Lady Antebellum joined Carrie Keagan, Jason Dundas and the rest of the VH1 Big Morning Buzz Live family to discuss lead singer Hillary Scott’s pregnancy and how it has affected the group. They even gave us (and the world) a special treat singing an a cappella rendition of “Golden,” which appears on their latest album of the same name.
Say it with us now: BRUUUUUUUUUUCEEEEE!! It’s Day Two of the 2012 Hard Rock Calling music festival, and though we had a fantastic roaster of rock ‘n’ rollers on the bill today, there’s one name that shines over the rest. No offense Lady Antebellum, John Fogerty, Tom Morello, Dawes, Gary Clark Jr and the rest of the twenty-three acts who got loud in London – but there was something special in the air tonight. And it smelled like the swamps of Jersey. Bruce Springsteen turned rock performance into an Olympic event, offering up one of his frenzied three hour music marathons. We laughed, we cried, we rocked.
Arriving to Hyde Park in the afternoon, we got the impression that the already-massive festival site had somehow grown even bigger! At first we thought it was just in our heads, but apparently it was true. Organizers have reportedly sold 80 thousands tickets, so many that the gates had to be moved farther back to accommodate the influx of international fans wanting to be honorary Garden State-ers for the night.
We got there just in time to see The Nightwatchman, better known as Tom Morello, take to the stage. Never one to hold back, the former Rage Against The Machine guitarist is still raging, offering a passionately political set in which he touched on everything from the worldwide financial crisis to a British fireman’s strike. In honor of what would have been musical protest pioneer Woody Guthrie’s 100th birthday, Morello did a fiery rendition of the late singer’s “Ease My Revolutionary Mind,” fitting in shoutouts to Springsteen, Fogerty and other acts on the bill. ”If he were alive today, he would be on the front lines of Occupy movement,” Morello said of Guthrie, who passed away in 1967.
Hard Rock called and we answered! The 7th annual Hard Rock Calling music festival is almost upon us, and VH1′s got your front row ticket and backstage pass. The big event will take place this Friday through Sunday in London’s Hyde Park, and we’ll be there rockin’ out with some of the biggest names in rock ‘n’ roll history! Hard Rock always treats us music fans right, but this year they’ve really spoiled us with some once-in-a-lifetime performances.
Grunge gods Soundgarden will be there playing cuts from their upcoming album, a first in 16 years! Paul Simon is going to celebrate the 25h anniversary of his landmark Graceland album by performing it start to finish, backed by the incredible Ladysmith Black Mambazo group who gave the original recording its timeless sound. Bruce Springsteen will no doubt turn rock ‘n’ roll into an athletic event during his marathon set with the E Street Band, and punk prince Iggy Pop will tear up the stage (and hopefully not himself). Lady Antebellum, Alison Krauss, John Fogerty and Robert Randolph…they’ll all be there to move it and groove it across the pond.
And get this, guys: That’s just the main stage. We’ve got three others to choose from, so get ready for more music than your ears can handle. We’re pleased to report some success stories, as one-time VH1 You Oughta Know artists Dawes and Christina Perri both take the stage. We’ll be sure to catch up with them and see how they like performing along side their idols. There will be tons of surprises along the way, so keep checking back for updates to see what went down in London Town! And also be sure to follow us on twitter (VH1Music) and instagram for up to the minute updates. See ya there!
[Photo: Getty Images]
Each week here on VH1 Tuner, our VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown host Jim Shearer (@jimshearer on Twitter) will be sharing his Shearer’s Spotlight with us. Be sure to tune into the VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown tomorrow morning when it airs on VH1 at 9 a.m. ET/PT.
Melanie Fiona, who is currently supporting her new album The MF LIFE, recently visited VH1 and performed her latest single “4AM,” a track that questions the whereabouts of her boyfriend.
While she was singing, other early morning/late night songs came to mind.
Taking a cue from Melanie, here is a soundtrack for the night—where monogamous relationships go to die and booty calls blossom:
12:00AM
“Midnight City,” M83
Apparently M83 likes to party deep into the night, because at midnight, a time when many of us are sleeping, he’s still waiting: in a car, for the right time, for a roar, and a ride in the dark.
1:15AM
“Need You Now,” Lady Antebellum
The alcohol buzz and drunken dialing commence as Lady Antebellum harmonize over the following chorus: “It’s a quarter after one, I’m a little drunk, and I need you now.”
In “Rolling In The Deep”, Adele sang “We could have had it all.” Well, at the 2012 Grammy Awards tonight, she did end up having it all — all the awards, that is. The English songbird completed a year of total dominance on the Billboard song and album charts by sweeping the three major categories at this year’s awards: Album of the Year for 21, Song of the Year for “Rolling In The Deep”, and Record of the Year (also for “Rolling In The Deep”). All in all, the 23-year-old took home six Grammys tonight, bringing her career total to eight.
Adele also performed “Rolling In The Deep” in front of a hushed crowd, her first public singing performance since she underwent vocal cord surgery back in 2011. We haven’t seen any video of that performance emerge on the web yet, but we DID see her knock Anderson Cooper‘s socks off with an a Capella performance of her Grammy-winning smash on 60 Minutes earlier tonight. We’ve got that performance for you below.
With her historic “Triple Crown” win tonight, Yahoo Music noted that Adele became only the sixth artist in history to accomplish that feat. Her peers in this exclusive group include Simon & Garfunkel (1971), Carole King (1972), Christopher Cross (1981), Eric Clapton (1993) and the Dixie Chicks (2007).
More on the 2012 Grammy Awards below!
M83‘s lead single from their new album Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming has an almost unstoppable momentum behind it, and it’s not showing any sign of slowing down. The song has already appeared on a Victoria’s Secret commercial and on the end credits for HBO’s How To Make It In America, and last night the band performed the electronic hit live on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. On stage last night (after being introduced by a giddy Fallon) M83 gave an energetic performance — we never thought that watching electronic music live could be so compelling. There was even live saxophone, and we’ve got to say, it’s rare that we’ve seen a saxophonist rock that hard!
The 2011 Country Music Awards aired on ABC last night, and Nashville’s finest dusted off their boots and gussied themselves up for the national TV spotlight. For the second year in a row, Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley (whose new record, This Is Country Music, is pretty great) proved themselves to be a surprisingly deft and wholly likeable hosting combo, particularly when they’re roasting Kim Kardashian over the spit in song form. There was no “big winner” of the night, per se, but The Band Perry took home a couple of awards (Best New Artist, Best Song for Song Of The Summer contender “If I Die Young”) and Taylor Swift took home the evening’s biggest prize, Entertainer of the Year.
However, the evening’s best moment didn’t involve pandering to Hollywood (Blake Shelton’s raucous version of “Footloose”) or even a huge, pyro-laden production number (sorry, Miranda Lambert!). It occured when Kenny Chesney and VH1 fave Grace Potter each slung an acoustic guitar over their shoulders, hopped on a stool and duetted on a positively gorgeous version of their hit, “You And Tequila.” Of course, we’re suckers for any and all things Grace (those stems!), but the way these two harmonized last night reminded us why we listen to country music in the first place. There’s no slick production, no glossy radio sound, just two great voices (and some palpable chemistry) blending together to make something special. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
DEAD JUGGALO FOUND IN OHIO RIVER AND OTHER LESS HARROWING GATHERING OF THE JUGGALOS UPDATES
The body of a 24 year-old Insane Clown Posse fan was found in a section of the Ohio River located in Western Kentucky on Sunday afternoon. He was wearing a Gathering Of The Juggalos wristband, which leads the Kentucky state police to surmise that he was attending the festival. Meanwhile, over at Deadspin, writer Emma Carmichael went undercover and transformed herself into a Juggalette and traveled to Cave-in-Rock, Illinois this weekend; she just published a hilarious and fascinating exposé of the festival largely comprised of “t*tties and drugs.” [Rolling Stone, Deadspin]
BLACK SABBATH PLANS REUNION TOUR, STUDIO ALBUM
Don’t call it a comeback! Original Black Sabbath members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward have reunited. Since the band’s split in 1979, Geezer has actually become a geezer, which is something we suppose is both ironic and inevitable. Nobody is talking about how much money they’re getting to do this, but we imagine it’s a lot. [Birmingham Mail via The Quietus]
With Kid Rock as host, it’s no surprise that the CMT Music Awards went pop last night. After a gag entrance in which Kid Rock tried to open the show with “Bawitdaba” only to be interrupted by Wynonna for a duet debut of her “Till My Dying Day.” Later in the show, The Band Perry introduced their performance of single “You Lie” with a snippet of “Love the Way You Lie.”
The undisputed crossover champions of the night were Lady Antebellum, who halfway through their performance of “Just a Kiss” switched over to a much funkier “Kiss”?the 1986 single from Prince and the Revolution‘s Parade. Lady A, who have showed their pop potential at the Grammys, on the charts, and, increasingly, in performance, turned out a great rendition (though admittedly, Prince songs are really hard to cover poorly). They didn’t explicitly mention Prince’s 53rd birthday the day before, but we’d like to think the performance was, in part, a birthday tribute.
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VH1 Presents Mixtape Festival: Train, NKOTB, TLC, The Script + more! Tickets on sale now at MixtapeFestival.com!
