Madonna, the world’s tastiest sweetheart, has announced more non stop treats for her legions of legendary and devoted fans.

Following the latest news that ‘Hard Candy’ has debuted at #1 around the globe, it has been confirmed that Madonna’s ‘Sticky & Sweet Tour’ will begin (hip) hopping around the world on August 23rd, 2008 in Cardiff, Wales with stops in major European markets through September including London (11 September) and Paris (20 September).

Madonna UK Tour Dates

23rd August – Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
(Ticket Prices: £150, £100, £85, £75, £65, £55)

11th September – Wembley Stadium, London
(Ticket Prices: £160, £110, £90, £85, £75, £65)

TICKETS ON SALE 9AM FRIDAY MAY 16th, 2008

Tickets available from Live Nation or 24 hr box office 0844 576 5483 (all tickets subject to booking fee. There will be a 6 ticket per person limit for stadium events). For VIP Candy Shop and hot ticket packages, visit Live Nation – Madonna

The U.S. leg of the ‘Sticky & Sweet Tour’ begins October 3rd, 2008 at the Izod Center in E. Rutherford, New Jersey, with stops at NY’s Madison Square Garden on October 6th and 7th, followed by performances in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and more before stopping at Miami’s Dolphin Stadium on November 26th.

Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet Tour will also visit Mexico and South America later this year. (Show dates, and on sale information in these markets will follow at a later date.)

Confirmed today by Guy Oseary, Madonna’s manager and Arthur Fogel, CEO Global Touring and Chairman Global Music, Live Nation who is producing the tour, Sticky & Sweet, will play arenas and stadiums throughout Europe and North America including a number of cities where Madonna has not performed in the past fifteen years.

‘Sticky & Sweet’ will be directed by Madonna’s long time creative collaborator Jamie King. The musical director will be Kevin Antunes. The complete tour itinerary is listed below with additional cities and dates to be announced.

For complete tour and ticket information, fans can visit: www.livenation.com and www.madonna.com.

‘Hard Candy’, Madonna’s 11th studio album for Warner Bros. Records debuted at number one in 27 countries around the world thus far, including the USA, JAPAN, FRANCE, UK, GERMANY, CANADA, ITALY, AUSTRALIA, NETHERLANDS, SOUTH AFRICA, SWEDEN, DENMARK, IRELAND, FINLAND, AUSTRIA, CHILE, SPAIN, MEXICO, HONG KONG, SINGAPORE, SLOVENIA, PORTUGAL, BELGIUM, BRAZIL, SWITZERLAND, ISRAEL, U.A.E.

Madonna and Live Nation entered into a revolutionary partnership last fall and her last three worldwide tours were produced by Live Nation.

A multi-Grammy award winner and recent inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Madonna has long been known for groundbreaking multi-dimensional tours that consist of visual and audio extravaganzas with non stop singing and breathtaking dancing. Madonna’s last outing, 2006’s acclaimed Confessions Tour played in 25 countries including Moscow and reached a collective audience of over 1.3 million fans and was the highest grossing concert tour of all time by a female artist.

“I’ll be your one stop Candy Shop. Everything that I’ve got.” – Madonna “CANDY SHOP” from “HARD CANDY”

TICKETS:

Tickets for “Sticky and Sweet” will go on sale beginning Friday, May 16th, 2008 in London, Paris, Cardiff and Nice followed by on sales Saturday, May 17th in Amsterdam, Boston and Chicago with E. Rutherford and New York City on sale Monday, May 12th. Tickets will range from $55.00 through $350 ($375.00 in Las Vegas) offering a variety of excellent seats at all price levels. Additional on-sales vary and are listed below or available at www.livenation.com & www.madonna.com. There will be a 4 ticket limit per person at the arena performances and a 6 ticket per person limit for stadium events.

MADONNA.COM:

Icon is Madonna’s official fan club. Legacy members of Icon get first access to tickets starting May 12th, 2008. Fan club members who join May 1st and later will not have access to presale tickets. However, all ticket buyers for the tour get a free trial one year Virtual Icon membership which provides access to the largest digital archive of Madonna photos online, a social networking community of dedicated Madonna fans, contests, news and much more. Sign up for Icon at Madonna.com today.

www.viagogo.co.uk:

viagogo is the Official Premium Ticketing Partner for Madonna’s European Tour 2008. Premium tickets and VIP packages will be available from Friday 16th May, 2008 on www.viagogo.co.uk. In addition, viagogo will be the Official Secondary Ticketing Exchange where fans can buy and sell their tickets. viagogo facilitates the exchange between someone who wants to sell and someone who wants to buy a ticket for a live event. It guarantees that buyers receive their tickets in time for the show and sellers receive payment. viagogo is Europe’s leading ticket exchange.

*Not applicable for Sticky & Sweet shows in Germany & Italy.

About Live Nation:

Live Nation is the future of the music business. With the most live concerts, music venues and festivals in the world and the most comprehensive concert search engine on the web, Live Nation is revolutionizing the music industry; onstage and online. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, live Nation is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, trading under the symbol “LYV.” Additional information about the company can be found at www.livenation.com under the “About Us” section.

Madonna Sticky & Sweet Tour Dates 2008:

Dates could be added or changed! Go to Madonna’s Official Website for the latest tour dates, ticket information and more.

23 August Cardiff Millennium Stadium
26 August Nice Stade Charles Ehrmann
28 August Berlin Olympic Stadium
2 September Amsterdam Arena
4 September Dusseldorf LTU Arena
6 September Rome Olympic Stadium
9 September Frankfurt Commerzbank Arena
11 September London Wembley Stadium
20 September Paris Stade de France6
3 October E. Rutherford Izod Center
6 October New York City Madison Square Garden
7 October New York City Madison Square Garden
15 October Boston TD BankNorth Garden
18 October Toronto Air Canada Centre
22 October Montreal Bell Centre
26 October Chicago United Center
30 October Vancouver BC Place Stadium
1 Nov Oakland Oracle Arena
4 Nov San Diego Petco Park
6 Nov Los Angeles Dodger Stadium
8 November Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena
11 November Denver Pepsi Center
16 November Houston Minute Maid Park
19 November Philadelphia Wachovia Center
22 November Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall
24 November Atlanta Philips Arena
26 November Miami Dolphin Stadium
Additional dates and venues to be announced.

Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet tour will also visit Mexico and South America later this year. Show date and on sale information to follow.

Madonna on amazon.co.uk

Madonna on amazon.com

For news, contests, tour dates and more visit:

Madonna Official Website

Madonna Myspace

The Foo Fighters founder and frontman Dave Grohl is looking good and his passion and stage presence during their set at Live Earth was infectious. Passion wouldn’t be a word that I would use for some of the other acts that took to the stage before the Foo Fighters.

Technical difficulties were an issue. Bands were having problems with their sound on stage all day. Razorlight’s Johnny Borrell couldn’t hear anything through the monitors and when the Red Hot Chili Peppers played I thought we might get through a set without the sound drama. They sounded great and Flea was on fire, but after playing a couple songs, the Chili Peppers stopped to have what appeared to be a ‘band meeting’ on stage – at Live Earth in front of millions of people. At one point I could hear Anthony Kiedis say something about not being able to hear. I think after that they only had one more song to go.

Now I, as a singer, can understand sound problems on stage. I love to have a good mix in the monitors with some reverb coming back at me. But you know what? If I was playing only three songs with my band at Wembley Stadium – in front of millions (some say 2 billion) of people I think even I could handle not being able to hear and just play on like everything is okay. Especially since most acts only played two or three songs. As a viewer, I don’t want the distraction of stage problems and complaining while trying to enjoy a band and their music, well then again…these things do tend to make good ‘car crash TV’.

I’m sure the bands didn’t want to upstage their set by complaining about the sound and even though bands should know better, the first thing the stage manager or event director should have told them before they went out on stage, was “don’t mention the sound”.

The reason I’m even bringing this up is because knowing that there were sound problems all day at the new Wembley Stadium, it was brilliant to see Dave Grohl just get on with things, with the passion and the attitude that all rock fans love to see – and he played like his life depended on it. The band sounded great, they were having fun and if Dave Grohl had any problems hearing there were no signs or nasty expressions coming from him. Drummer Taylor Hawkins also put on an incredible performance. Excellent set by the Foo Fighters.

Watch Foo Fighters – “Best Of You” video from Live Earth:

Tour dates could be added or changed! Go to the Foo Fighters Official Website for the latest tour dates and information.

August 18 V Festival, Hylands Park Chelmsford, UK
August 19 V Festival Weston Park Staffordshire, UK
August 21 T On The Fringe: Meadowbank Sports Centre (Meadowbank Stadium) Edinburgh, Scotland
August 22 Marlay Park Dublin, Ireland

Foo Fighters Official Website
Foo Fighters on Myspace

By: Jenny May – Band Weblogs

Metallica announced their “well kept Metallica secret” that fans have been “chatting about for weeks” on their Official Website. Apparently their show won’t be a full on Metalli-show and their performance will be available shortly after to download for a small fee on iTunes and on the Metallica download site: www.livemetallica.com. All proceeds from download sales will benefit four climate charities that Metallica has selected: Sierra Club, The Apollo Alliance, WWF and Rainforest Action Network.

Other acts scheduled to perform at Wembley Stadium for Live Earth London include Madonna, Duran Duran, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Spinal Tap.

The Live Earth SOS organizers are expecting the events to bring together 2 billion people from around the world to raise awareness about climate change and combat the climate crisis.

Live Earth Links:

Live Earth information on Band Weblogs
Live Earth on MSN
Metallica Official Website

By: Jenny May

Over the weekend Biffy Clyro was one of the lucky few to support Muse at the new Wembley Stadium in London. They’re now set to create quite a storm as they begin to introduce themselves and their music to more people during the busy summer festival season.

Big news for Biffy Clyro fans who may have thought the Muse gig was a big deal – which it was. It appears that was just a warm up. Biffy Clyro have announced that they will be supporting The Who at Marlay Park in Dublin, Ireland on June 29th 2007. Other big gigs for the band include the sold out Glastonbury Festival, Oxegen Festival and T in the Park as well as shows in the US and Canada.

Watch Biffy Clyro video for “Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies”:

Biffy Clyro 2007 tour dates:

*Dates could be added or changed! Go to Biffy Clyro’s Official Website for the latest tour dates and information.

June 17 2007 Wembley Stadium (supporting Muse), London
June 23 2007 Glastonbury Festival – The Other Stage, Sommerset
June 24 2007 Southside Festival, Neuhausen
June 29 2007 Marlay Park – supporting The Who, Dublin, Eire
July 7 2007 Oxegen Festival, Kildare
July 8 2007 T in the Park, Kinross, Scotland
July 14 2007 Fflam Festival, Swansea
July 28 2007 First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, Chicago, Illinois
July 29 2007 Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota
July 31 2007 Marcus Amphitheatre, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
August 1 2007 Riverbend Music Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
August 3 2007 Tweeter Center at the Waterfront, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
August 4 2007 Nassau Coliseum, New York City, New York
August 5 2007 Raceway Park, Englishtown, New Jersey
August 7 2007 Verizon Wireless Center, Indianapolis, Indiana
August 8 2007 Post Gazette Pavilion, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
August 9 2007 Tweeter Center, Boston, Massachusetts
August 10 2007 Darien Lakes Field, Buffalo, New York
August 11 2007 Park Place, Toronto, Ontario
August 12 2007 Parc Jean-Drapeau, Montreal, Quebec
August 14 2007 UMB Bank Pavilion, St Louis, Missouri
August 15 2007 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, Kansas City, Kansas
August 24 2007 Rock en Seine, Paris
August 25 2007 Carling Reading Festival, Reading
August 26 2007 Carling Leeds Festival, Leeds
November 6 2007 Fat Sams, Dundee, Scotland
November 7 2007 Barrowlands, Glasgow, Scotland
November 8 2007 Barrowlands, Glasgow, Scotland
November 9 2007 Corn Exchange, Edinburgh, Scotland
November 11 2007 Academy, Newcastle
November 12 2007 Academy, Manchester
November 13 2007 Academy, Birmingham
November 14 2007 Rock City, Nottingham
November 15 2007 Octagon, Sheffield
November 17 2007 University, Cardiff
November 18 2007 Academy, Bristol
November 20 2007 Guildhall, Southampton
November 21 2007 Brixton Academy, London
November 22 2007 UEA, Norwich

Biffy Clyro Official Website
Biffy Clyro on Myspace

By: Jenny May

The Muse Wembley gigs are going to be brilliant for those lucky enough to go. Support bands for the shows will include: On Saturday June 16: The Streets, Dirty Pretty Things and Rodrigo Y Gabriela. On Sunday June 17: My Chemical Romance, Biffy Clyro and Shy Child with Zane Lowe DJing in between sets. If I had tickets and could only pick one night though, I would go on the Saturday. Great lineup. I’ve said before how much of a Muse fan I am and I love their music.

Watch Muse – “Map of The Problematique” video

*Dates could be added or changed! Go to the Official Muse Website for the latest tour dates and information.

June 16 2007 Wembley Stadium, London
June 17 2007 Wembley Stadium, London
June 23 2007 Parc des Princes Stadium, Paris
June 28 2007 Werchter Festival, Belgium
June 30 2007 Heineken Opener Festival, Poland
July 2 2007 Riga Arena, Riga
July 7 2007 Oxegen Festival, Ireland
July 12 2007 Prince Albert Event, Monaco
July 13 2007 Musilac, Aix Les Bains
July 14 2007 Moon and Stars, Switzerland
July 16 2007 Verona Arena, Italy
July 18 2007 Nimes Arena, Nimes
July 20 2007 Garden NEF, Angouleme
July 22 2007 Benicassim, Costa De Azahar
July 24 2007 Paleo, Nyon
July 29 2007 Pentaport Rock Festival, Incheon
August 1 2007 Arrow Hall, Mississauga, Ontario
August 2 2007 Freedom Hill Amphitheatre, Detroit, Michigan
August 4 2007 Lollapalooza, Chicago, Illinois
August 6 2007 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
August 9 2007 Patriot Center, Fairfax, Virginia
August 10 2007 Philadelphia Festival Pier, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
August 11 2007 Agganis Arena, Boston, Massachusetts
September 12 2007 The McKay Centre, Orem, Utah
September 18 2007 Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Denver, Colorado

Muse Official Website
Muse on Myspace

By: Jenny May

I wonder what Duran Duran’s set list will look like. Maybe some oldies but goodies from the “Save A Prayer” and “Rio” era? And is Andy Taylor really out of the band? Actually, to answer my last question, all I had to do was look at the Duran Duran Live Earth promo photo to see that he’s not there. Everyone else is though: Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes (who recently designed the first ever video guitar – “Pixelator” for Fender), John Taylor and Roger Taylor.

Watch “Save A Prayer” video by Duran Duran

Duran Duran Official Website
Duran Duran on Myspace
Live Earth Official Website

By: Jenny May

“Hey You” was produced by Pharrell Williams and Madonna and was recorded in London. This is definitely a different sound for Madonna – a ballad with flavors of 60’s/70’s nostalgia with acoustic guitar and harmonies mixed in with modern effects that I’m sure were tweaked by Pharrell Williams. Sheryl Crow could sing “Hey You” with ease.

Watch the Madonna “Hey You” video

“MSN is pleased to offer this song in conjunction with Madonna and is proud to donate 25 cents for each of the first 1 million downloads to the Alliance for Climate Protection, in support of Live Earth.”

Madonna will be one of headlining acts performing for Live Earth at Wembley Stadium in London on July 7th, 2007.

Get the free “Hey You” single by Madonna!

For more information go to:

Live Earth Hamburg, Germany
Live Earth Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Live Earth Tokyo, Japan
Live Earth Shanghai, China
Live Earth Antarctica
Live Earth South Africa
Live Earth Australia
Live Earth Giants Stadium, USA
Live Earth London, UK

Official Live Earth Blog
Madonna Official Website

By: Jenny May

Madonna Sticky & Sweet Tour Dates 2008 + ticket information

If you want to go to the London concert at the new Wembley Stadium, it’s now time to start preparing to register. Live Earth organizers are buckling down on ticket misuse and because of the expected demand for tickets, it seems that they’re following Glastonbury’s lead and have incorporated a registration process for concert goers who want to buy tickets to Live Earth.

From the Live Earth Save Our Selves website:

“Free Registration for tickets opens at midday on FRIDAY, 13 APRIL 2007 and Live Earth ticket applicants are asked to register their details at: www.livenation.co.uk/liveearth

Registration opens from midday on Friday 13th April until Monday 16th April at midday. If your application is successful you will be notified how to buy your tickets on Wednesday, 18 April.

ALL TICKETS FOR LONDON WILL BE PRICED AT ?55 EACH”

Other bands and artists scheduled to perform at Wembley Stadium in London include: Beastie Boys, Black Eyed Peas, Bloc Party, Corinne Bailey Rae, Damien Rice, David Gray, Duran Duran, Foo Fighters, Genesis, James Blunt, John Legend, Keane, Madonna, Paolo Nutini, Razorlight, Snow Patrol, Terra Naomi, Spinal Tap, Kasabian, Metallica, The Pussycat Dolls and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Live Earth concert venues and locations will also be staged in Shanghai, China, Antarctica, Johannesburg, South Africa, Sydney, Australia, Giants Stadium, USA, Tokyo, Japan, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Hamburg, Germany and Washington, D.C..

If you didn’t know already, Al Gore is the co-chair for Live Earth and is also involved in organizing the events. There has been some controversy and skepticism about Al Gore and his green ambitions in the media and around the internet. It’s probably not too difficult to find mixed opinions by simply doing a search in Google.

I’ve also noted in a previous entry the irony of Al Gore and his current relationship with bands and music and that of his wife Tipper Gore and their involvement with the censorship of music via Tipper Gore’s PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) vehicle in the 80’s.

I would be curious to know if Madonna remembers that her song, “Dress You Up” was on the PMRC’s “Filthy Fifteen” list. The Filthy Fifteen was a list of fifteen songs that the PMRC found most objectionable. Maybe Madonna sees Live Earth as more important than what went on with the PMRC.

Time must have healed some old wounds or maybe the bands and musicians have simply forgotten or don’t care about the PMRC and the Gores’ affiliation with it. Or it’s possible that the bands feel that spreading the word about climate change and global warming is more important and are willing to brush aside any hard feelings.

I think that it is important to raise awareness of climate change and to listen to the scientists who have been studying global warming. There are also many green and environmental blogs out there in the blogosphere currently discussing green issues like TreeHugger, Hugg.com and the celebrity green gossip blog Ecorazzi.

For more information about Live Earth, go to LiveEarth.org

Watch the concerts and videos online:

The Live Earth concerts will be streamed online live on 7/7/07 at LiveEarth.MSN.com.

The concerts will also be broadcast on the BBC in the UK and on more than 120 networks around the world.

According to the BBC, UK Live Earth TV Schedule and start times: Jonathan Ross will present for BBC 2 starting at 1:00pm BST. The start time for the London Wembley concerts is 1:30pm BST. Graham Norton and Edith Bowman will also be hosting the Live Earth festivities on BBC 2 along with David Shukman, Roger Harrabin and Kate Silverton. Coverage will continue on BBC 1 with concert highlights from around the world.

By: Jenny May