Rihanna Rocks Essence Festival Stage
Rihanna Rocks Essence Festival Stage
Opting to work on Independence Day, Rihanna took the stage to perform at the Louisiana Superdome during the 2008 Essence Music Festival on Friday (July 4).
The New Orleans based festival, which kicked off yesterday and runs until Sunday, “celebrates black music and culture and moved to Houston in 2006 after Hurricane Katrina smashed New Orleans. It returned in 2007, and organizers say Essence is now re-establishing its place in the city.”
According to AP reports, “an estimated 200,000 people attended the festival last year, supplying a needed injection of business into the city’s hurricane-hammered tourism industry.”
“The festival is so special to New Orleans,” said Irma Thomas, a resident who’s still struggling to rebuild her home from Katrina-related damages.
Meanwhile, the festival will be honoring Patti LaBelle tonight - as the soul diva will enjoy “performances by two original members of LaBelle — Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx — as well as performances by Chaka Khan, Angie Stone, Ledisi, Chrisette Michele, Ruby Amanfu and Thomas.”
Jennifer Aniston Jets Back to LA
Jennifer Aniston Jets Back to LA
Bringing an end to her trip overseas, Jennifer Ansiton was spotted in high spirits as she jetted out of Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport to head back to Los Angeles on Sunday (June 29).
The departure comes after a night in which the former Friends star watched her boyfriend John Mayer perform as part of the Hard Rock Calling concert in London’s Hyde Park.
According to People magazine reports detailing the evening at the London venue, “Aniston stood quietly in the wings while Mayer ran through a 45-minute set in front of an audience of tens of thousands. Wearing a black-and-white floral halter-neck top and faded flared jeans, Aniston busily snapped away with her camera to record Mayer’s on-stage performance.”
And while Miss Aniston is now on her way back home, John still has work to do - as he’s one of today’s performers slated to hit the Glastonbury Festival stage.
Kanye Booed at Bonnaroo
The Bonnaroo boobirds were out in full force for Kanye West this weekend.
The Grammy winner walked onto the festival stage nearly two hours past his scheduled 2:45 a.m. performance time Sunday morning and was greated by bleary-eyed fans’ chorus of boos and chants of “Kanye sucks.”
West was originally set to kick things off at 8:15 p.m., but because he wanted to make the most of his Glow-in-the-Dark Tour’s lighting show, the hip-hopster’s camp asked to push back the gig to 2:45 a.m. following Pearl Jam’s show.
However, the Seattle grunge rockers’ gig lasted an hour longer than planned, with Eddie Vedder and bandmates not wrapping until 1:15 a.m. Then there was an extended break while Pearl Jam’s roadies disassembled the band’s stage and West’s crew set up his own elaborate backdrop, a glow-in-the-dark spaceship along with undulating black platform and raised video screen.
Organizers posted a message via Jumbotron that the “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” rapper wouldn’t be taking the stage until 3:15 a.m., then 3:30. When 4:15 a.m. rolled around and still no West, the antsy crowd began hurling glow sticks at the stage and screaming anti-West sentiments. Bonnaroo officials didn’t help the matter, not informing festivalgoers why the changeover was taking so long.
West finally made his entrace at 4:30 a.m., but by then, many exhausted attendees had had enough and returned to their tents.
Apparently, they didn’t miss too much.
Judging by online reviews, West’s performance didn’t stand out from the 150 acts performing at the four-day musical campout. In fact, it was a yawner.
“He was two hours late, cut his show short, didn’t once acknowlegde the crowd that waited two hours on an already late show, not even a wave goodbye…I’m no longer a Kanye fan, huge disappointment,” one fan wrote at the music blog Stereogum.com.
“It’s not the stage hands’ fault; that stage was set up for well over an hour before Kanye decided to grace us with his presence,” wrote another attendee on VillageVoice.com. “The next time he holds that finger up and proclaims himself as #1, I hope someone tells him what he can do with that finger.”
Per festival reports, West failed to even acknowledge his tardiness.
The bad vibes carried over to Sunday’s daytime slate, when during his set pedal-steel guitar virtuoso Robert Randolph groused about West’s behavior, prompting fans to reprise the “Kanye sucks” chant.
There was no immediate comment from the West camp.