The Round Table

Grammy award winning, Kings of Leon (damn, that sounds nice!), have announced their summer tour plans. The band will hit the road starting in June with the first stop in Atlantic City, NJ. Needless to say, this is going to be a busy summer as this news comes fresh off Kings of Leon being named headliners of Bonnaroo  (June 10th-13th).

Will you catch KOL on tour this year? Full schedule of dates after the jump. Tickets go on sale starting Friday, March 19th for select dates.

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Today, indie rockers, The National, have announced a new album set for release in May as well as a spring tour to support the yet-to-be-titled follow-up to Boxer. The band of New Yorkers transplanted from Ohio will kick off the tour at the Big Ears festival in Knoxville, Tennessee on March 28th followed by two special shows in Richmond, Va in April.

The National will then head overseas to play a few shows, including, Royal Albert Hall in London on May 6th and Le Zenith in Paris on May 7th. Can’t afford the airfare to catch the boys in action overseas? No worries, they kick-off their North American in Los Angeles on May 22nd and concludes in NYC at Radio City Music Hall on June 16th. According to the band, there are  limited pre-sales going on now and run through 10p Thursday, Jan 28th. The London & Berlin pre-sales start at 10 am local time on Wednesday Jan. 27 and run through 10 pm Thursday, Jan. 28. The password for all of the pre-sales is BloodBuzz.

Check out full tour schedule after the jump!

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Our favorite Material Girl, Madonna, will unleash her recent “Sticky & Sweet” tour on DVD to the masses on March 30th. Yup, that means Madge will rake in even more cash for the already highly successful tour, which reportedly was on of the biggest outings ever mounted by a solo act.

It will be available on DVD, Blu-Ray and CD and will include many of the singer’s hits spanning the course of her 20+ year career including “4 Minutes,” “Like a Prayer,” “Hung Up” and “Ray of Light”. The DVD footage was filmed in Buenos Aires, over four days to a crowd exceeding 256,000 fans, the concert also includes a show stopping moment when Madonna performs a historic “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” to a thunderous audience response from her Argentine fans. The DVD also includes 30 minutes of exclusive footage filmed behind the scenes during the course of the tour. Yippee.

Still want more? Reportedly, VH1 plans to premiere the concert in early February. You’ll want to stay tuned for more details.

British jazz-pop maestro Jamie Cullum has returned to reclaim his right to mainstream pop stardom. While the talented singer-songwriter found mainstream success with his album Twenty-Something, it was his improve skills and the ability to cover top 40 hits rooted in jazz from Kanye West’s “Gold Digger” to White Stripes “Seven Nation Army” that helped him gain notoriety.

This past November, Cullum (quietly) released his fifth studio album, The Pursuit, after taking time off. Previously, he had spent two years on the road in support of his 2005 album Catching Tales.

Cullum has stated in the past that he loves all music from jazz to pop to dance. His current single, a cover of Rihanna‘s smash “Don’t Stop The Music,” showcases this love of music as well as his innate ability to re-arrange a pop song into a jazz focused standard. So, don’t pigeon-hole this guy — he’s the real deal.

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Emo fans rejoice! Dashboard Confessional, the OG kings of mainstream emo are back with a new album, Alter the Ending, due out November 10th. And we have the lead single, “Belle of the Boulevard” streaming for your enjoyment starting today.

Chris Carrabba’s voice still melts my heart with his velvety-smooth vocals. “Belle of the Boulevard” is quintessential Dashboard, let’s just say it makes you feel like it’s 2002 all over again. Grab your copy of Alter the Ending come November and check out Dashboard Confessional this fall on tour with New Found Glory. Full stream of “Belle of the Boulevard” after the cut. Excuse me while I go blast “Screaming Infidelities” and shout at the top of my lungs.

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One of my favorite tracks from one of my favorite albums of 2009, La Roux‘s “I’m Not Your Toy” song + video is a perfect example of the duo’s mastering of the 80s synth pop sound and attitude –this time with a less moody, more fun vibe.

Singer/synth player Elly Jackson, with her trademark Flock of Seagulls-lite cockatoo hairstyle (see right), emerges from a pool like an androgynous siren set on bewitching a group of retro-yet-futuristic Caribbean hoi polloi. It’s like a Minority Report pool party in that crazy lady’s greenhouse, with Elly as a singing pre-cog in a sweet white pant suit. The backup dancers (!) are the shit and we finally get to see Ms. Jackson smile, albeit briefly.

Video + awesome remix + US Fall tour dates after the cut.
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Whispers had been mounting all week that the “Fame Kills” tour featuring two of my personal favorite “artists” (insert sarcasm here), Kanye West and Lady Gaga was on thin ice. Well, the rumors have finally been confirmed to EW that the “Fame Kills” tour is officially dead. What a pity!

Attention whore everywhere, dry your eyes, it’s our sneaky suspicion that there never was going to be an actual tour, rather, it was a nice publicity play from two of the biggest media whores to grace this earth. So whose to blame? According to MediaTakeOut.com, Lady Gaga pulled out (insert Gaga has a penis joke here).

Reps for neither artist commented on the tour cancellation, so we’ll have to see what details emerge in the upcoming days. Even if this tour was legit, I can’t imagine two ego-maniacs sharing the limelight on a tour without some fireworks.

Yesterday, we gave you a review of Miranda Lambert’s latest release, Revolution, and today we have some pretty cool news to share. It appears Miranda has teamed up with TheNest.com to promote Revolution by giving away tickets to her upcoming fall/winter tour.

For a chance to win, simply log on to TheNest.com, click on the high-lighted microphone and enter. The site will give away 5 pair of tickets to see Miranda as well as 5 copies of Revolution.

Not a Miranda Lambert fan, that’s cool too, TheNest.com will unveil a new artist with a whole new set of tour stops every Tuesday for the next six weeks. For more info, click the image below. Good luck!