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Ready for the desert? Weekend 2 of the 2023 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival kicks off this Friday (April 21).
Bad Bunny and BLACKPINK will return to headline this year’s festival, which returned to Indio, Calif., on April 14-16, while Blink-182 will fill in for weekend 1 headliner Frank Ocean on Sunday night.
Additional performers include Rosalía, Gorillaz, Burna Boy, Blondie, Becky G, Pusha T, Metro Boomin, Charli XCX, Kid Laroi, Flo Mili, Bjork, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Uncle Waffles, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Elderbrook, Kenny Beats, Yves Tumor, The Chemical Brothers, Kaytranada and SG Lewis.
According to Coachella.com, 2022 ticket holders and/or registered attendees received early access to buy tickets when they first went on sale in January. Though most tickets are sold out, there are still passes left for this weekend.
General Admission passes start at $540 up to $1,080 for VIP passes online. At Coachella.com, general admission tickets are available for $549 and $1,609 for VIP. Camping passes are sold out.
Only a limited amount of passes are still available, but you’ll probably have a good chance of scoring passes for weekend two at a decent price.
Weekend two of Coachella takes place from April 21-23. General Admission, three-day passes are available at Ticketmaster and Vivid Seats for around $640 and up for weekend two. VIP tickets start at around $1,324.
Coachella Tickets
Over at Stub Hub, general admission Coachella tickets are around the same price as the other ticket sites but start at $540 for week two general admission and approximately $1,380 and up for VIP. Camping passes are currently priced at $284 and up at Stub Hut. At Seat Geek, general admission tickets start at $726 for week two.
Booking a place to stay might be a little trickier, which is why starting early is always a safe bet. Not to worry if you’re booking last minute though. You can search for hotels and other lodging options on sites like Airbnb, Vrbo, Expedia, Trip Advisor, Booking.com and Travelocity.
After you get your tickets secured, check out our list of Coachella essentials to take on the road.
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
Dear Mama: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur premieres on FX on Friday (April 21). The five-part docuseries details the “illuminating saga” of Tupac and Afeni Shakur.
Directed by Allen Hughes and co-produced by Interscope Records, Dear Mama is described as a “deep dive” inside the bond between the late rap icon, whose life was cut short at age 25, and his activist mother, who passed away in 2016.
“There have been a million pieces done on him, but none of them really did the trick as far as understanding completely that narrative and that human being and the complexities and the dualities,” Hughes told Billboard. “You talk about the surface stuff, but there was never a deep dive. I wanted to understand.”
Keep reading for ways to stream the docuseries without cable.
How to Watch Dear Mama: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur
The first two episodes of Dear Mama will drop Friday at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The remaining three episodes will debut on Fridays. New episodes of the FX docuseries will be available to stream on Hulu the next day.
Want to catch the docuseries live? You can stream FX and other cable channels on platforms like Sling TV, DirectTV Stream, Hulu + Live TV, and Vidgo.
Most streamers offer a free trial, or a discount at sign up, which means that you might be able to catch the first two episodes of Dear Mama for free. And if you’re streaming internationally, use ExpressVPN or NordVPN.
FX shows are also available to stream on Prime Video. Although Dear Mama isn’t listed on the lineup, episodes of Snowfall, American Horror Story and other FX series are currently available for purchase.
Watch the trailer for Dear Mama below.
Taylor Swift‘s The Eras tour is taking over NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, this weekend and to celebrate, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo gave the venue a Swiftie-themed rebrand.
Hidalgo announced on Wednesday (April 19) that the stadium will be renamed “NRG Stadium (Taylor’s Version)” throughout the weekend in honor of the pop superstar. To add to the fun, banners with the temporary name will be hung at the stadium’s north and south entrances, according to Chron.
“We know all too well that other areas have done huge things,” Hidalgo said in a video message shared to Twitter, referencing a number of Swift’s songs. “They’ve lit up the town; they’ve renamed streets, they’ve even made you mayor for a day. But we’re going to something even better. I know if I did any of that, folks would say that I am the man.”
“With the name change, I know it’ll never go out of style,” she continued. “Plus, it’s not only the young that enjoy your music. I hope your stay is beyond your wildest dreams, and for everyone in Harris County, let’s get ready for it!”
Swift will perform at NRG Stadium (Taylor’s Version) for three nights, beginning on Friday (April 21) and then continuing on Saturday (April 22) and Sunday (April 23). Beabadoobee and Gracie Abrams are lined up as the openers.
One fan who will hopefully be at the show is a Texas legal-service provider named Karen Vladeck, who wrote a pun-filled letter to her first-grade daughter’s teacher asking for her to be excused from school to attend The Eras tour in Houston. According to Vladeck, the teacher simply responded in all caps, “THIS MADE MY ENTIRE DAY.”
Powerhouse multi-hyphenate Rita Ora recently dropped into the Billboard News studio to discuss her career, her marriage and the intersection of the two.
During the chat, the singer/songwriter/actress and entrepreneur talks about losing confidence in her career and how the experience inspired both her romantic relationship and through that, her new music.
“I spent such a long time fighting to be heard over the course of my experience being in the industry, that I guess I lost a lot of confidence and a lot of hope, fell really low,” Ora says. “And I guess when you’re at your lowest point, you can make a choice. You either kind of get back up and keep going, or you just let it consume you. And I did that. I got up. I flew to Australia to do The Voice over there, and I met somebody who changed me forever.”
That “somebody” is Oscar-winning screenwriter, actor and filmmaker Taika Waititi, whom Ora met in 2021 and married last year.
“Meeting Taika, who is my husband, I definitely never felt that before,” Ora says, “and so I just wrote it all down and I thought, ‘Okay, I think it’s time to make some music again.’ And here we are.”
Out today (April 19) Ora’s latest single is “Praising You,” a collaboration with legendary producer Fatboy Slim and a take on his 1998 classic “Praise You.” The track is the second single from Ora’s forthcoming album You & I, set for release on July 14 via BMG.
Released this past January, the album’s lead single, “You Only Love Me” includes cameos from Ora’s IRL friends including Lindsay Lohan and Kristen Stewart, along with an appearance from Sharon Stone.
“That was a crazy one for me,” Ora says of having the legendary actress in the video. “I met her at an event, and we just clicked. And she was really wise, and she actually was so, so welcoming and warm. I don’t know – I guess I just asked her. I just thought ‘What’s she’s just going to do? She’s just going to say no; let’s go for it.’ And I said, ‘Do you want to play my sort of fairy godmother who saves the day and brings me the dress.’ And she was like, ‘Yes! 100 percent.’
Watch the complete interview above.
Miranda Lambert is opening up about what’s next following her split from longtime label home Sony Music Nashville, which she announced in March.
In April 2022, Lambert released her last album under her Sony deal, Palomino, which is nominated for album of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards on May 11. (Lambert will also defend her ACM Awards entertainer of the year title, with additional nominations in the female artist of the year and artist-songwriter of the year categories.)
Lambert was 19 when she signed with Sony Music Nashville, which has put out all her major-label releases starting with 2005’s Kerosene. Seated upstairs at her Nashville restaurant, Miranda Lambert’s Casa Rosa, earlier this week, the singer/songwriter seemed serene, telling Billboard that she’s not in any rush to sign with another label at the moment.
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do as far as a label goes, but I have been enjoying just being creative and letting the music lead me,” says Lambert, who still owns her Vanner Records imprint. “I don’t have any obligation to anyone right now, and I’m kind of free for the first time in 20 years.
“I had some amazing times at Sony. My whole life’s work, as far as music, is there,” Lambert adds. “So looking back on all those records, I’m so grateful for all those good times, but I’m also very much welcoming change. The music business is a completely different landscape than it was when I was 19, when I signed my record deal. I definitely just want creative partners. It’s important to me to be in charge of my music, because that’s where everything starts for me. None of my other brands and things I’m involved in will work if the music isn’t there. I’m just going to keep writing — and I’ve got a few collabs up my sleeve that I’m very excited about — and see where it takes me.”
One of her recent collaborations took place with fellow singer/songwriter and country music hitmaker Jelly Roll. “The Lost,” which they co-wrote with Jesse Frasure, will be on Jelly Roll’s Whitsitt Chapel, which comes out June 2.
“Jesse Frasure asked me to be part of a co-write last minute. He was like, ‘Hey come write with me and Jelly,’ and I had never met him but was like, ‘Sure.’” Lambert says. “But instantly, I felt such a connection and he’s such a kindred spirit. He was just a lovely person, and he’s a great songwriter. Just talking to him, it felt like home. It felt like I had known Jelly forever. He’s just one of those welcoming personalities, and we had such a good time writing together. Luckily, our song did land on his record, which I am super excited about. I definitely made new lifelong friends in him and [Jelly Roll’s wife] Bunnie. It’s fun to, this far into the game, still collaborate and meet new people and this younger generation of artists who are emerging and learn new things from them and stay fresh. It feels cool to be part of that.”
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