The Who began the North American leg of their The Song Is Over farewell tour Saturday evening at the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida. And even though this isn’t technically a Who’s Next tour, their set featured seven of the nine songs from the 1971 landmark LP. That includes “Going Mobile,” which the Who had never before played live.
“Going Mobile” is Pete Townshend’s ode to a life lived on the road, and he sang lead on it himself. “I don’t care about pollution,” he sang. “I’m an air-conditioned gypsy/That’s my solution/Watch the police and the tax man miss me/I’m mobile.”
To be clear, this wasn’t the first time members of the Who have performed the song live. Pete Townshend played it in February 2000 at two special solo Lifehouse concerts at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London, England. And it’s been featured at 141 Roger Daltrey concerts between 2009 and the present. Each time, Simon Townshend — Pete’s younger brother and Daltrey’s longtime solo bandleader — played guitar and delivered the vocals.
But until Saturday night, it hadn’t been done at an actual Who concert. Simon Townshend has been part of the Who’s touring band since 1996 (with the exception of their 1999/2000 tour), and he once again handled the “Going Mobile” vocals even though his brother Pete was on the other side of the stage.
That means we now have 144 live performances of “Going Mobile” across Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, and Who concerts. Simon Townshend has sang it 142 times, Pete Townshend sang it twice, and we still have yet to see Pete sing it on the same stage as Roger.
And despite many complete performances of Tommy and Quadrophenia over the years, the Who has never done Who’s Next straight through. At this point, they just need to add “Getting In Tune” and “My Wife” to make it happen. They’ve done “Getting In Tune” as recently as 2014, and it wouldn’t take great effort to bring it back.
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“My Wife,” however, is a very different story because John Entwistle wrote it and sang lead. They haven’t done any of his signature songs since he died in 2002. But they faced a similar dilemma with “Bell Boy” on the 2012/13 Quadrophenia tour since that’s a Keith Moon tune. They solved it by showing archival concert footage of Moon singing the song. If they wanted to bring “My Wife” back, they could do something similar with an old Entwistle video.
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The rest of the Who’s Song Is Over setlist was nearly identical to the shows they played last month in Italy. It includes nearly all of their hits alongside a handful of deep cuts like “I’ve Had Enough,” “Tea & Theatre,” Love Ain’t For Keepin’,” and “The Song Is Over.” The latter song is the last song they played with longtime drummer Zak Starkey before a very messy separation with him earlier this year.
The Who’s tour continues Tuesday night in Newark, New Jersey. The U.S. leg wraps up September 28 in Las Vegas. As of now, there’s no word about additional overseas dates.
This October, Sotheby’s will auction one of rock history’s most recognizable instruments: Eddie Van Halen’s custom-built 1982 Kramer guitar. Estimated at $2 million–$3 million, the instrument will headline the firm’s inaugural “Grails Week” in New York, a new sales series aimed at positioning Sotheby’s at the center of the pop-culture collectibles boom.
The guitar is more than memorabilia. It accompanied the guitarist on stage in Philadelphia, Caracas, São Paulo, and Buenos Aires. After years of heavy use, it was gifted to Van Halen’s guitar technician, who later sold it to Mötley Crüe’s Mick Mars. Mars recorded parts of the band’s 1989 album Dr. Feelgood on the guitar before retiring it from view. The instrument has not been seen publicly in more than 40 years.
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Visually, the guitar is almost as striking as the sounds it produced. Spray-painted in Van Halen’s trademark red, black, and white abstract stripes, it was a refinement of his famous “Frankenstein” design—a mash-up of Fender and Gibson parts that helped him develop the so-called “brown sound.” Van Halen’s compulsive tinkering with fret heights, nut widths and body contours turned it into a piece of functional design as well as a concert tool.
The auction forms the centerpiece of Sotheby’s new Grails Week, a biannual series focused on cultural trophies drawn from music, film, television and comics. The event will also feature Bob Dylan’s original working lyrics for Subterranean Homesick Blues, the Rolling Stones’s original It’s Only Rock ’n Roll album cover artwork, and a Beatles cymbal used in 1960s studio sessions.
Such sales are a strategy. Fine art auctions have been flagging: in the first half of 2025, sales at Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips fell 44 percent compared with the same period in 2022, according to ArtTactic. That contraction, roughly $3 billion in value, has forced auction houses to lean harder on luxury and pop culture categories. Last month in Paris, a battered Hermès Birkin bag once owned by Jane Birkin set a $10 million auction record for a handbag. Christie’s reported flat results for the first half of 2025 only because of a 30 percent surge in luxury sales, which reached $468 million and made up 22 percent of its total turnover. ArtTactic estimates that luxury goods now account for more than a fifth of sales by value at the major houses—a record share.
For Sotheby’s, which created a Popular Culture department earlier this year, Grails Week is designed to cement its presence in this expanding niche. “Exactly the kind of piece we had in mind,” is how Sotheby’s head of luxury Joshua Pullan described the Van Halen guitar. The house has already sold Ferris Bueller’s sweater vest and other cinematic detritus to considerable fanfare.
After a year and a half of self-discovery, Sekou tells Billboard that his upcoming nine-song project is a deliberate departure from his previous music, evolving from emotional piano ballads to something more vibrant and upbeat.
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With his love for dancing and uptempo music, it was time to switch things up and finally find his real sound. In celebration, he says he threw a bigger-than-expected listening party with Puma that turned into a live show he described as the “kind of chaos I wanted.”
The new era of Sekou’s music has been bolstered by a series of high-profile credits in 2025 alone. He provided vocals on “TOO LONG” from Justin Bieber‘s recent album SWAG and “Limitless” from Central Cee‘s album Can’t Rush Greatness. What’s unbelievable is how many of these opportunities came to be: through direct messages on Instagram.
Sekou candidly shared that his approach to DM outreach is driven by a bit of “delulu,” but has ultimately blossomed into some deep ties between him and some of his favorite artists.
Read the full Q&A below.
It seems like you have a lot going on at the moment. Tell me about your recent listening party…
The listening party was meant to be a very intimate playback. I’ve done it before, and I wanted to do it again for this project. I haven’t released it for two years, and I wanted people to hear it early. We did this sign-up sheet and there were 4,000 entries, and it was kind of overwhelming… but I was just like, why don’t we just do this 500-capacity venue and invite everybody? It was kind of the chaos that I wanted. It wasn’t crazy, like harmful. It was the right chaos.
That sounds like an iconic night…
It wasn’t meant to be! It was just meant to be a playback, just talking intimately. But I thought, “why don’t we just play the first couple songs off the project live and let people hear it?” I’ve never really played with a band before. It would normally be a piano, but there was trumpet, saxophone, or the whole, you know, brass section. So it was kind of mad.
So tell us about the new project, what’s this rollout going to be like?
I’ve been working on this music for about a year-and-a-half. I’ve mentioned before that I really struggled with finding myself, and I think as an artist, you have a lot of pressure to really know who you are really quickly when industry people get excited. I think I just lost myself, so I needed to figure out who I was.
I worked with two guys called Tiron and Jeff Kitty. They’re incredible songwriters and producers. I just wanted to do something that I’ve been saying from day one. I love to dance, I love uptempo music, and I just love something that makes my voice feel big and all this new music is very that. And there’s a real artist in it. I used to hide behind the piano quite a lot, and I feel like that’s not really what it is anymore.
You’ve worked on projects by Central Cee and Justin Bieber recently – how do you land these spots?
It kind of all happened at the same time. But honestly, all of them were through Instagram. I love DMing people all the time because I always like to have my eyes on everything, that can be a good thing and a bad thing. The Justin stuff just happened by Instagram… but it was friendship first. I didn’t go into it thinking, “I want to write with him.” I’d obviously love to, but we built a friendship first, and then music started to come around. And I was working in that household for like, a month, and it was just scratching ideas on everything, really.
What’s your opening line when you speak to these artists?
I think that they’re never going to reply! It’s a little bit of “Delulu,” you know? I think I said, “I’ve been a fan since 14. You’re such a legend, you’re my king” and stuff, obviously. I sent that DM the end of 2023, so the DM had been sitting there. I woke up one morning and he replied, but I literally thought it was a scam. When you speak to someone that’s that successful and that famous, it feels like you’re talking to a robot from an online perspective. But no, it was very much real.
Tell us about “TOO LONG,” the song you worked on for SWAG.
We did loads of stuff, and that was the first song that I put my vocal on. I didn’t go crazy on that song, I just sang and did the backing vocals on the chorus. We did loads of things, and I think there’s more that will come out, not to say too much, but, yeah it’s really exciting.
And how did you connect with Central Cee?
His friend DMed me and passed on the message. I went to the studio that they work at, and their whole team was there – that was a really quick and easy process. A lot of artists work in so many different ways. Sometimes you get artists who are like “I’m a fan. Would you do this?” You give it to them, you don’t hear anything. And then you’ve got an artist like Justin who’s there every step of the way and gives you advice and notes.
You also toured with Reneé Rapp. What did you get from that tour?
Being on that tour was so fun. She’s such a nice and caring person. I really like it when an artist really stands on what they mean. It’s not just for social media or just to be respected, actually what she says online and in her music, she really believes, and I think that’s really cool.
It was a very LGBTQ crowd – which I’m part of – and it was really nice to perform in front of our audience, because I think they are the most diehard fans. That’s the most important thing any artist could ever ask for. It was so fun that she, again, was so caring and really let me have my space. There were fans after the show waiting to see me as well as her.
Another huge show with SZA and Snoh Alegra at BST Hyde Park. That’s literally a dream lineup…
That show was incredible. I’ve met a couple big artists who are really tapped into really underground, smaller artists, and SZA is really tapped in. I think she also has had a similar journey to a lot of these artists, and faced a lot of rejection early in her career, and, you know, took a while to have a moment. Everyone on that show was incredible: Snoh, SZA, Elmiene, all of them.
How did you and Fred Again – who you were spotted with in the studio with lately – mesh creatively?
I always gravitate towards people who really care about the art, and I think Fred & Skrillex, they really care about the creation and the process of art. Working with Fred was such a dramatic moment, because I didn’t really know what to expect. And you think you know going into a room, a singer in my world, I know exactly what I’m going to go in there and come out with. Someone like Fred can come out with 500 things and they will be very different. I think that’s just the fun part. When I was working with them, everyone was like, “What’s going on? Like, this doesn’t make sense,” but really down to the music it does.
Ricky Martin is set to make history at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards, becoming the first-ever recipient of the Latin Icon Award.
The global superstar will also return to the stage for a special performance, marking a milestone moment in his decades-long career.
The honor comes 26 years after Martin’s unforgettable impact at the 1999 MTV VMAs, when he performed “Livin’ la Vida Loca” and became the first male Latin artist to win Best Pop Video. That night, he collected five awards in total, establishing himself as a pioneer who opened doors for Latin music on the global stage.
Over the years, Martin has expanded his sound across Latin pop, dance, reggaeton, and salsa. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he began his career in commercials and later rose to fame as part of the boy band Menudo before achieving worldwide success as a solo artist.
The 2025 MTV VMAs will broadcast live on September 7 from New York’s UBS Arena, airing on CBS across all U.S. time zones at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. This year’s nominations are led by Lady Gaga with 12, followed by Bruno Mars with 11, Kendrick Lamar with 10, Sabrina Carpenter and Rosé with eight each, and Ariana Grande and The Weeknd with seven apiece.
With Ricky Martin’s historic recognition and a star-studded lineup of performers and nominees, the 2025 VMAs promise to celebrate both music legends and the industry’s biggest current stars.
The Walt Disney Company has appointed Tony Zameczkowski as Senior Vice President & General Manager, Direct-to-Consumer, Asia Pacific. He’ll dually report to Luke Kang, APAC President, and Joe Earley, President, Direct-to-Consumer, Disney Entertainment. Zameczkowski has 25 years of experience in media and entertainment, and previously served as Netflix’s APAC Vice President and Regional Co-Head & Head of Partnerships. Disney said that in his new role at the company, Zameczkowski would look to drive further growth and development of the Mouse House’s streaming business across APAC. Zameczkowski has also held senior roles at YouTube, where he established its music business in APAC and led strategic partner development across sports and entertainment in EMEA. Zameczkowski started his career with Warner Bros. International Television in Paris.
Scatena & Rosner Buys Indie Horror ‘Herman’
EXCLUSIVE: Scatena & Rosner has acquired North American rights to Herman, a high-concept horror-thriller from first time writer-director Andrew Vogel. The film stars Colin Ward (Mank, Perry Mason), and up and comers Lawson Greyson (Killer Profile), Soni Theresa Montgomery (The Peanut Man) and Alex James (The Life I Can’t Remember). Set in a mountain cabin, it follows an isolated survivalist who confronts a mysterious calling from a dark force. Tormented and on the brink of giving up, a knock at the door keeps him alive. Cinematography is by Jess Dunlap (The Dirty South), and the original score and music is by Tyler Forrest (The Dirty South, Search and Destroy). Herman is produced by Suzann Toni Petrongolo and Andrew Vogel of VP Independent (The Dirty South), and Heliya Alam (A Place in the Field) of LBM Pictures. “Herman is a bold and provocative debut that instantly stood out to us,” said Gato Scatena, Managing Director of S&R Films. “Andrew Vogel’s vision is both unnerving and deeply human, and we’re proud to partner with this extraordinary creative team to bring the film to audiences across North America.”
Sky Teases ‘The Iris Affair‘
Sky has unveiled a teaser for The Iris Affair, the latest drama from Luther creator Neil Cross. Starring Niamh Algar (Mary & George, The Virtues) and Tom Hollander (The White Lotus, Feud: Capote vs. The Swans), the series follows a deadly game of hide and seek across Italy, in which enigmatic genius Iris Nixon (Algar) charismatic entrepreneur Cameron Beck (Hollander) in Florence. She begins working for him to unlock a powerful and top-secret piece of technology, bur when she discovers its dangerous potential, she steals the journal containing the device’s activation sequence and vanishes. A relentless pursuit follows. Further cast includes Kristofer Hivju (Game of Thrones, Force Majeure), Harry Lloyd (Arcane, Marcella), Meréana Tomlinson (The Trials) and Sacha Dhawan (The Great, Doctor Who). Cross is the showrunner and Terry McDonough (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) and Sarah O’Gorman (A Gentleman in Moscow, The Witcher) the directors. Sky Studios and Fremantle are co-producing, with the latter’s Italian subsidiary, Wildside, providing production services in Italy.
Aug. 18 (UPI) —The Diplomat will return for a third season in October.
Netflix announced Monday that Season 3 of the political thriller starring Keri Russell and Allison Janney will premiere Oct. 16.
The Diplomat is created by former Homeland writer and executive producer Debora Hahn. The show follows Kate Wyler (Russell), the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, as she navigates political intrigue.
Janney also returns in Season 3 as now-President Grace Penn. Her former West Wing co-star joins the cast as Grace’s husband, First Gentleman Todd Penn.
Rufus Sewell also star as Kate’s husband, Hal.
“Season 3 flips the chessboard,” Cahn told Netflix’s Tudum. “In Season 3, Kate lives the particular nightmare that is getting what you want.”
Other cast members include David Gyasi, Ali Ahn, Rory Kinnear and Ato Essandoh.
Keri Russell arrives at Glamour Women of the Year Awards in New York City, on November 8, 2004. Photo Robin Platzer/UPI | License Photo
The eight-time Oscar nominee is set to star as the lead in “Maud” for U.K. network Channel 4. Written by Nina Raine and Moses Raine (behind acclaimed play “Donkey Heart”) and developed and produced by Playground for Sony Pictures Television, the six-part series is based on the short story collections “An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good” and “An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed” by bestselling Swedish crime writer Helene Tursten.
“Maud” — currently a working title — will see Close play Maud Oldcastle, described as a “hilariously brusque, cantankerous and ruthless older woman.” But those are just her “nice qualities” — she’s also a “killer with a tortured past.” Determined to break from a lifetime spent caring for her sister, Maud sets out to claim a long-overdue second act, but a suspicious detective and an unrelenting world built for youth may soon discover just how far she’ll go to protect her freedom.
“I am honored to be working with Channel 4, Sony and Playground to bring this highly original series to life,” Close said. “Nina and Moses Raine are deliciously brilliant writers and Maud Oldcastle is not like any character I have played before. I am thrilled to be a part of such a stellar team.”
Gwawr Lloyd, acting head of drama at Channel 4, added: “’Maud’ is a deliciously dark and daring drama and the amazing Glenn Close will bring a thrilling complexity to the role. We’re delighted to be working with Nina, Moses, Playground and Sony Pictures Television to bring this unique character to life and we can’t wait for audiences to meet Maud Oldcastle.”
“Maud” was commissioned for Channel 4 by Lloyd and drama commissioning editor Rebecca Holdsworth and is a Sony Pictures Television Production. Executive producers are Scott Huff and Colin Callender for Playground with Close, Nina Raine and Moses Raine. The series producer is Morenike Williams.
“’Maud’ is precisely the kind of bold, character-focused drama we’re passionate about creating. Having the extraordinary Glenn Close join us to embody this remarkable character is a dream come true,” said Huff, joint managing director at Playground. “Nina and Moses Raine have written a distinctive crime drama that explores modern themes with razor-sharp wit and insight.”
He added, “Channel 4’s commitment to bold storytelling makes them the ideal partner for this series, and we’re grateful to Gwawr Lloyd and Rebecca Holdsworth for their support. We’re equally thrilled to partner with Sony, whose backing and commitment have been pivotal in bringing this series to life.”
Sony Pictures Television president Katherine Pope said: “We couldn’t be more excited to partner with Colin and Scott at Playground, along with their exceptional team, and Channel 4, known for their innovative programming. ‘Maud’ is a series that perfectly depicts our commitment to distinctive and character-driven storytelling. Glenn Close’s unparalleled talent brings extraordinary depth to this complex and captivating character, while Nina and Moses have crafted a wickedly intelligent script that will keep audiences on the edge of their seats.”
Filming will take place in London later this year.
Neil Young performed at Toronto’s Budweiser Stage on Sunday night, and he kicked off the encore by mocking the venue’s corporate name with his 1988 screed “This Note’s For You.” It was the first time he played the song since 1997 in any concert setting.
Young wrote “This Note’s For You” at a time when everybody from Eric Clapton and Madonna to the Rolling Stones and Genesis were licensing their songs to commercials, appearing in the ads themselves, or allowing corporations to sponsor their tours. The title is a response to Budweiser’s “This Bud’s For You” slogan, and the song references Pepsi, Coke, Miller, Budweiser’s canine mascot Spuds MacKenzie, and Coca-Cola’s “The Real Thing” slogan.
He took the mockery to grandiose new heights by casting Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson impersonators for the “This Note’s For You” video, and spoofing recent ad campaigns by Michelob, Budweiser, and Calvin Klein.
MTV refused to air it. “I must admit I feel awkward defending our decision because I happen to think it’s a fantastic video,” MTV/VH1 General Manager Lee Masters told The Los Angeles Times. “Everyone in Programming loved it – it’s spectacular and it’s very funny. But we had two corporate problems: First, our attorneys advised us against playing it because its use of likenesses of Michael Jackson and Spuds MacKenzie could leave us open to trademark infringement charges. Since then, Warner Records’ legal department has offered to indemnify us against any claims, but our attorneys still felt that might not be enough protection.”
With all due respect to MTV, this was absolute bullshit. “Weird Al” Yankovic has been creating videos much like “This Note’s For You” for well over 40 years, since parodies enjoy strong constitutional protections. The Supreme Court has affirmed this many times. There’s no chance the MTV suits and their attorneys weren’t aware of this.
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Young’s longtime manager, Elliot Roberts, wrote the network a furious open letter in response to the ban. “MTV, you spineless twerps,” he wrote. “You refuse to play ‘This Note’s for You’ because you’re afraid to offend your sponsors. What does the ‘M’ in MTV stand for: music or money? Long live rock and roll.” They eventually relented and put the video into rotation, and even gave it Video of the Year at the 1989 VMAs.
“This Note’s For You” was a regular part of Young’s live show in the late Eighties and early Nineties, but he dropped it from his repertoire following the Bridge School Benefit on October 19, 1997.
He may have been tempted to break it back out when he performed at Budweiser Gardens in London, Ontario, back in 2012, or last summer when he first played at the Budweiser Stage in Toronto. But he simply couldn’t restrain himself this time around.
“Thank you, folks,” he said right before playing “This Note’s For You.” “We come back to the Freshwater Amphitheater. It’s going to be great.” (The Budweiser Stage was formerly known as the Molson Ampitheater. Young played there in 2000 with the Friends and Relatives band.)
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The resurrection of “This Note’s For You” is the most notable recent setlist addition to Young’s summer tour. But he also debuted “Silver Eagle” Friday evening at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. It’s the first song he’s played from his new LP, Talkin’ To The Trees. He also broke out “Mr. Soul,” “The Loner,” “Ohio,” and “Tumblweed” at the past few gigs.
The tour resumes Tuesday night with a second show at the Budweiser Stage. Future stops at the Huntington Bank Pavilion and the Hayden Homes Amphitheater give him plenty more chances to bring “This Note’s For You” back to life.
The Washington Post’s esteemed senior critic-at-large Robin Givhan announced Sunday that she has accepted a buyout offer.
The Princeton University graduate has worked for the media company on two occasios during her highly-regarded career. Her most recent go-round started in June of 2014, when she joined The Washington Post as fashion critic and then took on the role of senior critic-at-large in September of 2020.
Prior to that, Givhan had a two-year stint at Newsweek as special correspondent for style and culture. The journalist’s earlier run at The Washington Post started in 1995 and ran through 2009 as fashion editor. An insightful and analytical voice, Givhan elevated fashion coverage to new heights and broader audiences by winning a Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 2006. Not afraid to take to task designers or to call out shortcomings in the fashion industry, Givhan’s writing commands attention beyond its borders to the greater world at large.
She is among the 30-plus staffers, who have accepted buyouts from the Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper and media company. Givhan, who could not be reached immediately for comment Sunday, announced her decision on social media, explaining that those, who had been with the company for more than 10 years, were recently offered buyouts. Having never been eligible “for such a thing,” Givhan said she considered it. “(It was for a fair amount of $$.) I agonized about it. I fretted. I procrastinated until the last possible moment. I considered my needs, my desires, my beliefs,” she posted. “A creature of deadline to the end. And I decided to take it.” Afterwards, she “needed to quietly sit with her decision. Because I love The Post. It’s where I grew up as a journalist,” she wrote.
Robin Givhan at her book party at Chez Nous in the Marlton Hotel.
Photo by Jimmy Pewter Fang/Courtesy
Her post continued, “I am a believer in the importance of institutions, of legacy media and mainstream media. There’s still a lot to be said and I’m just self-centered enough to believe I’m someone, who needs to be heard. So I’m not done.”
She noted, “Democracy definitely dies in darkness. It is greatly wounded by silence.”
Having released “Make It Ours: Crashing the Gates of Culture with Virgil Abloh,” Givhan said she has book tour stops on her calendar in New York City, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Dallas, Milan and Chicago. There is also a guest bathroom renovation to tend to. “And then, yea…onward. More soon ❤️❤️“
Based in the Baltimore area, the bespectacled and in-depth writer earned a Master of Arts in journalism at University of Michigan.
Another style setter at The Washington Post, Ann Hornaday is also among its 2025 departures. As well as The Reliable Source’s Helena Andrews-Dyer and fact checked Glenn Kessler, according to a running tally that is being kept on “X” by Vincent Morris, a media observer. The exodus, he posted, leaves The Washington Post publisher Will Lewis with “a youthful, but drastically inexperienced paper.”
