A London music festival cancels its final night after ELO's Jeff Lynne pulls out
In a statement, the festival organizers said the event will sadly be canceled and that ticket holders will be refunded and contacted directly by their ticket agent with further details. Stevie Wonder will be taking to the London stage on Saturday evening in what will now be the festival's final event of 2025. This year's festival, which started on June 27, hosted the likes of Olivia Rodrigo, Van Morrison, and Neil Young. US rock band The Doobie Brothers and Steve Winwood were among those slated to perform on Sunday ahead of ELO's headline performance.
In an earlier statement, BST said Lynne was heartbroken to report that he could not perform. 'Jeff has been battling a systemic infection and is currently in the care of a team of doctors who have advised him that performing is simply not possible at this time, nor will he be able to reschedule,' the statement read. 'The legacy of the band and his longtime fans are foremost in Jeff's mind today – and while he is so sorry that he cannot perform, he knows that he must focus on his health and rehabilitation at this time,' it added.
It comes after the band, best known for 'Mr. Blue Sky,' pulled out of a performance at Manchester's Co-Op Live on July 10. The band was formed in Birmingham in 1970 by Lynne, multi-instrumentalist Roy Wood, and drummer Bev Bevan, and first split in 1986. ELO are known for fusing classical music, Beatles-style pop, and futuristic rock visuals, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017. Lynne resurrected the band in 2014.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
17 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
Charli xcx and the 1975 drummer george daniel are married
Charli XCX and The 1975 drummer George Daniel have tied the knot. A representative for Daniel confirmed to The Associated Press that the pair married over the weekend. The couple were seen posing in front of London's Hackney Town Hall on Saturday. Daniel wore a suit, and Charli XCX wore a Vivienne Westwood bridal mini dress, Vogue confirmed. Representatives for Charli XCX did not immediately respond to AP's request for comment. The BRAT pop star posted a video on TikTok while wearing the same bridal minidress. It featured the text 'when george isn't crying when he sees me walking down the aisle' and a caption 'luckily he did.' The Grammy-winning Charli XCX, born Charlotte Emma Aitchison, is an English singer and songwriter who first made waves in 2012 for writing the synth-pop hit 'I Love It' for the Swedish duo Icona Pop and in 2014 for her collaboration with rapper Iggy Azalea on 'Fancy.' In the years since, she's continued to innovate, working with the futuristic hyperpop collective PC Music. Most recently, she released the energetic, hedonistic, summer-defining album BRAT. Daniel is an English musician, record producer, and DJ best known as the drummer and founding member of the popular pop-rock band The 1975. Charli XCX and Daniel announced their engagement on Instagram in 2023. The pair have collaborated a number of times in the past. Daniel is a feature co-producer and co-writer on two BRAT tracks.
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
Music review: Elton john's 'live from the rainbow theatre with ray cooper' spotlights a rich catalog
On Elton John's new concert album, the songs steal the show. Deep cuts from John's rich catalog are given the spotlight on Live From the Rainbow Theatre With Ray Cooper. The 13-song set was culled from a six-show residency in London in May 1977, with John at the piano and his longtime percussionist Cooper joining him for the second half of the show. The album initially received a limited release on vinyl for Record Store Day and will be available digitally and on CD for the first time beginning Friday. While John, of course, performed his biggest hits during the residency, the album wisely focuses on often overlooked material, pointing to the astounding quantity of quality songs John produced early in his career. That includes Cage the Songbird, a lilting tribute to Édith Piaf from the underrated 1976 LP Blue Moves. Another highlight from that album is the cabaret jazz ballad Idol, which shows John could have thrived in a lounge had the rock star thing not worked out. The piano man's playing here is closer to Liberace than Little Richard because ballads predominate, and Cooper's role is tastefully restrained. Even when the tempo gets brisk on Better Off Dead, the song is delightfully hammy operetta rather than rock 'n' roll. From start to finish, John sings with relish: He knows how good these songs are. Where To Now St. Peter? features an especially vigorous vocal, including full-throated falsetto. Live From the Rainbow Theatre underscores John's lyricist Bernie Taupin's vital role in their songwriting partnership. The album opens with The Greatest Discovery, a pairing of sweet sentiment and a charming melody, while Ticking is a gripping tale set in Queens that anticipated America's epidemic of gun violence. John introduces Ticking and two other songs by noting he doesn't perform them often or often enough. Banter elsewhere is mostly brief and stiff, but his droll wit does surface in one exchange with a spectator. 'How are you tonight? Nice handkerchief,' John says before telling the rest of the audience, 'He hasn't washed that in three years.' The 1977 performances took place as punk and disco were knocking John off his pop pedestal and ending his years-long reign as a consistent hitmaker. Live From the Rainbow Theatre offers a reminder that not all of his superb songs were singles.
Al Arabiya
a day ago
- Al Arabiya
Scuffle on stage at London opera as performer unfurls Palestinian flag
London's Royal Opera House on Sunday condemned as 'wholly inappropriate' the actions of a performer who held up a Palestinian flag onstage at the end of a performance. Video footage posted online shows a brief scuffle at the edge of the stage as a figure dressed in a shirt and tie unsuccessfully attempts to stop the performer. A performer at the Royal Opera House unfurls a Palestinian flag during the curtain call of Saturday's performance of Il trovatore in Covent Garden, London Oliver Mears, Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House, tries to grab the flag from the performer He fails epically — Armchair Analyst (@ArmchairAn4lyst) July 20, 2025 The incident in the British capital on Saturday during the curtain call came on the closing night of an 11-night run of Il Trovatore, a four-act opera by Giuseppe Verdi. 'Extraordinary scenes at the Royal Opera House tonight,' a person who claimed to have been in the audience posted on X. 'During the curtain call for Il Trovatore one of the background artists came on stage waving a Palestine flag. Just stood there, no bowing or shouting. Someone off stage kept trying to take it off him. Incredible.' A spokesperson for the Royal Ballet and Opera in London's Covent Garden said the 'display of the flag was an unauthorized action by the artist.' The incident comes after numerous artists including Kneecap, Bob Vylan, Wolf Alice, and Amyl and The Sniffers offered messages of support for people in Gaza at this year's Glastonbury festival. Police are still investigating duo Bob Vylan, whose frontman led a chant against the Israeli army at the festival. Kneecap's Liam O'Hanna, known by his stage name Mo Chara, has also been charged with a 'terror' offence over alleged support for banned organizations Hamas and Hezbollah in connection with an earlier performance.
