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 Melvin Benn of the Reading and Leeds Festivals has spoken out about the so-called “war” that has occurred between festival promoters and the band Guns N’ Roses.
As the festival came to a close on its final night, Guns N’ Roses lead singer Axl Rose spoke out against the organisers of the festival. He said “this war ain’t over”, after the band’s sound was cut. Benn reportedly cut the sound so that they would not be breaking the noise curfew that is currently in place.
Despite the comments that Axl Rose made, Benn has stated that he would he would “book them again”, but he was unsure if they would actually come back to play. He says that he thinks “the band is great” and does not wish to “make it personal”.
However, Benn praised The Libertines performances at both Leeds and Reading on Friday and Saturday respectively. He said that their performances could have gone poorly or chaotic, but that overall he was very pleased. He has stated that the band were “professionals” even though some thought that they would cause issues. According to Benn, they were “fantastic” and they “made the effort”. He says that he is unsure on whether or not they will continue to perform as a band, but that they made a great effort to “put great shows on”.
As well, Benn made a point to praise Canadian indie-rockers Arcade Fire for their headline shows which he called “fantastic. He also commended pop-punk band Blink-182 for their excellent performances at the festival.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Hollywood Star Pulls Out Due to Mother’s Illness
A few weeks back Whoopi Goldberg stepped into the role of Mother Superior for the production of “Sister Act the Musical” at the London Palladium and she was due to remain in the role until Tuesday 31st August 2010. However, the Hollywood star has now had to withdraw from the role early due to the illness of her mother.
According to the show’s producers, her mother has suffered a serious stroke and as a result Goldberg has flown home to be with her family.
West End theatre audiences who purchased “Sister Act the Musical” theatre tickets hoping to witness Goldberg in the role have been told to contact their ticket operators if they no longer wish to attend. For performances leading up to Tuesday 31st August, Goldberg’s understudy is set to take over the role of Mother Superior.
“Sister Act the Musical” is a stage adaptation of the classic 1992 movie, which then featured Whoopi Goldberg in the role of Deloris Van Cartier (portrayed by Patina Miller onstage). For the London Palladium show the action has been transported from modern day San Francisco to Philadelphia in the 1970s. However, the plot remains the same, with Van Cartier witnessing a murder at the hands of her boyfriend and subsequently placed on the witness protection programme. Hiding at the Holy Order of the Little Sisters of Our Mother of Perpetual Faith under the name Sister Mary Clarence, she is at odds with the strict Mother Superior, but soon finds her feet by leading the choir to international success. However, with all of this attention, her cover could soon be blown.
The original movie, and its sequel “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit”, is perhaps the most famous role of Whoopi Goldberg’s long career. However, her other famous parts have included “Ghost”, “The Colour Purple” and “How Stella Got Her Groove Back”, amongst others, and she can currently be seen as a presenter on “The View” – the American version of “Loose Women”.
More on this and other events at Boxoffice, meanwhile Sister Act the Musical is currently booking until Saturday 30th October 2010, and with Goldberg’s understudy appearing until Tuesday 31st August 2010, Sally Dexter will take over from Wednesday 1st September 2010.
Popularity: 1% [?]
 Sometimes old habits never die, which is great news for Whoopi Goldberg who took the stage on the West End in the play version of Sister Act, 18 years after she originally starred in the Hollywood film version.
However, there were a few slight changes as Goldberg did not play Deloris in the stage version of the film, instead taking on the stage role of Mother Superior.
Instead, the runway Deloris hiding from the mafia is played by Patina Miller. Goldberg replaced Sheila Hancock who has played Mother Superior since the show opening in 2009. In addition, she is a co-producer of the musical valued at £7m. She said that she has to find some grown-up in her to play the part because even today she herself is not much of an adult.
Goldberg added that while Mother Superior has a little bit of foolishness in her, she is not going to steal the stage because she is aware she is not Deloris anymore.
Popularity: 1% [?]
 Alehsa Dixon, Katherine Jenkins, The Wanted, and Enrique Iglesias are all newly slated to appear at the London ‘Heroes’ charity concert next month. Other performers include James Blunt and Robbie Williams.
The concert will help to raise money for Help for Heroes which is a charity that helps out those who are serving with the British Armed Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Jenkins stated that she is proud to be part of a day that is designed to honour the sacrifices of the troops. She continued to say that given she has been overseas to visit them they are always in her mind.
The line-up for the September even is pretty rich with additional performers The Saturdays, Jack Dee, Plan B, Rhod Gilbert, Pixie Lott, and Peter Kay slated to appear. Michael McIntyre and Jason Manford will host the event.
The concert will be held at London’s Twickenham rugby station on Sept. 12th.
Popularity: 1% [?]
 On Sunday Axl Rose’s Twitter account was hacked into and rumours were spread that the infamous Guns N’ Roses European tour was cancelled.
Fans quickly retweeted the message across the internet making it the most used post in the scarcely used Twitter feed. A spokesman for the rock group however stated that the tour, which is slated for autumn, will still be going on as scheduled.
At the moment, the actual owner of the Twitter profile is not clear, but it is likely that it was hacked by someone who simply guessed the password after Rose neglected to update the social media device or used a password reset attack.
Rose is the most recent in a long line of celebrities who has had their Twitter account hacked joining Ed Miliband, Lindsay Lohan, and Britney Spears in the list of duped celebs.
Popularity: 3% [?]
 At one point in time theatre audiences were allowed to hide in the dark of an arch invisible to the actors on stage and comfortably relax back to watch the show.
However, this is not the case at this year’s Edinburgh fringe festival as theatre audiences are forced to watch the actors trample through them as the plot unfolds around them with every festival event open to a great deal of uncertainty.
Some of the events should be quite demanding on the actors and the audiences such as The Cry by the Badac Theatre, which is described as an extreme emotional and physical experience.
According to producers, techniques will be used so that the actors can vent their anger without the use of stage fighting. One can only imagine what this will entail given that two years previous the company put on ‘The Factory’ and the audience members found themselves taking on the role of Holocaust victims subject to shouting and forced movement from room to room.
Those who really want to get into the spirit of the festival can sign up on Twitter and receive memos that place them in roles at the festival dictating that they believe they are walking with their imaginary childhood friend or are now five hours ahead of time.
Another play, called The Bench will see audiences sit paired up on benches speaking lines that an audio recording tells them to say. In other words, the audience is no longer the safest place to be for a true theatre experience.
Popularity: 5% [?]
 North London’s Underage Festival only allows children ages 14 to 18 to enter through its doors within anyone older turned away or in the case of the press allowed to enter with an official escort.
While parents may frown at the idea of a large amount of children left unsupervised, there are local police and security guards patrolling the festival that takes place in a sectioned off area of the Victoria Park to make sure that things stay under control.
The Festival idea was developed four years ago and this year about ten thousand teens showed up to see MIA, Tinchy Stryder, the Courteeners, and Professor Green.
Given the fact that most parents will not allow their children to attend a festival, the Underage Festival gives kids a chance to have fun and parents the opportunity to feel safe letting their children attend a large event.
The festival was created given that other major festivals such as Glastonbury are now attracting an older crowd and kids need a festival to celebrate on their own.
Tom Baker, the promoter of the festival stated the unique aspect of the festival is that the audience can actually grow out of the festival unlike other festivals that people remember going to on a yearly basis since they were children.
Baker added that it makes it a unique opportunity to remember that is only available to its target audience for a limited amount of time.
Popularity: 5% [?]
 Butlins is quickly becoming famous for offering music festivals and family holidays such as the upcoming All Tomorrow’s Parties and the Street Dance Festival both of which will take place at the Minehead Resort.
However, now another event is joining the line-up as the Skegness beachside Resort is horning in by holding the Great British Folk Festival. This event will be quite the competitor given that it features many notable live performances from the Gathering, Linddisfarne, Jethro Tull, Magna Carta, Steeleye Span, and Fairport Convention.
Also due to the stage alongside many others are the Dave Cousins led Acoustic Stawbs, Kate Rusby, Sandi Thom, and Richard Digance.
The tradition of Folk music in Skegness goes back a lengthy ways with Steeleye Span taking their name from the traditional song ‘Horkstow Grange’ that is popular in the area. They were one of the first bands to offer folk music to the general masses outside of folk clubs and helped encourage its growth up the album and singles charts.
Even though the sixties and seventies helped open people’s ears to the sounds of folk music, many of the artists from that time have continued to experiment with infusing music on through today.
The aim of the Great British Folk Festival is to explore this experimentation by offering the familiar artists of the past and today as well as a few who may not be so familiar in an effort to spawn a little research into the matter.
For more information on the Great British Folk Festival or to book a break in Butlins the official website is www.bigweekends.com/folk and the phone number is 0845 070 4730.
Popularity: 8% [?]
 Tom Jones seemed as if he had a point to prove at the Latitude Festival given he arrived at the Suffolk four day event preaching about his new gospel album Praise & Blame. The record made headlines a few days before when Vice-President of Island Records asked if the gospel album was a joke in an email that was leaked.
Jones was apparently maddened by the comment using his appearance on the Latitude stage to perform like he has never done before putting his heart into every note.
Although he was a last minute addition to the event, he kicked off the festival planned to play on a smaller stage but within three days it was revealed that he would in fact be on the main Obelisk arena stage. Word of mouth around the music fest travelled quickly and the impromptu performance drew one of the largest crowds of the entire weekend.
In a bold step, Jones chose only to perform the gospel tracks from his new album but it seemed to work out just fine with his vocal matching each selection perfectly.
Even though most of the crowd did not recognize the set list, for the most part the crowd stayed steady throughout with little thinning with each song receiving enthusiastic praise of its own.
All in all, Jones proved that even though he took a risky move at the age of seventy, he is still able to captivate a modern audience.
Popularity: 6% [?]
 Although Take That fans have had to be patient, 15 years after Robbie Williams quit the boy band he has announced that he will be back in the group for a reunion. In 1995 Williams left plenty of young teenage girls crying when he departed the group at the top of their fame after a fight with the other band members.
Last night a statement was released by Take That announcing that the rumours are true and Robbie Williams has rejoined the band, which have the written and recorded a new album that will be released later on in the year sometime in November.
The summer after its release it is expected that Williams will hit the stage again with his fellow old bandmates, Howard Donald, Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, and Jason Orange for a large scale stadium tour.
It is estimated that each of the members will earn about £10m for the reunion.
Williams stated last night that it is now very exciting to work with the entire band again and that it feels a bit like going home.
Owen, who was William’s closest friend in Take That, stated that getting all five members together in a room was always a dream that he never thought would become a reality. However, now he says that the actual reality of creating a new record together feels like the dream.
Last September the five Take That stars met in New York after Owen’s stag party and afterwards started to secretly record six songs which formed the foundation for the coming album.
The new record will be released exactly two decades after the band first appeared on television in 1990. The band broke up over an argument about Williams’ drug habits and an inner conflict over the musical direction from Barlow.
Popularity: 7% [?]
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Melvin Benn of the Reading and Leeds Festivals has spoken out about the so-called “war” that has occurred between festival promoters and the band Guns N’ Roses.
