Can't make it to Texas to see one of the 1,700 bands performing at the 2010 SXSW festival? You can console yourself with this list of the 10 most famous — and infamous — moments in music-festival history.
A rapper at England’s famed rock festival? Sacrilege! So said Oasis’ Noel Gallagher, who criticized Jay-Z’s 2008 headlining spot as “wrong.” But Hov opted for a cheeky retort to the beef when, guitar in hand, he took to the stage and launched into a cover of Oasis’ “Wonderwall.” Cheekier still was how badly Jay-Z butchered it. No matter — he’s a rapper, not a rocker, and by the time his widely acclaimed set finished, Glastonbury fans were too.
Rapper M.I.A. is a little young to retire from performing live, right? Music tradition says she’s supposed to kick around for at least another 10 years until she even thinks of retiring, and even then, it’s only so she can launch a comeback tour a year or so later. That’s why concertgoers at Tennessee’s Bonnaroo were shocked to hear M.I.A. say she was retiring from the stage not once, not twice but threeseparate times during her performance at the 2008 festival. Claiming she wanted to focus on recording new material, she was, um, MIA for the rest of her tour, canceling dates in Britain. She’s already broken her pledge, performing — pregnant, no less — during a Brooklyn, N.Y., party and the 2009 Grammy Awards. Expect that comeback tour any day now.
Richard Dawson, the wisecracking British entertainer who was among the schemers in the 1960s sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes” and a decade later began kissing thousands of female contestants as host of the game show “Family Feud” has died. He was 79.
As we prepare for the Game of Thrones finale, we recognize Joffrey and nine other baddies who showed us that terrible, horrible things can come in small packages