Latest news with #Blur
Extra.ie
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
As Fleetwood Mac tease potential reunion, which bands would we love to see follow suit?
It's the year of the reunion, apparently — as Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks have teased a potential reassembly of the band. Lindsey and Stevie, who were bandmates and a couple before their sensational breakup (and the incredible album that coincided with it), shared a cryptic Instagram post from their respective Instagrams that were lyrics to their joint song Frozen Love, which featured on their sole album as a duo, Buckingham Nicks. The rumour mill has since spun into overdrive, and with Oasis going on their sell out reunion tour 16 years after Noel and Liam's fistfight that caused the elder Gallagher to quit, fans are clamouring for reunions; but who else could reunite in the near future? Could it really happen again after Stevie and Lyndsey's cryptic Instagram post? Pic:We might as well start with the most likely one, as there is actually far more to the story than a cryptic Instagram post. Fleetwood Mac have broken up and reunited more times than most could remember, with the final 'breakup' coming in tragic circumstances, following the passing of Christine McVie in 2022. While Mick Fleetwood said that the band was done and Stevie Nicks said she saw no reason to continue the band following Christine's death, Mick's stance changed back in September, when he said he'd be up to re-assemble the band. And with Stevie and Lyndsey's post on Instagram appearing to hint at something , fans of the rock band are waiting with baited breath to see what comes next. Of course, Blur were involved in the Battle of Britpop with Oasis; but with Oasis kicking off their own reunion tour earlier this year, surely Blur may return after their final gig last year. Pic: Avalon/Getty Images Listen, if it's good enough for Oasis, then why not Blur? The Britpop band were set to go on their second hiatus in 2023, before being offered to play Coachella in 2024; something that drew media attention after frontman Damon Albarn's frustrations at the crowd's lack of interaction during Girls & Boys. During their second weekend performance, Damon Albarn admitted that this may be the last time the band perform together, and true to his word they haven't played since. But come on, lads, what do you say: Battle of Britpop 2? Destiny's Child last performed in 2018, with fans hoping for a comeback in some way since. Larry W Smith/EPA/REX/Shutterstock Again, Destiny's Child have technically reunited already — albeit once, during Beyoncé's headline set at Coachella in 2018. But surely a reunion tour/album isn't totally outside the realm of possibility? The final line-up of the 90s pop group was Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams — all of whom have had stellar solo careers in their own rights. The trio performed their farewell performance at the 2006 NBA All-Star Game in February, 2006 but have collaborated a number of times since. With a number of collabs and cameos in music videos, Beyoncé has said that she's up for a reunion with Kelly and Michelle; but with her Cowboy Carter tour still ongoing, we might have to wait a little while longer before the trio reunite. Outkast haven't played together since 2014, and haven't released an album since 2006. Pic:Fans have been waiting patiently for the Atlanta rap duo of André 3000 and Big Boi to finally put out a new album after 2006's Idlewild, but so far we've had nothing. Both rappers have put out solo efforts, with André's New Blue Sun taking a hard left turn as a flute album rather than a rap album. And while the pair did reunite for a 2014 string of shows, that's been it. But with a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction happening this year, could a reunion be on the cards in any capacity?
Daily Mirror
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Bob Vylan slams 'out of touch' Blur's Damon Albarn after 'misfire' Glastonbury swipe
Rap-punk duo Bob Vylan responded to 'out of touch' Blur legend Damon Albarn after he called their Glastonbury set a 'spectacular misfire' Bob Vylan hit out at 'out of touch' Blur star, Damon Albarn, who called the rap-punk duo's Glastonbury Set a 'spectacular misfire'. The duo have been subject of a criminal investigation, had shows cancelled and their US visas revoked over their chant, "Death, death to the IDF." While the duo received criticism from some, they also gained hundreds of thousands of followers on social media following their decision to speak up. Currently, it's estimated that over 58,000 Palestinians have been killed, with reports saying that hundreds have been killed by Israeli forces while waiting for aid. The duo have also climbed the charts following their Glastonbury performance, with social media users saying they 'resonate' with the duo. Following their Glastonbury performance, Blur's Damon shared his thoughts on the controversy and told The Times: "It was one of the most spectacular misfires I've seen in my life. "Especially when he started to goose-step in tennis gear. I mean, I've had my moments — not quite as catastrophic as that, but you do get carried away. The old testosterone gets you going. But it's unfortunate. Everyone's just so hysterical.' Bob Vylan issued a quick response to the scathing remarks as he slammed the 'out of touch 90s musician'. The group posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: "A little help for any other out-of-touch 90s musician asked about Bob Vylan at Glastonbury. "Your response should probably resemble something to the effect of: 'Over 58k Palestinians killed since Oct 7th 2023. Over 700 killed while attempting to get aid… "Over 1400 medical workers killed since Oct 7th. Genocide is being live-streamed for all to see, and the UK is not simply allowing it to continue but facilitating it, along with the United States. Why are we talking about a punk band? End." Damon also discussed his passion project, multinational collective Africa Express, during the same interview and said: "Part of the huge issue of Palestine is the way that their identity is being eroded so brutally'. 'Africa Express could go into Palestine. It's not about politics, it's about culture. And so I would also want to go to Israel and bring people together. If I was asked to go to Russia, I would go. I'd go to Ukraine too," he said. Bob Vylan performed multiple sell-out shows following their Glastonbury set, including one at The 100 Club this month. However, they were forced to stop fans chanting "death, death to the IDF" in the crowd. Frontman Bobby Vylan pointed at those chanting the phrase, and told them: "No no no no no, you're gonna get me in trouble. Apparently, every other chant is fine, but you lot will get me in trouble.' He soon led the crowd in a chant of 'Free, free Palestine'.
The Irish Sun
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Bottle-feeding lambs, poitin at TOTP & punching megastar – iconic Irish 80s acts reveal incredible secrets of golden era
A TOUR manager for Irish rockers The Stunning gave one of megastars Blur 'a dig' — after mistaking him for a drunken music fan. The Brewing Up A Storm band were making serious inroads in the Advertisement 5 The Stunning's Steve Wall revealed how the shock incident happened Credit: Redferns 5 Blur supported The Stunning at a raucous London gig. Credit: Getty 5 The Hothouse Flowers feature on episode 4 of the Irish Sun's Fields of Dreams podcast Credit: Getty Singer 'Derek, the guitarist at the time, had a tendency to play in his bare feet. One of these b*****ds broke a glass on purpose in front of Derek's guitar pedals so he couldn't get to it — and they were really p***ing us off. 'After the 'What he was trying to do? I don't know. Maybe he just thought like, 'I'll go in and say hello to the lads, I'm from Mayo', or wherever. Advertisement Read more on Field Of Dreams Listen to Fields Of Dreams on 'So we had this tour manager, a big strapping fella from Co 'He grabbed your man and he basically rammed him up against the door, threw him out — got the bouncers to kick him out." So far so good, then. He added: 'So we were towelling down. And then this other guy came in the door and it was Graham Coxon from Blur. I mean, we didn't know that at the time. And he was coming in because he thought he'd left something behind in the dressing room. Advertisement Most read in The Irish Sun Breaking Breaking 'Tony grabbed him and rammed him up against the wall. And he said, 'I thought I told you to f*** off!' I think he gave him a dig.' Steve added: 'I never got to meet him again after that, but I always wanted to apologise.' Róisín O says Vogue Williams 'fan-girled' over her mam Mary Black Episode 4 of the Fields of Dreams podcast examines the astonishing quality of the scene nationally in the 1980s and '90s which resulted in many Irish bands — including Founder member Fiachna O'Braonain recalls a shock visit from Irish broadcasting royalty while over in London and about to head out and perform on legendary Advertisement He said: 'We get a call from security. They say, 'There's a guy here, he says he's come to see you. He's from Connemara, and he's come all the way over to see you guys, and his name is Sean Ban Breathnach'.' The POITIN IN HAND Fiachna added: 'F***ing SBB is here! So we go, 'Yes, let him in'. SBB arrives in… he had a bottle of poitin with him.' The Fields of Dreams podcast also hears hilarious stories from Sharon Shannon, the accordion star who was propelled into fame with Advertisement Just before her debut album became the biggest selling trad album in Irish history, she toured with the Whole Of The Moon hitmakers for 18 months. Mike Scott decided they needed to tour on a massive bus, which they took to the Shannon farm in the west of Ireland one day. BIG HOOLEY She said: 'I don't know how it even fitted on the road. The road to our house where I grew up is a tiny little road with grass in the middle of it. I don't even know if my parents were expecting us. 'And this huge, big, luxurious bus comes in, drives into the driveway of the old farmhouse at Advertisement 'My mother was putting dinners in front of them. And if they were staying for any length, any long period of time, the bottle of whiskey would be out as well. 'So we had a mighty big hooley, a big session. FEEDING THE LAMB 'And I remember Noel Bridgman, the drummer in the band, had a pet lamb, one of our pet lambs in his lap, and he was feeding the lamb with the bottle of milk. 'I can't get over that. Advertisement 'Real cool, you know, the leather trousers and the beautiful long hair and Steve with the feathers in his hat and all this — and all of them here in the middle of this old country farmhouse having a drink of whiskey and having a big session and feeding the lamb.' This episode also focuses on the charity single craze which began with 5 Hothouse Flowers star Fiachna O'Braonain got a shock visit from from Irish broadcasting royalty while over in London Credit: Redferns The 14-hour gig in Advertisement However, the event was criticised before it even began. Some saw it as doing the work of government, and the fury levelled at its main players left lasting marks on some. These include Paul Doran, who co-wrote the song Make It Work — derided as 'Make it Worse' by some folk at the time — with Christy Moore. Make It Work topped the charts in May 1986. For Doran, the instant fame, his struggles to deal with the attention and the criticism, and then failure to capitalise on what was a good song left a bitter aftertaste. Advertisement 'A BIT OF A SHOCK' He revealed: 'I became very, very well known almost overnight, you know. 'And then to have people kind of criticizing this event that you're associated with and best known for, it was all a bit of a shock to the system really. 'I guess I didn't really know how to handle it. 'So yeah, my thoughts have changed over the years. There are times when I cursed it and thought, 'God, you know that's the only thing I'm known for'. Advertisement 'Tony grabbed him and rammed him up against the wall. And he said, 'I thought I told you to fk off!' I think he gave him a dig.' Steve Wall 'It's a kind of a weight around my neck, you know — it's that kind of thing. 'I didn't capitalise on it at all.' REGRETS Paul continued: 'I regretted that at times, especially when I was on hard times in my life, and I was broke, and you know what I mean, I would say, oh, why didn't you do that?' That followed 1985's Show Some Concern, by a 'supergroup' called The Concerned. Advertisement Mike Hanrahan from Stockton's Wing was among those who joined forces for the single that topped the charts. However, he admitted: 'If I'm been really honest about it, I think it's more of getting your face in the video, you know? 'PUBLICITY FEST' 'Those things… that was a publicity fest for artists. 'Maybe I'm a bit cynical — but what's wrong with that?' Singing superstar Mary Black also lifts the lid on the time Christy Moore kind of gatecrashed her wedding. Advertisement The Field of Dreams podcast harks back to the time when she was starting to make waves as a solo singer in 1980. It was when the She said: 'I got married on March 6, 1980, and the wedding had to be stopped. 'Because it was being aired at half 9 that night, and we all squeezed into this room. Advertisement 'We were down in the Clarence Hotel in Dublin, having a knees-up wedding, and everything had to stop so they could see Mary on television singing on the Christy Moore show.' EPISODE four of Fields of Dreams is out now on 5 The Waterboys star Mike Scott insisted they needed to tour on a massive bus Credit: Redferns
The Guardian
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘I threw it in the bin with everything else he gave me': the mix tapes that defined our lives
At 18 my go-to albums were Dog Man Star, His 'n' Hers and a mix tape called Really, Basically, In a Sort of a Way, Volume 1. Named after the mutterings of a particularly long-winded lecturer, it was the first of many TDK D60s – always the same brand! – from my mate Pat. We had met at our university's registration day a few weeks earlier and would be friends for more than 20 years until his death in 2018. By then he'd not only been on staff at the NME – teenage Pat's dream job – but also written a book about its history. Side A of the tape (entitled 'Barry Manilow Live!') has bands we'd bonded over, such as Kenickie and These Animal Men, two of our first London gigs together. Blur's Popscene is included because we were sweaty regulars at the club night of that name at LA2 in Charing Cross Road. The other one ('David Hasselhoff B-sides') includes Gallon Drunk, the Byrds and Stereolab, all a bit more mature, all nudges into new directions. Everything on the inlay card is in caps and even Pat's handwriting was cool. I hero-worshipped him well beyond our university years and he shaped my taste in films and fashion as much as music. When we were young he could be brutally, hilariously scathing about bands he despised; later, that energy would be spent more on championing than dissing. It's years since I owned a cassette player but, looking at the tape now, I'd forgotten it ends with a 'secret bonus track!' I'm guessing it's a shared guilty pleasure (Carter USM?) and can't wait to find out. It'll be another joke from not just a cool and funny friend but an all-round unfaltering one. Chris Wiegand Nobody had ever made me a mix tape (or a CD playlist as it would have more likely been, since I grew up in the 00s) until my 19th birthday, and even then it wasn't a proper one. Having failed to track down a blank CD in Madrid, where we were both working as au pairs, a girl from Colorado I wasn't exactly dating but who was definitely more than just a friend wrote me a list of songs on a page pulled out of a notepad. I remember reading it for the first time, with its loopy handwriting, doodles, and songs chosen just for me, and thinking it was the most romantic thing in the world. Like most 19-year-olds, I was confused and anxious about so many things, but she brought so much kindness and fun into my life. We were the same age, and I can't imagine that she had everything figured out herself, but she seemed to know more than me about most things, music included, and it was exciting to take a step into her world. I must have lost the scrap of paper at some point over the last decade, and now I can't recall a single song that was on there. I wish I did, and I wish I had a way of contacting that girl from Colorado – I still owe her a 'mix tape' in return. Lucy Knight I find it easily in a bag in the attic – it has a sticker of a cat smoking a spliff, cut around the spools: a remnant of the 90s ska band Hepcat. The one mix tape I would never bin. Chris gave it to me in late 1999. He was 17 and playing gigs at venues like the Astoria. I was 16 and couldn't go to most of the gigs at venues like the Astoria because it was a school night. It's not what you'd call your classic heart-on-sleeve emo mix. It's full of hardcore and punk anthems by bands such as Operation Ivy, Madball, Good Riddance and, randomly, multiple tracks by New Bomb Turks (he must have just bought their album at Tower Records in Piccadilly Circus, where he, then later we, would go on pilgrimages to find all the newest albums). There are also, seemingly, no songs on side B. I re-listen to the tape now on my grandpa's old cassette deck, and have to endure almost 45 minutes of static to get back to the start – I simply cannot risk pressing fast forward in case the whole precious thing gets chewed up. Then, all of a sudden, the radio-recorded dolphin tones of Mariah Carey emerge from the static singing Heartbreaker, a track he knew I loved more than any punk, then cuts off before Jay-Z's verse. Worth the 43 minutes of white noise, truly. But the start of side A, the pièce de résistance – and surely the real reason he wanted me to have the tape – was so I could hear his own band. Two tunes, recorded live with laughably terrible sound levels but faultless drumming by Chris. Two tunes my teenage self listened to over and over. Twenty-five years on, this is the only version of those songs that remains. I absolutely love that they are unShazamable, that they exist solely on this crinkly tape that is one listen away from ruination. I still love those tunes – just as I love his new band. Our two children do, too. Kate Abbott We didn't call them mix tapes back in the day. Well, I didn't. Wasn't cool enough. They were just tapes with songs on. The first life-changing one was sent to me by a friend Steve and it was just the most brilliant mix of all the punk songs I didn't know – the Damned, the Buzzcocks, the Ramones, the Pistols, of course, and best of all the Vibrators with Baby Baby. It was – and is – amazing. Lush, romantic, as much full of yearning as feedback, and super loud. Imagine Phil Spector turned punk and you've got Baby Baby. It didn't make me a punk (still too uncool), but it did make me want to dye my hair black (pointless, as it already was), spike it up with sugar, and stick a red arrow through my ear. Which I did a bit later. The last mix tape I made, in December 2023, was very much a modern mix tape. Improvised on the night, and on YouTube. Mum was dying and I spent the night by her bedside with my laptop. I just played song after song that I loved for her, unsure whether she could hear. I introduced them, like a DJ. 'And this is Tom Waits's version of Somewhere for you Marje because it's exceptionally beautiful and I love you.' 'And here's a little number from Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville Don't Know Much,which makes me cry and think of you because I love you.' 'And here's Leonard Cohen at his most melodic singing Dance Me to the End of Love, and I've chosen this because, erm, I love you.' 'Now for something a little different, Late for the Sky by Jackson Browne, which I've chosen for you because I love you, even if its meaning is a bit more complicated.' The songs kept coming through the night and I played them really loud. 'And of course the night would be incomplete without Stevie Wonder's As. This one's for you Mum because yes, you've guessed it, I love you.' Each one was a love song and in their own way about immortality. I didn't know it at the time. And I didn't know what was coming next. I was just somehow reaching for the right songs, in a state almost as altered as Mum's. I like to think she heard them. But even if she didn't, she knew how much I loved her. She died early the next morning. Simon Hattenstone Back in the late 90s, whenever melodic noise-rockers Idlewild would tour, my sister and I would go. We had spent hours engaged in classic sibling bonding: listening to guitar squall while I prevented the mosh pit from stamping on my little sister's head. Yes, her taste often tended more towards the likes of Steps, but for some reason we both loved this band's scuzzy pop, and one day, she made me a tape of one of their live gigs. I was extremely excited. I saved it for a long bus journey, popped it into my Walkman, fired it up and sunk into angular, dissonance-strewn indie. It was absolute joy. There were new songs! Ferociously taut renditions of the classics! And … the random intrusion of Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer. Confusion reigned as I suddenly found myself listening to a Christian rock troupe's schmaltzy ode to smooching – until it abruptly segued back to the gig. And then back to Kiss Me. And then back to the gig. Five minutes later, a blisteringly distorted riff mutated into an advert for a local car dealership. At which point I realised something: my sister had decided to check out a poppier radio station halfway through recording – and inadvertently created the world's worst Idlewild remix tape. My sister has since died. I'll never be able to drag her out of a mosh pit again, or hear her attempt at a silly impression of the vocal tics of Idlewild frontman Roddy Woomble. But I'll always have that tape. It might have been intended as a killer Idlewild live recording, but it's ended up something much more precious: a testament to her glorious daftness. Best mix tape ever. Alexi Duggins I was given this mix tape in early 2004, at the outset of a relationship that lasted for almost a decade. It lives on a shelf in my living room with a few other cassettes, displayed for aesthetic reasons, since I no longer have a tape deck to play them on. Looking at it now, it seems like a vivid portrait of my ex and his then passions, from the picture of James Dean rolling his eyes on the handmade cover to the scratchy and abrasive music on the tape itself, from Her Jazz by Huggy Bear to Gutless by Hole, deep cuts like Other Animals are #1 by Erase Errata alongside classics like Patti Smith's Redondo Beach. More than half the tracks are by female or female-fronted acts; my ex was brought up by his mum and most of his friends were women. He once told me that men had been responsible for all the negative experiences in his life (I suspect that our relationship has now been added to this list). Looking at the track listing I'm reminded of his great taste, noting the appearance of Maps by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, then pretty recent but now a romantic classic. We had our ups and downs, to put it mildly, but I'm glad I have this memento of our early tenderness and intimacy. Alex Needham I am very slightly too young for the golden era of mix tapes – open my first Walkman and you would have only found storybooks on tape – but I am exactly the right age to be part of the micro-generation of teens that burned CDs (or MiniDiscs) of stolen MP3s from LimeWire for our friends and crushes. There were two enormous problems with this method of sharing songs: one, the file compression made everything sound unlistenably terrible, and two, what you thought you were illegally downloading from LimeWire was very often not what you were actually downloading from LimeWire. I discovered this when my best friend made me a mix of what she thought were songs by my favourite German metal band, Rammstein. In fact it was a CD full of entirely random European songs that someone on LimeWire had egregiously mislabeled, including a Dutch version of Aqua's Barbie Girl, all with that spangly sound that was unique to low-quality MP3 mixes of the era. We laughed about this for years, but fun fact, that mix CD was how I discovered Finnish metal (and Megaherz, the most early-00s German metal band to exist). Keza MacDonald The Beatles' I Want to Hold Your Hand. Weezer's Holiday. The Cribs' The Lights Went Out. These are some of the songs that my first boyfriend chose to burn on to a CD for me. It was summer 2006. I had found my true tribe outside of school, most nights (and early mornings) were spent in fields, my last year of sixth form was nigh and I had finally fallen in love. I fell hard. I could not believe – or handle! – feeling that way about somebody. Music was starting to properly soundtrack my life for the first time: club nights and indie gigs, soaking up the albums my new mates played and making plans for Leeds Festival. My ex opened my world to some great music I wouldn't know without him. I thought that CD was so cool and romantic. ('He wants to hold my hand!') The short version of this tragic love story: the relationship soured and it ended by winter. It would take me at least a couple of years to get over it. At some point, I threw the CD in the bin along with everything else he had given me – too young, inexperienced and cried out to know I might quite want to see these items again one day. But every time I hear those songs play – and I do regularly seek them out – I'm comforted by a rose-tinted wave of nostalgia. They take me back to a time when life was just really starting – way more highs and heartbreak ahead. I'm glad I'll always have the music to take with me. Hollie Richardson Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
ITV News
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- ITV News
Kasabian frontman 'Serge' presented honorary degree from University of Leicester
Watch Serge's speech in full as he is presented with his honorary degree. Kasabian singer, songwriter and record producer, Sergio 'Serge' Pizzorno has receive an honorary degree from the University of Leicester. The 45-year-old co-founder of the Leicestershire indie rock outfit has racked up seven UK number one albums. Serge took to the stage at De Montfort Hall, on Wednesday 16 July, to accept his honorary Doctorate of Music at one of the University's summer graduation ceremonies. Speaking on the stage as he received his degree, Serge said: 'I'd like to give a huge thank you to the university for this incredible honour, and all of you graduating today, nice one, let's have a round of applause for you all.'Here you are gloriously robed, cap on head and brilliant. Also, a shout out to the lecturers, professors and academic wizards who guided you, to the parents and friends and families who sent you beer money thinking it was for text books. 'This is your life, not mine, your path will be beautifully different. Change is growth, it isn't failure, it means you're alive, you're learning, you're paying attention – never be afraid to change your course.'Embrace the scary stuff, because that's where the magic lives.'You are capable of more than you think, you won't find that by staying in your comfort zone. Also, play. Play with ideas, play with failure, play like it matters and sometimes play like it doesn't. The outcomes will arrive, the joy is in the process and that's where the real gold is.'Dedicate. When you find something you love, pursue it with everything you've got. There's no deadline on discovery, embrace that chaos.' Kasabian's accolades puts them on a par with the likes of Blur, Muse, The Prodigy, Paul McCartney, Barbra Streisand, Elton John and Ed Sheeran. Kasabian's members met while attending Leysland High School and Countesthorpe Community College, both in the village of Countesthorpe, south of has been with the band since 1997 with notable highlights including a 2014 Glastonbury headline spot and three appearances at Victoria Park, next to the University campus – one of which was to celebrate Leicester City FC's Premier League title in 2016. In 2010, Serge composed the music for the movie London Boulevard, starring Colin Farrell, Ray Winstone and Keira Knightley. In 2011, he joined forces with friend Noel Fielding to create music for his new E4 sketch show Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy. They formed a project called Loose Tapestries. Together, they also wrote the music for the second series of the show, which aired in 2014. Serge is also listed as an executive producer on the film Walk Like a Panther (2018). In 2019, he released his first solo album, THE Nishan Canagarajah, university president and vice-chancellor, said: 'This homegrown talent has not only delivered his iconic brand of music to vast audiences worldwide but here too in Victoria Park – helping Leicester celebrate huge moments of joy through our local football team and adding to the fantastic vibrancy of our multi-cultural city. "Sergio has undoubtedly helped put the city of Leicester on the map and this accolade today is our way of acknowledging this and our sense of pride in his achievements.'
