Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour may be finished in the U.S., but he’s still got a lot more touring to do — and it may see him break a new record.
Elton wrapped the U.S. leg of the tour this weekend in Los Angeles and, according to Billboard, the last three Dodger Stadium shows brought in $23.5 million and sold 142,970 tickets. In total, the last 13 shows bring the tour’s total gross to $749.9 million, with over 5 million tickets sold since it began in 2018. And with about 50 shows still left to play, it’s certainly looking like Elton has a good shot at surpassing Ed Sheeran’s The Divide Tour for the title of best-selling tour of all time.
Ed’s tour wrapped in 2019 and grossed $776.4 million, which means Elton is less than $30 million away from taking over number one. It now sits at number two, having surpassed U2’s 360 Tour, which brought in $736.4 million.
Next up, Elton brings his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour back to Australia and New Zealand in January with 10 stadium shows, which puts him on track to break Sheeran’s record in early 2023.
(WASHINGTON) — It’s been nearly half a year since Secretary Deb Haaland released the first report in the Interior Department’s investigation into the legacy and lasting trauma from Indian boarding schools.
For more than a century, from 1819 to the late 1960s, the federal government and some religious organizations took Indigenous children from their families, their land and forcibly assimilated them into White European culture.
“I called the boarding school era, one of America’s best kept secrets,” said scholar Denise Lajimodiere. “Boarding school and the legacy of boarding schools has impacted every…Native family.”
Lajimodiere chronicled the experience of boarding school survivors in her book Stringing Rosaries.
“Their hair was immediately cut…some had kerosene put in their hair. And they said it burned…they were given uniforms,” Lajimodiere said. “They had to work half a day… in the kitchen, in the laundry room…work in the fields that they didn’t get paid for.”
For more than a decade, Lajimodiere has researched the number of schools that existed in the United States, something the government didn’t begin to do until last year.
The report released by the Interior Department found that more than 500 American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children died over the course of 150 years in the boarding schools. Scholars estimate the numbers could be much higher. Countless others were physically, mentally and emotionally abused as their language and cultural identities were forbidden by school staff, according to the investigation.
Haaland, the first Indigenous cabinet member, has been traveling around the country as part of the “Road to Healing Tour,” to meet with Indigenous communities.
“I want apologies. I want my language back. I want our land back. I want everything back,” an emotional Ruby Left Hand Bull Sanchez told Haaland during her stop at the Rosebud Sioux reservation last month.
Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo, recounted her own family’s history with boarding schools.
“We all carry the trauma from that era in our hearts. My ancestors endured the horrors of the Indian boarding school assimilation policies carried out by the same department that I now lead. This is the first time in history that a United States Cabinet secretary comes to the table with this shared trauma. That’s not lost on me. I’m determined to use my position for the good of our people,” Haaland said at the Oct. 15 meeting.
For those who lived through the abuse, the pain is still raw.
Dorothy McLane was six years old when she became a student at a Rosebud boarding school, where Haaland’s meeting took place. The school has long been closed but the memories still fresh for McLane.
She told “Nightline” she vividly remembers being forced to run laps around a building and being beaten by a school matron as punishment.
“I see myself as a little girl here, 6-years-old and trying to just…be a kid, trying to be a child and trying to be loved and it wasn’t in here,” McLane said. “I mean, there’s I don’t ever remember anybody telling me they loved me. What I remember most is the punishment.”
Shylee Brave, a granddaughter of a boarding school survivor and an alum of the Sicangu Youth Council, has been pushing for the federal government and others to acknowledge the abuses and help tribes rebuild their lost culture.
“We didn’t go to boarding school, but we still deal with the same traumas that our grandparents and great-grandparents went through,” Brave said.
Brave told “Nightline,” that Haaland’s visit sent a powerful message.
“I kind of just I’m hoping that people see how resilient we are as Native American people because they pretty much tried to kill us off and they couldn’t,” she said.
Brave said she was optimistic that the federal government would make amends.
“I think that Secretary Haaland and her team are doing what they can and what they know they should do, because if they didn’t think that the government did anything wrong, they wouldn’t be doing what they’re trying to,” Brave said.
The work of the youth council Brave belonged to has helped to heal some open wounds.
Last year, the remains of Indigenous children who died at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania over a century ago were finally returned to Rosebud Sioux reservation.
The Sicangu Youth Council helped lead 6 years of negotiations between the tribe and the U.S. Army which oversees the grounds where the school once stood.
The Rosebud Sioux community has also launched a new education program to help preserve their dying language.
Brave is among the people working at an immersion school that teaches children of Indigenous families as young as 4 the Lakota language. Tribal leaders predict the language could be wiped out in a decade.
“In order to do our ceremonies, we have to be able to sing and speak in the language to the spirits. And so if we can’t do that, then we can’t continue to do our sacred ceremonies,” Carmelita Shouldis, who teaches at the school, told “Nightline.”
The school is looking to expand beyond its kindergarten to second grade classes.
Brave said she is proud of the work she’s done to regain her community’s heritage and culture and hopes that it will pay off for generations to come.
“I just really hope to be able to one day sit down with my kids, if I ever have any, and speak the language and just be able to converse in the Lakota language,” she said.
Former Vice President Mike Pence has been contacted by the Justice Department, which is seeking to question Pence in connection with DOJ’s ongoing probe into former President Donald Trump, the Jan. 6 riot and the efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election, sources familiar with the matter confirm to ABC News.
The former vice president is said to be considering the request, per sources.
The Department of Justice declined to comment when contacted by ABC News. A spokesperson for Pence did not respond to a request for comment.
Pence, who recently broke his silence on Trump and the events of Jan. 6 in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ David Muir, would be a critical witness for prosecutors.
As Pence told Muir, he was called on by Trump and his allies multiple times in the days leading up to Jan. 6 to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
“I mean, the president’s words were reckless. It was clear he decided to be part of the problem,” Pence told Muir regarding Trump’s speech to supporters on the morning of Jan. 6 prior to the attack on the Capitol.
The DOJ news was first reported by The New York Times.
“Sweet Yamz” is the name of Fetty Wap‘s latest single, but it also doubles as the name of his recent Thanksgiving giveaway.
Hosted Tuesday in his hometown of Paterson, New Jersey, the Sweet Yamz giveaway — a partnership with Fetty’s family, frequent collaborator Monty and Dr. Mills, principal of College Achieve Paterson — provided residents with free food and groceries ahead of turkey day. Hot 97’s DJ Drewski, a New Jersey native, was on the 1s and 2s.
“I’m very grateful for my fans and for my community because I wouldn’t be where I am without them,” Fetty said in a statement. “Giving back, especially in my hometown, is very important to me no matter what the circumstances are. Even though I can’t be there in person, shout-out to every single one of my fans, supporters, and everyone that’s still rocking with me!”
The song “Sweet Yamz” dropped Friday. It’s a “Zoomix” to the original “Yamz” by Masego and Devin Morrison.
It’s no secret Elton John enjoys watching his songs top the music charts. Now, he gets to celebrate another victory. “Hold Me Closer,” his collab with Britney Spears, has topped Billboard‘s Adult Pop Airplay Chart.
This becomes Sir Elton’s second #1 song on the chart following his “Cold Heart (Pnau Remix)” with Dua Lipa, which soared to the top in March. This particular leaderboard looks into the amount of times songs are played across adult Top 40 radio stations.
Sir Elton’s husband, David Furnish, told the outlet just how seriously the singer takes his music’s chart success. “He gets your charts daily. He them printed out on hard copies, because he goes through with highlighters. And he literally has different highlighters for different records he charts – ones from Britain, ones from America, the ones that are going up, ones that are his, ones that he has a connection to. He watches it daily,” Furnish dished.
“It feeds a part of his soul. And he’s absolutely over the moon with the way these new records have performed. And you know, you’re gonna see more,” he teased.
While this is Sir Elton’s second topper on the Adult Pop chart, “Hold Me Closer” marks Britney’s first leader. Previously, her best-charting single was the 2011 effort “Till the World Ends” featuring Kesha and Nicki Minaj.
(HONG KONG) — Violent clashes erupted between workers and hazmat-suited police officers at China’s so-called “iPhone city,” where about half of Apple’s smartphones are assembled.
Accounts on Chinese social media point to a combination of strict “zero-COVID” measures, a brewing labor dispute and the pressure for factory workers to deliver ahead of a busy holiday season that caused frustration among employees at the manufacturing plant in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou.
Videos that appear to show hundreds of angry workers throwing sticks and bricks at security forces and then officers subduing and beating protestors popped up on Chinese social media Tuesday night into Wednesday as quickly as Chinese government censors raced to delete them.
The enormous factory complex is operated by Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that is the world’s largest technology manufacturer.
COVID-19 infections across China are nearing record levels this week, testing Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s signature “zero-COVID” strategy — a program that seeks to track and eliminate every new COVID case — as well as the slowing Chinese economy.
In late October, tens of thousands of Foxconn workers walked off the job at the same factory fearing a COVID lockdown after widespread claims that the city of Zhengzhou had mismanaged a COVID-19 outbreak. This led to Apple issuing a statement earlier this month that shipments of its latest lineup of iPhones will be “temporarily impacted” by COVID restrictions in China.
In an effort to keep remaining workers to stay on, the local government and Foxconn offered generous incentives and started an aggressive recruitment drive for new workers willing to move to the Zhengzhou campus.
Recruitment ads circulating on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, touted a 6,000 to 10,000 Yuan (roughly $840 to $1400) signing bonus. Those ads began being censored late in the day Wednesday.
Last week, an executive at the Foxconn campus told the Chinese business outlet Yicai that they had successfully recruited more than 100,000 new workers who began arriving from around China last weekend.
Video on TikTok-like app Kuaishou said the workers who arrived over the weekend having to first quarantine at an isolation facility for four days.
When the new crop of workers emerged out of quarantine, many started to accuse Foxconn on social media of changing the terms of their contract and withholding the incentive bonus until they work through May of next year.
Foxconn in a statement to ABC News acknowledged the “violence” at the plant and said “on the evening of November 22, some new hires to the Zhengzhou Park campus appealed to the company regarding the work allowance, which they had doubts about.”
The statement added, “[Foxconn] has emphasized that the allowance has always been fulfilled based on contractual obligation.”
Foxconn also highlighted “speculation” among the new recruits that they would be sharing dorms with COVID positive employees, calling it “untrue.”
The new employees will only be allowed in once a government inspection clears the facility, the company said.
Foxconn said that they “will continue to communicate with employees and the government to prevent similar incidents from happening again.”
Machine Gun Kelly has premiered a new song called “Taurus,” recorded for the upcoming movie of the same name.
The track features guest vocals by Naomi Wild, who, along with Kelly, stars in Taurus. It’s available now via digital outlets and is accompanied by a video, streaming now on YouTube, that features footage from the film.
In Taurus, MGK plays a character named Cole, a “rising but troubled musician.” The film premiered earlier this year at the Tribeca Film Festival and is out now in select theaters and on-demand.
The song “Taurus” follows Kelly’s new album Mainstream Sellout, which dropped in March. The record is up for Best Rock Album at the 2023 Grammys, and Kelly just took home Favorite Rock Artist at the 2022 American Music Awards.
The day after Thanksgiving, Debbie Gibson kicks off her Winterlicious tour in support of her new holiday album of the same name. It’s actually Debbie’s first-ever Christmas project, because unlike most teen stars, she refused to strike while the iron was hot.
“I didn’t want to churn out a holiday album just to capitalize on my success, which I feel like a lot of artists were doing at that time,” she tells ABC Audio. “Their labels were like, ‘Quick, let’s get out the holiday record and cash in!’ That I knew I didn’t want to do.”
After years of acting and doing stage musicals, returning to recording, playing Las Vegas and battling health issues, Debbie says, “I woke up and it’s like, ‘Oh my God, yeah, it is 36 years later. Here I am now. OK, well, let’s do it now.'”
The album features holiday favorites, duets with her pal Joey McIntyreand her father, and new original songs Debbie wrote. For the tour, she’s mixing them together with her her past hits, like “Shake Your Love” and “Lost In Your Eyes,” some of which will get holiday makeovers.
“I am working out some arrangements of my hits to fit the vibe of the holiday album,” she says. For example, she’s reworking “Only In My Dreams” to match the “campfire” vibe of one of the new songs, “Christmas Dreams,” so she can do them as a “little dream medley.”
As for that album title, if something is “winterlicious,” what does it taste like? Debbie explains:
“Winterlicious is, like, a drink and a smell for me, and it involves peppermint and vanilla and chocolate,” she laughs. “It’s kind of like the pumpkin spice latte of the holiday season!”
Bruce Springsteen has just landed another chart milestone. The Boss’ latest album, Only The Strong Survive, tops the Billboard Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums charts this week, moving 40,000 equivalent album units.
The new number one marks the eighth time Bruce has topped both of these charts since they began in 2006. He first reached number one on them with 2007’s Magic.
Springsteen is now tied with John Mayer for the most number ones on the Top Rock and Alternative Albums charts. The Beatles, Coldplay, Dave Matthews and Tom Petty are just behind them, with six each.
In addition to the album chart success, two songs from Only The Strong Survive land on the Rock Digital Song Sales chart this week. “Nightshift” lands at eight, while “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted” is at 16.
On Wednesday, the longest Star Wars TV series to date, Andor, wraps up on Disney+.
The show, which shows the early days of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story‘s Cassian Andor and his journey to the Rebellion, was co-produced by Diego Luna and executive produced by Tony Gilroy, the man credited with turning around the messy production on Rogue, and turning the film into one of the most-loved Star Wars movies in a generation.
The well-received 12-episode series scored a follow-up, with shooting already underway on a sophomore season. ABC Audio asked Gilroy what he could say about the new season.
As it turns out, the show will span many years and lead right into the moment we first met Cassian, when he interrogated — and eventually kills — a contact who had secret information for him.
Gilroy explains, “When we finish episode 12…it’ll still be four years until the events of Rogue One. And in the second half of the show [there’s] another 12 episodes.” [I]nstead of covering one year, we’ll cover four years,” he continued. “And we will — I mean, there’s no secret — we’re going to walk him in, the last scene of the show, be him walking to the ship to go to the Rings of Kafrene to go see Danny Mays [who played Tivik] at the beginning of Rogue.”
