The Québec duo wins Album of the Year for Vol. II and the SOCAN Polaris Song Prize for “Fabienk,” while The Watchmen and Willie Dunn receive Heritage honours

Billy Eff is the Content Director for Rolling Stone Canada. An award-winning journalist and columnist, he has previously contributed to outlets including VICE and Urbania. A passionate advocate for underground music and a musician himself, he has conducted several hundred interviews with artists and industry professionals across a wide range of styles and genres over the past 15 years. He is based in Montréal, Québec.

The 2026 Polaris Music Prize ceremony, held last night at Massey Hall, saw Angine de Poitrine taking home both of the night’s major awards.

The elusive Saguenay duo won the Polaris Album Prize for Vol. II, the $30,000 prize awarded to Canada’s album of the year based on artistic merit. Soon thereafter, they followed that win by taking the $10,000 SOCAN Polaris Song Prize for “Fabienk,” making Angine de Poitrine the first ever act to win both awards since the song prize was introduced.

The pair accepted the awards at Massey Hall in Toronto on Tuesday night in their now-familiar black-and-white polka-dot costumes and masks. The microtonal math-rock band, whose members perform under the names Khn and Klek, have built much of their public identity around their extraterrestrial mythology and refusal to reveal their faces.

The SOCAN Song Prize came with a $10,000 award to be divided among the song’s Canadian performers and credited Canadian songwriters. “Fabienk” was selected over songs by Charlotte Cornfield, PUP, Patrick Watson and Martha Wainwright, and Charlotte Day Wilson.

The evening also revealed the two winners of the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize, which recognizes significant Canadian albums released before the Polaris Music Prize was established. The Watchmen were honoured for their 1992 debut McLaren Furnace Room, while the late Willie Dunn received the designation for his self-titled 1971 album.

The ceremony featured performances from most of this year's album short list, including Angine de Poitrine themselves, Aquakultre, Begonia, Bibi Club, Charlotte Cornfield, Beverly Glenn-Copeland with Elizabeth Copeland, Les Louanges and Tanya Tagaq. Slash Need also performed an interpretation of Peaches' No Lube So Rude.

StubHub Canada has been fined $20,000 by the Ontario government for breaking the province’s new ticket resale rules, and the company says it plans to fight the penalties.

The fines, issued earlier this month, consist of two $10,000 administrative penalties. According to Ontario’s Consumer Beware List, one involved StubHub facilitating a ticket resale without proof of what the ticket originally cost. The other involved a ticket being resold above Ontario’s new price cap. The government has not identified the events or specific tickets behind the penalties.

The rules are part of Ontario’s revamped Ticket Sales Act, which came into effect earlier this year. Among other changes, the law limits how much a ticket can be resold for and requires resale platforms to provide documentation showing the ticket’s original total price.

The company told The Canadian Press that it intends to appeal the penalties, arguing that the legislation does not clearly establish how platforms should obtain and verify the original price of the ticket. StubHub says it has been trying to comply with the new requirements while navigating what it considers gaps in the legislation.

This isn’t the first time StubHub has to face Canadian regulators. In 2020, the Competition Bureau reached an agreement with the company over ticket prices advertised without mandatory fees, resulting in a $1.3 million penalty. Ontario has said companies can face penalties of up to $250,000 for violating the new rules.

The Weeknd had a surprise waiting for Japan.

Kicking off the Asian leg of his After Hours Til Dawn tour at Belluna Dome on September 19, the superstar used opening night to unveil a brand-new, unreleased song.

Currently dubbed “Tokyo”, the track features Japanese singer Yoko Takahashi and samples her iconic 1995 song “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis”, the opening theme from the famous anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion.

It was a distinctly Japanese unveiling for the new material, bringing together music, anime and gaming in one performance. Takahashi first delivered “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” before Tesfaye joined her for the unreleased track, while visuals from NieR creator Yoko Taro played across the stage. Tesfaye later shared the performance online with the credit: “Presented by YOKO TARO. Featuring “YOKO TAKAHASHI”

The song has yet to receive an official release date, but its debut arrives at a particularly pivotal point in Tesfaye’s career.

“Tokyo” also marks the second unreleased track Tesfaye has unveiled on the After Hours Til Dawn tour, following “Rio,” his collaboration with Anitta, which debuted during his April 26 show in Rio de Janeiro.

Despite spending much of the Hurry Up Tomorrow era teasing the end of The Weeknd persona, Tesfaye now appears to be looking firmly towards what comes next.

In GQ Hong Kong’s new cover feature, Tesfaye elaborated on his current period as a kind of creative reset rather than retirement. “If I create under my own name one day,” he told GQ, “it won’t be about leaving anything behind. It’ll just be another evolution.”

That revolution is already beginning to take shape. Tesfaye further revealed that he has been revisiting Kiss Land, his 2013 debut studio album, and is currently working on a remaster. He said about his record, "it's the one project I never felt I executed exactly the way I envisioned” and that he’s now returning to it with the intention of bringing that original vision closer to life.

Kiss Land marked a significant shift from the unfiltered intimacy of his early mixtapes into a darker, more cinematic world. One that would eventually foreshadow the conceptual universes he built throughout the following decade.

Now, that past is colliding with whatever comes next, the Asian leg of the tour continues through Jakarta, Singapore, Seoul, Bangkok and Hong Kong before wrapping up in Kuala Lumpur on Nov. 4. The tour has already become the highest-grossing solo male tour in history, while Tesfaye continues to hint at what comes after.

Amid a glow of red and orange lights, a chic underground room in New York’s trendy Meatpacking District is alive with bodies. It’s just after midnight, and women are dancing on velvet banquettes, men are two-stepping on luxe, carpeted floors the color of merlot, and everyone is table-hopping with icy martinis in hand, as the groovy house jam “Talk to You” pumps through the venue’s sound system.

It’s one of the latest tracks from ANOTR, an Amsterdam DJ duo who timed the release of the feel-good anthem for the summer. And before the in-demand producers jetted off to Cannes and Ibiza to kick off the European party circuit, they made an unadvertised pit stop here, at the members-only club Chez Margaux.

There’s something surreal about watching some of the most sought-after acts in house music perform for 250 people rather than the thousands they typically draw at festival stages and international gigs. Imagine Foo Fighters playing Irving Plaza before a world tour, or Justin Bieber performing at a tech conference fresh off headlining Coachella. “We aim for the top one percent of the top one percent in terms of DJ talent and musical talent,” Riccardo Ambrosio, the club’s director of events and partnerships, tells Rolling Stone.

The likes of Rüfüs Du Sol, Black Coffee, &ME, and PAWSA have already graced the European-inspired lounge and restaurant for similar private, ticketed shows held roughly twice a quarter. And for jet-setting clientele accustomed to having a Euro Summer, they could catch ANOTR at a pop-up that the club hosted in St. Tropez. But unless you are a Margaux member paying $4,000 in annual dues and a one-time $3,000 initiation fee, you’d be none the wiser.

“I hate to say it, it was a great time. It was nice to have a more intimate space,” says Michal Cohen, who attended the ANOTR spring set, where tickets went up to $1,000. “I think prices are insane, but I do like it more than going to, like, a Brooklyn warehouse.”

In a world where a $15,000 initiation fee isn’t unheard of, exclusive, premium music experiences are emerging as the latest means to attract and amuse deep-pocketed members in the increasingly competitive world of private clubs.

THE CONCEPT OF MEMBERS’ clubs is hardly new. In New York City alone, prestigious, academic-based institutions like the Harvard Club, the scientific Explorers Club, and the old-money haunt The Union Club, which predates the Gilded Age, still stand. But since 2003, with the arrival of London export Soho House to New York City — its rooftop pool earning a cameo in Sex and the City — there’s been a growth of younger-skewing ventures that have sexy-sounding names like Maxine’s, ZZs, and Crane Club, all materializing around the city’s most affluent and buzzy neighborhoods. (The field is so saturated, Vogue came up with a handy guide to determine what clubs best fit someone’s personality.)

The business behind these clubs is booming, and hospitality experts forecast that the private-club trend will only continue to accelerate, with applicants for New York City alone increasing 42 percent last year, according to Zach Bates, an industry expert and marketing strategist.

These clubs have always strived to maintain an edge on competitors by hiring award-winning chefs, hosting curated events, and decking out their interiors with millions of dollars worth of art. Still, the more competitive landscape has led clubs to drill deeper into hyper-specialization. Moss, a wellness-focused hub near Bryant Park, offers heated thermal pools. New York Vintners in Tribeca is a best-kept secret among wine aficionados and New York Knicks players, with its three-level space serving as an ultra-private storage cellar, entertainment venue, and dining room. Cult streetwear brand KITH introduced the sports-centered KITH Ivy, a “luxury padel brand and club” with $25 Erewhon smoothies and a boutique store.

“There’s going to be this shift where clubs are going to be able to connect you with like-minded people,” explains Bates, who is CEO and founder of Private Clubs Inc., a development and management firm for such ventures. “They’re looking for experience over possessions.”

Take Zero Bond — a favorite members-only haunt of former New York City Mayor Eric Adams and billionaires Jeff Bezos, Kim Kardashian, and Michael Rubin — who created Baby Disco in its new Las Vegas outpost, offering a scaled-down alternative to the city’s multilevel mega-clubs. On opening night, Doja Cat performed before the Chainsmokers deejayed a set to a few hundred people, versus the thousands they’d attract elsewhere on the Strip. “These clubs went from 2,000, 3,000 to 6,000 people,” explains owner Scott Sartiano, whose résumé includes New York institutions 1 Oak and Up & Down. “[They] got bigger and bigger and bigger. That’s not for everybody. We thought: ‘What can we do that’s right for Zero Bond and its members that gives them that feeling of what they want?’”

Next weekend, Soho House, a longstanding staple of the membership club scene, is bringing its long-running music festival to New York City for the first time. Headlined by Alanis Morissette, the one-day $450 ticket available to members and their guests, will feature a throwback indie-rock line-up that includes the Flaming Lips, MGMT, Santigold, Questlove and friends, as well as Justine Skye, Pauli Lovejoy, and Hamilton Leithauser. Their clubs around the country also offer discounted concert tickets, as well as intimate moderated conversations and live performances within the clubs from artists such as Norah Jones, 50 Cent, Leon Bridges, James Pay, All-American Rejects, and Ja Rule. “We’ve definitely noticed a craving from our members … people are really craving those experiential moments,” explains Dominique Belas, the company’s global head of events.

Members of Aman New York can stop by its Jazz Club, a swanky underground venue for guests of the five-star property. On Valentine’s Day, members were treated to a special set by Diplo, and Jack Harlow dropped by for a scaled-back set of his latest album, Monica. Space permitting, members of the public can also reserve tables to see the likes of Mike Yung, a subway singer-turned-breakout star of America’s Got Talent; acclaimed jazz drummer and composer Terri Lyne Carrington; and vocalist April Varner. There’s also a residency series, kicked off by Black Thought of the Roots, whose semi-regular “One of Those Nights at The Jazz Club” evenings feature rotating surprise guests.

And newcomer Stylus — envisioned as a “shrine to music” — will be a first-of-its-kind space built around a state-of-the-art listening room in the Lower East Side in early 2027. Priced at $10,000 in annual dues and a $5,000 initiation fee, the club will have a high-fidelity sound system designed by Devon Turnbull and 40-hertz sound and light therapy sessions.

The ramp-up of exclusive music-based events comes as the live music industry reaches a crisis point over exorbitant prices and hyper-commercialization. This summer, for example, Pacha New York charged up to $600 a ticket to secure a spot in its “VIP Zone,” set apart from the general area that can hold more than 5,000 people. And depending on the DJ, which has recently included Rampa, Black Coffee, and ANOTR, a designated table for a dozen people may require a minimum spend of more than $10,000.

Erika, who asked to be identified only by her first name, says she gladly paid upwards of €1,200 for two tickets to watch Rampa descend upon the slopes of Courchevel in the French Alps for an après-ski set hosted by Chez Margaux earlier this year.

“It was the highlight of our trip,” Erika says, recalling how the sun set against a backdrop of powdery mountaintops. “We are in our thirties now, and the experience of having that type of exclusive and intimate event was really appealing to us. It obviously comes with a much higher price tag than a music festival or warehouse venue that you might otherwise see these types of DJs. [But] as we get older, we are looking for more experiences like that, compared to a massively crowded event.”

Of course, exclusivity translates to steep prices, but costs have been rising across the board. Between 2019 and 2024, the average cost of a traditional concert ticket in the U.S. rose more than 30 percent, according to Billboard. Fans have been forced to battle scalper bots for seats as small independent venues shutter at an alarming rate. While megastars like Harry Styles, Olivia Rodrigo, Noah Kahan, and Taylor Swift can easily sell out stadium-sized shows, the “blue dot fever” — where a sea of blue dots on online seller platforms represents hundreds of unsold tickets — has seen artists like Kid Cudi, the Pussycat Dolls, and the Black Keys scale back shows or scrap tours entirely, citing weak ticket sales.

Some New York nightlife venues have tried to find middle ground by introducing membership models that focus less on exclusivity and more on encouraging frequent concertgoing. Live music venue Baby’s All Right sells an 8-ball chain necklace that doubles as a yearly $250 membership, with free entry to any show. Subscribers to Nowadays’ Patreon — priced as low as $5 a month — are guaranteed entry to every party and can skip the line. Bushwick venue Elsewhere rolled out membership tiers, where the top seasonal pass at $45 a month earns the member and a guest unlimited free entry to shows, VIP guest-list drops, and invites to private events.

“The angle we’ve always taken is more around accessibility and just bringing together music fans first,” says Rami Haykal-Manning, co-founder of Elsewhere. “I feel like memberships have always been around at clubs. It’s not a new concept, but a lot of spaces in the last couple of years have really tried to tap into it in a more hospitality-forward or higher-end version.”

As live music events are increasingly turning into big format spectacles backed by blue-chip sponsorships, some members’ clubs see an opening in the opposite direction: private sets and scaled-down performances for those who can afford it.

“There’s nothing that compares to it,” Ambrosio says. “That’s what makes them so special and what people are willing to pay the price for.”

Limp Bizkit are coming back to Canada, in 2027. The band will join Metallica and Avatar for the 2027 North American leg of Metallica’s massive M72 World Tour, opening the run on May 8 at Vancouver’s BC Place. Metallica are the headliners, with Limp Bizkit and Avatar serving as support throughout all 12 newly announced stadium dates.

Vancouver is currently the only Canadian stop on the newly announced itinerary. The May 8 concert kicks off a run that will take the three bands through San Diego, El Paso, San Antonio, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Buffalo, Cleveland and other U.S. cities before wrapping June 19 in Salt Lake City.

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After passing through Eastern Canada for festival dates this summer, Limp Bizkit is hitting up the West Coast. This time, Fred Durst and company will be playing BC Place as part of a stadium-scale Metallica production, with the M72 stage positioned in the centre of the field so fans surround the performance.

Metallica launched the M72 tour in 2023, and the band says the trek has already brought nearly five million fans to shows across 26 countries. The 2027 leg follows Metallica’s Life Burns Faster residency at Las Vegas’ Sphere, which runs through March 13.

Tickets for the Vancouver show go on general sale September 25 at 10 a.m. local time, with fan-club presales beginning September 21.

Amanda Lear

Iconic French singer and artist Amanda Lear is calling out Miley Cyrus over what she says is a striking resemblance between Cyrus’ new song “Redlights” and her 1978 disco track “The Sphinx.”

Lear first raised the accusation Sunday on Instagram, addressing Cyrus directly with asarcastic message reading: “Thank you, Miley, for copying my song ‘The Sphinx’! I’m flattered!” She also added hashtags referring to the song as a “ripoff” and “copycat.”

“Redlights” appears on Cyrus’ new album Bass Persuades, released last Friday, September 18. According to Lear, the melody and rhythm of the track closely mirror those of “The Sphinx,” which appeared on her 1978 album Never Trust a Pretty Face. The songs have noticeably different tempos, but comparisons between the two tracks have circulated since Lear’s post.

Lear told Agence France-Presse that she was alerted to the similarities by fans and brought the matter to her producer and record label. Universal and the song’s publishers, she said, are seeking formal recognition of the alleged plagiarism. “I’ve never been litigious,” Lear told AFP, emphasizing that she had not threatened Cyrus with legal action. “I simply pointed out the situation by thanking Miley Cyrus and adding that I was flattered.”

Lear has previously identified Cyrus as one of the younger artists who inherited her influence, alongside Rihanna and Beyoncé. She has also said that she knows Cyrus is a fan of her work.

For now, there has been no public response from Cyrus or her representatives, and no legal finding that “Redlights” infringes on “The Sphinx.” A musical resemblance, even a substantial one, does not by itself establish copyright infringement.

It’s not the first time Miley is involved in copyright disputes. She was previously sued by Bruno Mars’ team for for her song “Flowers”, as well as by Jamaican artist Flourgon for her song “We Can’t Stop”.