The London Indie rock outfit xx must be blushing four shades of red at this point. They’re self-titled album has earned best of 2009 accolades from NME, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone and the Guardian UK. It is quite a feat for a group’s debut album to bowl over the most prestigious music publications. The group is making the most out of their new found notoriety by mapping a tour of North America in support of their latest album. Swedish group jj will provide support. Any other double letter band is asked to contact the band’s management for the chance to join this alphabet soup tour.

Will Stevie Nicks and Don Henley share the limelight and stage, as the rumored Fleetwood Mac and Eagles co-headlining tour of classic rock appears to be close to being official? With Nicks and Henley as the most recognizable faces and names from their respective rock super groups of the 1970s, the pair also share a history which is both well publicized as well as shrouded in mystery.

R&B queen Alicia Keys will be spending her winter out on the road supporting her latest album “The Element of Freedom.” The tour will start in Montreal, Quebec on February 2 and continue through Las Vegas, Nevada on April 9. Some of the major markets Keys will be visiting on the Freedom tour include Miami, Atlanta, New York, Toronto and Los Angeles. European dates are still in the planning stages and are slated for late April. A full listing of Alicia Keys tour dates are listed below.

Venerable jazz man Harry Connick Jr. will be spending his January on the west coast and his February on the east. He’s mapped out a 13-city tour starting in Indio, California on January 23 and extending through February 19 at Virginia Beach, Virginia. Full Harry Connick tour dates are outlined below. Tickets went onsale via Ticketmaster and the venue websites on Monday (12/21).

Today we take a break from our usual concert reporting to hand the mic over to the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. to talk about a very pressing matter facing the concert business — the proposed merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation. This combined company looks to have a complete monopoly over the entire concert food chain from the venues, artist promotions, ticketing and ticket resale, basically allowing them to charge whatever “convenience fees” they choose as well as continue to hike the face value of tickets which has risen a baffling 82% since talk of the merger originally began. You think you’re getting taken to the cleaners now just wait until you see what it will cost to see your favorite band when they have no one to provide the checks-and-balances that are inherent with competition. With that said I’ll turn it over to the 9:30

Well it’s official. 2009 is days away from coming to a close so it’s time to pull out all of those best of the decade lists. They are exhaustive, tedious and largely subjective, but this one is interesting. Pollstar has released a list of the most successful touring artists over the past decade judged by box office receipts. The touring machine that is Dave Matthews Band took top honors pulling in $529.1 million on 11.6 million tickets sold. Celine Dion, Kenny Chesney, Bruce Springsteen and the Rolling Stones round out the top 5 with James Taylor sliding into the number 50 slot. $116.3 million still isn’t a bad haul for a man long past his prime. There aren’t too many surprises snuck in here. Most of your arena bands are represented. Who will be the topping the charts when we look back in 2019? Only time will tell.

Most Sade fans have long given up on the bleak prospect of getting a new Sade album. Shoot Prince himself said the primary reason he recorded the Elixer disc (the third disc from his latest “LotusFlow3r” release) was because he’d grown tired that Sade would never release another album. Well the long awaited effort is barreling down the tracks for a February 9th release date.

It’s hard to image as winter gets a firm foothold, but the sultry, spring New Orleans Jazz Festival is just around the corner. The festival is headlined by heavyweight music acts like Pearl Jam, Van Morrison, Widespread Panic, The Black Crowes and My Morning Jacket. The 2010 edition of the New Orleans Jazz Festival marks the 41st running of the classic music event that features an eclectic blend of musical genres from rock and pop to gospel and blues.

Jazz crooner Jamie Cullum is set to welcome the spring with a North American Tour that will reach from coast to coast starting in New York, New York (3/4) and stretching to Los Angeles, California (3/25). The 14 city tour will be in support of his forthcoming album entitled “The Pursuit” due out in stores on March 2. A full listing of tour dates are listed below. Fan club presales start on Thursday (12/17) with the public onsale happening on Friday (12/18).

You’d think that after the exhaustive tour schedule of 2009 Celtic Woman would want a break from the road. Think again. The Irish vocal group has lined up a 75-city tour for 2010 that begins with a three night stand in Roanoke, Virginia February 9-11 and eventually wraps up on May 22 in Salt Lake City, Utah.