The King of Pop will make his return to the stage for the first time since 2001. Michael Jackson announced an open-ended run of performances commencing at London’s O2 Arena on July 9. Jackson will begin with 10 scheduled performances and continue as long as demand dictates. This unique statement of world domination isn’t the first, however, as promoter AEG Live also did a string of 21 sold-out Prince shows at the same London venue, according to Billboard. Bets are already being placed on whether or not the erratic King will actually show up to the first show.
The kids in MGMT have balls. The band sacked up and decided to go after the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, for copyright infringement. The President’s Union for a Popular Movement party used MGMT’s song “Kids” for their national congress in January and in a couple online videos without permission, according to Pitchfork. The band hired a French lawyer to throw their weight around, but the French party isn’t budging. The UMP admitted their wrongdoing and have graciously offered the band one euro (about $1.25) in “symbolic damages for copyright infringement” says the Agence France Presse. As expected, the band and their reps find the response insulting, thus they will be offering only “freedom fries” on their upcoming tour.
The Fray has announced a headlining tour and will bring out Jack’s Mannequin as support for their summer (mostly) amphitheater tour. The Fray’s latest, self-titled effort managed to actually top Taylor Swift on the Billboard charts in its February debut, selling 179,000 copies. The tour, beginning in June, will also feature female-fronted Vedera on its Sacramento stop, July 31 at Sleep Train Amphitheatre.
The Virgin Megastore franchise continues to close shop around the country. Sacramento was home to one of the 11 Virgin record shops that were open throughout the U.S. in 2007; however, only three will remain after the San Francisco and Times and Union Square stores in New York close by this May. The Sacramento location closed in 2007, managing to outlast Tower Records, which finally closed its doors at the end of 2006. It’s no news CD sales continue to dwindle as record stores become extinct. This leaves me a perfect opportunity to plug the current R5 Records in the old Tower building on Broadway and 16th. Buying CDs is cool.
The orgasmic Icelanders, Sigur Ros, have signed on to contribute music to a new film, Ondine starring Colin Ferrell. NME reports that Sigur Ros keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson will score the film directed by Neil Jordan. The band will also contribute a number of tracks to the movie. Ondine tells the tale of an Irish fisherman who discovers a woman in his fishing net who he believes to be a mermaid. I’m hoping for an Irish-indie version of The Life Aquatic meets Little Mermaid.
And in other news”¦ comedian Steve Martin will release The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo, joining David Hasselhoff, Lindsay Lohan, and most recently Joaquin Phoenix on the list of actors pretending to be musicians.
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