Organisers of a Michael Jackson tribute concert in Cardiff have been criticised for booking Kiss after the rock band said the star was a child abuser.
Kiss were removed from the bill after controversy over comments bassist Gene Simmons made last year. Jackson was cleared of child molestation in 2005.
His brother Jermaine said: "This mishandling reinforces my view that this promoter is getting it all wrong."
source: BBC
The Rockers Impress At Their Stripped Back Sydney Show...
Huge cheers from a packed house greeted US rockers Maroon 5 as they took to the stage on Friday night.
The show, at Sydney’s Acer Arena, had an incredibly basic set-up - no side-of-stage screens, no flashy visuals - but thankfully the band well and truly made up for it with a fun, tight performance that had the crowd singing from start to finish.
After opening with ‘Misery,’ the lead single off their latest album ‘Hands All Over,’ the boys launched into a non-stop hit parade of tracks from all three of their studio albums. Moving seamlessly from ‘If I Never See Your Face Again’ into ‘Harder To Breathe’ and ‘Give A Little More’, I was amazed at the number of songs I knew word for word. Hardly surprising though, considering Maroon 5 have been on the music scene for a decade, producing a dozen hit singles and earning a swag of MTV and Grammy awards for their efforts.
The band pleased fans of their debut album ‘Songs About Jane’ with favourites ‘This Love’ and ‘Shiver,’ but they also managed to work a few mash-ups into their set. Michael Jackson’s classic ‘Billie Jean’ was incorporated into their track ‘The Sun’, and later the guys reworked a pared back version of ‘Secret’ with Al Green’s ‘Let’s Stay Together’ and Tina Turner’s ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’.
From where I was sitting the balance between instruments and vocals seemed perfect. Guitar riffs worked in harmony with frontman Adam Levine’s powerful vocals, and the singer didn’t miss a note – even when he was busy hamming it up for the adoring (and largely female) audience. He wasn’t wrong when he quipped that “some of the smartest men in Australia are here tonight!”
‘She Will Be Loved’ received the biggest reaction of the night, and the band ramped up the crowd participation factor on this track with Levine leading a multi-harmony sing-a-long. The boys produced a few more gems during the encore, with the crowd on their feet for ‘Hands All Over’ and a sexed up rendition of ‘Makes Me Wonder’. But they definitely saved the best for last with ‘Sunday Morning’ - the perfect track to wrap up the set and keep the punters singing long after the lights went up.
Source: mtv.com.au
