Category Entertainment News

Coldplay will not be touring to promote their latest album due to concerns over their concerts’ environmental impact.

“We’re taking time to see how our tour can be actively beneficial,” frontman Chris Martin told the BBC.

“All of us have to work out the best way of doing our job,” he continued, saying the band wanted their future tours to “have a positive impact”.

The British band are in the Jordanian capital Amman to perform two shows that will be streamed live on YouTube.

The concerts, to be staged on Friday at sunrise and sunset respectively, will mirror the two halves of their new album Everyday Life.

The UK band last travelled the world with their A Head Full of Dreams Tour, which saw them stage 122 shows across four continents in 2016 and 2017.

“Our next tour will be the best possible version of a tour like that environmentally,” Martin said. “We would be disappointed if it’s not carbon neural.

“We’ve done a lot of big tours at this point. How do we turn it around so it’s no so much taking as giving?”

Speaking to the BBC’s Colin Paterson, Martin said Jordan had been chosen because “we wanted to pick somewhere in the middle of the world where we normally don’t get to play”.

He said the new record – which will be released on Friday – reflected the band’s global perspective.

“If you’ve had the privilege of travelling around the world, you know we’re all from the same place,” he went on.

“In a very gentle British way, this record is us saying we don’t feel different from any human on earth.”

Martin said songs from Everyday Life had been inspired in part by BBC News reports about an Afghan gardener and a Nigerian hymn composer.

“Journalism at its best finds these individual stories that reinforce our shared humanity,” he explained.

Coldplay will perform a one-off concert for fans at the National History Museum in London on 25 November.

All proceeds from the show will be donated to an environmental charity.

Andrew Lloyd Webber has announced he is to join forces with ticket resellers Twickets in a bid to beat the touts.

The theatrical grandee’s LW playhouses, which include The London Palladium the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, hope the move will bring “consumer-friendly ticket resale to the West End”.

Fans have often found themselves ripped off on secondary ticketing platforms.

Unwanted tickets bought at the box office will now be able to be resold for no more than the original price.

• Andrew Lloyd Webber: My career in 7 songs

Rebecca Kane Burton, CEO at LW Theatres said: “We continue to strive to not only offer our customers an incredible experience, but also help them when things don’t go to plan.

“Providing a safe, secure and easy way to resell tickets is best practice and yet another step LW Theatres is taking to innovate and improve theatre-going.”

‘Market shift’

Lord Lloyd Webber has produced best-selling and long-running musicals including Cats and Jesus Christ Supsterstar.

Twickets launched in 2015 as a more ethical ticketing company, helping fans get into concerts by the likes of Adele and Arctic Monkeys, but this is their first official tie-in with a UK theatre group.

“The UK is in the midst of a market shift away from rip-off secondary ticketing platforms and towards capped consumer-friendly resale services,” added Twickets’ founder Richard Davies.

“I am proud Twickets is at the forefront of this change, and delighted we can extend our service to theatre lovers via this groundbreaking partnership with LW Theatres.”

The Portrait Salon Awards 2019 celebrate images submitted to, and rejected by, the National Portrait Gallery’s Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize.

The awards were founded by Carole Evans and James O Jenkins in 2011. Photographer Peter Dench selected this year’s winners.

“I lived with the portraits for a week and looked at them every day. It was a short, intense and rewarding relationship,” Dench said.

“From the bedroom to the kitchen, the mountains to the sea, the park to posh public school.

“The selection, I hope, will move you and motivate, inform, encourage and engage. It’s what a portrait should do and in my opinion, these succeed.”

By Syvester Kwentua

Success surely has so many friends; Burna boy, Nigeria’s rave of the moment seems to be experiencing just that at the moment, as a lot of fans and celebrities alike, celebrate him on his Grammy award nomination.

In a recently released list on Grammys.com website, Burna’s African Giant album was nominated for ‘Best World Music category.’

The nomination is for albums containing at least 51% playing time of new vocal or instrumental World Music recordings.

Nominated in the same category with Burna Boy is Altin Gün (GECE); Bokanté & Metropole Orkest Conducted By Jules Buckley (WHAT HEAT); Nathalie Joachim With Spektral Quartet (FANM D’AYITI) and Angelique Kidjo (CELIA).

However, as soon as the news broke out on his nomination, his colleagues in the music industry went on Twitter to celebrate him.

@Banky Wellington tweeted “Our African giant has been nominated for a Grammy!!! Congratulations to Burnaboy, his mum and the entire team. Amazing and well deserved. Anything is possible with a littlr bit of Faith and a lot of hard work. So so happy for you”

@patoranking tweeted “Huge congrats @Burna boy. Go bring it home”

@deejayneptune tweeted “ Congrats @Burnaboy on your Grammy award nomination…I pray you bring it home #AfricanGiant.

Congratulation Burna boy on another international recognition.

Burnaboy

By Emmanuel Okogba

Burnaboy’s African Giant album has been nominated for ‘Best World Music category’ in the recently released list for the 2020 Grammy Awards.

READ ALSO: Why Nigerian musicians can’t win Grammy award-Artiste

The nomination is for albums containing at least 51% playing time of new vocal or instrumental World Music recordings.

In the same category are  Anatolian rock and Turkish Psychedelic Folk band from The Netherlands, Altin Gün (GECE); Bokanté & Metropole Orkest Conducted By Jules Buckley (WHAT HEAT); Nathalie Joachim With Spektral Quartet (FANM D’AYITI) and Angelique Kidjo (CELIA).

Fellow Nigerian artists including Wizkid, Davido, May D, Iyanya, Patoranking, Runtown, Banky W, among others have taken to social media to send congratulatory messages to the Ye crooner.

African Giant is Burnaboy’s fourth studio album which was released on July 26, 2019, and has nineteen tracks, one of which is the monster hit Killin Dem that features Zlatan Ibile.

See some reactions from other celebrities below

King Burna!! @burnaboy ! 🏆🏆🏆❤️ congratulations blood! You deserve everything and more! From time G.

Burna Boy worked hard is ass off and never looked down on anyone. Always willing to collaborate anytime any day. No be today ! I’m glad I’m witnessing all of it. Congratulations again @burnaboy 🙌🏾

IDC about the rest of the acts on that list. Burna Boy is winning it! 🙌🏾

Congrats @burnaboy … 🏆… you deserve more then a NOM .. 🖤

Our African Giant has been nominated for a GRAMMY!!!!!! Congratulations to @burnaboy, his Mom and the entire team. AMAZING, and well deserved. Anything is possible with a little bit of faith and a lot of hard work. So so sooo happy for him.
🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 pic.twitter.com/yPdSpY7or7

A Liam Gallagher fan fears she has been “scarred for life” by a flare thrown at a gig.

Stacey Andrew, 27, from Boston, Lincolnshire, was at the Fly DSA Arena on Monday when she was set on fire, The Star reported.

“The flare hit my head and fell down my top, at first I didn’t realise what had happened until people shouted,” she said.

“It looks like someone let a firework off on my chest”.

More Yorkshire stories

Ms Andrew said it was her first gig.

She and her partner Callum Mutton were near the front and the people with flares were behind to the right.

“I didn’t realise what had happened then people started patting me. My shirt was in flames and a man ripped it off,” she said.

“People were shouting, ‘She’s on fire!'”

She said security staff did not go over, but she had to go through the crowd to them.

“It was so embarrassing, I was just in my bra.

“The Red Cross saw us but their tap wasn’t running so they had to find water. The on-site nurse was good and covered my dignity as best as she could”.

But Ms Andrew said there was “no proper first aid”.

“I’m scared I’m going to be scarred for life,” she said.

Fly DSA Arena said it was “extremely sorry” to hear about the “irresponsible” actions of a fellow concert-goer.

“The irresponsible behaviour of the concert goer who threw the flare along with any other people within their party who were aware of the possibility of their actions cannot be condoned and they should be held accountable for their actions,” said Dominic Stokes of the Fly DSA Arena.

He said Ms Andrew and Mr Mutton were both seen at the venue by an on-duty paramedic and advised to go to hospital.

The Arena said it had contacted them through social media to speak with them directly.

Arena staff offered a taxi but in the end Mr Mutton drove to hospital.

Bags were checked on entry, but security staff did not personally check everyone Ms Andrew said.

“Everyone who bought drinks from Arena had plastic cups but a lot of lads had their own cans,” she added.

Mr Stokes said the use of smoke bombs and flares was a “new but increasing challenge” for all arenas.

He said security at the Fly DSA Arena was in line with National Arena Association guidelines, and added that its procedures will be reviewed.

Mr Stokes added: “I am aware from comments on social media that our processes for dealing with this type of prohibited item is being linked with our counter terrorism strategies.

“I can assure all our customers that our work with the relevant partners and agencies in this particular area has been commended and the seen and unseen actions we take mean the wellbeing of our customers is front and centre of everything we do.”

South Yorkshire Police is investigating the incident.