John Waddington, post-punk The Pop Group guitarist, dead at 63

Elton John has officially completed his ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ world tour in Stockholm, after 333 shows and nearly five years.Performing in the city’s Tele2 Arena on Saturday night (July 8), John’s final song of the night – and, by extension, the entire tour – was the tour’s semi-title track, ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’. Before performing the song, Sir Elton gave a final speech to the reported 45,000 people in attendance to thank them for their support across his entire career.“I’ve had the most wonderful career… beyond belief,” said John (via Rolling Stone).

Justin Trudeau was widely mocked on Twitter over a post where he asked Taylor Swift, using lyrics from her songs, to perform in Canada. “It’s me, hi,” Trudeau tweeted at Swift in response to her announcement of 14 new international show dates to her current tour that didn’t include Canada. “I know places in Canada would love to have you. So, don’t make it another cruel summer.

Enhypen just announced that they’ll be playing six huge arena shows in the U.S. as part of their upcoming ‘Fate World Tour.’That includes back-to-back concerts at Newark, NJ’s Prudential Center on Wednesday, Oct.

“worst sex scenes in history.”“Continue to push the vision no matter how bumpy the journey,” Tesfaye, 33, told his fans in an Instagram post, seemingly referring to the show’s poor reception. Upon premiering at Cannes, “The Idol,” which Tesfaye created with Sam Levinson of “Euphoria” fame, was widely derided for its nudity, sex and directionless plot. “‘The Idol,’ or 50 SHADES OF TESFAYE: A Pornhub-homepage odyssey starring Lily-Rose Depp’s areolas and The Weeknd’s greasy rat tail,” a critic for the Gray Lady sneered after a viewing.“The show heavily exploits Lily … I hope she’s okay with it all because it comes off very exploitative,” another critic worried. The plot followed troubled pop princess Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp, 24, daughter of Johnny Depp) as she became involved in a weird and sex-filled relationship with self-help guru, club owner and cult leader Tedros (Tesfaye). The show regularly scandalized audiences, who cringed at its “nasty” sex scenes.Levinson doubled down after “The Idol” was criticized, defending his work as “revolutionary,” while others noted that the show is actually a lot tamer than earlier efforts, such as “True Blood.” “I think we live in a very sexualized world,” Levinson said.Depp also defended the show, telling Vogue Australia, “We know that we’re making something provocative and we are not shying away from that. That’s something I knew I was setting out to do from the beginning.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic Perhaps the greatest surprise of Jack Schlossberg’s recent social media rant against the concept of restaurants was that it happened at all.  To this point, Schlossberg — the youngest child of current U.S. Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy, and thus the youngest grandchild of the late President John F. Kennedy — has kept a fairly low profile. Unlike various higher-flying members of his extended family, Schlossberg largely keeps out of the public eye, with his public comment reserved for things like dutifully revealing the Kennedy family’s Profile in Courage Award honorees on “Today.” Which made his direct-to-camera diatribe about how antisocial and unhealthy restaurants are — serving food that we “put inside of our body, which really matters a lot” — a rare thing. And across this writer’s social media feeds, where the video kept burbling up over a slow July 4 weekend, people seemed to be getting a clearer view of where Camelot is now.

Nick Cave has recalled being “high” while taking to the stage with Kylie Minogue on Top Of The Pops.The Bad Seeds frontman was speaking as part of The Louis Theroux Podcast recently when he discussed the making of his 1995 track ‘Where The Wild Roses Grow’ — which saw him join forces with the Australian pop star.Describing the message behind the song, he said: “It was a murder ballad that ends with the character killing his beloved… It was quite something at the time for Kylie to take on.”“I certainly wasn’t in showroom condition,” he continued. “Her management were like ‘This is a bad idea’ because we were a bunch of dark drug-addicted monstrosities… but she was determined to do that.”The 65-year-old songwriter then told the host that he struggles to “remember much” about his time performing the song with Minogue on Top Of The Pops, although the two did remain close after the appearance.“We have stayed very good friends,” he explained.

Ollie Pope will play no further part in the Ashes after the England batsman picked up a shoulder injury in the second Test defeat to Australia. The Surrey star has been ruled out of the remainder of the summer campaign after dislocating his right shoulder at Lord's.

Rolling Loud have spoken to NME about how it became the world’s largest hip-hop festival ahead of the second-ever edition taking place in Portugal this weekend.Established in Florida eight years ago, the festival was created by hip-hop event promoters Matt Zinger and Tariq Chief. In 2010, Zingler and Cherif started to organise monthly parties in Miami headlined by some of today’s most successful rappers – such as Rick Ross, Travis $cott and Kendrick Lamar.Rolling Loud was first held in a Florida warehouse and had six headliners; Schoolboy Q, Curren$y, A$AP Ferg, Action Bronson, Juicy J, and $cott.

Fall Out Boy have released an updated version of Billy Joel’s song ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’ in order to, I don’t know, highlight how lists are still a thing, or something.Joel’s original song was released as a single in 1989 and listed 118 people and events from politics, culture, science and sport that had proven notable between 1949, the year when Joel was born, and the year of the track’s release.So, your first verse goes like this: “Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray, South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio, Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television, North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe, Rosenbergs, H-Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom, Brando, The King And I, and The Catcher In The Rye, Eisenhower, Vaccine, England’s got a new queen, Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye”.Anyway, it’s now 34 years since Joel released the song. So, to mark this, erm, milestone, Fall Out Boy have recorded a new version, listing significant things that have happened since 1989.

Fall Out Boy have released an updated version of Billy Joel‘s ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’ with headlines from the past 30 years.Joel’s 1989 Number one hit, ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’, includes brief references to 118 significant political, cultural and scientific events between the years of Joel’s birth in 1949 and the song’s release in 1989.Today (June 28), Fall Out Boy shared a modernised version of the track, replacing the original lyrics with standout events from where the song left off in 1989 to 2023.“I thought about this song a lot when I was younger. All these important people and events – some that disappeared into the sands of time –others that changed the world forever,” shared the band on Twitter.“So much has happened in the span of the last 34 years – we felt like a little system update might be fun.

controversial sex scenes and nudity — and Lily-Rose Depp is defending the “nasty” scenes after viewers branded it as “torture porn.”The HBO series — created by Sam Levinson (“Euphoria”), Reza Fahim and Abel Tesfaye (a k a The Weeknd) — follows pop star Jocelyn (Depp, 24, daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis) and her strange and raunchy relationship with nightclub owner and cult leader Tedros (Tesfaye, 33).It has been slammed for its graphic sex scenes and has garnered controversy for behind-the-scenes mess. In March, Rolling Stone reported that sources on the production described a chaotic filming environment, and called it “torture porn” and “rape fantasy.”But Depp is shutting down the criticism, saying the sex scenes in the show are “important” and “intentional.”“We know that we’re making something provocative and we are not shying away from that.

EXCLUSIVE: Vertical has picked up rights to the crime thriller Mother’s Milk, directed by Miles Joris-Peyrafitte (As You Are), with plans to distribute it in North America, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. The film in which two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby) stars opposite Olivia Cooke (House of the Dragon) and Jack Reynor (Midsommar) will hit theaters across North America beginning September 1, debuting in the other territories shortly thereafter.

Naman Ramachandran Following its run on Paramount+, the second season of “Queen of the Universe” will land on streaming platform WOW Presents Plus as a box set. Produced by “RuPaul’s Drag Race” producers World of Wonder, and hosted by BAFTA-winner Graham Norton, the Eurovision-style series finds countries going head to head with their top drag queens putting their real singing voices to the test. In the second season, former Spice Girl Mel B joins returning judges including recording artist, three-time Emmy-winning producer and judge of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,’ Michelle Visage, multi-Emmy and Grammy nominee Vanessa Williams and American drag superstar Trixie Mattel.

Peach PRC has shared a playlist exclusively to accompany the launch of NME’s The Cover.The Australian pop artist is on this week’s (June 26) edition of The Cover, a renewal of NME’s commitment to supporting emerging talent across the globe on a weekly basis. Every week, a rising artist will feature on The Cover – you can read Peach PRC’s profile here, written by Ellie Robinson and featuring photography by Danny Draxx.Accompanying the story is an exclusive playlist curated by Peach PRC herself.

K.J. Yossman The BBC has acquired the Australian version of hit gameshow “The Traitors” for broadcast and streaming this summer. “The Traitors Australia,” which sees contestants compete for a prize of AUS $250,000 in a luxury hotel in the Southern Highlands, is set to drop on BBC Three and iPlayer on July 9. It is hosted by Rodger Corser. “’The Traitors’ is an addictively fiendish format and I am so pleased that viewers can get their summer fix of treachery and suspicion as we head Down Under for the Australian version of the show on BBC Three and iPlayer,” said Nasfim Haque, head of content for BBC Three.

Paramount+ crime drama Last King of the Cross, about legendary Australian underworld figure John Ibrahim, is getting a second season.

Naman Ramachandran Paramount+ Australia has greenlit a second, eight-part season of hit crime drama series “Last King of The Cross.” Inspired by John Ibrahim’s autobiography, the series charts the rise of a poverty-stricken immigrant with no education, no money, and no prospects to Australia’s most infamous nightclub mogul and is set in Sydney’s decadent Kings Cross district in the late 1980s and 1990s. Season 2 (8 x 60′) will further explore the dangerous world of Kings Cross, as Ibrahim expands his empire into the booming queer nightclub scene. Set against the backdrop of the ecstasy-fueled 2000s, the stakes are higher than ever before, and everyone wants a piece – including John’s two younger brothers.

Twitter on Wednesday as they paid a heartfelt tribute to the 'unforgettable musician', with his death coming just two months after frontman Mark Stewart passed away.  They wrote in a statement: 'An influential musician, and an integral member of the group, John contributed to some of the band’s most iconic recordings. 'His energy and friendship will be sorely missed, and his unforgettable musicianship will always be remembered.

Ben Croll “The Fragile Colossus,” “Ten Pound Poms” and “The Seed” ruled the roost at this year’s Monte-Carlo Television Festival, with the three programs collecting two prizes each at a small-screen showcase that ran June 16 – 20 in the Monaco capital. Produced by Make It Happen Studio and Shoot Again Productions in partnership with TF1 France, telefilm “The Fragile Colossus” took home Monte-Carlo’s Golden Nymph for best film and the special jury prize. The French drama follows a one-time rugby star (played by soccer player-turned-actor Eric Cantona) confronting his history as a victim of childhood sexual abuse, and is based on the life and memoires of rugbyman Sébastien Boueilh.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Mother of all Lies, a docu-drama film that probes the secrets of Morocco’s 1981 Bread Riots, was Sunday named the best picture at the Sydney Film Festival. The jury, headed by Anurag Kashyap, called the Asmae El Moudir-directed film “audacious, cutting-edge and courageous.” It presented the A$60,000 ($41,100) cash prize film ahead at the State Theatre ahead of the Australian premiere screening of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” The film, which uses doll-like figurines, recently premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, where it earned the section’s best director prize. “Juxtaposing evidence from barely existent public materials with private family memory, this film reconstructs the history of the state, the family and the individual, in three distinct levels,” said the jury of Kashyap, actor Mia Wasikowska (Australia), film curator and journalist Dorothee Wenner (Germany), writer and director Larissa Behrendt (Australia) and filmmaker Visakesa Chandrasekaram (Australia – Sri Lanka).