The street party and concerts will be held Saturdays and on select nights starting February 11 and running through April 14, 2012.

The first concert, at 8:30 p.m. on February 11, will feature the B-52′s. The classic band is known for its hit single “Love Shack” from its 1989 release, Cosmic Thing, which launched the band into “superstardom,” according to Universal Orlando.

American Idol’s Kelly Clarkson will perform at Universal’s Mardi Gras event next, on Feb. 18. She won the first season of American Idol in 2002, and has been a hit ever since. Then, on Sunday, Feb. 19, legendary R&B group Boyz II Men will take the Universal stage.

Kelly Clarkson

Diana Ross headlines the Feb. 25 Mardi Gras show. Known for hits like “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Love Hangover,” Ross is sure to be a big hit at Universal Orlando.

In March, the concerts continue, with the Goo Goo Dolls kicking things off on March 3, 2012 at 8:30 p.m. Big Time Rush will follow on March 10 and then Universal Orlando will welcome J Cole to its Mardi Gras stage on March 16.

Then, Sugar Ray makes its Universal appearance on March 17, 2012. Hot Chelle Rae follows on Friday, March 23, 2012 and then Mardi Gras will bring B.o.B. on Saturday, March 24.

The popular group Plain White T’s will come on Friday March 30, and help round out that month of Mardi Gras at Universal Orlando with Prince Royce on March 31.

April will bring more big names, including Cyndi Lauper and KC & The Sunshine Band. Get more information on those exact dates and times, read more about the artists, and find out about all the Universal Orlando Mardi Gras ticket packages by clicking on the banner below:

Keyser performed accapella and advanced in the first few minutes of the show.

KnightNews.com will keep monitoring Keyser to let you know how he does during the rest of the show — and if he moves on next week.

Check back for updates.

Rise Against, a punk band formed in Chicago, began achieving mainstream success as early as 2004, and have released 3 albums that went gold in the United States, and platinum in Canada. The band is known for being extremely politically active, supporting animal rights, and for being both straightedge and vegan.

The show opened with the Menzingers, a punk rock band based out of Philadelphia, before A Day to Remember took the stage, bringing with them props galore. Besides opening up with strobe lights and smoke plums for their hit, “The Down Fall of Us All,” they brought with them plenty of toilet paper to us as streamers, beach balls, T-shirt guns, and hundreds of balloons. The highlight of ADTR’s prop use, however, was the giant, clear plastic ball that lead singer Jeremy McKinnon climbed into. He then ran over the crowd, at one point even flipping within the ball. The band brought with them some serious messages about doing what you want to with your life, but also encouraged concert goers to have fun, at one point requesting audience members to ‘crowd surf on someone crowd surfing.’

After leaving the stage, vertical screens were revealed to set the stage for Rise Against. These screens aired powerful images throughout the performance, helping to convey the often heavy lyrics to some of their hit songs, such as “Survivor Guilt,” “Collapse (Post-Amerika),” and “Make It Stop (September’s Children).”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE6nkyVoI40

Clarkson was made famous on American Idol. Right now a UCF student, Johnny Keyser, is competing to be this year’s American Idol.

Keyser mentioned that he attends UCF on national TV, getting some publicity for Knight Nation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H3E4JnXLQc

KnightNews.com will continue following this UCF Knight’s progress on American Idol.

Like Us For UCF News Updates on Facebook:

As you can see from the video someone posted on YouTube, judges were impressed. Make sure to like KnightNews.com on Facebook to follow his progress!

Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, February 3rd at 10:00am!

Mac Miller, with special guests The Cool Kids and The Come Up, will perform at the UCF Arena as part of the Campus Consciousness Tour. The show starts at 7:00pm and doors will open at 6:00pm.

Be sure to get your tickets early as this will likely be a SOLD-OUT event!

Check out a few Mac Miller hits:

KN: First off, how’s the tour going?
ADL: The Tour’s been amazing, man! I mean touring is fun as it is, but when you get to tour with your best friends it’s even more fun. And not only are The Summer Set some of our best friends, but we’re big fans of their new album and their music, and there’s a lot of other good bands on the tour. He Is We is amazing, Days Difference, Paradise Fears, I mean there’s so many awesome people that it’s just been a blast.

KN: I saw on twitter you went to Disney World. How was that?
ADL: I went today! It was a blast! I try to go every time I come to Orlando, even if I have to lose sleep I try to sneak in and go on a few rides. It makes me feel normal, cause when you get on tour you get in a routine and it’s like you do the same thing every day. It’s like same thing, different city. You know what I mean? So I just like to kind of feel like a kid, or just feel like… I don’t know. I just like to have fun!

KN: Both of your albums have been incredibly diverse as far as the type of songs that are on them. How important do you feel such diversity is for a band?
ADL: I think diversity is super important! You know when you listen to bands that have an album of 13 of the exact same songs it’s just boring. It takes away the fun as a listener. You don’t want to know what to expect in the next song. If every song sounds the same, how are you calling them an artist? They’re an artist that draws the same painting over and over again. And as an artist or musician you want to make it fun, you want to experiment with different sounds, (John Gomez, Guitarist/Vocalist in The Summer Set, says, “You want to get laid.”) and you want to get laid. And you don’t get laid if you write the same song over and over again.

KN: There were a ton of co-writes that took place for Symphony Soldier – with only a handful actually making the album – can you talk about how some of those co-writes came together, which were your favorite, and why you picked the ones you did?
ADL: Yeah, I mean Maroon 5 has been one of the biggest influences to The Cab for probably 8 years, ever since the band started. So that was always just on our dream “to do” list, and we got to do that, which was a dream come true. Then Bruno Mars was another favorite, and it’s like a no-brainer. When you write songs with Bruno Mars, you don’t write bad songs, you know what I mean? Bruno Mars does not write a bad song, so that was obviously making the album. The song we did with Adam in Maroon 5 turned out amazing. Then “Bad”, our first single, we did with Martin from Boys Like Girls. And I think the reason they all turned out so good is because we’re all friends. We became friends with Bruno, we have been friends with Martin forever, so it’s so easy to get in a room and to write with your friends. There’s no pressure, there’s no over-thinking it, you’re hanging out and you’re just making music, just doing what you love to do.

KN: Are there any you wish would have made the album, but didn’t?
ADL: Yeah, there’s a few songs in general. There’s a song called “I’m Gonna Break You” that I wish would have made the album, there’s a song called “Crown” that will be released at some point, a song called “Cool Me Down” that I loved. We wrote like 200 songs for the album, so there is probably 40 songs that I wish could be released that are just sitting on a shelf somewhere. They might make it out eventually, or they may just die. We’ll see!

KN: There were rumors a while back that you were working on a possible collaboration with Justin Timberlake. How did that come about and is there any update on that idea?
ADL: We run into Justin all the time, and every time we run into him we always talk about it. But we’re just constantly touring, we tour 9 or 10 months out of the year, and Justin is Justin. He’s always filming movies or working on music. The dude is like the most successful guy in the industry, so it’s like he’s busy and we’re busy so it’s just trying to find the right time and the right politics. It will come together I’m sure some day. It’s my number one dream, so if that happens then I can die happy. But we’re huge N Sync fans. For example, tonight at the show Chris from N Sync is coming out and that on its own, the fact that he is coming to support our band because he is a fan of our band and that I grew up listening to them, it’s just the fact that things come full circle like that is insane.

KN: What was it like working with someone like John Feldmann?
ADL: Feldmann is insane (laughs). He drinks about twenty cups of coffee a day, doesn’t drink soda, he is a strict vegan, but you would think that the dude is on caffeine and drugs and all the above but he’s not, he’s just naturally insane. But I think some of the best producers are just naturally insane, like you have to be a little but out of your mind to come up with some of the sounds and some of the ideas that he comes up with. He’s great because he’s a friend, he knows how to bring out the best in you, and he’ll come to the studio one day and come up with these crazy sounds. He’ll be like, ‘dude, I just recorded my daughter laughing and I just tweaked it into a sound’, or like ‘dude, my dog was running across the hardwood floor and I recorded his paws scraping and I made it into a percussive loop’ and we’re like ‘Jesus Christ, you’re insane!’ (Laughing) Who thinks to record their dog running across a hardwood floor? Only Feldmann, and you listen to his albums that he did with The Used and the production is just so unique. He’s very rock, but he also has pop sensibility, which is what The Cab is. It’s pop, but it also has that rock, edgy side to it, so Feldmann definitely brought it out and he was a huge part of the record.

Alexander DeLeon of The Cab at The Beacham in Orlando Florida on January 20, 2012

KN: Today the music industry lost a huge icon in Etta James. How do you feel about that? And being a singer, did Etta James have an influence on your music?
ADL: Of Course! I mean obviously it’s tragic. It’s just one of those things in life that happens to everyone, and it’s so sad. A lot of people our age, or even younger, don’t know who she is. Some might now because she’s on that new Flo-Rida song “I Got A Good Feeling”. The thing about Etta James is that not only was she such a good talent and such a good soul, but artists like Adele and Beyoncé, some of the biggest artists in the world right now, Etta James is one of their biggest influences. So if kids don’t know necessarily Etta James or who she is, they know who she’s created. It’s like they’re listening to Beyoncé and Adele and it’s like vocally, Beyoncé and Adele wouldn’t be who they were without Etta James. She just had such a big impact on music and on soul and R&B and all of that in general that it’s a sad day in music.

KN: Well, thank you for your time and I can’t wait for the show tonight!
ADL: No problem, man. Thanks for coming out!

Be sure to come out to the show this Friday January 20, 2012 if you’re in Orlando.
Doors open at 5:30 PM and you can purchase tickets here.