Jedward set to tour Australia

Down Under bound ... Ireland's Jedward / Pic: AP/Sergey Ponomarev Source: DailyTelegraph

 

Maria Lewis, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Tween hearts are a flutter with the news that Irish pop sensation Jedward are coming Down Under.

The identical blonde twins will be here in November for an Australian tour with dates in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney.

John and Edward Grimes became a global sensation when they appeared on X Factor in the UK and have gone on to release three albums.

They also represented Ireland two years in a row at the Eurovision Song Contest.

The 21-year olds have amassed a fortune of some $5M between them.

Jedward play at the Enmore Theatre on Sunday, December 1, 2013.

Ricky Martin to tour on Oz stadium show

 

Singer Ricky Martin will be a coach on the next season of The Voice. Picture: AP Source: AP

Kathy McCabe, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Ricky Martin has answered the social media siren of his Australian fans and will shake his bon bon on our arena stages in October.

The wildly popular coach on The Voice told fans earlier this month he would return for his first tour in 13 years if they made their demands for shows via Twitter.

The national run has been in the works since the Latin heart-throb signed up to replace Keith Urban as a coach for the reality series' second season. Ricky negotiated with Nine Live, the network's touring arm, to promote the tour.

Fans have been hanging for Ricky to strut his stuff on stage since the show started airing last month, the popular Latin performer barely satisfying his legion of loyal admirers with the coaches' performances of Muse's Uprising and Rihanna's Diamonds.

Ricky has promised he will showcase new songs as well as the favourites from his recent Greatest Hits Souvenir Edition, which has achieved gold status in six weeks.

"This is the first time in more than a decade that I will be back on tour, live, in Australia. I am looking forward to singing all my greatest hits and some special new material that I can't wait to share with you all," Ricky said. "I'm ready to leave my soul on stage."

Visa customers can buy tickets from noon tomorrow via visaentertainment.com.au, while general tickets go on sale on June 3 from noon.

Ricky will open his tour in Melbourne on October 5. He will lob in Adelaide on October 10 to play the Adelaide Entertainment Centre before heading to Perth, Brisbane and Sydney.

Beyoncé to perform in Australia later this year in second wave of world tour

Beyoncé performs during the Super Bowl halftime show ahead of announcing her world tour. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

Cameron Adams, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Beyoncé’s Australian fans will need to wait until the year's end for the pop star's tour to hit local shores after circling the globe.

Beyoncé announced the European and North American leg of her Mrs Carter Show World Tour after her Super Bowl performance.

Beyoncé's tour starts on April 15 in Serbia and the first leg ends in Rio de Janeiro on September 13.

Australia, Asia and Latin America will be included on the second leg of the tour, which will run for over a year.

Previewed as her "most ambitious undertaking to date", the top ticket price for most American shows is around $280.

Ticket prices start at around $60.

One show at the Staples Centre in LA features a company offering premium ticket packages for $4000 - without the chance to meet the superstar.

Her last Australian tour was in September 2009.

Beyoncé's Super Bowl performance has re-ignited sales of her previous band Destiny's Child, who reformed for the event.

In America their album sales rose by 600-per-cent overnight, in Australia's Destiny's Child's #1 is No.15 on iTunes.

The name of her new tour is inspired by her married name - husband Jay-Z's real name is Shawn Carter.

Pop diva Mariah Carey touches down for new year

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

The Daily Telegraph reports

Singer Mariah Carey arrived in the country at the weekend ahead of her first Australian tour in 15 years and will spend New Year's Eve with her family.

Confidential hears the pop diva, her rapper husband Nick Cannon and the couple's 18-month-old twins Moroccan and Monroe (or Roc and Roe as she calls them) will see in 2013 aboard a luxury yacht on the Great Barrier Reef.

The foursome touched down on the Gold Coast on Friday night via private jet and boarded the boat on Saturday morning, according to our Queensland sources.

Getting the best of both worlds, the couple and their children spent Christmas in snowy US ski capital, Aspen, in Colorado.

It's understood they will sail around the reef before heading to the Gold Coast tomorrow for Carey's first show at Jupiters Casino with Cannon as the support artist with a DJ set.

The family will then head to Sydney for a concert on January 3, before wrapping things up in Melbourne on January 5.

While the shows are highly anticipated, there are plenty of disappointed fans who have been waiting to see the Hero singer since her Butterfly tour in 1998.

The first two gigs sold out in four minutes, but there are a small number of tickets available for the Melbourne show.

News of the tour came as a surprise because Carey has not released new music since 2010, when her second Christmas album came out.

She is one of the most successful female entertainers of all time, selling a staggering 200 million records and the 43-year-old has promised her fans an unforgettable show.

"It is really hard to make sure I see all of my fans around the world," she said.

"It has been a case of waiting for the right time to make the trip."

Adam Ant sees the light after years in the dark

Adam Ant in Sydney to promote his Australian tour. Picture: Renee Nowytarger Source: The Australian

Tim Douglas, The Australian, reports

For almost a decade, Adam Ant's guitar - once the 1980s British rock star's closest companion - remained untouched.

As the flamboyant new wave musician's very public battle with mental health reached a critical point in the late 1990s, music was the farthest thing from his mind.

"I was just a shell,'' the British musician, 57, told The Australian in Sydney yesterday, ahead of his first Australian tour in more than 30 years.

"I was in a bad place. I had been working solidly from 1977 to 1995, and I drove myself literally mad. I got to the point where there was nothing left.''

Ant, whose pseudo-military garb and commando-grade make-up remain an abiding cultural footnote for 80s post-punk, said he has his 13-year-old daughter, Lily, to thank for his decision to take control of his life, and relaunch his career.

"Having Lily made the real difference,'' said Ant. "Suddenly music wasn't this self-driven obsession with the power and the glory and being No. 1. I hadn't become a man until my daughter came into my life.''

The musician, accompanied by band Georgie Girl and her Poussez Posse, will begin his first Australian tour since 1981 in Sydney on March 23, before playing Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane.

Ant - real name Stuart Goddard - enjoyed wild global chart success with Adam and the Ants in the 1980s with hits such as Stand and Deliver before replicating the success as a solo artist with songs including Goody Two Shoes, an Australian No 1.

He faded from the spotlight in the mid-90s before being thrust back into it in 2002 after being arrested for threatening patrons at a London hotel with an imitation pistol.

"Things were pretty dreadful, pretty hopeless,'' says the musician, who was diagnosed as bipolar aged 21. "I realised, you know, I'm not invincible; not a machine.''

He took the bold step of actively relaunching his career two years ago, with pop-up "guerrilla'' gigs in London, which were followed by a more substantial British tour that garnered rave reviews.

"That was important to me,'' he said. "You know you're doing your job if people are listening.''

The singer, who will release his ninth album in July, said it was important to remain a passionate advocate for mental health. "I think it's one of the responsibilities you have when you're famous - or infamous,'' he said. "I feel duty bound to share my experience. Mental health is a subject shrouded in ignorance.''

Life now for the charmingly erudite musician is all about control. He owns his own record label, has toned down his make-up ("it's still important to wear a little bit so you can be seen a few rows from the front'') and designs his own clothes.

"It's a fresh look for me,'' he said. "This is all a new start and I love the challenge. You know, I'm starting all over again.''

Madonna to tour Australia in 2013

Madonna put on quite a show for Super Bowl fans, now she's heading to Australia. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

Cameron Adams, The Herald Sun, reports

Madonna will tour Australia next year - her first show here in 20 years.

Fresh from blowing them away at Super Bowl, the superstar is a confirmed starter for Down Under in 2013, sending local fans into a frenzy.

Promoter Live Nation said Madonna's world tour would start in Tel Aviv on May 29 and end in Australia early next year. She will perform 90 concerts around the globe - her longest tour to date.

Her previous four world tours have all bypassed Australia.

After axing plans for Australia in 2009, manager Guy Oseary told angry fans: "Madonna really needs to go to Australia. We are long overdue for a trip Down Under and apologise for that. It will happen."

Live Nation chief Arthur Fogel told Billboard: "Of the shows we're doing, I'd say 25 to 30 per cent will be markets she's never played before. There's still a few left.

"We'll get to these markets where she's never been, some exciting new places, and get back to Australia after too long a time."

The Australian dates are expected to be announced shortly - with Madonna likely to play in a mix of stadiums and outdoor venues.

While ticket prices are still being negotiated, seats for some of the American shows, which go on sale next week, range from $45 to $355.

As with most superstars, her tours have more expensive VIP options for hardcore fans to be closer to the stage.

Madonna performed at the MCG in 1993.

Her previous tour, 2008-09's Sticky & Sweet, grossed more than $400 million - the highest for a solo act and the third most successful tour of all time.

The new tour takes Madonna to Europe from May to August, North America from August to November, followed by a Christmas-new year break, then Australia.

Madonna's new album MDNA will be released on March 26.

Coldplay expected to announce Australian tour in late 2012 during trip to Sydney this month

To tour Australia ... Coldplay's Chris Martin is playing two shows in Sydney later this month before national tour later in year. (AP Photo/Paul White) Source: AP

Kathy McCabe, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Rockers Coldplay are expected to announce an Australian tour for late 2012 during a quick visit to Sydney this month.

The supergroup, whose single Paradise is the biggest hit of their 15-year career, will head to Sydney directly after performing at the Grammys on February 12.

Chris Martin and mates will play intimate shows for 2DAY FM and Sunrise during their two-day visit on February 16 and 17, which is being sponsored by Huawei Mobile.

Bands once regarded corporate sponsorship as "selling out" but Sydney would have lost Lady Gaga's Monster Hall concert and The Pussycat Dolls' Sydney Opera House gala if Vodafone and X-Box respectively hadn't picked up the tab.

Coldplay played at Splendour In The Grass six months ago on the eve of finishing their record Mylo Xyloto, which went double platinum yesterday.

Martin will be hoping the tour gives Paradise the push it needs to make it to the top of the charts, which would give Coldplay their first No.1 single in Australia.

He has joked he is jealous his wife Gwyneth Paltrow beat him to that feat - with her Huey Lewis duet Cruisin' reaching No.1 here in 2000.

Eighties pop star Adam Ant to tour Australia with concert at Sydney's Enmore Theatre on March 23

Eighties pop icon ... . Singer Adam Ant has announced an Australian Tour with a concert at the Enmore Theatre, Newtown, on March 23.. Source: Supplied

Kathy McCabe, The Daily Telegraph, reports

The swashbuckling prince of 80s pop, Adam Ant, will continue his comeback with an Australian tour in March.

Adam and The Ants enjoyed just two years of huge international success with a raft of hits including the eponymous Ant Music, Good Two Shoes, Stand and Deliver and Prince Charming.

After they split in 1982, Ant became one of the first VJs to host the newly launched MTV and then parlayed his popularity into a moderately successful acting career in film and television for several years.

He returned to music in the early 1990s but his career stalled again in the following decade after a series of violent incidents led to him being committed to psychiatric care.

He revealed in his autobiography Stand And Deliver that he had battled mental illness for most of his life and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

The 57-year-old pop icon returned to the live stage in the UK last year to rave reviews and will perform with his new band The Good, The Mad and The Lovely Posse at the Enmore Theatre on March 23, with tickets on sale from tomorrow.

Ant will also visit Sydney and Melbourne in a couple of weeks for a promotional tour to spruik his comeback.

Duran Duran to tour Australia next year

7 News reports

English rock legends Duran Duran will tour Australia in March next year to promote their new album All You Need Is Now.

The original Duran line-up of Simon Le Bon, John Taylor, Roger Taylor, and Nick Rhodes will play six shows in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and the Hunter Valley.

The tour will include a series of large-scale arena shows as well as two outdoor concerts in WA's Swan Valley and NSW's Hunter Valley.

All You Need Is Now, produced by Grammy Award-winner Mark Ronson, features guest vocals Ana Matronic of the Scissor Sisters, R&B superstar Kelis and string arrangements from Owen Pallett of Arcade Fire.

Duran Duran last visited Australia in 2008, where they headlined V Festival concerts across the country.

This time around Duran Duran will showcase hits from their much anticipated new record and timeless classics from their 30-year repertoire.