Tragically Hip play emotional final concert
A sold-out crowd watched the last concert by Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip on Saturday night. The group announced in May that lead singer-songwriter Gord Downie has terminal brain cancer, and this would be their final run of live shows. The emotional event was also broadcast live on TV in Canada. The band, an indelible part of the country’s national identity – with songs about hockey, small towns and Canadian literature – ended their 15-show Man Machine Poem tour in their hometown of Kingston, Ontario. Thousands of fans, including prime minister Justin Trudeau, watched the show at the Rogers K-Rock Centre, in the city where the band started out in the early 1980s. Trudeau’s official photographer tweeted a photo of the prime minister and Downie embracing before the concert. Despite being diagnosed in December with glioblastoma, the most aggressive cancerous brain tumour, an energetic Downie was in fine form as he and his bandmates played an epic 30-song set loaded with hits and featuring three encores. – AP
Frank Ocean releases long-awaited album
The wait for Frank Ocean's new album is finally over. The 17-track album Blonde was released on Saturday on Apple Music, a day after the R&B singer released a 45-minute "visual album" on the streaming service. Blonde is Ocean's second studio album, a follow-up to his successful 2012 debut Channel Orange, which featured the hit song Thinkin Bout You and earned him two Grammy Awards. Fans have been awaiting this release ever since the singer teased the album two weeks ago. – AP
Bachchans won’t be in Sarkar 3
Bollywood power couple Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who starred in 2008's Sarkar Raj, will not appear in the third instalment, says filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma. "Sarkar 3 first look will be launched on August 26. Going by the story, both Abhishek and Aishwarya will not be featuring in this segment," Varma posted on Twitter. "Scale of Sarkar 3 will be much more larger and intense than the earlier two ... Rest of the cast details will be soon announced," he added. – IANS
Aretha Franklin house gets a reprieve
A judge has seen enough progress on the dilapidated home where singer Aretha Franklin was born to prevent it’s demolition. Shelby County Environmental Court judge Larry Potter gave the current owner, Vera House, three weeks to present a financial plan for final repairs to the Memphis house. House says her plan doesn’t require the house to be relocated, as mentioned in the plan from the court-appointed receiver, and thinks she can get the required financing. The receiver says Franklin, who was born in the house in 1942, has indicated she will make a contribution. – AP
Pakistan bans Bollywood film
The Bollywood comedy film Happy Bhag Jayegi has been banned in Pakistan due to a blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene in which Pakistani freedom fighter Muhammad Ali Jinnah's portrait appears. Producer Anand L Rai told Hindustan Times: "Initially, I was told that the film is clean. Later, we were informed that a ministry in Pakistan had objected to the film." The newspaper said Pakistan's censor board also had a problem with the portrayal of a Pakistani policeman. The film is about an Indian woman who flees her wedding and ends up in Pakistan. – Sonali Kokra
