Entertainment

Billie Eilish to become youngest solo Glastonbury headliner

Billie Eilish will be the youngest solo artist ever to headline Glastonbury festival when she tops the bill on Friday night next year.

The 19-year-old pop icon teased the news on her Instagram, posting a photograph of herself grinning in a Glastonbury hoodie, captioned “2022”.

The festival co-organiser Emily Eavis said she “couldn’t be happier” to confirm the news: “This feels like the perfect way for us to return and I cannot wait!”

Eilish made her Glastonbury debut in 2019, performing to a jam-packed Other stage on the Sunday afternoon after her set was upgraded from a slot on the John Peel stage. During her set, she lamented that she would never be able to experience the festival as a punter: “This looks fun to go to – I would love to go to this shit, my God.”

Earlier this year she released her second album, Happier Than Ever, to widespread acclaim. Eilish’s lyrics commented on the difficulties of her extreme fame, including maintaining personal and romantic relationships and trusting others, and frequently explored a softer, more classic sound indebted to Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra than her frequently abrasive debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, released in 2019.

Eilish will be 20 years and six months old when she headlines the festival. The youngest performer ever to headline Glastonbury was Mark Hamilton of UK band Ash, who was approximately 20 years and three months old when the group replaced Steve Winwood as headliner in 1997. Ash frontman Tim Wheeler was 20 years and five months.

Eilish is the first headliner to be announced for the 2022 festival – which Glastonbury organisers are counting on being a successful comeback after Covid led to the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 events. Equinox, a mooted one-day event for September 2020, was also pulled. Instead, the festival ran a family campsite on Worthy Farm.

Billie Eilish: Bury a Friend (live at Glastonbury 2019) – video
In August, festival founder Michael Eavis said he was confident that some acts from the planned 2020 lineup would return. Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney and Kendrick Lamar were due to headline.

The festival remains sold out, with 2020 tickets rolled over to the next viable event. The organisers recently put on sale slots for campervans and pre-erected tents, auguring a hopeful outcome for next year.

After the government’s test event scheme permitted festivals including Latitude and Download to go ahead earlier this summer, large-scale music events were allowed to resume – assuming they could afford the risk of proceeding without a government-backed insurance scheme.

Such a scheme was finally implemented in August, pronounced by many in the live music sector to be “too late”. The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) had estimated that a quarter of festivals with a capacity of more than 5,000 people had already been cancelled because of government inaction on event insurance.

More than 5,000 Covid cases were linked to Boardmasters, a music and extreme sports festival taking place in Newquay; there were no such reports of a surge following the Reading and Leeds festivals in August.

Eilish also made headlines this weekend for a performance in Texas, at which she protested the state’s near-total abortion laws, which bans terminations at six weeks once embryonic cardiac activity is detected.

“I’m sick and tired of old men,” Eilish told the crowd at Austin City Limits on 2 October. “Shut the fuck up about our bodies.

“When they made that shit a law, I almost didn’t want to do the show, because I wanted to punish this fucking place for allowing that to happen here. But then, I remembered that it’s you guys that are the fucking victims, and you deserve everything in the world.”

She raised her middle finger and declared: “My body, my fucking choice.”

The Biden administration is legally challenging the bill.

Entertainment

I don’t know Bobrisky from Adam, never spoken to him – Falana reacts to audio clip released by VDM

Oil Theft: Falana Calls For Irabor’s Sack Over Destruction Of Vessel

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has denied having anything to do with popular crossdresser, Idris Okuneye known as Bobrisky and his alleged assistance to get him a presidential pardon while he served his term in Kirikiri prison.

Recall that social activist, Very Dark Man, a few days ago, released a purported audio conversation between Bobrisky and a man where the crossdresser claimed that singer, Falz reached out to him saying his father, Femi Falana, could help him secure a presidential pardon with 10 million naira, so his name would be cleared from criminal records.

Both father and son through their lawyers, demanded an immediate retraction of the said publication as well as an apology from VeryDarkMan to be published on all his platforms within 24 hours. However, VDM argued that he didn’t defame the Falanas but only brought the audio recording to light because he wanted relevant agencies to investigate statement allegedly made by Bobrisky.

However in an interview with Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, October 3, Falana denied ever meeting Bobrisky or speaking to him. He also mentioned that a civil proceeding will be initiated if a retraction and an apology suitable to him and his son is not received.

“Bobrisky never spoke to me, I have never met him, I do not know him from Adam. He was alleged to have spoken to my son Folarin (Falz). Yes, my son said this guy was appealing to people for assistance and called my son I think on May 4 this year – please can you give me N3 million to be placed in a special part of the prison, we call it the VIP section.

My son asked him, are you calling me under the authorization of the superintendent of prisons? He said no – please don’t call me again, I am unable to assist you to bribe the prison authorities and be very careful since you are already in prison for an offence.

Please if you are you are going to call me next time, you either do through the superintendent or you write a letter endorsed by the prison authorities and that was the last. Somebody now start releasing tapes somewhere and went out to lampoon and rather defame me by saying the guy has spoken to me.”

Falana says his family is going to embark on civil proceedings with a view to restoring his and his son, Falz’s name.

“In this case, we are not going to file a criminal complain. What we are going to do is to embark on a civil proceedings with a view to restoring our integrity, my own name and that of my son so that nobody will simply rush to the social media to defame any Nigerian.

“We want to make an example in this case . We have asked for a retraction and an apology rendered to us and that is not too much and if we don’t have a retraction, an apology rendered to us, accepted by us, we are certainly going initiate civil proceedings in the court”.

Entertainment

Queen Lateefah movie hits 57.7 million in opening weekend

Nollywood actress Wumi Toriola has expressed gratitude to her millions of fans following the impressive success of her debut cinema film, Queen Lateefah.

The movie, which premiered last weekend, grossed an astounding 57.7 million Naira in its opening weekend.

In an Instagram post, Toriola celebrated the achievement, noting that Queen Lateefah secured the highest Nollywood opening for a non-holiday weekend and also set a record as the biggest Nollywood opening weekend by an independent distributor.

Grateful beyond words,” she wrote. “Queen Lateefah just hit 57.7 million on its opening weekend! Thank you all for the love and support. Don’t miss out on this wonderful journey, grab your tickets now and join the adventure!”

The film’s success stirred excitement among Toriola’s colleagues, with many taking to her comment section to celebrate the achievement.

Actor Stan Nze commented, “Congratulations,” while Jamiu Azeez echoed the sentiment with “Yas.”

Nollywood stars like Mercy Aigbe, Joke Jigan, Kemi Korede, Mo Bimpe, and others also sent their best wishes, applauding her accomplishment

Entertainment

Actor, Yomi Fabiyi flees Nigeria after alleging threat to life over Mohbad’s case

Popular Nollywood actor, Yomi Fabiyi has jetted out of Nigeria after escaping an alleged assassination attempt.

The actor made this known after his absence at the late singer Mohbad’s Coroner court and failure to lead a planned protest to the Lagos State Assembly on Monday September 30 2024.

Fabiyi had scheduled a protest for September 30, coinciding with the resumption of the coroner investigating Mohbad’s death.

However, revealing reasons for his absence, the actor said that his life was under threat, as he just escaped assassination attempt two days ago.

In a now controversial video on his Instagram page, Fabiyi who is currently hiding, disclosed an alleged plot to waste his life over Mohbad’s case.

“I escaped assassination two days ago and they still planned to kill me tonight. If they had succeeded, I would have been buried tomorrow.

“They will now waste me all because I’m fighting for Justice. I didn’t collect money from anybody. I am just doing my own for God. I have to run for my life. I just left Nigeria unplanned and as it is now I don’t even know my destination,” he claimed.