Foo Fighters cancel F1 Abu Dhabi concert for medical reasons

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Foo Fighters rock band has called off its concert at the Formula One race in Abu Dhabi due to “unforeseen medical circumstances,” event organizers said Sunday.

The organizers offered no further details about the medical issue, other than to say that Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters were “unable to travel” to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for Sunday’s concert.

“The band apologizes for any inconvenience or disappointment caused by this unexpected turn of events,” the statement added. The band offered no immediate comment about the issue on its social media.

Emirati state-linked newspaper The National quoted concert promoter John Lickrish as saying that a member of the band was rushed to a hospital from an airport in Chicago, where the band stopped on the way to Abu Dhabi. He didn’t elaborate on what happened but said the band managers had called him to cancel.

The Foo Fighters last performed in Fresno, California, on Thursday and had been scheduled to end their rock tour in Abu Dhabi.

Instead, organizers said that Dutch DJ Martin Garrix and France’s DJ Snake would perform at the concert that closes the Formula One season at Yas Island, off the east coast of Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.

-Associated Press-

Mick Jagger celebrates end of UK lockdown in new track 'Eazy Sleazy'

LONDON — Mick Jagger released a surprise new track on Tuesday, “Eazy Sleazy”, which celebrates the end of lockdown in England and takes a tongue-in-cheek look at some of the downsides of life cooped up at home during the pandemic.

Lyrics in the rocking, upbeat track include: “Trying to write a tune you better hook me up to Zoom” and “way too much TV it’s lobotomizing me.”

Jagger, who wrote the song a few weeks ago, teamed up with Foo Fighters guitarist Dave Grohl virtually, who added his part from Los Angeles.

“It’s a song that I wrote about coming out of lockdown, with some much needed optimism,” said 77-year-old Jagger.

“It was all about coming out of all the things that I mention in the verses. It’s coming out of that, hopefully, into, you know, a more optimistic frame of mind,” he added.

The chorus promises, “we’ll escape from these prison walls” and “it’s gonna be a garden of earthly delights.”

Pubs started selling pints for drinking outside on Monday and shops threw open their doors as England started to reopen after three months of lockdown.

Grohl said recording the song with Jagger was “beyond a dream come true.”

“Just when I thought life couldn’t get any crazier ... it’s the song of the summer, without a doubt!” he said.

(Reporting by Sarah Mills, Writing by Alexandra Hudson; Editing by Mike Collett-White)

-reuters-

WATCH: 1000 musicians band together to play Foo Fighters hit

A thousand musicians came together to perform Foo Fighters' 1999 hit "Learn to Fly" in an attempt to woo the Dave Grohl-led band to come and play in Cesena, Italy.

According to the organizers, the group has not been to Romagna since 1997.

"What we did here is a huge, huge miracle," the event's creator Fabio Zaffagnini explained in the video.

"One thousand rockers that came from all over the nation at their own expense, and they just did one song --your song. We ask you, the Foo Fighters, to come play for us," he added.

As of writing, the video had more than 3.5 million views.

Foo Fighters have since caught wind of the stunt and have responded on their Twitter account.

The post translates to: "We will see you soon, Cesena."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Stars, presidents join Letterman for final act

NEW YORK -- Hollywood stars Steve Martin and Tina Fey, comedians Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld and a host of U.S. presidents joined the band Foo Fighters on Wednesday to bid farewell to David Letterman as the veteran "Late Show" host signed off for the last time.

The show as expected featured no sit-down guest interviews, relying heavily on clips of Letterman shows going all the way back to his 1980s morning show on NBC, people who attended said.

It opened with old footage of former President Gerald Ford intoning, out of context: "Our long national nightmare is finally over," referring at the time to the Watergate scandal.

In succession, Presidents George H. and George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and finally Barack Obama all repeated Ford's pronouncement verbatim, in joking reference to Letterman's retirement.

A bevy of top names turned up for one of Letterman's signature bits, the nightly Top 10 list, which was entitled "top 10 things I've always wanted to say to Dave." Barbara Walters, Jim Carrey, Peyton Manning, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Alec Baldwin, Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Bill Murray, Fey and Martin took aim.

"I'm just glad your show has been given to another white guy," was Rock's contribution, making reference to Letterman's successor Stephen Colbert, who takes over in September.

Notably absent was longtime rival and former "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno, although Letterman quipped in his monologue "I'll be honest with you - it's beginning to look like I'm not going to get 'The Tonight Show.'"

More of his trademark self-deprecation followed when he observed that he had done more than 6,000 shows, then joked that noted physicist Stephen Hawking had calculated "It works out to about eight minutes of laughter."

The 68-year-old host, famed for his quick wit, sarcasm, offbeat humor, often snarky attitude and silly stunts, hosted top stars and presidents in his final weeks, much as he did during 33 years on late night television at NBC and CBS.

For his swansong, Letterman, who started in television as a weatherman in his native Indianapolis, dropped his edginess and instead thanked his staff, his audience and CBS executives, including president and CEO Les Moonves who was on hand.

Letterman even took a moment to introduce his wife Regina and son Harry as the lights briefly came up in the Ed Sullivan Theater in Manhattan's Times Square district.

The show, which ran long at more than one hour and 15 minutes, ended as Letterman told viewers "thank you and good night," turning the stage over to his favorite band Foo Fighters.

The group performed "Everlong," once said by Letterman to be his favorite, as a montage of clips from his shows played.

"It was a heart-warming and heartfelt goodbye," said Victor King of Los Angeles, who flew in to attend the historic show.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Foo Fighter's Dave Grohl defends Grammy speech

LOS ANGELES -- Foo Fighters' frontman Dave Grohl was forced to defend his Grammy acceptance speech on Friday after numerous fans and critics interpreted his words as a critique of modern pop music.



"I love music. I love ALL kinds of music...Electronic or acoustic, it doesn't matter to me," Grohl said.

"The simple act of creating music is a beautiful gift that ALL human beings are blessed with. And the diversity of one musician's personality to the next is what makes music so exciting and ... human," added the "Walk" singer.

While the Foo Fighters won five awards at last Sunday's Grammy Awards, it was Grohl's acceptance speech for their best rock performance win that stirred viewers after the singer/songwriter said their latest album, "Wasting Light," "shows that the human element of music is what's important."

"Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that's the most important thing for people to do. It's not about being perfect, it's not about sounding absolutely correct, it's not about what goes on in a computer. It's about what goes on in here and what goes on in here," the singer had said on Sunday.

Critics slammed Grohl's comments with LA Weekly's Dennis Romero calling them "wrong on so many levels," citing the singer's former band, Nirvana's "decidedly retro style ... endeared it to pop writers and music executives."

Grohl, who performed with electronica-dance DJ Deadmau5 at the Grammys on Sunday, defended his comments saying he was criticizing the digital enhancement of fixing or perfecting music as removing "the human element" and not the pop or electronic-dance music genres.

"That thing that happens when a song speeds up slightly, or a vocal goes a little sharp. That thing that makes people sound like PEOPLE. Somewhere along the line those things became "bad" things, and with the great advances in digital recording technology over the years they became easily "fixed," said the singer on Friday.

"A lot of music that sounds perfect, but lacks personality. The one thing that makes music so exciting in the first place."

source: interaksyon.com

Nicki Minaj, Foo Fighters to perform at Grammys

LOS ANGELES - Rapper Nicki Minaj will make her debut Grammy performance next month, joining Foo Fighters, Bruno Mars and country singer Jason Aldean on the list of artists who will take to the stage on the recording industry's biggest night.

Grammy organizers said on Thursday that Minaj, who has four Grammy nominations, will perform at the February 12 awards show, as well as country sensation Taylor Swift, and Kelly Clarkson.

But there was no official word on Thursday on whether Britain's Adele, whose album "21" was the biggest seller of 2011, will be singing at the Grammys following surgery on her vocal cords in November.

Adele, who has been on doctor-ordered vocal rest since November, was not among the first list of Grammy performers. But the 23 year-old "Someone Like You" singer was listed on Thursday as being down to sing at the BRIT music awards ceremony in London on February 21.

Rapper Kanye West, who leads this year's Grammys with seven nominations, is also yet to be confirmed as a performer at the live awards show in Los Angeles.

Organizers said additional performers and presenters will be announced in the coming weeks. –Reuters

source:gmanetwork.com