This Ain’t No Picnic Festival Blurs Genres and Generations at the Rose Bowl: Concert Review

All eyes are usually on the eccentric characters but the latest episode of The Masked Dancer saw Jonathan Ross in the spotlight. The ITV chat show host was back on the expert panel for more guessing alongside presenter Davina McCall, ex-Strictly dancer Oti Mabuse and former footballer Peter Crouch.

A.D. Amorosi Just over 50 years ago, on the same day, June 16, 1972, two albums were released that changed the landscape of rock and its sartorial splendor: Roxy Music’s eponymously titled debut and David Bowie’s “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.” While each album was conveniently tagged as part of the start of glam-rock and its slow movement from Britain to the U.S., “Roxy Music” was something that “Ziggy Stardust” was not, despite the latter’s grandeur: downright weird.  Dressed in a mix of ’50s greaser leather, silver spacesuits and more feathers than a revival of “La Cage aux Folles,” warbling crooner Bryan Ferry, saxophonist/oboist Andy Mackay, psychedelic guitarist Phil Manzanera, tom-tom heavy drummer Paul Thompson and slippery synthesizer player Brian Eno made a driving, sinister, suave brand of noisy avant-rock and Dadaist lyric-filled music like no other.

William Earl Right before the pandemic hit, Red Hot Chili Peppers fans were thrilled the learn guitarist John Frusciante had once again joined the band. He had left in 2009 to focus on solo work, and frequent collaborator Josh Klinghoffer took up the axe in the band for their next two albums, 2011’s “I’m With You” and 2016’s “The Getaway,” and the subsequent tours. While the band continued to deliver high-energy shows and released many solid tracks, things never meshed as during the Frusciante days. Yet Frusciante’s return to the fold has ushered in prolific new era for the band, as 2022 brought two lengthy new albums — “Unlimited Love” in April and “Return of the Dream Canteen” in October — and a global stadium tour. As rejuvenated as they’ve been in the studio, the sparks flying in this classic lineup is the best special effect in their live shows. The stripped down production of the band’s Sept. 13 SiriusXM Small Stage Series show at the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem made it clear to the 1,500 frenzied fans that, even as the band members enter their sixties, they’ve never seemed closer or played tighter.

Thania Garcia La Macarena in Colombia has a long history of hosting boisterous energy. The stadium has served as a venue for both concerts and bullfights since 1945, but on the weekend of Sept. 9, the ring was populated by Medellín native Salomón Villada Hoyos, otherwise known as Feid.  The reggaeton singer-songwriter sold out three consecutive nights at the stadium – a feat that not even two other hometown heroes, J. Balvin and Karol G., can claim (yet). Feid also famously beat out the late “Ídolo de México” Vicente Fernández, who performed there for the last time in Colombia in 2012.  Tickets for all three nights of Feid’s “Nitro Jam” shows sold out in just two days, while tickets for opening night sold out in two hours, according to El Colombiano.  

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Freddie Freeman was hitting homers down in San Diego, so it was up to visiting superstar Lady Gaga to keep the on-base percentage exceptionally high Saturday night at Dodger Stadium, site of one of the last stops on her “Chromatica Ball” outing. Surprises were few, this many weeks into a mega-tour whose production values were already known among the legions of Little Monsters who’d long since put curious paws to Googling Gaga’s setlists and setpieces. Anyway, knowing what’s coming doesn’t quash the overpowering effects of a savvy performer who’s determined to look as cold as inhumanly possible while also, conversely, sounding like the warmest superstar you’ve ever encountered. Does that count, in ballplaying terms, as a slider?

Southern Charm’s Taylor Ann Green is still mourning her failed relationship with ex Shep Rose — and she’s asking for the space needed to do it right.

A.D. Amorosi Jay-Z waxed outraged, last Thursday on social media, at having been called a ”capitalist” for his diverse business ventures and their wild fiduciary successes  — this after having once famously said, “I’m not a businessman. I’m a business, man.” But watching the fruit of Hova’s labors where his Made in America music festival was concerned, if making money and bringing together crowds for prime hip-hop and chart-topping Latin artistry is wrong, who needs to be right?

blacklist of 25 people, Senators Rick Scott, Mark Kelley, Pat Toomey, Kevin Kramer and Krysten Sinema were also barred from the countryThis isn’t the only thing the actors have in common, however, as both Penn and Stiller made trips to Ukraine and met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier this year.Penn traveled to Ukraine to capture the crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for a Vice documentary and had a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Chris Cuomo also joined the actor in Ukraine in June as Penn worked on a “film showing the reality and helping the hurting with relief org CORE,” according to Cuomo’s Instagram.

Sean Penn and Ben Stiller today were among 25 “high-ranking officials, representatives of the business and expert communities, as well as cultural figures” banned from Russia today by that country’s foreign ministry.

Chris Rock addressed the Will Smith Oscars slap during his latest comedy show with Dave Chappelle in England. Rock and Chappelle began their joint tour at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena on Thursday where they both discussed being attacked while performing shows. "Did that s--t hurt?" Rock told the audience, according to The Times, who shared a review of the evening.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Nick Lowe and Shakespeare were wrong, about having to be cruel to be kind. A tour stop Tuesday in Anaheim that had Lowe supporting headliner Elvis Costello as an opening act before eventually joining him for three climactic duets was kindly and 100% cruelty-free, reuniting the two former studio workmates in a fashion that made it seem as if no 40-year intervals had passed at all, except for the incidental actually-getting-better factors. (You’re not getting older, you’re getting Basher, etc.) Not that the show at the City National Grove of Anaheim — one of several SoCal appearances this week by Costello, with and without Lowe in tow — needed its crowning dream-teaminess to come up aces. Costello’s current sets with the Imposters represent the best example rock ‘n’ roll has at the moment of a vast catalog of classic material played with improvisational vigor by one of the great bands the medium has known, augmented by fresh material that can stand proudly alongside the vintage. “Indoor Fireworks” was one of the quieter songs performed Tuesday, but it’s an apt description of what’s occurring on this can’t-miss outing (with apologies to the shed stops where the group pyro happens outdoors).

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor To celebrate the release of his self-titled new album, British rapper-singer Yungblud has announced “Occupy the Strip,” which will see him performing at three legendary venues  on Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip on September 8, with the concerts being livestreamed globally via the Amazon Music channel on Twitch. Yungblud says, “Some of the most iconic artists have played shows at these venues on the Strip.

Chris Rock to be opening up about the infamous Oscars slap anytime soon. ET spoke with January Harrison, founder of January Designs and Creations, who was in attendance at Rock's show in Phoenix on Sunday, where she said he not only discussed the incident between him and Will Smith at the 2022 Academy Awards, but was adamant about not speaking publicly about the slap.As many will remember, it was at the Academy Awards that Smith slapped Rock in the face after he made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith before presenting the award for Best Documentary Feature. Harrison said that Rock told the audience that Oprah Winfrey asked him to do a sit-down interview with her to discuss the incident, but he declined.«During the evening, he did describe that he declined an offer to go onto Oprah to do to a sit-down interview and even a Super Bowl commercial with Will Smith himself,» Harrison shared.

A.D. Amorosi For a band that busted apart nearly a decade ago, My Chemical Romance — the toast of the 21st century’s emo-glam-empowered power-pop crowd — never lost a beat in regards to packing in millennials, and those even younger, to its 2022 reunion tour. Youthful ebullience and loud adoration were immediately noticeable when attending MCR’s Monday night packed-to-the-rafters concert at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center, a live showcase postponed for two years due to the pandemic’s slowdown.  Playing to an overwhelming majority of teen (and just-post-teen) faces — many dressed in the New Jersey band’s one-time brand of red and black — singer-lyricist Gerard Way’s school of song was, as always, dedicated to the disenfranchised, the alienated and the outliers. Taken from albums such as 2002’s “I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love” and 2006’s “The Black Parade,” each MCR moment of the past spoke to the present-day concerns of mental health, self-awakening and freedom from fear and shame.

Ethan Shanfeld After being slapped by Will Smith onstage at the Oscars, Chris Rock says the Academy has asked him to host next year’s award ceremony. Performing a show in Phoenix on Aug. 28, Rock told the crowd that he turned down the offer, per The Arizona Republic. The comedian apparently joked that his return to the Oscars would be like asking Nicole Brown Simpson “to go back to the restaurant,” a reference to the murder trial of O.J. Simpson’s ex-wife, who left her glasses at an Italian restaurant before being killed. Throughout his 90-minute stand-up comedy show, Rock said the Oscars slap hurt, noting that Smith played boxer Muhammad Ali in the 2001 movie “Ali.”

Oscars, but turned the opportunity after he was infamously slapped by Will Smith during this year’s ceremony.As the Arizona Republic reports, during a stand-up show in Phoenix over the weekend, Rock said he refused the invitation and joked that it would be like asking Nicole Brown Simpson “to go back to the restaurant” she ate at on the evening she was murdered at her Los Angeles home.Rock also reportedly said that he had been offered to star in a Super Bowl commercial following the incident, but turned that down as well – and noted that Smith’s slap was physically painful. “He’s bigger than me,” Rock said of the Ali star.

Chris Rock will not be returning to the Academy Awards as a host. During the comedian’s Sunday night show in Phoenix, Rock shared with the audience that he was asked to host next year’s Oscar Awards ceremony, which he denied, according to the Arizona Republic. Rock, 57, made a joke to the crowd and compared returning to the Academy Awards to Nicole Brown Simpson’s death.

Arizona Republic, the “Everybody Hates Chris” alum told the crowd that going back to the Oscars would be like asking Nicole Brown Simpson “to go back to the restaurant” where she left her eyeglasses before she killed, in a reference to the murder trial of O.J. Simpson, who was acquitted in the case. His rejected hosting duties would’ve come a year after Will Smith, 53, walked on stage on March 27 and slapped him at the Academy Awards for making a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, about looking like “G.I.

Chris Rock to be emceeing the Oscars anytime soon. According to multiple eyewitness, Rock revealed during his Sunday night show in Phoenix, that he was asked to host next year's show, but refused.As many will remember, it was at the 2022 Academy Awards that Will Smith slapped Rock in the face after he made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith before presenting the award for Best Documentary Feature. «Chris Rock said he was asked to host next year's Academy Awards at his Sunday night show at Arizona Financial Theatre, and that he refused the offer,» the eyewitness shared. «He also noted that he was offered the chance to do a Super Bowl commercial that he also declined.»Eyewitnesses also told ET that Rock compared hosting the Oscars to returning to the scene of a crime, referencing the murder trial of O.J.