Thomas Rhett will be kicking up his boots in 2025, when his Better In Boots Tour launches in June.

The Live Nation-produced tour will bring Thomas Rhett’s energy-fueled show and cascade of nearly two dozen No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay chart hits to 30 cities across North America, in states including New York, Virginia, Florida and Georgia. “Wind Up Missin’ You” hitmaker Tucker Wetmore will offer direct support on the tour, while “Austin” singer Dasha and sibling trio The Castellows will perform on select shows.

The tour will follow Thomas Rhett’s seventh album About a Woman, which released in August. The album features “Don’t Wanna Dance,” which interpolates Whitney Houston’s smash hit “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” as well as songs such as “Fool,” “Can’t Love You Anymore” and “Overdrive,” which draw on inspirations from artists ranging from The Oak Ridge Boys, Alan Jackson and The Rolling Stones.

Five-time Grammy nominee Rhett recently told Billboard about another song from the album, “Church,” which pays homage to both fellow country singer Eric Church’s music, as well as Rhett’s own love story with his wife, Lauren.

“This is Lauren’s favorite on the album, because when we were in high school, I bought [Church’s] Carolina record, which was his second album,” he says. “I had to buy a new copy every three months because I just wore it out. It kept skipping — but he was like our Zach Bryan. He was that dude who kind of got played on the radio but could care less if he was or not, and he was kind of grungy and would say things in songs that most people weren’t saying. I learned the entire album on acoustic guitar, and any time we were at a party, that’s all I played — so this song means a lot to us, because he was the soundtrack to our teenage years.”

Tickets for most of the Better In Boots tour dates will go on sale Friday, Sept. 20, at 10 a.m. local time on Thomas Rhett‘s website, with the remaining shows going on sale in the coming weeks.

See the full list of the Better in Boots 2025 Tour dates below:

It’s a new era for Nicki Minaj. The Barbz leader announced over the weekend that instead of releasing the Pink Friday 2 deluxe, she’s decided to turn those songs into a completely new project with the third installment of the Pink Friday series.

Minaj was supposed to drop her PF2: Gag City Reloaded deluxe last Friday (Sept. 13), but the release date came and went without the set. Nicki clarified the album’s situation on Sunday (Sept. 15), when she revealed that Pink Friday 3 is on the way, and fans can expect another announcement regarding the project’s arrival in the coming weeks.

“Instead of doing a DELUXE to Pink Friday 2, I’ve decided to do a brand new album. I’ll still incorporate new songs like #Mamita & [The ‘anxiety’ song] for the remainder of the tour tho…and I’ll announce the new date within the next couple weeks,” she tweeted. “The new music is just too good to be thrown away on a deluxe album. Last night, the songs I recorded were just way too iconic. I love you guys so much. You know that. I know you do. I’ll still give you something leading up to the announcement, so no worries.”

Nicki continued: “PF3 is about to do PRECISELY wtf BEEN needed to be done. TRUST ME BARBZ. IM SO EXCITED. BLESSED. LOVED (by the Barbz) & fortunately (for the Barbz & me), I’ve learned A LOT since 12/08/23. PF2 means so much to me. As my 1st album as #PapaBear mama, it’s just very special to me for so many reasons you guys aren’t aware of. I put every song on there in a specific order, etc. So to honor that, I’m going to give it the respect & integrity it deserves as a beautiful body of work & not add anything else to it.”

The Queens rapper explained that “1 or 2 songs is no big deal but 5-7 songs feels a little sloppy right now (In my humble opinion).” She added: “This era has just been so successful, rewarding, satisfying, etc. after much thought, I want to be for CERTAIN that I am being intentional about every single decision being made around both PF2 AND PF3.”

Nicki Minaj is currently on the road for the second leg of her North American Pink Friday 2 World Tour. She’ll be in Dallas on Tuesday (Sept. 17), and then makes stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Miami and Raleigh, and wraps up in Queens on Oct. 11.

Pink Friday 2 arrived on Dec. 8, 2023, and debuted atop the Billboard 200 with 228,000 album-equivalent units, according to Luminate. That sum is the largest week for a rap album by a woman in the 2020s decade, and the biggest for an R&B/hip-hop album by a woman in 2023.

Jane says … the tour is over. Jane’s Addiction has canceled its tour midway through the band’s trek after frontman Perry Farrell threw a punch at guitarist Dave Navarro during the band’s show on Friday (Sept. 13) in Boston at the Leader Bank Pavilion.

“The band have made the difficult decision to take some time away as a group. As such, they will be cancelling the remainder of the tour,” the band said in a brief statement Monday (Sept. 16). Refunds will be issued at the point of purchase.

In fan-captured videos that went viral after the Friday show, Farrell is seen on stage singing toward the audience before turning to Navarro and screaming the lyrics, seemingly angrily. The frontman then makes his way over to the guitarist, continuing his scream, before body-checking the guitarist, backing away, then getting back in Navarro’s face to continue yelling while the guitarist-actor — who appears confused — calmly holds Farrell at arm’s length while the frontman continues to yell. Farrell then throws a punch at his guitarist, and a crew member comes on stage, telling Farrell repeatedly to “Stop! Stop!” More crew members rush to the stage to restrain the rocker and take him off stage.

The next day, Jane’s Addiction issued a statement via the band’s Instagram Stories. “We want to extend a heartfelt apology to our fans for the events that unfolded last night,” the statement read. The band then noted that the following show on Sunday (Sept. 15) at the Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater was canceled.

Farrell’s wife, Etty Lau Farrell, shared a statement on her own Instagram after the altercation. Reposting video of the altercation, she explained how she saw the situation. “Clearly there had been a lot of tension and animosity between the members.. the magic that made the band so dynamic,” she wrote. ” Well, the dynamite was lit. Perry got up in Dave’s face and body checked him.”

“Perry’s frustration had been mounting, night after night, he felt that the stage volume had been extremely loud and his voice was being drowned out by the band,” she continued, noting that her husband had been battling a sore throat and tinnitus. “But when the audience in the first row, started complaining up to Perry cussing at him that the band was planning too loud and that they couldn’t hear him, Perry lost it.”

She went on to praise Navarro for trying to de-escalate the situation, noting that the guitarist “still looked handsome and cool in the middle of a fight,” while her husband was “a crazed beast” for a little bit. Added Etty, “He finally did not calm down, but did breakdown and cried and cried.”

Jane’s Addiction — who logged one song on the Billboard Hot 100 and three No. 1 hits on the Alternative Airplay chart since forming in the mid-’80s — was about halfway through its tour alongside Love and Rockets. The tour — produced by Live Nation — had been scheduled to conclude on Oct. 16 at the YouTube Theater in Los Angeles.

See Jane’s Addiction’s statement below:

In 2019, when Brooks & Dunn collaborated with such hot new artists as Luke Combs, Ashley McBryde and Brothers Osborne for Reboot, a collection of duets covering some of the superstar duo’s most beloved songs, they could have never imagined that within five years there would be a whole new crop of burgeoning stars to revisit the concept. 

Reboot proved to be such a tremendous success — providing the Country Hall of Fame pair with their first No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart in a decade — that it seemed natural to, well, reboot Reboot, but with a few twists.

Reboot II, out Nov. 15 on Sony Music Nashville, features a legion of new country artists, many of whom were just experiencing their first flushes of success or weren’t even signed yet five years ago, including Megan Moroney, Hailey Whitters, Lainey Wilson, Ernest and Warren Zeiders, but the new set also broadens the concept to include rockers Halestorm and bluesmen Marcus King and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram. Among the other artists on the album are Morgan Wallen, Jelly Roll, HARDY and Corey Kent.

“What was even more impressive was to sit down with this bunch and turn them loose to do the songs in whatever way fit their artistic vision,” Ronnie Dunn tells Billboard. “The fun part was we weren’t chasing the original recordings or arrangements or our versions. We turned them loose to do whatever they wanted to do and, I’m biased, but it was really refreshing.”

Hearing some of their songs, while still recognizable, turned on their heads and recreated with new arrangements, tempos or even as different genres, “made me realize how good we are,” Dunn says with a laugh, before seriously adding, “I think how lucky we are to have these songs that you can push the chameleon button on, and they change colors and keep on ticking.”

Unlike the first edition, where Kacey Musgraves and a few other artists upended their takes but for the most part the remakes stayed true to the originals, half the fun of listening to Reboot II are the unexpected roads some of the songs down — such as Moroney and Dunn’s slowed down, sultry duet on “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You,” The Earls of Leicester’s spirited bluegrass take on “How Long Gone” and Marcus King’s high-octane version of “Rock My World (Little Country Girl),” which screeches out of the gate.

It turns out Brooks & Dunn, one of country’s most successful duos with 20 No. 1s on the Country Airplay chart — would have happily embraced more reinventions on the first go-round. “I think artistically, Kix and I kind of wanted to let the horse run like we did on this on the first one — but the mandate was, ‘Hey this is an experiment. We haven’t done it before, so let’s try to keep the truck between the lines.’ And we were very pleased with it. But this is a whole different animal.” Then with what can only be described as a mischievous laugh, he adds, “I mean, this is gonna offend some people!”

Surprise more than offend more likely, given how Halestorm turns Brooks & Dunn’s classic “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” up to 11 with screaming guitars and Dunn going head to head with lead singer Lizzy Hale. 

“[Halestorm] did not disappoint,” says Kix Brooks, adding that more than 30 years into their partnership, it’s good for Brooks & Dunn to shake things up a bit.  “At this point in our career, we can’t really be nervous about that, especially on a record like this, and especially inviting some of the artists we did, like Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and Halestorm. Halestorm is a  really badass, really tight rock band and whatever song they come in with heads are going to bang.”

Furthermore, Brooks says some of the artists upped Brooks & Dunn’s game in a way that delighted them. “It was fun to see Ronnie go toe-to-toe with Lizzy,” he says. “I was like, ‘Good luck pal’ — but he did. I feel like a lot of the stuff really challenged us in a way that maybe we weren’t before. Kingfish came in on ‘Hard Workin’ Man’ with this funky blues thing, because that’s what he does with his band… then it’s like, ‘Holy crap. How are we going to plug into this?’ That was a whole new level of fun.”

Like the first Reboot, Brooks & Dunn were in the studio with the acts — no artists added their parts separately as happens in many such collaborative albums. 

“I felt like it would be rude not to be [there],” Dunn says. The duo largely left it to their guests to come up with new interpretations, but were there to assist if the artist got “bogged down, and it would become a team sport to figure things out.”

While Dann Huff produced Reboot, this time he still did the majority of Reboot II’s tracks — but artists were also encouraged to use producers and musicians they routinely work with, which added Joey Moi, Kristian Bush and Jerry Douglas to the mix (along with some unintentional levity). “Kristian, who was producing Megan, has a very cosmic approach to producing,” Brooks says. “He was doing this thing with his hands like, ‘We just need to interweave this and that into that,’ and I was like, ‘You got that, don’t you, Ronnie?’” 

“We almost threw him out the window,” Dunn says with a laugh — adding that making Reboot II  “was the most fun we’ve ever had,” in part because there was no pressure. 

The album contains 18 tracks, including six songs that were on Reboot, remade with different artists for Reboot II. “You think, ‘How can I do it differently? How can it not be repetitive? And everybody found a new way to give it a twist,’” Dunn says. Brooks cites Luke Combs’ straight-ahead read on “Brand New Man” for Reboot, whereas Warren Zeiders slows the tune way down on Reboot II and give it a “Nirvana kind of groove.” 

When asked if there could be a Reboot III five years from now, Dunn says, “We would probably have to write a lot more new songs,” before adding, “we’re both writing all the time.”

The new versions also seem to lead new fans to discover the duo. “Asking our crowds this summer on tour, ‘How many of you are at your first Brooks & Dunn show?’” and probably 70% of that crowd now has their hands in the air,” Brooks says. “They’re just finding these songs. We kind of have this rebirth on stage that’s kind of hard to describe.”

Though Brooks & Dunn took a touring hiatus from 2010 to 2015, they now have no desire to see the end of the road. Their first leg of their 2025 Neon Moon tour, produced by Live Nation, will start March 13 in Lubbock, Texas and run through April 26 in Louisville. 

“We’ve finally gotten to a place where we can kind of not worry about anything, just get out there and enjoy it,” Brooks says. 

“We’re still drawing the same size crowds we did in our heyday, so let it rock,” Dunn says, adding with a laugh, “And we’re still pretty.”

Brooks & Dunn – Reboot 2 TRACK LIST

The 2024 BET Hip Hop Awards is headed to Sin City. The show will be held in Las Vegas for the first time on Oct. 8 and will premiere Tuesday, Oct. 15, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on BET. BET is expected to announce the venue next week.

“BET is excited to bring BET Hip Hop Awards to a city known for its electrifying atmosphere and rich history of awe-inspiring entertainment,” Scott Mills, president & CEO of BET, said in a statement. “From the groundbreaking performances of legends like Sammy Davis Jr. and Lena Horne, who shattered racial barriers, to today’s leading and emerging artists, Las Vegas’ vibrant energy reflects the innovation, soul, and storytelling that Black culture continuously contributes.”

The BET Hip Hop Awards, which originated in 2006, has been held in Atlanta in all but three years. It shifted to Miami in 2017-18 and was held in multiple locations in 2020, at the height of the pandemic. Fat Joe hosted the show the last two years. This year’s host has not yet been named.

Connie Orlando, EVP of specials, music programming & music strategy at BET, will oversee production of the annual event and serve as executive producer with Jamal Noisette, BET’s SVP of specials & music programming. Jesse Collins, CEO of Jesse Collins Entertainment, will act as executive producer, with Jeannae Rouzan-Clay and Dionne Harmon from Jesse Collins Entertainment also serving as executive producers.

Collins and Harmon won Primetime Emmys two years ago for their work on The Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show Starring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent, which was voted outstanding variety special (live).

Las Vegas has become a popular home for awards shows. The Billboard Music Awards were based there most years from 1996 to 2022. The Academy of Country Music Awards were held there in all but three years from 2003 to 2022. The Grammys were held there in 2022, the only time the show has been broadcast from a city in which it doesn’t have a chapter.