Sure it’s not really concert news, but The Notorious B.I.G. has yet another posthumous project coming out. Though he had nothing to do with the actual filming or writing the new film “Notorious,” a look at Biggie’s rise to fame, he was nonetheless the inspiration. So the question is, at this point is it still paying homage to B.I.G. or is it people still trying to milk as much out of this legend as possible?

Variety reviews the latest installment of Oasis, and compares them to the Rolling Stones, but not in a good way. The reviewer says that the band has reached a late-Rolling Stones way of doing things. They play some old hits, with a few newer songs chucked in there every once in awhile. But, according to this reviewer, the Stones at least put on a good show back then. Oasis does the same thing, but they just kind of stand there, letting the lights and smoke do all the work. The reviewer found it to be dull and uninteresting. He likes the music, but it’s not a good show at all. Even the new songs aren’t that good, just similar versions of their earlier work.

The ever popular band U2 has announced that their new album “No Line on the Horizon” will be released on March 2nd, 2009. This will be their 12th studio album, which they believe is also their best. Edge claims that this album will be like nothing they’ve ever done…

AC/DC played an engagement at Madison Square Garden recently. But the reviewer for Variety was unimpressed. David Sprague, the reviewer, said that it is the same show that they have been doing for a lot of years and that it hasn’t changed in any way for several decades. He respects that they’re still out there, but he doesn’t think that it’s that great a show. But diehard fans, obviously, will love it. It’ll be just like a time capsule, except, of course with a lot of older people than it would’ve been the first time around.

After an uncharacteristic 4-year hiatus from studio work, the Dave Matthews Band is returning next year with a brand new CD and a tour to promote it. On April 14th, the yet-to-be-named CD will be released, followed by a lengthy tour of the United States. So far, 16 dates are confirmed, with more likely to be added. On the release date, DMB is planning to play a concert at MSG to celebrate. Check it all out at davematthewsband.com.

Wynton Marsalis, the famous trumpeter, is to be the headliner at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival next April and May. Marsalis is known throughout the world as one of the best jazz trumpeters around. But the festival isn’t merely jazz. Instead it includes people from several other genres of music, including rock, blues and R&B. The Dave Matthews Band will be there, as will Tony Bennett and James Taylor, just to name a few.  It is great that even after all that city has endured,they have kept up this great tradition of the festival and anyone in the area should go to it, because it has some of the best musicians in the world!

Just like some of the most cohesive alliances in history (check Captain Planet’s Planeteers), the Celtic Woman is made up of five strong and disparate women. Chloe Agnew, Lynn Hilary, Lisa Kelly, Alex Sharpe, and Mairead Nesbitt are the five separate forces that call upon the singular group power known as Celtic Woman. Whether it’s traditional Celtic songs or modern genres, each of these women have mastered their vocal cords and are amazingly adept. You may want to find some Celtic Woman tickets today and check’em out.

Coldplay released an album this year called Viva la Vida which has been a best seller and gets lots of airplay, both on the radio and in grocery stores and all over the place. They also have toured in order to promote this new album and the tour has been very successful. However, Coldplay has been sued this week for copyright infringement regarding the title song of the album, Viva la Vida. Guitarist Joe Satriani claims that the song is almost a carbon copy of his “If I Could Fly” that he recorded a couple years ago. I’ve heard both of them, and I can hear a strong similarity, but I don’t think it’s a carbon copy or anything. But it’s kind of hard to tell, since the songs are in such a different style. Anyway, keep an eye on this, because it’s interesting to see when this kind of thing happens.

Powered by the pop impresario Simon Cowell, Il Divo has become one of the hottest new acts to emerge on the pop music scene. Technically labeled as a multicultural operatic pop group, the band consists of Carlos Marin, Urs Buhler, David Miller, and Sebastien Izambard (most of the names have accents but I can’t put them in with this format). Though the members are from Spain, Switzerland, America and France, the name of the group is Italian and their sound tries to emulate the Three Tenors. Wherever you live, there are plenty of Il Divo tour dates to choose from. Make sure you see them at some point because they are simply fabulous.

Art Garfunkel signed with Rhino Records last year and released an album. It was called Some Enchanted Evening and was enjoyed by those who like Garfunkel’s music and others, perhaps a whole new generation that has never heard him before. But why hasn’t he released a new one?  When promoting this newest album, he was being interviewed on German TV and revealed that he might be interested in reuniting with Paul Simon for another album. There really hasn’t been any information about that issue since last year, but it might be a nice change of pace for them.