Somewhere a Live Nation executive is rereading a verdict that contains the word "illegally." A Manhattan federal jury ruled Live Nation and Ticketmaster illegally monopolized concert ticketing, overcharging fans $1.72 per ticket at major venues in plaintiff states. Live Nation stock dropped more than 5% on the news.
The DOJ walked from this case in March. The states stayed. The jury agreed.
Damages and structural remedies, divestiture included, go to Judge Arun Subramanian next.
THIS WEEK IN SHOWS 🎸
Karol G headlines Coachella.
Sunday night, Carolina Giraldo Navarro wore Colombia's red, blue, and yellow and told the crowd in Indio she was the first Latina woman to headline the festival. She brought the all-female Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles onstage in matching blue blazers for "Ese Hombre es Malo" and dedicated the set "for my Latinos struggling in this country lately." After Bad Bunny in 2025, the Latin mainstage at Coachella isn't a milestone anymore, it's the default. Sabrina Carpenter opened the weekend Friday with a full Hollywood production; Karol G closed it Sunday with something larger.
Iggy Pop exits in a coffin. 😢
Days before his 79th birthday, Iggy closed his third-ever Coachella set with "Lust for Life," climbed into a red-fur-lined black coffin, crossed his arms, stuck his tongue out, and had the lid closed on him as he was wheeled offstage. He's back for Weekend 2 on April 19. Eight months of legacy-act health cancellations, and then Iggy got into a box and waved goodbye on his own terms. Not everyone gets to write their exit.
The Strokes announce "Reality Awaits."
Their first proper world tour in the stadium/arena era runs 37 dates across North America, Europe, the UK, and Japan from June 12 through October, with two nights at Red Rocks, a London O2 date, and a stop at Paris Accor. The support package is the headline inside the headline: Thundercat, Cage the Elephant, Hamilton Leithauser, Fat White Family, Alex Cameron, ÖLÜM. The tour is named after a forthcoming album. Artist presale is Wednesday, with general on-sale Friday.
Kanye's European dates keep collapsing.
On April 7, the UK Home Office revoked his electronic travel authorization and Wireless Festival cancelled his July London headline outright, issuing full refunds after four corporate sponsors including Pepsi had already pulled out. Today, Kanye postponed his June 11 Marseille date after French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said he was "highly determined" to block it. Two government interventions in eight days is a pattern, not an incident. Anyone holding a ticket to a European Ye date is getting no clean answer from anyone.
THE VENUE REPORT 🏛️
Novel, an independent room in Portland, Maine that turned a lot of locals' Friday nights for a lot of years, closes April 17, honoring every booked show through that date.
Another Portland room is not waiting. Live at Madrid's launched a free Thursday Happy Hour showcase series, 5 to 8 p.m., spotlighting southern Maine artists, with WMPG-affiliated programming filling part of the gap Novel leaves behind. Small rooms end in Maine the same way they end everywhere else. This time someone started another one in the same month. Portland is the new Hull.
THEN 🕰️
Ten years ago next Tuesday, Prince died at Paisley Park.
Mayte Garcia is running a "Glam Slam Benefit" at W Hollywood with Sheila E., St. Paul Peterson and the Minneapolis Funk All Stars, and Taylor Dayne; Paisley Park opens for afternoon candle-lighting and an evening concert film, and WYEP Pittsburgh plays Prince every hour from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. His live shows are still the reference point for what a working band on stage can be.
FAN DEBATE 💬
Bieber's $10M laptop set at Coachella. For a reported $10 million, Justin Bieber sat on a stool with a microphone and an open laptop, streamed his own old YouTube videos (including "Baby," which he harmonized with his teenage self), and let a few of them buffer mid-performance. One side calls the set conceptual, vulnerable, bold. The other side notes that Sabrina Carpenter played Friday with full Hollywood production (poodle dancers, the SABRINAWOOD sign, a Sam Elliott cameo) and that no female pop star could have played a $10M laptop set without career damage. If Sabrina Carpenter had played the laptop set Saturday and Bieber had played the Hollywood production Friday, would the conversation sound the same? Hit reply.
THE PRACTICAL BIT 🔧
The ADA Title II web accessibility update takes effect April 24 for public entities serving 50,000 or more: city-owned arenas, university venues, public amphitheaters, and any municipally connected concert venue. WCAG 2.1 Level AA is required for web and video content including live and recorded event content, which covers livestream captions, ticketing site usability, and accessible-seating pages. Smaller public entities have until April 26, 2027.
B-SIDES 🎶
Chris Brown and Usher announce "The R&B Tour": 33 co-headlining stadium dates including two nights at SoFi September 25-26. Neither artist has ever toured at this volume solo.
Lady Gaga closed the Mayhem Ball at MSG: 86 shows, four continents, $296M grossed, 1.4M tickets sold, tearful sold-out finale. The "I was at the last one" counterweight to Iggy's coffin.
10,000 concerts hit the Internet Archive: Aadam Jacobs bootlegged 10,000-plus shows across the '80s and '90s, including Nirvana's Chicago debut, early Pixies, and Depeche Mode, and has digitized about 5,500 so far, all free to stream. When the official record ends, the fan's memory becomes the record, which is exactly the idea Concerts Remembered is built on.
Demi and Joe reunite on "This Is Me": first live performance of the Camp Rock duet in 16 years; Joe reportedly sang both his and Nick's parts.
DOJ's top antitrust litigators walked: three senior attorneys (Dahlquist, Sweeney, Van Kirk) resigned after the March 9 Live Nation settlement, per Bloomberg. Context for the verdict above.
Revelry opens in downtown Green Bay: a 425-cap main room plus a 220-cap acoustic space, soft open August 1, grand opening August 28-29.
The night the Hold Steady played a VFW hall in Connecticut and the bartender told us the ice machine had been broken for a decade and nobody noticed before.
Somewhere tonight a fan is saying "I told you so," and for once it lands.
What'd you think of this week's Still Ringing? Hit reply. Jake reads more of these than he should.
See you at the show.
