Believe it or not, Justin Bieber is not only about to release his fourth album, he's about to kick off a North American tour -- which comes to the Chicago area Oct. 23-24 at the Allstate Arena.

Bieber announced his tour plans today, a few weeks ahead of releasing "Believe," due June 19, featuring duets with Drake, Nicki Minaj, Big Sean and Ludacris.

Chicago's Riot Fest is changing plans and moving around. The annual punk festival, usually held later in autumn in multiple local clubs, is pulling back to September and going outdoors.

Promoters announced today the Riot Fest & Carnival slated for Sept. 14 at the Congress Theater and Sept. 15-16 at Humboldt Park.

An impressive first round of acts announced today includes Iggy & the Stooges, Elvis Costello, Rise Against, the Descendents, the Jesus & Mary Chain, the Offspring, Dropkick Murphys and more.

The summer concert season is just getting under way, and today the city announced headliners for one of summer's final music events -- the 34th annual Chicago Jazz Festival.

The multi-venue festival, Aug. 30-Sept. 2, will spotlight drummer Roy Haynes, singer Dianne Reeves and Southern piano legend Allen Toussaint.

Summer 2012 looks bustling and healthy, compared with recent summer concert seasons, since it offers more big headliners and a growing crop of festivals.

The city may be charging for the close-up seats at this year's Taste of Chicago, but its other festivals have found new life on their own again (rather than last year's budget-inspired experiment of packing them into themed days at Taste). Multi-day celebrations like the Chicago Gospel Festival and the Chicago Jazz Festival are spreading out this year, programming events in the downtown parks but also other locations in an effort to achieve wider inclusion above focused destination.

The free Monday evening Downtown Sound series of concerts is back in Millennium Park, and an additional regular schedule of cutting-edge shows has been added: the Loops & Variations series, focusing on electronic and experimental music.

Click here for a list of some of the biggest and most noteworthy shows scheduled in the area thus far.

Taste of Chicago 2012 will be half as long and thus feature half as many main-stage music acts. But with tickets now charged for seats in the Petrillo Music Shell, shouldn't that mean a higher caliber of artist?

Judge for yourself: The city announced today four of the five acts scheduled to perform at this year's post-July 4 Taste in Grant Park -- Jennifer Hudson (July 11), Death Cab for Cutie (July 12), Chaka Khan (July 14) and Dierks Bentley (July 15).

Now that the Pitchfork lineup is set and Lollapalooza has announced its list of performers, the third annual North Coast Festival fires round one of its electronic/jam/hip-hop marquee.

The summer-ending, three-day music festival in Chicago's Union Park, Aug. 31-Sept. 2, will feature Pretty Lights, Axwell (from Swedish House Mafia), Atmosphere and Big Boi.

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band finally announced a Chicago tour stop today -- Sept. 7 at Wrigley Field.

As reported here back in January, the Springsteen Wrigley date has been in the works for that weekend after Labor Day.

Tickets for the Wrigley show are $45-$103 (limit of four per purchase of general admission in the field), on sale at 10 a.m. April 21 via Tickets.com or by calling 800-THE-CUBS.

The final round of performers has been announced to fill out the bill for the 2012 Pitchfork Music Festival, July 13-15 in Chicago's Union Park. Added today: Wild Flag, Big K.R.I.T., Beach House, Chavez, Atlas Sound, Real Estate, Ty Segall, Oneohtrix Point Never, Cults, Nicolas Jaar, King Krule, Thee Oh Sees, Lower Dens, Youth Lagoon, Dirty Beaches, Lotus Plaza, The Psychic Paramount, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Milk Music, Outer Minds and A Lull.

For those fans who didn't snag tickets to one of Wilco's five Chicago shows in one week last December, the band is heading up an all-local bill this summer at a larger venue -- a suburban baseball park.

Wilco will perform July 8 at the Fifth Third Bank Ballpark (home of the Kane County Cougars) in Geneva. Also on the bill: singer-songwriter Andrew Bird and Chicago soul band the Congregation.

Amid a shifting summer festival landscape -- tickets for Taste, a revamped Folk & Roots Festival -- the city's Cultural Affairs and Special Events department announced today an expanded slate of free outdoor concerts downtown in Millennium Park.