The Closing Bell - Pollstar News

It’s time to turn off the lights, lock the doors and head on out to happy hour at the Service Charge Saloon. But before we do we want to leave you with new dates for Kenny Chesney, Tricky, Kenny G and Dance Gavin Dance, and links to items about iTunes’ prices, American Idol’s ratings, RIAA’s lawsuits and YouTube’s sound of silence.

Link-O-Rama …

What’s the difference between this year’s “American Idol” and last year’s competition? That is, with the exception of a new judge and new contestants? Less viewers – Reuters

iTunes’ new pricing may not save the music industry, but it helps – Associated Press / Yahoo Tech

Phil Schiller, senior vice-president of worldwide product marketing for Apple, delivers Macworld keynote address.

Users uploading music videos to YouTube now have the option to silence the audio if music might cause an infringement issue – CNET

You ever want to sit on one of those RIAA P2P lawsuits? Now you can – Wired

Dates, Dates & More Dates …

We posted several new club appearances for Dance Gavin Dance. The time period is March through May and stops include March 22 in Las Cruces, New Mexico, at Dream Theatre; March 26 in Rosamond, California, at Moose Lodge; April 26 in Philadelphia at First Unitarian Church; May 4 in Pittsburgh at Mr. Small’s Theatre and May 9 in Salt lake City at The Avalon Theater.

A ton of Kenny Chesney dates landed on our loading dock today. Well, maybe not a ton, but a couple of kilos for sure. New dates include April 23 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at Journal Pavilion; May 1 in San Antonio at AT&T Center; May 8 in Omaha at Qwest Center Omaha; May 30 in Louisville at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium; June 6 in Pittsburgh at Heinz Field; June 27 in Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field; July 18 in San Francisco at AT&T Park and August 22 in Detroit at Ford Field.

Photo: AP Photo

Country Music Awards, Sommet Center, Nashville.

Tricky crosses the pond for a U.S. run in March. Stops for the Brit musician include New York City on March 3 at Fillmore New York At Irving Plaza; chicago at Epiphany Episcopal Chicago on March 13; Los Angeles at Music Box @ Fonda on March 24 and San Francisco at the Mezzanine on March 26.

We also have a bunch of new dates for Kenny G. Like three new summer dates in Vegas at the The Orleans Hotel & Casino slotted for July 10 – 12. Other new ones include Orlando on March 26 at UCF Arena; St. Petersburg on March 27 at Mahaffey Theater and Branson on September 26 at Mansion America Theatre.

During the day we also updated the schedules for Lynam, Medeski Martin & Wood, Mumford And Sons, Mustard Plug, Rockapella, Shelby Lynne, Smash Mouth, The Bouncing Souls, The Hot Club Of Cowtown, The Kruger Brothers, The Parlor Mob, Thriving Ivory, Fleetwood Mac, Winds of Plague, Ying Yang Twins plus all the artists and bands needing updating, as well as a few that weren’t so sure.

Photo: AP Photo

Ohio’s Value City Arena and an excited Mick Fleetwood help kick off Fleetwood Mac’s summer tour.

And that concludes another exciting and thrilling day in the world of concert data. Thank you for joining us and we hope you can visit our little Web site tomorrow for another gigantic dose of raw concert info. G’night!