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Home , Crazy in Love, Drunk in Love, Essence Music Festival, Song Cry, Upgrade U

lifestyle MONDAY, JULY 7, 2014

Music&Movies Beyonce and Jay Z: Contemporary pop’s ultimate duo

or all of Beyonce and Jay Z’s up- joint and wearing a wedding veil. She changed the lyrics Pop’s leading performer hits - the irresistible and catchy “Crazy In to note she’s been “riding with you for 12 years,” When Jay Z rapped about his “bad chick, H- FLove,” the swagger anthem “” and which earned a rousing roar from the crowd. And a town” during “Tom Ford,” Beyonce crept onstage. the beat-driven “” - it was the per- video followed, starting with the line, “Love is an And when Jay Z performed the anthemic “Clique,” formers’ emotional solo material that made their act of endless forgiveness.” The back-to-back per- Beyonce was behind him. She nodded her head presence as a collaborative duo strong and formances full of sentiment and sensation were and then transitioned to “Diva,” where her singing resilient during their On the Run tour. It was like welcomed since Jayonce is pop’s most intimate style is not far from , and her swag is not far they were having a conversation through songs in couple. In concert, they seemed to lay it all out from Jay Z’s. Philadelphia on Saturday night. Beyonce went through song. It was also one of many songs where Beyonce from a rock-heavy arrangement of “” Beyonce was most passionate when she sang danced with skill, enticing and igniting the audi- to a cover of ’s grand “Ex-Factor.” She the upbeat number “Why Don’t You Love Me.” She ence and proving even further that she is contem- sang the latter as a woman scorned and repeated even grew teary-eyed after she belted some of the porary pop’s leading performer. She danced with the line, “Why won’t you cry for me?” The crowd at lyrics and paused for a minute as the crowd precision on songs like “ (Girls),” the Citizens Bank Park sang along, and cheered cheered. And cheered. And cheered. She followed “Flawless” and “.” Sometimes it was her on. that by singing ’s part on the hit so clean she appeared robotic. And she also did the Jay Z’s reply: His confessional and emotional “Holy Grail,” staring directly at Jay Z and singing the Nae Nae dance. Other highlights throughout the 2002 tune, “.” It opens with the line: “I can’t lyrics as if it were written for her. The transition night included Jay Z’s catalog of hits, such as “I Just see them coming down my eyes, so I got to make from “Why Don’t You Love Me” to “Holy Grail” was Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me),” “Dirt Off Your the song cry.” He performed the track holding the one of many that worked perfectly as the duo per- Shoulder” and “Big Pimpin.” He went from “H to the microphone closely with both hands as he stood in formed three dozen songs - some in snippets - for a ” to “...In Paris,” ending it by rapping the Kanye place, all while a video of the power couple was feverish group of fans at a stadium with 40,000 West verse: “She said, “‘Ye, can we get married at shown in the background. She was in a wedding seats. the mall? I said, “Look, you need to crawl before dress and they rode a motorcycle and danced. She They kicked off the nearly three-hour concert you ball.” Beyonce’s follow-up: “Single Ladies (Put a also cried, began shooting someone and was hit with high energy, going from “‘03 Bonnie & Clyde” Ring On It).”— AP This Jan 26, 2014 file photo shows Beyonce, left, and Jay Z performing ‘Drunk in Love’ at with a bullet. And then she sang the weighty ballad to “Upgrade U” to “.” They changed the 56th annual Grammy Awards in . — AP about a deceitful lover, “Resentment.” clothes about 10 times throughout the show, wear- Beyonce performed the 2006 song sitting down ing mostly black with touches of leather onstage.

McCartney returns to stage after hospitalization aul McCartney returned to a concert stage Saturday after being sidelined for two Pmonths because of a virus, spinning out songs from the Beatles, Wings and a solo career that has spanned more than 50 years of rock ‘n’ roll. “It’s great to be back,” said McCartney, who turned 72 two weeks ago. He looked none the worse for wear, putting on a show of just under three hours with 38 songs before finishing with the three- song medley that ends the “Abbey Road” . McCartney was briefly hospitalized in Tokyo in May because of the viral infection. The illness forced him to cancel a Japanese tour and a concert in South Korea and reschedule half a dozen June dates in the United States before resuming his “Out There” tour in Albany. Before his illness, McCartney last performed May 1 in Costa Rica. McCartney opened with the Beatles’ “Eight Days a Week.” He This photo released by Paramount Pictures shows, from left, Hound, Bingbing Li as Su Yueming, Stanley Tucci as Joshua Joyce, Bumblebee, Jack Reynor as Shane Dyson, Nicola Peltz wore black jeans and a sky blue blazer. When he as Tessa Yeager, Mark Wahlberg as Cade Yeager, Optimus Prime, Drift, and Crosshairs, in a scene from the film, ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction,’ from Paramount Pictures. — AP took the jacket off four songs in, he joked that it was the only wardrobe change of the evening. The crowd-pleasing show contained a mix of expected hits like “Hey Jude” and “Let it Be,” four ‘Transformers’ could earn record China box office songs from McCartney’s latest album and a gener- ous sampling from more obscure corners of his he latest “Transformers” movie, which features Chinese A reality TV show to choose four people to play roles in the Whether any other foreign movie will receive such a favor- catalog, including the Beatles’ songs “Lovely Rita” locations, actors and products, has so far earned almost film helped to drum up publicity. Observers say “Transformers” able screening “just depends on the movie itself, whether it’s and “Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite” and Wings Tas much in China as in the United States, driven by a is on course to beat “Avatar” as the biggest earner at the fast- popular, whether it’s competitive enough, and whether at the work such as “Another Day” and “1985.” Most of the record number of screenings for a foreign movie. growing Chinese box office. “Avatar” earned $218 million in time there is no other movie to compete with it,” Hou said. He 1980s and 1990s were passed over. “Transformers: Age of Extinction” has made an estimated $149 China in 2010. said “Transformers” had done well in China because of its He paid tribute to the two late members of the million in the US and $134 million in China, the world’s More than half of China’s more than 20,000 screens Chinese elements and it hadn’t had to compete with any oth- Beatles, singing “Here Today” to former songwrit- biggest and second-biggest movie markets, respectively, showed the fourth in the “Transformers” blockbuster franchise. er big movies. Also, advertisers who had arranged for their ing partner John Lennon, which McCartney according to figures from box office tracking website Box Hou Tao, vice president of leading consultancy products to be shown in the movie promoted the film by described as the conversation they never had. He Office Mojo. EntGroup, said yesterday that on average 55 percent of offering free tickets, Hou said. — AP began playing George Harrison’s song “Something” Director Michael Bay’s film, which was released June 27 in screens were set aside for the movie at the start, which had on the ukulele, and it built into a full band rendi- both markets, heavily courted the Chinese audience by dropped to 46-48 percent in the last few days. He said that it tion. McCartney also honored another late rock employing Chinese stars, basing part of the action in cities in was a record for foreign movies, which would normally be star, Jimi Hendrix, with an instrumental interlude of China and showing Chinese products such as liquor and milk. lucky to be shown on 40 percent of screens. “Purple Haze.” McCartney’s wife, Nancy, was on hand and he dedicated the song “My Valentine” to her. Perhaps one oblique reference to his absence was the new R&B singer Tevin song, “On My Way to Work,” which McCartney said he hadn’t performed publicly before. During his second encore, he brought a couple from Campbell performs Rochester onstage after the woman held up a sign saying her boyfriend wouldn’t marry her until he met McCartney. After the man led the audience in at Essence fest a verse of “When I’m 64” to honor his age, he went &B singer , who thrilled fans as a teenager to his knees and successfully proposed. when he asked “Can We Talk,” has performed for the first “And he booked us for the wedding,” McCartney Rtime at the Essence Festival as he seeks to re-ignite his joked. It’s a busy year for McCartney, who marked career. Campbell said he’s 37 now, but the voice that started him the 50th anniversary of his first appearance on on his journey at age 11 is still with him. Fans heard some classics “The Ed Sullivan Show” this winter, which marked during his Saturday night set inside the Mercedes-Benz the beginning of Beatlemania in the United States. Superdome, where the festival is celebrating its 20th anniversary. He has 19 US shows scheduled, including one at Campbell said he hoped to excite old fans and cultivate new Candlestick Park in San Francisco, where the ones who may not be familiar with hits that include “Tell Me What Beatles made their final concert appearance in You Want Me To Do” and “I’m Ready.” “Everyone has that one song 1966.The other surviving ex-Beatle, Ringo Starr, is that’s ‘their’ song and they want to hear it, so we plan to accom- also on the road this summer. — AP modate them, but I might throw in some new stuff too,” he said. It was standing-room only, with fans from the back of the room to the tip of the stage. Long lines of people waited to get for the In this April 26, 2008 file picture performs during Janelle Monae is seen performing on stage at 2014 show, but most were unable. After his set, Campbell said the the second day of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Essence Concert-Day 2 at the Superdome experience was great. “I did all the classics, none of the new mate- Festival in Indio, Calif. — AP photos on Friday, July 04, 2014 in , La. rial as we had planned. They wanted to hear what they wanted to hear,” he said. He did two encores, “Round and Round” and “Break it Down.” At an appearance last month in , Campbell gave the audience a taste of one his new songs, “Addicted to Your Prince returns for Love” and received what he described as positive feedback. “I mostly get asked, ‘Where have you been?’ and they’ll also say I look great and sound great - even though I’m all grown up,” he said Campbell said he’s currently recording and working with a Essence’s 20th celebration bunch of different people, including production from and singer . He said his dream collaborations would be ttering his signature, “We are gathered here today to get the stage, telling the crowd, “Good night, New Orleans.” For at least with rapper , Neo and T-Pain and duets with Beyonce or through this thing called life,” Prince opened his set for the two minutes, the stage stayed dark before the familiar strains of . “There’s always a place for great music,” he said. “I think U20th celebration of the Essence Festival and showed thou- his signature song, “Purple Rain,” wafted through the air and his sil- the music is a mix of everything I like from rock to rap but at my sands Friday why a 10-year wait isn’t a bad thing. As the first licks houette returned. core, I’m R&B so it’s R&B,” he said. of “Let’s Go Crazy,” rang throughout the Superdome, thousands in “Thirty years ago today this was the sound,” he said. “You can the audience - already on their feet in anticipation - stayed there sing if you want to.” And sing, they did. Earlier in her set, Monae Kind of a blur until the final rifts of “Purple Rain” left the air. It was the second danced and strutted across the stage, working up a sweat as she He hopes to have two singles drop by the fall, with a full time the crowd got a taste of “Let’s Go Crazy.” Earlier, he made a entertained the crowd with her songs, “Primetime” and “Electric release sometime next year. “I’m independent right now and just surprise cameo appearance during Janelle Monae’s rendition of Lady.” When guitarist Nile Rodgers took the stage, Monae joined trying to create some kind of buzz for myself. Ultimately, though, the song. him for a performance of “We Are Family,” led by Kathy Sledge, I’d be open for a 1 to 2 album deal,” he said. That’s why, he said, he’s Prince closed the festival’s main stage with a litany of his hits, who with her sisters “Sister Sledge” made the song famous. not taking his appearance at Essence for granted. “It’s kind of a big including “Kiss,” “Raspberry Beret,” “When Doves Cry,” “Controversy,” Chic ran through their top hits, “Everybody Dance,” “I Want Your deal. There will be a lot of people looking and listening.” After sig- “1999,” and a slowed-down version of “Little Red Corvette” and Love,” and “Le Freak.” Prince also joined his set, playing guitar on nificant success in the 1990s and early 2000s, Campbell dropped “Nothing Compares to You.” Ten years ago, Prince headlined that their song, “Dance, Dance, Dance.” The band’s last song was “Good out of the music scene in his 20s. He tells The that anniversary, reuniting with some of the players in his musical past Times” and Rodgers invited members of the audience to join he spent that time “being humbled by life’s experiences.” - Morris Day and The Time, guitarist Wendy Melvoin and former them on stage to dance along for an old school dance party. To “Everything was kind of a blur,” he recalled. “I was 11 when I protege Sheila E. The high-energy show ended with an emotional mark the festival’s 20th celebration, organizers said they wanted started. By my 20s, there was a lot I didn’t know and a lot I needed performance of Prince’s megahit “Purple Rain.” the milestone anniversary to be as special or better than anything to learn. It took me a long time to do that.” In 1999, Campbell was In 2014, he again ended his show with “Purple Rain,” to the anyone had ever experienced. And, who better to help make that ordered to attend Narcotics Anonymous meetings and an AIDS delight of the crowd. Singer Lianne Le Halvas joined him in a duet happen than Prince, said Michelle Ebanks, president of Essence awareness class and fined after pleading no contest to a misde- on “Sometimes It Snows in April,” before New Orleans’ own Troy Communications Inc. The festival runs through Sunday, with free meanor conviction for soliciting a lewd act from an undercover “” Andrews contributed a soaring solo. Andrews daily programming and events inside the city’s convention and policeman. Campbell had been arrested in a police sting outside Sir Paul McCartney performs with his band during jammed the final portion of the show, which included covers of nightly ticketed concerts in the Superdome. — AP an elementary school in Van Nuys, California.—AP the ‘Out There’ Tour at Union Center on “The Bird” and “Jungle Love,” made famous by Prince associates, Saturday in Albany, NY. — AP Morris Day and The Time and Shelia E’s “Glamorous Life.” He left