A lot happened in a too-short amount of time when Jung Kook made his Global Citizen Festival solo debut as co-headliner on a rainy day in New York City Saturday (Sept. 23). The ARMY was in full force supporting the BTS member for his solo performance that included “a few surprises” — which he teased in a pre-show interview that aired during the concert’s live stream.

First, as the night set in on city’s Central Park, Jung Kook — smiling and adjusting his purple in-ear monitors — kicked off his set with “Euphoria.” He held up his mic to hear the sound of the crowd singing back to him. Some tears were shed by fans up front by the barricade.

“Wow. Hi, Global Citizen!” he greeted the audience before moving along to his next song. He addressed the purpose of the show, saying, “Let’s keep making an impact further to make sure everyone, everywhere has access to their basic rights like food and education. OK?”

With the music festival in Central Park, Global Citizen aimed to urge world leaders gathered in New York for the UN General Assembly to tackle climate crisis, equity for women and girls, and the global hunger crisis.

“Here is my next song,” Jung Kook continued to say from the stage. “Thank you for coming in the rain. I love you guys.”

“Still With You” was up next, and it was his first-ever live performance of the track. Jung Kook was feeling the guitar solo on the song. One fan held up a sketch of the BTS artist, while many from the ARMY held up their phones to capture the memory of the live event.

Jung Kook then introduced “Seven,” his solo summer single, hyping the crowd with an exclamation of “Let’s go!”

One of the night’s unexpected moments was an unannounced appearance by Latto during “Seven,” for which she delivered a live performance of her feature from the collab.

“Wow, that was a nice surprise, right?” Jung Kook commented at the song’s end. Latto said to him, “Thank you, JK. Shout out to the ARMY!”

Jung Kook’s Global Citizen set was nearing its end at this point. “My last song is a set of BTS hits,” he said. He recently said he misses performing with the group, which hasn’t happened lately due to solo music endeavors by its members, who are also fulfilling South Korea’s military enlistment requirement.

The BTS medley highlighted a trio of Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers, “Permission to Dance,” “Dynamite” and “Butter,” all of which have hit No. 1.

But Jung Kook’s show wasn’t quite over when he exited the performance area. A clip played on a large screen on the stage, showing Jung Kook’s name and “3D,” a cryptic teaser. ARMY didn’t have to wait for official details for long: BIGHIT Music soon confirmed that “3D” is Jung Kook’s next single, and it features Jack Harlow.

Jung Kook Set List at Global Citizen 2023

“Euphoria”
“Still With You” (live debut)
“Seven” (feat. Latto)
“Permission to Dance/“Dynamite”/“Butter” (BTS medley)

Bob Dylan astonished thousands of fans at Willie Nelson’s sold-out Farm Aid festival with a surprise late-night performance Saturday (Sept. 23) at the Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville, Indiana.

The appearance took place 38 years after Dylan conceived the idea for what became Farm Aid.  

On July 13, 1985, in Philadelphia, Dylan had taken the stadium stage of Live Aid, the mega-benefit organized to raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief. Between songs, he mused to the event’s global audience: couldn’t a similar benefit help America’s family farmers?

“The question hit me like a ton of bricks,” Nelson recalled to Billboard in 2015. The musician was on the road that day, watching Live Aid on his tour-bus TV, and began looking into the economic crisis that was then forcing family farmers off their land and into bankruptcy. Then he called his friends, including the musician who made the suggestion.

Dylan was among the remarkable lineup of country and rock musicians who played the first Farm Aid in Champaign, Ill., on Sept. 22, 1985, a bill which also included Nelson’s fellow Farm Aid founders Neil Young and John Mellencamp, along with Johnny Cash, John Fogerty, Don Henley, Billy Joel, Loretta Lynn, Roy Orbison, Bonnie Raitt and many more — including Tom Petty, who died in 2017, and Petty’s band, the Heartbreakers.  

Three decades on, Farm Aid remains music’s longest-running concert for a cause, having raised more than $64 million to support family farmers and a sustainable food system.  

Farm Aid’s guiding board now includes Dave Matthews and Margo Price, and Saturday’s bill also featured the Grateful Dead’s Bobby Weir & the Wolf Bros. featuring the Wolfpack, Lukas Nelson, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Allison Russell, The String Cheese Incident and Particle Kid. Also on the bill: Clayton Anderson, The Black Opry featuring Lori Rayne, Tylar Bryant and Kyshona, the Jim Irsay Band, featuring Ann Wilson of Heart, Native Pride Productions and the Wisdom Indian Dancers.

At Farm Aid in 1985, Dylan performed with Petty and the Heartbreakers.

“At that time, Tony Dimitriades, Tom’s manager, was in a business partnership with [the late] Elliot Roberts in Lookout Management” who represented Dylan, recalled Bill DeYoung, a music critic, author and Petty historian, in a 2017 interview with Billboard.  DeYoung for many years worked at the Gainesville Sun, the newspaper in Petty’s Florida hometown.  

“Dylan needed a band for the first Farm Aid,” said DeYoung. “Everything else sprang from that.”

“Everything else” included the True Confessions Tour that Dylan and Petty launched together early the following year, in February 1986, during which the Heartbreakers backed Dylan for some 60 shows in Australia, Japan and the United States — including two nights at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. and three nights at Madison Square Garden.

The singers also performed at the second Farm Aid on July 4, 1986 — via satellite from their tour stop at Rich Stadium, outside Buffalo, New York. A second outing, the Temples in Flames tour, followed in 1987. 

And the creative friendship between Dylan and Petty — born at Farm Aid — flourished.

In 1988, Dylan welcomed Petty, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison to his studio in Malibu to record the song “Handle Me With Care.” Originally intended as the B-side to a single from Harrison’s Cloud Nine album, the song instead became the inspiration for the tongue-in-cheek supergroup The Traveling Wilburys.

So, from Farm Aid, Dylan found a potent touring partner and a hit recording collaboration. On Saturday, the legendary singer contributed to the goal of helping America’s family farmers, which he had first suggested on stage 38 years ago.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Taylor Swift is giving a significant boost to U.S. voter registration.

During National Voting Day on Tuesday (Sept. 19), the pop superstar shared a message on Instagram urging her 272 million followers to register to vote through nonpartisan nonprofit Vote.org. The push resulted in more than 35,000 registrations, according to the organization.

“I’ve been so lucky to see so many of you guys at my US shows recently,” Swift wrote on her Instagram Stories. “I’ve heard you raise your voices, and I know how powerful they are. Make sure you’re ready to use them in our elections this year!”

The “Cruel Summer” singer added, “Register to vote in less than 2 minutes at vote.org/nvrd.”

Vote.org said it had 157,041 eligible voters visit the site after Swift’s message on Tuesday, marking the largest National Voter Registration Day since 2020. The organization also experienced a 72% increase in 18-year-old registrations compared to 2019 and a 115% increase in that age range compared to 2022.

“Time and time again young people are showing up and demonstrating they care about their rights and access to the ballot box,” Vote.org CEO Andrea Hailey said in a statement. “During the day on Tuesday we saw a 1226% jump in participation the hour after Taylor Swift posted. Our site was averaging 13,000 users every 30 minutes — a number that Taylor Swift would be proud of.”

This isn’t the first time Swift has reminded her fans of the importance of voting. The pop star has previously partnered with Vote.org to encourage people to cast their ballots.

She recently urged fans in Nashville to hit the polls in July, letting her followers on social media know that she had already voted in the local election, noting on Instagram, “We have the opportunity to choose those who will represent us for the next four years.”