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Timeline of Musical Events

5 January: The Salzburg Festival launches the "Herbert von Karajan Jubilee Year" with a concert in Salzburg's Grosses Festspielhaus.
12 January: The Vienna Boys' Choir begins a tour of Korea with a concert at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul.
29 January:

Face to Face announce that they will reunite for select shows in the US and internationally.
Rage Against the Machine headline the Big Day Out festivals in Australia and New Zealand, their first shows outside the United States since reforming, and their first Australian shows in 12 years.

31 January: Laura Attwood of the King Edward VI School in Morpeth wins the second Eileen Bowler Award.
February: - Ola Frenning, Quits, Soilwork.
8 February: – Michael Jackson's Thriller album, the world's best selling album of all time, was reissued to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
10 February: The 50th Grammy Awards take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, USA.
14 February: Celine Dion's Taking Chances World Tour begins in South Africa.
19 February: System of a Down guitarist, Daron Malakian, tells MTV.com that the band is not likely to reform as he will be concentrating on his new project Scars on Broadway.
20-25 February: Viña del Mar International Song Festival is held in Chile.
23 February–3 March: The second annual Soundwave festival is held in Australia.
26 February: Last performance in The Return of the Spice Girls tour in Toronto.
5 March: Avril Lavigne kicks off her third world tour The Best Damn Tour in Victoria, Canada.
6–9 March: The 2008 Langerado Music Festival is held on the Big Cypress Indian Reservation in southern Florida.
7 March: The Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival 2008 takes place in Indonesia.
7–16 March: The 2008 South by Southwest Conference and Festival is held in Austin, Texas, USA.
11 March: Jazz musician and broadcaster Humphrey Lyttelton announces his retirement from presenting BBC Radio 2's jazz programme after forty years.
18 March: Danity Kane's second album Welcome To The Dollhouse debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200 albums, making them the only girl group in history to have their first two albums debut at #1 in the USA.
25–29 March: Miami Winter Music Conference.
26 March: Guitarist Clint Lowery rejoins Sevendust, replacing Sonny Mayo.
27 March: Def Leppard begin the first leg of their world tour to promote their album Songs from the Sparkle Lounge.
31 March: theJazz radio station stops broadcasting.
1 April: Scott Weiland's departure from rock band Velvet Revolver becomes official. Weiland's reunion with his former band, Stone Temple Pilots, and tensions between Weiland and the rest of Velvet Revolver, led to his departure.
2 April: Madonna's new single, "4 Minutes", from her album Hard Candy, becomes her 37th top 10 single in the United States, making her the artist with the most top 10 hit singles.
5 April: The reunited Face to Face perform together for the first time in four-and-a-half-years at The Bamboozle Left in Irvine, California, USA.
7 April: The newly reunited Stone Temple Pilots hold a press conference announcing a 65-date reunion tour and play for the first time since 2002 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
8 April: Japanese superstar Ayumi Hamasaki celebrates the beginning of her 10th year in the music industry. Mariah Carey's eleventh studio album E=MC2 debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 463,000 copies making it her biggest opening album sells of her career and tied her with Janet Jackson with most number one albums by a female artist.
12 April: announced that "Touch My Body" became Mariah Carey's 18th number 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, pushing her to second place among artists with the most number 1 singles in the rock era and first place as a solo artist in the same category, surpassing Elvis Presley.
15 April: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa officially proclaims Mariah Carey Day in Los Angeles, California, USA.
19 April: With her single, "I'm a Fire", Donna Summer becomes the first artist to have a song reach number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in every decade since the chart's inception in 1974.
19–20 April: The Festival Imperial 2008 is held in Autódromo La Guácima, Alajuela, Costa Rica.
22 April: Andrey Baranov of Russia wins First Prize in the Second Benjamin Britten International Violin Competition in London.
25–27 April: The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is held in Indio, California, USA.
26 April: The MTV Australia Awards 2008 take place in Sydney, Australia.
27 April: Madonna's eleventh studio album Hard Candy debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200, making her the female artist with second most number-one albums (behind Barbra Streisand). The album reaches number one in 37 countries.
3 May: Girls Aloud begin their Tangled Up Tour in Belfast, UK.
3–4 May: The sixth annual The Bamboozle festival is held at the Meadowlands Sports Complex, East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA.
10–11 May: The Give It A Name 2008 festival is held at Earls Court, London, UK.
14 May: The "Spirit of Change" Gospel Choir celebrates their tenth anniversary with the 20th Zündorfer Gospelnacht concert in the Catholic Parish Church of St. Mariae Geburt, in Zündorf.
16 May: The Offspring begin the first leg of their Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace Tour to promote their new album, Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace.
17 May: The sixteenth annual KROQ Weenie Roast is held at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, Irvine, California, USA.
21 May: David Cook defeats David Archuleta to win season 7 of American Idol, with the contest decided by 97.5 million votes, a record for the show.
24 May: 43 countries competed in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest final in Belgrade, Serbia, including newcomers San Marino and Azerbaijan. The contest was won by Russia, with Believe by Dima Bilan.
24–26 May: The Sasquatch! Music Festival is held over Memorial Day weekend at The Gorge Amphitheatre in central Washington, USA.
25 May: The Slovak preliminary round of the first Bluegrass competition (toward the annual Czech Festival Banjo Jamboree) is held in Hviezdoslavovo námestie, Bratislava.
30 May–1 June:

Rock In Rio Lisboa 2008 takes place in Parque da Bela Vista, Chelas, Lisbon, Portugal, continuing on 5–6 June.
The fourth annual Mountain Jam Festival is held in Hunter Mountain, New York, USA.

1 June: Westlife play their 10th anniversary concert at Europe's fourth biggest stadium, Croke Park, in Dublin, Ireland.
6–7 June: Foo Fighters play their biggest UK stadium shows at Wembley Stadium in London.
6–8 June: The 2008 Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival is held at Clinton State Park near Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
10 June: Lil Wayne's sixth album Tha Carter III sold 1 million copies in its debut week.
12–15 June: The 2008 Bonnaroo Music Festival is held in Manchester, Tennessee, USA.
13–15 June:

The seventh Isle of Wight Festival takes place in Seaclose Park, Newport, Isle of Wight, UK.
The sixth annual Download Festival takes place in Donington Park, UK.

14 June: After a 45-year wait, Ukrainian fans of The Beatles finally get to see former Beatle Paul McCartney perform on their soil, in Kiev.
15 June: Mr. E. Kallai from Hungary wins First Prize in the 11th Carl Fleisch International Violin Competition in Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary.
17 June: George Michael begins the American leg of his 25 Live tour in San Diego, California, USA, his first U.S. tour for 17 years.
20 June: My Bloody Valentine play their first reunion show at the Roundhouse, London, UK.
27 June: The Nelson Mandela 90th Birthday Tribute charity concert takes place in Hyde Park in London, in support of Mandela's 46664 Aids Foundation.
27–29 June:

The Eidgenössiches Jodlerfest is held in Lucerne.
Glastonbury Festival is held at Worthy Farm, Somerset, UK.

29 June:

Release of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, the first video game in the Guitar Hero series to be based around a single music group.
The Marquee at Cork Festival is held in Ireland.
Linkin Park and Jay-Z perform at Projekt Revolution at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes, UK.

July: The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment relocates to Kings Place.
1 July: Crüe Fest commences in West Palm Beach, Florida.
3–6 July:

The O2 Wireless Festival takes place in Hyde Park, London, UK.
The Roskilde Festival takes place in Denmark.
The Rothbury Music Festival takes place in Rothbury, Michigan, USA.

3–7 July: The Rock Werchter festival takes place in Belgium.
3–13 July: The Ottawa Bluesfest takes place in Ottawa, Canada.
4–6 July: The Heineken Open'er Festival took place in Gdynia, Poland.
10–13 July: The EXIT Festival 08 takes place at Petrovaradin Fortress, in Novi Sad, Serbia.
14 July: Coheed and Cambria announce the first two dates for Neverender, a four night concert where they play an album a day.
18 July: "Girlfriend" music video by Avril Lavigne became the 2nd most viewed video of all time in YouTube Behind Evolution of Dance.
20 July:

The T4 On The Beach music festival takes place in Weston-super-Mare, UK.
The Oxegen music festival takes place in Kildare, Ireland.
The All Good Music Festival takes place in Masontown, West Virginia, USA.
The T in the Park music festival takes place at Balado airfield, Kinross, Scotland.

23–26 July: The 2008 10,000 Lakes Festival is held.
24–28 July: The Fifth International Symposium of throat-singing, "Khoomei—Cultural Phenomenon of the Peoples of Central Asia" is held in Tuva.
1–3 August: The Lollapalooza music festival takes place in Chicago, USA.
10 August: Coheed And Cambria announce Chicago and London dates for Neverender.
12–18 August: Sziget Festival 2008 takes place in Budapest, Hungary.
16 August: Madonna celebrates her 50th birthday.
19 August: Founding member of the Dave Matthews Band and saxophonist LeRoi Moore passes away.
22–23 August: Coke Live Music Festival takes place in Poland with artists such as Sean Paul, Timbaland and The Prodigy performing.
22–24 August: Leeds and Reading Festival takes place.
23 August:

Madonna starts her Sticky & Sweet Tour which is set to become the highest-grossing tour for both a female and solo artist.
Michael Nicklasson quits Dark Tranquility

24 August: Season 6 of the television talent contest Australian Idol began.
29 August: Michael Jackson celebrates his 50th birthday.
30 August:

Filipino rock band Eraserheads hold their one-night-only reunion concert in the Fort open field, their first concert since 2001. After the 20-minute break, vocalist Ely Buendia is rushed to the hospital because of chest pain due to emotional stress.
American Idol Season 7 runner-up David Archuleta's debut single "Crush" scores the highest debut of a song on the Billboard Hot 100 by an American Idol finalist not performed on the show. The track opened at #2 after selling 166,000 downloads in its first week of release.

31 August: Chrome Division Fires, Eddie Guz
6 September: Six members of The Specials re-unite at the Bestival as a 'Surprise Act'. They use the name "Terry Hall and Friends", because Jerry Dammers, who owns the band's name, did not participate.
7 September:

The 2008 MTV Video Music Awards event took place at Paramount Studios, Hollywood also being called Britney Spears' night who won the awards for Video Of The Year, Best Pop Video and Best Female Video for Piece of Me.
Christina Aguilera makes a return to music since giving birth to her first child. She debuted her single Keeps Gettin' Better in the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards

10 September: The 22nd Annual ARIA Music Awards are held in Sydney, Australia, recognizing Australian music in 2008. Dance-punk group The Presets win Album of the Year.
11 September: Christian Älvestam, quits, Scar Symmetry.
12 September: Season 4 of the Finnish talent contest, Idols, begins.
18 September:

Soilwork, Hires Peter Wichers
Ben Folds Five play a sold out reunion show in Chapel Hill, NC performing the entirety of their 1999 album The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, that was filmed for DVD and web release by MySpace in benefit for Operation Smile
Crystal Castles play their biggest headline show to date, at Electric Ballroom in Camden, London.

19 September: Travis Barker and Adam Goldstein (DJ AM) survive a plane crash that claims four lives.
20 September: Pink scores her first solo number-one hit in her native USA, with "So What".
21 September:

At the Gates play their final Show.
The Eric Burdon show in Oklahoma is cancelled due his health problems.

24 September: Within Temptation release Black Symphony DVD, featuring the Metropole Orchestra and guest musicians.
25 September: Former Beatle Paul McCartney performs at Tel Aviv park, his first performance in Israel since The Beatles were banned from the country in 1965.
1 October: Tina Turner leaves semi-retirement to embark on her Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour, which grossed over US$130 million dollars.
5 October: Stephanie Jeong wins the Second Prize (no First Prize was awarded) in the Premio Paganini international violin competition in Genoa.
8 October:

Beyoncé releases first two singles off I Am... Sasha Fierce titled "If I Were a Boy" and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)".
The Cheetah Girls start on their final tour One World Tour

10 October:

The Fourth Waakirchener Zither Festival takes place in Waakirchen, Bavaria.
Former Beatle Ringo Starr makes an announcement saying he will no longer respond to fan mail or sign autographs after the next 10 days.

12 October: Opening of the VII Festival Internazionale di Musica e Arte Sacra, in Rome and the Vatican City (until 30 November).
14 October: Sean Combs officially sets the record straight on his platinum-selling girl group Danity Kane. Both Aubrey O'Day and D. Woods are kicked out of the band in the live finale, leaving the remaining members- Dawn Richards, Shannon Bex and Aundrea Fimbres to ponder the group's future as a threesome.
16 October: Britney Spears sets a new record for the biggest jump to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, rising from number 96 to number one in just one week, with her single "Womanizer". It is Spears' first American number one since her debut single "...Baby One More Time".[40] It also garnered first-week download sales of 286,000, the biggest opening-week tally by a female artist.
18 October: Rihanna scores her fifth number one song on the Billboard Hot 100 (as a featured artist on T.I.'s "Live Your Life", which followed "SOS", "Umbrella", "Take a Bow", and "Disturbia"), becoming the leading solo female artist with the most number ones to have charted in this decade Until Beyoncé Knowles break her record (as a solo artist).
22 October:

Coheed and Cambria begin the much anticipated series of concerts called Neverender.
Guns N' Roses release their first single in 9 years, the title track from their Chinese Democracy album.

November: In Australia, Lady GaGa becomes the only artist to achieve two number-one singles in 2008 with "Just Dance" and "Poker Face".
2 November:

The Fauxharmonic Orchestra loses in its debut confrontation with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra in a Bargemusic concert.
AC/DC become the first band to have their own version of the video game Rock Band, following the release of "AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack"

6 November: Michael Tilson Thomas makes his Philadelphia Orchestra subscription-concert conducting debut.
17 November: Korean violinist Hyun-Su Shin wins First Prize in the Jacques Thibaud International Violin Competition in Paris
24 November: The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra announces the appointment of Pinchas Zukerman as principal guest conductor, to begin in January 2009.
December: Beyoncé makes Billboard history along with rapper T.I. by both having two singles simultaneously in the top 4 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart; with Beyoncé having "If I Were a Boy" at #3 and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" at #2, and T.I. with "Whatever You Like" at #4 and "Live Your Life (ft. Rihanna)" at #1.
2 December: Britney Spears becomes the only artist in music history to have four albums (which is the most number of albums) to have a first-week sales of at least 500,000 units, with the albums Oops!...I Did It Again, Britney, In The Zone and Circus.
9 December: Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon say that Blur will reunite for a concert at Hyde Park on July 3, 2009. Tickets for the concert sell out within two minutes of release, and Blur announce another date on July 2, 2009.
13 December:

Joel Feldman and Shayna Cohen rewrite the American classic "Baby, It's Cold Outside", making it more suitable for the 21st century.
Alexandra Burke becomes the winner of the UK's X Factor 2008 with the majority vote over fellow finalists Eoghan and JLS.
Beyoncé Knowles scores her fifth number one song on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", which followed "Crazy in Love", "Baby Boy", "Check on It", and "Irreplaceable", tying with Rihanna as the leading solo female artist with the most number ones to have charted in this decade.

20 December: Britney Spears scores her first top ten debut on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Circus" selling 212,000 copies only with download sales. With "Womanizer" at #10, she also has two singles in the top ten for the first time in her career.
21 December: Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" becomes the first song to simultaneously reach the first and second positions in the UK Singles Chart since 1957 with Alexandra Burke's and Jeff Buckley's covers.
22 December: Live Nation announced Madonna Sticky & Sweet Tour is the highest-grossing tour for solo artist with US$280 million in ticket sales and 2,350,282 fans attending the 58 shows during the 3 leg tour across Europe and the Americas.