Rolling On - Liam Gallagher, Richard Ashcroft and Florence & The Machine are among the major support acts to be announced for The Rolling Stones’ UK tour this summer. The rock icons will head out on an eight-date stadium tour across May and June, playing venues such as the London Stadium, Manchester’s Old Trafford stadium, and Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium.
It’s now been confirmed that they’re bringing along some heavyweight company for the ride, with former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher warming up for the Stones before their first date of the tour on 22 May at the London Stadium.
The Stones’ latest tour comes after a lack of available venues meant that the UK was left off their European tour in 2017 - leading to considerable demand for the latest shows. Despite having a collective age of 254 years, it seems that the elder statesmen of rock aren’t planning on retiring anytime soon, either. “I haven’t really thought about this set of gigs being our last tour, to be honest,” Jagger stated recently.
Lifetime Achievement - Andrew Lloyd Webber is to receive a lifetime achievement award for his work in theatre at this year’s Tony Awards in New York. Lloyd Webber said he was “completely overwhelmed as a Brit to be honoured by the Broadway community”, adding that musicals are “flying higher in their spiritual home New York than they have for two generations”.
Lloyd Webber has previously spoken about the success of US musicals compared with those in the UK, telling the BBC’s programme that the UK is falling behind New York in creating original musicals.
Lloyd Webber has won seven Tony awards, and his musicals The Phantom of the Opera and School of Rock – The Musical are both currently on Broadway. In January of this year, Phantom celebrated its 30th Anniversary on Broadway.
Avicii Tributes - The family of Swedish EDM star Avicii has thanked fans for their support following the DJ's death last week. The body of the DJ, whose real name was Tim Bergling, was found at a hotel in Muscat, Oman. His family praised fans and other musicians for their tributes, which included church bells "ringing out his music" and tributes at Coachella.
The full statement from the family read: "Thank you for all the initiatives taken to honour Tim, with public gatherings, church bells ringing out his music, tributes at Coachella and moments of silence around the world. We are grateful for the privacy during this difficult time. Our wish is that it continues that way." The family didn't reveal any further details surrounding the DJ's death. Royal Oman Police said that two post mortems were carried out, confirming there was "no criminal suspicion".
Dancing Shoes - The shoes worn by Michael Jackson when he first showed off his now famous moonwalk are to be sold at auction. The black loafers bear the label Michael #2 and were used in 1983 for the Motown 25 television special rehearsal with his hit Billie Jean.
Auction house GWS Auctions said: "Photos found in archives show Michael Jackson wearing them during the rehearsal. These loafers have never been offered at auction and are the first pair of Motown 25 shoes that have ever been made available to the public as, to our knowledge, no other pair has surfaced in over 35 years.” The auction takes place on 26 May at the Hilton in Universal City, California.
(Jim Evans)
24 April 2018

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