
Benson Boone to perform in the UAE
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Boone, known for chart-topping hits like 'Beautiful Things' and 'Slow It Down,' is set to take the stage at Etihad Park on Dec. 4.
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Last week, organizers announced that pop superstar Katy Perry will headline the event's grand finale on Dec. 7.
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The 2024 lineup featured performances by Teddy Swims, Peggy Gou, Maroon 5, Eminem, and Muse.
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Saudi Gazette
3 days ago
- Saudi Gazette
UK police launch criminal investigation into Bob Vylan and Kneecap Glastonbury sets
LONDON — A criminal investigation has been launched over performances by Bob Vylan and Kneecap at Glastonbury on Saturday, Avon and Somerset Police has said. The force said it had appointed a senior detective to investigate whether comments made by either act amounted to a criminal offence after reviewing footage. A statement added: "This has been recorded as a public order incident at this time while our enquiries are at an early stage." Speaking in Parliament on Monday after the announcement, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy called the scenes broadcast "appalling and unacceptable". Police have not specified which part of Bob Vylan's or Kneecap's set would be subject to the criminal investigation. It comes after the BBC said it should have cut away from a live broadcast of Bob Vylan's performance, during which the band's singer Pascal Robinson-Foster, who performs under the name Bobby Vylan, led a chant of "death, death to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]". Those comments drew criticism of both the English punk-rap duo and the BBC for its live coverage of their performance. The corporation said it would "look at our guidance around live events so we can be sure teams are clear on when it is acceptable to keep output on air", and labelled remarks made during the performance antisemitic. Lisa Nandy told MPs that she immediately called the BBC's director general after the set was broadcast. She said outstanding questions remain, including why the feed "wasn't immediately cut", why it was broadcast live "given the concerns regarding other acts in the weeks preceding the festival" and what due diligence had been done ahead of deciding to put Bob Vylan on TV. "When the rights and safety of people and communities are at risk, and when the national broadcaster fails to uphold its own standards, we will intervene," she added, and said she will continue to speak to the BBC in the coming days. Earlier, broadcast regulator Ofcom said the BBC "clearly has questions to answer" over its coverage, and the government questioned why the comments were aired live. The organisers of Glastonbury have previously said they were "appalled" by the comments, which "crossed a line". On Sunday, Robinson-Foster responded to the controversy on Instagram, writing "I said what I said" and a statement in defence of political activism, without addressing his on-stage comments in more detail. Since then, both members of Bob Vylan - who were due to embark on a tour of America later this year - have had their US visas revoked, it is understood. US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau wrote on X: "Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country." In response, Bobby Vylan released a video statement on social media on Monday, where he said politicians should be "utterly ashamed" about where their "allegiances lie". "First it was Kneecap, now it's us two," he said. "Regardless of how it was said, calling for an end to the slaughter of innocents is never wrong. To civilians of Israel, understand this anger is not directed at you, and don't let your government persuade you that a call against an army is a call against the people. "To Keir, Kemi and the rest of you, I'll get you at a later date." Avon and Somerset Police also confirmed the criminal investigation would assess Kneecap's Glastonbury performance. The Irish-language rap band are known for making pro-Palestinian and political comments during their live performances and have attracted controversy in the past. Band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara, was charged with a terrorism offence for allegedly displaying the flag of proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah at a gig. He has denied the charge. Although there was no live stream of Kneecap's performance, the BBC later uploaded a largely unedited version of the set to its Glastonbury highlights page on BBC iPlayer. — BBC


Saudi Gazette
3 days ago
- Saudi Gazette
'How fragile we are': Roskilde Festival tragedy remembered 25 years on
COPENHAGEN — Today, 25 years ago, one of the worst accidents in rock history occurred at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark: nine young men lost their lives in the chaos that unfolded during a Pearl Jam concert. Rasmus Thirup Beck, a journalist who attended the Pearl Jam concert in 2000 shared his memories with Danish TV on the anniversary: "At some point, we see on the big screen that a completely lifeless body is lifted up over the barrier, and another one a little later and so on. We were completely shaken, and people began to cry around us and so on. We did not know what had happened. We only knew that something really bad had happened." During the show, frontman Eddie Vedder tried to get the thousands of fans to stop pushing forward, but it was too late. The US rock band have shared a post on Instagram honouring the victims. "Nothing has been the same since," it reads. Some 43 other people were also injured during the incident. Several inquiries were conducted, though no charges were filed. An initial report published in December 2000 found that 'a chain of unfortunate circumstances' led to the deaths after poor sound in the back prompted concert-goers to push forward. After 30 June, 2000, Roskilde Festival and all other festivals around the world changed forever. The festival has invested millions of Kroner in modern safety measures in an effort to prevent something similar from happening again. "We can be up to 70,000 people at this stage, and if we want space for all that, so that is still comfortable to stand here we will have to be able to use the corners completely, and therefore there is a much larger scene, big screens, a proper sound system, so it doesn't really matter where you are, then you can still get a good experience," explains head of security at the festival Morten Therkildsen. A memorial sculpture now sits at the festival ground. It's a black stone block engraved with the words "how fragile we are", with nine trees planted around it. On Pearl Jam's 2002 album Riot Act, the song Arc is a wordless tribute to the young men. The band played the song live only nine times. — Euronews

Arab News
19-06-2025
- Arab News
Review: Shawn Chidiac's stand-up comedy shows London what ‘Laughing in Translation' is
LONDON: The stand-up comedian Shawn Chidiac's first challenge upon arriving in London last week was getting used to looking right before crossing the road. However, when he finally did, he bumped into a cyclist who swore at him and sped off. Chidiac, who is based in the UAE, swore back angrily at the cyclist, an act he would not do in Dubai but felt compelled to since he was on an island where 57 percent of people swear most days. He was in the UK to perform 'Laughing in Translation,' his first solo stand-up comedy show since he became a full-time comedian and content creator in 2023. With over 645,000 followers on his @myparents_are_divorced page on Instagram, he is one of the best up-and-coming Arab comedians. Chidiac's parents are, indeed, divorced, and the audience at the nearly sold-out show at Shaw Theatre needed no reminder of this. Some of them were eager to share with him that their parents were also divorced. In a previous conversation with Arab News, the comedian said he likes 'connecting as many people as possible through (comedy stories about my) upbringing. Whoever has lived in the Gulf will have a similar story or narrative in their minds.' Before delving into his childhood and adult life experiences in Dubai, he guided the audience through a brief inner journey, using the commanding, deep voice of an Indian yoga guru, asking them to close their eyes, take a deep breath, and exhale. The audience — mostly young people, some of whom were Arabs or had Arab roots — struggled to maintain a sense of calm. One of Chidiac's comedic qualities is his ability to perform personas and accents inspired by the people he interacts with or has witnessed throughout his life in the Gulf, which became a melting pot of nationalities, languages, religions, and cultures. He was born in Canada to a family originally from Lebanon, but they later moved to Dubai, where he was primarily raised by his mother. He told the crowd that he went to the Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park, expecting an English narrator dressed in a three-piece suit, similar to those he had seen in 'Downton Abbey' and other historical TV dramas. Instead, he encountered a man from Punjab complaining about the increasing number of immigrants in the UK. Thanks to the 'Chinese DVD man' who roamed the neighborhoods of Dubai, Chidiac was able to keep up with the latest comedy shows and newly released films that his classmates were watching while he attended an expensive school where he was the poorest student. As he was known, the 'Chinese DVD man' always had a secret compartment in his suitcase, which did not contain action, racing, or historical movies but another, unnamed genre that sold out quickly. Chidiac told Arab News that such stories '(come from) the people I know and see, and the things I do, and my interaction with them. So, the more interaction I have, the better it is, which is hard because I'm a massive introvert.' His interactions in Dubai span many nationalities and cultures. Whether in hospital, where he recently endured the ordeal of kidney stones and had to communicate with a Filipino nurse and an Egyptian doctor, or on a horse riding date with a British woman, which unexpectedly landed him in the sand. When the doctors presented him with options for removing the kidney stones, he chose the shockwave lithotripsy. 'As an Arab, I chose the explosives,' he said.