“Mono Music wanted to form an all-male band and we can all sing. More importantly, perhaps, we shared the desire to have our own single,” says Top.

“So we teamed up as Blue Gent and took our singing course seriously. We spent ages practising our singing before we recorded the single,” adds Yepun.

The lyrics are poignant while the melody brings to mind 1990’s pop.

“It’s about a man who is firm in his love and always stands by his lover. He is very warm and gentle,” explains J-Dai, while Been adds that it’s such a catchy little number that it will have everyone singing along.

Follow the updated information of Blue Gent and other artists of Mono Music at Facebook: Mono Music.

The boys are back in town

Freshly released from serving their time in the military, Jung Yunho and Shim Changmin of the much-loved South Korean boy band TVXQ are back with an eighth album, “New Champter #1: The Chance of Love” and a concert tour to match.

The duo will be back in Thailand this month for a concert at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani, on August 17 at 7pm.

Tickets cost from Bt2,000 to Bt6,500 at Thai Ticket Major counters and online at http://www.ThaiTicketMajor.com.

Tiffany goes it alone

Tiffany Young, one of the best-known members of South Korean girl group Girls’ Generation is all set to capture the hearts of Thai fans with her first solo Asia Fan Meeting Tour at MCC Hall of The Mall Bang Kapi on September 21.

The Korean singer will perform new songs including “Remember Me” and “Over My Skin” from her debut album.

For more information, go to the official fanpage at Facebook.com/FeohThai, Twitter: @FeohThai and Instagram/offi¬cialfeoh.

Reggae night out

The music of the Caribbean comes to town this month in the Foolmoon Reggae festival taking place at Oasis Garden of Show DC on August 19.

The line up includes Diana King, and Big Mountain plus our very own T-Bone, Srirajah Rockers and Mocca Garden.

Tickets are Bt2,000 before August 19 and Bt2,500 at the door. They’re available at http://www.Ticketmelon.com and http://www.Ovdcoin.com.

“First of all, I’d like to you everybody for expressing concern about the health of my voice. After three months of treatment, the doctor is allowing me to use my vocal power again but says I mustn’t overdo it. I’m really looking forward to seeing you all again on the campus tour,” says frontman Artiwara “Toon” Kongmalai.

“We haven’t done a campus tour since we released our first album more than 15 years ago. Campus is a great place to meet our fans and we always have a good feeling when we play at universities. We’ll be playing our two new songs ‘Khrai Khue Rao’ and ‘Wicha Tua Bao’ in addition to the hits that everybody wants to hear,” he adds.

The band, which also features guitarist Thanachai “Yod” Tantrakul, bassist Tanadol “Pid” Changsawek, drummer Suchatti “Chad” Janed, and keyboardist Ohm “Ohm” Plengkhum, was back in the studio earlier this year four years after their sixth album, “Dharmajati”, to record “Khrai Khue Rao”. This new first single tells everyone to follow his or her passion and not just wait on God.

Their second single, “Wicha Tua Bao” is a love song on the concept “let it be”.

“Some of the melody popped into my head while I was driving then I sat down with the band to develop it before sending it to Po Posayanukul and the Mango Team for the lyrics. It can be more than a love song, depending on fans’ interpretation. For us, it’s about getting everything in order to decrease our stress. It’s much easier to sing than to balance love,” says Toon.

And in a new move, the music video was shot using a 360-degree camera.

“It was difficult, because we have never used this technique. The production team kept having to duck down and hide because of the wide angle of the 360-degree camera. We made a series of shots them combined them with visual effects and animation. We wanted to do something Bodyslam has never done before. We are excited to see this music video through virtual reality in addition to computers and mobile phones. It is like everybody is taking part in the story of music video,” says Yossiri “Ton” Baisri and Ruangrit “Ton” Santisuk from Duck Unit.

Check out the campus tour dates at Facebook: GMM Grammy Road Tour.

Yoko Ono on Tuesday announced that she is releasing a new album at age 85, saying that her lifelong message of peace was sorely needed in 2018.

“Warzone”,” which will come out on October 19, will revisit songs penned by Ono since 1970, concluding with “Imagine,” her seminal pacifist anthem with her late husband John Lennon.

“The world is so messed up. Things are very difficult for everybody,” she said in a statement.

A statement from her representatives added: “It is not too late to change the world. We need Yoko now more than ever.”

The Japanese-born New Yorker made clear that “Warzone” was not a swan song, saying that she is working on another album.

The album’s 13 tracks, produced by her son Sean Ono Lennon, are rearranged to strip back the music, bringing to the forefront Ono’s voice in the vein of spoken word.

With the album announcement, she released a new take on the title track, which appeared in Ono’s 1994 musical “New York Rock” about her life with Lennon.

In the 2018 version, an elephant roars and percussion kicks in like a gun as Ono describes a scene of violence over echoing reverb.

“If you hear me, please help us!” she concludes.

Ono, who grew up in Tokyo and New York, had become a rising figure in the musical avant-garde when she met Lennon and became his second wife.

The couple famously used their honeymoon as a “bed-in” to protest the Vietnam War. She has remained active in peace causes and in preserving Lennon’s legacy after he was assassinated outside their New York apartment in 1980.

Canadian chanteuse Celine Dion is part of a rare breed of artists – a power ballad diva who despite taking time out from the spotlight has dominated the music scene for more than 30 years, and no more so than during the 1980s and 1990s.

Dion first gained international recognition in the 1980s by winning first the Yamaha World Popular Song Festival in 1982 then the Eurovision Song Contest in 1988 and follow up with a series of albums, most of them in her French.

By the time the 1990s rolled around, she was recording almost constantly, both in French and English. Fans were falling over themselves to buy her new releases – the most memorable of these being 1996’s “Falling into You” and 1997’s “Let’s Talk about Love”, both certified diamond in the US, and the French language “D’eux” in 1995, which even today remains the best-selling French-language album of all time.

And then of course there was the theme song for the hit movie “Titanic” – “My Heart Will Go On”, the ultimate declaration of love – which was released both as a single and also appeared on “Let’s Talk About Love”.

Then in the late 1990s at the very height of her success, she announced she was taking time out to take care of her husband and long-time manager Rene Angelil, who had been diagnosed with cancer.

Now a mother, Dion returned to the spotlight in 2002 signing a contract with the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas where she would perform nightly until 2007. She returned for a second round of shows in 2011 and is still the highest paid resident performer of all time, breaking her record of 1,000 overall Las Vegas shows in 2016.

Widowed that same year, Dion set out on the road in 2017 and is currently undertaking a world tour to support her upcoming English-language album to be released this year, marking her first concerts in Asia and Australia since the “Taking Chances World Tour” in 2008.

She closed out the Asian leg of her tour on Monday night at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani performing to a capacity crowd.

Her first concert in Thailand came with a repertoire that spanned from the 1980s to the early 2000s and incorporated plenty of Las Vegas pomp and glamour. Just as back in 2008 and again in 2017, she was accompanied by impressionist extraordinaire Veronic DiCaire.

DiCaire is famous for imitating the voices and mannerisms of many celebrities, and delighted the audience with her impressions of Dion herself, as well as Tina Turner, Adele, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Susan Boyle. She made fun of Aguilera’s vocal growl and warned the audience not to try this at home. The audience didn’t just enjoy her mimicry but also her medley of old hits from the 1980s and 1990s.

But soon it was time for the diva herself and screams from the audience were deafening as the real Celine Dion appeared on stage and walked through spotlight beams to kick off her set with “The Power of Love” and “That’s the Way It Is”.

Die-hard fans clapped their hands cheerfully as she greeted the audience with: “We finally meet. It is my very first time in Thailand and it’s amazing, thank you so much. I love you so much.

“Don’t ask me why to be so long to get here. I don’t know, Maybe I could have walked to get here. I’m so proud to spend time with you tonight, khob khun kha. It a great privilege to perform for you. I know you have been supporting my music for nearly three decades. Tonight, it is your music. Tonight, it is your concert. And I hope you and I have best time ever. Let’s have fun together, are you ready?”

Dion then went back to basics with her “I’m Alive”, got the crowd to sing along at her request to “Because You Loved Me”, then swung right into “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now”. Apparently no one had thought to warn her about the Thai obsession with the mobile phone, expressing surprise at the end of “Because You Loved Me” at the lights from the devices beaming her way. “It’s amazing,” she said, before inducing her hardcore fans to sing a verse at the end of this song.

The intensity of interest was sparked by a few notes of “Beauty and the Beast” and a duet with a background male vocalist.

The concert was broken into segments to allow for changes of her gorgeous costumes.

Back on stage she invited fans to sing along to the theme song of “Dead Pool 2”. “I hear it was a major hit in Thailand and became one of the most successful movies of the year. Thank you, all of you,” she said.

She continued with a set that included “Think Twice” with mellow tones of piano and guitar, “Falling into You”, “The Reason” and “Pour que tu m’aimes encore”, the first hit single from her French-language album “D’eux” and, as she said, the biggest song of her French career.

The set list was a solid mix of her instantly recognisable hits, various covers, and medleys. Dion also performed the stunning covers of other artist’s songs, such as Eric Carmen’s “All By Myself”, which showcased her perfect pitch as the music faded away, Ike & Tina Turner’s “River Deep, Mountain High” and beautiful renditions of Prince’s “Kiss” and “Purple Rain.”

“She is an amazing artist, a wonderful mother. Her name is Pink. This is a beautiful song. For me, it expresses the power and the strength to overcome any hardship that you are going through, no matter what the situation is. It is called ‘Recovering’,” she said.

Everyone in the arena fell silent, as Dion gave her poignant rendition of the number to the accompaniment of piano and strings.

She then continued with an acoustic medley of “At Seventeen”, “A New Day Had Come”, “Unison” and “To Love You More”.

As the audience was hoping, Dion closed out her 24-song set with a breathtaking rendition of “My Heart Will Go On” giving full rein to her three octave vocals and bringing tears to the eyes of many.

The cheers and the applause continued long and loud and the audience eventually got their wish as the diva returned to the stage, performing “Falling in Love with You” a cappella.

The two-hour-long concert felt like a theatrical production with her gorgeous costumes, sweeping overtures and stunning visuals and was a reminder of why Celine Dion remains today one of the most-loved performers in the world.

This will be the rock band’s first concert in Thailand, though they members say they have fond memories of the kingdom since their Mayday “NOWA 3D” album’s postproduction was done here, and the music video of their megahit “Step by Step” was partly shot in Thailand in 2013.

Tickets start at Bt1,800 at Thai Ticket Major counters and online at http://www.ThaiTicketMajor.com.

London’s shining star

The UK’s brightest pop star Dua Lipa drops into Thailand on September 17 for a concert at GMM Live House on the eighth floor of CentralWorld. The show, part of her “Anticipated” tour starts at 8pm.

The Londonborn pop singer-songwriter will be performing her smash hits “Hotter Than Hell”, “Blow Your Mind (Mwah)”, “Scared to Be Lonely”, “New Rules” and “IDGAF”.

Tickets costing Bt2,000 and Bt3,000 and Bt2,000 are available at Thai Ticket Major. Call (02) 262 3456.

Singing it like it is

Three songs-for-life legends of three generations – Surachai “Nga” Chanthimathorn of Caravan, Yuenyong “Ad” Ophakul of Carabao and Pongsit “Pu” Khampi – take the stage of Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani on August 25 for the concert, “Jak Phupha Thueng Thalay”.

The curtain rises at 7pm.

Tickets cost from Bt1,000 to Bt5,000 at Thai Ticket Major.

Sam brings the thrill

British pop-soul singer Sam Smith will bring his “The Thrill Of It All Tour” to Asia in October, performing to what promise to be sold-out venues in Singapore, Philippines, South Korea, Japan and Thailand.

Here in Thailand, Smith will perform at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani, on October 28 at 8pm. Fans can expect to hear tracks from his sophomore album, “The Thrill Of It All”, which took him to the No 1 position in charts around the world. The album has already spawned the hits “Too Good At Goodbyes” and “Pray”.

Tickets range for Bt2,000 to Bt9,000 (VIP) at Thai Ticket Major outlets. Call (02) 262 3456 or visit http://www.ThaiTicketMajor.com.

Now in its second year, the dance event will transform the venue into the world’s biggest nightclub for just one night. “Rise” marks the beginning of a new era for Sensation, bringing a new experience to audiences while keeping the defining elements that make a Sensation: world’s leading DJs, worldclass acts, sleek white dress code, water fountains and special effects, and an atmosphere that can’t be beat.

According to the press release, Sensation Rise stands for breaking free from the worries and boundaries of daily life, letting go, and rising above yourself to ultimate euphoria.

Headlining the show are WHOISJODY, Dirty South, Dannic, Matisse & Sadko, KO:YU, Chuckie, Dirtcaps, Headhunterz, Mr White with MC Gee serving as emcee.

WHOISJODY aka Jody Koenders, is a former professional snowboarder who travelled around the globe to competing in the best halfpipes against the world greatest athletes. But after a serious accident, he decided to put more energy into his other passion: music. He describes his sound as “Super House”, a mix between house, tech house and techno.

Dirty South’s producing career developed in tandem with his DJ’ing career. He got his start at the age of 13 after he relocated to Melbourne, Australia, where he currently resides. Influenced by everything around him, the artist started improvising with his old NEC Hi-Fi and mixing with the tape decks, and then started making bootlegs and mashups, which eventually led to getting a computer, software, and keyboard that resulted in his first official production in 2004 as Dirty South.

KO:YU is a Turkish/German DJ and electronic dance music producer who specialises in progressive house and electro house. He has received worldwide support from acclaimed DJs such as Avicii, Swedish House Mafia, Dada Life and Fedde le Grand and was named an EDM artist to watch in 2012 by MTV.

Dannic is a name synonymous with Dutch dance, cementing himself as a goto name that delivers within the world of bigroom, grooving house. Dannic’s longrunning stance behind the radio airwaves including his globally-syndicated Fonk Radio venture, also demonstrates a producer that is well and truly tapped into the most vital and important industry trends that appeal to his ever expanding audience.

Matisse & Sadko is a Russian DJ and production duo from St Petersburg, consisting of brothers Alexander and Yury Parkhomenko. They are best known for their collaborations with Dutch DJ Martin Garrix on the tracks “Dragon”, “Forever”, “Break Through The Silence” and “Together”.

Chuckie is a producer of what has been called the “dirty house” scene, a cultural movement centred on lively urban club events featuring dancing, bright lights and interactive stage elements. He has also helped develop a style of music known as “Dirty Dutch”, a genre characterised by high-pitched lead synths over Latin-inspired rhythms and samples.

Dutch DJ and rapper group Dirtcaps, consisting of Max Oude Weernink and Danny Groenenboom, are best known for their song “Foreign Tongues” which charted on the Belgian “Dance Bubbling Under” chart and for performing at festivals such as Tomorrowland, Tomorrowworld and Defqon.1.

Another Dutch DJ is Headhunterz, who began his career in 2005, working in hardstyle music. He has performed at Qlimax, Defqon.1, QBase, inQontrol, Decibel and Hard Bass and has performed at electronic music festivals including Electric Daisy Carnival and Tomorrowland.

It isn’t Sensation without the legendary Mr White. This pale-faced resident DJ has mastered the craft on how to set the perfect party atmosphere through his subtle house vibes and tech-house grooves. He’s been travelling the world alongside Sensation for several years now, rocking one dance floor at a time on a global scale. Mr White is not only a dance music icon, he’s an essential ingredient for every Sensation show.

MC Gee is one of the biggest MCs in electronic house/dance music. He is finely tuned in the crowd and has the natural ability helping them to anticipate at the music and to raise the energy at the same time. With over 20 years experience as an MC, he is regarded as one of the originators of electronic dance music. For the last 8 years, he has been the’ “Voice of Sensation” to make it the best night possible and guide the crowd through the theatrical and musical journey.

For more information and ticket reservation, visit http://www.SensationThailand.com.

“Warzone,” which will come out on October 19, will revisit songs penned by Ono since 1970, concluding with “Imagine,” her seminal pacifist anthem with her late husband John Lennon.

“The world is so messed up. Things are very difficult for everybody,” she said in a statement.

A statement from her representatives added: “It is not too late to change the world. We need Yoko now more than ever.”

The Japanese-born New Yorker made clear that “Warzone” was not a swan song, saying that she is working on another album.

The album’s 13 tracks, produced by her son Sean Ono Lennon, are rearranged to strip back the music, bringing to the forefront Ono’s voice in the vein of spoken word.

With the album announcement, she released a new take on the title track, which appeared in Ono’s 1994 musical “New York Rock” about her life with Lennon.

In the 2018 version, an elephant roars and percussion kicks in like a gun as Ono describes a scene of violence over echoing reverb.

“If you hear me, please help us!” she concludes.

Ono, who grew up in Tokyo and New York, had become a rising figure in the musical avant-garde when she met Lennon and became his second wife.

The couple famously used their honeymoon as a “bed-in” to protest the Vietnam War. She has remained active in peace causes and in preserving Lennon’s legacy after he was assassinated outside their New York apartment in 1980.

A Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman confirmed to AFP that emergency responders transported a 25-year-old woman from an address that matches Lovato’s to a hospital, but did not identify her by name or state her condition.

Celebrity news site TMZ released audio of an emergency call in which responders appear to say that Lovato is unconscious and revived with Narcan, a nasal spray used to treat opioid overdoses.

People magazine quoted an anonymous source close to Lovato saying that the singer was in stable condition and that the overdose, while drug-related, was not from heroin, as initially reported by TMZ.

Representatives for Lovato did not respond to requests for comment.

A former Disney child star, Lovato has been open about her struggles with addiction as well as depression and eating disorders. A 2012 documentary, “Demi Lovato: Stay Strong,” documents how she used to snort cocaine several times a day but found her way into rehab and back into a successful career.

But a month ago, she released a song entitled “Sober,” in which she appeared to indicate a relapse, opening with the line, “I got no excuses for all these goodbyes.”

She apologizes to her parents before singing in the chorus, “To the ones who never left me / We’ve been down this road before / I’m so sorry / I’m not sober anymore.”

Long struggles with addiction

In a 2015 interview with fashion magazine Elle, Lovato said that she had felt suicidal thoughts from age seven, even while appearing as a cheery girl in “Barney and Friends” alongside Selena Gomez.

“I knew at a young age that some of my behaviors were a problem,” she said, but added: “I wasn’t in a place where I could quit by myself.”

Lovato, whose acting career has also included a recurring role on “Glee,” has in recent years appeared to be on the mend with a new stable and assertive public image.

She has been politically outspoken, pressing for gay equality and putting on a passionate performance of “Skyscraper” — another song that deals with her past self-harm — for this year’s youth-led March for Our Lives in Washington in support of gun control.

Lovato was set to appear later Tuesday in a recorded episode of show “Beat Shazam” on Fox television and to perform Thursday in the East Coast gambling hub of Atlantic City.

Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres wrote on Twitter, “I love (Lovato) so much.”

“It breaks my heart that she is going through this. She is a light in this world, and I am sending my love to her and her family,” DeGeneres tweeted.

Country star Brad Paisley, who has collaborated with Lovato, tweeted that the pop star “is one of the kindest, most talented people I’ve ever met.”

“Praying for her right now,” he tweeted. “Addiction is a terrifying disease. There is no one more honest or brave than this woman.”

And pop star Ariana Grande tweeted simply at Lovato, “I love you.”

U2 earned $54.4 million last year — more than 95 percent of it from touring as Bono and company packed stadiums for concerts to mark 30 years since their seminal album “The Joshua Tree.”

Veteran country star Garth Brooks was a close second at $52.2 million as he kept up the massive tour launched in 2014 when he came out of retirement, while metal legends Metallica ranked third at $43.2 million.

Lady Gaga was the top-ranking woman at number six, while Pulitzer Prize winner Kendrick Lamar was the highest grossing rapper at number 13.

Billboard confirmed that touring has overwhelmingly become the top means of revenue for musicians in an era of stagnating traditional album sales but a rapid rise in streaming.

Among the 50 highest-grossing artists, touring accounted for nearly 80 percent of revenue.

Only two artists who didn’t tour last year made the Top 50 — 37th-ranked Drake, the king of streaming who earned $8.6 million from Apple Music, Spotify and other online platforms, and 48th-ranked Taylor Swift, who made most of her money on old-fashioned CD sales and downloads.

Rapper Lee Seunghyub, singer Yoo Hweseung, guitarist Cha Hun, bassist Kwon Kwangjin and drummer Kim Jaehyun released the single “Basket” in Japan in 2013 and have since issued three mini-albums.

Seats cost Bt1,500 to Bt5,000 (VIP) at https://Ticket.achi.co.th. Learn more from “achiactivation” on all the social networks.

Say hello to Oat

White Music label singer Promote “Oat” Pathan will have his debut twin solo concerts, “The Uncensored”, at GMM Live House at CentralWorld on September 1 and 2. The show’s going to be about his “whole life – the good and bad, the happy and unhappy”, he says, but will make the audience laugh.

Seats cost Bt1,500 to Bt3,000 at http://www.ThaiTicketMajor.com and (02) 262 3456.

Take care with the Gibbs

Suchart “Ton” Chawangkul, Suttipong “Chompoo Fruity” Wattanajung, Edward Vanzo, Thiti “Zonx” Prukchaum and many others will be singing the songs of British-Australian trio the Bee Gees at the “Care for Each Other” concert at the Thailand Cultural Centre on August 19.

With the tunes rendered as jazz, ballads, disco and hits by kid brother Andy Gibb, the show is a fundraiser for the Classy for Friends Fund.

Seats cost Bt1,000 at http://www.ThaiTicketMajor.com and (02) 262 3456, or pay Bt3,000 and you also get the CD “A Cordial Tribute to the Bee Gees” featuring covers of six tracks such as “Words” and “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart”.

Clean getaway

Mixing pop, disco, funk and electronic music, British trio Clean Bandit will make their Thailand debut on August 22 at Impact Exhibition Hall 1.

Grace Chatto and brothers Jake and Luke Patterson gained global fame and a Grammy for Best Dance Recording with the single “Rather Be”. They topped the charts again with “Rockabye” in 2016 and “Solo” last year.

Seats cost Bt1,900 to Bt2,600 at http://www.ThaiTicketMajor.com and (02) 262 3456. Find out more at http://www.BECTeroRadio.com.