Israel holds memorial at Supernova festival site
A memorial service has been held at the festival site in Israel where Hamas killed 364 concertgoers and took dozens of others hostage.
Hamas stormed the Supernova Sukkot trance music gathering, held in the desert near Kibbutz Re’im, less than 5km from the Gaza Strip, on 7 October as part of the coordinated attacks on Israel.
According to Boise State Public Radio, yesterday’s memorial featured music from Israeli DJs, while the faces of the victims were projected onto screens. The event was hastily put together as the army had given clearance only four days before.
“The charred cars have been hauled away, and roads are being repaved, but there are still a few mangled beach chairs and broken coolers,” reports NPR‘s Eleanor Bardsley.
The Jerusalem Post states that Israeli DJ RITMO paid a separate tribute to the victims yesterday morning by playing a set in front of their photos, which were hung up onto wooden posts in the otherwise empty field. An Israeli flag made out of sunflowers was placed in front of the photos.
Supernova was attended by around 4,000 people, but while the attack was the deadliest ever assault on a music event, police believe the perpetrators only became aware a major event was taking place in the Re’im area and headed towards it after police began dispersing festival-goers because of the wider attacks.
Supernova was organised by promoter Tribe of Nova and was staged under Brazil’s Universo Paralello brand
The death toll from the massacre was initially estimated to be at least 260 people, but has since been raised by more than 100. A 21-year-old woman abducted from the festival was among the 17 hostages freed by Hamas last weekend on the second day of the Israel-Hamas truce.
Supernova was organised by promoter Tribe of Nova and was staged under Brazil’s Universo Paralello brand. Acts included Artifex, Aladin, Astral Projection, Flare, Jackalon, Jumpstreet, Kido, Libra, Man With no Name, Noface, Protonica, Rocky Tilbor, Shove, Spectra Sonics, Swarup and Wegha.
Executives from Israel’s live music industry have called the Hamas attack the “biggest-ever disaster at a music festival”, adding that business will be paused for the foreseeable future.
Tribe of Nova’s Omri Sassi and Nimrod Arnin paid tribute to the victims at an official memorial ceremony held earlier this month at Kibbutz Sdot Yam.
“We went through something that we had no control over, we will take care of everyone and help everyone,” they said. “We love the country. We will dance again and that will be our victory.”
Sassi and Arnin, who both lost relatives in the 7 October attack, also reportedly staged a tribute concert for the victims in Sdot Yam, a kibbutz near Caesarea.
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Chris Meredith memorial concert announced
Shame, Sleeper, Ider and Whenyoung will perform an intimate charity show in memory of late ATC Live agent Chris Meredith, who lost his battle with depression in September.
The concert will be held at O2 Academy Islington in London on Sunday 1 December, with a share of the proceeds going to two mental-health charities, Calm (the Campaign Against Living Miserably) and Mind.
Simon Gunning, Calm’s CEO, says: “As an organisation that has always worked closely with the music community, we’re proud to partner with ATC Live to honour the memory of Chris Meredith.
“It’s great to have the support of such brilliant artists in raising awareness of the services that are available to anyone who may be struggling, and donations contribute towards the operation of Calm’s free and anonymous helpline and webchat, which are open every day, 5pm to midnight.”
The gig includes ATC act Shame; Britpop icons Sleeper, who Meredith had represented since their reformation; Ider, who performed at Meredith’s festival Neverworld; and Whenyoung, with whom Meredith had a long association from before their current inception.
“He was an absolute gem, and a champion of female artists, and we’ll miss him hugely”
The 800-capacity Islington Academy is a marked underplay for Shame and Sleeper, both of which having recently played at London’s 2,300-cap. O2 Forum Kentish Town.
“Chris Meredith was a big part of the Sleeper story, bringing us back to the live circuit after twenty years away. He was an absolute gem, and a champion of female artists, and we’ll miss him hugely,” say Sleeper in a statement.
“We’re taking part in this gig for Mind and Calm because they do such amazing work breaking down the stigma of mental-health issues and helping people in crisis. Their work is vitally important. Perhaps now, more than ever.”
Advance tickets are priced at £20 and will be on sale from 10am on Tuesday 19 November at Ticketmaster.co.uk. £6 from every ticket sold will be donated to each charity, Calm and Mind.
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Primary announces Dave Chumbley memorial event
Primary Talent International is to celebrate the life of its late agent and director, Dave Chumbley, with a memorial event in north London on 1 February.
The event will take place the Garage in Highbury on the evening of Thursday 1 February 2018. Anyone wishing to attend should email [email protected].
Chumbley died suddenly last August after a short illness, prompting tributes from shocked and saddened colleagues across the music business.
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Primary announces Dave Chumbley Stories memorial site
Primary Talent International has announced a plans for a memorial event and ‘storytelling’ website in memory of its late director and agent, Dave Chumbley.
Chumbley died on 22 August after a short illness. Speaking to IQ, Primary co-founder Martin Hopewell paid tribute to a “larger-than-life character” with a “big, booming voice” and “equally big heart” – a sentiment echoed by many of his acts and industry colleagues.
Chumbley’s funeral and burial will be a private, family event. However, given his “enormous popularity”, Primary says it plans to organise a public memorial event in conjunction with his family, details of which will be revealed closer to the time.
The agency has also set up a dedicated website, davechumbleystories.blogspot.co.uk, for colleagues and other people who knew Chumbley (pictured) to share “treasured stories and/or photographs”. Those who wish to submit a story, or simply a message of condolence, should email [email protected].
Finally, a crowdfunding campaign is now live to raise £30,000 to bury Chumbley in Highgate Cemetery in London. Described as a “beautiful and intriguing site, rich in history, architecture, landscape and romance”, Primary notes that very few plots become available in Highgate each year – so it is “therefore rightly fitting that Dave’s final resting place will be in a sold-out-venue with a rare access-all-areas pass”…
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Prince memorial concerts mooted for MSG, Staples Center
Prince’s friends in the music industry are reportedly planning “big memorial celebrations”, including tribute concerts at 18,000-capacity arenas Madison Square Garden in New York and the Staples Center in Los Angeles, in the wake of his death aged 57 last Thursday.
According to an anonymous source quoted by Radar, performers will include The Bangles, Chaka Kahn, Mavis Staples, Sly and the Family Stone bassist Larry Graham and “loads of big-name friends”.
An unrelated free memorial concert, hosted by Danish festival Golden Days and featuring music and spoken-word performances, will also be held at Vega’s Lounge in Copenhagen tonight.
Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Rihanna and David Gilmour (who performed a medley of ‘Comfortably Numb’ and Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’) are among the high-profile musicians who have incorporated a tribute to Prince in recent live shows.
Read IQ’s tribute to Prince (pictured), described as “a pioneering live performer who changed the face of the concert industry forever”, here.
Prince: A lust for live
Prince, who died yesterday, was many things to many people: A sex symbol who defied social, racial and gender norms; a self-taught musicians’ musician who mastered “thousands” of instruments, including bass, piano, drums, various synthesisers and percussion and – of course – guitar; an early advocate for artists’ rights who fought his major label, Warner Bros, for ownership and artistic control of his own music.
To many in the concert business, however, Prince (born Prince Rogers Nelson on 7 June 1958) will be remembered for the joy he took from simply playing live. Standing only 5’2″ tall, Nelson was nevertheless a giant on stage, a combination of his charisma, sex appeal, dazzling musical chops (an apocryphal tale has Eric Clapton, when asked what’s it like to be the best guitar player alive, responding: “I don’t know; ask Prince”) and four-inch high heels lending the diminutive singer, songwriter and producer a towering stage presence that transcended mere inches.
And after no less than 28 concert tours – including the unplugged Piano & A Microphone tour, ongoing at the time of his death – the 57-year-old showed no signs of a desire to stop touring. Nor did audiences show any signs of a desire to stop listening: the dates comprising his final completed tour, the spontaneously plotted Hit and Run trek of 2014–15, were consistently sold out and generated huge critical acclaim for the artist and his touring band, 3rdeyegirl.
One of Prince’s most memorable highlights in the world of live performance remains his landmark 21-night residency at The O2 in 2007, which paved the way for similar residencies by Bon Jovi, the Spice Girls, One Direction, Beyoncé and Michael Jackson
One of Prince’s most memorable highlights in the world of live performance remains his landmark 21-night Earth Tour residency at London’s O2 Arena in 2007, which changed the touring landscape irreversibly, paving the way for similar arena residencies by Bon Jovi, the Spice Girls, One Direction, Beyoncé and Michael Jackson with the ill-fated This is It.
“Everything’s changed this summer,” he told the cheering crowd, without a hint of hyperbole, at the time. “It doesn’t matter who came before or who comes after. From now on, The O2 is Prince’s house.”
The O2’s general manager, Rebecca Kane Burton, said this morning: “We are all shocked and deeply saddened to hear the news that Prince has died. […] [He was a] true artist and musical genius. RIP.”
Cameron Strange, CEO of Warner Bros Records, with which Prince repaired his relationship in recent years, said in a statement last night: “He leapt onto the scene in 1978 and it didn’t take the world long to realise that pop music had changed forever. He played the studio like an instrument and shattered the definition of live performance. He defined a new kind of superstardom, with a transformative impact not just on music, but on video, film, and style.
“Prince was the epitome of cool and mystery – an inspirational soul who created his own universe by bringing together different genres, races and cultures with a purity of sound and spirit unlike any other. His visionary gifts as a songwriter, vocalist, musician, performer and producer placed him in a league all his own.”
“He played the studio like an instrument and shattered the definition of live performance”
A statement from the 4,678-capacity Fox Theatre in Atlanta, where Prince played his last live show on 14 April, said: “Prince was a music pioneer, innovator and cultural icon. His music moved and inspired many, including the fans that were able to join him as he took the stage for his final performances last week…
“We, along with the world, mourn the loss of a music legend.”
Watch Prince performing one of his signature songs, ‘Purple Rain’, at the Fox, courtesy of gig-goer Jake Reuse, below:
We weren't supposed to use phones at Prince in ATL last week, but I couldn't resist. Last performance of Purple Rain pic.twitter.com/6FjkJTksJO
— Jake Reuse (@ReuseRecruiting) April 21, 2016
Prince dies aged 57
Acclaimed singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Prince has died at his home in Minnesota aged 57.
Following an early report by TMZ, a spokesman for the artist, full name Prince Rogers Nelson, confirmed the news to the Associated Press. The cause of death is still unknown, but he was admitted to hospital last week with a severe case of the flu and forced to postpone two shows at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.
As the creator of the ‘Minneapolis sound’, Prince’s pioneering blend of funk, rock, pop, synthpop and new wave saw him sell over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time, and score number ones with 1984’s Purple Rain, 1985’s Around the World in a Day and 1989’s Batman film soundtrack. He released his 39th studio album, Hit n Run Phase Two, exclusively through Tidal in late 2015.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, performing George Harrison’s ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ alongside Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and Harrison’s son, Dhani:
IQ will bring you a more in-depth tribute to Prince, including a retrospective look at his remarkable live career, shortly.
Exclusive: 32,000 stream David Bowie memorial concerts
Last week’s David Bowie tribute concerts in New York were live-streamed by 32,000 people worldwide.
The two The Music of David Bowie gigs, at Carnegie Hall on Thursday 31 March and Radio City Music Hall the following night, could be streamed live over Skype for a recommended minimum donation of US$20 or £15 to the events’ charity partners.
The concerts were the 12th in Knitting Factory founder Michael Dorf’s Music of series, which raises funds for music education programmes for underprivileged children.
Speaking to IQ, Dorf revealed that donations from those 32,000 viewers raised a total of US$45,000 – an impressive sum, even if it does work out to just over $1.40 per stream (seven per cent of the recommended $20).
Performers at the shows included Ann Wilson of Heart, who opened with ‘Space Oddity’, REM’s Michael Stipe, who played a stripped down version of ‘Ashes to Ashes’ accompanied only by a piano and model/backing vocalist Karen Elson, Blondie, who performed ‘Heroes’, Mumford & Sons performing ‘It Ain’t Easy’, Perry Farrell playing ‘Rebel Rebel” and The Flaming Lips, whose frontman Wayne Coyne sang ‘Life on Mars?’ while riding on the shoulders of a man in a Chewbacca costume (because why not).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSYVCWyxl1E
Long-time Bowie producer Tony Visconti also led a house band that included Spiders from Mars drummer Mick ‘Woody’ Woodmansey.
David Bowie died aged 69 on 10 January 2016.