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Love Music Hate Racism share statement after former Zutons guitarist Boyan Chowdhury “attacked by a gang of lads” in Liverpool

*Warning: discriminatory language ahead* Love Music Hate Racism have shared a statement after the former Zutons guitarist Boyan Chowdhury suffered a racist attack in Liverpool. On Sunday (March 22), Chowdhury posted on Instagram to reveal that he had sustained a significant blow to his head by a “gang of lads” on Saturday afternoon in the Wavertree area of the city, which split his head open “down to the skull”. Chowdhury wrote: “I was racially attacked by a gang of lads yesterday afternoon. Got called a PAKI, SAND NIGGER and DIRTY ARAB. Then one of [them] ran at me from the side with a two foot long piece of wood. If I hadn’t of turned around I believe I would’ve been struck on the back of the head and dead right now.” “He got me across the front and as you can see split my head open down to the skull. They had ran back to his friends house to get the piece of wood to attack me. This city is fucking shit. Full of dirty horrible racist rats. And it’s just getting worse by the day,” Chowdhury added. The post was accompanied by graphic images of the injury to his forehead. Love Music Hate Racism posted a message of solidarity with Chowdhury tonight (March 23), writing: “Love Music Hate Racism stands with musician Boyan of The Zutons… Read More →

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Courtney Love shares update on her “blossoming appreciation” of Geese – and running into their “gatekeeper elder millennial troll fans”: “I’m a cool old lady who likes a band – get off my back”

Courtney Love has shared an update on her growing “appreciation” for Geese, and jokingly told “gatekeeper” fans of theirs to “get off my back”. The Hole icon took to Instagram last month to reveal that she was becoming a fan of the NYC indie-rockers, and decided to check them out after seeing all the hype surrounding them and their latest album ‘Getting Killed’ – saying that it made her “Geese-curious”. Advertisement After first praising the deep, soulful vocal style of frontman Cameron Winter as something “you can’t fake”, she has gone on to share another update – revealing that she has dived further into their discography and become an even bigger fan. “I’m back with a Geese update,” she said at the beginning of a new Instagram video, sharing that her “Geese-curious [stance] has turned into Geese-blossoming-appreciation”. “I’m fully liking it,” she added, describing their sound as “Daniel Johnston-meets-Rolling Stones”, and quipping that Cameron Winter “sounds like a 600-year-old man… in the best way”. “He’s a fucking, seriously good lyricist. Like, a seriously good lyricist. Seriously,” she said, saying that she was going to see them live while they are currently on tour in the UK, and re-emphasising that she… Read More →

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PinkPantheress reveals she produced ‘Tonight’ using only her MacBook keyboard

PinkPantheress has revealed in a TikTok post that she produced ‘Tonight’ using only her MacBook keyboard. The former NME Cover star released the song as the lead single from her second mixtape ‘Fancy That’ in April last year, with the singer producing the track alongside Aksel Arvid and Count Baldor. Advertisement In a post on TikTok earlier this month, the musician – who won the BRIT Award for Producer Of The Year this month – showed fans how she put the track together. “Everyone’s been so cute about my production, so I’m going to show you how I made my song ‘Tonight’ off of ‘Fancy That’,” she said. “The first thing I start off with is figuring out the chord like this…” With that, she shows how she enters the chords manually on her keyboard via Logic Pro’s Musical Typing function, with the caption: “MIDI controllers can be expensive! Inputting them into whatever software use works just as well.” She adds the bass and pitch-shifts the various stems before explaining that she got Count Baldor to handle the drums. “Shout out to any producer watching this. I used Logic, I used to use GarageBand, but we upgraded.” @pinkpantheress i love to produce❤️thank you for being so lovely to me🥹shoutout askel arvid and panic at the… Read More →

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Check out Bob Dylan’s first time cover of Eddie Cochran’s ‘Nervous Breakdown’

Bob Dylan covered Eddie Cochran’s ‘Nervous Breakdown’ for the first time ever at his first ‘Rough And Rowdy Ways’ 2026 show. The legendary singer-songwriter has been playing shows on the tour since November 2021 and the most recent leg kicked off at the Orpheum Theatre in Omaha, Nebraska on Saturday night (March 21). Advertisement As noted by Rolling Stone, the set saw Dylan make adjustments to the familiar setlist and stage setup from previous legs of the tour, including a switch to acoustic guitars over electric and a keyboard over his usual grand piano. He also played Cochran’s 1958 rock’n’roll classic ‘Nervous Breakdown’ for the first time in his career, and while phones were banned for those in the audience, audio of the performance has emerged online. Listen here, alongside Cochran’s original: [embedded content] [embedded content] Elsewhere in the show, Dylan also covered Bo Diddley’s ‘I Can Tell’, and pulled out 1989 track ‘Man In The Long Black Coat’ for the first time in 13 years. Bob Dylan played: Recommended ‘I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight’ ‘Man In The Long Black Coat’ ‘All Along The Watchtower’ ‘I Contain Multitudes’ ‘False Prophet’ ‘Black Rider’ ‘Love Sick’ ‘Key West (Philosopher Pirate)’ ‘I Can Tell’ ‘I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You’ ‘Crossing The Rubicon’ ‘When I Paint My Masterpiece’ ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’ ‘Soon After Midnight’ ‘Nervous Breakdown’ ‘Every Grain Of Sand’ The… Read More →

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Olivia Rodrigo says “experimental” new album is full of “sad love songs”

Olivia Rodrigo has teased that her “experimental” new album will be full of “sad love songs”. Speculation has been mounting this week that the singer is gearing up to release new music, with cryptic pink album teasers having been discovered by fans in Los Angeles and London. Advertisement Rodrigo released her last album ‘Guts’ in 2023, itself the follow-up to her critically acclaimed breakthrough record ‘Sour’ two years earlier. Since then, she has played countless huge headline shows, including her Pyramid Stage headline set at Glastonbury 2025, where she brought out The Cure’s Robert Smith as a special guest. The singer has now been interviewed in the new edition of British Vogue, with the feature describing what they have heard of the new record as Rodrigo at her “most experimental”, with one track being labelled as “smooth, trippy soft rock”. Rodrigo herself told the publication that the album consists of “sad love songs”, adding: “I realised all my favourite romantic love songs were beautiful because they had a tinge of fear or yearning in them.” “I’ve found a lot of inspiration from being in London,” she added. “I’ve spent so much time here over the course of making this album. It has a lot of songs that are London vibes, about experiences that I’ve had here…. Read More →

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Neil Diamond announces release of third and final Rick Rubin collab album ‘Wild At Heart’

Neil Diamond has announced his third and final album collaboration with Rick Rubin, ‘Wild At Heart’, and shared the title track. The veteran songwriter has found critical and commercial success with his previous records alongside Rubin – 2005’s ‘12 Songs’ and 2008’s ‘Home Before Dark’. Advertisement The songs that now make up ‘Wild At Heart’ were initially recorded during the ‘Home Before Dark’ sessions, and now Diamond has revisited the material, fleshing out nine new songs that will now be released for the first time, as well as an alternate take of ‘Home Before Dark’ track ‘Forgotten’. The album will be released on CD, vinyl and digital platforms via Capitol/UMe on May 8, with limited edition coloured vinyl and 2CD versions also available. Pre-order your copy here. Check out ‘Wild At Heart’, a lilting, country-flavoured track showing off Diamond’s time-tested vocals, here: [embedded content] Diamond has said: “My work with Rick was a labor of love, and I’m so gratified that these songs will finally be set free into the world to complete our trilogy of work.” Recommended The sessions that produced these tracks saw Diamond playing alongside keyboardist Benmont Tench and guitarist Mike Campbell, both of Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, as well as guitarists Smokey Hormel and Matt Sweeney. Neil Diamond – ‘Wild At Heart’ tracklist: ‘Wild At Heart’ ‘You Can’t… Read More →

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Paul McCartney says he rekindled friendship with John Lennon over parenting and baking bread before he died

Paul McCartney revealed how he was able to rebuild his friendship with John Lennon before the latter’s death. READ MORE: ‘Paul McCartney: Man On The Run’ review: the endearing tale of how a Beatle found his Wings The topic came up in a new clip from the musician’s installment of the Audible series Words + Music, titled ‘The Man on the Run’. The three-hour episode features extended interviews between McCartney and Oscar-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville, as well as new performances from McCartney. Advertisement McCartney reflected on how he and John Lennon became close again in the years after the Beatles’ tumultuous split. A key point of common ground for them became fatherhood after Lennon became a parent again with the arrival of his son Sean. He also recalled telling Lennon that he’d started baking bread and was starting to get good at it, to which Lennon enthusiastically replied: “Oh, yeah, I’m making bread!” “The things that we had in common were just ordinary, little domestic things,” McCartney said. “Somehow that was peaceful. It was nice that we had that in common. And we weren’t fighting anymore. I would go and visit him and we had quite a bit of interaction, and the same with George… Read More →

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Foo Fighters say they “made a decision that it was best for all parties” ahead of Josh Freese sacking, and discuss William Goldsmith’s exit

Foo Fighters have looked back on the sacking of Josh Freese, describing it as a “decision that was best for all parties”, and spoken about William Goldsmith’s exit from the line-up back in 1997. The group opened up as part of a new interview with The Guardian, which also saw them speak about new album ‘Your Favorite Toy’, the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins in 2022, and frontman Dave Grohl going to “therapy six days a week for 70 weeks” after announcing in 2024 that he’d become a father “outside of my marriage”. Advertisement The band spoke about their dynamic, and how they are always working within Grohl’s vision. “It produces great songs,” said bassist Nate Mendel, adding that both he and guitarist Chris Shiflett each make their own music outside Foo Fighters, but are happy with the current structure of the band. “I’ll go and make a weird-ass record that no one listens to, and I’m satisfied,” the bassist added, also revealing that the frontman has “some passive-aggressive ways of communicating things” – giving the example of the events that led to William Goldsmith leaving the band nearly three decades ago. Goldsmith was the original drummer for Foos, and… Read More →

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Pet Shop Boys adapting new ‘It’s A Sin’ “dance show” production with Russell T Davies

Russell T Davies and Pet Shop Boys are teaming up to adapt It’s A Sin for a dance production in Manchester. Davies created the hit Channel 4 drama, which charted the lives of a group of gay men and their friends amid the HIV and AIDS crisis in the UK in the 1980s. Though set in London, it was primarily filmed in Manchester and the surrounding area. Advertisement The show was critically acclaimed – and the most nominated show at the BAFTAs in 2022 – as well as a hit with viewers, becoming the most binge-watched show to stream on Channel 4’s online streaming service. You can watch it online here. And now Davies and Pet Shop Boys, along with production companies Rambert and Factory International, are to reimagine the drama as a theatrical performance set to premiere at Manchester’s Aviva Studios. It will combine contemporary dance and cinematic visuals with Luke Halls Studio designing the set and American singer Roman GianArthur composing the music. No dates have yet been announced. “It’s A Sin was such a special show for me,” said Davies, who also created Queer As Folk, about the news. “It’s one of the greatest honours of my life… Read More →

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Muse announce new album ‘The WOW! Signal’ with epic single ‘Be With You’

Muse have returned with a new single, ‘Be With You’, from their forthcoming 10th album ‘The WOW! Signal’. Listen and find all the details below. The trio began teasing the track earlier this month, marking their first material since 2025’s ‘Unravelling’. Advertisement Both songs will appear on the follow-up to 2022’s ‘Will Of The People’, which is set for release on June 26 via Warner. Pre-order/pre-save here. Muse have previewed ‘The WOW! Signal’ with epic lead single ‘Be With You’. It begins with a grand church organ before introducing elements of driving electronica, eventually erupting with a dose of blistering guitar rock. “It seems my light’s been swallowed up, I’ve used up every ounce of luck/ I need to leap into the fire/ Find a higher power, and reach for something new,” sings frontman Matt Bellamy. “I feel my life has just begun, it can’t just be with anyone/ It’s got to be with you.” ‘Be With You’ is accompanied by a cinematic official music video starring Ella Balinska (Resident Evil, The Occupant), directed by Nico Paolillo (Deafheaven, Bad Omens). Tune in here: Recommended [embedded content] Per a press release, ‘The WOW! Signal’ takes its title from one of the most… Read More →

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Watch Soulwax’s documentary into their world-first Abbey Road ‘After Hours’ rave – and their full set

Soulwax have shared a documentary exploring their world-first ‘After Hours’ rave at Abbey Road Studios – watch below. On February 21, the Belgian brother duo held a five-hour rave at the iconic recording studio in London for a select group of 300 fans who were the lucky winners of an online ballot. Advertisement Now, they have released a documentary film, titled Abbey Road After Hours, in which they lay out what happened in the days leading up to the event. The day before, they recorded a brand new track in Abbey Road’s Studio Two, titled ‘Perfect We Are Not’, and they cut it directly to vinyl and gave it its debut as the opening track of their 2manydjs rave set. Check out the documentary, as well as their complete set from the night, here: [embedded content] [embedded content] Recommended It was the first time that Abbey Road Studios has opened its doors to the public for such an event, with the rave itself having gone down in the esteemed Studio One space. It was also the first time Soulwax used their DEEWEE Soundsystem, which they have based on New York’s iconic Paradise Garage. Speaking ahead of the event, the Dewaele brothers said: “It’s hard to say whether we have a perverse or healthy attraction… Read More →

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New report shows Black music is “central force powering the UK music industry” by 80 per cent and £24.5billion

A new report has revealed that Black music is a “central force powering the UK music industry” – making a commercial contribution of 80 per cent and £24.5billion out of a total £30billion UK market. The figures were shared in a landmark new report called ‘Black Music Means Business: Driving Economic Growth In The UK’. It was commissioned by UK Music, initiated by the UK Music Diversity Taskforce, and is the first of its kind in Europe: measuring the unique commercial, cultural and community impact of Black Music across 30 years of recorded music (1994 to 2023). Advertisement As highlighted by Ammo Talwar, Chair of the UK Music Diversity Taskforce, the aim of the report was to act as a “rallying cry that is a catalyst for ongoing analysis, growth, increased representation, equity and stronger collaboration”, therefore “building confidence in Black music”. One of the most powerful statistics in the report was that Black music is “the central force powering the UK music industry”, and responsible for a commercial contribution of 80 per cent of the UK market (£24.5billion out of a total £30billion) across those 30 years. The findings shared its definition of the term ‘Black Music’, describing it… Read More →

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Kid Rock reacts to Conan O’Brien’s Oscars joke

Kid Rock has responded to his mention in Conan O’Brien’s Oscars monologue on Sunday (March 15), and the singer doesn’t appear to have seen the funny side. READ MORE: Oscars 2026 winners – see the full list O’Brien decided to poke fun at the Super Bowl halftime show hosted by Turning Point USA as an alternative to Bad Bunny’s official performance. Rock played the ‘All-American Halftime Show’, alongside Gabby Barrett, Lee Brice, Brantley Gilbert, Spencer Waasdorp and Antonio and Allison Marin. Advertisement In his monologue, Oscars host O’Brien joked: “I should warn you, tonight could get political. Okay? And if that makes you uncomfortable, there’s an alternate Oscars being hosted by Kid Rock. It’s at the Dave and Busters down the street. Lot of tickets for that.” Rock responded to the jab on X (Twitter) the following day, writing: “I love a good joke, even when I am the butt of it, unfortunately, this was not a very good one,” before promoting his upcoming ‘Freedom 250’ tour, which will take place in May and June. I love a good joke, even when I am the butt of it, unfortunately this was not a very good one. Either way, if you want… Read More →

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Pond release intriguing new single ‘Terrestrials’ and announce new US live shows with Djo

Pond have released an uplifting, intriguing new single called ‘Terrestrials’, and announced new live shows supporting Djo. The Australian five-piece are back with the new track, and it marks their first new material since they dropped their 10th studio album ‘Stung!’ back in summer 2024. Advertisement In the track, frontman Nicholas Allbrook and co. take on the nuanced and complicated theme of humanity – and how it is both capable of both love and cruelty. It sees the band explore the contradictions rife in society, and how mankind has an unwavering appetite for both items of beauty, as well as items of destruction. “At the sight of the new moon/ The mongrels go berserk/ Baby wanna be weightless/ But it’s a contract signed at birth,” sings Allbrook, building towards the energetic chorus. “It’s all good/ She’ll be alright/Pray in the morning.” [embedded content] “Gum [Jay Watson] wrote the music for this one and we recorded this in Mullumbimby with Julian Abbott at Nowave studio,” the singer said. “This song is about the weirdest of all the terrestrials, people. Hellbent on flying away from or killing our home soil, with a big appetite for destruction, guns, roses. We can love and… Read More →

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Matt Berry tells Oscar attendees their “whole life is a lie” in hilarious pre-show segment

Matt Berry has gone viral on social media thanks to his pre-show segment at last night’s (March 15) Oscar ceremony. READ MORE: Oscars 2026: One Battle After Another, Sinners and Hamnet walk away with major wins The star of What We Do In The Shadows, The Mighty Boosh and The IT Crowd delivered the pre-Oscar’s show message to the audience at LA’s Dolby Theatre. Advertisement He also spoke during host Conan O’Brien’s opening monologue, narrating a daydream in which O’Brien wins the award for best achievement: “And the winner is Conan O’Brien!” Berry shouts, before O’Brien emerges dressed in a winner’s robe and crown. Elsewhere in his segment, which was not shown on TV but was shared on social media, Berry congratulates nominees before joking that the night will only be meaningful for a few of them or “one out of every five nominees.” He then went on to poke fun at the illustrious crowd, saying: “You all look fantastic, except of course for those of you who overdid it…We all know exactly who you are tonight.” “Sit back and act like you’re having a great time,” he said in another tongue-in-cheek joke. “You work in Hollywood – your whole life… Read More →

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Melissa Auf der Maur and Billy Corgan on the inspiration of Courtney Love on Kurt Cobain – and how she made them “smarter”

Melissa Auf der Maur and Billy Corgan have spoken about the influence that Courtney Love had on Kurt Cobain’s songwriting, and credited her with themselves “smarter”. The Hole bassist caught up with The Smashing Pumpkins frontman on his podcast, The Magnificent Others, and spoke about the influence that her past bandmate had on the artists around her – as well as the misconception that her husband, Kurt Cobain, wrote a lot of her music. Advertisement In the interview, the two of them looked back at how, like most alt-rock bands of the ‘90s, Hole saw their fame skyrocket following the mammoth success of Nirvana’s 1991 breakthrough ‘Nevermind’, but also faced accusations that Cobain was the brains behind their 1994 sophomore album ‘Live Through This’. “Even in 1991, nobody knew who [Courtney] was other than some rock critic people, but she had a vision of where she was going to go,” shared Corgan – a close friend and collaborator of Love – adding that it was when Hole released their 1994 record that everyone “could really see the influence of Kurt’s success”. Addressing the rumours that Cobain wrote a large portion of the instrumentals for the record, he added: “People overly… Read More →

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R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe gives update on debut solo album: “It’s taken longer than I wanted”

R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe has given an update on his debut solo album, admitting that it has “taken longer than I wanted”. The singer has only released a handful of songs under his own name since his former band split amicably in 2011, including ‘I Played The Fool’ with Andrew Watt, Josh Klinghoffer and Travis Barker earlier this week for the new show Rooster. Advertisement He has, however, been working on his first solo album for several years and in a new interview with The Times, he has given fans some significant updates on the record’s progress. “I’m working on a solo album,” he said. “But it’s taken longer than I wanted.” Explaining the delays, he continued: “Covid didn’t help, but I’m finishing it. When the band split, I just needed a break. I took five years but I got pulled back into music. It’s been a struggle. That’s the main thing. I want it to be great, but I’ve got the pressure of having been in R.E.M. and it’s a high bar, because I want this to be as good as that, and that’s near impossible.” [embedded content] “So it’s fucking exciting but also terrifying, and I’m doing the music for the first time too, and I think I’m good at it but not great,” he… Read More →

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Self Esteem on pivot to acting: “I’ve been rock-bottom depressed because of music”

Self Esteem has opened up about her recent pivot to acting, explaining that she has been “rock-bottom depressed because of music”. The artist, real name Rebecca Lucy Taylor, released her third studio album ‘A Complicated Woman’ last year, an ambitious record that she later brought to life via a theatrical stage show in London’s West End. Advertisement Now, she has opened a run in London’s Duke Of York’s Theatre in the lead role of a revival of David Hare’s 1975 play Teeth ‘n’ Smiles. She plays Maggie Frisby, a rock star with self-destructive tendencies that has to reckon with her bandmates when her behaviour becomes a problem. The show runs until June 6. In an interview with The Independent, Taylor has spoken about the reasons for her diversion into acting, explaining that she felt “knackered” and “fed up” after the intense period around the release of ‘A Complicated Woman’. [embedded content] “When things went well for me finally, I just got distracted from the actual goal of what music is,” she said, before saying working on Teeth ‘n’ Smiles has helped her to recapture her creative drive. “I can’t understand being alive,” she continued. “It’s so mental to me. I want to understand it. I want to feel it.” Recommended She said the play has made… Read More →

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The Pretty Reckless announce new album ‘Dear God’ with thrashy single ‘When I Wake Up’ and details of 2026 UK, European and North American tour

The Pretty Reckless have announced their new album ‘Dear God’ with the thrashy lead single ‘When I Wake Up’ – listen below. The New York band, led by Taylor Momsen, will release their fifth studio album via Fearless Records on June 26 and you can pre-order your copy here. Advertisement The record will include their 2025 single ‘For I Am Death’, and now they have shared the latest teaser in the form of the ‘When I Wake Up’ single, a raw, punk flavoured slice of powerhouse alt-rock. The band have also announced details of an extensive tour that will take in North America, Europe and the UK throughout the second half of 2026. See all of the dates and ticket information below. [embedded content] Speaking about the new single, Momsen has said: “‘When I Wake Up’ is the story of a dream becoming a nightmare. When a life of excess leads you on a rollercoaster that is doomed to crash but you just can’t see it. It’s a good time…” The Pretty Reckless – ‘Dear God’ tracklist: ‘Life Evermore Pt. 2’ ‘For I Am Death’ ‘When I Wake Up’ ‘Love Me’ ‘Dragonfire’ ‘Dear God’ ‘Life Evermore Pt. 3’ ‘About You’ ‘Spell On You’ ‘Rollercoaster Of Life’ ‘Eye Of The Storm’ ‘Devil In Disguise (Michelle’s Song)’ ‘Dark Days’ ‘Life Evermore Pt. 1’ Recommended ‘For I Am Death’ was… Read More →

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Live Nation antitrust trial to resume after over 30 US states reject settlement

The antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation is set to resume after more than 30 US states refused to sign up to a settlement agreement. In the case, the Department of Justice is accusing Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation of abusing their power in the live events market to create an illegal monopoly. Advertisement The suit was first filed in 2024 and it alleges that the company had used the monopoly to help stifle competition, dominate the ticketing market and gain money from fans via high prices and surcharges. The hearing began on March 3 in Manhattan, but a week later, the two sides reportedly reached a tentative settlement agreement that would have seen Live Nation implement changes to its structure, in order to spare it from being split up from Ticketmaster. However, according to the Associated Press, the trial will now resume on Monday (March 16) after more than 30 US states decided not to join the Justice Department in the settlement. The crowd at the first stop of the Oasis Live 25 reunion tour in Cardiff, Wales on July 4, 2025. Credit: Andy Ford for NME In fact, only seven states – Arkansas, Iowa, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina and South Dakota – have joined the department’s plan to settle their claims. Recommended 32 plaintiff states… Read More →

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Neil Young is back in the studio writing songs about “the worst president in the history of our country”

Neil Young is channeling his anger at the Trump administration into a new album as he has revealed he is currently in the studio. READ MORE: Neil Young live at Glastonbury 2025: a no frills set that proves that sometimes, the old ways are the best In an update shared to his Neil Young Archives, he said he felt “so hurt for this country”, denouncing Donald Trump as “the worst president in the history of our country”. Advertisement “Politics today is sad and depressing for me. I can’t do it anymore. I can go out and demonstrate my feelings about it. We have the worst president in the history of our country. Every day a bad TV show produced by DJT is what we get,” he wrote. In spite of this, he said music was bringing him more joy. “Now, thankfully, once again, I’m in the studio recording a new album with the Chrome Hearts. I love the songs and the feelings of life and love. Music is. So far we have eight new songs. They make me feel.” Young has been a longtime critic of Trump and wrote an editorial urging Americans to “rise up” in the wake of the Minnesota ICE… Read More →