Kanye West gave a defiant performance at the Glastonbury festival on June 27, challenging critics who said he was unsuitable. The rapper delighted core fans with a 100-minute set on the Pyramid Stage – but did little to win over festivalgoers who came along out of curiosity. "Thank you all for coming out tonight, thank you for coming to see me," he said in a rare moment of engagement with the crowd. At one point, West sang part of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody – a bold move – before declaring: "You are watching the greatest living rock star on the planet." The decision to give West the coveted slot caused controversy among fans of the festival, which is better known for rock and folk music, and 135,000 people signed a petition to get him dropped. There was huge support in the crowd for West, though, who won cheers when he dedicated a song to his wife, Kim Kardashian. But the set was chaotic at times. Just minutes in, an audience member, comedian Lee Nelson, jumped onto stage and had to be removed. West also stopped several songs to restart them. "I've never been in an audience more willing to love a headliner and be so disappointed," tweeted Times columnist Caitlin Moran. – AFP
Joni Mitchell ‘unable to speak’
Folk legend Joni Mitchell, 71, has lost her ability to speak after suffering a brain aneurysm, fellow artist and former boyfriend David Crosby said. Few details about the Canadian singer's condition had been revealed since she was taken to a Los Angeles hospital on March 31. Crosby said that Mitchell was recovering at home but "to my knowledge, she is not speaking yet". Responding to a fan's question during a Huffington Post webcast on June 26, he added: "She took a terrible hit, she had an aneurysm, and nobody found her for a while. She's going to have to struggle back from it ... the way you struggle back from a traumatic brain injury. How much she's going to come back and when, I don't know and I'm not going to guess." Crosby and Mitchell dated briefly in 1967 and have remained friends. Mitchell's publicists last gave an update on her in April, saying she was still in a hospital, but fully alert, and denying reports that she was in a coma. – AFP
Grateful Dead’s farewell tour
The four surviving members of the Grateful Dead launched their farewell mini-tour on June 27 in California, where the legendary band started out 50 years ago. The first of five Fare Thee Well shows took place in Santa Clara, not far from the pizzeria where a five-man blues-rock band called The Warlocks played its first gig in 1965. The group changed its name to the Grateful Dead seven months later and moved to San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighbourhood, the counterculture hub with which the Dead are still identified. They will perform a second show in Santa Clara tonight (June 28) before heading to Chicago for shows on July 3, 4 and 5 at the American football stadium Soldier Field, where they last played before the death of lead guitarist-songwriter Jerry Garcia in August 1995. The band's "core four" – guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh and percussionists Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann – say July 5 will be their final concert together. They have recruited Phish frontman Trey Anastasio as Garcia's stand-in on guitar and vocals. Keyboardists Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti, best known for his work with Weir's band RatDog, will round out the line-up.– AP
Rap star arrested in New York
Rapper DMX, real name Earl Simmons, was arrested for failure to pay child support just as he was about to perform at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan. A spokesman for the New York City Sheriff's Department said the 44-year-old was taken into custody on June 26 over several "issues outstanding". He said they included US$400,000 (Dh1.5 million) of unpaid child support, a warrant issued by the city of White Plains for bail jumping and a robbery complaint in Newark, New Jersey. No charges have been filed in the Newark case. DMX had been scheduled to perform at the Master of Ceremony concert at Radio City. – AP
