If you’ve ever wanted to see Ed Sheeran in relatively intimate surroundings, book yourself a ticket to the U.K. now. That’s because Ed has announced a handful of smallish shows in advance of his upcoming stadium tour.
On Instagram, Ed wrote, “I’m going to be doing some warm up shows for my tour in the next few weeks. These are very low key shows where I get to try out all the new tunes before taking them into the stadiums. Some nights there will be mistakes. But that is where the fun starts.”
Starting March 21, Ed will play three dates at London’s Electric Ballroom, two shows at Concorde 2 in Brighton, and two shows in London’s Alexandra Palace Theater. You can get tickets at EdSheeran.com.
The Electric Ballroom only holds 1,500 people, the Alexandra Palace Theater between 900 and 1,300, and the Concorde 2 just 600. So by the time you read this, all those shows may very well have sold out.
Ed’s European stadium tour kicks off April 23 in Dublin. So far, no North American dates have been announced.
All the dates come in support of Ed’s latest album, = (Equals).
(WASHINGTON) — Following weeks of speculation about what President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address on March 1 would look like — amid pandemic safety concerns — all members of Congress have been invited to attend the speech this year, signaling a softening of restrictions.
The House sergeant-at-arms announced in a memo on Thursday that all 535 members of the House and Senate could safely gather in the House chamber on March 1 as pandemic restrictions continue to ease across the country.
The decision to extend the invitation to all members of Congress was made in consultation with the Capitol’s Office of the Attending Physician, according to the memo.
Per the memo, anyone attending the address in person will be required to present a negative PCR test, wear a K/N95 mask, and fill out a health attestation form. Social distancing will still be required. Boosters are “strongly recommended.” Members will also not be permitted to bring guests, as is usually customary in the pre-COVID era.
The memo also noted: “failure to follow guidelines or removal of the mask in the House Chamber will result in the attendee’s removal from the event and/or fines.”
Biden made a speech to a limited audience due to Covid concerns in April 2021. At the time, the chamber was filled to approximately only 20% capacity, and Republicans largely skipped the event altogether.
Typically, there are more than 1,600 people attending presidential speeches. Last year, there were roughly only 200 people in the chamber.
It’s unclear how many, if any, Republicans will attend the address in person this year.
Republicans have loudly complained about the ongoing mask mandate that still exists for anyone entering the House chamber.
Several Republican lawmakers including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Thomas Massie of Kentucky have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for refusing to wear masks on the House floor but have characterized the rebukes as badges of honor.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier this month expressed her desire to see a more traditional State of the Union this year.
“There’s a great interest on the part of members to have more full — fuller participation in the State of the Union,” she said.
“With vaccinations and so much happening since last year, I think the people are ready to pivot in a way that shows to the American people we largely have been vaccinated here,” she said. “We think that many more people can participate.”
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After a divorce, many women change their names back to their maiden name. But now it seems as though Kelly Clarkson may be changing her name in a more extreme way.
According to E! Online, which got a look at the court documents, the multi-talented entertainer has filed to change her name to “Kelly Brianne” — “Brianne” being her middle name — explaining, “My new name more fully reflects who I am.”
A hearing regarding Kelly’s request is set for March 28, E! reports.
In June of 2020, Kelly split with her husband of nearly seven years, Brandon Blackstock, citing “irreconcilable differences.” She was legally declared single in September of 2021. Kelly and Brandon share two children, River and Remington, and she was also stepmother to Savannah and Seth, Brandon’s two children from his previous marriage.
Last July, Kelly was ordered to pay Brandon nearly $200,000 per month in child and spousal support.
Meanwhile, Kelly’s taking on yet another project: co-hosting NBC’s American Song Contest with Snoop Dogg on March 21.
Brett Young enlisted the help of a very special co-star to make his newest music video: His wife, Taylor.
In the video for his song “You Didn’t,” Brett plays the role of a guy who’s had his heartbroken, and Taylor is the one who got away, appearing as a ghost and then fading away as soon as he reaches out for her. In the video, Brett is tormented by painful memories of the relationship, finally crawling into bed with a picture of himself and Taylor taken during happier times.
Taylor was an appropriate choice to play the role of Brett’s ex. Though they’re happily married now, the pair once went through a two-year-long hiatus when he first moved to Nashville to pursue country music.
Fortunately, they’re now back together and happier than ever: Brett and Taylor got married in 2018 and are now parents to two daughters, two-and-a-half-year-old Presley and six-month-old Rowan.
Here’s your chance to party in wine country with Metallica.
The metal legends have announced a charity raffle with the grand prize of two VIP three-day passes to the ‘Tallica-headlined BottleRock Napa Valley festival, taking place May 27-29 in Napa, California.
The campaign will raise money for Metallica’s All Within My Hands charity foundation. The more you donate, the more entries you’ll receive.
In related news, Metallica’s hometown baseball team, the San Francisco Giants, have announced the details of its 2022 Metallica Night. The annual celebration, which has missed the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, makes its return to Oracle Park on May 24.
Previous Metallica Nights have featured the band performing the national anthem and throwing out the game’s ceremonial first pitch.
If you think you know what you’re getting into with the Foo Fighters‘ Studio 666 movie, you may want to check out the red band trailer.
The newly premiered, uncensored clip gives you an NSFW preview of the upcoming horror-comedy movie, with all the blood, guts, entrails and f-bombs you can fit in 90 seconds.
You can watch the trailer streaming now on YouTube, if you dare.
In related news, Dave Grohl reveals in an interview with Empire magazine that he tried to get Vin Diesel to make an appearance in Studio 666, but the Fast & Furious star declined.
“The casting process was literally me looking through my phone,” Grohl shares. “We f***ing asked Vin Diesel to be in the movie! We were like, ‘Oh my god, 10 million people will go see this film! And he said no.”
Studio 666 does, however, feature all six Foo Fighters members, as well as Whitney Cummings, Leslie Grossman, Will Forte and Jenna Ortega, plus a cameo from Lionel Richie. It hits theaters February 25.
Its been four years since the infamous Pusha-T/Drake feud was ignited. Now, as Pusha prepares to drop a new album, he’s reconfirming that the beef has been quashed.
“I’ve already looked past that,” the “Mercy” rapper said on the 360 with Speedy Mormanpodcast. “I don’t look towards that anymore. … Bygones are bygones, as far as I see.”
The feud began in 2018, when Pusha accused the Champagne Papi of using a ghostwriter in the song “Infrared.” The beef escalated when Pusha revealed in the 2018 diss track “The Story of Adidon” that Drake had a son named Adonis.
Pusha is signed to Kanye West’s Good Music label, and Ye recently ended his feud with Drake. He thinks it “works really good” to see Drake and Kanye as friends, even though it surprised him.
“I told [Ye], ‘That might be good for you,’” Pusha added, asserting that he spoke with Kanye about ending the beef with the Certified Lover Boy rapper before Yeezy and Drake performed at the Free Larry Hoover concert on December 9 in LA.
Pusha is planning to drop his fourth studio album in the spring, and he’s full of confidence,
“There’s no album that’s better than mine this year,” the four-time Grammy nominee says of the project, produced by West and Pharrell Williams. “Nobody makes better music with those two entities than me. I want people to stop working with them, because it sort of cheapens what I do.”
As any admitted fangirl would be, Rosario Dawson is pretty psyched. She’s part of the Star Wars universe, thanks to playing former Jedi Ahsoka Tano in The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and her upcoming spin-off, Ahsoka.
She’s also working on a movie based on Disney’s Haunted Mansion ride and — completing a rare pop culture hat trick of Disney-owned properties — her former Netflix show, Daredevil, is now officially part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, thanks to co-star Charlie Cox‘s appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Dawson played Marvel’s heroic nurse Claire Temple in Daredevil, as well as in Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and The Defenders. She enthuses to ABC Audio, “I had a whole moment, I was like, ‘Charlie’s back, so I guess that means I’m part of the MCU, YAY!'”
“All the universes!” she adds with a laugh.
As for Ahsoka, Dawson explains, “We haven’t started, I haven’t even read an episode yet or anything,” admitting her interview with ABC Audio started a little late, because she had just been “talking about stuff” with Ahsoka producer Dave Filoni.
“So we’re we’re a ways away, but it’s still really…exciting to start getting into it. …I literally am like, ‘I can’t hang out because I’m saber training.’ Like, that’s an actual thing I got to say, which is really, really fun and cool!”
Karwai Tang/WireImage; Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
At least one Britpop icon is in Taylor Swift‘s corner.
In an interview with NME, Liam Gallagher says he thinks the pop superstar is “f***ing cool” in response to the controversy over Blur frontman Damon Albarn‘s comments regarding Swift as a songwriter.
As you may recall, Albarn claimed that Swift “doesn’t write her own songs” in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times. He also dismissed the idea of Swift “co-writing” songs, which he said “doesn’t count.”
As for that assertion, Gallagher tells NME, “Says who?”
“All them f***ing gorilla albums are co-writes aren’t they?” Liam asks, presumably referring to Albarn’s other band, Gorillaz.
Liam also has some experience with Albarn’s type of criticism, being as his estranged brother, Noel Gallagher, is credited as the main songwriter behind Oasis.
“I get it,” he says. “Noel bangs on about it as well: ‘I’m more important than you because I write my f***ing songs.'”
Following Albarn’s comments, Swift tweeted back, “I write ALL of my own songs. Your hot take is completely false and SO damaging.” Albarn then apologized “unreservedly and unconditionally,” claiming the quote was “reduced to clickbait.”
“Well, [Albarn] won’t be saying that again in a hurry, though, will he?” Liam says. “Did he not get ran out of f***ing town by the Swifters?”
“I think [Swift is] f***ing cool, man,” he adds. “She does write her songs and I’m sure she’s co-wrote with people.”
Liam also calls Swift’s hit “Shake It Off” a “f***ing tune,” though he should probably learn the proper name of her fan base if he wants to stay on the Swifties’ good side.
Jake Owen dropped the next installment off an as-yet-unannounced new album today, and it’s a deceptively up-tempo song about heartbreak.
Called “Fishin’ on a River,” the song is about a guy who’s got big plans for a day of fishing — that is, until his love interest throws him a curveball by deciding to call it quits.
“I don’t know where it all went wrong / But all I know is that girl’s gone / And a honey hole ain’t gonna help me forget her / So I’m sitting in a bar instead of fishin’ on a river,” Jake sings in the chorus.
Jake says it was that unexpected twist that first made him fall in love with the track, which was written by David Fanning, Cole Taylor and Drew Parker.
“When you first hear the title, you’d think it’s a good ole country anthem about fishin’ with the boys,” he explains. “Instead, it’s a love-done-gone, sway-along track that most everyone can relate. Here’s to the brokenhearted chasing their blues away with Jack and Rye instead of bass and fishing line.”
Jake’s new song follows the release of his current single, “Best Thing Since Backroads.” Keep your eyes peeled for more new music from Jake in the months ahead.
