The Madonna 2012 World Tour will stop in the UK

The Like a Virgin singer, Madonna, has announced she will return to the UK in July to offer two headline shows in London and Edinburgh as part of her 2012 World Tour.

The blond ambition, who follows an extraordinary week which along with her Bridgestone Super Bowl halftime performance saw the release of her new single, Give Me All Your Luvin, from her highly anticipated new album “MDNA” (Live Nation/Interscope Records), is set to perform in 24 other European cities including Paris, Milan, Barcelona and Berlin.

Talking about the multi-talented star’s upcoming tour, Arthur Fogel, CEO Live Nation Entertainment Global Touring, said: “Madonna’s track record as a world class entertainer and touring artist speaks for itself.  Her artistry, talent and creative productions get bigger and better with each tour and “Madonna 2012” will be no exception.

“We are thrilled to have her back on the road and know her fans feel the same.”

The shows will kick off in Tel Aviv, Israel on May 29 and will include arenas, stadiums and special outdoor sites like the Plains of Abraham in Quebec and a return visit to South America and Australia, where she has not performed in 20 years.

Tickets go on sale at 10am on Friday and will be available from the tour’s international promoter Live Nation’s website.

London Hyde Park’s concert will take place on Tuesday July 17 and prices go from £70 to £125, while the show in Edinburgh Murrayfield Stadium will be held on Saturday July 21 and prices start from £45.

“MDNA” is scheduled to be released on March 26. 

Lady Antebellum to tour the UK in the Summer

Country pop trio Lady Antebellum have announced they will be returning to the UK for a string of shows this summer as part of their “Own the Night World” tour.

The American ensemble will play headline gigs in London’s Hammersmith Apollo on July 16, Manchester Apollo on 15 and a day before in the Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow.

The band, which has just won ‘Best Group’ at the American Music Awards, is set to release the new single, Dancin’ Away with my Heart, on March. 

The song is taken from the band’s most recent album, “Own the Night” (Capitol Nashville, 2011), which entered the UK album charts at no. 4 in October and has sold nearly 100,000 copies in the UK to date, alongside its 1.2million US copies where it’s still in the Top 5 of the Billboard charts and featured in the Top 10 best-selling albums of 2011.

Lady Antebellum are competing against Fleet Foxes, Foo Fighters and Maroon 5 to get a Brit Award for Best International Group.

Tickets go on sale 9am on Friday priced at £27.50/£30.00 (London) and will be available from Live Nation’s website.

“Beyond Magnetic” available now on CD

Thrash metal lords Metallica released yesterday their “Beyond Magnetic” EP to celebrate their 30 anniversary in the music industry.

The album, being the first time it has been available outside of iTunes, contains four tracks recorded during the “Death Magnetic” (Warner Bros. Records, 2008) sessions but they were not included in the final album.

Fans had the opportunity to sneak a taste of the new EP through Mission Metallica, members of the Fan Club enjoyed the gift for free after the band performed the fans club shows last December at the Fillmore Theatre in San Francisco and from this week everyone can get the physical copy in their hands.

“Beyond Magnetic”, which was produced by Rick Rubin, includes the following songs:

1. Hate Train

2. Just A Bullet Away

3. Hell And Back

4. Rebel Of Babylon

James Morrison awakes for new UK & Ireland tour

BRIT Award-winning English singer-songwriter James Morrison kicked off his “Awakening UK & Ireland Tour” at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin this weekend.

The Rugby musician will be playing gigs throughout the UK during February to present his third record “The Awakening” (Island), which was released last September and got the number one spot, he has topped it for the second time in his career- Morrison previously scored a number one with his 2006 debut “Undiscovered” (Universal).

The album features the single I Won’t Let You Go, which went into the UK singles chart at number 5. It also includes James’s collaboration with Jessie J, Up, released on November 27.

Tickets for the tour are now on sale from http://tickets.jamesmorrisonmusic.com.

The dates are:

FEBRUARY 2012

Wednesday 1 - Manchester O2 Apollo

Friday 3 - Cambridge Corn Exchange

Saturday 4 - Southampton Guildhall

Monday 6 - Leicester De Montford Hall

Tuesday 7 - Birmingham O2 Academy

Thursday 9 - London Hammersmith Apollo

Sunday 12 - Southend Cliff Pavilion    

Monday 13 - Bristol Colston Hall

Wednesday 15 - Glasgow O2 Academy

Friday 17 - Leeds O2 Academy

Saturday 18 - Nottingham Royal Centre

Sunday 19 - Newcastle O2 Academy

Martin Scorsese talks about Oscar nominations

The nominees for the 2012 Academy Awards were released last Tuesday with Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” (Paramount Pictures, 2011) leading the way with 11 nominations. 

The filmmaker, who is one of the candidates running for best picture and best director, said: “I am deeply honored to have been nominated by the Academy for my work on “Hugo”. Every picture is a challenge, and this one - where I was working with 3D, HD and Sacha Baron Cohen for the first time was no exception. It’s a wonderful feeling to know that you¹ve been recognized by the people in your industry. I congratulate my fellow nominees. It¹s an impressive list, and I’m in excellent company.”

“Hugo”, a kid’s adventure that pays homage to early cinema, is nominated in the following categories:

Best picture

* Graham King and Martin Scorsese, producers

Best director

* Martin Scorsese

Best art direction

* Production design: Dante Ferretti

* Set decorator: Francesca Lo Schiavo

Best cinematography

* Robert Richardson

Best costumes

* Sandy Powell

Best film editing

* Thelma Schoonmaker

Best original score

* Howard Shore

Best sound editing

* Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty

Best sound mixing

* Tom Fleischman and John Midgley

Best visual effects

* Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning

Best adapted screenplay

* Guión de John Logan

Sundace Film Festival reveals jury prizes in Short Filmmaking

Jury prizes and honorable meritions to short films were announced on Tuesday at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

The awards, which will also be honored at the Festival’s Awards Ceremony on Saturday, were presented at the event held in Park City, Utah.

Trevor Groth, director of programming for the Sundance Film Festival, said: “The explosion of interest in the short form is evidenced by the record number of short films submitted to this year’s Festival. Our shorts programming team as well as audiences at the Festival have been struck by the depth of quality and uncompromised voices present in these stories from around the world. Our esteemed jury selected seven winners from a field of 64 that represent a talented group of artists who are sure to continue pushing the limits of creative filmmaking.”

This year's Short Film program, presented by Yahoo!, was comprised of 64 short films selected from a record 7,675 submissions and the list of winners includes:

“Fishing without Nets”, a story of pirates in Somalia, told from the perspective of the pirates themselves. The film was awarded with the jury prize in short filmmaking.

“The Black Ballon” strays from the herd and experiences what life as an individual is like. He explores New York City in the deepest way, seeing all of its characters. It won the jury prize in U.S. fiction.

“The Return (Kthimi)”, a man comes back from a Serb prison to his wife and son. Much has changed since he was declared missing and continuing where they left off four years ago may not be as easy as it seems. The Kosovian movie was awarded with the jury price in international fiction.

“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” tells the story of the survivors in the areas hardest hit by Japan's recent tsunami and how they find the courage to revive and rebuild as cherry blossom season begins. A visual haiku about the ephemeral nature of life and the healing power of Japan's most beloved flower. The film won the jury prize in non-fiction.

“A Morning Stroll”, when a New Yorker walks past a chicken on his morning stroll, we are left to wonder which one is the real city slicker. The movie got the jury prize in animated short film.

“The Arm”, in an attempt to keep up with social pressure in a technologically advanced world, Chance starts a texting relationship with Genevieve, a girl he meets at a yogurt shop. The film was awarded with the special jury award for comedic storytelling.

“Robots of Brixton”, immerses the spectator into the trials and tribulations of young robots surviving at the sharp end of inner city life, living the predictable existence of a populous hemmed in by poverty, disillusionment and mass unemployment. The British cinematic tale was presented with the special jury award for animation direction.

This year’s edition runs through January 29 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

The Festival’s Awards Ceremony will be hosted by Parker Posey on Saturday 28 at 7.00 pm MT and will be live streamed at www.sundance.org/live.

A complete list of film and events is available by clicking here.

Peter Jackson’s film about the WM3 to premiere at Sundance

The documentary produced by Peter Jackson based on the case of the West Memphis Three is set to premiere out of competition at the Sundace Film Festival this Saturday.

“West of Memphis” (WingNut Films), which goes under the direction of American Filmmaker Amy Berg, reopens the investigation of the case of the US teens- known as the West Memphis Three-  convicted of the satanic ritual killings of three eight-year-old boys (Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers) in Arkansas in 1994.

The film, following the steps of the three previous HBO documentaries by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (“Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills”, “Paradise Lost 2: Revelations” and “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory”), raises questions about the evidence as it is widely believed that the trio (Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr.) has been wrongly convicted -in fact some supporters include Johnny Depp and Eddie Vedder- and they were set free on August 19, 2011 after spending 18 years in jail.

Jackson, who scooped another award winning best animated feature film for “The Adventures of Tintin” (Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures, 2011) at Monday’s Golden Globes ceremony, and his partner, Fran Walsh, produced the film alongside Echols and his wife, Lorri Davis.

The first screening will be held at Utah's Sundance Festival on Saturday afternoon.

For more information about the movies competing in the festival click here.

If you want to know more about the case or the documentaries you can visit the WM3 official website.