from their newest album Humanity: Hour 1, as well as classics from the band’s whopping 20 previous albums, including beloved tracks such as Rock You Like a Hurricane.

The tour kicks off with three dates in California, pairing the band up with American rock legend Sammy Hagar. They ditch Hagar as they head north through Arizona and Minnesota, eventually joining up with another rock legend Alice Cooper for a show in Sparta, Wisconsin. The U.S leg of the tour ends in Chicago, Illinois alongside 80’s glam metal rockers Ratt.

From there their tour will head to Germany, Brazil, Mexico, England, and France among other stops. Scorpions have sold over 70 million albums worldwide since their debut album Lonesome Crow in 1972.
If you’re a fan of Jamiroquai, or heck, even if you’re not but want to hit up a free concert or snag some tickets to sell online, the band’s unofficial site Jamiroquai.com is offering the chance to win tickets to some of band’s upcoming summer concert dates in Hungary and Germany.

To register for the draw, all it takes is filling out a simple form and answering a true or false question related to the band. For those of you not in the know, or too lazy to look it up, the answer is true. You have less than a week left to get in on the action, so hurry over to the site now.

Popular Canadian rockers Nickelback have inked a new deal with Live Nation that will see them release three albums under the Live Nation label, to be followed by a touring cycle for each album. The deal also includes merchandising and other licensing rights. Nickelback is still under contract for two more albums with EMI and Roadrunner Records.

The deal comes shortly after Live Nation signed Shakira, who also has contractual obligations remaining with her old label, to a similar deal. Despite major deals, the length of the contracts Live Nation has signed has been frowned upon by investors, who have left the company’s stock languishing. Live Nation has signed Madonna and Jay-Z to 10 year deals, and Irish rockers U2 to a 12 year contract. Live Nation stock has plummeted in the last year from a high of $25 to under $10, with the Madonna deal cited as the major reason for the decline. Live Nation stock saw a modest rise today on the strength of the Nickelback announcement.

The big sporting event of the weekend was the long awaited return of the Boston Red Sox/New York Yankees rivalry. The teams hooked up for four games at Yankee Stadium, marking the first time the teams had faced off since mid April. Nearly 220,000 fans packed Yankee stadium for the four-game tilt, which saw the Red Sox storm out of the gates to take the first two, with the Yankees winning a couple of thrillers to close out the series and earn a split. Sunday night’s matchup, televised nationally on ESPN, was won in dramatic fashion, as Brett Gardner won it on an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th.

The fact the upstart Tampa Bay Rays currently own a small stranglehold on the division, relegating the Boston/New York showdown to a Wild Card matchup, didn’t seem to put a damper on the festivities. It’s certainly unfamiliar ground for both of these teams, which have engaged in epic struggles for the division title in four of the past five seasons, and have finished 1-2 in the division every year of the decade save for 2006, when the Toronto Blue Jays squeaked out a second place finish, a single game ahead of the third place Red Sox.

Yankee Stadium is also the site of the upcoming MLB All-Star Game, taking place July 15. The rosters are nearly finalized, with one final player to be voted in per league. Not surprisingly the A.L voting was dominated by Yankee and Red Sox players, who took over half the starting spots. Regardless of where you stand on the voting debate, the fans did do a nice job by selecting Josh Hamilton, who drew more votes even than Japanese star Ichiro Suzuki, with the weight of an entire country behind him. Tickets for the All-Star weekend events, including the game itself, are still available for purchase, starting at $355.

Speaking of the Rays, their incredible rise from being the worst team in baseball a year ago to the best in the league this season, has picked up even more steam. The Rays have won 7 in a row, opening up a 5 game lead over the Red Sox, and are two and a half games clear of baseball’s next best team, the Los Angeles Angels. Rays fans are finally beginning to take this team seriously, as attendance has slowly risen over the past month. Their weekend set with the Royals, one of the worst draws in baseball, drew a respectable 70,000 fans for a team that has often failed to break the 10,000 barrier for many games in the past. The series continued today, with Tampa Bay on the verge of sweeping the Royals back to Kansas City.

And to Kansas City we head as well, where the NFL’s Chiefs have recently announced new measures to deal with rowdy fans, and by rowdy we mean those standing up. Yes, you better make full use of the edge of that seat you paid for, because standing for any length of time could see you ejected from the premises. To further increase the weight of these new policies, the team announced a new text messaging system will be in place for next season, allowing fans to discreetly rat out their peers to security, without fear of having a beer dumped on their head.

While TicketMart’s Donna Davidson doesn’t see the new policies affecting ticket sales, we have to wonder if it won’t affect beer sales, as the more dedicated beer drinkers are likely to find themselves back out in the parking lot by halftime. Woe to the Kansas City beer vendors.

“In the Heights” is the latest musical in Broadway, about the life of the Latin immigrants in the upper Manhattan. The play shows all the difficulties that this growing minority suffers to adjust to a city like New York, as well as their efforts to preserve or find identity and the search for success on life.

This play that was originally on stage off Broadway –it was just this march, that moved to Broadway- was nominated for 13 Tony awards, and as a result of, its popularity grew among the theater fans, and the tickets for a seat on the theater started to be difficult to find.

The contagious Latin rhythms of salsa, merengue, hip-hop and reggae, characterize the play and it also shows the energy and strength of the Latin dancers, reaching the viewers hearts all through the end.

The history is developed in a typical Latino “barrio”, around a “bodega” and its owner, who happens to know everything about the people of the barrio, including all their problems. He noticed someday, that he had sold the winning ticket to the lotto; however, he doesn’t know who the lucky owner of the ticket is. Each one of the main characters expose it’s different but typical immigrants, their wishes to success in this country that is sheltering them, their economical problems, their creativity, great dreams. Those are enough elements not only for all the Latin community to connect with any character of the play, but for any immigrant from different origin. And, of course, love stories could not be out of the scene…

The play shows the urban Latino side, all the cultural and own heritage of this minority, as well as their efforts to achieve the “American dream”. It is also the first Latino musical, made by Latinos, on Broadway, and this one, does not show the bad side of the Latin community, that so many times have been exploited; so, no drugs, violence or gangs. A common history of a common Latino working class barrio.

You must include, in your next trip to New York, plans “In the heights”. This is a musical you must consider in your to New York’s do’s list, a new, but very promising play that in the few months in Broadway has been very well reviewed by the public. If you are wishing for a relaxing moment enjoying good and vibrant music and be entertained, this is the play for you.

The play is presented by Lin Manuel Miranda, based on the book of Quiara Alegria, and it is on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theater.

With the spring, several international competitions have already begun, the Grand Slam is one of them, and as part of it the French Roland Garros already started on May 24th. The Roland Garros is one of the four major tennis events in the world where the most important players –men and women- compete. This season you will be able to watch on the courts important tennis players as well as new talents.

Did you know what does the Grand Slam means? At 1933 Australian player Jack Crawford had already won three of the four big world tennis tournaments -the Australian, Wimbledon and Roland Garros- the day the US final was going to be held, a sports journalist of the New York Post, who was also a card player, pointed out as an analogy that if Crawford wins the final, then if would be as a “Grand Slam” in Bridge. Crawford lost that game; however, the Grand Slam remained.

After that, if a player win the four finals then it is said that has won a Grand Slam, this can be achieved in a year, -which is extremely difficult, and as of today only two men and three women had already obtained this remarkable title – or during all of their sports career. The last player that obtained a career Grand Slam was André Agassi. Ironically, his current wife, Steffi Graf, is one of the three women that obtained a Grand Slam in one year (1988)…

It is also interesting the fact that each one of the tournaments included in the so called Grand Slam are played in different courts, this makes much more difficult to obtain a Grand Slam, since the players have to face different conditions depending on each country. The Roland Garros, in France –named after the stadium in which it is played- court is made of clay, while Wimbledon is made of grass and in Australia and the USA the courts are made from different synthetics materials (plexipave and decoturf).

And do you know the popular joke these days at the Roland Garros ?… well they say that it is necessary to speak Spanish to win. This is because the latest male winners have been either from Spain or Argentina. And this year is no different, at the moment, 3 Spanish and 1 Chilean have already classified for the quarters; being Rafael Nadal the favorite, who already has won the last three last years of the Roland Garros and is now going for the fourth.

Regarding the women, the favorite and number one player, Maria Sharapova, lost this Monday before, the Russian Dinara Safina, her thousands of fans would not be pleased with… as things are going; it seems that the Roland Garros final would be a battle among Russians gals.

Tickets for the Roland Garros finals that will be held between June 6 and 8 are already on sale.

This August 23rd. Madonna, the “Pop Queen” will begin in Wales, England, its World tour named “Sticky & Sweet” in which she will present her new album “Hard Candy”. Some songs from this album are actually in the billboards. This would be an amazing opportunity to watch the diva on stage. Tickets for the performances are currently on sale, this time Madonna and her crew will go to Europe, Canada, USA, Mexico y and South America, giving the chance to all her fans to admire her close; this tour promises to be one of the mayor musical events of 2008.

We are sure that the material girl will offer a tour to remember… as she always does. If we consider that Madonna wasn’t in tour since 2006 –year in which she dazzle her fans with her music, dancing and strength on stage- for this new adventure, we can assume that she will return to stage full of surprises and try to please her thousands of fans that are already waiting for her anxiously. This is an event you shouldn’t miss.

For producing Hard Candy, Madonna recruited nothing less than the famous Justin Timberlake; who also appears in the clip of the song “4 minutes”. Both stars fans are wondering if they would have the chance to see them sharing stage together in this world tour. Imagine the Queen and the hubby singing and dancing together? Justin as Madonna has a killing dance movements (sample of them are evident at some of the new video images, where both seem to challenge while dancing). This an explosive combination that will definitively will turn on the audience, something that their managers know well and will not want to miss. Two generations that get together for the benefit of their fans and that are causing a lot of expectations, we are sure the fans will be pleased with this new musical couple!

Stunning at her 40´s, mother of two biological children and one adopted, author of children’s histories, kabbala follower… Madonna is not only a versatile woman but a talented artist that promises to sweeten us with a show full of music, dancing and surprises. The expectations for this new event are huge in all the fans and the media, and Madonna is aware of it, we are sure that the “Sticky & Sweet” tour will bring a lot to talk about.

As a sample, this May Madonna show the music world her amazing ability to summon people, in NYC, when thousands of fans waited for more than 60 hours to obtain a bracelet that will give them the chance to see their favorite star alive and for free. Only 750 of them got the object of desire and enjoy the 30 minutes only show, where Madonna advanced some of her new album songs and a little bit of what her tour would be. The night got the maximum peak when Timberland appear on stage and sang with the Diva. The long hours that the fans waited to see this show didn’t seem to mind and for sure did not diminished their strength to sing and dance at the Queen’s rhythm ´till the end of the 30 minutes, when all surrender to her majesty charms. And this was only a preview …

The dates for tour have already been published, except the ones corresponding to Latin America, which are pending of confirmation. The pre sale is already closed and the tickets for the European presentations are on sale now on line.

After seven long years, Janet Jackson is preparing her comeback tour, ‘Rock With You’, which she announced on the Ellen de Generis Show a few months ago.

The first show will be in Canada on September 10th, but despite intrigue many are still wondering what the show will entail. This prompted Jackson to come up with a very creative idea; she has created a hotline where fans can leave a messages indicating the song or songs they’d like her to sing at a given venue. It can be a new or an old song. Of course it’s safe to assume that “Luv”, her new single, will be a common thread throughout at each show.

Janet has been busy the past few years preparing the new songs for her latest album “Discipline”, and also writing a book where she dicusses some career issues and her life. In addition, everybody knows that she has had some recent trouble with her weight and has struggled to regain her great figure. But now she is looking great and is readyto take her show the road again. She has re-dedicated herself to her music and this new tour to satisfy her thousands of fans.

The first presentation of the ‘Rock Witchu’ Tour, as it’s also known, has been announced for October 15 in Washington DC and then in New Jersey; other shows have already been announced as well.

Tickets are already on sale and can be bought on line , so don’t miss this opportunity to see the diva in person.

Janet is a female icon of pop music; she has garnered several awards and recognitions in the USA and internationally, has sold more than 100 million copies of her albums, and is one of the few female artists that has made it to the Billboard’s Top 200 Best Albums list an amazing 6 times. As if that weren’t enough, she is the only artist –male or female- ever nominated by the Grammy Awards in each one of the following categories: Pop, Rock, Dance, Rap and R&B, and as the first black artist nominated for producer of the year.

Janet is a show any pop fan can appreciate, so get your tickets today . !

Gloria Trevi, the famous Mexican pop singer has announced a quick tour to the United States named ‘Rosa Blu USA Tour’, after her most recent album hit stores in late 2007.

Shows will begin June 12 with her first appearance at Club Rio in San Antonio, Texas. The tour is admittedly small and is aimed at reaching out to her American fans. Tickets for the concerts are already on sale and expectations are high. Look forward to a stage presence characterized by Trevi´s fierce and rebellious style.

Currently the Mexican star is at the top of the billboards with her single ‘Cinco minutos’ (five minutes), which is the most played and downloaded song on the web. It is part of the ‘Una rosa blue’ Album. It is currently number 24 in the Latin Pop National Airplay charts and continues to climb.

For these shows in particular, she promises to take us back in time and enjoy past hits such as ‘pelo suelto’, ‘zapatos rotos’, ‘la papa sin catsup’ and many more; as well as many songs from “Una Rosa Blu” like Psicofonía and of course the already famous ‘Cinco minutos’.

It would appear that has officially Trevi rebounded from the bad times she endured after she was jailed on accusations of child abuse. She seems determined to take back her career and regain the Mexican Pop crown she wore for so long.

Get your tickets today;, this is -at least for the moment- the only chance for Trevi´s fans in the US to see and listen to her on stage.

On June 12 Cold Play officially presented its new album ‘Viva la vida or death and all his friends’. The formal launch was in England, through the BBC London radio, where the band fielded questions.

According to Chris Martin, the lead singer of the band, the title of this new production was inspired by the work of the famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.

The band also recently published a note to all their fans in which they explain that it took a long time, but the new album has finally seen the light of day and is now the property of the world. It will be available to the public on June 17; in the meantime we can listen to a couple singles that have already been uploaded to the web. The band says that they hope this new material can help people to be happier and fill their days with joy.

On another note, today the Billboard reports that the single “Viva la Vida” which is included in the new album has reached the second position in its top 100 only a few hours after being released. The band is also promoting a new song with accompanying video called “Violet Hill” which was filmed in Sicily and should hit screens soon. As of today, two million people have downloaded the song.

Dates have already been announced for their summer tour, which will kick off July 14th, 15th and 18th in California, will be in Las Vegas on the 19th, Chicago on the 23rd, Philadelphia on the 25th, Washington D.C on August 3rd, Cleveland on September 21st, and Orlando on November 7th.

This is an extensive US tour and tickets are already on sale; they won’t be avaliable for long, so get them in advance!