Word of Mouth Tour Review *Part Two* feat. The Wanted

*Before you read this, if you would like to read part one of this review all about the opening acts, Midnight Red and Cassio Monroe, click here.*

If you didn't already know, this Word of Mouth Tour served as The Wanted's farewell for awhile as they have decided to take a break from being a band and pursue personal endeavors. I feel like this tour became so much more once it was revealed that it would be their farewell tour. Emotions were definitely running high when The Wanted closed out their final show in Shawnee, Oklahoma last weekend. There was basically a craze among TW fans trying to be as involved as possible in the band's goodbye. People attending the show were livestreaming it for people at home as Twitter basically blew up with all of the outpour from emotional fans.

The Wanted: (from left) Jay McGuiness, Max George, Tom Parker,
Siva Kaneswaran, Nathan Sykes

The Wanted is a band that I have a lot of personal respect for. They've been together for about four years and I've seen them do some of the unthinkable when it comes to success in the music industry. They started from nothing but talent and a bit of ambition (thrown in with great management) and were able to gain popularity relatively quickly in the UK with their debut single "All Time Low" hitting number one in the charts in 2010. Their success continued even further with their second single "Heart Vacancy" landing in the top ten later that year. Things seemed to be going great for The Wanted when they were able to break America *quite quickly and successfully might I add* with their single "Glad You Came." The band landed some TV appearances and performed many shows stateside before landing their own TV show on E! called The Wanted Life. The show documented the band's life while living in Los Angeles and recording their third album, Word of Mouth.

When The Wanted announced their break in January of this year, it was, to say the least, unexpected. There seemed to be no sign of animosity among the members. There have been many theories as to why this break has happened. Some sources have said that being apart of The Wanted Life brought up old issues and created tension among some of the members. Other sources have said the break was due to The Wanted being signed over to Scooter Braun when in the process of breaking America. Many fans blame the management for things such as poor album sales, lack of promotion, etc. There has not been an exact reason as to why the break is happening but The Wanted have made it clear on many occasions that they plan on getting back together in the future and putting out more music.

This has definitely given fans a bit of hope The Wanted aren't completely disappearing. The band has always had a really great relationship with their fans and have managed to stay quite personable and grounded throughout the years. I can personally say that they are some of the nicest people I have ever met and I am really looking forward to seeing them again in the future. This farewell tour was definitely bitter sweet and a great way for the band to go out with a bang. They performed several of their biggest hits like "Glad You Came," "Heart Vacancy," and "All Time Low" as well as a medley of songs from their 2010 self-titled debut album. They also kept things lively and fun with classic TW onstage banter and interaction with the crowd. If you weren't able to catch The Wanted on tour, there are plenty of videos online that fans have posted to keep the TW spirit alive while the band takes a break.

This show was easily one of the best I've been to and I'm looking forward to seeing what's up next for the band. Each member seems to be working towards something during this break. Siva Kaneswaran has even mentioned that he will be appearing in movies and coming out with an album of his own in the coming year. Of course there are rumors of how long this break will last but it has not been confirmed. I can only hope that we will be hearing from The Wanted very soon. I've really enjoyed watching this band evolve over the last four years and I will keep all of you updated on their break as well as their individual projects.

Some days stay gold forever.

The Wanted's latest single Glow In The Dark:

Stay updated on The Wanted!:

Twitter: The Wanted, Siva, Nathan, Max, Tom, Jay

Facebook

Youtube

Website

*Click here to check out the World Music Awards and vote for The Wanted in categories like World's Best Song, World's Best Album, and World's Best Group!*

WORD OF MOUTH TOUR REVIEW~AS TOLD BY MADS

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Pick of the Week--Artist You Should Know About: Rixton

There's just something about bands who play their own instruments that makes me want to drop everything and live on their Youtube channel for days. It just makes them that much more REAL. It gives them that extra je ne sais quoi in the talent department. I've been really into a particular group of musicians the past few weeks and they are definitely an artist you should know about…

Rixton (formerly known as Relics) is a four-piece Pop/Rock/R&B band made up of Jake Roche, Charley Bagnall, Lewi Morgan, and Danny Wilkin. These Manchester natives have developed quite the following on Youtube with their remastered covers of artists from Taylor Swift and Usher to Sisqo's "The Thong Song." Yes, it's true. They covered "The Thong Song" and it wasn't horrific. It was actually quite amazing. If I hadn't believed that these guys had something special before listening to that cover, I definitely do now. Check out their cover of "The Thong Song" here. It's absolutely worth a listen.

Rixton: (from left) Lewi Morgan, Danny Wilkin,
Jake Roche, Charley Bagnall

Rixton just recently released their US debut EP: Me And My Broken Heart EP. The foursome went on a bit of a road trip across the US radioverse promoting their first single, "Me And My Broken Heart." They have already gained a dedicated following in the states evident by their single entering in the top 50 on iTunes and reaching #1 on 102.7 KIIS-FM's top 9 at 9. Their popularity seems to be rising like crazy especially with the anticipation of their debut album due out this year. With their abundance of originality and lead singer Jake's out-of-this-world vocals which are literally unlike anything I think I have ever heard, Rixton are bound to catch the attention of big-name talent managers. And they've already done just that with one Scooter Braun.

Now I'm naturally a bit skeptical about this Scooter Braun business because of everything that has gone down with The Wanted recently. The Wanted announcing their "break" hit a lot of fans really hard and have lead to numerous rumors about Rixton being a sort of "replacement." Now whether this is true or not, I'm not going to attempt to dissect the mind of Scooter Braun. What I have mainly picked up on is that people are hesitant to jump on the Rixton train because of this assumption that Scooter Braun ditched The Wanted and needed to fill the empty boyband slot. People are drawing all sorts of conclusions about this whole ordeal but, in reality, Rixton are a crazy talented band that can pull off a sort of Maroon 5 vibe perfectly while still being able to sound original and ooze potential to be the next big thing. I can't get enough of Rixton right now and I have no doubt in my mind that I will be wearing out the replay button once their album is released.

The Rixton guys are set to perform at 103.5 KISS' Fantabulo 2014 show in May along with Timeflies, Austin Mahone, and Jason Derulo. They are doing a few shows here and there over the next few months in the UK and US. You can find all of these dates on their website. Also, make sure you don't miss their "Rixton Roundup" videos where you can see what the band is up to basically 24/7. I can't wait to see how far Rixton will go this year with new music releases and hopefully announcing a tour…or two…or three…? Challenge accepted.

"Me And My Broken Heart" by Rixton:

Rixton's latest single: "Make Out":

Rixton's cover of "Ignition" by R.Kelly!

Keep up with all things Rixton!:

Twitter: Rixton, Lewi, Jake, Danny, Charley

Facebook

Youtube

Vevo

Website


ARTIST YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT: RIXTON~AS TOLD BY MADS
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The Wanted: Split! Oh, Scooter Braun...

Now before reading on I'd like to advise you all to take a deep breath. In…out…in…out.

You good? Good. Yes, it's true. The Wanted have just recently announced that they are "taking a break." I want to repeat this. A break. A break. A BREAK. A few of the band members have stressed that this is simply that. A break. The guys of The Wanted have decided to take a bit of time off to pursue individual projects but they assure their devoted fans that they look forward to many more TW endeavors in the future. Tom Parker made it clear on Twitter last week saying "This is not the end. You can't get rid of us that easily." So for all of you die-hard TWFanmily, don't stress. Of course it will be difficult to say goodbye temporarily to the weekly vlogs and mailers but The Wanted boys are not disappearing off the face of the earth, that I'm sure of.

From what I figure, Scooter Braun *currently running for best manager of the age with Bieber arrested and the TW split* will probably do his best to make Nathan Sykes the next big solo act. I mean c'mon we all remember the Nariana/Jariana drama ending in a great duet and many enraged Janoskianators and TWFanmily. Scooter isn't doing too hot in the eyes of thousands of teenage girls right now but maybe he's hoping to save himself with this new Sykes craze….*cricket**cricket*.

The Wanted guys probably won't do too bad on their own considering they already have had so much success simply because of TW. Max George has his Buffalo Jeans campaign, Siva Kaneswaran with his modeling *I mean wow that bone structure*, Tom Parker recently started doing some DJing and isn't half bad, and Jay McGuiness with his….um…uh oh.

Don't worry. Everyone's favorite curly-headed McGuiness will be just fine. I'm sure he will carry on with his usual antics and it will probably seem like he doesn't even realize that the band has taken a break. The Wanted have been on the grind for a very long time so it's understandable that they want to take a bit of time for themselves. On the plus side, with this news, their Word of Mouth Tour is bound to be even more amazing than ever thought possible.


THE WANTED SPLIT~AS TOLD BY MADS
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