Foo Fighters have announced a tour of Australia and New Zealand for later this year.
The outing kicks off November 30 in Perth, and will wrap up mid-December. For the full list of dates and ticket info, visit FrontierTouring.com.
The news comes after Dave Grohl and company headlined Australia’s GMHBA Stadium last Friday, which marked the country’s first full-capacity stadium concert headlined by an international act since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020.
Foo Fighters are scheduled to launch a U.S. headlining tour in May. In addition to catching them on the road, you can see the Foos on the silver screen in their new movie Studio 666, in theaters now.
These days, Jason Aldean is celebrating the release of Macon, Georgia, a double album and the 10th full-length project of his career.
The star is one of country music’s veterans, with a total of 14 ACM trophies — including three Entertainer of the Year wins — under his belt. But he still remembers how he first got to know the awards show as a fan, when he was a little kid.
“I remember when this show would come on at my house as a kid,” Jason tells ABC Audio. “It was a big deal. Big night. We didn’t have YouTube and all these things to go and watch our artists whenever we wanted to. That was a chance for us to see them on live TV, that one time of year.”
Seeing artists like George Strait and Garth Brooks on the big stage also spurred on a then-young Jason hoping to pursue country music. Now, Jason’s paying it forward, returning to the stage as one of the genre’s biggest stars himself.
“[To] get to come back and be part of that legacy, to me, is just so cool,” he continues.
“Sometimes I don’t even know how I got here,” Jason reflects. “But I’m just thankful to get a chance to be here and be around as long as I have been.”
Jason is a three-time nominee at tonight’s show, and he’s also performing. The 2022 ACMs air tonight at 8 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime Video. Dolly Parton is co-hosting the show with Gabby Barrett and Jimmie Allen.
Kelsea Ballerini and Kenny Chesney have ascended to #1 on the country charts with “Half of My Hometown,” and it’s got Kelsea all in her feels.
The personal song chronicles Kelsea’s upbringing in Knoxville, TN and marks her seventh #1 hit on country radio, and Kenny’s 35th.
To celebrate its success, Kelsea posted a sincere reflection on Instagram about why “Hometown” is her “favorite” among her hits. “Sometimes leaving is the only way you understand the importance of where you’re from. If you want to know more about yourself, go back and find it. Wherever you put your roots down, honor them. Water them. It doesn’t have to look like your neighbors,” she shares in a series of bullet points.
“My years in Knoxville shaped my creativity, my drive, and my sense of self. I wouldn’t be doing this had I grown up anywhere else,” she continues. “Leaving at 15 to go chase this dream down was the hardest and best decision I’ve ever made.”
Kelsea goes on to praise her duet partner and fellow Knoxville native, recalling how she used to listen to Kenny’s 1996 cover of “Back Where I Come From” in her parents’ Jeep growing up. “@kennychesney you showed up in every way for this song and have become such a friend and brother through it,” Kelsea praised, also thanking country radio, her team and co-writers Shane McAnally, Nicolle Galyon, Ross Copperman and Jimmy Robbins.
“Half of My Hometown” is nominated for Music Event of the Year at the ACM Awards, airing Monday night at 8 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime Video.
(NEW YORK) — As inflation continues to send food prices soaring, more Americans are turning to dollar stores to save on groceries. But can you find healthier options while still cutting costs?
While dollar stores are usually known to carry highly processed, packaged foods, some are beginning to offer nuts, fruits, vegetables and dairy products.
ABC News’ Becky Worley appeared on Good Morning America Monday to discuss what healthy options you may be able to find at a dollar store near you:
Some new details have been announced regarding the sixth annual edition of the star-studded Love Rocks NYC! benefit concert, which is being headlined by Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and takes place this Thursday, March 10, at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.
In addition to being a ticketed in-person event, the show also will now be available to view as a livestream. You’ll be able to access a link to watch the event for free by signing up at LoveRocksNYC.com, where you’ll also be encouraged to contribute funds to the charity, which is offering a special “$20 = 2 Meals” donation option.
The Love Rocks NYC! concert raises money for the God’s Love We Deliver charity, which provides nutritious meals to seriously ill people in the New York City area who have difficulty leaving their homes.
In other news, singer/songwriter Ben Harper has joined the show’s lineup. As previously reported, Richards will be reuniting with his solo group The X-Pensive Winos to headline the event, while the bill also features Melissa Etheridge, Mavis Staples, ex-Allman Brothers Band singer/guitarist Warren Haynes, Hozier, Jimmy Vivino and many more.
The show will be co-hosted by Mario Cantone, Gina Gershon, Kiefer Sutherland, Steve Schirripa and Michelle Buteau.
The event’s house band will be led by longtime CBS Orchestra bassist Will Lee, and will include former Bob Dylan and Levon Helm touring guitarist Larry Campbell, Eric Clapton touring drummer Steve Gadd, and Fleetwood Mac touring keyboardist Ricky Peterson.
You can find out more information about the concert at LoveRocksNYC.com and GLWD.org.
Footage of a young Ukrainian girl singing “Let It Go,” from Frozen, inside a bomb shelter went viral over the weekend — and caught the attention of one of the movie’s stars, Idina Menzel.
“We see you. We really, really see you,” the Tony-winning actress and the voice of the movie’s Elsa tweeted, following her comments with the two hearts in yellow and blue, the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
According to the original Facebook post, the brave little singer’s name is Amelia, and amid the horrors of the Russian invasion of the country, her mother allowed a Facebook user named Marta Smekhova to record Amelia’s performance on Thursday.
“From the first word in the [bomb shelter] came complete silence,” Smekhova notes. “…[E]veryone put their business aside and listen[ed] to a song by this girl who was just beaming light… even men couldn’t hold back the tears.”
The video of the little singer has been shared more than 108,000 times on Facebook as of Monday morning, liked more than 130,000 times on Twitter, and has gone viral on other social media platforms as well.
(NEW YORK) — Americans like Chris and Amy Clary are booking Airbnb vacation rentals online in a bid to help Ukrainians directly amid Russian attacks of the Eastern European country.
The Clarys are in Texas but they’ve booked five Airbnbs in Kyiv and outside the capital.
“We wanted to get money into people that are living there. And they’re desperate for funds, obviously for food, maybe to get out of town,” Chris Clary told ABC News’ Good Morning America.
Airbnb said it is “humbled by the inspiring generosity” of people looking to help through the platform.
“Airbnb is temporarily waiving guest and Host fees on bookings in Ukraine at this time,” the San Francisco-based company told GMA in a statement.
The company said on March 2 and 3, it saw more than 61,000 bookings in Ukraine, including more than 34,000 by U.S. guests. It has also set up a website — Airbnb.org — dedicated to helping people in emergencies. There have been over 1.2 million visits to the site already.
“Airbnb allows them to get funds almost immediately and directly to the source,” said Chris Clary. “I believe it’s important because those people need as much assistance as possible and as quickly as possible.”
Added his wife Amy: “I get to chat with the host. You know, find out how they’re doing. Are they OK? And ask questions. And it really makes it like a personal connection to what’s going on in Ukraine and to the Ukrainian people.”
The Clarys said they try to look for Airbnb listings that feature family photos and reviews from past bookings. They also send messages to hosts first with questions before booking.
“When you get the messages back, they are incredibly grateful. It really brings you to tears whenever you read them,” Chris Clary said.
The Clarys say they’ve inspired friends to do the same and hope to keep the momentum going, looking next into booking short-term stays in Poland, which borders Ukraine to the northwest.
Celebrities are also joining the growing number of people looking to help people caught in the Russian and Ukrainian conflict that began on Feb. 24.
Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher launched an online fundraiser called “Stand With Ukraine” to help Ukrainians. In a video message introducing the campaign, Kunis said she was born in Ukraine and emigrated to the U.S. in 1991 with her family and has “never been more proud to be a Ukrainian.”
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have also announced they would match donations up to $1 million for the nonprofit UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency.
Bethenny Frankel, the former reality TV star, has also used her BStrong initiative to get aid to Ukraine and neighboring countries like Poland, Hungary and Romania.
Former Dancing With the Stars choreographer Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who recently escaped Ukraine amid the escalating conflict, said he’s also working to help people in the region with his wife, dancer Peta Murgatroyd. They said they’ve started an Amazon store where people can buy items for people in need.
Machine Gun Kelly is bringing Bring Me the Horizon to a new song.
The “Bloody Valentine” rocker and Horizon frontman Oli Sykes made a surprise appearance at Los Angeles’ Emo Night event last Friday night, where they premiered a never-before-heard collaborative track. Fan-shot footage of the performance is streaming now on YouTube.
Kelly later tweeted that the official recording of the song would be released “soon.”
We’d guess that the track will appear on MGK’s upcoming album Mainstream Sellout, which arrives March 25. The follow-up to 2020’s Tickets to My Downfall features the WILLOW and Lil Wayne collaborations “Emo Girl” and “Ay!”, respectively.
A track with Kelly would follow a string of recent collabs for Sykes and Horizon, including “Let’s Get the Party Started” with Tom Morello and a joint rendition of Ed Sheeran‘s “Bad Habits.”
If you’ve ever wondered whether Taylor Swift is a Marvel or a DC kinda gal, it appears we have our answer.
Taylor took to her Instagram Stories over the weekend to praise the new film The Batman, and, in particular, Zoë Kravitz‘s portrayal of the iconic character, Catwoman. Taylor posted a photo of Kravitz onscreen in the film, which appears to have been taken in a theater or screening room.
“@zoeisabellakravitz IS THE CATWOMAN OF DREAMS,” Taylor captioned the post. “The Batman was PHENOMENAL!!”
Taylor and Zoë have apparently been friends for quite a while: There are photos of them out together in New York City in 2016.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader, opened with $128.5 million at the box office this weekend, the second-best opening of the pandemic era. Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home was first.
(NEW YORK) — As war in Ukraine rages on, several peace talks and increasing economic sanctions against Russia have failed thus far to stop the aggression.
Ukrainians have withstood days of airstrikes and shelling across multiple cities since the invasion began on Feb. 24. The better-equipped Russian military has shown no signs of de-escalation and has claimed to have taken control of several areas of Ukraine, though it has also been slowed by Ukrainian resistance.
How far Russian President Vladimir Putin will go, how much longer Ukrainian forces can hold out and what exactly it would take to end the conflict are key questions in the war.
“No one has a crystal ball, and it is very difficult to predict outcomes of conflict,” said retired Gen. Robert Abrams, an ABC News contributor and the former commander of U.S. forces in Korea.
Amid “unprecedented” sanctions against Russia and the stronger-than-expected Ukrainian resistance, “what appears to be happening is Putin is becoming even more resolved,” Abrams said. He pointed to threatening comments Putin made Saturday about Ukraine’s statehood, which “in plain speak means Russia is intent to invade, occupy and make Ukraine part of Russia, and erase the name Ukraine and replace it with Russia. That’s new. And that is an indication that it will be difficult to judge how far Putin will go.”
Role of international aid
When asked at a Thursday news conference by ABC News senior foreign correspondent Ian Pannell how long Ukraine can hold out against the Russian advance, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, “I don’t know.”
One key factor in Ukraine’s fight is the level of support from the international community, including NATO, the European Union and the United Nations, Abrams said.
The United States has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine, and millions more in lethal aid has been sent by NATO and several EU countries.
“I think there are many other things that we can do to support the Ukrainian military and the Ukrainian people,” like arms, ammunition, enhanced communications and food, Abrams said. “It’s going to require continuous and predictable resupply into Ukraine to be able to give them the means necessary to defend themselves.”
During a Zoom call Saturday with more than 300 U.S. lawmakers, Zelenskyy pleaded for more air support, including drones and planes, Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., a co-chair of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus, told ABC News Live. Quigley said the president also repeated his call for a no-fly zone over Ukraine — something experts have argued could very quickly escalate into a “World War III”-type scenario.
“To those who are advocating for a no-fly zone, we just need to all ask the question, are we prepared for the consequence — basically starting World War III?” Abrams said. “I don’t think we are, I don’t think it’s worth the risk of that sort of level of conflict, because that’s what is coming. President Putin has made it clear that anybody that intervenes militarily will be treated as an enemy. That’s not a bluff.”
“And he is prepared to escalate this conflict as high as anybody wants to go,” he continued.
Morale on both sides
Another key factor in the outcome of the conflict is how long Ukrainians can “maintain their will,” Abrams said.
“How much are they willing to sacrifice for their country?” he said. “It is crystal clear that they have been galvanized, that the country has been galvanized, the Ukrainian people are fighting for their country and for their way of life. … What will that look like on day 60? Day 120? That is difficult to predict.”
President Joe Biden remarked during his State of the Union last week that the Ukrainians’ “fearlessness, their courage, their determination, literally inspires the world.”
Zelenskyy has been a key part of maintaining morale, Abrams said.
“He has been masterful in leading his country in this conflict,” Abrams said. “He is sharing the same hardships, he is communicating with his people. He’s constantly communicating with the international community.”
That connection can help Ukraine prevail, he said, though “we’re in for some very, very difficult, tough days and tough images, for those of us outside looking in.”
Meanwhile, Russia’s military, though superior, has been dogged by logistical challenges, including food and fuel shortages, and a “lack of cohesion and discipline,” which could work in Ukraine’s favor, Abrams said.
“I think that’s the bigger picture that people really need to understand about the dynamics and what makes soldiers fight with the ferocity and intensity that we would expect to see,” he said. “It boils down to, do you believe in what you’re fighting for? And in this case, I think what we’re seeing is not necessarily extensive effects of lack of food or fuel — that certainly does have a role to play — but I don’t think the Russian military believes in what they’re fighting for.”
A possible off-ramp
The “Russian playbook” indicates that its military will continue to bomb and shell Ukrainian cities and “choke them out,” according to Abrams — pointing to Aleppo, Syria, and Grozny, Chechnya, as examples — in order to take over and instate its own puppet government.
The international community, in particular NATO members, has been closely watching the conflict in hopes of preventing it from escalating beyond Ukraine’s borders as well.
A senior White House official told ABC News the administration has been discussing efforts to make sure Putin is not completely boxed in with no way out but to fight.
Abrams said he thinks there is a chance for a potential “off-ramp” for Russia, “but it will require compromise.”
That could look like Putin getting at least one of his demands met, such as Ukraine recognizing the two breakaway regions in the Donbas region as separate states, a guarantee of neutrality in Ukraine or a commitment that Ukraine never joins NATO.
“History tells us to end these wars, there’s always going to have to be compromise, because I don’t think we’re going to find either side giving unconditional surrender. That’s the other alternative, and I think that’s highly, highly unlikely,” Abrams said.
Though much remains unclear at this time, two things are certain, Abrams said.
“I think we can be certain that the vast majority of the cities in Ukraine are likely to be decimated and destroyed,” he said. “I say that because the Ukrainian resistance, their armed forces and their people, has been so strong, so capable, and it has come as a complete surprise to the Russian military … and as a result, the Russian military has already basically taken the gloves off and they’re using what we call dumb bombs — non-precision-guided munitions, rockets and artillery — in suburban areas and housing areas, destroying civilian infrastructure.”
Additionally, the conflict is going to displace millions of people, he said. So far, over 1.5 million people have fled Ukraine, and the United Nations has predicted that 10 million Ukrainians ultimately could be displaced by the war.
“There’s nothing good coming out of this war,” Abrams said. “The stories of the courage and heroism and just the grit, the real grit of the Ukrainian people — it’s inspiring. But their country is slowly being destroyed, one village at a time.”
