Band Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Iron Maiden‘s Bruce Dickinson has opened up about the rate at which venues in the UK are closing, sharing its “absolutely shocking”.In a new interview with the Daily Express, the frontman discussed the disappearance of the many small venues including the ones in which he got his start in the 1970s with his first band Samson.“The state of small venues in Britain is absolutely shocking. Once venues go, they’re seldom replaced.

Jordan North left his co-hosts confused on his first day as the new host of Capital FM's breakfast show, as he dashed out of the studio mid-show.The presenter made his debut on Monday morning, joining Sian Welby and Chris Stark, following Roman Kemp's departure.The show was filled with surprises for 34 year old Jordan's first day, including a town crier brought in by Chris, 37, and a choir performing a Tom Jones medley arranged by Sian, 37, after Jordan confessed his love for the singer. But Jordan had a surprise of his own up his sleeve, which involved him leaving the studio and heading to Leicester Square. Chris described the situation as "strange" after Jordan's sudden exit, telling listeners: "It's Chris and Sian here, but we're missing Jordan right now.

Vampire Weekend are playing a special live-streamed show to mark the US total solar eclipse today (April 8) – find out how to watch below.The NYC band will take to the stage at the scenic Moody Amphitheater in Austin, Texas at 12pm CT (6pm BST), with their performance scheduled to run until approximately 2:30pm CT (8:30pm BST).The eclipse – which will be visible across the US, Mexico and Canada – is set to reach totality at 1:36pm CT, resulting in a breathtaking one-to-two minutes of darkness during gig.Fans can tune in to watch the full show live online via the streaming platform Veeps, where you can sign up to claim a free ticket. The performance will also be available to view on-demand, exclusively for Veeps All Access subscribers.A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon lines up perfectly between the Earth and the sun, blocking out the sunlight.

Today is a sad day for Rock N Roll.It is with great sorrow we are letting the world know we have lost our brother: CJ…Posted by FireHouse on Sunday, April 7, 2024Snare’s widow, Katherine Little, shared her own post on Facebook, giving fans a deeper insight into Snare’s health struggles leading up to his death: “In September of 2020, CJ was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. His initial prognosis was grim, but that didn’t stop him.

Anas Sarwar has accused SNP ministers of being "terrible with public money" as Labour tries to win over Scots unhappy at paying more tax while public services struggle.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The last time Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played Los Angeles, back in 2016, it was to formally close down the venerable Sports Arena — “The Dump That Jumps,” as he famously dubbed the about-to-be-demolished venue he’d played so often. His song “Wrecking Ball” had a special resonance, then, in association with that dive that it can’t now: Springsteen’s current home in L.A., the Kia (nee: Fabulous) Forum, which he goes back to the ‘70s with, does jump, but no one’s going to go all Bette Davis and utter “What a dump!” about it in its refurbished state.

A young fan was recently living one of her very own "Glory Days" at the conclusion of a Bruce Springsteen concert. During the March 31 show at Chase Center in San Francisco, an 11-year-old student held up a poster that read, "SKIPPING SCHOOL SIGN MY NOTE?" Springsteen noticed the young fan’s placard and very willingly penned the absence slip to excuse her from school the Monday following Easter Sunday. Springsteen unfolded the notebook paper, grinned and held it up for fans to admire.

C.J. Snare, the lead singer and keyboardist of hard rock band FireHouse, which had two Top 10 singles in the early 1990s, has died at 64.

tribute to Ward on Facebook.“With love and gratitude the Wallflowers say farewell to the great and singular Michael Ward. Michael’s role and talents will forever remain a crucial part of the band’s history. His contributions to music began before his time with the Wallflowers and continued long after his time with the band.

Ant and Dec's Saturday Night takeaway fans took to social media with the same complaint after watching Take That close the show in the latest episode.

ABBA have marked the 50th anniversary of their Eurovision win with ‘Waterloo’ in a new statement today (April 6).50 years ago today, the Swedish icons, made up of Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad, won Eurovision after performing in the final of the competition at the Brighton Dome. In 2005, the track was chosen as the best song in Eurovision’s history as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the contest.In a new statement marking the historic occasion, the band said: “It’s slightly dizzying and deeply humbling to think that millions of you who saw us for the first time in the Eurovision final 1974 have passed our music on not only to one generation, but to several.“We see evidence of that every time one of us visits ABBA Voyage in London and it’s because of this we can celebrate the 50th Anniversary of that event in the knowledge that our songs still resonate around the world.”To further mark the occasion, Andersson has recorded a short piano piece called the ‘Piano Moment’ that will be experienced as if he were at the competition and playing live.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Keith LeBlanc, a drummer, producer and recording artist best known for his work on pioneering early hip-hop records by Grandmaster Flash and others, died Thursday after a battle with an undisclosed illness, his wife Fran LeBlanc confirms to Variety. Later in his career he worked extensively as a producer, session musician — including on Nine Inch Nails’ 1989 debut “Pretty Hate Machine” — and member of the bands Little Axe and Tackhead.

Music icons Pet Shop Boys are to hold an intimate "in conversation" event with fans at an historic Manchester location to celebrate the release of their new album.

Cage The Elephant have dropped a charismatic new single titled ‘Good Time’ – check it out below.Shared today (April 5), the new track marks the latest single to be taken from the Kentucky-bred six-piece’s upcoming album ‘Neon Pill’, which they announced back in February.Musically, the new track sees Matthew Shultz, Brad Shultz, Daniel Tichenor, Jared Champion, Nick Bockrath and Matthan Minster make a nod to their fan favourite mid-2010s classics, with the frontman jumping into the track with the brash opening lines: “I’m the bright lights, I’m the feature/ I’m a spacehead, I’m a creature/ I’m a lover, I’m a fable/ I’m the glutton at your table”.It also sees the members create an eye-catching variety of layers, with cheeky guitar chords being paired with the fuzzy, unconventional keyboard melody.Check out the track below.“‘Good Time’ was one of those rare tracks that captivated me almost instantaneously. The instrumentation hit so hard, with an energy that was so commanding, that it was almost as if I couldn’t have kept myself from writing something to it if I had wanted to,” said the frontman of the new track.“[It’s] very different from anything we had ever written before, and somehow it still felt relatively familiar in contrast to our prior works,” he added.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music A major problem with early success is getting past it — case in point, the cheerful bop of Vampire Weekend’s first two albums and their image as peppy college boys who’d studied Paul Simon’s “Graceland” like a James Joyce masters’ thesis, playing their jaunty global pop to deliriously skanking millennials at seemingly every music festival of the latter aughts. And although that take was understandable — if unfairly reductive — at the time, VW is now a very different band.

It’s April already - wherever did the time go? However, following the clocks changing last weekend, we’re starting to see the days get longer and brighter, filling us with greater hope and enthusiasm for the next few months ahead.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Lucius has signed with Fantasy Records for future album releases, including the first to come down the chute in the deal, an all-new re-recording of the group’s seminal “Wildewoman” album. Set for release May 31, “Wildewoman (The New Recording)” will include 12-13 freshly recorded tracks, including songs with featured appearances by Brandi Carlile, Marcus Mumford and Devon Gilfillian.

Frightened Rabbit have announced that they are working on a documentary and have asked fans to contribute with photos and videos.Taking to their official Instagram account, the band shared a post in which they said they had been approached by filmmaker William Miller in 2017 about making a documentary specifically about their 2008 album ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’, with the plan of releasing something for its 10-year anniversary celebration in 2018.They explained that due to the passing of Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison, almost everything for the documentary had been put “on hold whilst we coped with the loss of Scott and in a lot of ways the end of FR. We never fully gave up on the idea of getting this film made and thankfully neither did the team involved in making it – so this year we picked those conversations back up and are in the process of making this film a reality.”“As with most things we try to do, we want this story to be told from as many perspectives as possible and are keen to create something that feels like it’s from the FR community as much as it is for it,” they continued.

When Majesty Crush first started making music together they used two words to guide them: Covert (cool and quietly curious) and important (impactful and far-reaching). “We wanted our record to be the one that was on the turntable of people just like us,” Odell Nails III, the band’s drummer, says. The Detroit band recently reissued its only studio album, 1993’s Love 15, plus a collection of singles, EPs, and rarities under the title Butterflies Don’t Go Away.

feel complete—but until you have the best men’s jewelry brands in your rotation, are you really dressed? Chains, rings, and bracelets have the power to bring a look together, making your , , and feel a little more lived-in. (Plus, even can be a flex with the right attitude.)While there aren’t quite as many targeted at men as there are for women, you can still find just about anything out there.

A scheme worth one billion pounds is being offered by the UK Government to help more than 300,000 families across Great Britain heat their home for less this year. The Great British Insulation Scheme aims to help low income households save up to £400 on their annual fuel bills through new energy efficiency upgrades.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Chris Smith‘s “Devo” will open the ninth edition of Chicago’s Doc10 documentary film festival on May 2. The film, which premiered at Sundance 2024, charts the life of the art-movement-turned-band Devo from Akron, Ohio, through archival footage of the band and candid sit-down interviews with band members.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Nicholas Galitzine may have told his parents that he has a lot of sex scenes in “Mary & George” with both women and men, but that didn’t keep things from getting awkward when his mom and dad were by his side at the series’ London premiere. “I was kind of in hysterics because there is nothing more uncomfortable than watching your son bed a number of characters even within the first few episodes,” the British actor, 29, tells me during a wide-ranging conversation on this week’s “Just for Variety” podcast.

Mel B has teased an imminent Spice Girls 30th anniversary live reunion as she revealed the girl band's tour demands in her new book.

Things between Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval got INTENSE on this week’s Vanderpump Rules!

Brent Lang Executive Editor Air Supply may be the latest chart-topping musical act to get the big screen treatment. Altit Media Group said it plans to make biopic about the band that will, in a nod to one of the group’s biggest hits, be entitled, “All Out of Love: The Air Supply Story.” The film will be released in summer 2025 to celebrate Air Supply’s 50th anniversary. Filming is set to take place in Australia and the U.K.

In paid partnership with DHL FAST-TRACKDHL have announced that their FAST-TRACK Sessions talent search will return for 2024.The opportunity is open to all artists and bands from across the globe and seeks to support emerging talent by offering access to a professional recording experience and music industry experts.The three winning entrants will receive session time at London’s legendary Abbey Road Studios, where The Beatles and Amy Winehouse, alongside modern icons like Frank Ocean have previously recorded music. During the three-day recording process, they will be joined by studio experts and engineers alongside Hannah V, a Gold-selling record producer and songwriter who has worked alongside Stormzy, Yola and more.A post shared by NME (@nmemagazine)Having previously teamed up with Jax Jones, this year’s DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions mentors are award-winning production trio Meduza.

Ellise Shafer “Joker: Folie à Deux” has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association, it was revealed on Wednesday. The musical sequel to 2019’s “Joker,” starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, has been rated R for “some strong violence, language throughout, some sexuality and brief full nudity,” according to the MPA’s daily ratings bulletin. This is in line with the original “Joker,” which was rated R for “strong bloody violence, disturbing behavior, language and brief sexual images.” Directed by Todd Phillips, “Joker: Folie à Deux” sees Phoenix reprise his role as the title character, with Gaga joining as his twisted lover Harley Quinn.

A.D. Amorosi John Sinclair, the counterculture activist and former MC5 manager who helped define that proto-punk ensemble’s radical politics, died on Tuesday at 82.

Ultravox, has died aged 71.The death of Chris Cross was announced last night (April 1) by lead vocalist Midge Ure. Cross passed away on March 25; no cause of death was given.Ure wrote: “We worked together, we played together, made music and directed videos together. We were instant friends as well as Ultravox comrades.