Back to The Eighties - Blondie will play an outdoor show in the UK as part of The Forestry Commission's annual series of outdoor concerts. The show, at the Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire will take place on 20 June. Happy Mondays will headline the Saturday night of this year's Wychwood Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse on 5 June.
Big Noise - U2's 360 Degree tour was named live production of the year at the Total Production International Awards. The Edge's roadie Dallas Schoo won an award, while U2 production guru Willie Williams picked up two prizes. TPI magazine editor-in-chief Mark Cunningham said the Irish band's tour had "made the biggest noise" of the last 12 months in more ways than one. "It is a massive engineering feat - from scenery to video to audio, with the biggest PA system that has ever been seen on a tour," he said. "It's a fantastic achievement and the four members of U2 are effectively the icing on the cake."
Charity Auction - A celebrity eBay auction has raised more than £120,000 in two weeks for the earthquake victims in Haiti. The auction was planned by Glastonbury Festival organiser Emily Eavis for Oxfam's rebuilding programme in Haiti. A Damien Hirst print was the top earner, selling for £12,655, closely followed by a Rolf Harris oil painting, which made £12,607. A jacket worn by Coldplay's Chris Martin on their Viva La Vida tour and signed by the band fetched £9,600.
"When we first had the idea of an auction for Haiti I never imagined we would raise so much. This should really help to rebuild some of what was lost," said Eavis. Other items up for sale included a song written especially for the highest bidder by Damon Albarn, VIP tickets to Glastonbury and the chance to have the Magic Numbers playing in your garden. Eavis previously visited Haiti in 2002 with Chris Martin and Oxfam, when it was already the poorest country in the western hemisphere. "It was a life changing trip as I'd never witnessed poverty on that scale before and it had a huge impact. It was a real shock and I suppose this obviously made things a lot worse," she said.
(Jim Evans)
