🎵 Welcome to Fans With Benefits, your mid-summer cheat sheet for the moments actually moving the needle right now. This week’s inbox heat: Hayley Williams hides 17 unreleased tracks behind a hair-dye paywall, Dave Matthews Band fans turn beer cups into trees (6 million and counting), and festivals keep flexing, Future storms Atlanta’s ONE Musicfest while Tedeschi Trucks plot a Gulf-side sunset marathon. Tour calendars just got fuller, too: Paul McCartney sneaks in a Texas stadium show and Kenny Chesney makes his way onto the Farm Aid lineup. Top it off with Thom Yorke’s ghost-fueled haircut story in our Mic Drop and a lightning-round “Crisis Comeback” poll that’ll have you rooting for pyro crews and plush-dinosaur-dodging headliners.

Plug in, scroll on—this week is all killer, no filler. 🎧

Stay sharp, stay loud—this is what’s next. 🎧

Paramore’s powerhouse just planted 17 glossy, studio-fresh tracks on HayleyWilliams.net. But the playlist won’t budge until you snag her new “Ego” semi-permanent tint from Good Dye Young and enter the password tucked inside the box. Once you’re in, you’ll find genre-hopping cuts like the Bloodhound Gang–nodding “Discovery Channel,” the brutally honest “Kill Me,” and the already-buzzing “Mirtazapine,” which hit Nashville’s WNXP airwaves last week and popped up during Bleachers’ Newport Folk Fest set. There’s even a “Misc.” folder stuffed with Easter-eggs—a tongue-in-cheek T-shirt mock-up, kid-voicemail pep talk, and a live Phoenix video that turns the whole drop into an interactive fan scavenger hunt. Come for the color change, stay for the catharsis in Pitchfork’s full report.

Halfway through Dave Matthews Band’s 2025 trek, Live Nation reports that 95 percent of all fan trash at participating venues is being recycled, composted, or donated instead of landfilled. On the ground, that means refill-your-bottle water stations, clearly labeled bins, and volunteer “green teams” roaming the aisles to keep everything sorted. The sustainability push goes beyond the loading dock, too: over the past five years, DMB concertgoers have funneled donations toward planting more than six million trees worldwide through The Nature Conservancy. In short, every night’s jam session doubles as a rapid-fire climate action plan, proof that stadium-sized shows can leave memories, not mountains of waste. Check the full recap on Live Nation’s Instagram (#RoadToZeroWaste).

🗳️ Cast your vote, and yes—we know you’ve got opinions. Let’s hear ’em.

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Paul McCartney – Got Back Tour Adds Texas Stadium Sweeper

Sir Paul’s 19-city victory lap launches Sept 29 in Palm Desert and runs through a two-night Chicago finale, with a fresh Oct 25 touchdown at San Antonio’s Alamodome slotted between Tulsa and NOLA. Expect three hours of Beatles, Wings, and solo gold, the Hot City Horns, and stadium-wide sing-alongs. Presale fires up July 29 @ 10 a.m. local; general sale drops Aug 1.

Get tickets here

Farm Aid 40 – Kenny, Wynonna & Steve Crash the Party

Sept 20 • Huntington Bank Stadium, Minneapolis: Kenny Chesney’s lone 2025 gig teams up with Wynonna Judd, Steve Earle, and the usual board-member core—Willie, Neil (+ the Chrome Hearts), Mellencamp, Dave + Tim, Margo Price—plus heavy hitters like Billy Strings, Nathaniel Rateliff, Trampled by Turtles, and Waxahatchee. Snag tickets and hit Fandiem.com/FarmAid by Sept 9 for a shot at the VIP sweep: flights, hotel, Hi-Fi passes, photo-pit access, Farm Aid Eve party, and front-row seats—all while fueling grants that keep family farmers on their land.

Get tickets here

Sun, Sand & Soul Beach Weekend ’26 – Tedeschi Trucks Under the Stars

Miramar Beach, FL, Apr 23–25: Two sunset sets from TTB bookend the weekend, with Taj Mahal & The Phantom Blues Band and Honey Hounds opening Thursday, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit plus Drive-By Truckers and Elles Bailey running Friday, and Saturday capping off with The Mavericks and Jaime Wyatt before Derek & Susan close it down. Expect beachside jams, artist-led hangouts, and luxe digs steps from the stage, Topeka style. Presale registration is open now; all-in packages drop soon.

Get tickets here

ONE Musicfest 2025 – Future, Ludacris & Co. Storm Piedmont Park

Piedmont Park, Oct 25–26: Future’s turning Midtown into Planet Pluto and he’s bringing half the phonebook with him—Doechii’s viral hooks, Kehlani’s honey-smooth R&B, Luda’s throwback ATL bangers, Jazmine’s knockout vocals, The Roots × Mary J.’s soul clinic, plus Busta, Clipse, a full-on Dungeon Family reunion, Chief Keef, Ari Lennox and way more. Picture 50 K fans two-stepping between 35+ food trucks, sunny fall vibes, and bass you’ll feel in Stone Mountain. Presale’s sizzling.

Get tickets here

Thundercat – Fall 2025 North American Float 

Bass wizard Thundercat hops from Atlanta’s Coca-Cola Roxy (Oct 15) through Brooklyn, Philly, Toronto and Chicago before touching down at Denver’s Fillmore on Nov 11, wedged between Outside Lands and III Points festival sets. Expect neon-jazz grooves, Fousheé on support, and tickets dropping Aug 1 (Live Nation presale Jul 31, code LIGHTS).

Get tickets here

Holed up in actress Jane Seymour’s 15th-century manor, St Catherine’s Court, Radiohead were chasing atmosphere; instead they got apparitions. Thom Yorke told Rolling Stone that “ghosts would talk to me while I was asleep,” and one particularly chatty specter pushed him over the edge. At dawn he grabbed the tiny scissors on a penknife, hacked at his own hair, drawing blood, then shuffled downstairs, dazed, where drummer Phil Selway quietly finished the shave. That spectral freak-out fed straight into OK Computer’s dread-laden circuitry, turning real-life paranoia into one of rock’s most haunted masterpieces. Read the full séance-level account in this 2017 Pitchfork interview.

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That’s a wrap for this week! Until next time, catch you in the pit—or next week’s email. 🎵🔥

Signing off,

The Fandiem Team