Janet Jackson Thrills Fans With Greatest Hits, Michael Tribute At Radio City

Singer covered songs ranging from classic 'Pleasure Principle' to 2008's 'Feedback' at New York show.
By Vaughn Schoonmaker


Janet Jackson (file)
Photo: Christopher Polk/ Getty Images

NEW YORK — Often imitated, never duplicated, Janet Jackson's outbursts of meticulous choreography, sassy exclamations and smoldering gazes into the audience kept them on their feet for the entire two-hour set of her greatest hits at Radio City Music Hall. Monday night marked the last of three sold-out shows at the historic venue on her monumental Number Ones: Up Close and Personal Tour.

Up-and-coming boy band Mindless Behavior opened the show with songs including "#1 Girl," "Future" and their debut single, "My Girl." With their Usher-esque dance moves and shouts like "Where the ladies at?" the boys brought the tween girls out of hiding, judging by the shrill screams escaping various corner of the music hall.

At 9:00 sharp, the lights went down and Janet's fans were on the edge of their seats, watching music videos for "The Best Things in Life Are Free" and "Rhythm Nation" projected on big screens across the venue. A small shadow drifted toward center stage, and when the colorful lights came up, Jackson, wrapped in a shoulder-padded catsuit, complete with slick short hair, blasted into "The Pleasure Principle," dancing as hard and intensely choreographed as she did when the song first came out in the 1980s.

With barely a spare second between songs, Janet dazzled her way through her biggest hits, including "Miss You Much," "All for You" and "Nasty," and more recent hits like 2008's "Feedback."

Videos displayed during Jackson's costume changes included vintage clips from "Diff'rent Strokes," a funny scene from "Poetic Justice" where Jackson slyly rejects the advances of Tupac Shakur's character, and a rather heavy scene, as Jackson's character in "Why Did I Get Married" destroys her husband's house with a golf club, screaming hysterically.

Considering the tough couple of years the Jackson family has faced, the dark moments in the video seemed fitting, and everyone was beside themselves with bittersweet joy when Michael Jackson's face popped up on the big screen and she performed their hit single "Scream."

Janet emerged for her encore in a tight white one-piece disco suit, and performed "Diamonds," "Make Me" and "Together Again," which appeared to be the biggest hit of the evening. As Jackson graciously bowed out, her straight face transitioned into a smirk, suggesting that despite the hard times she has experienced recently, we can expect to see this singing and dancing pop legend shine far into the future.

"Its amazing!" Janet fan Elena Mercantini gleamed afterward. "It's like she's still 20 years old!"

"She's hot, she's amazing and she's still got it after all these years" added Alison Klinger of Long Island. "Best concert I've ever been to!"

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1660385/janet-jackson-radio-city-concert.jhtml

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Lady Gaga Crashes Billboard With 1.1 Million

Born This Way is the first record since 2005 to sell more than 1.1 million in a week.
By Gil Kaufman


Lady Gaga
Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage

We knew Lady Gaga's Born This Way was going to crush it on the Billboard 200 charts, the only question was how hard. The answer, it turns out, is very.

Gaga's relentlessly hyped second full-length studio album easily takes the pole position on next week's chart with sales of more than 1.1 million in its first week, according to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan, marking the first album since 50 Cent's 2005 effort, The Massacre, to cross the 1.1 million plateau in a week. Along the way, Born This Way became only the 17th album in the SoundScan era (which began in 1991) to sell 1 million copies in its first week. And though she's sold more than 15 million albums across the globe to date, BTW marks the first #1 debut for the international pop diva. People weren't just looking for Gaga's new one, either. Sales of her debut, The Fame, are up more than 50 percent to 19,000, sending the disc up 20 spots on the chart.

Coming in way back at #2 is the chart debut of Brad Paisley's This Is Country Music (153,000), followed by the year-to-date chart queen, Adele, whose 21 drops to #3 (only the second time it's fallen this low in its nearly three and a half months of release), while moving another 126,000 copies to edge toward the 2 million mark.

The fourth spot is the debut of the latest "Glee" soundtrack, Glee: The Music, Vol. 6 (80,000), followed by the Maybach Music compilation, MMG Presents: Self Made, Volume 1 (59,000). The joint boy band album NKOTBSB shows up at #7 (40,000) and the debut from Foster the People, Torches, hits #8 (33,000) thanks, no doubt, to the hit "Pumped Up Kicks."

The rest of the top 10 includes NOW 38 (#6, 45,000), Jason Aldean's My Kinda Party (#9, 33,000) and Mumford & Sons' Sigh No More (#10, 25,000).

"American Idol" winner Scotty McCreery had a promising week, as the digital compilation of his performances, American Idol Season 10: Scotty McCreery, debuts at #12 on sales of 23,000, while runner-up Lauren Alaina's comp has to settle for a #42 landing (11,000).

Gaga knocked Adele down a notch on the iTunes album charts, taking the lead position and pushing the British soul singer to #2, just ahead of Paisley, McCreery, Foster the People, "Glee," the MMG Presents compilation, Alaina, Mumford and Blacklight by Christian hip-hopper Tedashii. Adele could not be shaken, however, on the iTunes singles tally, where her smash single, "Rolling in the Deep," keeps the top position, followed by Pitbull's "Give Me Everything," McCreery's "I Love You This Big," Gaga's "The Edge of Glory," DJ Khaled's "I'm the One," LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem," Bruno Mars' "The Lazy Song," Alaina's "Like My Mother Does," Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass" and Jennifer Lopez's "On the Floor."

Gaga seems pretty safe for another round, as the week's new faces include Death Cab for Cutie's Codes and Keys, Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder's solo effort, Ukulele Songs, and My Morning Jacket's Circuital.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1664888/lady-gaga-billboard.jhtml

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Lady Gaga's Born This Way Hits #1: What Next?

Bigger Than the Sound sizes Gaga's remarkable chart debut up against the year's other event album, Adele's 21.
By James Montgomery


Lady Gaga
Photo: Michael Buckner/ Getty Images

As of Wednesday (June 1), Lady Gaga officially has the #1 album in the country, after selling 1,108,000 copies of Born This Way, according to Billboard.com. That's the biggest sales week since 50 Cent's The Massacre was released in 2005.

None of this should really surprise you, though. After all, no album in recent memory has been promoted to the degree that Born This Way has. You could hear it on FarmVille, in a Google Chrome commercial or through a special version of Tap Tap Revenge. You could buy it for 99 cents on Amazon.com, pick it up with a non-fat double latte at Starbucks (which also hosted an online Gaga-themed scavenger hunt) or get it at Best Buy with the purchase of a mobile phone and a two-year service contract.

That's to say nothing of the more than 20,000 "non-traditional" retailers that also stocked it ... noted musical hotspots like CVS Pharmacies, Whole Foods and Walgreens.

And in the weeks leading up to its release, you seemingly could not escape the woman behind Born This Way, either: Lady Gaga showed up on "Saturday Night Live," "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "Late Show With David Letterman," "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and "American Idol" (twice). She guest-edited V magazine and the Metro newspaper. She appeared in a documentary that aired on MTV and greeted fans at a New York City Best Buy. No word on whether she also went door-to-door handing out samples of the album, but I wouldn't put it past her.

In short, there was no way you did not know of Born This Way's existence. As Newbury Comics' director of purchasing, Carl Mello, joked to me during the release-week hype, "If people aren't aware that Lady Gaga has an album coming out, then that's a problem for Interscope." So while BTW's big first week is certainly remarkable, it was by no means unforeseen. This was an album that, from the time Gaga first announced its title in September at the VMAs, was destined to debut at #1. It was inevitable. The real test begins in the weeks afterward, when we'll all see whether Gaga's got legs.

During my conversation with Mello, he noted that while Born This Way was the top seller at Newbury's 29 locations (by a long shot), holding strong at #2 was Adele's 21, an album that, in just 14 weeks, has sold nearly 2 million copies in the U.S. alone and snagged the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 nine times. You did not get 21 with the purchase of a Samsung Epic 4G or by rhythmically tapping on your iPhone, and it was not previewed on FarmVille. In fact, about the extent of its promotion has been one official single ("Rolling in the Deep"), a handful of TV appearances and a sold-out tour. And yet, the record has sold and continues to do so. It is, without a doubt, an album that has legs.

In fact, the success of 21 is all the more remarkable when you compare it to the all-out blitz that has surrounded (and, some argue, enveloped) Born This Way. Comparing the two seems almost implausible, if not impossible. But both are genuine phenomena, albeit in completely different ways: 21 is a slow-burning hit; its success is just about as unexpected as it is old-school. BTW is an event; a big blockbuster for which failure was not an option. Adele made the industry pay attention; Gaga had their ear since last year.

And while first-week numbers are all well and good, real success is measured eight to 10 weeks down the road; it's how we know whether an album resonates, whether the singles have stuck, whether the artist is in it for the long haul. Right now, I wouldn't bet on anyone catching either Adele or Gaga in the race for 2011's best-selling album, but the real question is: Can Born This Way overtake 21 for the title? Only time — and some hit singles — will tell. With the promo that led to BTW's release, Gaga has proven that she's willing to work, but now that the album has been foisted onto the world, the real work's just beginning: she's going to have to prove she's got legs too.

How do you think Born This Way will fare on the charts? Share your thoughts in the comments section!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1664861/lady-gaga-born-this-way.jhtml

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Chris Cornell Filling In For Robert Plant On Led Zeppelin Tour? That's News To Him

'I have not been approached to fill in for Robert Plant on the Zeppelin tour, but that isn't to say I won't be,' singer says.
By Chris Harris


Chris Cornell
Photo: MTV News

Former Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell has spoken out for the first time about rumors that he's been asked to fill in for Robert Plant on a proposed Led Zeppelin reunion tour. The trek would feature original guitarist Jimmy Page, original bassist John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham taking over on drums for his late father, John Bonham.

Cornell has been mentioned — along with Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar, White Stripes mastermind Jack White and Alter Bridge's Myles Kennedy — as a potential Plant fill-in. Plant has already said that he wouldn't take part in the tour.

"I have not been approached so far to fill in for Robert Plant on the upcoming Zeppelin tour, but that isn't to say I won't be," Cornell told MTV News. "I've heard that from about 200 people now, and it might be one of those situations where it's just an online rumor or it might be true. But if you see anyone from Led Zeppelin around, let me know. I think I should actually fill in for Jimmy Page on the Robert Plant/ Alison Krauss tour."

Cornell's denial comes just a day after Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford confirmed reports that frontman Steven Tyler recently met with Zeppelin for an impromptu jam session. "They did it for fun," Whitford said during an appearance on the syndicated show "Todd N Tyler Radio Empire." "I actually think Jimmy wanted Steven to come over and play a little bit because I think he was trying to light a fire under Robert."

Rumors of a Zeppelin reunion tour have abounded since the iconic band played a single reunion set last year at London's O2 Arena. Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider added fuel to the fire last month when he revealed that the group was thinking of touring, with or without Plant.

According to Snider, the rest of the band told Plant, " 'We're all rehearsed, we're ready to go. Here's a gazillion dollars on the table. If you don't do it, we're going out with this kid [Myles Kennedy].' "

"And he can sing the sh-- out of Zeppelin," Snider added. "They're going to hope that Robert, at the last minute, will go, 'OK,' and step in."

In a recent interview, Jones told BBC Radio Devon that a new singer was being sought to take over for Plant. "We are trying out a couple of singers," he said. "We want to do it. It's sounding great, and we want to get on and get out there."

But Jones insists that he, Page and Bonham aren't interested in finding a Plant clone. "It's got to be right," he said. "There's no point in just finding another Robert. You could get that out of a tribute band, but we don't want to be our own tribute band. There would be a record and a tour, but everyone has to be onboard."

Of course, even if Zeppelin were to approach him, Cornell might be too busy to take over vocals for the band. His upcoming Timbaland-produced solo LP, Scream, will be released within the next few months. Cornell told MTV News last month that some of his fans might consider Scream something of a departure, but he doesn't see it that way.

"It makes me happy that there's this perception that I have a group of fans that I'm now sort of throwing a curve at and what their reaction will be," he said. "But I've been in this situation so many times already. When I put out [1999's] Euphoria Morning, my main goal was to create an album that sounded like nothing I'd done in Soundgarden, and I did that. I also had that with Temple of the Dog, where I showed up with songs that weren't necessarily riff-based. And then, of course, the pairing of me and members of Rage Against the Machine had everyone sort of speculating about what that would sound like.

"It feels like I've done this so many times that when it's presented to me as being a departure, I feel that's a misconception," he added. "I feel like that's my theme at this point."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1598367/chris-cornell-debunks-led-zeppelin-rumors.jhtml

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Preview: DC vs San Jose

A pair of teams riding month-long unbeaten runs meet at RFK Stadium when D.C. United return home to take on the San Jose Earthquakes. United are coming off a two-game unbeaten Western swing, concluding with a scoreless draw at the LA Galaxy. The Quakes are back on the road at an Eastern Conference opponent after a stirring 2-0 win against the Houston Dynamo at home last weekend.

REFEREE: Andrew Chapin. SAR (bench): Greg Barkey; JAR (opposite): Corey Parker; 4th: Alex Prus MLS Career: 30 games; FC/gm: 27.5; Y/gm: 4.8; R: 8; pens: 4

Source: http://feeds.dcunited.com/~r/DCUnited/all/~3/rrD-Q_IWbeA/preview-dc-vs-san-jose

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Justin Bieber, Chris Brown's 'Next 2 U' Video Leaks

Early cut of clip depicts dramatic love stories for both singers intertwined with apocalyptic theme.
By Jocelyn Vena


Justin Bieber
Photo: Getty

Director Colin Tilley promised that the video for Chris Brown and Justin Bieber's "Next 2 U" would be "big," and a leaked early cut of the video is just that.

The whole thing plays out like a movie, complete with dialogue, drama, lots of action, and of course, singing and dancing. It opens with Brown and his love interest dancing, kissing and joking around with one another. Justin Bieber is then seen hugging and kissing his girlfriend and telling her, "I've been waiting for you all day," before presenting her with a necklace. Things get dark when the pair are caught together by her dad, who then takes her away.

"I told you not to see him again," he tells his daughter. Bieber's story is intercut with Brown's. Brown is dreaming of his girl when he looks outside and sees that the world appears to be ending around them. Cars are exploding and people are running around in a panic.

As the destruction continues, Brown stands in the street singing the love song. Meanwhile, Bieber stands on a rooftop, pining for his lady, also singing the tune.

More shots of each of the happy couples play as reminders of times when things weren't so uncertain. Viewers are reminded of the destruction by the song's lyrics, "One day when the sky is falling/ I'll be standing right next to you/ Right next to you." The couples do eventually make their way back to one another, but it's not all peachy keen when they do. Just as Brown finally meets up with his love interest after running through the streets, she's hit by a car.

As the video closes out, a big dance break takes place as Bieber's lady runs around trying to find him. They meet up on the roof where he was singing, and it appears that both couples will somehow survive their tragedies.

Before the video leaked, Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, seemed confident that fans wouldn't be disappointed by the clip. He tweeted, "Just saw a rough cut of the #NEXT2YOU video with @justinbieber and @chrisbrown ! @ColinTilley is goin' in!!"

What do you think of the rough cut of Bieber and Brown's "Next 2 U" video? Tell us in the comments.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1665295/justin-bieber-chris-brown-next-2-u-video.jhtml

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