Category: News

It’s that time of the year again; hundreds of thousands of people flock to the California desert to show out in their best outfits, sample some amazing eats, and, of course, see a line-up of incredible artists at Coachella. Now that he dust has (literally) settled on the grounds, let’s look back on the highlights of Coachella 2023 Day One, which highlighted era-defining artists Blondie and Blink-182 while bringing together some of the current innovators like Bad Bunny and Metro Boomin.

Bad Bunny closed out the night with a bang, and I’m not just about the fireworks during his main stage set. The Puerto Rican rapper drew the largest crowd of the night, and for good reason. While the moment was historic — Bad Bunny is the first Latin solo artist to ever headline the festival — he made sure to highlight the roots of Reggaeton music and credit the artists who made his success possible like Celia Cruz, El General, and Tego Calderón. On top of that, his show-stopping stage design cleverly nodded to the viral concert he performed on top of a gas station late last year. Bad Bunny performed all the hits during his set, like “Moscow Mule,” “Yo Perreo Sola,” and “Después De La Playa.” He even brought out Post Malone for an acoustic set, but technical difficulties made it nearly impossible to hear him.

Bad Bunny is far from the only artist who brought out surprise guests on stage. One thing about Coachella is always true: if an artist has a collaboration, they’re going to use their Coachella set as an excuse to bring that artist out to perform. Metro Boomin’s closing set at the Sahara stage is perhaps the biggest example of that. A massive stage floated down from the ceiling that housed Metro’s main DJ equipment, with Metro himself dressed as a superhero (cape included). John Legend appeared below, kicking the set off with their Heroes & Villains track “On Time.” From there, Future joined Metro for several tracks like “Superhero,” “Serve The Bass,” and “Thought It Was Drought.” Don Toliver was next, delivering “Too Many Nights” with Future. 21 Savage also took the stage for a couple tracks like “10 Freaky Girls” and some highlights from Savage Mode 2, while also giving Metro his flowers by naming him the “greatest producer of our generation.” Finally, after teasing his appearance on Twitter, The Weeknd pulled up and the crowd went wild. He delivered his After Hours track “Heartless” and gave us a taste of upcoming music with an unreleased track. Finally, The Weeknd closed out the set with fan-favorite “Creepin,” where Diddy made a brief and unexpected cameo.

Blink-182 was another major highlight from Coachella day one, and perhaps the only major artist who didn’t bring out any surprise guests. Instead, they themselves were the surprise guests. Blink-182 was announced as part of the lineup just a few days ago, reuniting on the stage with their original lineup of Tom Delonge, Mark Hoppus, and Travis Barker for the first time in nine years. And in the years since, each three members have come a long way; Mark Hoppus beat cancer, Tom Delonge discovered aliens (kinda), and Travis Barker married a Kardashian. Joining together on stage, though, it felt like no time had passed. Mark and Tom were continually cracking “your mom” jokes like it was still the ’90s. To their credit, their set did feel like it transported the crowd back to their 1999 inception, playing all the early tracks like “The Rock Show” and “What’s My Age Again.” They closed out their set with three back-to-back greatest hits, “I Miss You,” “All The Small Things,” and “Dammit.”

Countless other artists on Coachella 2023’s day one lineup made their memorable mark on the weekend. Gorillaz, who recently dropped the album Cracker Island, used their stage time to highlight collaborators. They invited Thundercat to the stage to perform their recent album’s title track, Del The Funkee Homosapien for their iconic hit “Clint Eastwood,” and UK rapper Slowthai for “Momentary Bliss.” Artists who couldn’t make it to the stage were replaced massive holograms, like Tame Impala singing his part on “New Gold” and Snoop Dogg firing off his verse in “Hollywood.” Indie-pop trio MUNA was also a highlight of the day. The group dedicated their set to their young queer and trans fans while performing a soon-to-be released song and bringing out the members of Boygenius to sing “Silk Chiffon.” Top Dawg Entertainment rapper Doechii brought the heat to the already sweltering day with an impeccably choreographed set. New Zealand breakout songwriter Benee drew a massive crowd for a mid-day performance where she brought out Gus Dapperton for their quarantine-era viral hit “Supalonely.” Finally, Philly band Soul Glo made good on their hard-core genre label by opening up a mosh pit and delivering a riotous and riveting set.

Follow along with Uproxx’s Coachella 2023 coverage here. Check out a few more photos from Friday below.

Some of the artists mentioned here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Bad Bunny

Blink-182

The Chemical Brothers

Gorillaz

Soul Glo

Doechii

Muna

HBO has long threatened to flood the market with scores of Game of Thrones spinoffs and prequels. So far they’ve done one. There’s allegedly a Jon Snow series in the offing. Last week, though, they announced they were finally doing a third. It’s called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight. It’s a clunky title, to be sure, what with the double dose of “knight.” But it could have been worse, at least according to its creator, George R.R. Martin.

As per IndieWire, Martin took to his blog to share some details about the latest Song of Ice and Fire prequel. That included addressing the name.

“The working title will be ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight.’ Whether that will be the final title, I can’t say for sure… beyond saying that no, it won’t be called ‘Tales of Dunk & Egg’ or ‘The Adventures of Dunk & Egg’ or ‘Dunk & Egg’ or anything along those lines,” wrote Martin. “I love Dunk and I love Egg, and I know that fans refer to my novellas as ‘the Dunk & Egg stories,’ sure, but there are millions of people out there who do not know the stories and the title needs to intrigue them too. If you don’t know the characters, ‘Dunk & Egg’ sounds like a sitcom. ‘Laverne & Shirley.’ ‘Abbott & Costello.’ ‘Beavis & Butthead.’ So, no. We want ‘knight’ in the title. Knighthood and chivalry are central to the themes of these stories.”

Martin also begged fans to chill about how slowly it takes for these shows to go from rumor to completion.

“Way back in the summer of 2016, when HBO first started thinking about ‘Game of Thrones’ spinoffs, I pitched them two ideas: the ‘Dance of the Dragons,’ which in due time became ‘House of the Dragon’… and ‘Dunk & Egg’,” Martin wrote. “That was seven years ago. (I can hardly believe it myself). The lesson there is that development takes time. I see all these stories on the net about other spinoffs being killed or abandoned… no idea where they get this stuff… and it just makes me shake my head. The Nymeria show is still in development. So is the Sea Snake show. Just had a great week on that one, working with writers. And there are others, both live action and animated. How many will get the greenlight like Dunk & Egg? Impossible to say.”

There are three Dunk and Egg novellas, which are prequels to the events in the still-uncompleted Song of Ice and Fire saga, published between 1998 and 2010. They follow a squire, Dunk, who takes up the armor of the late knight for whom he squired. On his travels he adopts his own squire, name of Egg. Just as you have to patient for Martin’s next Ice/Fire doorstop, keep your cool while HBO writes, casts, and makes their next prequel.

(Via IndieWire)

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band closed out their North American tour leg last night, in none other than the home state of the Boss at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Given the location and it being the last city on their tour, Springsteen also included some surprise setlist changes, opening with “Local Hero” instead of the traditional “No Surrender,” which he had chosen for the earlier dates of the tour.

“I’ve got a true story I want to tell you,” he says in the clip, gesturing to the horns section to start the track.

According to Rolling Stone, last night marked the second performance of that song since 2003, with Springsteen last playing it in 2013. If the pattern continues, that means fans will likely hear it again in…2033.

They also performed a cover of “Jersey Girl” for the first time together since 2016, keeping with the local theme.

Springsteen’s European leg of the tour starts in about two weeks. However, the Boss won’t be gone for long. He’s set to kick off another North American tour in August, starting in Chicago, with dates that will run through December 2023. More information on all upcoming tour dates is available here.

Check out Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band playing “Local Hero” and “Jersey Girl” above.

Well, well, well. It appears that after fans spotted Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello kissing at Coachella that there’s a high probability that these exes got back together. Earlier in the night, during the first day of the festival, the pair had been spotted being seemingly cordial — before smooching in another video later Friday evening.

After the video dropped, people on social media freaked out with different reactions.

“SHAWMILA IS BACK, THANK YOU GOD,” one person wrote.

Others are a little suspicious. “Lmaooo someones releasing music soon. It’s this same two step every time. Same formula. Nothing new,” someone wrote.

The two musicians originally broke up in November 2021 and remained friendly throughout last year. “Hey guys, we’ve decided to end our romantic relationship but our love for one another as humans is stronger than ever,” they wrote in the initial joint statement. “We started our relationship as best friends and will continue to be best friends. We so appreciate your support from the beginning and moving forward.”

Given they were together for two years, it seems their “best friends” status has once again shifted into something more.

Check out the clip of Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello above. Continue scrolling for some more reactions below.

Given their range of collaborations with artists, it was not surprise that Gorillaz had a lot of special guests for their Coachella set Friday. The band kicked things off by bringing out Thundercat, who played “Cracker Island,” the title track off their most recent album.

Shortly after, Damon Albarn brought out Peven Everett for “Strobelite” and Jamie Principle for “Hollywood.” After a brief interlude in which the band played “Andromeda,” Albarn brought out Bootie Brown to perform “New Gold.”

For one of Gorillaz’s best-known songs, “On Melancholy Hill,” Albarn dedicated it to his daughter, Missy.

Brown returned later in the show to play “Dirty Harry.” Next up was Slowthai, who dropped by to perform “Momentary Bliss,” one of Gorillaz’s songs from their record Song Machine.

The band closed out with some classics, with Del The Funky Homosapien playing “Rock The House” before returning for the closer, “Clint Eastwood.”

In between, De La Soul did “Feel Good Inc.,” giving the crowd a chance to hear all their favorite Gorillaz standards.

“Dave would’ve loved being out there,” one fan who uploaded the performance noted, referencing the late Trugoy.

Check out some clips from Gorillaz’s Coachella set above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

After months of speculation over which artists had accepted to play at King Charles’ upcoming coronation, the official lineup has been revealed, with Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, Take That, and Andrea Bocelli accepting the offer. According to Rolling Stone, they’ll be accompanied by “bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel, singer Freya Ridings, and composer-producer Alexis Ffrench.”

The event will take place on May 7 at Windsor Castle in England. It will be broadcast on BBC One, BBC iPlayer, BBC Radio 2, and BBC Sounds, and it’s described as something that “will celebrate a new chapter in the nation’s history, with themes of love, respect and optimism, celebrating the four nations, their communities and the Commonwealth.”

“I am excited to be performing at the Coronation Concert, and helping to shine a further light on the British Asian Trust’s Children’s Protection Fund, whose work includes on-ground initiatives to fundraising, with the aim to find solutions to child trafficking,” Perry said in a statement.

“To share the stage with the other performers at the coronation concert is a once-in-a-lifetime event and it will be an honor and a celebration,” Richie added.

According to a past article from the publication, a number of large artists had turned down playing Charles’ coronation, including Adele, Harry Styles, and Elton John, the latter of which cited scheduling issues. (However, John had also been a close friend of the late Princess Diana.)

“The royal family has faced a number of PR disasters in recent times, and anyone performing at the show would have to consider whether there would be a backlash from appearing amongst their fans,” Simon Jones, a publicist, explained to them why many wouldn’t appear.

An epidemic of mass shootings, some at schools, didn’t stop the National Rifle Association from holding their annual convention. Nor did it stop the majority of prominent Republicans from either showing up to deliver defiant speeches or recording videos of same. Among them were the previous president and his veep, who haven’t been on great terms since the former almost got the latter murdered during an event Trump blamed on Pence. Both were present, albeit not at the same time, which got pretty awkward after Pence got booed.

Pence appeared earlier on Friday, and when he came out, he found himself having to withstand an avalanche of boos, presumably from MAGA die hards, whose animosity for him hasn’t dwindled after he was nearly hung on Jan. 6. Pence took it in stride, joking, “I love you, too.”

Later Trump took the stage, delivering one of his rambling, pissy soliloquies, in which he tried to blame mass shootings on — who else? — transgender people, threatened mass deportations if re-elected, and once again dropped “the n-word” (no, not that one). He took a few seconds to address his former number two, albeit cryptically.

“I hope you gave Pence a good warm approval,” he told a crowd that booed him. He then called him “a nice man” and a “good man” before delighting in saying their treatment of him was “very rough” and “a big news story.”

“I don’t know what you did, but you made news today with with the introduction you gave!” he said, almost certainly knowing what happened.

Trump also dragged his other 2024 Republican rivals, some of whom were participating in the same convention. He gloated about how Nikki Haley was dragging in the polls, predicted Greg Abbott wouldn’t run, and bragged that he was trouncing Ron “DeSanctis” — another of his lame nicknames for the Florida governor when he already has a good one. The message was clear: The Republican, who won’t do anything to curtail historic gun violence in America, are in disarray.

(Via Mediaite)

Many actors have big roles they famously turned down, and Toni Collette is no exception. The beloved actress, who can currently be seen in Mafia Mamma, was one of the performers considered for the lead in Bridget Jones’ sDiary, along with such luminaries as Helena Bonham Carter, Cate Blanchett, Emily Watson, and Rachel Weisz. She actually turned it down, but does she mourn for an alternate timeline in which she played one of the more iconic roles of the aughts? Not really.

As per Insider, Collette appeared on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, which allows people to call in over Zoom to ask guests questions. During one call, Collette was asked if she felt bad about turning down the role, which she did in part because she was busy with her Broadway debut, The Wild Party, which also featured Mandy Patinkin and Earth Kitt.

“I don’t regret anything,” Collette replied. “I think there are no coincidences. Anything that’s meant for you in life is meant to happen. I have no regrets — life happens as it’s meant to. But that is true, yeah.”

It’s not the first time Collette was asked about the move. Late last year she spoke about it in an interview with Yahoo! Entertainment.

“I wasn’t available, but sometimes I think about that, and I think, I don’t know, that character’s so similar to Muriel,” she said, referring to her starmaking role in Muriel’s Wedding. “It might’ve been too close. And I try not to repeat myself.”

So don’t even bother thinking about what could have been had Renee Zelwegger not clinched the role, which she resurrected back in the teens. All’s good.

You can watch Collette’s Andy Cohen appearance below.

(Via Insider)

Metro Boomin played Coachella Friday, April 14, and he truly brought the heat, complete with a notable lineup of surprise guests. He opened his set with John Legend, with the two performing “On Time” together.

Future then joined Metro for six songs, including “Mask Off,” “Superhero (Heroes & Villains),” and “Wicked.” They also teased that their album is on the way.

Metro Boomin used “Metro Spider” as a solo take before then bringing out Don Toliver for “I Can’t Save You,” “Too Many Nights,” and “Around Me.”

After a brief interlude, in which he played the song he has with 21 Savage, Metro was then joined by the fellow rapper, and they went on to play six songs. Among the selections were some of their collabs, including “Bank Account” and “No Heart,” and a cover of Drake’s “Knife Talk.”

The Weeknd and Mike Dean then continued Metro Boomin’s guest lineup, where they played the live debut of “Double Fantasy,” according to Setlist.FM. During The Weeknd’s appearance, he also seemed to shade Rolling Stone, after leaving them out of the regular lyrics to “Heartless,” given a recent article came out about his upcoming HBO series, The Idol.

Future returned once more to join the two to play his song, “Low Life.”

Last but certainly not least, 21 Savage and Diddy joined Metro and The Weeknd to perform “Creepin’” as the set’s closer.

Check out clips from Metro Boomin’s special guest performances above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

For the third time in four years, the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks will meet in the postseason. In 2020, it was Miami stunning Milwaukee in a 5-game drubbing on their way to the Finals. A year later, Milwaukee exacted its revenge in a sweep of the Heat on their way to a championship.

This time around, it’s in the 1-8 first round matchup after the Heat stumbled their way into the playoffs by beating the Bulls in their second Play-In game, after losing to the Hawks at home in the first. Milwaukee will be substantial favorites in the series for good reason, but Miami will look to make life difficult for the Bucks and maybe steal one early to give themselves a chance.

Keys for the Heat

For Miami, it’s pretty simple. They’re going to have to shoot the ball incredibly well from three-point range throughout the series to have a chance against the Bucks. Seeing Max Strus get going against the Bulls was a welcome sight, as he had 31 to match Jimmy Butler for top scoring honors in the win, but Miami will need more than just Strus to get going from distance if they’re to pull off the upset. Tyler Herro is going to have to be at his best, while the “others” like Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin, and Kevin Love are going to need to be legit threats if they’re going to pry open the Bucks defense that is always looking to wall off the paint first. That’s always Milwaukee’s top line on the defensive gameplan, but against a Heat team so reliant on getting to the basket with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, the Bucks will be even more focused on protecting the rim in this series.

That means there will be chances to create open shots for the role players, and any chance at a stunning upset starts with them hitting shots at a higher rate than they have all season. From there, Miami will need to recapture some of the defensive magic of 2020 when they frustrated Giannis constantly. Milwaukee’s “others” are better than they were then, and that was evident in the dramatic change in outcomes in the 2021 series. Still, we’ve seen recently how the Bucks halfcourt offense can get bogged down in the playoffs, as it did against Boston a year ago, and if Miami can keep them out of transition (which, again, starts with making shots), then they can hope to get Milwaukee in the mud.

Keys for the Bucks

For Milwaukee, their focus should be on creating a good rhythm on offense. They are an elite defensive team and Miami’s offense doesn’t scare you much no matter who you are, but the way this becomes a tight series is if their offense falters in the halfcourt. Giannis Antetokounmpo is the least of my concerns for Milwaukee, as he has shown the last two postseasons that he’s going to show up and be his MVP-caliber self most every night no matter the defense in front of him.

However, Jrue Holiday in particular needs to get off to a good start in this series as he has had a tendency to become very inefficient offensively in the playoffs. In his two postseasons with the Bucks, he’s posted 39.6/30.8/75.9 shooting splits across 35 games, which is enough of a sample that there’s at least some genuine concern. Part of that is him increasing his defensive intensity and taking on the opposition’s top perimeter matchup, but even so, the Bucks could really use for him to be more like the regular season version of himself offensively in order to make a deep run.

Khris Middleton being back in the fold after missing the conference semis a year ago should help alleviate some of the pressure placed on Holiday to create so much. That said, expect Milwaukee to look for ways to manage Middleton’s minutes load as they have all season to try and keep him fresh for the later rounds as he continues to manage his knee issues. He’s started to find a rhythm in the second half of the season, and if he can be close to his 2021 level, that’s what will unlock the Bucks’ full potential as a contender. Milwaukee getting the 1-seed allows them to avoid having to possibly play both of the other East top dogs, and with that comes the hope that their stars won’t have to put up quite the same minutes load as the Celtics and Sixers in the early rounds.

X-Factors

Tyler Herro is the one player on the Heat capable of taking their offense to another level, but he rarely is consistent enough game to game to be counted on as a major factor in a series. Still, he’s their one hope at finding someone who can just get hot and force Milwaukee to adapt its gameplan defensively. If he can find a way to do that against the Bucks’ length and pressure, things can open up more for Butler and Adebayo — who likewise needs to consistently assert himself offensively in a way we haven’t seen from him. Both of those things are big asks, but that’s how it goes for a considerable underdog.

On Milwaukee’s side, it’s the shooting of the “others” that can determine whether this series requires real work of their stars or can be a relative breeze in four or five games, as the Bucks would love to have as the 1-seed. Joe Ingles, Bobby Portis, Grayson Allen, and Jevon Carter all figure to remain in the rotation for the first round (and given Mike Budenholzer’s tendencies to keep his rotations deep, probably most of the postseason as well), and if they can knock down shots at a strong clip, it’s hard to see the Heat having much of a chance.