NEWS
Country Radio Broadcasters revealed the final lineup for the CRS 2022 New Faces of Country Music show, set for Friday, Feb. 25 as the culmination event to the 2022 Country Radio Seminar.
This year’s show will feature Gabby Barrett, Walker Hayes, Parker McCollum, Jameson Rodgers and Lainey Wilson. Each year, five emerging artists who have achieved significant career elevation during the qualification period (Nov. 1 – Oct. 31) are selected to perform.
“There were no bad options in this year’s New Faces election slate, so it’s not a surprise the final lineup is stellar,” said CRB New Faces committee chairman Chuck Aly. “The only thing more exciting than what these artists bring to this year’s show is that we’ll all get to experience it in person!”
Over the past year, Barrett earned her second No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hit with the three-week chart-topper “The Good Ones,” while Wilson earned her first Country Airplay chart-topper with “Things a Man Oughta Know.” Wilson was also recently named Billboard‘s top new country artist for 2021. Barrett was also nominated for three Country Music Association’s awards this year, including new artist of the year as well as single and song of the year, with both nods for “The Good Ones.”
Though Hayes made his country radio debut back in 2010 with the single “Pants,” he saw incredible career success this year with the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 top 5 hit “Fancy Like,” which also garnered Hayes his first No. 1 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay radio chart. “Fancy Like” recently earned a Grammy nomination for best country song.
In December 2020, McCollum earned his first Country Airplay No. 1 hit with “Pretty Heart,” and he currently has a top 20 hit on the chart with “To Be Loved By You.”
In October, Rodgers earned his second No. 1 Country Airplay hit with the Luke Combs collaboration “Cold Beer Calling My Name,” which follows his October 2020 No. 1 hit “Some Girls.”
The New Faces of Country Music Show launched in 1970, and since then, nearly every prominent country artist with career longevity has been among those highlighted during a New Faces of Country Music Show early in their career. Among the previous performers are Alabama, Trace Adkins, Jason Aldean, Eric Church, Vince Gill, Faith Hill, Toby Keith, Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, George Strait, Randy Travis, Keith Urban and more. The 2021 New Faces of Country Music Show lineup included Tenille Arts, Travis Denning, HARDY, Ashley McBryde and Matt Stell.
The upcoming Country Radio Seminar will be held Feb 23-25, 2022 in Nashville.
NEWS
Placebo have kicked off their 30th anniversary tour by dusting off some tracks for the first time in over 20 years, and also playing new single ‘Helen Keller’ live for the first time.
The new dates come as the band are celebrating the 30 years since they dropped their 1996 debut album. To mark the occasion, they have announced a huge UK and European arena tour, where they have vowed to predominantly play material from their first album and their sophomore record ‘Without You I’m Nothing’.
At the opening night at Krakatoa in Mérignac, France, Brian Molko and co. delivered a stacked 19-song set, which began with ‘Pure Morning’, and immediately went into the first rendition of ‘Come Home’ in 20 years.
Another rarity came straight after, with the first live performance of ‘You Don’t Care About Us’ since 2001, as well as ‘Without You I’m Nothing’ and ‘Allergic (To Thoughts Of Mother Earth)’ which were played for the first time since 2018 and 2014 respectively.
‘Drowning by Numbers’, ‘Bruise Pristine’ and ‘My Sweet Prince’ were all introduced into the setlist for the first time since 2001, ‘Brick Shithouse’ was aired out for the first time since 2003, ‘Scared Of Girls’ was played for the first time since 2010, and both ‘Lady Of The Flowers’ and ‘36 Degrees’ were broken out for the first time in nine years.
The rest of the set was made up of ‘Teenage Angst’, ‘Bionic’, ‘I Know’ and ‘Every You Every Me’, and the band wrapped up the performance with two covers: Depeche Mode’s ‘I Feel You’, and Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’.
It wasn’t until a later show at the Super Bock Arena in Porto, Portugal, that Placebo broke out their new song ‘Helen Keller’ for the first time – playing it 13 songs into the setlist.
Check out more footage from the tour so far below, as well as the setlist from night one.
‘Pure Morning’
‘Come Home’ (First time since 2006)
‘You Don’t Care About Us'(First Time Since 2001)
‘Teenage Angst’
‘Bionic’
‘Without You I’m Nothing” (First Time Since 2018)
‘Allergic (to Thoughts of Mother Earth)” (First Time Since 2014)
‘Drowning by Numbers” (First Time Since 2001)
’36 Degrees” (Alternate Version – First Time Since 2017)
‘I Know’
‘Brick Shithouse’ (First Time Since 2003)
‘Scared of Girls’ (First Time Since 2010)
‘Bruise Pristine” (First Time Since 2001)
‘My Sweet Prince’ (First Time Since 2001)
‘Lady of the Flowers’ (First time since 2017)
‘Nancy Boy’
‘Every You Every Me’
‘I Feel You’ (Depeche Mode cover, live debut)
‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’ (Kate Bush cover)
Placebo dropped the single ‘Helen Keller’ on September 28, and it sees them reach back to ‘H.K. Farewell’, a hidden instrumental from the era of their self-titled 1996 debut. In the track, they retain the eerie keyboard melody from the original, and push it to new dimensions with a heavier, more anguished feeling.
The title refers to the American author, who was also a disability rights advocate and political activist, who became deafblind as a young child and went on to become an internationally renowned writer and campaigner.
As well as the tour, Placebo also celebrated the 30th anniversary of their debut by releasing a reimagined version of the record. For the LP, Molko and Stefan Olsdal returned to the original master tapes and reworked all 10 songs from the 1996 record – describing it as a “director’s cut” that helped them inject the original songs with three decades more experience.
The ongoing tour will reach the UK and Ireland in late November and early December, where they will play Nottingham, Glasgow, Dublin, Manchester, London and Cardiff. See all the dates here and find any remaining tickets here.
Dates will head to Latin America in 2027, beginning in São Paulo on February 20 and running through Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Colombia before wrapping up with shows in Guadalajara and Monterrey in March.
Placebo dropped their last album of new material in 2022, with ‘Never Let Me Go’. That record was given a four-star review by NME, which described it as “a renaissance rock record with an experimental edge”, adding that it found Placebo “inspired and ready for a new era”.
