Category: 5. Entertainment

‘Adam’s last words were ‘I’ll be there with you’’published at 14:43 British Summer Time

14:43 BST

Kris Bramwell
BBC News

Image source, Sam Randall

Sam Randall, 41, in Maidenhead, Berkshire, is going to the gig tonight with his old school friends Rollo and Pete. They went to secondary school together and “collectively all got into Oasis around the same time in 1995”.

However, there is one person missing from the group – Adam Conrad Pratt.

“In 1997, after plenty of pleading with our mums (we were barely aged 14 or 15), we managed to get tickets to see Oasis on their Be Here Now tour at Earls Court. Later that year, Adam and I saw them again at Wembley Arena. Oasis became our band! The soundtrack to our youth.

“In 2020, Adam was diagnosed with colon cancer. He faced it with courage and determination, undergoing multiple surgeries and treatments.”

So when the reunion tour was announced, the friends were “beyond excited”. Then Adam’s cancer returned aggressively around Christmas 2024.

“After a brave fight, Adam passed away at home in California in February surrounded by his family.

“I was lucky enough to have one final call with him just days before. Though weak, he still managed to joke and laugh. I’ll never forget him saying, ‘I’ll be there down the front with you boys at the gig’.

“In honour of Adam, we’ll be wearing custom t-shirts I designed for the concert. He may not be there in person, but he’ll be with us in every word we sing!”

Squid Game is back for one last ride. With much higher stakes, deadlier games, and players more desperate than ever to survive, season 3 brings the Netflix phenomenon to an emotionally devastating close.

Set right after the fallout of Gi-hun’s (Lee Jung-jae) failed rebellion, the six-episode season picks up with Squid Game‘s extensive cast of players, guards, enemies, and allies.

“Gi-hun persists with his goal to put an end to the game, while the Front Man continues onto his next move, and the surviving players’ choices will lead to graver consequences with each round,” reads the official synopsis.

Many familiar faces join Lee in returning for the final chapter. Read on to learn more about the Squid Game season 3 cast and where you’ve seen them before.

To many Brits and for many years, Jonathan Bailey was the talented up-and-comer known for roles in the likes of Crashing and Broadchurch. Then came the role of Lord Anthony in the huge Regency hit Bridgerton, and the rest, as they say, is history. Fast-forward to 2024, and Bailey is delivering one of his best performances to date as the dashing Fiyero in Jon M. Chu’s smash-hit adaptation of Wicked, alongside Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in a duet of Oscar-nominated turns.

Ahead of Bailey returning to Fiyero in the upcoming Wicked: For Good, the Oxfordshire-born actor is now starring in another huge franchise, as Dr. Henry Loomis in Jurassic World Rebirth, the latest installment in the dino-franchise helmed by Rogue One‘s Gareth Edwards. Starring in the movie alongside huge Hollywood talent such as Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, and more, Bailey’s inclusion in the Jurassic World Rebirth cast is a promising reminder that the most talented will always rise to the top. But how did he get there? Well, thanks to an interview available to view on X, Bailey has spilled all on his surprising journey to taking the role.

“It was completely out of the blue,” Bailey begins. “Universal Studios made Wicked, and so Donna Langley and Peter Cramer, who run the studios, they spoke to Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall, the producer, and they decided to offer me the part.” So strong was Bailey’s performance in Wicked that Langley and Cramer spoke directly to one of the finest minds in all cinema and made a personal recommendation, without Bailey even needing an audition. “I hadn’t auditioned and I hadn’t read the script,” he continues, adding, “it was a real surprise. As an actor, that’s the one invitation you can only fantasize about. Yeah, it was really, really special, and I remember waking up the next day and going, ‘Is that all a dream?’”

Jurassic World Rebirth Gets Off to a Flying Box Office Start

Despite receiving disappointing critical reviews and scores on the likes of Rotten Tomatoes, that can’t take away from just how big an appeal Jurassic World Rebirth is to have. Bound to shoot to the top of the upcoming weekend’s box office charts, Rebirth has already got off to a flying start, earning an enormous $30.5 million on July 2 from just over 4,000 theaters nationwide. This already makes the movie one of the 25 highest-grossing of the year domestically after just 24 hours, with competition from the likes of Universal’s How to Train Your Dragon remake and Joseph Kosinski‘s F1 not likely to pose too much of a problem.

Jurassic World Rebirth is in theaters. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates on the latest movies.

From Greater London
Recommended if you like The Starseeds, Sun Electric, the Orb
Up next Beaming Backwards out now on Test Pressing Recordings

Welding dubbed-out instrumentals with dreamy vocals and cosmic flourishes, Ddwy’s music captures the spirit of a 90s Ibiza chillout set. In fact, their last label joked that their tracks were “perfect for Balearic DJs”. But the project actually has its roots far away from the flurry of the white isle: many of the songs were made from a kitchen table in a Greater London suburb where the duo are based.

Made up of wife and husband Naomi Pieris and Ronan MT (Ddwy means “two” in Welsh), the project was born in 2020 from Covid-era home experiments. Their tracks conserve that intimacy: layered around guitars, percussion and washes of synths, Pieris’s vocals are soft and half-murmured, while field recordings are drawn from visits to her native Sri Lanka and voicemails from relatives.

Some of their material has an almost ambient quality – spacious, drumless – but other parts adopt more of a club sensibility, drawing on progressive and deep house. In the years since those early lockdown jams, the pair have gone on to release a small handful of records which they perform live at clubs and beachside festivals across Europe, as well as dimly lit DIY venues closer to home.

On their new EP Beaming Backwards, Ddwy continue to explore these (interlocking, rather than clashing) sides. Alongside the pulsing late-night rollers (Beaming Backwards, Peak Smile), there’s a blissed-out downtempo moment (Stars, Stars), and a gorgeous take on a Sri Lankan lullaby, complete with piano and strings (Heuldro’r Haf – Welsh for “summer solstice”). It’s the perfect soundtrack for this time of year, when the days are still long and the nights are still warm: sweet, but a bit melancholy too. Safi Bugel

This week’s best new tracks

Mammo – Traction
One of six universe-sharpening tracks on the Dutch producer’s stunning new album, this has the ethereal throb of dub techno’s greats, but with counter-rhythms inveigling themselves from the edges.

​George Riley – Slow
After recent appearances on tracks from Logic1000, HiTech and Sherelle, one of UK dance’s best vocalists keeps the werk rate high with this exquisite house track, Riley holding back from a too-intoxicating romance.

Oasis – Acquiesce (Unplugged)
As the band play their first reunion tour date tonight in Cardiff – follow the Guardian’s live blog later! – Noel Gallagher has brilliantly remixed a version of their classic B-side, making it more insistent and grooving.

Ethel Cain – Fuck Me Eyes
Not what a Yorkshire person says when it’s a bit bright out, but rather pulp fiction done as a synthpop power ballad, about a wayward young woman who “goes to church straight from the clubs”.

​John Glacier – Fly With Me
Coming after an excellent Glastonbury set, and rolling over a distorted head-nodding beat, the British rapper casts herself as a supernaturally powerful figure transcending earthly bonds thanks to her own skill.

Perfect 100 – Sunday
The debut single from this solo​ grunge-pop project by Brooklyn’s Andrew Madore is a ripper, with distorted guitar ​reminiscent of Yo La Tengo or Dinosaur Jr, and​ harmonised vocals adding a dash of vanilla sweetness.

Naemi – Hutchison
​Closing out their gorgeous new dream-pop album Breathless, Shorn, this track features acoustic guitar and bass motifs repeating around bird-chirrups and reverb: one for post-picnic snoozing this summer. Ben Beaumont-Thomas

Subscribe to the Guardian’s rolling Add to Playlist selections on Spotify.

Appearing alongside Caden Brauch are company members Charlotte Coggin, Grace Swaby-Moore, Lauren Dawes, Gracie Caine, Ellis Kirk, Bryan Mottram, Zachkiel Smith and Kofi Aidoo-Appiah.

The music video’s intro also features Cory English, C.J. Borger, Ellis Kirk, Talia Palamathanan, Patricia Wilkins, Liam McHugh, Charlotte Coggin, Aidoo-Appiah, Zachkiel Smith, Connor Lewis, Louis Quinn, Lauren Dawes, Billie Bowman, Grace Swaby-Moore, Gracie Caine, Adam Margilewski, Alexander Day, Ella Beaumont, Helen Gulston, Anna Murray and Bryan Mottram.

BACK TO THE FUTURE The Musical currently stars Caden Brauch as Marty McFly, Cory English as Doctor Emmett Brown, Sarah Goggin as Lorraine Baines, Orlando Gibbs as George McFly, C.J. Borger as Goldie Wilson and Marvin Berry, Alex Runicles as Biff Tannen, Talia Palamathanan as Jennifer Parker, Lee Ormsby as Strickland and alternate Doctor Emmett Brown, Liam McHugh as Dave McFly, Patricia Wilkins as Linda McFly, and Ellis Kirk as alternate Marty McFly. The cast is completed by Kofi Aidoo-Appiah, Billie Bowman, Ella Beaumont, Gracie Caine, Charlotte Coggin, Lauren Dawes, Alexander Day, Helen Gulston, Matthew Ives, Connor Lewis, Adam Margilewski, Bryan Mottram, Anna Murray, Samuel Nicholas, Louis Quinn, Zachkiel Smith and Grace Swaby-Moore.

From Wednesday 13 August stage and screen star Brian Conley and Tik Tok sensation Maddie Grace Jepson will join the production as Doctor Emmett Brown and Lorraine Baines respectively.

BACK TO THE FUTURE The Musical won the Olivier Award for Best New Musical, four WhatsOnStage Awards, including Best New Musical, and the Broadway World Award for Best New Musical. The musical has broken box office records at the Adelphi Theatre in London and has been seen by 3.8 million people worldwide. The production enters its 5th year in London from 13 September 2025.

Performances also began on Broadway on 30 June 2023, with its final performance on 5 January 2025. The North American tour opened in Cleveland, OH, in June 2024 and is currently running in cities across the US and Canada. In addition to the newly announced German and Royal Caribbean productions, the production is also now open in Japan and will open in Australia later this year.

www.BackToTheFutureMusical.com

The Hague/Munich. On Thursday 3 July, the Louwman
Museum opened the “Fine Art on Wheels” exhibition, featuring a
remarkable collection of eight iconic BMW Art Cars. This unique
exhibition, which is only on display for two months, offers a rare
opportunity to discover these masterpieces, designed by
internationally renowned artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy
Lichtenstein, David Hockney, and Esther Mahlangu. The exhibition will
run from July 4 to August 31, 2025.

The selected cars illustrate the unique fusion of art, motorsport,
and design that has characterized the BMW Art Car Collection since
1975. For this anniversary edition, the Louwman Museum has chosen
eight examples that together form a journey through modern art history
on four wheels:

• Alexander Calder: BMW 3.0 CSL (1975)
• Frank Stella: BMW 3.0 CSL (1976)
• Roy Lichtenstein: BMW 320 Group 5 (1977)
• Andy Warhol: BMW M1 Group 4 (1979)
• César Manrique: BMW 730i (1990)
• Esther Mahlangu: BMW 525i (1991)
• David Hockney: BMW 850 CSi (1995)
• Jeff Koons: BMW M3 GT2 (2010)

Ronald Kooyman, Managing Director of the Louwman
Museum: “We are incredibly proud to have eight iconic rolling
sculptures temporarily on display at the Louwman Museum, contributing
to the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the BMW Art Cars. This
special exhibition brings together art and automotive culture in a
truly unique and inspiring way.”

The exhibition at the Louwman Museum is part of the ongoing BMW Art
Car World Tour, which showcases the legendary BMW Art Cars across
various art and automotive platforms worldwide. Celebrating the 50th
anniversary of the collection, this tour not only highlights the
artistic brilliance of the collection but also emphasizes the
innovative spirit of BMW as it continues to merge art with automotive excellence.

The Art Car World Tour schedule is still evolving and will continue
through most of 2026. Further stops and venues are planned, including
Belgium France, Le Mans, Classic, Brussels, Zoute Gran Prix, Turkey,
Contemporary Instanbul – and many others.

Practical Information
The exhibition will be on
display from July 4 to August 31, 2025, at the Louwman Museum in The
Hague. Due to expected high attendance, the museum will be open seven
days a week during this period.

For more information, please visit: www.louwmanmuseum.nl/pers-fine-art-on-wheels

The BMW Group’s Cultural Engagement, with exclusive updates and
deeper insights into its global initiatives can be followed on
Instagram at @BMWGroupCulture.

Songwriters are missing out on millions of pounds a year in royalties because the agency responsible for collecting and distributing payments cannot identify when their songs have been performed at more than 100,000 gigs and performances across the UK.

PRS for Music is responsible for collecting royalties for writers when music is played, including on the radio, streaming services, in shops and at live events from pubs to stadiums and festivals.

In the case of live music, PRS takes a small percentage cut of gross ticket sales from every performance, and after taking a cut for administration redistributes the royalties after successfully matching the set list performed with the relevant songwriters.

However, the collection agency is experiencing a ballooning number of gigs, classical performances and theatre and variety shows where it has taken a cut of ticket sales but not been able to allocate it to songwriters because of a lack of information about songs played.

In the music industry this growing pot of income at PRS is referred to as the “black box” and the agency is facing legal action about how it ultimately ends out distributing this money.

The case is proceeding at the high court, and there is an alternative dispute resolution meeting scheduled for 25 September.

The scale of the problem is evident in documents on the PRS website where it maintains a list of “concerts available for distribution” – displaying entries of artists, dates and the venue they played – dating back to 2022.

That list now tops 106,000 performances where money has been collected but not distributed, with almost three-quarters relating to pop gigs in mostly grassroots venues.

Artists on the list are mostly not big names but it does include Ronan Keating, The Jesus and Mary Chain, 10cc, Aled Jones, Alien Ant Farm and All Our Yesterdays.

Venues include a number of O2 sponsored Academy sites, the Jazz Cafe and Ronnie Scott’s in London, Durham Cathedral, York Barbican and Leicester Racecourse.

PRS does not reveal how much income is in the so-called black box, which it refers to as the “unclaimed pot”, however the Guardian has seen a document that showed that for the single year of 2019 it amounted to £2.7m.

The agency redistributes unclaimed money to the market after three years using its own formula, which some in the industry believe is not fair for smaller artists and acts.

“One of my members described [it] as a reverse Robin Hood,” said Mark Davyd, the founder and chief executive of the Music Venue Trust, which represents grassroots venues, speaking at a culture select committee session in May. “[PRS] comes in and takes 100% of the songwriter royalty on just about every show, it is unable to distribute it, and it ends up in what is colloquially known as the black box – it is a fund that cannot be distributed.”

On its website, PRS has an article about the importance of submitting setlists after live shows in order to receive royalties.

However, two of the acts interviewed – You Me At Six and Peaness – appear on the spreadsheet of unallocated royalties for gigs played.

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PRS said that it goes to great lengths to try to match the music performed with the writers, including recently piloting a tool that automatically turns photos of handwritten setlists – which are a common submission – into readable text.

“PRS dedicates significant resources to match live performances to works, and ensure songwriters and composers receive the royalties they are due,” said a spokesperson for PRS. “We have a team whose primary job is to manually research setlist details. In addition, we provide and widely promote our online tool, designed to make it easy for members or their representatives to report setlists for any performances of their works We also send staff to festivals and events to collect setlist in person. While it is true there is a contractual obligation on venues and promoters to provide setlists, we also work hard fill in as many gaps as we can.”

Last year, Dave Rowntree of Blur started a legal action against PRS, alleging it is in violation of UK and EU competition rules over how it distributes “black box” income.

The lawsuit claims that PRS handles this income in a way that benefits music publishers more than songwriters.

PRS has said Rowntree’s claims are “factually incorrect and fundamentally misrepresent our policies and operations”.

Last month, the two sides attended a hearing at the Competition Appeal Tribunal, which is in the process of determining whether or not Rowntree’s case will be certified as a class action.

In June, PRS said it paid out a record £1.02bn to rights holders last year, up 8% on 2023, beating its five-year plan to top £1bn by 2026.

PRS represents the rights of more than 180,000 music industry members, covering more than 45m musical works, collecting and paying royalties when tracks are played in public, broadcast, downloaded, streamed or performed live in the UK and around the world.

Scarlett Johansson has just recalled a painful experience from Jurassic World Rebirth.

The Hollywood actress plays the role of Zora Bennett, who leads a team on a mission to retrieve dinosaur DNA.

During an interview with People, the Black Widow actress candidly talked about her filming experience in Thailand.

Recalling the scene in which she and Jonathan Bailey were rappelling down a cliff, Johansson said, “We wore harnesses under our actual harness.”

“You have a movie harness that looks like a harness, then you have an actual harness that’s hooked up to a line, because you’re not actually abseiling, you’re on a stunt rig.”

Sharing another incident, she told the outlet, “When we first got to Thailand, we had to do a camera test of the full costume and all that stuff, and just putting all the pieces of the costume together and then standing in a mosquito-infested bush, I was like, ‘This is really happening.’”

However, the 40-year-old actress noted that the experience was insane but also rewarding.

“We all laughed a lot, and we were thrown into such extraordinary circumstances physically. Half our set would wash away, and then ten minutes later it would grow too large, and there’s no continuity to anything because the sun was moving in. It was just insane,” she added before quitting chat.

Jurassic World Rebirth was released in cinemas on July 2, 2025.

Gary Lineker has said the BBC should “hold its head in shame” over its failure to show a documentary about the plight of medics in Gaza.

The former Match of the Day presenter said people at “the very top of the BBC” had been failing over the conflict, following the corporation’s controversial decision to drop Gaza: Doctors Under Attack.

It is the first time Lineker has criticised his former employer since he left the broadcaster in May. His departure came after he apologised for amplifying online material with antisemitic connotations. He had reposted a video about Gaza that contained a picture of a rat, imagery used in the Nazi era to attack Jews.

A clearly emotional Lineker was speaking at a private viewing of the Gaza medics documentary in London on Thursday night, where he led a question and answer session with the producers after the showing.

“It needed to be seen, it really did need to be seen – I think everyone would agree with that,” he said. “I think the BBC should hold its head in shame.

“As someone who’s worked for the corporation for 30 years, to see the way it’s declined in the last year or two has been devastating really, because I’ve defended it and defended it against claims that it’s partial. It talks about impartiality all the time.

“The truth is at the moment, [there is a problem] at the very top of the BBC. Not [all] the BBC because there are thousands and thousands of people that work at the BBC, that are good people, that understand what is going on here and can see it. We see it on our phones every day. The problem is they’re bowing to the pressure from the top. This is a worry and I think time’s coming where a lot of people are going to be answerable to this, and complicity is something that will come to many.”

The BBC Radio 5 presenter Nihal Arthanayake responded to a video of Lineker’s comments by saying: “Gary Lineker is a good man. He is spot on about the BBC.”

The BBC has been approached over his comments. It has previously said it had been attempting to find ways to use the documentary material in news coverage, but a final decision was made to drop the film entirely after talks broke down with its producers, Basement Films.

There has been considerable internal unrest over the failure to broadcast the programme, with the director general, Tim Davie, facing questions about it at a recent virtual meeting with staff. More than 100 BBC staff signed a letter criticising the decision to drop the film.

It ends a torrid week for the BBC, which has also been hit with the fallout from its failure to cut the live feed of Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury performance. Davie has come under significant pressure from ministers over the broadcast. During the live stream, Bobby Vylan, whose real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster, led chants of “death, death to the IDF”, referring to the Israel Defense Forces, at Glastonbury last Saturday.

While Davie has received a vote of confidence from the BBC board and its chair, Samir Shah, more junior figures appear to be expected to take the blame for the incident. There have been unconfirmed reports that Lorna Clarke, who oversees pop music commissioning at the BBC, has stood back from her duties.

A BBC spokesperson said: “We would urge people not to speculate, particularly in relation to any individuals.”

BBC insiders have pointed to editorial cuts as fuelling issues around the monitoring of live streams. One said many of the BBC staff who worked on Glastonbury were volunteers from other teams, especially on digital-only streams.