DEALSWarner Chappell has signed Puerto Rican rapper Villano Antillano. “Queer people need to feel like they can be their true, authentic selves and I want to use my music as a channel to help inspire and uplift”, says Antillano.
28.05.2022 - 00:37 / variety.com
Mark Sutherland “To be or not to be, that is no longer the question,” declared ABBA co-founder and musical mastermind Benny Andersson at the start of “ABBA Voyage,” the Swedish quartet’s first “concert” in over 40 years. And if that sounds like a curiously existential way to begin a pop concert, well, this is no ordinary live show.For a start, despite Andersson’s insistence that “This is really me, I just look very good for my age,” it’s actually his de-aged, computer-generated avatar — or “ABBA-tar,” if you must — that is speaking his pre-recorded words.
Alongside him are the similarly CGI-rendered forms of his bandmates, all looking as they did — or, in truth, actually somewhat better than — they did in their ‘70s heyday. Meet, then, the prefab four, playing a show that is billed, 100% accurately, as “a concert like no other” — which doesn’t mean it isn’t every bit as big a deal as it would have been had ABBA reformed for a more traditional concert.Staged in the purpose-built ABBA Arena near East London’s Olympic Park, the world premiere performance nonetheless attracted royalty of both the showbiz world (Kylie Minogue, Keira Knightley, Kate Moss) and actual sovereign variety: the King and (dancing) Queen of Sweden walked the red carpet in support of one of their nation’s leading exports.However, it was the presence of all four real-life members of ABBA — Andersson, co-founder Björn Ulvaeus, and lead singers Anni-Frid Lyngstad and the usually reclusive Agnetha Fältskog — that caused the real stir, proof of the demand fueling this technologically ground-breaking (and presumably wildly expensive) new concept in entertainment.The stakes, therefore, are high.
DEALSWarner Chappell has signed Puerto Rican rapper Villano Antillano. “Queer people need to feel like they can be their true, authentic selves and I want to use my music as a channel to help inspire and uplift”, says Antillano.
EXCLUSIVE: Brian Cox, Gaia Wise and Miranda Otto are just some of the names in the voice cast for New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Animation’s upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.
Shirley Halperin Executive Editor, MusicThe indie band Big Thief has announced the cancelation of two concerts in Tel Aviv following a preemptive Instagram post meant to explain their decision to play in Israel. The shows were scheduled for July 6 and 7 at the Barby club.
Big Thief have cancelled two shows in Tel Aviv, less than a week after they were first announced, following criticism over their decision to play in Israel.The band, who released new double album ‘Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You’ back in February, were set to play a pair of shows in bassist Max Oleartchick’s hometown on July 6 and 7.But today (June 9), they’ve confirmed that both shows will be cancelled.“We would like to start by clarifying a few things from our first post. When we spoke of loving ‘beyond disagreement’ and not knowing ‘where the moral high ground lies,’ that was in specific referred to playing shows in Israel during a time where BDS (The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is a Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel) is calling for a cultural boycott,” starts the post.
Brian Cox And Rose Matafeo Unveiled For Packed Edinburgh TV Festival Lineup
K.J. Yossman Some of the U.K.’s biggest TV and streaming stars are set to appear at the 2022 Edinburgh TV Festival.
This week’s panel discussion featured Michael Shellenberger, a California gubernatorial candidate, cofounder of the California Peace Coalition, and author of San Fransicko: W,hy Progressives Ruin Cities; and Douglas Murray, columnist for the New York Post and The Sun, and author of War on the West: How to Prevail in the Age of Unreason.
Welcome to our first-ever month-long Hot Hollywood Pride Celebration with Sponsor Saks OFF 5TH.
It’s official. The reviews are in and ABBA’s new concert experience, ABBA Voyage is a certified hit!The ABBA Voyage concert, which officially opened on at the purpose build ABBA Voyage Arena in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, May 27, has received rapturous reviews from fans and critics.Kylie Minogue attended the premiere and said on Instagram, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! What.
Swedish supergroup ABBA has returned to the stage as digital avatars for a new London concert residency. On Thursday, all four members of the band publicly reunited to attend the opening night of "ABBA Voyage." Benny Andersson, 75; Agnetha Fältskog, 72; Anni-Frid Lyngstad, 76; and Björn Ulvaeus, 77, were all smiles on the red carpet as they posed for photographers before entering the new ABBA Arena in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, where they watched their digital avatars hit the stage.
“ABBA Voyage” is certainly a trip.
Zara Larsson has covered ABBA‘s ‘Lay All Your Love On Me’, as well as telling NME what the band mean to her and revealing that work is progressing well on a “dark” and “vulnerable” new album. Watch our interview with Larsson above.Today sees Larsson release her cover of the Swedish pop giants’ 1981 track for the Spotify Singles series, just after the premiere of the band’s ambitious new ABBA Voyage show in London.Speaking to NME on the red carpet of the event, Larsson admitted being a little starstruck to have pop royalty nearby.“They were like, ‘Oh, can you believe the Swedish Royal Family is here?’ and I was like, ‘I know, ABBA are right there’,” she said.
ABBA stepped out for their first public appearance together in six years ahead of the first Abba Voyage concert. The iconic Swedish group, made up of Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson, were pictured attending the ABBA Arena to mark the band’s first virtual show. Fans of the group were doubtlessly thrilled by the public appearance - which marks the first time the foursome have been seen together since a rare 2016 appearance in Stockholm.
They were the iconic 1970’s pop band who took the world by storm with hits such as Gimme Gimme Gimme, and the ABBA foursome were back together today. It was their first public appearance together in six years, after a performance hiatus, as they attended the first performance of their one-of-a-kind concert ABBA "Voyage" at ‘ABBA Arena’ in London.The Swedish pop group is made up of Agnetha Fältskog, 72, Björn Ulvaeus, 77, Benny Andersson, 75, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, 76.
NME on the red carpet during the opening night of their ‘Voyage’ concert residency, ABBA told us what fans can expect after their digital tour. Watch our full video interview with the Swedish pop band above.The event, which took place today (May 26) at ABBA Arena in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford, marked the first time in 36 years Benny Andersson, Agnetha Fältskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Björn Ulvaeus were seen as a group together in public.“It feels fantastic,” Lyngstad told NME when asked what it was like to be at the premiere.
Fred Bronson The first news about a virtual ABBA show broke in 2016. Six years later, “Voyage” is set to open at the purpose-built 3,000-seat ABBA Arena in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Along the way, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus wrote two new songs for the show and reunited with Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid (Frida) Lyngstad to record a new album, making a spectacular comeback for the Swedish quartet that first achieved international fame in 1974 by winning the Eurovision Song Contest with “Waterloo.”After two previews, a VIP invited audience will see the show tonight (Thursday, May 26) and an official opening night happens on Friday, May 27.