Category: Music

UPDATE: Wu-Tang Clan sparked the Knicks for a second-half comeback that is etched in the history books, as the home team overturned the biggest deficit in NBA playoffs history. Down at one stage by 29 points, the Knicks recorded a 107-106 win against the traveling Spurs are now one win away from the championship.

Cometh the hour, cometh the Wu-Tang Clan.

The hip-hop heroes stepped onto the hardwood of Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night (June 11) for a much-needed special delivery during game 4 of the NBA Finals.

RZA and Co. unleashed a medley of “Bring da Ruckus,” “Method Man” and “C.R.E.A.M.,” a rare moment to savor for the New York faithful who were watching on, crushed, and processing the New York Knicks’ first-half capitulation to the visiting San Antonio Spurs.

New York desperately needed a hip-hop miracle, a Wu-Tang lucky charm. The Knicks franchise, hunting its first NBA title in 53 years, fell behind 76-49 at the break. That scoreline, isn’t just bruising. It’s historic. No visiting team in NBA history has led by so many points at the half of a Finals game. And no other Finals team has hit as many first-half 3s as the Spurs (14).

The rap heavyweights are so invested in the Knicks’ run to the title, they’ve swapped out their social media profile with a “Wu York Knicks” logo. If they were feeling deflated at the break, they weren’t showing it. See below.

Earlier, Wu-Tang Clan’s official Instagram appeared to confirm that the group would be performing at the Garden. “Bring Da Hive Knicks in 5,” the Wu captioned a post on its Instagram Story.

And separately, on the new episode of “Wu Wednesdays,” RZA’s SiriusXM show on LL COOL J’s Rock The Bells Radio (Ch. 43), the rapper gave a hint of hip-hop action to come. “Those making it out to (MSG) tonight might be in for something special,” RZA teases at the top of the show. “Let’s see what goes on in the building tonight.”

Page Six first reported that the Wu would be heading to MSG as halftime’s entertainment with the NBA Finals returning to the Big Apple for the first time since 1999, which also saw the New York Knicks battling the San Antonio Spurs back then.

Regardless of the result, Wu-Tang Clan has a lot to look forward to. The act will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this December, alongside Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, Oasis, Sade and Luther Vandross. The group has been eligible for induction since 2018. RZA has called the honor “one of those pillars in life,” noting that his first house he ever bought was in Cleveland and he’s driven by and visited the Rock Hall “hundreds of times” in the years since.

For those keeping score, the Knicks went into game 4 with a 2-1 series lead. The Wu is currently on a break from the crew’s Wu-Tang: The Final Chamber tour. The farewell trek will resume with a North American leg kicking off in August. The crew will be making stops in Atlantic City, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Toronto, Atlanta, Orlando, Tampa, Albuquerque, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas before hosting a final show on Oct. 4 in Phoenix. The legendary rap group was also inducted into Billboard‘s Hip-Hop Hall of Fame in 2025.

As the son of Sublime‘s late Bradley Nowell, and frontman for the genre-blending band himself since 2023, Jakob Nowell is something of a scholar when it comes to the group’s history and legacy. So he views this incarnation — which releases a new album, Until the Sun Explodes, on Friday (June 12) — as “the fourth era of Sublime.”

There is, Nowell tells Billboard via Zoom from his home in Long Beach, Calif., “Sublime classic,” the group his father, drummer Bud Gaugh and bassist Eric Wilson formed during 1988 and ran through the elder Nowell’s death in 1996 from a heroin overdose at the age of 28. The trio released three albums — including a five-times platinum self-titled effort in 1996, released two months after Nowell’s death — and scored enduring hits such as “What I Got,” “Santeria” and “Wrong Way.”

Gaugh and Wilson’s Long Beach Dub Allstars, launched in 1997, was Sublime’s second era according to Nowell, followed by Sublime With Rome from 2009-2024, fronted by Rome Ramirez and including Wilson for most of its run (with Gaugh on board for the first two years).

“So I consider us, like V4 of Sublime,” explains Nowell, 30, who was 11 months old when his father died. “I hope people consider it a renaissance. That’s definitely the goal with this record and all the sounds we’re trying to do and how we’re trying to perform up there. It’s just a fun, messy, chaotic punk band that your parents used to love and showed you, or that you just discovered two years ago and you love it for your own reasons now.”

Gaugh, 58, adds that, “It just seems like a natural progression — wouldn’t it be cool if we could bring something new to the fans who haven’t seen Sublime before and give them their Sublime, because everybody’s listening to what their parents were hearing 30 years ago. So we’re giving something to the new fans and the old fans alike, and giving (new fans) something for their very own — ‘This is my Sublime. This isn’t just my parents’, grandparents’, aunts’ and uncles’. This is my band, too.”

Doin’ Time

A new Sublime, and a new Sublime album, were not necessarily fixed on the Long Beach scene’s bingo card, however. Or on any of the band members’.

With Gaugh, Wilson and others from his father’s posse as designated godfathers, Jakob Nowell developed a natural interest in music early, teaching himself how to play guitar. Nevertheless, he says, “there were times I was running full-force to it and times I felt a total imposter syndrome — ‘What am I doing? This is not me!,’ just trying to figure out who I am. You definitely wrestle with it.” He struggled with drug use and alcoholism as a teen, becoming sober when he was 17 with the help drug interventionist Todd Zalkins, a childhood friend of his father’s. Nowell and other family members established the non-profit Nowell Family Foundation to provide addiction recovery support for musicians.

He went on to receive a degree in creative writing from Long Beach State College but gave himself over to music in bands such as LAW and Jakobs Castle, the latter of which released its debut album, Enter: The Castle in 2024 and is planning another for next year.

“I was super-stoked,” Gaugh says, “because (Nowell) was staying true to himself and he was doing his own thing. It was important for him to set himself aside from (Sublime). I truly respected that he wasn’t going the ‘nepo route’ and glom off our success. He really was a musician in his own right, so it was like, ‘OK, he’s into this kind of music and that’s just how it’s gonna be. No pressure from Uncle Bud or Uncle Eric.”

Nowell confirms that being part of the Sublime universe in any way, shape or form “didn’t seem like the right thing. It seemed inappropriate…and even if I did, would I even be good enough, or would I be capable? So I spent a good 10 years in my own projects, just trying to cut my teeth and play around the country, at first to empty rooms and then a modest following.”

Nowell did, however, agree to play with Gaugh and Wilson during a December 2023 benefit concert for Bad Brains’ Paul “H.R.” Hudson in Los Angeles. “I was 28, the age my father died,” Nowell recalls. “I’d taken this trip to the Phoenix Theater in Petaluma (Calif.), the last venue he played. And then I got the call to do (the benefit). There were just so many coinciding factors.” Gaugh, meanwhile, remembers that “when we were rehearsing for that first show, hearing his voice sounding identical to Brad’s, it gave me chills. I haven’t experienced that since Brad left, and feeling it once again was confirmation that we were doing the right thing.”

In the wake of that show, Nowell was open to Gaugh and Wilson’s overture “to play together again and use the name Sublime. I felt like I was capable of doing this now. I’ve built up my chops enough to do this part justice. It definitely came with a certain sense of paranoia and dread and uncertainty. But now, with two years under my best as the frontman for the project, I’m feeling pretty confident — obviously.”

How The Sun Exploded

Sublime moved forward with playing select shows and festivals, including Coachella during 2024, and teamed with the roots reggae group Stick Figure on a single, “Feel Like That,” shortly afterwards; it was the first new release under the Sublime name in 27 years and reached No. 7 on the Alternative Airplay chart. There was talk of making a full album with Travis Barker of Blink-182 and John Feldmann of Goldfinger, but Sublime ultimately decided to keep things closer to home, recording Until the Sun Explodes with Jakobs Castle producer Jon Joseph at Harbor Martyr Studios in San Pedro.

The 21-track set — including spoken-word skits — features an expanded version of Sublime, too, with guitarists Trey Pangborn and Zane “Zayno” Vandevort and DJ Product (nee Doug Boyce) in the mix. Joseph contributes some instrumentation as well, while Nowell’s grandfather Jim Nowell, who passed away earlier this year, pops up on “Maybe Partying Will Help…Pt. 2” There are also guest appearances by H.R. (“Trey’s Song”), Garrett “G. Love” Dutton (“Come Correct),” Fletcher Dragge from Pennywise (247-369) and the bands Fidlar (“Backwards”) and Skeggs (“Favorite Song”).

Nowell acknowledges that while a new Sublime album “was another big never-will” for him, performing with the band made the prospect more agreeable. “Truth be told, we just kept playing together at rehearsals and soundchecks,” he explains. “We’re all very jam-oriented musicians, so we’d have these little parts we’d return to that started to sound like they could be (new songs), and it seemed natural to move forward with that.”

And his almost scholarly knowledge of all things Sublime also gave Nowell a sharp perspective on exactly what Until the Sun Explodes should encompass, sonically and stylistically.

“I think Sublime, at its core, is a California punk rock band that experimented with many different genres,” Nowell explains. “They revered thee classic reggae and dub records from Jamaica — Johnny Osbourne, King Tubby, Jacob Miller. They were also listening to a lot of rad hip-hop and stuff that was happening concurrently in the ’90s, in Long Beach and L.A. They just had to try their hand at it all, how a punk band would do it. It’s just messy and frenetic…and that’s how you get that classic sound.

“That’s what we went for on (Until the Sun Explodes), too, the same sensibility. it’s a paradox; we entirely revere the music, but the very nature of the music is (to be) super irreverent, right? It’s almost pure chaos and fun…and hopefully people get the same feeling here as they did on (1992’s) 40oz. to Freedom and the stuff they did back then.”

One And Done?

Until the Sun Explodes has received a warm welcome so far; both the title track and the album-opening “Ensenada” hit No. 1 on Alternative Airplay. The group has a number of shows lined up as well, starting June 13 at San Diego’s Petco Park and also including its own Sublime Festival on June 27 in Portland, Ore. Sublime will also be part of Vans Warped Tour stops in Montreal and Orlando, Fla., is on the bill of the Louder Than Life festival during September in Louisville, Ky. and the Aftershock Festival during October in Sacramento, and will host the Sublime Reef Madness Cruise during November.

“We’re looking into next year already, too,” Gaugh says. “I know that we are already looking to schedule some Australia/New Zealand dates next year. I can see a Pacific Rim tour happening. I can see another European vacation. We’re looking forward to doing some more laps around the good ol’ U.S. of A….The shows have been amazing. We’re selling out. And I think this album is going to blow the doors off people when they hear everything.”

It may well be the only time they hear this incarnation of Sublime on record, too.

Until the Sun Explodes has been positioned as the “last” Sublime album, and Nowell says that’s certainly how he’s viewing it. “Unless a child of mine wants to make another one one day, this is the last one I’m gonna make,” he confirms. “I think you have to know your goals, set out to achieve them, and if you do you must then create new goals. I love doing this and it’s truly healed me in many ways, and allowed me to grow as an entertainer and performer. But I wish to carry the flag forward in different ways now.”

Nowell says he’ll continue to “play a few Sublime shows every year and keep the faces smiling,” but his primary focus will be on Jakobs Castle as well as SVNBVRNT Records, the label he operates with Vandevort, working with other southern California artists he says “are making local kids really excited, just like when Sublime started. This is the real renaissance that I hope my time with Sublime can clue people into. These are the true people who have inherited the mantle.”

If Until the Sun Explodes does well, however, Nowell knows there will be requests for more, and he does allow that “my feeling could change in the future. But it would be enough into the future where it would be a moot point. I’ve done what I thought was impossible and I’m very proud with the results. I would want Until the Sun Explodes to feel like epilogue, the victory lap, a celebration of Sublime’s history and a love letter to my father and all of his friends and the scene that raised me and touched so many people’s lives. After this I’d really like to pass that along and help the kids who want to do something similar.”

José Carreras will get the party started early for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics when he hosts an exclusive one-night-only, open-air concert this December in the Queensland capital.

The legendary tenor leads the lineup for the Australian exclusive concert, set for Dec. 5 at the Gabba Cricket Ground, the famous oval stadium just south of the city’s CBD.

Also announced Wednesday, June 10, Robbie Williams, The Corrs, Katherine Jenkins and Ronan Keating, are among the first wave of stars booked for the Carreras & Friends experience. Other confirmed performers include Savage Garden‘s Darren Hayes, Natalie Imbruglia, Sheppard, Ann Wilson, and Mark Vincent, all of whom will duet with Carreras.

“I’m extremely happy, really, to have this opportunity to start celebrating already the Olympics ‘32 in Brisbane,” Carreras tells Billboard over a Zoom call from his hometown, Barcelona, “and be part of this, what we hope is, a wonderful concert.”

Carreras has a steel-strong connection with the worlds of music and sport. In 1992, he served as musical director for the Olympic Games in Barcelona, performed at the Opening Ceremony (singing the traditional welcoming song “Welcome” or “Sardana” with Montserrat Caballé) and returned for the Closing Ceremony for performance of “Amigos Para Siempre” with Sarah Brightman.

And as a member of The Three Tenors, the legendary operatic supergroup he formed with Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti, Carreras performed live at four consecutive World Cup tournaments, beginning with their historic 1990 debut in Rome.

With the Olympics and Paralympics coming to the Sunshine State, “we have the possibility to create a message between sport and art and culture,” Carreras tells Billboard. “The venue is going to be perfect for it.”

The Gabba is a citadel for this sports-mad city. During the winter, it’s home to the two-time defending champion Australian Football League (AFL) franchise the Brisbane Lions. And in the summer, it’s the city’s home of cricket. Indeed, for touring international cricket teams, the Gabba has earned the amusing tag, the Gabbatoir — a place where the opposition is eliminated.

Pop and rock concerts are rare spectacles at the Gabba, and only the biggest names in the music business have performed there. The last to do it was Taylor Swift, for her Reputation Tour in 2018. And Adele before that, for two-sold out shows in 2017.

When he takes his spot on the field, Carreras will perform with artists “that I admire,” he enthuses. “I never had the possibility to perform with them, but this is going to be the occasion.”

Williams will sing “My Way” and “Angels” with Carreras, while Hayes (“Truly Madly Deeply”), Keating (“Father & Son”), Wilson (“What About Love” and “Stairway To Heaven”) and The Corrs (“Breathless” and “Runaway”) will enjoy musical moments with a living legend, backed by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and choir.

On the night, the Gabba will be turned into “a world-class concert spectacular blending timeless opera, beloved contemporary classics and powerful collaborations,” reads a statement from organizers Echo Pacific Entertainment.

“This is not a traditional concert. It’s a live music experience inspired by the magic of Pavarotti & Friends, where the world’s greatest artists come together on one stage for a night of collaboration, emotion and surprise,” comments Echo Pacific director Harley Medcalf. “To bring José Carreras together with artists of this caliber for one exclusive night in Brisbane is incredibly special. Every moment of this event has been designed to create something unforgettable.”

The general public onsale begins Monday, June 15 at 10am local time. Fans are encouraged to sign up at carrerasandfriends.live for presale access, which starts  Friday, June 12 at 10am.

Sydney has given to the world some giants of the stage. Think Dame Joan Sutherland, the late INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, and Delta Goodrem. Lara D might, one day, crack that list.

The Sydneysider did her chances of success absolutely no harm when she stopped by America’s Got Talent for the Auditions phase.

Aussies have the reputation of fearless travelers, and Lara fits the stereotype. When asked by Simon Cowell why she made the long haul, she responded: “I feel like this is one of the biggest stages.”

Lara had begun working in the family business, but choose her own path. “I decided I wanted to come here because I wanted to pursue my dream,” she explained, “and I feel like this is the stage where dreams come true.”

Sometimes, they do.  

Lara then set about changing the mood in the room, by hitting an immense cover of RAYE’s “Oscar Winning Tears.” It was all there, rapping and range, tone and then tears.

Looking on, the judges’ jaws were looser than old elastic. “I loved it, there’s something about you that is very special. And I think everybody felt it tonight,” remarked Sofia Vergara, who was fast out of her seat.

“This is the kind of thing that I’ve been looking for,” enthused Howie Mandel. “I’ve been looking for a surprise. I’ve been looking for something unexpected. You are a star and I want to do something special,” he added. And with that, the St. Elsewhere actor stood and motioned toward the Golden Buzzer. “You deserve this.”

In a moment of drama, Vergara beat him to the punch. A steal, captured in slow motion for those of us watching at home. Cue the emotions, the gold confetti and, for Lara, a direct route to the Live Shows for AGT Season 21.

Later, host Terry Crews grabbed Vergara for some reaction. “She was spectacular. I wanted her from the moment she started singing.”

Watch Lara D’s Golden Buzzer performance below.

Bill Cody, the beloved presenter whose decades-long presence on WSM-AM Nashville, and as a regular host of the Grand Ole Opry, made him, for several generations, the voice of country music radio, died Tuesday (June 9) following a health battle. He was 67.

Cody joined the team at WSM on April 25, 1994, fronting the flagship morning show, Coffee, Country & Cody, the format for which he developed into a series on the Circle Network. Charlie Daniels was the first of Cody’s incalculable in-studio guests, many of whom became close friends. Later in the decade, Cody hosted mornings on WSM-FM before returning to the AM dial at the turn of the millennium.

Over time, Cody racked up an impressive stash of hosting credits, including the long-running Opry Country Classics, the Master Series for Great American Country, Tennessee’s Wild Side on public television, and the syndicated radio shows Classic Country Weekend With Bill Cody and Pure American Country.

His awards cabinet was formidable, too. He was inducted into the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame in 2008, received a star on the Music City Walk of Fame in 2024, and will be posthumously inducted into the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame later this year. 

The son of a Southern Baptist preacher in Lebanon, Kentucky, Cody cut his teeth in radio as a teenager, landing a gig at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, for a disc jockey spot at Lexington station WVLK. At the suggestion of his boss at the time, the 17-year-old dropped his given name, Trent Clutts, and adopted the name Bill Cody, a tip of the hat to one of his childhood heroes, “Buffalo Bill” Cody. Along the way, he’d work at WHAS and WCII in Louisville, Kentucky, WHOO in Orlando, Florida, and KKYX in San Antonio, Texas. 

As news of Cody’s passing spread, the country music community paid tribute.

“Country music has lost one of its pillars,” remarks Dierks Bentley. “Bill was just as important to the fabric of our music and city as any artist, songwriter or musician. No one loved country music, its history and its characters more than Bill Cody. Prayers to his family and Charlie and Kelly and everyone that knew and loved him at WSM and the Opry.”

Adds Garth Brooks: “There might be someone somewhere in the world who loved country music as much, but nobody loved country music more than Bill Cody.”

Carly Pearce salutes Cody for devoting his life “to telling the story of country music. With a legacy spanning decades, he will be marked as one of the greatest of all time. For me, he was so much more than that. He was my friend. He will be so very missed on this side of heaven, but I rejoice knowing he is with our Heavenly Father.”

A statement from the Grand Ole Opry remembers Cody “for his kindness, humility, and genuine gift for connection. He was a trusted voice, a generous friend, and a constant companion to generations of listeners.”

The late announcer grew up listening to the Grand Ole Opry with his father. This Saturday night, the Grand Ole Opry will dedicate the show to Cody.

“Everyone at the Grand Ole Opry, in country music, in Nashville – and across the country – will remember Bill for his profound gravitas, his incredible voice, and his positive and infectious enthusiasm for country music,” writes Patrick Moore, CEO, Opry Entertainment Group. “For those of us who were lucky enough to work with Bill as a colleague, he brightened every single day and changed our lives for the better. Bill will be sorely missed. Rest in Peace, Trent from Gravel Switch.”

Cody had recently been hospitalized for heart and kidney failure. Earlier, his daughter, Hannah Davis, shared on Facebook: “We will never be able to thank everyone for the outpouring of love and the sincere prayers over the last few weeks. We know God heard them and we feel a deep peace that one day we will understand why God chose to still take him.”