Adele now joins Muse and Coldplay at the top of the bill when the festival takes place in June. "What a great honour it is to have the wonderful Adele confirmed for this year's Saturday night headline spot!" said festival organiser Emily Eavis. This year's Glastonbury festival takes place in Somerset from 22-26 June. Jeff Lynne's ELO have been announced for the Sunday afternoon "legends" slot. The festival opening act will be Manchester's James.
As You Like It - Shakespeare's Globe has reported record income of £23m in 2015, and has claimed audience numbers at its South Bank home account for 12% of all attendances at London theatres during the year. More than 490,000 theatregoers attended a performance at the open-air theatre to help grow income by 4.6% despite 40% of the venue's tickets costing just £5 - the same price bracket as when the Globe opened in 1997.
With 568 performances presented in the Globe Theatre, and the first full season in the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, the company also saw a 6% increase in income from its education division, to almost £2 million. Income from other sources including catering, merchandising and recordings also saw growth, lifting 3% to £3.5 million.
Not OK Computer - Radiohead fans have been left furious after tickets for the band's London gigs sold out in minutes - with some offered for resale for thousands of pounds on unofficial websites. Tickets for the band's three-night residency at the Roundhouse in Camden went on sale for £65 at 9am last Friday. But within two hours they were being touted online - reportedly for as much as £3,000. The official website was inundated with users, who were informed they were in a queue of up to 20,000 people - for the 1,700 capacity venue.
In an attempt to thwart ticket touts, tight restrictions had been applied to the sale. Tickets were limited to two per person and the lead purchaser will be asked for photo ID on the night of the concert. But some determined resellers appeared to have found ways to get round the rules. Ticket resale website StubHub! - where tickets were on offer at £1,000 on Friday - warned purchasers that they would have to meet their seller on the night and go into the Roundhouse with them.
Publishing News - Sir Paul McCartney has filed legal papers in the US, as part of an attempt to reclaim the publishing rights to The Beatles' back catalogue. Although he co-wrote most of the band's hits, the star has never controlled the publishing. However, the US copyright act of 1976 gives writers the opportunity to reclaim the rights after 56 years. The Lennon-McCartney catalogue becomes available in 2018, and Sir Paul has recently moved to recapture it. According to Billboard, he filed a termination notice for 32 songs with the US Copyright Office in December.
The Beatles signed away their publishing rights at the start of their career, on the advice of manager Brian Epstein. An unnamed source told the magazine Sir Paul would only regain publishing rights for his half of the compositions, most of which he co-wrote with John Lennon. Furthermore, the act only applies to the US, so The Beatles' back catalogue would remain in the hands of Sony/ATV in the rest of the world.
Royal Report - Prince has said he is writing a memoir, to be published next year. The book is tentatively titled The Beautiful Ones, after a track from Prince's 1984 Purple Rain album. Publisher Spiegel & Grau, an imprint of Random House, said it would "take readers on an unconventional and poetic journey" through Prince's life. "The good people of Random House have made me an offer that I can't refuse," Prince is reported by the New York Times to have said.
Burning Issue - The son of the late Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren and fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood are planning to burn his entire collection of punk memorabilia worth an estimated £5m. Joe Corre intends to perform the ritual in Camden on 26 November to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Sex Pistols' first single Anarchy In The UK. The founder of lingerie brand Agent Provocateur said it would be a protest against the way punk's legacy has been "appropriated" by the establishment. The focus of his anger is Punk London, an event celebrating the history of punk music and made possible by a £99,000 Lottery grant. Corre has not said what he will be burning although he has invited other punk faithful to join the protest.
(Jim Evans)
