Brit Beat: Parklife Festival, Featuring the 1975, Heats Up Festival Season

Naman Ramachandran International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has appointed former BFI London Film Festival director Clare Stewart to the position of managing director, taking over from Marjan van der Haar. Stewart was most recently interim CEO at Sheffield DocFest and commences in the role at IFFR on June 21. IFFR has a dual leadership structure where the managing director and festival director oversee the commercial and creative elements of the organization respectively, working in partnership. Stewart previously consulted with the IFFR board of directors in 2021 in its first phase of re-evaluation prior to her joining DocFest, with a focus on the IFFR program structure and content strategy.

Police said Parklife festival passed 'without major incident' as a total of 70 arrests were made over the weekend.

Police have introduced stop and search powers around Prestwich and Heaton Park on the second day of the Parklife festival.

Bring Me The Horizon headlined Download Festival last night (June 9) with a brand new live show to announce new album ‘Post Human: Nex Gen’.Following on from their “triumphant, hard-won victory lap” at Reading & Leeds Festivals last year, Bring Me The Horizon returned to Download for the first time since 2014 yesterday and were joined onstage by Nova Twins and Evanescence‘s Amy Lee.Before the band took to the stage, the band teased the long-awaited follow-up to 2020’s ‘Post Human: Survival Horror’ before a two-minute video introduced the band’s evolved stage show and a new, ambitious narrative involving murderous A.I. and a mysterious cult, The Church Of Genxsis.

A pair of grannies who were on their way for a spot of shopping at Manchester’s Arndale got lost on their tracks and ended up raving at Parklife - or so they say.

A casual queen!

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Although it was rumored and teased for weeks before it was officially confirmed, it’s really not a surprise to see Madonna collaborating with Sam Smith: “Unholy,” the British singer’s hit with Kim Petras, was not only the most provocative song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 since Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP,” it was exactly the kind of song that Madonna has released more than once in her career: intentionally controversial and boundary-pushing, both musically and thematically (“Unholy” is essentially about a family man having unsafe sex). Thus, she was a perfect person to introduce Smith and Petras before they performed the song at the Grammys: “Are you ready for some controversy?” she began, before continuing, “If they call you shocking, scandalous, troublesome, problematic, provocative or dangerous, you are definitely onto something.”

wearing flip-flops on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival last month, Jennifer Lawrence is setting the record straight about the fashion statement that had the internet abuzz.«Ok, thank you for bringing this up. I would really like to straighten this out,» Lawrence told ET's Nischelle Turner while promoting her new film,  alongside co-star, Andrew Barth Feldman.

Summer is officially on the horizon.

Feuds as wild as the jungle. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has never been afraid to call out celebrities for their actions towards wildlife and pets.

Tram strikes have been called off days before they were due to cause chaos for punters at Parklife festival and other major events in Greater Manchester. Metrolink staff have been offered a new pay deal by operator KeolisAmey.

The 1975 are back at, by their own admission, their very best. 

The 1975 are back at, by their own admission, their very best. 

The 1975 are back at, by their own admission, their very best. 

Straight from the summit. Taylor Swift is known for her close circle of friends — and her BFFs have some thoughts about her split from Matty Healy.

The Britsih Soap Awards brought a touch of glamour to a weeknight as fans of Coronation Street, Hollyoaks, Emmerdale, EastEnders and Doctors tuned in to see how the star-studded evening unfolded.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Astrud Gilberto, the smooth-voiced Brazilian singer whose version of “The Girl From Ipanema” introduced bossa nova to much of the world and is likely one of the most recognized popular hits of all time, has died, according to the Guardian. No cause of death has been reported; she was 83. The daughter of a German father and a Brazilian mother, the singer was born Astrud Evangelina Weinert in Bahia in 1940 and mostly raised in Rio de Janeiro. She married bossa nova pioneer/ singer-guitarist João Gilberto in 1959, and although the marriage lasted only a few years, but she kept his name. In 1963, she joined him on a trip to New York to record the “Getz/Gilberto” album with jazz saxophonist Stan Getz. She ended up singing “Girl From Ipanema” inadvertently: Producer Creed Taylor had wanted to record an English version of the Brazilian song “Garota De Ipanema” and Astrud, whose father taught languages, was the only Brazilian at the session who spoke English. It was the first song she’d ever recorded, but her un-studied, lighthearted take on the song’s unforgettable melody turned it into a monumental international hit, which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won a Grammy for Song Of the Year.

Download festival is right around the corner — with promising weather being predicted for the rock event. Check out the forecast below.This year’s festival — held at the Donington Park in Leicestershire — will see rock and metal heavyweights including Metallica, Slipknot and Ghost take to the stage, as well as Alter Bridge, Bring Me The Horizon, Architects and many more.Those lucky enough to attend this year’s edition, taking place from Thursday June 8 to Sunday June 11, are set to have almost ideal weather waiting for them, as it seems the wellies may not be necessary.See the latest forecast according to BBC Weather below.Thursday, June 8: Cloudy intervals coming up to sunny weather by midday, with temperatures peaking at 18° and lows of 9°Friday, June 9: Sunny all day but with a chance of moderate winds, with temperatures reaching 19° mid-afternoon, and the lowest being around 9°Saturday, June 10: Cloudy intervals with a slight chance of rain for the morning, then a sunny afternoon with highs of 22° and lows of 11°Sunday, June 11: Sunny and clear skies throughout the day, although a slight chance of showers in the early afternoon.

A change of heart. Taylor Swift and Matty Healy have called it quits shortly after their whirlwind romance made headlines, Us Weekly can confirm.

Matty Healy has fans talking!