NEWS
Olivia Rodrigo
Louis Browne*Olivia Rodrigo is capping a blockbuster year with the broadcast of her Austin City Limits set — and before it airs on PBS, Billboard is premiering her ACL performance of “drivers license,” the song that started a successful year of firsts for the singer/songwriter.
“This is the first song I ever put out, and it’s really special to me, so sing along if you know it,” the 18-year-old says in front of a grand piano before launching into the heart-wrenching breakup track.
During the performance, the camera cuts to the audience full of Rodrigo’s young fans mouthing the lyrics to the song. The fans can be heard chiming in to sing the song’s now-iconic chorus — “And I know we weren’t perfect but I’ve never felt this way for no one/ And I just can’t imagine how you could be so okay now that I’m gone/ Guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me/ ‘Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street.”
Rodrigo’s appearance at the Austin City Limits music festival — which took place on Oct. 2 — marked her first full-set live performance and official debut at the concert series, where she performed a total of eight tracks from her debut album, Sour. Rodrigo also performed with an all-female band, a first for ACL.
Rodrigo’s Austin City Limits performance premieres Saturday on PBS (check your local listings). Rodrigo shares the episode with Phoebe Bridgers, who also made her ACL debut this year. The second half of season 47 of Austin City Limits will continue starting Jan. 8.
Watch Rodrigo perform “drivers license” below.
NEWS
Rise Against have released a new single, ‘Nod’, their first new music since 2022.
The new track kicks off the punk band’s “inspired next chapter” and was produced by Catherine Marks. “I swear to God this can’t wait,” vocalist and lyricist Tim McIlrath sings at the top of the song’s chorus. “Not one more minute, one more day.”
“Nod is about the solace we find in community,” said McIlrath in a press release. “It’s about the comfort in knowing that we are not alone. This comfort can temper our anger and our frustration, at least temporarily.”
‘Nod’ follows the band’s 2021 album ‘Nowhere Generation’. It was followed by an EP titled ‘Nowhere Sessions’ which included live versions of songs from the album.
Tracks such as ‘Talking To Ourselves’, ‘Broken Dreams, Inc.’ and the LP’s titular single were re-imagined as live recordings, as well as a cut of their 2008 song ‘Savior’ and covers of Misfits‘ ‘Hybrid Moments’ and Creedence Clearwater Revival‘s ‘Fortunate Son’.
Check out ‘Nod’ below:
the release of ‘Nod’ arrives just before Rise Against head out on a UK and European tour alongside L.S. Dunes and Sondaschule.
They’ll kick off the shows on January 28 in Dublin, before heading to Belfast on 29. Then, in February, they’ll head to Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Zurich and more, before wrapping up the tour in Vienna on February 22.
The tour also includes stops at London’s O2 Brixton Academy, Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse and Birmingham’s O2 Academy on February 6, 8 and 9 respectively. You can find a full list of dates further down. You can find tickets to the UK and Ireland dates here.
JANUARY
28 – 3Olympia – Dublin, Ireland
29 – Telegraph – Belfast, Northern Ireland
FEBRUARY
2 – L’Olympia – Paris, France
4 – O13 – Tillburg, Netherlands
5 – Forrest National – Brussels, Belgium
6 – O2 Brixton Academy – London, UK
8 – O2 Victoria Warehouse – Manchester, UK
9 – O2 Academy – Birmingham, UK
12 – Velodrom – Berlin, Germany
14 – Mitsubishi Electric Hall – Düsseldorf, Germany
15 – Sporthalle – Hamburg, Germany
17 – Zenith – Munich, Germany
18 – myticket Jahrhunderthalle – Frankfurt, Germany
21 – Volkshaus, Zurich, Switzerland
22 –Stadthalle – Vienna, Austria
