After a 10 year hiatus from the road, Sade will be going back to touring by way of the Northeast starting June next year to further support for her chart topping and critically acclaimed new release, “Soldier of Love”.

An initial slate of 10 dates mostly comprised of east coast stops have already been laid out spanning from June to August 2011. The stops include Baltimore which for now, serves as the tour’s starting point, New York, Boston and two Canadian stops. The schedule also has booked stops in Chicago, Los Angeles and Anaheim for August 2011.

Of the many music acts that have come out of the great white north that is Canada in the past decade, Arcade Fire, the indie septet whose albums have created a cult of following in many countries is the most successful, at least Bob Mersereau thinks so.

In his new work, “The Top 100 Canadian Singles”, his follow-up to “The Top 100 Canadian Albums”, Mersereau named the band’s single “Wake Up” as the 29th best Canadian single of all time, leading by a large margin against their other indie contemporaries such as Wintersleep which wrapped up the list at no.100 with “Weight Ghost”, k-os, Feist, New Pornographers, and Malaiube.

Leading the list is “American Woman”, the 1970 hit from Guess Who, “Heart of Gold” by Neil Young, “The Weight” by the Band, Bryan Adams’ “Summer of ‘69” and the Leonard Cohen epic “Hallelujah” which was recently covered by “American Idol” champion Lee DeWyze.

Recently Robert Plant while promoting “Band of Joy,” his new album, suggested he might want to have a reunion with Led Zeppelin. In a recent interview Plant said, we are thinking about probably talking.

Plant discussed the positive vibes he felt while revisiting Led Zeppelin’s songs during their reunion show in 2007 in London. He says he still has the urge for playing the songs in concert. Plant said, I think everyone feels the same way. It’s not a talking point even. How many times have they asked Stephen Stills whether he would like to return to Buffalo Springfield. Neil Young and him maybe got out before it could give them the same type of effect. I still have the twinkle in me.

Country music superstar Jason Aldean will be holding and headlining a benefit concert for Breast Cancer Awareness month and also to fund the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization, by directing all earnings from the show towards it.

The cause plays a monumental role in Aldean’s life after a good friend of his died from the disease at the tender of age of 29. Since then, he and his family made it a point to hold a yearly concert every October in support of the cause. The benefit concert, which is now on its fifth year, is held annually in Nashville except for this year, “we’re taking it out of Nashville this year… so that fans from other parts of the country can be involved. It’s going to be a great night,” the singer said. This year, the event will be held in Evansville, IN on October 15.

The Canadian rock trio of Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart and Geddy Lee or better known in the rock scene as Rush will be honored with the “Legend of Live” citation by Billboard in their annual Touring Awards as part of their annual two-day Touring Conference, now on its seventh year, on November 3 and 4 in New York.

Rush will be joining the likes of Sir Elton John, the Allman Brothers Band and Ozzy Osbourne to name a few who have made the art of live performance and touring more than just a night job by taking the industry to new heights with their sense of commitment, professionalism, creativity and innovation, thus “altering the course of rock music” as Billboard’s Ray Waddell would put it. Waddell is the magazine’s director of content and programming, touring and live entertainment.

With the impending release of their fifth studio set “Come Around Sundown”, Kings of Leon has jotted down a very short east coast run to provide support for the release, and we mean ‘very short’.

Only three US shows were lined-up for the band this year and they no longer intend to add more dates to the itinerary. The three shows will be in Boston on November 14, NYC’s Madison Square Garden on November 16 and East Rutherford, NJ on November 18.

Country newbies Zac Brown Band managed to move 153,000 units of their new release, “You Get What You Give” to land on the top of this week’s album sales as reported by Nielsen SoundScan. Closely behind them in the list is pop-rock charmers Maroon 5 whose third studio set, “Hands All Over” sold 143,000 copies, a whopping 2/3 drop in sales from its predecessor, 2006’s “It Won’t be Soon before Long” which snagged the top of the charts upon its release with 429,000 copies sold on it first week out.

Joining Brown and Maroon 5 in the company of top 10 newcomers this week is Disney princess Selena Gomez at no.4 with “Year Without Rain” moving 66,000 copies, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and guitar legend Carlos Santana at no.5 with “Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time” also selling 66,000 copies and his follow-up to 2005’s “All that I Am”, piano man John Legend at no.8 with his ‘70s inspired soul set “Wake Up” moving 63,000 units and country act Billy Currington at no.9 with his fourth release “Enjoy Yourself” moving 45,000 copies.

You know how the saying goes: built it and they will come. Naturally with today’s obsessions with reality shows, if you are the winner of a talent competition on television you most likely will receive a record deal. Epic Records announced through a press release that they have signed Michael Grimm, the recent winner on “America’s Got Talent.” The soul singer with blue eyes was able to impress voters at home along with the judges with his smooth voice and skillful guitar playing weeks after week while covering soul classics such as “When a Man Loves a Woman,” “Let’s Stay Together” and “You Don’t Know Me.” The signing of Grimm follows the path that Kevin Skinner, country singer and winner of last season’s “America’s Got Talent” did. Last September Skinner released “Long Ride,” his debut album.

Seasoned country musician Alan Jackson will be hitting the road this fall in support of his upcoming release, his greatest hits compilation “34 Number Ones”.

Jackson will be cruising through fifteen cities starting in Springfield, MO on September 23 to kick things off. He will also be in Nashville in October, his only stop for that month, and will visit eight more cities in November before wrapping up the tour in Cincinnati on November 20.

Aside from “34 Number Ones”, Jackson also released “Freight Train” last spring which marked his 16th studio release. The record jumped at the no.7 position in the Billboard 200 upon its release and was the second best album in Billboard’s Top Country Albums List during its first week in the market.

After being diagnosed with a throat and sinus infection, music icon Tom Petty and his band, The Heartbreakers decided to postpone their show in Phoenix two nights ago and also tonight’s show in Chula Vista as per Petty’s doctor’s orders.

The doctors advised the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer to sit this week out to allow himself to recuperate while the two postponed shows will be moved next week. Meanwhile, his shows in Los Angeles (October 1) and in Irvine (October 2) will push through as planned.