News

Roger Daltrey has been given an honorary degree by Middlesex University. The Who frontman has been recognised for his contribution to the music and acting industry over his six-decade career. He joined hundreds of students who were graduating, some of whom contributed visuals to his rock-opera Tommy.

Bryan Ferry has said that the current run of Hyde Park concerts are an "embarrassment" to music. The singer spoke out after Bruce Springsteen’s Hyde Park Calling set on Saturday (July 14) was cut short during the final song, a duet with Paul McCartney, after he broke the sound curfew. The Roxy Music singer told the Evening Standard: "They shouldn't have these events in Hyde Park any more if it’s going to cause embarrassing problems."

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David Bowie is to release a 40th anniversary limited edition 7" of his 1972 single, "John, I'm Only Dancing". 'John, I'm Only Dancing' was originally released on Friday, September 1, 1972 on RCA as the follow-up single to "Starman", it reached number 12 on the UK singles charts, although it never appeared on one of Bowie's studio albums. Recorded too late for inclusion on the Ziggy Stardust album, it was considered for the following year's Aladdin Sane, but never made it on to the final running order.

The organisers of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival have announced that they will be launching a Coachella cruise, which is due to set sail in December. Headlined by Pulp, Hot Chip, Warpaint and Grimes, the luxury liner, called the S.S. Coachella, will head to the Bahamas between December 16-19 and then to Jamaica December between 19-23. Prices start at £320 ($500). Organisers are already touting a series of at-sea activities, including DJ tutorials and wine tastings hosted by former LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy.

Health and safety officials have said that concert promoter Live Nation was "disingenuous" for citing health and safety concerns for pulling the plug on Bruce Springsteen’s headline set at Hard Rock Calling on Saturday night (July 14).

Bob Babbitt, bass player with Funk Brothers and legendary Motown studio musician, has died at the age of 74. Babbitt passed away yesterday (July 16) after he lost his ongoing fight with brain cancer. He died at his home in Nashville, Tennessee, where he had lived for many years, reports the Associated Press. The bassist played on a series of seminal tracks during his career, including the likes of Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours", Smokey Robinson's "The Tears of a Clown", Marvin Gaye's "Inner City Blues" and Edwin Starr's "War".

Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo has spoken out about the future of the band. In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, which you can listen to below, Ranaldo confirmed that he was currently working on digitising the band's 30 year archive – as well as a potential deluxe edition of their 1987 album Sister and a live film from 1985. "I'm on good terms and talking with everyone," he said. "But there's definitely a lot of stuff shaking out right now."

A series of rare images of Blur are to go on display in London to celebrate the band's 21-year career. Over 70 images from music photographers, designers and artists including Banksy, Julian Opie, Pennie Smith and Kevin Cummins will go on display at the Londonewcastle Project Space, London from the July 27 – August 14. The exhibition will celebrate 21 years since the release of the band's debut album Leisure.

There was exciting news this morning about the release on September 10 of a new Bob Dylan album, which if you haven’t seen the official announcement is called Tempest. There was much talk of the record a few weeks ago, backstage at the Hop Farm Festival, where one or two people rather teasingly inferred they had heard it, or knew someone who had.