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Angelique Kidjo, along with her husband, Jean Hebrail, Kidjo penned 13 original songs in a variety of indigenous Caribbean styles, including salsa, calypso, meringue and ska on her latest release – Oyaya! The album was produced by Steve Berlin (Los Lobos, String Cheese Incident) Kidjo sings the numbers in English, French and African languages Yoruba and Fon.

Look for Kidjo performing in select U.S. cities this May, before returning to Europe for more dates abroad. Current confirmed U.S. tour dates include:

Sun May 08 – LebanonNH Lebanon Opera House
Tue May 10 – Philadelphia PA World Caf

Oasis, Nine Inch Nails, Slipknot, Weezer and the Black Crowes are among the acts confirmed for Japan’s Summer Sonic festival, to be held Aug. 13-14 in Tokyo and Osaka. Kasabian, the Roots, the Arcade Fire, Teenage Fanclub, TV On The Radio, Ian Brown and Louis XIV will also perform, as will famed U.K. rock act the La’s, which will be making its first live appearance since 1991.

The lineup is rounded out by Yellowcard, Boy, the Departure, Hal, HIM, Little Barrie, the Little Flames, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Mew and Rooster. Tickets are on sale now.

Source billboard.com.

Music Midtown, one of the nation

Oasis will extend its short summer North American run with Jet into a full tour in September and October, with up-and-coming British rock act Kasabian in tow. The only show confirmed at deadline is Sept. 25 at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in Houston, Texas; tickets go on sale March 26.

Besides six previously announced summer shows beginning June 17 in Toronto, Oasis and Jet will also play Sept. 12 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, minus Kasabian.

As previously reported, Oasis will release its new album, “Don’t Believe the Truth,” on May 30 internationally via Big Brother and the following day in North America via Epic.

Source billboard.com.

Audioslave have begun lining up a spring North American tour. The supergroup

Trey Anastasio will unveil his new project Friday, April 1st at the Higher Ground in So. Burlington, VT This will mark the first appearance of Trey’s new band, featuring Peter Chwazik (bass), Les Hall (keyboards), Ray Paczkowski (keyboards) and Skeeto Valdez (drums).

This concert, as well as the upcoming spring tour, will feature two sets of the group with supporting acts to be announced soon. Be sure to check Trey.com for breaking news and additional information.

Proceeds from the show will benefit the Vermont Land Trust. The Vermont Land Trust exists to conserve Vermont`s working landscape, natural areas, and community treasures. Since 1977 the Vermont Land Trust has conserved over 435,000 acres of land including almost 500 working farms.

Source ] treyanastasio.com.

Prolific alt-country rocker Ryan Adams has announced the first two dates of his upcoming Cold Roses Tour with his new band The Cardinals.

Cold Roses, to be released on April 19th is the first of three albums that Adams will release this year. The other two are titled Jacksonville and 29, although no release dates have been given yet. More tour dates are set to follow.

Tour Dates

April 27 – Northampton MA – Calvin Theatre

April 28 – Burlington VT – Higher Ground

If you got a hankerin’ for some bootleg Grateful Dead, all 33 volumes of Dick’s Picks, the series of concert recordings recorded by fans and traded throughout the Deadhead community, is now available on iTunes.

Along with Dick’s Picks are several unreleased live recordings direct from the band’s famous “Vault.”

Of course, the band probably won’t make any real money from selling the bootlegs on iTunes, if only because most fans already have some, or all of the recordings. However, it’s a chance for those outside the Dead’s dedicated fan base to find out just what all the fuss was about. Expect prices to range anywhere from $18.99 to $30.70, depending on length and quality.

“Despite our reputation for being on the technical cutting edge, we’ve waited awhile to make our music available to our audience digitally because we wanted it to work well,” Grateful Dead spokesman Dennis McNally told Pollstar. “ITunes and our own GDstore.com have satisfied us that now we can sell directly and have our people get what they want.”

Source pollstar.com.

Aimee Mann will release The Forgotten Arm, her fifth album, on May 3rd. The concept album follows the story of a boxer and his girlfriend as they fall in love and road trip across America.
“It takes place in the early Seventies just before the end of the Vietnam War,” Mann told Rolling Stone in September about the disc, which she was then calling King of the Jailhouse after a track of the same name. “There’s two people dating, and the guy gets sent over to Vietnam briefly and comes back and has a drug problem. The last record was about addiction, and this record is about recovery.”

The twelve track sonic “novella” was produced by singer-songwriter Joe Henry. Musically, The Forgotten Arm maintains its Seventies feel with the intersection of warm guitars and keyboards. “Dear John,” the opening track, features a flinty guitar riff and piano is prominent on the lilting “I Can’t Get My Head Around It” and the fragile-sounding “That’s How I Knew This Story Would Break My Heart.”

Mann and her band — which includes Sheryl Crow’s guitarist Jeff Trott, Julian Coryell on additional guitar, Jebin Bruni on keyboards, Paul Bryan on bass and drummers Victor Indrizzo and Jay Bellarose – recorded the album in just five days last summer, and Mann composed many of the songs on piano.

Source rollingstone.com.

The 10th anniversary edition of Ozzfest will boast a main stage lineup of Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall and Black Label Society. The trek will begin July 15 at Boston’s Tweeter Center and play 26 dates through a Sept. 4 finale in West Palm Beach, Fla.

The Hot Topic Second Stage will be headlined by Rob Zombie and feature some of hard rock’s rising acts, including As I Lay Dying, Mastodon, the Haunted, In Flames, Arch Enemy, the Black Dahlia Murder, Bury Your Dead, Soilwork, Trivium and A Dozen Furies.

Source billboard.com.