Portugal. The Man frontman John Gourley is Billboard’s new cover star. A freak hailstorm broke out at Louis Tomlinson‘s show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Wednesday night, sending fans ducking for cover. Orville Peck cancels his tour to work on his mental and physical health. And Shawn Mendes shared the stage with Ed Sheeran during his stop in Toronto. And more!
Tetris Kelly:
Dozens of fans are injured at a Louis Tomlinson concert. We catch up with Portugal. The Man in Alaska to talk about their comeback. We’ve got an exclusive look at the movie Joy Ride. Orville Peck postpones his tour for health reasons. And we run down the biggest songs of the summer from 2012. Welcome to Billboard News! I’m Tetris Kelly and it’s Thursday, June 22nd.
We’ve got a new cover star! Portugal. The Man is back and they’re looking a little different these days. We took a trip to Alaska to hear all about their journey.
John Gourley:
Looking back at that stuff, I’m just so gracious of everything that came along with that song. And it was like this really stressful period for the band, just having that crossover success. And I mean, it was legit like all day long.
John Gourley:
You would wake up in the morning, you go to do press, you bounced around, you’d play five soundcheck parties, and they become less of like soundcheck parties and more of just like five extra shows in the day. And it was so fun. I mean, it was so new for us, like we’re just doing this. I didn’t even realize it until the end of it. The last show we played was up here in Alaska, and the last show I just broke down in tears. Emotionally, we took on so much. We had a really great time making music together and then the pandemic. And yeah, there’s just been this moment of searching for identity and I think just priorities shifted. It just became about a family, became more about just reconnecting with each other. We had just found out that Francis has this very rare genetic disease. She’s one of six kids with her specific disease. It’s really intense. I mean, it really like makes you think about how fragile we all are.
Watch the full video above!
