Keith Urban’s currently looking ahead to his big return to the road: His The Speed of Now Tour launches this month.
The live show veteran has played all over the place, and his current tour will traverse the U.S. and make a few stops in Canada and his native Australia. But the absolute craziest crowd he’s ever played to? It’s gotta be the UK, he tells ET Online.
“All of the UK. Every single show,” Keith reveals. “It’s like a soccer final. It is insane.”
Keith’s hoping to keep the energy high in every city he goes to, and over the years, he’s learned that it’s important to take breaks in between shows if you want to keep the energy up.
“I’m lucky where I can do a few shows and then come home for a few days. I structured the tour where I can do that,” he continues. “…It also keeps the shows fresh. ‘Cause I’ve been to plenty of shows where you can tell, ‘That person probably needs to take a break.’”
To find a stop on Keith’s The Speed of Now Tour near you, head over to his tour calendar.
Lightyearblasts off into theaters Friday and Chris Evans, who plays the iconic space ranger, teased that fans will see a side of Buzz Lightyear not explored in the Toy Story movies.
Speaking to ABC Audio, Evans compared Buzz to Captain America, whom he brought to life in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the two are very different characters, Evans said they have a lot in common.
“I suppose when it comes to their heroism, it’s rooted in a sense of duty and responsibility, morality, dedication, focus, honesty,” said Evans. “A lot of their heroic traits overlap.”
So … is Evans Team Cap or Team Buzz?
“I got to go with Cap,” he declared, noting that, because he’s played the first Avenger since 2011, “That’s where my allegiance lies.”
Although Evans is in “Cap’s corner” right now, he hinted that his feelings toward Buzz could change “if I play this role for another 10 years.” He said that would “be a harder question to answer.”
Evans is excited his next adventure took him off planet Earth and into the cosmos. As it turns out, the 41-year-old actor is a big fan of films set in space and listed off his favorite childhood movies.
“I loved all the Alien movies. I really loved Apollo 13 when I was younger,” he raved. Evans also has a soft spot for Gravity, adding, “They really did a great job of bringing you to space and making you feel the kind of vastness and emptiness of the world.”
Lightyear, also starring Keke Palmer, Taika Waititi, James Brolin and Uzo Aduba, is now in theaters.
Maybe Thomas Rhett is just a trendsetter: In 2019, when he wrote his song “Bring the Bar to You,” he was feeling inspired by Latin music, but he had no idea that the Disney film Encanto was two years away from taking the world by storm.
Now, with “Bring the Bar to You” on the track list of his new album — and the namesake of his next tour — TR jokes that his song sounds quite a bit like one of the Encanto soundtrack’s most popular hits.
“And now that this song is coming out when ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ is out at the same time, makes me feel really good about life,” he continues. “Because we have been watching Encanto severely. And this song reminds me of that song.”
Meanwhile, there’s another unintentionally timely element to “Bring the Bar to You”: He wrote it before the COVID-19 pandemic, but in light of the 2020 shutdowns, its themes of making your own fun instead of heading out to a bar are more relatable than ever.
TR and his wife, Lauren Akins, have certainly learned a thing or two about making a party for themselves at home. “Me and Lauren got real good at bringing the bar to each other during 2020. I don’t think we saw a bar for a year and a half,” he remembers.
“So we got really good at getting creative with date night,” Thomas adds, “whether it was cooking together, watching a movie downstairs, opening a bottle of wine, whatever it was.”
But it’s also a “party jam,” he points out, making it the perfect namesake for his tour. TR’s Bring the Bar to You Tour kicks off on Friday.
Paul McCartney, arguably the most famous and influential rock artist on the planet, celebrates his 80th birthday this Saturday, January 18.
McCartney, of course, is known first and foremost for being a member of The Beatles, along with the late John Lennon, the late George Harrison and Ringo Starr. McCartney and Lennon co-led the band, which not only set countless charts records, but whose music and style changed popular culture.
After The Beatles’ 1970 breakup, McCartney mounted a successful solo career that included a long stint fronting the band Wings. He also took part in a variety of memorable collaborations.
The rock legend has remained a vibrant creative force into his golden years, as he continues to tour regularly and record new music.
On Thursday, McCartney wrapped up the first leg of his Got Back Tour, with a show at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and he’s scheduled to headline this year’s edition of the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival on June 25.
Sir Paul’s most recent studio album, McCartney III, which he recorded almost entirely by himself during the COVID-19 lockdown, was released in December 2020.
The acclaimed Disney+ docuseries The Beatles: Get Back, which premiered in November 2021 and focused on the Fab Four’s historic January 1969 sessions that yielded the Let It Be album, sparked a renewed appreciation for McCartney’s creation contributions to the Fab Four.
Also in the past year, Paul appeared in the Hulu documentary miniseries McCartney 3,2,1, which featuring him in conversation with producer Rick Rubin; he published the illustrated children’s book Grandude’s Green Submarine, a sequel to his 2019 book, Hey Grandude!; and he released the book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, which offers a self-portrait of the music icon while profiling 154 songs he’s written throughout his long career.
Meanwhile, a variety of special events are planned this weekend in McCartney’s hometown of Liverpool, U.K., to mark his milestone birthday. They include tribute concerts, a Macca-themed sightseeing tour and special performances at Paul’s childhood home. Find out more details about the celebrations at TheGuideLiverpool.com.
Father’s Day is Sunday and one of pop music’s most high-profile dads, Michael Bublé, will soon become a father for the fourth time. He and his wife, Luisana Lopilato, already parents to sons Noah and Elias and daughter Vida, are expecting a baby girl. Michael, whose Instagram bio lists him as “Devoted Papi,” couldn’t be happier.
“Very proud,” Michael told ABC Audio when asked how he feels about the fact that his wife is expecting again. He then joked, “Hard-earned I would say…a minute-and-a-half of some of the greatest work!”
All kidding aside, though, Michael evidently loves being a girl dad. He told ABC Audio, “I love having boys. I’ve got two boys. But when I heard it was a girl, I was so excited. Like, it’s amazing! There’s a kind of love that the girl gives you, and it’s so nice.”
But before he could be accused of playing favorites, Michael was careful to note, “I love having healthy kids, and I love being a dad. And I love that my wife went for one more. So I take as many as possible.”
You can see all three of Michael’s children in the video for his latest hit, “I’ll Never Not Love You.” His son Noah, who’ll be nine in August, co-wrote the title track of Michael’s latest album, Higher.
Otherwise has premiered a new song called “Full Disclosure.”
In a statement about the straightforward track, guitarist Ryan Patrick says, “We’ve met people who are different from their stage persona.”
“It’s genuine frustration with people who aren’t what they seem,” Patrick shares. “This is who we are.”
Vocalist Adrian Patrick adds, “To sum it up as a former business law major/minor, ‘Full Disclosure’ is a legal term, and it means what you see is what you f***ing get.”
You can listen to “Full Disclosure” now via digital outlets.
“Full Disclosure” is the first song to be released off the next Otherwise album. The upcoming record — title and release date TBA — will follow 2019’s Defy, which includes the single “Lifted.”
Having finished touring her native Canada, Avril Lavigne hits the U.S. Friday, joining her pal Machine Gun Kelly‘s in-progress Mainstream Sellout Tour. While Avril plans to play about half of her new album, Love Sux, she says she’ll revisit her entire back catalog — and the memories associated with it.
“It’s important for me to play songs from all seven of my records. So I’ll play all the hits from over the years, some from each album,” she tells ABC Audio. “And I think that’s fun because it’s like going on a journey with me [and] with my music over the last 20 years.”
Avril says she loves the fact that performing her past hits takes her fans back to a certain place and time in their lives.
“It’s kind of nostalgic, y’know? You tie memories to certain songs and I hear that from people all the time,” she shares. “They’re like, ‘Oh, I listen to ‘Sk8er Boi,’ it takes me back to high school!'”
Avril laughs, “I’m like, ‘Yeah, it takes me back to making my first album and coming out to LA for the first time and dropping out of high school!”
The singer, who’s engaged to boyfriend Mod Sun, notes, “I have my memories attached to the songs and then other people have theirs: falling in love, summer, whatever it is. And so that’s so fun. and I love that! And it’s kind of like this, emotional journey…That’s what I love about music. It’s so powerful.”
Avril’s tour with MGK runs through August 13. In September, she starts a run of festival appearances, including Brazil’s Rock in Rio, Delaware’s Firefly Music Festival, and the emo-tastic When We Were Young festival in Las Vegas. Then she’s off to Asia and Europe for more shows.
Xernona Clayton‘s entrance onto the blue carpet of the 2022 Trumpet Awards in April was quiet but grand, similar to her humble recollection of the history-rich 91 years of her life. Though welcoming of questions about her mission as the creator of the Black awards show, Clayton was eager to delve into her career and life story beyond the Trumpets. Ahead of the 30th annual Trumpet Awards airing on Juneteenth, ABC Audio spoke with Clayton about her humanitarianism.
“I think I’ve done some things that were momentous but people always pick out the Trumpets,” Clayton said jokingly via Zoom call from her home in Atlanta. “Everything else has kind of been forgotten. But that’s OK.”
Born Xernona Brewster on August 30, 1930, Clayton was raised in the segregated small town of Muskogee, Oklahoma, by her part-Indian mother and Black father. She grew up to become an integral leader of the civil rights movement.
Clayton investigated employment discrimination with the National Urban League; became the first Black person in the South to host a prime-time television talk show; and was good friends with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King.
“I’ve fulfilled commitments through the work of Dr. King, and I became an integral part of the organization,” she said of her time working at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta.
Clayton and her late first husband, Ed Clayton, the Jet Magazine editor who stopped the presses to put Emmett Till‘s bludgeoned photo on the cover, relocated to Atlanta at the request of the Kings in 1965. She says they “trusted me implicitly” to do the civil and social work.
In 1968, Clayton drove King to the Atlanta airport ahead of his flight to Memphis, two days before his assassination. She tells people of their close relationship, “Once I met him and went to work for him, I stayed with him to the end, literally.”
She once got a key member of the Ku Klux Klan to renounce the white supremacist organization. She was also the driving force behind the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame. For more than 50 years, her profound accomplishments have contributed to the advancement of America’s promise of liberty and justice for all.
While she couldn’t quite articulate what legacy she hopes to leave behind, she did offer a piece of advice: “Don’t occupy space on Earth as your contribution, do something.”
Bonnaroo has finally returned, and Judah & the Lion is ready to jam again.
The “Take It All Back” outfit is set to perform at the Tennessee festival — which is back this year after being canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic and weather, respectively — this Saturday. The set will essentially be a hometown show for the Nashville-based band, and they plan to celebrate accordingly.
“We’re going all out on the production,” frontman Judah Akers tells ABC Audio.
This year marks Judah & the Lion’s second performance at Bonnaroo, following their debut in 2016. However, they have a long history of attending the festival as fans.
“When we were in college, we would go and camp for the four days,” Akers shares. “We just love that festival a lot.”
The Bonnaroo set will also give Judah a chance to play songs off their new album, Revival, which dropped last Friday. Perhaps they’ll bring out the single “Scream!”, which, ironically, doesn’t have any screaming on it. Instead, Akers merely whispers the word “scream” on the song.
“We talked about it, ’cause I scream a lot on certain songs,” Akers explains. “When we were talking about, [we thought] it feels like the fans should be the ones to do it.”
Playing “Scream!” live, Akers thinks, will be an opportune time to let the crowd let their emotions fly.
“We wanted to subtly play at that whisper that we did on the track,” Akers says. “But we’re hoping that the fans gravitate [to it] live and will take over that spot.”
Even if you’re not going to Bonnaroo this year, you can still “Scream!” along to Judah & the Lion’s set, which will air via Hulu’s livestream of the festival.
(WASHINGTON) — New details and never-before-seen photographs have emerged about the “heated” phone call between President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021.
The information came out in the House select committee’s third public hearing this month in its investigation of the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The panel on Thursday focused on the intense pressure placed on Pence by Trump and others to single-handedly overturn Joe Biden’s electoral victory in the 2020 presidential race.
Pence refused Trump’s last-ditch demands, which witnesses said sparked a mocking response from Trump.
The committee shared new photographs of Trump on that very phone call, which it obtained from the National Archives. Another exhibit showed a handwritten note on Trump’s schedule that the call was slated to take place at 11:20 a.m., just hours before a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol as Pence was presiding over Congress certifying Biden’s win.
“The conversation got pretty heated,” Ivanka Trump, the ex-president’s daughter who was in the room, told the committee in a videotaped deposition.
She recalled the phone call representing a “different tone” from what she’d previously heard her father use with Pence.
Other aides who were also inside the Oval Office echoed Ivanka Trump’s alarm.
Eric Herschmann, then was serving as the White House counsel, told lawmakers that the conversation started off with a “calmer tone” but “then it became heated.” Herschmann said he didn’t think many people were paying attention to the call until it became “louder.”
Nicholas Luna, Trump’s former assistant, told the committee he was delivering a note to the Oval Office when he overheard some of Trump’s side of the conversation.
“I remember hearing the word ‘wimp,'” Luna said in a taped deposition. “Either he called him a wimp, I don’t remember if he said, ‘You are a wimp, you’ll be a wimp.’ Wimp is the word I remember.”
Julie Radford, Ivanka Trump’s former chief of staff, said in her deposition she remembered being told by Ivanka Trump “her dad had just had an upsetting conversation with the vice president.”
Radford said she was told the former president had called Pence “the p-word.”
Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Pence’s national security adviser at the time, said in a taped deposition that he remembers Trump telling Pence he wasn’t “tough enough.”
Greg Jacob, who served as Pence’s legal counsel between December 2020 and January 2021, testified live on Thursday about what he experienced on the other side of the call.
Jacob said he and several other people were with Pence finalizing his statement on why he couldn’t unilaterally reject state electors when Pence stepped out of the room to receive the call from Trump.
“No staff went with him,” Jacob told the committee.
After the call, Jacob testified, Pence appeared to be “steely, determined, grim.”
The House select committee on Thursday commended the former vice president for his “courage” in rejecting Trump’s demands.
“Donald Trump wanted Mike Pence to do something no other vice president has ever done,” Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in his opening remarks.
“The former president wanted Pence to reject the votes and either declare Trump the winner, or send the votes back to the states to be counted again,” Thompson continued. “Mike Pence said no. He resisted the pressure. He knew it was illegal. He knew it was wrong.”
Rep. Pete Aguilar, a Democrat who led the hearing Thursday, said it was a “pressure campaign that built to a fever pitch with a heated phone call on Jan. 6.”
Jan. 6 Committee member Rep. Aguilar says Americans will hear “how Vice Pres. Pence withstood an onslaught of pressure from Pres. Trump, both publicly and privately.”
The committee also revealed new photographs of Pence and his family hiding in an underground location of the Capitol complex as Trump supporters stormed the building.
In one photo, Pence is seen looking at a tweet Trump had just sent asking rioters to leave the area.
Pence remained in the underground location for four hours as law enforcement officials eventually pushed back the mob.
Jacob, Pence’s former adviser, told the committee that Pence decided to stay in the area so as to “not to take any chance that the world would see the vice president of the United States fleeing the United States Capitol.”
Jacob also testified that Trump didn’t check in on Pence at all during that time, which left Pence frustrated.
ABC News on Wednesday published exclusively-obtained White House photos of the Pence family after he was evacuated from the Senate floor, where the joint session of Congress was taking place.
