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Florence + the Machine and Kendrick Lamar are the latest headliners to be announced for next year’s BST Festival in Hyde Park. The two acts will share the bill on Saturday July 2nd, with Florence headlining the night. Also on the line-up are Jamie xx and Blood Orange.

Florence + The Machine are heading to BST Hyde Park.

Florence + the Machine headlined the Friday of this year’s Glastonbury festival after the Foo Fighters were force to pull out. Their latest album How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful hit the number one spot in the UK earlier this year.

Continue reading: Florence + The Machine And Kendrick Lamar Added To 2016 BST Hyde Park Line Up

Singer-songwriter Benjamin Clementine has won this year’s Mercury Music Prize, picking up the award thanks to his debut album At Least For Now. The 26 year old, from Edmonton in London formerly performed as a busker on the streets of Paris and dedicated his award to the city following last week’s terror attacks.

Benjamin Clementine has won this year’s Mercury Music Prize.

Accepting his £20,000 prize, Clementine said: “I never thought I would say this. If anyone is watching, any child or youngster or student. The world is your oyster. Go out there and get what you want to get”.

Continue reading: Benjamin Clementine Dedicates 2015 Mercury Prize Win To Paris

Florence and the Machine has scored her third UK number one album this weekend, as How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful has landed straight at the top spot. The singer’s third album follows her 2011 chart-topper Ceremonials and 2009 debut Lungs by debuting at number one. 

Florence is sitting pretty on top of the album chart.

How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful racked up combined sales of just under 70,000 to take the top spot, beating Britain’s Got Talent winners Collabro who entered at number two with their second album Act Two.

Continue reading: Florence And The Machine Scores Third UK Number One Album With 'How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful'

Paul McCartney and Metallica have been announced as the headliners for this year's Lollapalooza Festival, taking place at Chicago's Grant Park on July 31st through to August 2nd. The legendary Beatle’s heading slot marks his first ever appearance at the long-running festival, while fellow headliners Metallica are making their Lollapalooza return after a 19 year absence.

Paul McCartney is headed to Grant Park

McCartney will headline the opening night of the festival, with The Weeknd, The War On Drugs, Alabama Shakes, Alt-J, Hot Chip and James Bay also scheduled to take the stage on Friday, July 31st.

Continue reading: Paul McCartney, Metallica And Florence And The Machine Lead Lollapalooza 2015 Line-Up

It's that time of year again as the full line-up announcement for Coachella 2015 arrives following some spectacular headliners: AC/DC, Jack White and Drake will all top the bills at the two-weekend event in April.

Well known for its diverse collection of rock, pop, electronic, hip hop and indie artists from around the world, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is yet again set to arrive at the Empire Polo Club fields in Indio, California. Kicking off with the first event from Friday April 10th - 12th, the festival will repeat the following week from April 17th - 19th.

Continue reading: From Steely Dan To Raekwon And Ghostface Killah: Who's Been Announced For Coachella 2015?

Florence Welch, of Florence and the Machine, was in a partying mood last Friday night (July 19, 2013) - that's for sure.

The singer was in attendance for band Sourberry's set at South London Pacific when she hopped up on-stage with her Tequila shot during the soundcheck and gave a...wobbly...performance of Daft Punk's summer hit single 'Get Lucky.'

Covers band Sourberry wrote: "It was the annual Sourberry summer party and Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine was in attendance. She hopped up on stage during our sound check and rocked out a couple of numbers with us while we warmed up. 'Get Lucky' - Daft Punk and 'Standing In The Way Of Control' - The Gossip. So let's raise the bar, and our [tequila shot] to the stars...."

Continue reading: Armed With Tequila, Florence Welch Crashes Cover Band's Soundcheck [Video]

Maybe Jay Z isn’t the typical name you’d expect to see on the soundtrack of a film set in the 20s, but after the initial surprise, it turns out that the mogul and The Great Gatsby have more in common than you’d think. Both Jay’s (Z and Gatsby) are cool, aloof, sharply dressed types. Both are rich and both swim in luxury and glamour. And ok, maybe that’s where the similarities end, but you can see how Mr Carter is actually a fitting choice to work on the modernized soundtrack for the upcoming film. The rapper released “$100 Bill” today, to go “hand in hand” as he put it with the movie adaptation. But it’s not your typical soundtrack, oh no – after all, when have you heard of Jay Z doing anything typical? As the man himself put it for Blacktree.tv:

"It's not the typical soundtrack, or a standalone piece. The songs are pretty much in the film, so it goes hand in hand with each other. It had to fit pretty snug, it wasn't an afterthought."

Now he’s got us all eager and excited to hear it (well, and see the film obviously), especially considering that the full soundtrack will feature songs by Florence and the Machine, Lana Del Rey, Jack White and even Beyoncé. It sounds like an eclectic mix of styles, all united under the decadent splendor of the jazz age. Who could resist! For a teaser of things to come, you can check out “$100 Bill” here, or watch the "Gatsby" trailer below.

Continue reading: Jay Z's "$100 Bill" Is The Perfect Track To Capture The Empty Splendor Of The Jazz Age

John Legend is excited to team up with Beyonce for a London concert, endorsing Chime for Change – a charity, aimed at helping girls and women around the world. The singers will perform at London’s Twickenham stadium on June 1st alongside a host of other international acts, including Florence + the Machine, Haim, Ellie Goulding, Iggy Azalea, Laura Pausini, Rita Ora and Timbaland. Chime for Change was founded by Gucci and profits from the initiative go to various NGOs around the world, which aim to affect change in the lives of underprivileged women.

John Legend himself has been working with various organisations, focusing on women’s rights, for a long time. For The Huffington Post, the singer said he was “inspired” to act after traveling to Ghana with Millenium Promise co-founder Professor Jeffrey Sachs, who wrote The End of Poverty.

The Grammy Award winner is excited to perform alongside Beyonce.

Continue reading: John Legend Would Love To Duet With Beyonce In Aid Of Women's Rights

The stars filed in to London’s Troxy last night (Wed, 27) for The NME Awards 2013. As ever, it was a night of nonchalant acceptance speeches, hero admiration and pop-band bashing. Here are some of the highlights, and some of the winners.

Perhaps the biggest headline was The Rolling Stones winning two awards: Best Live Band and Best Music Film for ‘Crossfire Hurricane’. "I feel really grateful after all the hard work that we put in – it's got to be fucking live, baby! We've only waited 50 years for it," Ronnie Wood said upon accepting the live band award.

Continue reading: NME Awards 2013: Highlights, Winners And Sinners

Annually, the Grammys is one of the biggest events for music across America and in Europe. In fact, it has dubbed itself 'music's biggest night'. Celebrating the best in pop, hiphop, soul, R&B and much of what comes in between, it never fails to be a veritable who's who from the Spotify playlists of the masses. And this year will be no different. Not only are the nominees ones to look out for, absences are worthy of note, as are this year's presenters and some very special performances.

As Yahoo report, this year's presenters include Grammy royalty, Prince, Beyonce, and Jennifer Lopez, all of whom have been nominated or won Grammys before.  

In terms of performances to look forward to, this year we have some unusual and largely unexpected pair ups. Elton John and Ed Sheeran will take to the stage together. An unusual pairing, they're both Brits with unusual song writing talent. While John is a true showman and is well known for his intereSting outfits and outrageous glasses, Sheeran is distinctly more low key. We're not sure how this is going to work, but we're guessing it'll be great. Bruno Mars, Sting and Rihanna will all also perform together, as will Alicia Keys and Maroon 5, and Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert. 

Continue reading: 55th Grammys Preview: 'Music's Biggest Night' Wont Fail To Impress

Fans travelling home from Kendrick Lamar’s London show recently were given a bonus extra performance after they found themselves sharing a London Underground carriage with Florence Welch!

Welch had been spotted at the show beforehand on Sunday night (January 20, 2013), but opted to take the tube instead of a private car. Keeping a low profile was never going to work with that shock of red hair, and she soon found herself being serenaded by a bunch of fans singing her hit ‘You’ve Got The Love.’ However, rather than shy away, Welch opted to play up to the crowd: “Florence jumped on the Tube after Kendrick and, as you can imagine, every carriage was packed” a source told The Sun. “At first she tried to keep a low profile but it didn’t take long for a few people to recognise her. They started singing 'You’ve Got The Love' but instead of bailing at the next stop, Florence joined in. It was brilliant.”

Welch wasn’t done there either, as if we didn’t already know that she was a fan of Lamar, she moved onto one of his tunes next; “She finished You’ve Got The Love before changing to the Kendrick Lamar song Backseat Freestyle” the insider said. Welch is a known fan of hip-hop, and can count A$AP Rocky and Drake among her pals.

Continue reading: Florence Welch Gives Kendrick Lamar Fans A Treat With Impromptu Tube Performance

Are The Rolling Stones lined up to headline Coachella Festival in 2013?

It looks as though the people that make the band’s official iPhone app may have just secretly leaked details of their plans for 2013. On Friday (December 14, 2012), the band’s app had details of a performance on April 12, 2013, at Indio, at the Coachella Festival, NME reports. Although the date was later removed, in the age of the screen grab, there’s no stopping news like that form going viral.

The last time the band performed at a festival was back in 2007, when they played at the Isle of Wight Festival and the fans of the band who have a ticket for Glastonbury Festival 2013 will probably still be holding out hope that Jagger & co. will still be announced as one of the UK festival’s main acts, too.

Continue reading: Is The Cat Out Of The Bag? Rolling Stones To Headline Coachella Festival 2013?

Rihanna has received 6 nominations for the MTV Europe Music Awards; more than any other act, reports The Telegraph. Muse, Coldplay and One Direction also pick up nominations.

The 24-year Barbadian star has been shortlisted for the awards for best song, best video, best female, best pop, biggest fans, and best look. Both ‘best song’ and ‘best video’ were for the same song, ‘We Found Love’ and ‘best look’ is a brand new category. She is up against Taylor Swift in the female, pop and look sections, whilst Swift was also nominated for best live and best world stage act. Other acts to be recognised, or at least they hope so, are Lana Del Rey, Nicki Minaj, Jay Z and Kanye West, all of which garnered three nominations each. Lady GaGa dominated last year's awards - held in Belfast - coming away with four awards and performing ‘Marry the Night’. This year she is also nominated for three categories.

Given the name of the awards, one would be forgiven for thinking that European acts are the most prominent, but it’s the Americans that continue to dominate year after year, and despite being held in Germany this year, that trend is set to continue. Great Britain represents the biggest European contingent with Muse Coldplay, Rita Ora, One Direction, Florence and the Machine, and M.I.A all hopeful to take home an award come November 11, 2012.