- Taylor Swift’s American fans left baffled by huge detail at pop star’s Aussie concerts Daily Mail
- Tay Tay touches down: Where the star is (probably) staying in Sydney Sydney Morning Herald
- Photos of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Concerts in Melbourne, Australia PEOPLE
- Taylor Swift Issues PSA About Getting ‘Creative’ With Surprise Songs, Delivers ‘Come Back… Be Here’ & ‘Daylight’ Mashup Billboard
- Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Wristbands in Melbourne Give a Special Nod to Friendship Bracelet Trend Yahoo Life
Tag Archives: Concerts
Taylor Swift reveals a major change for her upcoming Eras Tour concerts: ‘Does that sound OK?’ – Page Six
- Taylor Swift reveals a major change for her upcoming Eras Tour concerts: ‘Does that sound OK?’ Page Six
- Taylor Swift Honors 288000 Fans Who Attended Latest Eras Tour Shows: ‘Melbourne, You Are the Love of My Life’ PEOPLE
- Swifties, Melbourne police officers swap friendship bracelets at Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour USA TODAY
- Taylor Swift Issues PSA About Getting ‘Creative’ With Surprise Songs, Delivers ‘Come Back… Be Here’ & ‘Daylight’ Mashup Billboard
- Taylor Swift performs at the MCG in front of her largest ever crowd and the Swifties love it – in pictures The Guardian
Taylor Swift Eras tour causes traffic to “more than double” during concerts – Axios
- Taylor Swift Eras tour causes traffic to “more than double” during concerts Axios
- By the Way, We’re Going Out Tonight: How an Us Weekly Editor Gets Bejeweled for Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’ Yahoo Entertainment
- After Announcing 1989 (Taylor’s Version), Taylor Swift Walked Out Of The Eras Tour Sipping A Glass Of Wine While Waving To Fans, And It’s A Mood CinemaBlend
- Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour: Mindy Kaling, Channing Tatum, Reese Witherspoon Among Stars Who Have Attended Hollywood Reporter
- Best Moments From Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour | THR News The Hollywood Reporter
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Hotels are pretty much booked up for upcoming Taylor Swift concerts in Santa Clara following record-breaking ticket sales – KGO-TV
- Hotels are pretty much booked up for upcoming Taylor Swift concerts in Santa Clara following record-breaking ticket sales KGO-TV
- Levi’s Stadium backs off ban on friendship bracelets at Taylor Swift concert KPIX | CBS NEWS BAY AREA
- Hotels are pretty much booked up for upcoming Taylor Swift concerts in Santa Clara ABC7 News Bay Area
- Calling all Taylor Swift fans: Are you taking the train from Sacramento to Santa Clara shows? Sacramento Bee
- BART to run late-night special service trains for Taylor Swift concert at Levi’s Stadium CBS San Francisco
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Metro Transit will extend light rail service after the Taylor Swift concerts in Minneapolis – Star Tribune
- Metro Transit will extend light rail service after the Taylor Swift concerts in Minneapolis Star Tribune
- Taylor Swift in Minneapolis: Metro Transit extends bus, train service FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul
- Metro Transit to extend service in downtown Minneapolis after Taylor Swift shows CBS Minnesota
- Heading to see Taylor Swift? Metro Transit can get you home safe and sound after all MPR News
- Metro Transit: Free Rice Street ride, no late-night trains (yet) for Taylor Swift, MVTA ‘Swiftie Bus,’ upcoming I-94 closures St. Paul Pioneer Press
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Rolling Stones New Album Will Have Contributions From Charlie Watts, Beatles, Latter Sparking Fevered Dreams Of Special Concerts – Deadline
- Rolling Stones New Album Will Have Contributions From Charlie Watts, Beatles, Latter Sparking Fevered Dreams Of Special Concerts Deadline
- Paul McCartney comes together with arch-rivals the Rolling Stones on new album CNN
- Dream musical collab! Beatles reportedly record with Rolling Stones for new album • FRANCE 24 FRANCE 24 English
- The Beatles’ ‘friction’ with The Rolling Stones detailed by Mick Jagger – ‘Lots of rivalry Express
- Beatles and Rolling Stones members reportedly collaborating on new album MusicRadar
- View Full Coverage on Google News
BTS Members to Undertake Military Service in South Korea, With Jin Set to Be First
SEOUL—The eldest member of the South Korean boy band BTS will be conscripted for the country’s mandatory military service later this year, ending a debate over whether the singers’ cultural achievements should merit an exemption.
The 29-year-old
Kim Seok-jin
—who goes by the stage name “Jin” to fans—had until his December birthday to begin his mandatory military service of 18 months. His start date had already been pushed back two years, following an amendment to South Korea’s conscription law in 2020 designed with the BTS group in mind.
That reprieve had allowed Mr. Kim to delay his military service until he turned 30. On Monday, Mr. Kim, through his management agency
HYBE,
said he would initiate steps to join the military as soon as his schedule for his solo release is concluded at the end of October. The other six members of the group plan to carry out their military service based on their own individual plans,
HYBE
said in a statement.
“Both the company and the members of BTS are looking forward to reconvening as a group again around 2025 following their service commitment,” HYBE said.
BTS—short for their Korean name
Bangtan Sonyeondan,
which they alter in English to “Beyond the Scene”—is one of the world’s most popular bands. Their devoted fans around the world officially go by the name ARMY.
Mr. Kim’s conscription announcement comes after the group held a free concert in South Korea’s southern port city of Busan on Saturday to help promote the country’s bid to host the World Expo in 2030.
In June, the group had also announced that they would be taking time to focus on releasing music as solo acts, citing struggles to create new music in order to live up to the expectations of their fans. The news sent HYBE shares tumbling by nearly 25% at the time—marking the company’s worst single-day decline since it went public in October 2020.
The weekend concert in Busan was widely expected to be the last involving all of the members of the K-pop boy band, as discussions around the South Korean government potentially exempting BTS from the mandatory military service had failed to reach a conclusion.
In social-media posts, fans of the K-pop band expressed a mix of sadness, resignation and acceptance over the news the group would begin military service. Many fans said BTS prepared them for a day like this when they announced they would be taking a break to focus on solo work. Other members of the ARMY said they were already looking forward to the new material the band would release when their time in the military ends.
South Korean legislators had been discussing the possibility of amending the local conscription law since last year without taking action.
In South Korea, all able-bodied men must serve in the military for at least 18 months, though the length of the service may vary by the type of post. The draft starts from the age of 18, though men can postpone until 28, with those in the entertainment profession permitted to postpone conscription until the age of 30.
BTS, which formed in 2013, was the first K-pop act to top the U.S. album chart and has produced a series of No. 1 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. They have sold out U.S. stadiums for their massive, global fan base and appeared on “Saturday Night Live.”
Earlier this year, BTS visited the White House where they discussed discrimination against the Asian community with President Biden. Fans lined up outside of the White House to try to get a glimpse of the band during the meeting.
BTS is the crown jewel of HYBE, which last year said it would acquire U.S.-based Ithaca Holdings to bring artists such as
Justin Bieber
and
Ariana Grande
under its roof.
—Joseph De Avila contributed to this article.
Write to Jiyoung Sohn at jiyoung.sohn@wsj.com
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Roger Waters concerts canceled in Poland after letter to Olena Zelenska
But the venues canceled the performances in the wake an exchange Waters had with Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska in recent weeks — with Waters also facing potential censure from the Krakow City Council after a member submitted a proposal to declare him persona non grata.
Waters, who frequently speaks out on foreign policy issues and is no stranger to controversy because of it, said Saturday in a statement that the cancellation of his Polish shows would “be a sad loss for me.”
In early September, Waters published an open letter addressed to Zelenska, the wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In it, Waters professed incredulity about her assertion to the BBC that more support for Ukraine would bring the war to an end faster.
“I guess that might depend on what you mean by ‘support for Ukraine’? If by ‘support for Ukraine’ you mean the West continuing to supply arms to the Kiev government’s armies, I fear you may be tragically mistaken,” he wrote.
Waters went on to accuse the United States of having a vested interest in extending the war and said “extreme nationalists” in Ukraine were violating “any number of red lines that had been set out quite clearly over a number of years by your neighbors the Russian Federation,” putting Ukraine “on the path to this disastrous war” — a statement many interpreted as victim-blaming.
Zelenska responded on Twitter that Waters should “ask [Russian President Vladimir Putin] for peace. Not Ukraine.”
Waters regularly espouses incendiary political opinions. Most recently, a video shown during his concerts referred to President Biden as a “war criminal.”
In contrast, Pink Floyd, which Waters left in an acrimonious breakup in the mid-1980s, released a single this year in support of Ukraine, “Hey Hey Rise Up,” its first new music in more than two decades. The song features Ukrainian vocalist Andriy Khlyvnyuk singing a Ukrainian anthem, and proceeds from its sale were earmarked for humanitarian relief.
Poland has been one of the staunchest defenders of Ukraine — with which it shares a border — since the Russian invasion. It has taken in by far the largest number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe and has pledged or donated aid to Kyiv at levels on par with, or in some cases exceeding, commitments made by countries with much stronger economies.
On Sunday, the entertainment platform Live Nation Polska and the concert venue Tauron Arena Krakow said in a one-line joint statement that they had “canceled Roger Waters’ concert.” They did not give a reason, and some Polish media outlets reported that Waters’s manager had decided to pull out. Waters denied those rumors in his statement Sunday.
The Krakow City Council was expected to vote this week on a proposal to declare Waters persona non grata, the Associated Press reported. The motion was submitted by Councilor Lukasz Wantuch, who, according to Deutsche Welle, previously wrote on social media that it “would be shameful for our city” if Waters were allowed to perform there. “Let him sing in Moscow,” he reportedly added.
Wantuch did not respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post early Monday.
“If Mr Łukasz Wantuch achieves his aim, and my forthcoming concerts in Krakow are canceled, it will be a sad loss for me,” Waters said in his statement. “I have been looking forward to sharing my message of love with the people of Poland, something I have been doing on many tours over a career that has lasted in excess of fifty years.”