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BTS put on an elaborate concert for 60,000 fans in Los Angeles

BTS can't be stopped
Image: Shutterstock / Featureflash Photo Agency

The K-Pop boy band BTS rode the ever-stronger wave of popularity breaking on U.S. shores straight to the Rose Bowl on Saturday. From the looks of their tricked out performance, the boiz gave their mega-fans a night to remember.

BTS kicked off their “Love Yourself: Speak Yourself” tour with a sold-out show at the Pasadena, CA stadium in front of a crowd of 60,000. With a Saturday Night Live appearance and a record-breaking collaboration with Halsey, the group is being hailed as one of the first K-Pop stars to break out in the US. 

SEE ALSO: The never-ending rise of K-pop megastars BTS

At the Rose Bowl on Saturday, there were giant panther statues, a bounce house, fireworks, holographic hearts, and a human-sized plastic bubble — along with singing, rapping, dancing, and levitating group members. 

Fans did not take pains to contain their excitement on social media for the wild show that BTS put on.

Even Nick Jonas was in the audience, bopping along from on high. Boy bands gotta support boy bands!

It also caused a fair amount of FOMO and appreciation from afar for people not lucky enough to attend.

The Rose Bowl will clearly never be the same.

WATCH: BTS’ ‘Boy With Luv’ shatters viewing records on YouTube

Read more: https://mashable.com/article/bts-rose-bowl-concert/

1000 Musicians Cover Smells Like Teen Spirit Together

Another epic cover by the project Rockin’ 1000, where 1000 musicians altogether perform “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana in Cesena, Italy. The video already got around 1.7 million views on YouTube.

via: testspiel

Read more: https://www.viralviralvideos.com/2017/01/30/1000-musicians-cover-smells-like-teen-spirit-together/

50 years since Bob Dylan went electric: 5 performances that shook us up

(CNN)Fifty years ago today, folk hero Bob Dylan caused an uproar when he took to the stage at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall with — wait for it — an electric guitar.

“Judas!” yelled someone in the crowd, referencing a traitor of biblical proportions.
    “I don’t believe you,” came Dylan’s drawling, incredulous reply.
    For the British fans who had gathered to see their folk idol — his 1963 album “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” had reached No. 1 in the UK — this was the ultimate betrayal.
    RARE PHOTOS: Bob Dylan, in the beginning
    Audience members started slow hand-clapping. There were boos. People walked out.
    After initially wooing fans with an acoustic set, Dylan returned in the second half of the gig with an electric guitar and his band The Hawks.
    They played “Tell Me, Momma.” Defiant in the face of growing heckles from the crowd, Dylan apparently told his band to “play it loud.”
    If anyone knew the times were a-changin, it was Dylan. Another electric song he played that night — “Like a Rolling Stone” — became a worldwide hit, reaching No. 2 on the U.S. charts.
    Ahead of Dylan’s 75th birthday next week on May 24, we take a look at some other music performances that got the world talking.

    1956: Elvis’ pelvic thrusts get us all shook up

    Even after six decades, Elvis Presley’s vigorous pelvic thrusts on the Milton Berle Show on June 5, 1956 are no less electrifying.
    The swagger. The sensuously curled lip. The outrageous gyrations below the belt — and all on primetime TV! No wonder the crowd was hysterical.
    Presley’s sexually-charged performance of “Hound Dog” was both denounced by the conservative press and lapped up by a new generation of wide-eyed teenage fans.
    When Presley performed on the Ed Sullivan show two years later, CBS insisted the sex symbol be filmed from the waist-up only.
    It did nothing to dampen Presley’s appeal. In 1988 “Hound Dog” was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame.
    READ MORE: The Jewish tailor who made Elvis’ most famous suit

    1962: Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy Birthday” to JFK

    OK, so it’s more of a breathy, spoken-word performance than a song.
    But when Marilyn Monroe sang “Happy Birthday” to U.S. President John F. Kennedy on May 19, 1962, it became one of the most enduring images of the Hollywood star — and an intriguing glimpse into her personal relationship with arguably the most powerful man in the world.
    First lady Jackie Kennedy, meanwhile, was not present at the 45th birthday bash for her husband.
    Dressed in a white rhinestone-encrusted dress so tight she was reportedly sewn into it, Monroe’s sultry rendition of “Happy Birthday” marked her last major public appearance before she died in mysterious circumstances on August 5,1962.
    Historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., an aide to President Kennedy at the time, said of Monroe that night: “The image of this exquisite, beguiling and desperate girl will always stay with me.”
    “I do not think I have seen anyone so beautiful; I was enchanted by her manner and her wit, at once so masked, so ingenuous and so penetrating.”
    READ MORE: Rare photos of Marilyn Monroe with Kennedy brothers

    1978: Bob Marley’s “One Love Peace” moment

    It has been described as the “Third World Woodstock.”
    But the “One Love Peace Concert” held in Jamaica on April 22, 1978, saw political rivals come together in a way rarely seen at other music festivals across the world.
    The reggae concert, headed by Bob Marley and the Wailers, was held at a time of civil war between the People’s National Party and Jamaica Labour Party.
    During a performance of “Jammin,'” Marley joined the hands of People’s National Party leader Michael Manley and Edward Seaga of the Jamaica Labour Party.
    Guardian music journalist Robin Denselow, who was there at the time, remembers it as “an extraordinary, if brief, moment of hope for Kingston; Bob Marley could hardly be blamed for presiding over a Peace Concert that failed to end the violence.”

    1992: Sinead O’Connor tears up a picture of the Pope

    Unlike Bob Dylan’s 1960s electric guitar performance, when Sinead O’Connor tore up a picture of the Pope live on television in 1992, the crowd was seemingly too shocked to even make a sound.
    Following a chilling a capella rendition of Bob Marley’s song “War” on Saturday Night Live, O’Connor held up a picture of Pope John Paul II and proceeded to shred it.
    “Fight the real enemy,” said the Irish singer, before throwing the torn-up pieces at the camera.
    READ MORE: Sinead O’Connor found safe
    During the song, O’Connor had replaced the word “racism” with “child abuse,” in an attempt to highlight child abuse within the Catholic church.
    The following week, actor Joe Pesci appeared on the show holding a taped-together picture of the Pope. Pesci told the audience he “would have given her such a smack” — to huge applause.
    READ MORE: Who was the real ‘fifth’ Beatle?

    Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/17/entertainment/bob-dylan-50-years-electric/index.html

    Lauryn Hill’s most controversial moments

    (CNN)It’s been almost 20 years since Lauryn Hill left The Fugees to record her solo album “The MisEducation of Lauryn Hill,” which fans still love.

    The performer, though? Not so much lately.
      Hill caused a firestorm on social media over the weekend after showing up two hours late for a concert in Atlanta. Because of the venue’s strict curfew, that meant concertgoers got only about 40 minutes of performing from Hill.
      In a Facebook post the singer explained that she has “nothing but Love and respect for my fans.”
      “The challenge is aligning my energy with the time, taking something that isn’t easily classified or contained, and trying to make it available for others,” Hill wrote. “I don’t have an on/off switch.”
      Aligning energy? Ummm, OK.
      Her reasoning didn’t go over too well with fans, especially because a video of a concert attendee questioning Hill about her tardiness had her blaming her driver for getting lost.
      It’s not the first time the singer has been late, nor is it the first time she has spurred controversy. Here are a few other times Hill had the streets talking:

      When she got pregnant with her first child

      Hill was a star thanks in part to her acting (courtesy of roles on the soap opera “As the World Turns” and the 1993 film “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit”) and being a part of the multiplatinum-selling rap group The Fugees. Fans were surprised when in 1997 she announced that she was pregnant with her first child.
      In August 1997 she gave birth to son Zion, whose father is Rohan Marley, the son of reggae legend Bob Marley. The next year she released her debut album, which included the single “To Zion.”
      “I wanted it to be a song that had two meanings, where ‘Zion’ is representative of not just my son but of this holy place,” Hill told Rolling Stone. “I wanted it to be a revolutionary song about a spiritual movement, and also about my spiritual change, going from one place to another because of my son.”
      She and Marley would go on to have more children together.

      Her ‘MTV Unplugged’ episode

      In 2001 Hill performed an acoustic set that was recorded as a live “MTV Unplugged No. 2.0” album. Appearing to not be entirely proficient on the guitar, Hill thoroughly confused the audience with her ramblings in between songs.
      Los Angeles Times writer Robert Hilburn did not have kind things to say about the album.
      “In retrospect, ‘Unplugged’ could hardly have been a worse word in the album title,” he wrote. “After the eccentric nature of Hill’s performance on the album, ‘Unplugged’ was too easy a target for jokes. ‘Unhinged’ might have been the only title more unfortunate.”

      Taking on the Vatican

      Hill used a 2003 concert in Vatican City as an opportunity to read a letter criticizing the Catholic Church for its pedophilia scandal. “I realize some of you may be offended by what I’m saying, but what do you say to the families who were betrayed by the people in whom they believed?” she said.
      The Catholic League posted a story about it in 2003 with the headline “Lauryn Hill Flips Her Lid.”
      “Hill’s personal problems do not justify her rants against the Catholic Church,” the story said, quoting a news release. “After all, Sinead O’Connor isn’t exactly normal, either, and she justifiably paid a price for her stunt on ‘Saturday Night Live’ when she ripped up a picture of the Pope. We expect Hill’s career, already in decline, will continue to head south. Columbia Records should show her the gate.”

      Call me Ms. Hill

      In 2009 Hill famously made the gossip column rounds for supposedly demanding to be called “Ms. Hill.”
      She told Essence magazine that year that she had learned to establish boundaries and speak up for herself.
      “I’ve always been wise beyond my years. I’ve always been a teacher.,” she told writer Joan Morgan. “When I was a child, I was teaching adults, because I was always learning. I’m Ms. Hill because I know I’m a wise woman. That is the respect I deserve.”

      Hill heads to prison

      In 2012 the singer pleaded guilty to evading federal taxes on $1.8 million she earned between 2005 and 2007. In July 2013 she reported to a low-security female facility in Danbury, Connecticut, to serve a three-month sentence.

      Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/09/entertainment/lauryn-hill-concert-controversies/index.html