One week ago, Dan + Shay achieved what very few country artists have done, by selling out the famed Madison Square Garden in New York City. Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney spoke out about the achievement in a touching post on social media, along with photos of the unforgettable night.
“It’s been exactly one week since y’all sold out Madison Square Garden for us. and it has taken every bit of those 7 days to fully process it,” Dan + Shay shared on social media. “[We] spent the last few hours scrolling through these photos and all the emotions are coming right back. We’ve dreamed of this moment since we were little kids, and y’all made it come true for us when we needed it most.”
“Can’t say this enough, but thank you,” they continued. “Thank you for absolutely everything. We’re the luckiest guys in the world and will never take a single second of this for granted.”
The concert was part of their rescheduled The (Arena) Tour, which heads to Wisconsin and Minneapolis this weekend.
Red Hot Chili Peppers are returning to the road in 2022.
In a goofy, faux newscast video, the Peppers — Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith and returning guitarist John Frusciante — announce that they’ll launch a global stadium tour in June of next year, with the U.S. leg set to kick off in July.
Neither the exact itinerary or ticket details were revealed, but in the video, you see the names of different cites in the background, including Los Angeles, Atlanta, London, Toronto and Barcelona, Spain.
The tour will mark the first full live Peppers outing since Frusciante rejoined the band at the end of 2019. The band had planned dates for 2020, but, you know, COVID.
Fittingly, the tour announcement arrives on the 30th anniversary of the release of RHCP’s hit 1991 album Blood Sugar Sex Magik.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the release of British glam-rock legends T. Rex‘s classic album Electric Warrior.
The record was the Marc Bolan-fronted group’s sixth overall and its second after the band shortened its original moniker, Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Electric Warrior spent eight nonconsecutive weeks at #1 on the U.K. albums chart in late 1971 and early ’72, while peaking at #32 on the Billboard 200. It includes the band’s signature song, “Get It On,” which topped the U.K. singles tally, while reaching #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 — becoming T. Rex’s only top-40 hit in the U.S.
The album also features “Jeepster,” a #2 U.K. hit, and such other gems as “Mambo Sun,” “Cosmic Dancer” and “Life’s a Gas.”
In the U.S., “Get It On” was retitled “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” to avoid confusion with a then-popular song by the jazz-rock band Chase.
Longtime Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman played piano on “Get It On.” Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman of The Turtles and Frank Zappa fame contributed backing vocals to Electric Warrior, while ex-King Crimson multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald, who later became a founding member of Foreigner, played saxophone on the record.
Electric Warrior, which was written entirely by Bolan and produced by frequent David Bowie collaborator Tony Visconti, is considered among the first glam-rock albums, if not the very first.
The record’s influence could be heard in the early-to-mid-1970s music of Bowie, Elton John, The Hollies and The Rolling Stones, and went on to inspire many artists who emerged from the punk and new wave scenes.
Here’s the full track list of Electric Warrior:
“Mambo Sun”
“Cosmic Dancer”
“Jeepster”
“Monolith”
“Lean Woman Blues”
“Get It On”
“Planet Queen”
“Girl”
“The Motivator”
“Life’s a Gas”
“Rip Off”
Pulitzer Prize winner Katori Hall has a lot to celebrate this year. After recently receiving the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her off-Broadway play Hot Wing King, the P-Valley creator is now nominated for her first Tony Award for her work on Tina: The Tina Turner Musical.
Although Hall could easily take home the Best Book of a Musical Tony on Sunday night, the writer tells ABC Audio that winning awards has never been her focus as a creative.
“I appreciate an award… but I usually give it to my mom, my dad,” she reveals. “My [Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play] is in Mississippi, chillin’ on the shelf. And I think it’s because awards don’t necessarily — for me — make me a better writer.”
Hall explains that while “it’s good to be recognized, and it’s good to be honored,” winning awards doesn’t equal success to her.
“It don’t help you write the next thing. I tell you that,” she laughs.
However, this time around may be different. Hall shares that after such a tough year because of the pandemic and the killings of Black unarmed men and women, she feels it’s important to take a “moment” to pause and “celebrate.”
“Because I feel like a lot of times we don’t get an opportunity to just celebrate ourselves, and celebrate our accomplishments,” she explains. “I think because of everything that has happened this year…that if I won, I would be popping my Champagne and doing my little twerks before I do my acceptance speech.”
Hall continues, “I would be very, very happy, ’cause I think this year…taught me a lot about being present in your life and prioritizing happiness and your joy.”
The Tony Awards airs Sunday night at 9 p.m. ET on CBS.
Oops…they did it again: made another Britney Spears documentary.
Tonight at 10 p.m. ET, it’s the premiere of Controlling Britney Spears on FX and Hulu, which is somewhat of a sequel to Framing Britney Spears from earlier this year, Variety reports. Director Samantha Stark returns to focus on Britney’s conservatorship.
Variety quotes Stark as saying that after Britney told a judge earlier this year that she hadn’t spoken up about her conservatorship previously because she felt people wouldn’t believe her, it inspired insiders to come forward and back up Britney’s claims with evidence. These insiders describe Britney’s daily life and the kind of surveillance she’s been under over the past 13 years.
Framing Britney Spears reignited the #FreeBritney movement, and on September 29, a court hearing will bring her one step closer to the termination of her conservatorship, which she’s said she’s wanted for years.
Meanwhile, Netflix is airing its Britney conservatorship doc, Britney vs. Spears, on September 28.
As for Britney herself, she took to Instagram to reminisce about the 2001 VMAs, during which she did her famous “I’m a Slave 4 U” dance with a huge snake and other animals. Posting a series of photos of herself from that night with Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, she writes, “ I will tell you this…before I went on that night I was feeling kinda out of body with nerves…I mean…I was in a cage with a live tiger!!!!!”
“I will never forget the moment before I went in the cage!!!! Justin [Timberlake] saw I could hardly talk so he held my hand and gave me a 5 minute pep talk which obviously worked!!!”
Released on September 24, 1991, Nevermind brought the grunge and alternative scene to the masses as it became perhaps the definitive rock album of the ’90s.
Coming off the excess and bombast of ’80s hair-metal culture, Nevermind spoke to a generation of disaffected youth with songs of self-hatred and rebellion, set to Kurt Cobain‘s yelping vocals and distorted guitar over Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic thundering drums and bass.
Even after building an underground following with their 1989 debut, Bleach, no one could’ve predicted Nirvana’s meteoric rise with Nevermind. Things began to change with the premiere of lead single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and its high school pep rally-meets-anarchist punk mosh pit video.
While it debuted at a modest 144 on the Billboard 200, Nevermind‘s popularity continued to build and build as more people heard “Teen Spirit” and saw the video. By January 1992, Nevermind had hit number one on the Billboard 200, dethroning the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson.
As Nirvana’s popularity grew, they ushered in the grunge frenzy as bands including Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains earned mainstream attention. The scene also inspired its own fashion, signified by flannel shirts, ripped jeans and Cobain’s thick-framed sunglasses.
Cobain himself was deemed an icon and a voice of his generation, a label with which he felt increasingly uncomfortable. His reaction to his sudden superstar status can be heard in the lyrics of Nirvana’s 1993 Nevermind follow-up, In Utero.
Sadly, that would be the last studio album Nirvana would record. Cobain, who struggled with mental-health and substance-abuse issues throughout his life, died by suicide in April 1994.
The legacy of Nirvana and Nevermind, though, has endured — the album is now certified Diamond by the RIAA.
Here’s Nevermind‘s full track list:
“Smells Like Teen Spirit”
“In Bloom”
“Come as You Are”
“Breed”
“Lithium”
“Polly”
“Territorial P***ings”
“Drain You”
“Lounge Act”
“Stay Away”
“On a Plain”
“Something in the Way”
Goodbye “Hot Girl Summer” and hello Fit Girl Fall, thanks to Megan Thee Stallion‘s new partnership with Nike, where she will act as your personal trainer.
Meg has joined Nike’s Training Club app to help fans whip themselves into shape, and will share her workouts alongside trainer Tara Nicolas across several installments.
The “Savage” rapper took to Instagram to make the announcement and reminisced about the journey she took to find herself, during which she learned to drown out those telling her who she should be. Meg, who dubs herself “Thee Hot Girl Coach” in her promo video, let fans know that finding one’s self is a time-consuming but worthwhile process.
The Grammy winner explained that strangers used to make assumptions based off her height and physique when she was growing up in Houston, Texas, which often led into unwanted suggestions about what sport she should play. Meg revealed she tried basketball, volleyball and track to appease everyone, but “They just weren’t for me. I knew I had to find my passion.”
Her passion, she says, is performing, and she asserted why that, as well as dancing and rapping, should be considered sports.
“Let’s see you run through 12-hour dance rehearsals, train five days a week, then perform in front of 50,000 people squatting 50 percent of the time,” she quipped.
Megan’s main message? “People like to tell us what we can and we can’t do. But we ain’t hearing that. Real Hot Girls know, no one can define us.”
“I am an athlete, and so are you,” she wrote in the caption.
The NTC app is available for iPhone and Android devices.
(WASHINGTON) — The House on Friday passed a bill to uphold abortion rights for women, taking swift action in response to a new Texas law that bans nearly all abortions in the state.
The final tally was 218-211 with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announcing the vote.
Recent Stories from ABC News
The House bill has little chance of becoming law and is largely symbolic given Republican opposition in the Senate.
The House bill would codify protections provided by the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized women’s right to an abortion.
The Texas law that passed in September prohibits abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy and allows “any person, other than an officer or employee of state or local government,” to bring a civil suit against someone believed to have “aided or abetted” an unlawful abortion.
People who successfully sue an abortion provider under this law could be awarded at least $10,000.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the so-called “heartbeat ban” on May 19 and it went into effect on Sept. 1.
The U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 on Sept. 1 to allow SB8 to take effect on procedural grounds, despite what the majority acknowledged as “serious questions” about constitutionality. The justices did not address those questions.
Pelosi has said taking congressional action would make a “tremendous difference” in Democrats’ efforts to maintain access to abortion rights. She called the Supreme Court’s decision “shameful.”
Ahead of Friday’s vote, Pelosi said the House legislation should “send a very positive message to the women of our country — but not just the women, to the women and their families, to everyone who values freedom, honors our Constitution and respects women.”
Since Texas’s abortion ban went into effect, lawmakers in 11 states, including Florida, have announced intentions or plans to model legislation after the state’s law, according to NARAL Pro-Choice America.
The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in a Mississippi abortion case in early December. The high court is expected to consider the legality of Mississippi’s ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a law that is intended to challenge Roe v. Wade.
The “Welcome to the Jungle” rockers have premiered a new song called “Hard Skool.” It’s the second fresh tune from GN’R in as many months, following the August release of “Absurd.”
The new track is available now as a digital download and via streaming services.
Like “Absurd,” the origins of “Hard Skool” date back to sessions for Chinese Democracy, the long-fabled GN’R album that finally became a reality in 2008, with frontman Axl Rose as the only original member still in the band.
Chinese Democracy remains the most recent Guns N’ Roses album. “Absurd” and “Hard Skool” mark the band’s first new music since Slash and Duff McKagan rejoined in 2016.
Amazon’s legal drama Goliath drops its fourth and final season today. Oscar-winning lead Billy Bob Thornton returns as loose-cannon lawyer Billy McBride, who this season is taking on a massive pharmaceutical company implicated in the opioid crisis.
“It’s been really amazing,” Thornton says of the show’s four-season ride. “I’ve had so many great experiences on it. I loved playing the character and the writers did such an amazing job.”
He adds, “And as you go further into a series like this, the writers…as they watch and listen to the actors, they start to capture their voices more and more.”
Thornton says, “I think that’s one of the advantages to the whole streaming idea, is that you have a chance to make an eight- or 10-hour movie, whatever it is, and people settle into it and start to understand, ‘Oh, that’s what this is.'” He adds with a laugh, “And so, by season four, we were like…’We are this!'”
Tania Raymonde plays Brittany, Billy’s confidante — a brilliant, beautiful part-time escort-turned-Billy’s paralegal. The actress says she’ll miss the character dearly, but she’s satisfied with the way things ended.
“I feel like this last season is such a great send-off for the series and such a nice final chapter,” she maintains. “And we left them in like a good place.”
Tania adds with a laugh, “So now they can go exist in like ‘post finale movie character world’ where they’re…all chilling and happy. I feel like we did them justice….So as long as…everyone, I think, was left in a better place than they were when we picked them up in year one. And that makes me happy.”
