Backstage Pass

Yes, it’s snowing outside, but maybe you want to make some plans for next summer. OneRepublic certainly hopes you will.

The “Counting Stars” band has announced it’s playing Nikon at Jones Beach Theater on June 29 as part of its “Native Summer” tour. The Script will open.

Citi cardholders can buy pre-sale tickets starting at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Regular tickets are $20-$89.50 and go on...

Nirvana and Kiss lead this year’s class of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, with their celebration set to be the first ceremony open to the public in New York.

Also set to be inducted at the Barclays Center on April 10 are: Peter Gabriel, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Linda Ronstadt and Cat Stevens. The E Street Band will receive the Award for Musical Excellence, while Beatles manager Brian...

Well, there won’t be much suspense Tuesday night on “The Voice” Season 5 finale – at least not much generated by the contestants. (There’s always a chance of some sort of Lady Gaga-generated craziness. Or Celine Dion-esque drama. Or both!)

Tessanne Chin should win “The Voice” handily.

She simply outclassed Jacquie Lee and Will Champlin, with the power and control of her voice. The former...

Wonder what surprises Beyonce has in store for her Barclays Center shows Thursday and Sunday, the last of her "Mrs. Carter World Tour." Could they be bigger than her great new album?

Intro brings you the week’s hottest videos and shows every Monday. To catch up on all the Intros and watch classic Long Island music scene videos, check out Newsday Music’s YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/newsdaymusic.

THE...

It’s easy to see why Miley Cyrus was the belle of Z100’s Jingle Ball Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

It wasn’t because she twerked with Santa – though she did. It wasn’t her dance with a woman dressed as a Christmas tree. Or her regular rump-shaking dances.

No, Cyrus succeeded in getting the mostly teenaged crowd to shriek at One Direction-like volumes because she is trying to...

This was worth the wait.

Beyoncé finally unleashed her often-delayed fifth album, "Beyoncé" (Parkwood Entertainment/Columbia) early Friday morning with no advance warning. Just as with the creation of the album itself, B wanted complete control of its distribution as well, selling it only as an all-or-nothing package on iTunes, with no songs available individually. She also created...

“The Voice” producers sure like the drama.

Instead of sending home two contestants last week, they chose to cut only one to make this week a double elimination -- an especially brutal one, trimming the field from five to three. To raise the tension further, there was time for only one song from each contestant in the show -- cut to an hour so NBC could air two hours of “The Sing Off.”

Judging...

Billy Joel wasn’t the only Long Islander front-and-center at the Kennedy Center Honors Sunday night.

Sure, Joel was the only one receiving the nation’s highest award for performers, but there were others there to pay tribute to this year’s class of honorees – Joel, guitarist Carlos Santana, jazz great Herbie Hancock, opera singer Martina Arroyo, and actress Shirley MacLaine.

Montauk’s...

Miley Cyrus leads Z100’s star-studded Jingle Ball, featuring Robin Thicke, Pitbull and more, at Madison Square Garden Friday.

Intro brings you the week’s hottest videos and shows every Monday. To catch up on all the Intros and watch classic Long Island music scene videos, check out Newsday Music’s YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/newsdaymusic.

THE LIST

MILEY CYRUS,...

There are so many Grammy-ready stories in music right now that Friday night’s nominations announcement is one of the most unpredictable in years.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis seem set to rake in the nominations. The hip-hop newcomers have changed the lyrical tone of commercial rap with their hits “Same Love” and “Thrift Shop.” They seem to be a lock for landing nominations in all four top categories,...