THE WEEKLY WRAP | 29/03/2024
The Weekly Wrap is a look at the biggest stories in music all collected in one place for your reading ease.
By Tobias Handke
explosions in the Sky, Sky Ferreira and more headline Brisbane’s open season
After Sydney and Melbourne wowed us with this year’s Vivid LIVE and RISING festival lineups respectively, it’s Brisbane’s turn to celebrate live music with the announcement of Open Season.
Presented by The Tivoli and the Princess Theatre, this celebration of music has a stacked lineup that includes experimental post-punk outfit Explosions in the Sky, indie pop singer Sky Ferreira, American rockers Blonde Redhead and Brooklyn soul singer INIKO.
It’s not just international acts getting the love, with Regurgitator, DICE and the Paper Kites among the local acts playing at the festival.
The event will also pay tribute to pioneering record label Elefant Traks, with a huge party at The Tivoli featuring The Herd, Hermitude, Urthboy and more.
“Open Season is about bringing Brisbane to life over the typically quieter winter months, promoting togetherness and celebrating artistic adventure,” The Tivoli and Princess Theatre Creative Director Dave Sleswick said in a statement. “We are stoked with this year’s line-up and proud that Open Season has become such a huge highlight in the city’s cultural calendar.”
Check out the full lineup and grab tickets via openseason.live.
Pandemonium Rocks Festival still going ahead
Pandemonium Rocks Festival is still happening, but with a few teaks. According to organisers, who released a statement via social media yesterday, Pandemonium Rocks is reverting to one stage instead of two, along with a “revised lineup” that is sure to upset some folk.
Deep Purple, Blondie and Alice Cooper are headlining the nostalgic rock festival, but rumours continue to swirl that one or more of these bands have pulled out. While their latest statement addresses a lineup change, it doesn’t what bands will or won’t be playing, leaving many fans feeling duped.
“Pandemonium Rocks will be changing to a one stage event. All dates remain the same,” the statement began.
“A revised line-up will be announced after Easter,” the statement continued. “For the sake of transparency, we are still waiting on responses from festival stakeholders across multiple time zones, which has a run on effect on Ticketing, Promotion, Artwork, etc. We appreciate this may not be the update you were hoping for, but in order to avoid further confusion, we will share confirmed details as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.”
This is the third statement the festival has released since Channel 9 declared the festival was going to be cancelled last week.
Hopefully, the next statement Pandemonium releases will clear up who is playing the festival.
Sean ‘diddy’ Combs’ home raided as part of sex trafficking investigation
Rapper and entertainment mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is under investigation for sex trafficking.
His mansion in Holmby Hills on the Westside of Los Angeles, California, was raided by police on Monday. His Miami home was also searched by armed police.
Combs is yet to comment on the raids or the investigation into him, but his lawyer, Aaron Dyer, has issued a statement, claiming the raids an "unprecedented ambush" on his client.
"Yesterday, there was a gross overuse of military-level force as search warrants were executed at Mr Combs's residences," the statement read.
He went on to say the "premature rush to judgement" of Combs was "nothing more than a witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits.
"There has been no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations. Mr Combs is innocent and will continue to fight every single day to clear his name."
The raids come off the back of Diddy’s former partner, Cassie, filing a lawsuit against Diddy in November 2023 claiming years of sexual abuse, which was settled out of court the day after it was filed.
Several other people have come forward with allegations against the famous rapper and producer.
Ruel & DMA’s drop collaborative single ‘What a life’
Only a mindreader would have predicted smooth R&B singer Ruel teaming up with Madchester-influenced rockers DMA’s. The two Sydney acts have come together for ‘What a Life,’ a palpable indie single sure to be a favourite with the triple j crowd.
Taking to Instagram to explain how the collaboration came about, DMA’s had this to say:
“We first linked a couple of years ago to write for Ruel’s debut album and being fans of each others music, it worked. From time to time we connected in the studio and wrote songs that we loved for each others projects.
”The Ruel x DMA’S songs were building up until we felt it was the right time to do something with what we had.”
They also mentioned that another song was in the works with producer Kon Kersting and that they “hope you love it.”
Jeremy allen white in contention to play bruce springsteen in ‘deliver me from nowhere’
Jeremy Allen White has been hot stuff since being cast as chef Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto in the hit drama series The Bear. The rumoured partner of Spanish singer Rosalía is now been circled to take on the role of real life rock star Bruce Springsteen in the recently announced Deliver Me from Nowhere, as revealed by Deadline.
The film is being written and directed by Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart, Black Mass) and is based on the book of the same name by Warren Zanes. It is a narrative feature focused on Bruce Springsteen during the writing and recording of his seminal 1982 album, Nebraska.
Producers are currently after White to play Springsteen, with A24 sought out as the distribution company. The film is set to start filming in New Jersey this Spring.
twenty one pilots announce Australian tour, no Adelaide
In mixed news for Twenty One Pilot fans, the alt-rockers have just announced a massive 59-date world tour that includes Australia. The bad news is ‘The Clancy World Tour’ doesn’t include a stop in Adelaide, with the duo of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun only playing Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney.
The tour comes in support of the band’s new album, Clancy, which is set for release May 17. The album has been touted as the final chapter in Twenty One Pilots’ nearly decade-long concept album series.
Kicking off with Blurryface (2015) and continuing with Trench (2018) and Scaled and Icy (2021), Clancy, named after the protagonist in the series of concept albums, will bring the long running story to a close.
Pre-sale tickets for Twenty One Pilots’ three Australian shows go on sale Thursday April 4 at 9:30am local time. General sale begins the following day on Friday April 5 at 9:30am local time.
Get all the information via Live Nation.
beyoncé drops tracklist for ‘Cowboy Carter’
The rollout for Beyoncé’s much anticipated Cowboy Carter album continues, with the 32-time Grammy Award winner taking to Instagram to drop the record’s tracklist.
Along with the previously released singles ‘16 Carriages’ and ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’, the album includes the much talked about cover of Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ and a collaboration with Willie Nelson entitled, ‘Smoke Hour’.
Queen Bey’s first foray into country music has already paid dividends, with the singer becoming the first black woman to top the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart with single ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’.
“This ain’t a Country album,” Beyoncé said in the statement. “This is a Beyoncé album.”
Cowboy Carter is out today.
Friday Five
This week's Friday Five is a celebration of all things Easter. Check out these alternative Easter tunes for your listening pleasure.
1. Patti Smith – ‘Easter’
2. Stone Roses – ‘I Am the Resurrection’
3. Joy Division – ‘Passover’
4. The Gossip – ‘Heavy Cross’
5. Tori Amos – ‘Crucify’
