Spectacular:Take That kick off Progress tour in front of stunning backdrop of 60ft man, acrobatics and towering wall of water

By Andrea Magrath


Spectacle: Take That stormed the stage in Sunderland tonight for the first concert in their Progress tour


They will perform in front of 1.75 million ecstatic, screaming fans across the UK and Europe in the next two months.

And Take That have lived up to the enormous expectations of their fans by kicking off the first night of their tour in spectacular fashion.

The band took to the stage tonight in Sunderland in front of a 60ft mechanical man.


The most eager of the 54,000 fans at the Sunderland Stadium of Light have been camping out ahead of tonight's performance.

Security guards had to hold the screaming devotees back as they scrambled for the best spot in front of the stage.

And they were not disappointed - as these pictures show, the stunning show features a jaw-dropping backdrop, pyrotechnics and acrobatics.

Emotional: The Progress tour sees Robbie Williams reunited with the band in concert for the first time in 15 years


Performers climb a towering wall of water above the stage as the band belt out all of their hits.

Gary, Mark, Howard and Jason kick off the show with their post-Robbie hits Rule The World, Greatest Day, Hold Up A Light, Patience and Shine.

But the crowd roared its approval when Williams was lowered on the stage to commence a series of his solo smash hits.

No expense spared: The band will perform across the country in front of a spectacular backdrop representing the cover of their progress album


An emotional Robbie thrilled the audience with Let Me Entertain You, Rock DJ, Come Undone, Feel and Angels.

Then it was time for the reunited five-piece to come together for their first single following Williams re-joining the band, The Flood.

The biggest cheers were reserved for the moment that the original Take That returned to the stage together for the first time in concert in 15 years.

Reunion: Gary, Mark, Jason and Howard open the show before welcoming Robbie onstage


All of the favourites including crowd-pleasing medleys of Million Love Songs and Babe, and Everything Changes and Back For Good were sung.

Pray, Never Forget and their latest single Love Love followed. The thrilling event ended with Relight My Fire and Eight letters.

The first night of the tour follows 12 weeks of gruelling rehearsals at an aircraft hanger in Bedfordshire.

Excitement builds: Fans are already lining up outside the arena in Sunderland ahead of tonight's concert


The Progress Live Tour 2011 is thought to be costing upwards of £15 million to stage and has 287 crew travelling across Europe.

Following a four-night stay in Sunderland, the band will play eight nights in Manchester before moving on to Cardiff, Dublin and Glasgow.

The boys will then play in Birmingham before completing their nation-wide tour with eight nights at Wembley arena in London.

It's not over then though, Take That have added dates across the continent, including Milan, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Hamburg and Düsseldorf. The tour will end in Munich on July 29.

Eager: Fans camped out to secure a good spot in the 54,000-strong crowd


The two-month tour will suit Robbie Williams, who has complained in the past that he is not cut out for the lengthy tours other artists undertake.

'I just went on tour for too long before,' he said said previously. 'I'm not the kind of person who can do nine months.

'I can do two months solid, not a problem. But nine months - I'm not built for it. I go loopy.'

Futuristic: Take That have unveiled the video for their new single Love Love


For those fans who have to wait for the band to come to town, they have satisfied appetites by releasing a brand new video for the latest single Love Love.

The track features in the upcoming blockbuster X Men: First class, released in the UK next week.

The video opens with a thumping bass line and the boys standing in the centre of a vast futuristic space.

Blockbuster: The single features in the new X Men: First class film


The boys are surrounded by dancers clad in black bodysuits with cobweb-style string masks.

The video was filmed beneath a huge canopy in West London.

Love Love was shot by Alex Large and Liane Sommers, the team behind Cheryl Cole's Parachutes, Kylie Minogue’s Get Outta My Way and Scissor Sisters Laura videos.

The single is the fourth from the Progress album, following The Flood, Kidz and Happy Now, which was released in March.

The video opens with a thumping bass line and the boys standing in the centre of a vast futuristic space

music video


source:dailymail

Beyonce revamps the Riverdance in spectacular new Run the World (Girls) music video

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Sultry: Beyonce has debuted her spectacular new video for her single Run The World (Girls)


Beyonce Knowles has thrown some pretty extraordinary dance moves in her time.

But it's difficult to imagine that Riverdance star Michael Flatley would one day be a source of inspiration for the singer.

The Irish dancing phenomenon had seemingly been given a whole new lease of life when Beyonce incorporated some of the rapid leg movements and high scissor kicks into the video for her new song, Run The World (Girls).


Dance-off: Beyonce's all-female troop take on their male enemies with an impressive, energetic dance sequence reminiscent of Michael Flatley's phenomenal Irish dance show


R&B inspiration: Cast members of Riverdance look to have inspired Beyonce in her new music video


After leaving her devoted fans waiting for over a week, Beyonce, 29, has finally released the full-length version of her sizzling new music video.

A dramatic countdown on her website made sure all music industry eyes and ears were firmly on the R&B singer's hotly anticipated new offering.

But nobody would have expected Flatley's Riverdance to have worked it's way into some of the video's dazzling scenes.


Trend setter: Beyonce's moves in Run the World (Girls) will no doubt spark dance trends the world over


Fierce: The singer appears with several animals in the video


Girl Power: The single features the lyrics 'we're smart enough to make these millions, strong enough to bare the children, then get back to business'


Beyonce and her fleet of warrior Princesses were seen performing the moves in a long line, just as Flatley and his leggy Irish dance crew did in the 90s.

The video begins with scenes of Beyonce on a horse, then captured in a cage, then going into battle against a angry looking gang of men dressed in black.

Set against a mix of desert and industrial backgrounds, the singer wears a variety of dramatic clothing as she gets ready for her female revolution.


Tame that wild horse: Beyonce shows off her horse-riding skills on a stallion


Golden girl: Beyonce looks feisty in a gold dress and beehive in her new video Run The World (Girls)


But it is not until the final moments when the girls line up for their final dance-off that Flatley makes his mark.

There is no doubting Beyonce has brought some new and inspired dance moves to the table, and Riverdance fans the world over will not be able to miss the singer's attempts at Flatley-style footwork.

The video quickly jumps forward to see Beyonce as the leader of her own all-female gang, which is quickly followed by a string of dazzling costume changes and eye-popping dance moves.


Queen of the world: Beyonce surveys her kingdom in a stunning white couture gown


She came, she conquered: Beyonce looks triumphant after her revolution leaves a trail of destruction behind


Last week, Beyonce revealed the title of her new album, Four, for the first time and admitted the number held a special meaning for her, because it was the date of her wedding anniversary.

She explained her fondess for the number four because she celebrates her birthday on September 4 and her wedding anniversary with rapper/producer Jay-Z on April 4.

She told New magazine: 'We all have special numbers in our lives, and four is that for me. It's the day I was born. My mother's birthday, and a lot of my friends' birthdays, are on the fourth. April 4 is my wedding date.'


Taking a stand: Beyonce, who changes costume several times, strikes powerful poses throughout the video


Beyonce admitted Run the World (Girls), which has been criticised by some for her aggressive lyrics, was 'riskier' than her usual sound

She told Billboard: 'I just heard the track and loved that it was so different: it felt a bit African, a bit electronic and futuristic. It reminded me of what I love, which is mixing different cultures and eras - things that typically don't go together - to create a new sound.


Special: Beyonce has named the album '4' - a number special to her as it is her birthday and wedding dates


'I can never be safe; I always try and go against the grain. As soon as I accomplish one thing, I just set a higher goal. That's how I've gotten to where I am.'

Beyonce admitted she was inspired by a mix of old and new artists for her forthcoming album, including British singer Adele and Afrobeat artist Fela Kuti.

She explained: 'I also found a lot of inspiration in '90s R&B, Earth, Wind & Fire, DeBarge, Lionel Richie, Teena Marie... I listened to a lot of Jackson 5 and New Edition, but also Adele, Florence + the Machine, and Prince. Add in my hip-hop influences, and you can hear how broad it is.'


'I always try and go against the grain': Beyonce admitted her new album is riskier than previous recordings


During the interview, she also revealed she hadn't hired anyone to replace her father Mathew Knowles as her manager after they parted ways professionally in April.

She said: 'I believe that parents prepare their kids for the moment that they're on their own: at this point, I'm taking everything my dad and my mother have taught me, and I'm able to do things my way.

'We were at a point where we'd learned so much from each other, and now it's exciting for me to do this on my own and hire my own team. I've started managing myself.'

The full interview is in the new issue of Billboard magazine, on sale now.


Silver siren: Beyonce sings in front of a burning car - which she also did in the Crazy In Love and Diva videos





source: dailymail

A grand entrance from a coffin, a fake baby bump and lots of skintight rubber: Lady Gaga steps up the bizarre for Radio 1's Big Weekend

By GEORGINA LITTLEJOHN and JODY THOMPSON

Eerie entrance: Lady Gaga emerges from a gold coffin wearing a fake pregnancy bump as she starts her headlining set at Radio 1's Big Weekend yesterday


Just when you thought Lady Gaga couldn't out-bizarre herself any further, she goes and steps the weird-o-meter up another notch.

And for those attending Radio 1's Big Weekend, they got to see just how far the pop star would go in the name of her 'art' - and her morbid fascination.

Gaga was the headliner on the main stage at the festival in Carlisle this weekend, and after keeping her fans waiting, was carried on stage in a gold coffin.


Greetings, my little monsters: Gaga models her trademark hand claw before grabbing her crotch and launching into her set


The singer then emerged from the casket clad in black PVC and rubber, sporting a fake pregnancy bump.

Rubbing it up and down with her hand, she launched into her single Born This Way, her tardiness soon forgotten by the 20,000 excitable fans.

She then ripped off the PVC bump to reveal a rubber crop top as she launched into a mash-up of her other hit songs, Telephone, Poker Face and Alejandro.



Heavy load: Gaga rests on her piano stool as she finishes her song


She then treated the crowd to Bad Romance and after a quick change into leather hot pants and a bra, she continued her set with Just Dance and Judas.

And she told the crowd that she had been asked by the BBC to curb her bad language during her set.

She said: 'They left me a nice note on my mirror, saying, "Radio 1 has kindly requested that there be no cursing during your set".


Bump-be-gone: Gaga is free to dance again as she flaunts her toned midriff


'I can try. I can try to wash my mouth out,' but then almost immediately she swore into her microphone.

The festival also saw saw performances from the likes of Nicole Scherzinger, Black Eyed Peas, Foo Fighters, My Chemical Romance and Jessie J.

And the bizarre never ends for Gaga as the day before her performance, she left her London hotel wearing a rather kinky hat featuring leather studded horns.


Horn this way: Gaga wore leather studded hat with horns as she left her London hotel to head to Carlisle


Approach with caution: One of the star's fans appears to lean forward for a kiss - while being careful not to get kebabbed by the horns and studs


Festival girls: Jessie J and Fergie and her Black Eyed Peas also performed at the festival



Rock stars: Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance and Foo Fighter's frontman Dave Grohl rocked the 20,000-strong crowd


source: dailymail

Blue and Jedward don't go home

By JODY THOMPSON

On song: Blue performed a blinder at the Eurovision Song Contest in Dusseldorf, Germany, tonight and managed not to go home with 'nil points'


Half of winning Azerbaijan duo Elle and Nikki is mother-of-two from London


Blue and Jedward were both relieved not to both be going home with 'nul points' after doing themselves rather proud in the Eurovision Song Contest tonight.

British boyband Blue landed a maximum 12 points from Bulgaria and scored highly from Italy and Russia to go to the top of the leader board early on - and even squeezed an 'un point' from France.

They had put in a brilliant performance of their song I Can, which was written by band members Lee Ryan and Duncan James.

However, the runaway winner was Azerbaijan duo Ell and Nikki with their powerful ballad Running Scared - thought the UK can claim a little of the success, as Nikki is a mother-of-two currently living in north London.



High hopes: Blue started off strongly in the voting but slowly started to tail off to slip down the leader board again having topped it at one point


Sterling effort: Blue's Lee Ryan, left, and Simon Webbe, right, gave it their all and kept Britain in the top half of the leader board all night


Real name Nigar Jamal, the married 30-year-old mother of two daughters seemed almost overcome with emotion and she performed the song for a second time with singing partner Eldar Gasimov - the Ell of their duo.

Blue meanwhile, who also comprises Antony Costa and Simon Webbe, are among the most successful British artists ever to take part in Eurovision, and were second favourites to win.


Enthusiastic: Irish entry Jedward put in an energetic performance of their Europop track Lipstick - which landed them top marks from British voters, who weren't allowed to vote for their own entry Blue


Hands up: But Jedward's performance wasn't enough and they were somewhat trounced by Azerbaijan who walked off with the spoils


They had strong competition from Irish rivals and X Factor losers Jedward (aka John and Edward Grimes) who were also tipped to do well in the show.

Jedward's threat with their high-energy bubblegum track Lipstick however faded in the early stages of the voting.

But then The One Show's Alex Jones announced that the UK had voted Jedward their top song with 12 points - and they overtook Blue on the leaderboard.


Pride of Eurovision: Nikki, of Ell and Nikki, thanked everyone who had voted them this year's winner with their song Running Scared



Winners: Azerbaijan's Ell and Nikki with the Eurovision Song Contest trophy and a large bunch of flowers


Tuneful: The pair performed their winning ballad Running Scared once more after being declared winners


More strong voting for the twins saw Ireland then riding towards the top of the leaderboard as the rest of the Eurovision countries kept voting - with Blue rather fading away.

Tonight's contest was being watched by an estimated global audience of more than 125 million who enjoyed typically bonkers performances from the likes of Moldova, whose performance featured massive conical hats and a girl on a unicycle blowing a trumpet.

In the live broadcast tonight, Graham Norton was providing the suitably wry commentary on BBC1.


Typical Eurovision: Moldova had one of the craziest acts on the night with an act featuring huge conical hats and a trumpet-playing girl on a unicycle


Manic Moldova: Unicycling woman playing a trumpet just out of shot


Norton, who took over from the famously irreverent Sir Terry Wogan two years ago, approached the event as a massive Eurovision fan.

There have been widespread accusations of tactical block voting and anti-UK sentiment in wake of the Iraq war in recent years, leaving the UK in last place three times in the past ten years - including last year when Josh Dubovie came last with That Sounds good To Me.


Top half: Ireland paid tribute to their entry Jedward - but only gave the UK entry a paltry six points



World stage: The huge Eurovision set in Dusseldorf, which was watched tonight by an estimated 125million around the globe


In 2003, tuneless duo Jemini landed Britain its first ever ‘nul points’.
However, it's not yet known if Blue will fulfill the pledge they made to the Daily Mail ahead of the competition - that they would emigrate if they failed to won...


Eldar & Nigar - Eurovision 2011, Azerbaijan - Running Scared Official Music Video



source: dailymail

Justin Bieber pelted with eggs during Sydney performance - but he doesn't crack under pressure

By Daily Mail Reporter


Justin doesn't crack: Superstar singer Justin Bieber was pelted with eggs last night in Sydney, Australia, but he didn't miss a beat and continued performing


Apparently not everyone at Justin Bieber's concert in Sydney, Australia had Bieber fever.

The teen singing sensation came under attack last night during a performance in front of thousands of screaming fans at the the city's Acer Arena.

Justin, 17, was stage singing when someone tossed six eggs from the crowd.

What just happened? Some of Justin's stunned fans took to the internet to complain about the egg incident

Footage of the incident showed two eggs landing within a metre of the Canadian superstar.

Then four more eggs appeared to fall from directly above the singer, prompting some internet users to question if the incident was all a set-up.

According Australia's Herald Sun, Justin didn't miss a beat during the egg incident.
He continued performing as a helper quickly cleaned up the mess.

The egg attack outraged many Biebers fans who quickly took to the internet.

One web user named Taylor wrote on Thejustinbiebershrine.com: 'I was soo angry when I saw this, I hate whoever did this. Why bother?'

Another fan took to Twitter a warning: 'Dear person who threw eggs at @justinbieber in Sydney, you now have over #9millionbeliebers after you, be afraid! We go harder than hard!'

Skynews Australia posted a short video of the incident on Youtube a short time after it happened.




source:dailymail

MTV's New Illuminist Video

Yesterday, a PR company sent me a press release for the release of an intriguing new video directed by Hollywood director David Ayer for LCD Soundsystem's 'Pow Pow' which I wanted to quickly do a post on. This is the first in a series of 'supervideos' that aim to use famous actors/directors and they will apparently, "capture the spirit and excitement of the must-see music video that has been synonymous with MTV", so.. they will likely be full of the symbolism that has been a staple of MTV and it's videos for decades.

The series is created by MEAN Magazine and presented by MTV, the first one starring Twilight series actress Anna Kendrick. I thought I might as well post this as I thought it was interesting (even though it seems they want sites like this to do "exposés" on their videos to cash in on the "Illuminati" themes current high level of interest online, hence why they sent the press release to sites like mine) and I haven't been working on much else this past month since I last put one up, hopefully I'll get working again on some of my full length posts soon. People outside of the US, I was able to watch it here (took me ages to find a working video I could watch).

MTV Shows

Anna Kendrick apparently is a goddess (I think Isis) who "collects the souls of the Wicked Men" as she puts on a bracelet (from a table full of make-up, jewelry, credit cards etc; ways of altering her identity) and is instantly transported (maybe evoking dissociation due to her lost time in getting there; note the cage behind her in one of the promo pics above also) to a scene with her handlers who lead her through various scenes and she comes across various nafarious characters, the Wicked Men (whose souls she is collecting).

She collects their souls by magickally holding her hand up to them and a standard Freemasonic/Illuminist symbol is flashed, then she is transported to the next soul to collect by her handlers.

The director David Ayer has used this eye in the triangle Masonic/Illuminist symbol in a film he directed I covered way back in 2008, 'Street Kings' (cap here from the post; it's symbolically on a light above a stairway leading up to some corrupt cops).

The third and final wicked man's soul she collects, she flashes the eye of providence/all seeing eye at him and all three find themselves inside a mock Masonic lodge room complete with checkerboard floor and a Master Mason acting as a judge (holding a gavel). Note the human skull and a (probably) Masonic bible over a pillar adjacent to the Masonic judge, the room is lit up (Luciferian), illuminating the Masonic Illuminist.

Ayer says one of themes of the video is that “No matter how big you are, how important you are in this temporal world of ours, there’s somebody more important… You have to answer for your sins, and that’s a little bit of what this video is about.” You could argue that the all seeing eyes and such represent God (though many will say it is Lucifer) and that the wicked men are answering to God which is a less sinister interpretation of the video that I do not side with as the Mason has quite a devious look about him.

Also in the room are what look like a politician, a military general and a police officer (three more 'wicked men' to be judged by the Mason).

Anna comes out of the light (of Lucifer?) in the room wearing white (representing purity/innocence; as opposed to the dark things the 'wicked men' are involved in, the Masonic duality checkerboard is obviously of note here). She then looks at them in a less innocent, judgmental way as the screen is filled with light and the three are then seen looking guilty and full of regret back in their reality (having seen the light, I guess). After this, at the very end she reaches for a knuckle duster (i.e. to punish them) but instead picks up a bracelet.

The way I look at it, you can interpret it in two, possibly more ways, Kendrick may have collected them up to this place to be judged by the 'good Mason' to teach them the error of their ways (when back in their original scenes after, they have a look of guilt and regret). Either that, or the Mason is issuing orders/edicts to the facets of society they have their gavel/authority/control over (the corporate world and the underworld stuff the three wicked men are involved in; and of course the three other people in the room who represent the government, military, police, Masonic symbolism pervades most of these parts of society in reality as many will know). More substantive posts up hopefully sooner rather than later, thought this was worth quickly posting anyway till I have something new up.

Note the symbolic duality/masonic checkerboard symbolically reflected in one eye of the sly looking Mason's glasses.