The Halluci Nation are among the nation's can't-miss acts this summer, and the electronic duo have announced a run of tour dates for the season to add to their existing festival commitments.
In addition to our previously reported slots at Montreal Jazz, Area 506, Le Festif! and Home Country, Halluci Nation have announced performances in Mashteuiatsh and Halifax, as well as gigs south of the border in Colorado Springs and Taos.
Additionally, they shared in a newsletter update:
As you may have already heard, we recently released our new song, "Loosie" featuring our friend Tona! This song kicks off a new series for us — the storm before the calm. It's about shedding what we need to let go of so we can do the work of setting ourselves free. It's the black and white before we see the world in technicolour. "Loosie" lives in that space. It speaks to real life, but still lifts people up — a reminder that even in the middle of everything, you can still let go, move your body, and get loose for a moment.
Hear "Loosie" below, where you can also see the group's tour schedule. Tickets for all tour dates are available here.
Find more Canadian concert listings via Concert Central.
The Halluci Nation 2026 Tour Dates:
06/27 Montreal, QC - MTL Jazz Festival / Club Soda
07/02 Colorado Springs, CO - The Black Sheep
07/03 Taos, NM - Taos Mesa Brewing
07/11 Mashteuiatsh, QC - Mamuhitunanu Festival
07/17 Saint John, NB - Area 506 Waterfront Container Village
07/18 Fredericton, NB - Officer Square
07/19 Halifax, NS - The Marquee Ballroom
07/23 Baie-Saint-Paul, QC - Le Festif!
07/25 London, ON - Home County Festival
Justin Oscar Cary, bassist for "Kiss Me" hitmakers Sixpence None the Richer, has died. He was 50.
The news was shared yesterday (June 18) by Cary's wife Linda, who wrote on social media that he had passed away peacefully by her side that morning. The musician had suffered a stroke the Thursday prior (June 11), as bandmate Leigh Nash had shared — alongside a link for a GoFundMe campaign supporting Cary's recovery — on Instagram earlier this week.
"We love our brother so so much. Words don't cover it," Nash wrote. "I know so many out here love him too. Saw his brilliance, second to NONE professionalism, class, humour (oh my lord the humour), wit, tough as an old boot as they say."
Nash and Matt Slocum formed Sixpence None the Richer as a Christian rock duo in New Braunfels, TX, in the early 1990s, releasing two independent albums with original bassist JJ Plasencio and drummer Dale Baker: 1994's The Fatherless and the Widow and 1995's This Beautiful Mess. Cary joined the band, replacing Plasencio just before the release of their 1997 self-titled album on Steve Taylor's Squint Entertainment label.
The following year, they were thrust into the national pop spotlight after releasing "Kiss Me" — which received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals — as a single. They continued their hot streak in 1999 with a cover of "There She Goes" by the La's, going on to make numerous appearances on late-night and morning talk shows. The dissolution of Squint Entertainment led to a delay of their next album, Divine Discontent, which was finally released in 2002.
After making a musical apperance on the seventh seasons of the sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Slovum announced in 2004 that Sixpence None the Richer were breaking up. However, by 2007, they'd reunited, going on to release an EP and a Christmas record in 2008, and a new LP, Lost in Transition, in 2012.
Following 11 years of radio silence, Nash released a single called "The Tide" in 2023, which credited Sixpence None the Richer. She and Slocum announced a tour with 10,000 Maniacs, playing songs by both bands, but the pair ended up leaving the trek early, citing "other commitments" arising.
In 2024, the group announced a 25th anniversary tour with the classic lineup, as well as releasing the EP Rosemary Hill. They continued touring internationally and for the holidays in 2025, with Jon Radford filling in for Baker.
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Organizers behind Dartmouth, NS's Nowadays Festival have detailed the lineup for its forthcoming 2026 edition.
Running from October 8–10 throughout downtown, this year's event will be led by Cass McCombs, Fucked Up and Bells Larsen. They'll also be joined by Ada Lea, Exclaim! Class of 2026 grads cootie catcher, Bill Ricky, Sunforger, Townie and more.
Limited early-bird passes are currently sold out, and more details — including the full schedule — will be revealed closer to the festival's start date via the festival's website.
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The incredibly online among us have been subjected to a lot of discourse lately about hipsterdom and stomp-clap-hey music, as well as if these movements overlapped and intersected. As one publication or another was bound to, VICE fell on the self-inflected sword of creating a timeline of the "hipster music" era from 2000 to 2014 — and naturally, lots of folks disagreed with their delineation of what artists were important in the one-time subculture and when.
Jack White was among these people. Commenting on VICE's Instagram post promoting the piece co-written by Kevin Lee Kharas, Emma Garland and Adam Christopher Smith, the musician simply wrote, "Definitive?"
This is probably the most infuriatingly vague way White could take issue with the timeline, as he didn't actually enlighten us as to what he feels is incorrect or missing. That said, the publication is well aware that it wasn't a perfect encapsulation of a rich legacy of moustache finger-tattoos: they've since published a follow-up article entitled 10 Things We Got Wrong About the Hipster Music Timeline.
The writers admitted that was they had absolutely neglected to mention some acts, but defended themselves, writing, "If we were putting together a comprehensive list of every Canadian who picked up a wind instrument in the 2000s we'd be here until 2050." Not wrong! (There is plenty of Canadian representation included, for those wondering.) Kharas, Garland and Smith also took aim at detractors, telling White specifically, "Sorry, Jack White, the Raconteurs were never hip."
Read VICE's full timeline here.
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Vaughan International Music Festival has announced two nights of free programming this summer, taking place at Assembly Park in the heart of downtown on July 17 and 18.
Friday night's rock-oriented festivities are headlined by BRKN Love, with support from Bleeker, Sticks 'n' Stones, Logan Levi, Em Armstrong and Full Throttle.
Saturday's country lineup includes headliner Myles Erlick, as well as Ryan Langdon, Graham Bedard, Jade Hilton, Jacklyn Wills and Jake Henley.
In addition to musical programming, the festival will also offer food vendors, a spirits garden and all-ages fun.
Check out the festival trailer below and visit the Vaughan International Music Festival website to get your free ticket.
Angine de Poitrine are unstoppable right now — and the only thing threatening their meteoric rise is Toronto traffic.
This is according to the band's booking agent Steven Himmelfarb (of the Feldman Agency), who spoke with Exclaim! for our deep-dive cover story about the band in our latest issue. Discussing the band's plan to play two different Toronto shows on July 14 — one opening for Jack White at RBC Amphitheatre, followed by a headlining gig at the Mod Club — Himmelfarb admitted, "It could be bad, and I might be the fall guy. I may investigate hiring a police escort just to cover my own ass on this one!"
It's sure to be a unique night in a year that's been full of unprecedented moments from the math-y rock duo. "It's pretty complicated for them, with the paint and stuff like that, so we just figured out a schedule where they had time to have a small moment between the two gigs," Himmelfarb said. "In the future, they're doing so many gigs, so I don't think we'll say 'yes' to two gigs in a row very often. But for this one, it was really exciting for everyone to say, 'Hey, it's possible, let's do this!'"
Sam Murdock, an art designer who works with the band behind the scenes, called the doubleheader "the best and worst idea. That's the one day you will not remember in your life. You have to drive there. You have to do two sound checks at two different venues in costume, play in front of Jack White and 16,000 people. Then drive and play your own show on the same night. But the band really did not want to cancel their own show."
The band had already booked their Mod Club gig (part of a three-show run at the venue) when Jack White asked the band to open for him. "A [number of] big rock bands in the United States invited us to open on tour," Angine de Poitrine manager Sébastien Collin told Exclaim! "Five, six, seven, eight bands that I know, that you know. It was in that moment, when every band started to invite us to play some arena or big venue tour, that Jack White invited us. It came from his management. They were like, 'Yeah, Jack White loves what you're doing. We'd like to invite them to play.'"
Read our full behind-the-scenes cover story with Angine de Poitrine here, as well as our close look at the band's role in Quebec's lineage of out-there guitar music.
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As AI-generated slop continues to proliferate in increasingly sophisticated ways that make it less recognizable as such, calls are mounting for lawmakers to protect artists from having their copyrighted works used to train AI models without permission (or compensation, for that matter).
Backxwash, Titus Andronicus, Tre Mission, Lunice, DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ and more are among musicians who have expressed their disdain for finding their music within the searchable AI model-training database recently published by The Atlantic, which compiled "four giant datasets of songs that are being shared within the AI-development community," according to journalist Alex Reisner.
The largest of the four datasets contains 12 million tracks — 91 years of music — on its own, and all are comparable in size to the datasets used to train commercial music-generating AI models. Per Reisner's reporting, in a 2024 court filing, Suno wrote that it trained its models on "essentially all music files of reasonable quality" that it could download online, while Google trained a model on 44 million songs two years prior. In 2020, OpenAI scraped 1.2 million songs from the internet to train their Jukebox model.
Reisner writes that the four datasets have been downloaded thousands of times, but the artificial intelligence industry's secrecy about training data means we don't know that much about which companies have used them: "Companies often claim to use only content that is freely available online, but the datasets reveal the quantity of downloadable music that developers can access even though it is not supposed to be free."
Breakcore producer Sophiaaaahjkl;8901 posted about the searchable database on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter yesterday (June 17), prompting numerous other musicians to share the post, as well as screenshots of their searches to see which of their own tracks were included in the datasets.
You can search the datasets here.
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The sign of a true music nerd is when the algorithm doesn't give us a single World Cup post — but we do have memes about Wilco, LCD Soundsystem and, of course, Angine de Poitrine. Here are this week's funny music memes and entertainment shitposts.
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After releasing lead single "Buddy" last month, Toronto-via-Guelph singer-songwriter Emma Worley has announced plans for her sophomore album Forever Beginner, out September 18 via Acronym Records.
The album is previewed today by new track "Comedy Club," which is about the "impossibility of fully understanding what we have while we have it," according to a statement by Worley.
She added, "Weighing the scales of a relationship — what it gave, what it took, what was lost, and what might have been — the song reflects on the limits of hindsight and the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of the past. Set against a foggy late-night drive through an old neighbourhood, 'Comedy Club' describes the imprint of love lost."
The album further unites the talents of local music heroes Julian Psihogios, Jasper Smith, Matt Kelly, Kendel Carson, Dylan Burchell, Will Kidman, Wyatt C. Louis, Lia Pappas Kemps, Tamara Lindeman, Ken Whiteley and Georgia Harmer, as well as producer and longtime collaborator Ben Whiteley.
Check out the "Comedy Club" video below, where you'll also find the album's tracklist.
Forever Beginner:
1. Weekend Baby
2. Comedy Club
3. Hardware Store in Heaven
4. All For Nothing
5. Buddy
6. Forever Beginner
7. the song in my heart is a hard one to play
8. Cupid The Vandal
9. Known
This week's roundup of newly announced tours coming to Canada includes a cross-country trek from Truck Violence, a Toronto appearance from Vince Staples (pictured above) and more.
As always, head over to Concert Central for more Canadian tour announcements, show listings, recommendations and live reviews.
Ryan Beatty Tour Dates:
09/09 Vancouver, BC - Vogue Theatre
09/25 Toronto, ON - History
BOYNEXTDOOR Tour Dates:
11/10 Toronto, ON - Queen Elizabeth Theatre
11/13 Vancouver, BC - Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Ceremony Tour Dates:
09/09 Montreal, QC - Les Foufounes Électriques
09/10 Toronto, ON - East End United Basement
09/26 Vancouver, BC - The American
Dream Nails Tour Dates:
06/24 Toronto, ON - The Monarch Tavern
06/25 Hamilton, ON - Eucharist Church
06/28 Montreal, QC - Casa Del Popolo
06/29 Ottawa, ON - The Dominion Tavern
07/02 Windsor, ON - Meteor
Brian Fallon and the Painkillers Tour Dates:
09/14 Toronto, ON - The Opera House
Faux Real Tour Dates:
10/11 Montreal, QC - L'Escogriffe
10/13 Toronto, ON - Dance Cave
10/27 Vancouver, BC - Fox Cabaret
The Garden Tour Dates:
08/27 Vancouver, BC - Rogers Arena *
09/22 Montreal, QC - Club Soda +
09/23 Toronto, ON - Phoenix Concert Theatre +
* supporting the Strokes
+ with Ghost Mountain
G Flip Tour Dates:
08/07 Montreal, QC - Studio TD
08/08 Toronto, ON - Mod Club
08/24 Vancouver, BC - Hollywood Theatre
Beverly Glenn-Copeland with Owen Pallett 2027 Tour Dates:
01/30 Ottawa, ON - National Arts Centre
02/05 Toronto, ON - Danforth Music Hall
02/28 Vancouver, BC - Vogue Theatre
Ibeyi Tour Dates:
02/04 Toronto, ON - The Mod Club
02/05 Montreal, QC - Beanfield Theatre
Iguana Death Cult Tour Dates:
09/03 Montreal, QC - Bar Le Ritz
09/04–05 Rouyn-Noranda, QC - TBA
09/07 Toronto, ON - The Garrison
09/08 Windsor, ON - The Meteor
09/10 Calgary, AB - The Palomino
09/11 Edmonton, AB - Purple City
Kruelty with Dead Heat Tour Dates:
08/27 Quebec City, QC - L'Anti Bar & Spectacles
08/28 Montreal, QC - Cabaret Foufounes Électriques
08/29 Ottawa, ON - Westboro Legion
08/30 Toronto, ON - Primal Note Studios
09/01 Thunder Bay, ON - Bloom
09/02 Winnipeg, MB - Sidestage
09/03 Saskatoon, SK - Black Cat
09/04 Edmonton, AB - Infest
09/05 Calgary, AB - Palomino
09/06 Kelowna, BC - Jackknife Brewery
09/08 Vancouver, BC - The Cobalt
Sook-Yin Lee Tour Dates:
06/26 Toronto, ON - The Baby G
Jensen McRae Tour Dates:
09/17 Toronto, ON - The Danforth Music Hall
09/18 Ottawa, ON - CityFolk Festival
Polyphia with Intervals Tour Dates:
09/29 Toronto, ON - Great Canadian Casino
10/01 Montreal, QC - L'Olympia
Isaiah Rashad with Alemeda Tour Dates:
08/30 Toronto, ON - Rebel
Role Model Tour Dates:
09/12 Vancouver, BC - Freedom Mobile Arch
Shiner with Bursting Tour Dates:
09/11 Montreal, QC - Cabaret Foufounes Électriques
09/13 Toronto, ON - The Baby G
Sleep Tour Dates:
09/20 Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom
11/09 Toronto, ON - Phoenix Concert Theatre
11/10 Montreal, QC - Club Soda
Sloan Tour Dates:
11/20 Toronto, ON - The Concert Hall
Squirrel Flower Tour Dates:
09/24 Toronto, ON - Second Summer Festival
09/25 Montreal, QC - La Sotterenea (POP Montreal)
11/08 Vancouver, BC - Wise Hall +
+ with Sour Windows
Vince Staples Tour Dates:
11/04 Toronto, ON - Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Subhumans UK with Bad Waitress Tour Dates:
09/18 Alma, QC - Cafe Du Cloc
09/19 Quebec City, QC - Salle Montaigne
09/20 Montreal, QC - Cabaret Foufounes Électriques
09/21 Ottawa, ON - The 27 Club
09/22 Kingston, ON - Broom Factory
09/23 Toronto, ON - Hard Luck *
09/24 Orillia, ON - St. Paul's Centre
09/25 St. Catharines, ON - Warehouse Concert Hall
09/26 London, ON - TBA
* no Bad Waitress
Truck Violence Tour Dates:
09/24 Toronto, ON - Second Summer
09/25 Montreal, QC - Pop Montreal
11/13 Vancouver, BC - The Cobalt
11/15 Kelowna, BC - Jackknife
11/17 Calgary, AB - The Palomino
11/18 Edmonton, AB - The Buckingham
11/19 Saskatoon, SK - Black Cat
11/20 Regina, SK - The Exchange
11/21 Winnipeg, MB - The Handsome Daughter
11/25 Sudbury, ON - Townehouse Tavern
11/26 Hamilton, ON - Mills Hardware
11/27 London, ON - Honey Dip
12/11 Trois-Rivières QC - Café Bar Zénob
12/12 Quebec City, QC - Le Pantoum
YHWH Nailgun Tour Dates:
09/17 Montreal, QC - La Sala Rossa *
09/18 Toronto, ON - Longboat Hall *
10/02 Vancouver, BC - Fox Cabaret ^
* with Nuda
^ with @
Toy Story 5 opens with dozens of Buzz Lightyear figures (voiced by Tim Allen) washing up on a beach. The sequence offers a sly, self-aware nod to the cynics who believe this "washed-up" series peaked with Toy Story 3 and now exists only to shill merch and funnel kids to theme parks.
Since its 1995 debut, Toy Story has evolved from a beloved film franchise to a cultural institution, so it's understandable why the latest entry arrives bearing impossible expectations. But in true Pixar fashion, directors and co-writers Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris welcome the challenge of delivering another stone-cold classic. Toy Story 5 uses our relationship with technology to examine complicated questions about self-worth, connection and imagination, all while spinning a joyful emotional epic with all the laughter and heart of top-tier Pixar.
Eight-year-old Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) struggles to make friends with children her age. She's shy around other kids, so instead of playdates with her neighbours, she retreats into her imagination, creating whimsical adventures for Jessie (Joan Cusack), Buzz and the other playthings in her toy box. Stressing over Bonnie's social anxiety, her parents buy her a Lilypad tablet (Greta Lee) that's all the rage with Bonnie's peers.
The internet-enabled device instantly transforms Bonnie into a screen-obsessed shut-in. Although her parents' plan technically worked — she joins a group chat with some local girls and gets invited over for a sleepover — she loses interest in the offline world.
This zombified Bonnie sends Jessie and the rest of the toys into an existential crisis. To save their beloved kid, they recruit their old pal Woody (Tom Hanks) for help. Once reunited, the toys hatch a plan to take Lilypad offline and help Bonnie forge an in-person friendship.
Set in the smartphone and social media era, Toy Story 5 mines drama from the paradox of people being more connected than ever while feeling increasingly lonely and unfulfilled. By exploring this tension through a child's eyes, the film highlights not just what we're losing, but all the potential experiences that are never realized.
The story examines the strain devices place on relationships, the distance that exists between people sitting in the same room, and, most tragically, the death of the imagination. The film asks: how can one even have space to dream with an endless stream of group chats and dance videos blasting into their brain every waking hour?
Like all the best Pixar films, Toy Story 5 will thrill the little ones and emotionally shatter the adults bringing them to the theatre. Kids will enjoy the dazzling animation, frantic chase sequences and vibrant new ensemble of characters (Conan O'Brien's potty-training device Smarty Pants steals scene after scene). Moms and dads, though, may spiral into an existential crisis confronting the film's take on how fast kids outgrow their parents, and how technology accelerates the process.
Toy Story 5 explores the harrowing asymmetry at the heart of the parent-child bond with soul-aching beauty. Parents' love and instinct to protect their children grow more ferocious by the day, as the child steadily marches towards independence. Throughout the series, characters like Woody and Jessie have exhausted themselves raging against the tides of change. But 31 years in, this entry treats accepting being outgrown not as a failure, but as the sweetest surrender.
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Supporting their newly released debut album HOME, South Korean boy band BOYNEXTDOOR have announced their first-ever slate of North American concerts as part of their global KNOCK ON Vol. 2 Tour, set to bring them to Toronto and Vancouver in November.
The tour's North American leg kicks off on October 30 in Dallas, TX. Following a few additional stateside dates, the K-pop group will cross the border into Canada to perform at Toronto's Queen Elizabeth Theatre on November 10 and Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Theatre on November 13. From there, they'll go on to complete the run on November 24 in Mexico City, Mexico, ahead of returning to Asia.
Tickets go on general sale next Friday (June 26) at 4 p.m. local time. Find the full North American routing below, as well as more upcoming Canadian shows via Concert Central.
BOYNEXTDOOR 2026 Tour Dates:
10/30 Dallas, TX - The Bomb Factory
11/01 Pompano Beach, FL - Pompano Beach Amphitheater
11/04 Chicago, IL - The Salt Shed
11/07 New York, NY - Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden
11/10 Toronto, ON - Queen Elizabeth Theatre
11/13 Vancouver, BC - Queen Elizabeth Theatre
11/15 Seattle, WA - Showbox SoDo
11/17 San Francisco, CA - The Warfield
11/20 Los Angeles, CA - Peacock Theater
11/24 Mexico City, Mexico - Arena Ciudad de México
Stoner-metal titans Sleep are proving to be very much awake, as they've released their first single in eight years, "Have Spacesuit Will Travel," and have also announced a debut comic book and North American tour.
"Have Spacesuit Will Travel" is the band's first new music since their 2018 record The Sciences, and is also the first track not to feature guitarist Matt Pike after his departure.
Bassist and songwriter Al Cisneros shared in a statement, "The music and art are alive and after the decades of obstacles that Sleep has overcome, it is time to move forward and make songs and albums." He wished Pike the best on his "earth-bound maneuvers."
The band is now comprised of Cisneros, drummer Dale Crover and guitarist Bubba Dupree.
Cisneros has also shared the first issue of the Sleep Comic Book, marking his debut for Third Man Books. According to the book's description, the story follows the saga of the Marijuanaut to Planet Immonia, which will mirror the "riff-filled lands of Sleep's discography." It is available as a standard-edition standalone comic and a limited-edition bundle, which includes a flexidisc of "Have Spacesuit Will Travel."
Sleep will be hitting the road for a North American tour that will take them across the US and Canada this fall. They'll play three Canadian dates at Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom (September 20), Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre (November 9) and Montreal's Club Soda (November 11).
You can find their tour schedule below. Presales will begin June 23 at 10 a.m. local time, with general on-sale following on June 25.
Sleep 2026 Tour Dates:
09/08 San Diego, CA - The Observatory
09/09 Phoenix, AZ - The Van Buren
09/10 Albuquerque, NM - The Revel Entertainment Center
09/12 Dallas, TX - Granada Theater
09/13 Austin, TX - Levitation
09/14 Oklahoma City, OK - Tower Theatre
09/16 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
09/17 Salt Lake City, UT - The Grand At The Complex
09/18 Boise, ID - Treefort Music Hall
09/20 Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom
09/21 Seattle, WA - Neptune Theatre
09/22 Seattle, WA - Neptune Theatre
09/23 Portland, OR - Roseland Theater
09/25 San Francisco, CA -The Fillmore
09/26 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
09/27 Santa Cruz, CA - Catalyst
09/28 Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern
09/29 Santa Ana, CA - The Observatory
11/04 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
11/05 Milwaukee, Wl - Pabst Theater
11/06 Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre
11/07 Detroit, Ml - St. Andrews Hall
11/09 Toronto, ON - Phoenix Concert Theatre
11/10 Montreal, QC - Club Soda
11/11 Burlington, VT - Higher Ground Ballroom
11/12 Boston, MA - Roadrunner
11/13 Hudson, NY - Basilica Hudson
11/15 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts
11/16 Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Paramount
11/17 Washington, D.C. - Lincoln Theatre
Pig Pen? More like Bagel BELT! (Well, Bagel BCCJ if you want to get technical, but BELT has a better ring to it as a band name.)
While promoting the fifth and final season of The Bear — as well as his voice-acting turn in the new Toy Story movie — Canadian chef-turned-actor/hardcore musician Matty Matheson recently stopped by The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, where he brought along a surprise for the titular host: the creature comforts of his Tim Hortons order from back home.
If you thought you were in on the secret sauce with your unusual go-to move at Timmies, Matheson's probably got you beat. As he explained to Fallon, he gets a toasted everything bagel with herb and garlic cream cheese, strawberry jam and bacon.
Amidst bickering over the pronunciation of "bagel" (another classic clash of Team Bay-gel vs. Team Bah-gel), the host didn't seem particularly enticed by the combo — or, let's face it, the unappetizing plate placed in front of him, because a bagel from Tims has never won a beauty pageant — but was game enough to give it a try, prompting a long moment of silent chewing and pained facial expressions.
"It's a lot of bagel, isn't it Jimmy?!" Matheson quipped. Nodding, Fallon said, "It's a lot of bagel. I'm not sure we can go back on that bagel."
Matheson conceded, "It's not for everybody." Fallon then went on to reveal his painfully vanilla bagel preferences: everything bagel with veggie cream cheese, not toasted. You can't deny that it suits him.
In support of his forthcoming latest solo album Not Bad for New Jersey (out September 10 via his own Lesser Known Records), the Gaslight Anthem's Brian Fallon and his band the Painkillers have announced a crop of fall North American tour dates, which will bring him to Canada this September for a lone gig in Toronto.
The stint on the road begins September 10 in Brooklyn, NY. Shortly thereafter, Fallon and co. will cross the Canadian border to perform at the Opera House in Toronto on September 14 (with support from Dave Hause), ahead of completing the remainder of the trek stateside. Things are slated to wrap up on October 13 in Philadelphia, PA, before the singer-songwriter heads to the UK and Europe in November.
Tickets go on sale to the general public next Friday (June 26) at 10 a.m. local time, with various presales beginning June 23. Check out the full schedule of dates below, and visit Concert Central for more information on other upcoming Canadian shows.
Brian Fallon & the Painkillers 2026 Tour Dates:
09/10 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
09/11 Woodstock, NY - Levon Helm Studios
09/12 Somerville, MA - Arts at the Armory
09/14 Toronto, ON - The Opera House
09/15 Buffalo, NY - Town Ballroom
09/16 Pittsburgh, PA - Mr. Smalls Theatre
09/18 Detroit, MI - El Club
09/19 Chicago, IL - Riot Fest
09/20 Milwaukee, WI - The Rave Hall
09/22 Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theater
09/24 Denver, CO - The Oriental Theater
09/26 Portland, OR - The Get Down
09/27 Seattle, WA - Neumos
09/29 San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop
09/30 Roseville, CA - Goldfield Trading Post - Roseville
10/01 Santa Ana, CA - Observatory Orange County
10/03 San Diego, CA - Casbah
10/04 Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom
10/06 Austin, TX - Mohawk (Outdoor Stage)
10/07 Dallas, TX - Trees
10/09 Atlanta, GA - Center Stage (The Loft)
10/10 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
10/11 Washington, D.C. - Black Cat
10/13 Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe Live (Music Hall)
Pop artist Role Model has mapped out an international tour ahead of the release of his new album Chuck Timely & the Hourglass (out August 7 via Interscope).
Chuck on Tour will kick off in Bend, OR, on September 9. A few days later, he'll play a lone Canadian stop at Vancouver's Freedom Mobile Arch on September 12, before continuing the rest of the North American leg stateside. He'll play dates in the UK and Europe in February.
Presales will begin on June 23 at 10 a.m. local time, with the general on-sale following on June 27. Check out the schedule below, and head over to Concert Central for more Canadian tour announcements.
Role Model 2026–2027 Tour Dates:
09/09 Bend, OR - Hayden Homes Amphitheater
09/11 Seattle, WA - WAMU Theater
09/12 Vancouver, BC - Freedom Mobile Arch
09/15 Sandy, UT - The Plaza at America First Field
09/16 Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre
09/18 Minneapolis, MN - The Armory
09/19 Chicago, IL - The Salt Shed
09/20 Chicago, IL - The Salt Shed
09/22 Washington, D.C. - The Anthem
09/23 Philadelphia, PA - Skyline Stage at Highmark Mann
09/25 New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall
09/26 New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall
09/27 Boston, MA - Leader Bank Pavilion
09/30 Sterling Heights, MI - Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre
10/01 Pittsburgh, PA - Citizens Live at the Wylie
10/03 Atlanta, GA - Synovus Bank Amphitheater at Chastain Park
10/04 Nashville, TN - The Truth
10/06 Houston, TX - 713 Music Hall
10/07 Austin, TX - Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park
10/09 Irving, TX - The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
10/10 Oklahoma City, OK - Zoo Amphitheatre
10/12 Phoenix, AZ - Arizona Financial Theatre
10/13 San Diego, CA - Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre
10/15 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre
10/16 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre
10/18 Berkeley, CA - Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley
02/11 Berlin, Germany - Tempodrom
02/13 Amsterdam, Netherlands - AFAS Live
02/14 Amsterdam, Netherlands - AFAS Live
02/15 Brussels, Belgium - Forest National
02/17 Düsseldorf, Germany - Mitsubishi Electric Halle
02/ 19 Paris, France - Zénith Paris - La Villette
02/22 Dublin, Ireland - 3Arena
02/24 London, UK - OVO Arena Wembley
Last year, Lil Nas X was arrested and hospitalized in Los Angeles after an incident that was linked to his bipolar disorder diagnosis. After a judge granted him a mental health diversion in April that would dismiss his felony assault charges, so long as he undergoes a two-year mental health treatment plan, Nas has taken to social media to give his fans an update on his health.
In a video posted to his Instagram yesterday (June 17), the artist born Montero Hill shared that he's been in rehab for a few months, and has also been spending time with family and friends to "ground [himself] down to earth and to get out of [his] head."
He revealed, "When I got my bipolar disorder diagnosis, I felt like I had known for the past few years, but I didn't want to admit to it because I didn't want to have to take medication and have people think different of me." He jokingly added, "I mean, I'm already Black and gay. Like, damn, God! Come on! Black, gay, bipolar — I'm living life on, like, extreme hard mode!"
Nas reassured his fans that he's doing and feeling much better; "I'm creating freely and there's less fear in my heart. I'm just smelling the roses."
He also teased new music and shared that he's excited for the next chapter in his life.
Glad to hear that he's doing better! You can check out the full video below.
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Windsor pizza announced itself to the world with a documentary a few years back, and now another regional Ontario pizza variety is coming to the screen: Cornwall pizza, which is being celebrated with a show on Bell Fibe TV1.
Cheese on Top is created by Christopher Redmond and filmmaker (and onetime Exclaim! contributor) Stacey Case, who assembled a four-episode season featuring documentary interviews with local pizza makers, along with scripted sketches. Montreal punk-abilly songwriter Bloodshot Bill performs an original song about pizza in each episode, with additional music provided by the Tijuana Bibles and surf rock combo the Reverb Syndicate.
In a statement, Redmond described the show as "Anthony Bourdain meets Jackass, or like if Julia Child and Joe Strummer joined the Kids in the Hall."
So, what exactly is Cornwall pizza? According to an article from Cornwall Tourism, it has a "substantial, doughy base that can stand up to its generous toppings." Most important is the "thick, golden blanket" of cheese "that often extends right to the edge." This cheese covers all of the aforementioned fresh toppings, and variations of the style can be found at several different restaurants in Cornwall.
In an email to Exclaim!, co-creator Case noted that this unique style is the only one available in Cornwall, outside of chains.
Cheese on Top will premiere on June 25 at Cornwall's DEV Hotel & Conference Centre. It will come to Bell Fibe TV1 the next day. Tickets for the premiere can be found here.
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Snowball, the white Persian-mix cat known for gracing the cover of Corridor's excellent 2024 album Mimi, has sadly passed away at the age of 12.
Owner Lib, who adopted Snowball in 2020, announced the feline's passing earlier today via Instagram, writing simply, "2014–2026," adding album track "Mourir Demain" to the post.
Mimi marked the francophone band's second release for Sub Pop, which they signed to back in 2019 — a first for the label in terms of language. The album made Exclaim!'s best albums list, as well as our favourite album covers roundup.
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Live Nation held a concert ticket sale this spring, and the megacorp seems to have a few clearance items left over, ready for everything-must-go pricing, as a new RBC Amphitheatre ticket sale has been announced.
The latest Summer of Live promotion offers four lawn tickets for a fairly reasonable price of $99. Eligible concerts include Godsmack, Santana and the Doobie Brothers, Zeds Dead, Lord Huron, Styx and Chicago, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Foreigner, Deep Purple, Jimmy Eat World and PUP, Blue Rodeo, Toto, Babymetal, Wu-Tang Clan, Breaking Benjamin, Bryson Tiller, and Logic and G-Eazy.
See the list of eligible concerts below and get your tickets here. Some of the supporting acts are worth $25 alone, so try to wrangle some friends!
Godsmack - June 24
With Stone Temple Pilots & Dorothy
Santana & The Doobie Brothers - July 5
Zeds Dead - July 11
With Dr. Fresch
Lord Huron - July 13
With Goldie Boutilier
Styx & Chicago - July 28
Lynyrd Skynyrd & Foreigner - July 30
With Six Gun Sally
Deep Purple - August 18
With Kansas & Jefferson Starship
Jimmy Eat World & PUP - August 23
With Ratboys
Blue Rodeo - August 29
With William Prince & Billianne
Toto - August 30
With Christopher Cross & The Romantics
Babymetal - September 7
With Halestorm & Violent Era
Wu-Tang Clan - September 8
With Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
Breaking Benjamin - September 9
With Chevelle, STARSET, Kami Kehoe
Bryson Tiller - September 16
With Majid Jordan, Ty Dolla $ign, Austin Millz
Logic & G-Eazy - September 27
With Juicy J
New details about the upcoming fifth Shrek instalment have been few and far between, but now, there's a teaser trailer for the movie, set to arrive in Summer 2027.
The clip focuses on Shrek (Mike Myers), Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and Donkey (Eddie Murphy) heading on another misadventure to a city called Further, Further Away (not to be confused with Far, Far Away from Shrek 2). It's pretty fast-paced and doesn't reveal too many plot points, but we do get the first look at Skyler Gisondo and Marcello Hernández's characters as Shrek's sons, Fergus and Farkle, as they sit in jail with their parents and Donkey.
What we don't get to see yet is Zendaya as Shrek's daughter, Felicia. Watch the teaser trailer below.
Oh, Cartel Madras, how we've missed you! It's been a long minute since the Alberta sibling duo released the last of their Project Goonda EPs, The Serpent and the Tiger, and they've largely been missing in action from the live circuit — with that coming to an end at last with their Sled Island slot this weekend.
Now with a strategically released new single, "EVIDENT 2 ME," the pair mark their bold return, ushering in what is hopefully a new creative era. Arriving with "vengeance on their mind and adventure laid out before them," they've enlisted Toronto producer Jide for the track, which continues to flaunt their effortless flows, futuristic genre-bending sensibilities, braggadocious attitudes and extraterrestrial poise.
Cartel Madras state their case in a succession of aggressive commands, as Jide's jungle beat provides the foundation for incisive and dry-humoured lyrics: "Do you think you can stand up straight and punch? / Don't bleed out too much / Don't get knocked by lunch / Too many crabs in the pot / Even two is a lot / Keep your energy out of my thoughts / Free bleeding out the box."
I might be reading into it too much, but some of the verbiage surrounding the single's marketing suggests the project may soon be terminated. Either way, it's become "EVIDENT 2 ME" that I'm quite literally prepared to beg for that not to be the case!
Franco-American pop brother duo Faux Real have announced a headlining tour in support of their forthcoming new album Poison Time (out September 4 via b4), which will take them across the US, Canada, Europe and the UK this fall.
The North America leg will begin in Philadelphia, PA, on October 6. After a couple of dates stateside, the brothers will head north to Canada for shows at Montreal's L'Esco (October 11) and Toronto's Dance Cave (October 13).
After another run of shows in the US, they'll head back up to Canada to play Vancouver's Fox Cabaret on October 27 before the UK/European stretch in November.
Tickets will go on sale this Friday (June 19) at 10 a.m. local time.
Check out the itinerary below, and head over to Concert Central for more Canadian tour announcements.
Faux Real 2026 Tour Dates:
10/06 Philadelphia, PA - Nikki Lopez
10/07 Washington, D.C. - Songbyrd
10/10 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
10/11 Montreal, QC - L'esco
10/13 Toronto, ON - Dance Cave
10/15 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
10/16 Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club
10/20 San Diego, CA - Soda Bar, San Diego
10/21 Los Angeles, CA - Zebulon
10/22 San Francisco, CA - Kilowatt
10/26 Portland, OR - Show Bar
10/27 Vancouver, BC - Fox Cabaret
10/28 Seattle, WA - Barboza
11/12 Manchester, UK - The Abbey
11/14 London, UK - ICA
11/16 Brussels, Belgium - Botanique
11/17 Paris, France - Bus Palladium
11/20 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Cinetol
11/21 Cologne, Germany - Kulturhof, Cologne, DE
11/23 Copenhagen, Denmark - Ideal Bar, Copenhagen, DK
11/25 Berlin, Germany - Urban Spree, Berlin, DE
Victoria's BreakOut West Festival and Conference is returning for another year of festivities this fall, and its first wave of performers has just been announced.
Running from September 30 to October 4 across multiple venues throughout the city, over 50 Canadian and international artists are expected to play this year's festival.
Leading the first wave are Art d'Ecco, Belle Plaine, bitterfly, daysormay, Fleetwood Huey, FRANKLIN, Gnarwhal, Grace Clark, INGIA, Jaiden Riley, Jed and the Valentine, OSANI, Neighbour Andy, Robert Adam, Teagan Littlechief, the Bankes Brothers, Tk the Artist and VIOLET NIGHT.
In addition to live music, the festival will include a five-day career development conference and industry program that will offer immersive content, market deep dives, mentor meetings, workshops and more.
Festival wristbands are on sale now, and you can find more information on BreakOut West's website.
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One of the country's great television dynasties is now over, as the CBC has announced that it will no longer air NHL games, marking the end of its weekly broadcast Hockey Night in Canada.
The weekly show has been airing on Saturday nights for 74 seasons, since 1952. Rogers Sportsnet acquired the NHL's Canadian rights back in 2013 (and recently renewed the deal for 12 more years), and the CBC continued airing the program in subsequent years.
"After a successful 12-year partnership, Sportsnet and CBC today announced the public broadcaster will no longer carry NHL broadcasts after the current season as it moves forward with a new sports programming strategy following the unprecedented success of the Milano/Cortina Olympic Games," CBC and Rogers Sportsnet announced in a joint statement.
"Watching hockey on Saturday night is a time-honoured tradition for Canadians, and Sportsnet is privileged to continue delivering that tradition. This has been a terrific partnership, and both parties look forward to continued opportunities to collaborate in the future."
CBC still holds the trademark for Hockey Night in Canada, while Rogers Sportsnet holds the rights for the games. If the brand does continue on in some way, it will be in an extremely different form from the weekly broadcasts Canadians have known for the past 74 seasons.
Julian McKenzie of The Athletic tweeted that the CBC "will be using the iconic brand in different ways going forward."
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