Music News

The Who are to headline Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park next year.
The 'Baba O'Riley' rockers will take to the Great Oak Stage at the London park on June 26 for the final UK show of their 'Who Hits Fifty' tour, with Paul Weller, Kaiser Chiefs and Johnny Marr also performing that day.
The gig marks the fourth time the band have played there, their third headline appearance plus a slot at Live 8 in 2005, and they are delighted to be returning to Hyde Park.
Pete Townshend said: "It's a good gig. You draw from all over the country but a London crowd is always a good crowd.
"It's a Royal Park so thank you your majesty, you can't play it without her permission."
And the 'My Generation' rockers admitted their headline show in 1996 almost didn't happen after Roger Daltrey fractured his eye socket in rehearsals the day before the gig.
He recalled: "I remember doing it with an eye patch holding my eye in when we did 'Quadrophenia', that was a nightmare. We had a quarter of a million people coming the next day and i've got a fractured cheekbone. How we did that show i'll never know."
The Who are the second British Summer Time headliners to be announced, with Taylor Swift previously revealed to be topping the bill in Hyde Park on June 27.
Tickets for The Who gig go on sale on Thursday (20.11.14) at 9am.

One Direction have been given the opening lines of Band Aid 30's 'Do They Know It's Christmas Time?'.
The star-studded charity single - which will raise money for the fight against the Ebola virus - was unveiled for the first time last night (16.11.14) on 'The X Factor' after being completed at 4.20am and it is believed the acts involved didn't know which lines they had been given until the "rough" edit aired.
The 'Steal My Girl' group were thrilled to be asked to be a part of the project, with Liam Payne telling The Sun newspaper: "We've seen it every year on the telly since we were kids.
"And now thinking that we'll be old and grey one day and we'll just pop up. It's amazing."
The video for the single incorporates footage of the celebrities - including Ed Sheeran, Rita Ora, Sam Smith, Coldplay's Chris Martin, U2's Bono and Paloma Faith - recording the track with harrowing footage of West African victims of the virus, and organiser Bob Geldof warned on 'The X Factor' that it was "not suited to an entertainment show".
He said: "Thanks Simon [Cowell] for allowing us to do this, this is hardcore, to allow X factor nation to do this, it is an enormous production, this thing [Ebola] could arrive here on a plane any time.
"This is the most anti-human disease but we can stop it, and we will stop it, and we will support those immensely brave NHS doctors and soldiers who have volunteered, and the government who are leading the world on this."
With the track now available for download, the Boomtown Rats frontman urged people to buy as many copies as possible.
He added: "At 8am tomorrow morning, for the first time this is about us, buy this thing, buy five by ten, it's a great track, we wanted to show you the context of how this was done only yesterday."
Other stars appearing on the track include Seal, Elbow, Emeli Sande, Sinead O'Connor, Bastille and Olly Murs, with the 'Troublemaker' singer describing the recording process as "amazing".
He said: "It was an amazing experience to be part of that, its 30 years ago since 1984, it was amazing to be a part of it, it was brilliant."
Bob and Midge Ure have reworked some of the lyrics for the track, with the most famous line from the original, "Tonight thank God it's them instead of you" - which was performed by Bono on both the 1984 and 2004 versions - changed to "Well tonight we're reaching out and touching you."
The revised line is still sang by the U2 frontman.

Sinead O'Connor has compared U2 to terrorists.
The 'Nothing Compares 2 U' singer has slammed the band's decision to have their latest album 'Songs of Innocence' automatically uploaded into iTunes subscribers' music libraries, describing it as a "badly-judged move" and claiming they have "invaded" people's lives.
She told The Mail on Sunday's Event magazine : "What they did with iTunes was a badly-judged move.
"There was something almost terrorist about it.
"I'm really not a U2 fan but it wasn't at all kosher invading people's lives like that. It was bad management."
The 47-year-old singer accused the band - made up of Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr - of not "standing by their album" and choosing instead to "force it on people who didn't want it in the first place."
Bono previously apologised for getting "carried away" and giving the record away in the way that they did.
He said: "I'm sorry about that. I had this beautiful idea and we got carried away with ourselves - artists are prone to that kind of thing.
"Drop of megalomania, twitch of generosity, dash of self-promotion and deep fear that these songs that we've poured our life into over the last few years mightn't be heard.
"There's a lot of noise out there. I guess we got a little noisy ourselves to get through it."

Lorde is "heartbroken" to have finished work on 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1' soundtrack.
The 'Royals' hitmaker curated the music for the latest installment of the futuristic fantasy adventure series and was thrilled to work alongside artists like Grace Jones, Charlie XCX, Ariana Grande and Haim.
She said: "It was fun getting to approach my favourite musicians and just say something to them for this project.
"I feel like school camp has ended and I'm heartbroken this project is over."
And the 18-year-old singer admits she was very "teenage" in her approach to putting together the roster of artists who appear on the soundtrack because she relied heavily on social media to ask people to work with her.
Asked how she approached the artists, she said: "I DM-d (direct messaged) a lot of people and Instagram DM-d a lot of people.
"It wasn't very professional, it was very teenage.
"I guess we just kind of cold-called a lot of people and they were like, 'Who's this weirdo.' "
Lorde found the experience very different to putting together an album of her own because there were so many people to consider.
She said: "It's so different and I don't think I realised how different that would be.
"You really have to think about everyone else rather than yourself so much because you are involved with so many other artists and different demographics of people who are already into this film.
"I really felt responsibility to do something they would like, so hopefully there's something in it for everyone."

Olly Murs is hoping he can now be viewed as a "credible artist".
The 30-year-old pop star shot to fame when he came second on 'The X Factor' in 2009 but he thinks he has now established himself enough to go in a new musical direction and set up more collaborations that will help him be taken seriously away from his reality TV background.
He said: "Working with Paul Weller [on a new song, 'Met Me In'] showed my fans the direction I see my music going in.
"It's been five years since I was on 'X Factor' and I feel I'm starting to be seen as a more credible artist.
"I'd love to work with Stevie Wonder, that would be the ultimate, but I don't think I'm quite there yet. I've already performed with Madness, Gary Barlow and Robbie, so I'm not doing too badly."
The 'Troublemaker' hitmaker also ruled out using his relationship with Francesca Thomas as inspiration for his songs.
He told Britain's HELLO! magazine: "It can be a bit tricky when you write about someone. I have done in the past and I suppose the odd thing may come from her, but most of it is general ideas where I might come into the studio in a bad mood and say, 'I want to write an angry song.'
"It can cause more problems if it is about a person."

James Blunt reads his own reviews every morning.
The 'You're Beautiful' hitmaker is currently out on the road, so checks out what people thought of the shows as soon as he wakes up in order to stay "humble".
He said: "I'm on the European leg of my tour, so as soon as I wake up I check my phone and my reviews from the night before to keep me humble. Then BBC News to keep me depressed."
The 'When I Find Love Again' singer embraces modern technology and has a wide variety of apps on his phone to keep him informed of his surroundings.
He said: "I love a good app. Around me is great for finding stuff wherever you are.
"Vivino is a great wine app to help you pretend you know something about wine."
And James clearly enjoys indulging in the wines he discovers as he often goes to bed drunk.
He told Grazia magazine: "I never usually read before bed. Normally I'm drunk and the tour bus is moving.
"I've got Tom Wolfe's 'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test' but haven't yet read it."

The Libertines will only headline festivals if they have new material.
The group reformed earlier this year for a string of gigs and though they have been touted for many events next summer, co-frontman Carl Barat insists they don't want to be a "heritage" act.
He said: "If we get new material, to not play next year would be a bit of a shame.
"We're not just gonna do the heritage run for any longer. We're having a f***ing great time and the audiences have been great - it's really inspired us and gee'd us on to do more."
The group are still in discussions with record labels to release their third album and Carl insists they want to work with someone important to them.
He said: "I want to go to a record label that have got some kind of connection with us from the past, and some kind of heritage generally, and who care about the music and care about what we're doing.
"That's my poncy artist objective, but they probably won't take that into consideration will they?"
However, the rocker admitted he is unsure if they will even get as far as releasing the record.
He added to NME magazine: "But I'm not thinning that far ahead, we could have a row on day two of writing and that'd be that."

Usher thinks Justin Bieber's troubles will improve his music.
The 20-year-old pop superstar has had multiple scrapes with the law in the past year, but Usher believes it is all part of his protégé's life, and will ultimately make the 'As Long As You Love Me' singer a better musician.
He explained: "Any artist has ebbs and flows in their life and career."
The teen heartthrob rose to fame via YouTube in 2007 before releasing his hit single 'Baby' in 2010, but has had a troubled time in 2014 which has seen him arrested for multiple offences, including driving under the influence, resisting arrest, vandalism and dangerous driving.
But his 36-year-old mentor Usher believes audiences are yet to hear the best that Justin - who is managed by Scooter Braun - has to offer.
He told The Guardian newspaper: "I think the story is just begun, you've not seen the best of his talent. In life, you have to go through something to get to something.
"From that the inspiration comes having something of substance to talk about; otherwise you're just considered to be fluff."
The 'Yeah!' singer - who will release his eighth studio album 'UR' in 2015 - is able to speak from experience about the young singer, because he was once given vital advice by his elders in the music industry.
referring to what late soul legend James Brown told him, he said: "He always told me, 'If you stay ready, you ain't got to get ready.' "
On advice from the late Michael Jackson, he revealed: "[He told me] if you want to continue to be great, you've got to work hard."

Culture Club have had to call off their first tour in 12 years after singer Boy George was diagnosed with a vocal polyp.
The 'Karma Chameleon' hitmakers were left with no choice but to halt their UK and US run of shows so the 53-year-old frontman can be treated for the growth, which was diagnosed by a specialist in Los Angeles and may require surgery.
In a Facebook post on his personal page, George wrote: "Due to serious issues with my throat I have been forced to cancel both the US and British tour with Culture Club.
"I have a polyp on one of my vocal cords which has haemorrhaged and one of my vocal cords is unusually enlarged and won't close properly when I sing. In true British fashion I have ignored it thinking the problem might just be tiredness ... I have been advised by doctors that to continue singing with this polyp would further damage my voice and would further damage my voice and could cause irreparable damage. It's a risk I just cannot take."
George admits his decision has left him "devastated" but he has promised fans that Culture Club will be back on the road once his throat is better.
He added: "I feel gutted to be letting people down. Such support makes my decision so much harder, to say I am devastated barely touches how I feel. I know that those of you who love and support me will understand that this is a decision I just had to make. I will definitely get better and will see you all soon back on tour. Thank you for the love it means everything."
Culture Club's 21-date tour of Britain and America - kicking off at the Rancho Mirage, in California - would have been the first shows featuring the band's full original line-up since 1986.
Organisers are planning to reschedule the concerts but fans can get a full refund from point of purchase if they wish.
The band will release their first album, 'Tribes', since 1999 in early 2015. They recorded the LP with producer Youth, who has previously worked with Sir Paul McCartney, The Verve and Embrace.
Culture Club - George, Mikey Craig, Roy Hay and Jon Moss - sold in excess of 100 million singles and over 50 million albums in the 1980s and were one of the biggest pop bands of the 80s.