Weekly music agenda: Jonas Brothers on tour, Fuji Rock in Japan

(Masanori Naruse)

Teen heartthrobs the Jonas Brothers are set to begin a major international tour, a follow-up to their 2009 outing that was one of the top-grossing concert tours of the year. On July 30, the picturesque Fuji Rock festival will convene at the Naeba Ski Resort in Niigata Prefecture, Japan.

Salzburg Festival
July 25-August 30
Salzburg, Austria

The oldest and one of the most prestigious festivals in Europe celebrates its 90th anniversary in 2010. Highlights this year include concerts by the Vienna Philharmonic and featuring pianist Evgeny Kissin, as well as opera productions including Elektra by Richard Strauss, Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, and Alban Berg's Lulu. Also on the program: seven concerts devoted to the music of Johannes Brahms, as well as concerts featuring the music of Schumann, Chopin, and Wolfgang Rihm; and a performance by international stars Rolando Villazón and Hélène Grimaud.
http://www.salzburgerfestspiele.at

Jonas Brothers international tour begins
July 27
North America

Teen heartthrobs the Jonas Brothers are set to make a multi-continent summer concert tour with guest Demi Lovato, beginning July 27 in Dallas, Texas, and continuing through North America, Latin America, and Europe throughout the summer and fall. The brothers will tour in support of the sequel to their film Camp Rock, which has reached more than 137 million viewers. That movie's soundtrack has sold 2.5 million copies worldwide and spent ten weeks in the top ten on the US Billboard 200 chart. The Jonas Brothers' previous tour was among the top-grossing concert tours in 2009, with more than 1.5 million attendees and sold-out shows on three continents.
http://www.teamjonas.com

Fuji Rock
July 30-August 1
Niigata Prefecture, Japan

Set on the Naeba Ski Resort, the Fuji Rock Festival is a favorite for its picturesque location. More than 100,000 people attend the annual festival, where they can watch music on seven different stages, the largest of which can accommodate 40,000 people. The 2010 festival will feature Muse, Them Crooked Vultures, Roxy Music, Massive Attack, and more than 100 other artists, most of them from the UK, the US, and Japan. Advance three-day tickets are 39,800 yen, or about €350, and campsite or car pass tickets are an additional 3,000 yen (€26).
http://www.fujirockfestival.com

Arcade Fire's 'The Suburbs'
August 2/3
International/USA

Montreal-based indie band Arcade Fire is generating considerable buzz for forthcoming album The Suburbs, the follow-up to 2007's The Neon Bible. The album tracked high on international pre-order charts  weeks before its release, and its popularity is likely to continue to rise as the band sets out on tours of North America and Europe. Arcade Fire's 2004 album Funeral was named by Billboard critics as the number-one album of the decade and was placed among the top ten of the decade by Rolling Stone and NME. Neon Bible was named among the top albums of 2007 by NME, Rolling Stone, Billboard, and Spin.

U2's re-starts 360° Tour
August 6
Europe

After a string of North American dates were canceled to allow lead singer Bono to recuperate from emergency back surgery, Irish band U2 continues its epic 360° Tour, which launched more than a year ago and has included many tour legs in North America, Europe, and worldwide. The latest North American dates were rescheduled for 2011, making this upcoming jaunt the first following Bono's recovery. The band will begin in Turin, Italy on August 6, continuing on to 15 other cities including Frankfurt, Moscow, Vienna, and Paris, and ending in Rome on October 8.
http://www.u2.com

Lollapalooza
August 6-8
Chicago, USA

First launched in 1991 by Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction, Lollapalooza is an iconic American festival with its roots in the alternative music scene. The 2010 festival lineup includes Lady Gaga, Green Day, newly reunited Soundgarden, Arcade Fire, The Strokes, and Phoenix. Other acts on the lineup include MGMT, Hot Chip, The Black Keys, The National, Spoon, Devo, Cypress Hill, The New Pornographers, Erykah Badu, Grizzly Bear, and The xx. Three-day passes are $215, while single-day tickets are available for $90 per day. Lollapalooza is an urban festival in Chicago's Grant Park and includes no on-site camping.
http://2010.lollapalooza.com


Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo
August 6-28
Edinburgh, Scotland

The centerpiece of the enormous annual Edinburgh Festival, the Military Tattoo is a performance series centered on army music. The first event took place in 1950, combining traditional bagpipes and drums with modern aspects of the armed forces. An estimated 217,000 people see the Tattoo live on the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle each year, including 70,000 visitors from outside Scotland and the UK. An additional 100 million people see the event via TV broadcasts in 30 countries. Highlights for 2010 include annual favorites Massed Pipes and Drums as well as Massed Military Bands, plus the South African Irish Regiment, the South Australian Pipes and Drums, the Military Band of the Coldstream Guards, the Citadel Band from Charleston, South Carolina, and the Imps Motorcycle Display Team from London's Docklands.
http://www.edintattoo.co.uk

Usher's 'Versus'
August 24
International

Grammy-winning R&B singer Usher is set to release a new album that is being called "the final chapter of Raymond vs. Raymond," his spring 2010 album that became his third consecutive number one album in the US and also peaked in the top ten in the US, the UK, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and on the European Top 100 chart. That album has spawned the hit singles "Papers," "Hey Daddy (Daddy's Home)," "Lil Freak" featuring Nikki Minaj, "There Goes My Baby," and most recently the summer hit "OMG" featuring will.i.am. The new set will include his current R&B hit "There Goes My Baby" and collaborations with Bun B, producer Polow Da Don, among others. On the same day that Versus is released, fans will be able to buy the album in a deluxe edition that will include all 22 songs from Raymond V. Raymond plus Versus.