Travis Scott stops security from kicking out female fan mid-concert


Travis Scott brought his concert in Dallas, Texas to a halt to help a female fan who may have been about to be kicked out from the show.

  • READ MORE: Travis Scott – ‘Utopia’ review: lofty concept, shaky execution 

Fan-filmed footage shows Scott performing onstage when he noticed security causing a commotion near the barricade where the fan had fallen. “One thing you not gonna do, you not gonna kick a fan out,” Scott said from the stage. “You not gonna do that, brother. You’re not gonna do that. You back up. You back up, brother. She’s just enjoying herself. You back the fuck up. Let her just have a good time.”

“That’s a female. You don’t grab a female like that, OK?” he added. The concert resumed after the fan shook hands with security and briefly stood up on the barricade to hype up the crowd. Watch footage of the altercation below.

Scott’s actions come following reports that 60 fans were injured at his August concert in Italy’s Circus Maximus. At least 60 members of the 60,000-strong crowd required medical attention after a concertgoer began using pepper spray on people, leading a campaign to halt all future events at the historic venue.

‘Utopia Tour Presents Circus Maximus’ is Scott’s first tour since the Astroworld tragedy, in which 10 people died and hundreds more were injured following a crowd crush in November 2021. Scott was cleared of any criminal charges for the incident earlier this year in June.

NME gave ‘Utopia’ a three-star review, writing, “in trying to navigate a lofty concept like finding utopia, his ambitions have led him back to someone who was far more formidable at it”.





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Tom Petty’s estate releases several previously unreleased tracks


Tom Petty’s estate has released three previously unheard songs by the artist to commemorate what would have been his 73rd birthday.

The artist died in 2017 at the age of 66, having suffered a cardiac arrest.

The estate has reissued Petty’s 2010 blues album with The Heartbreakers, ‘Mojo’, with two new songs added to it called ‘Help Me’ and ‘Mystery Of Love’. According to Petty, ‘Mojo’ was “where the band lives when it’s playing for itself.”

Meanwhile, the other new song, ‘What’s The Matter With Louise’, was recorded around the same time as the songs from Petty’s 1994 album ‘Wildflowers’. It is now available for streaming on Amazon Music.

Check out ‘Help Me’ and ‘Mystery Of Love’ below:

In addition, the 2021 Mary Wharton-directed documentary Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free has now been added to Amazon Prime for the first time.

Earlier this year, Petty was recognised by the University Of Florida with an honorary Doctor Of Music degree.

The late musician and Florida native is also being celebrated with an endowment to the school’s music program that was announced by his estate. According to Petty’s brother Bruce, this was the rock icon’s life-long dream.

“I don’t think anyone in our family, including him, thought that he would be linked with the University of Florida this way,” shared Bruce Petty in an Instagram post. “It’s such a powerful thing, it was his life-long dream, and I know he would just be over-the-top, crazy happy about it.”

In other news, last year the Petty estate filed a cease and desist letter over republican Kari Lake’s use of ‘I Won’t Back Down’ following her defeat in the US midterm elections.

The late artist’s estate released a statement that said: “The Tom Petty estate and our partners were shocked to find out that Tom’s song ‘I Won’t Back Down’ was stolen and used without permission or a license to promote Kari Lake’s failed campaign.”

 





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Lil Yachty show in Vancouver pulled midway through after crowd invited to rush the mosh pit


A Lil Yachty show in Vancouver was reportedly stopped by security after the rapper invited the crowd to rush the arena floor.

The rapper was playing at the 7,000-capacity Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre last night (October 21), and before he performed ‘Slide’, he invited the concertgoers in the stands to come down into the arena floor and join the mosh pit.

Lil Yachty can be heard telling his fans to “fill it up,” referring to the arena’s main floor in front of the stage, as they came down from higher arena sections.

However, various eyewitnesses have alleged that security pulled the plug on the show when concertgoers refused to leave the pit. In footage of the incident, Lil Yachty could also be heard asking people to return to their seats.

Lil Yachty has not yet commented on the incident. NME has approached his representatives for comment.

Elsewhere, Lil Yachty recently collaborated with Drake on a new song, ‘Another Late Night’, which appears on the latter’s new album ‘For All The Dogs’.

Before the album came out, Lil Yachty said it would see Drake dealing “with some controversial things”.

Earlier this year, the rapper released a new rock album ‘Let’s Start Here’, marking a departure from his usual trap-pop stylings.

‘Let’s Start Here’ features production by Chairlift’s Patrick Wimberly, Unknown Mortal Orchestra bassist Jacob Portrait and synth-pop duo Magdalena Bay. Guest performers include Daniel Caesar, Fousheé, Teezo Touchdown, Justine Skye and Diana Gordon while Mac DeMarco is credited as a writer on two tracks – ‘Drive Me Crazy!’ and ‘Failure’.

The record was inspired by the likes of Tame Impala‘s ‘Currents’, Pink Floyd‘s seminal ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ and Frank Ocean‘s ‘Blonde’.

“To be honest, I’ve always been so much more than just hip-hop,” he said in an interview with Billboard.

He continued: “There’s a lot of kids who haven’t heard any of my references. They don’t know anything about Bon Iver or Pink Floyd or Black Sabbath or James Brown. I wanted to show people a different side of me — and that I can do anything, most importantly.”

 





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Madonna speaks about surviving illness during show in Belgium


Madonna gave a tearful speech about surviving a bacterial infection earlier this year during her ‘Celebration’ show in Belgium last night (October 21).

The legendary artist spent several days in ICU in June, which lead to some of the dates on her 40th anniversary tour being postponed. It was reported that the singer’s relatives were initially “preparing for the worst” when they discovered how unwell she was.

While Madonna had touched on her illness during her recent four-date run at The O2, she spoke about it in more detail last night. Incidentally, she also said she was feeling unwell at the present moment and she had taken to the stage an hour behind schedule.

“Less than four months ago, I was in the hospital and I was unconscious and people were thinking, predicting that I might not make it,” she said. “It’s a fucking miracle that I’m here right now. My mother, god bless her, she must be watching over me, she said, ‘Girl, it’s not your time to go.”

“I had this strange thought,” she continued. “I suddenly had sympathy for my mother, not about the dying part but how lonely she must have felt being in hospital, knowing that she wasn’t going to live. And I was given another chance, so I’m very grateful for that. I must tell you that I don’t feel very well right now, but I can’t complain, because I’m alive. Thank god for my children and all of your love and support.”

Madonna’s mother died from breast cancer when the singer was only five years old.

Elsewhere during her residency at The O2, Madonna addressed the current Israel-Hamas conflict, expressing her exasperation at how human beings are capable of “being so cruel to one another”.

The artist urged the crowd to “remember we are human beings here” because “we cannot lose our humanity” and to make a difference by bringing “light into the world”.

She is due to return to The O2 for two more shows on her ‘Celebration’ tour in December.





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Ozzy Osbourne offered to recruit a backing band for Rick Astley


Rick Astley has claimed that Ozzy Osbourne once attempted to recruit a backing band for him.

The ‘80s star told Classic Rock magazine that the former Black Sabbath singer was chatting to him during the height of his success, and made the impromptu offer.

“He said, ‘Are you over here playing?’, and I said, ‘No, we’re just doing promo,’” Astley recalled. “And then went, ‘If you want to put a band together, let me know. I’ve worked with all the greats.’ And I knew he had – he’d worked with some of the best guitar players on that planet.”

Rick Astley performs on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival 2023 (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Osbourne’s wife Sharon was sitting nearby at the time, and according to Astley, she quickly intervened. “Sharon just leaned over and said, ‘Will you shut up, he doesn’t want to play with your long-haired, tattooed fucking monsters’,” Astley said.

“I was gobsmacked. The fact that he recognised me for one thing, but also because he thought he could put together the appropriate band for me to go out and play ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ with. But what a lovely man for doing it.”

In recent years, Astley has developed a habit of immersing himself into rock and indie culture. He has struck up an unlikely ongoing friendship with Dave Grohl, and has appeared on stage with Foo Fighters a number of times, including at Japan’s Summer Sonic festival in 2017 and at Club NME’s event at London’s Moth Club in 2019.

More recently, Astley has made headlines by playing shows with Blossoms, playing entire sets of Smiths covers. The first time they did this was at London’s O2 Kentish Town Forum in 2021, playing ‘Panic’ and ‘This Charming Man’, before playing full shows in London and Manchester, and re-convening at this year’s Glastonbury for a crowd-pleasing secret set.

“I can’t tell you how much I love doing this,” Astley told NME. “I know it’s sacrilege and they should hang the lot of us on the line for doing it, but I also just don’t care.”

In September, Astley settled a months-long lawsuit with American rapper Yung Gravy over the use of his song ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ in Gravy’s 2022 single ‘Betty (Get Money)’. Astley had sued on the grounds of his vocals being imitated on the song without authorisation.

Last week (October 13), Astley released his ninth studio album, ‘Are We There Yet?’, reaching number two in the UK Albums Chart on its first week.





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Kelly Clarkson denies Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce relationship diss


Kelly Clarkson has clarified she did not “bash” Taylor Swift‘s new relationship with NFL player Travis Kelce.

The singer and host of The Kelly Clarkson Show received criticism for her recent comments on her talk show. During a conversation on October 19 with her guest, SNL cast member Bowen Yang, Clarkson joked about Swift’s romance with Kelce.

“It’s not hilarious how it is literally taking over the NFL for people that like watching sports now,” she said to Yang. “It’s like you’re watching Housewives while you’re watching.” She added: “They’re just talking about gossip things and you’re like, ‘So, what about the play?’”

Yesterday (October 21), the singer posted to Instagram to clear up any rumours of a diss. “Just a quick public service announcement everybody since this seems to be breaking news…” Clarkson began. “Do not fall prey to clickbait, trash reporters twisting the facts again. I did not bash anyone’s romance. I am pro romance. Yay romance.”

She continued, “Did y’all even watch what I actually said on my show? I just said I want to watch football when I tune in to watch football. Seems an appropriate request. Okay, carry on, and GO COWBOYS!”

Clarkson’s talk show was recently hit with allegations of being a “toxic” workplace; staffers have stressed Clarkson herself “is fantastic”. The singer responded to the reports with a social media post: “I love my team at The Kelly Clarkson Show, and to find out that anyone is feeling unheard and or disrespected on this show is unacceptable.”

Meanwhile, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce recently turned heads by making a surprise apperance on SNL last week. Kelce appeared in an NFL sketch that similarly joked about their relationship taking over sports panels, whilst Swift introduced musical guest Ice Spice.





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YouTube developing AI tool allowing the use of famous musicians’ voices


YouTube is working on a new AI tool that would allow users to create videos that use the voices of well-known musicians.

  • READ MORE: In the age of AI Oasis, there’s no point being ordinary

Billboard reported that the company is currently in talks with record labels to negotiate permission for the use of artists’ intellectual property.

If it goes ahead, the beta version of the tool would allow a “select group of creators” to use the voices of the artists that agree to participate to create new video content on the platform.

However, it is reported that conversations between YouTube and record labels are taking longer than expected. YouTube had intended to unveil the tool at their ‘Made on YouTube’ event in September, but that did not happen.

The logo of YouTube can be seen on the screen of a computer. Photo: Silas Stein/dpa (Photo by Silas Stein/Getty Images)

Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group are some of the major labels that are currently in talks over voice rights for the beta version, although it is expected that any wider launch of the tool would require a new set of legal agreements.

UMG CEO Lucian Grainge has said that the new technology could “amplify human imagination and enrich musical creativity in extraordinary new ways.”

Robert Kyncl, the CEO of Warner Music Group said, “You have to embrace the technology, because it’s not like you can put technology in a bottle.”

It is thought that many major artists are resistant to allowing their voices to be used, and Billboard reports that there remain questions about how artists would be paid for the new content that the tool would create.

This week (October 18), music publishers including Universal Music Group Publishing, Concord Music Group and ABKCO sued an Amazon-backed AI company over alleged copyright infringement. Anthropic recently secured roughly $4 billion (£3.29 billion) in investment from Amazon, but the publishers are seeking potentially millions of dollars in damages.

The role of AI in creating music is highly contentious among artists and music fans. Earlier this year, Grimes gave permission for fans to use her voice in their own music with the help of AI, provided they share the royalties with her, while Liam Gallagher recently praised an AI version of a ‘lost’ Oasis album as “mega”.

Nick Cave, however, described it as a “grotesque mockery of what it is to be human” and told platforms such as ChatGPT to “fuck off and leave songwriting alone”. Ed Sheeran and Sting are others that have spoken out against the perceived threat of AI.





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Guns N’Roses’ Duff McKagan on whether rock has a future


Duff McKagan has shared his hopes for there being a guitar band one day that has the same impact as Guns N’Roses.

In a new interview with Classic Rock, the bassist addresses the subject of rock’n’roll’s future and he reveals his view of things remains optimistic.

“Man, I hope so,” he said. “I see these young people coming out to Guns show, and I’m, like, ‘Man, it’s cool you’re coming to see us, but there should be a band that’s 21 or 22 that you’re fucking losing your shit to.’ I don’t know if it’ll be the same, but I fucking hope so.”

Elsewhere in the same interview, he goes into detail about his longstanding musical relationship with Iggy Pop. McKagan appeared on both the 1990 album ‘Brick By Brick’ and his most recent record, ‘Every Loser’. In return, Pop guested no his new solo album, ‘Lighthouse’.

“To me, there’s Prince and there’s Lemmy and there’s Iggy,” McKagan said. “And Iggy is a deity to me – it’s hard for me to have a regular relationship with him, because he’s been a hero of mine since I was 12 or 13 years old and I discovered The Stooges.

Axl Rose and Duff McKagan performing live with Guns N’ Roses. Credit: Gary Miller/Getty Images.

“Back when I played on a record with him in the early 1990s, I was drinking. I was a little bit more, ‘Yeah, man, fuck yeah!’ But doing that last record with him now, and playing those shows with him [in April 2023], he’s such a hard worker. He’s kind of like James Brown in how he runs a band.

He continued: “He had a band, which was me and [Red Hot Chili peppers drummer] Chad Smith and Jamie [Hince, guitarist] from The Kills and [guitarist/producer] Andrew Watt. We’re professionals, y’know. But he’ll call Chad “drummer”. He has notes on every song and he’ll go, ‘OK guys, gather round. Drummer! Can you hit that on the upbeat?’

“He did ask one of the other guys if he smoked. ‘Maybe you should have a cigarette on that song.’ I was thinking, ‘I really hope I don’t get asked to smoke a cigarette on that song.

“But he really is very good at running a band, and he’s very appreciative of musicians. And my two daughters both fucking love him. They came to one of the shows, and I see him over in the corner enraptured in a conversation with them, just going for it. He’s an all-round nice guy.”





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“She became my best, best friend”


James Blunt has shed light on his experience living with the late Carrie Fisher in LA.

The singer moved in with the Star Wars actress in 2003 when he went to LA to further his career and happened to meet her when he was dating a girl whose family were friends of hers.

“I was invited to the restaurant 192 in Notting Hill. I was going out with a girl whose parents were family friends of Carrie’s and I sat beside her at lunch,” he told The Guardian. “I had just got a record deal and was moving to LA. Carrie’s first question was: ‘What do you do?’ I said: ‘I’ve left the army to go to make an album in LA.’ Question number two was: ‘Where are you going to live?’ I said I didn’t know. Her reply – the third thing she ever said to me – was: ‘Well, you’re going to live with me.’ So I did just that.

He continued: “For the first month, I didn’t see her. I’d get up and her mother, Debbie Reynolds, would shout: ‘Hey Charlie – you wanna drink?’ and I’d say: ‘No, I’m James, thanks very much,” then head to the studio. A month later, I started to see Carrie more. I came home one night and sat on the end of her bed and we talked until morning. After that, whenever I got back from the studio I’d go into her room to talk, no matter if it was 11pm or 3am. She became my best, best friend.”

Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in ‘Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope’

Blunt explained that a song on his new album, ‘Dark Thought’ describes the moment he returned to that house after Fisher’s death. She passed away in December 2016 at the age of 60.

“I put my hand on her gate and started crying. Moments after, one of the open-top Star Map vans that drive tourists around LA turned up,” he said. “Over the PA, the guide said: “On your left, you’ll find the late, great Carrie Fisher’s house … As you can see, some fans are still deeply moved by her passing.” That was me. I wanted to tell them to fuck off, but eventually found it funny.”

Meanwhile, it was revealed last year that Blunt’s 2004 LP ‘Back To Bedlam’ was the second best-selling album of all time, following Meat Loaf‘s ‘Bat Out Of Hell’.

 





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Caroline Polachek has released merch to raise money for Palestinian refugees


Caroline Polachek has released a line of limited-edition merch to raise money for Palestinian refugees.

The merchandise is available for a week and is inspired by her new single ‘Dang’, which was released earlier this week.

Polachek performed the track for the first time on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in the style of a surreal Ted Talk, using a bewildering PowerPoint performance to set the tone. The merch designs are inspired by the slides from the PowerPoint she used – one t-shirt reads “Disappointing people is/are my central trauma”, one asks “How many wolves are inside you?” and the other features a bizarre-looking animal head sculpture with a miniscule ‘2077’ inscribed on it.

All of the proceeds will be donated to the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees.

Polachek isn’t the only big name from the entertainment world to respond to the current Israel-Hamas conflict.

Earlier this week, over 2000 figures from the entertainment world, including Tilda Swinton, Steve Coogan and Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja, signed an open letter calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The letter condemns various governments for “not only tolerating war crimes but aiding and abetting them” amid the current conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, as well as “every act of violence against civilians and every infringement of international law whoever perpetrates them”.

Madonna gave an extended speech about the conflict in a recent show at The O2, in which she urged the crowd to “remember we are human beings here” because “we cannot lose our humanity” and to make a difference by bringing “light into the world”.

Hamas’ terror attacks on October 7, which included massacres at the Be’eri kibbutz and Kfar Aza kibbutz in Israel, was met with a deadly retaliatory response by Israel’s national military, the IDF, largely with missile attacks.

A reported 260 attendees at Supernova Sukkot Gathering, a music festival that was held a few miles from Gaza in Israel, were killed in an early morning attack by Hamas militants. The organisers of the festival have since released their first statement over the “unspeakable tragedy”.

Currently, the Palestinian Health Ministry says the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 4,000 since October 7, and over 13,000 people have been injured there. That includes around 500 people who lost their lives in a hospital bombing on Tuesday (October 17).





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