Music

SHOWTIME! We continue our series of ‘In Performance at the White House’ – a series of concerts created to showcase the rich fabric of American culture in the exclusive setting of the nation’s most famous home. To see last weeks post, Red, White and Blues, click here.

Motown Sound

“In Performance at the White House: Motown Sound” is a PBS music special taped in the East Room of the White House. President and Mrs. Obama hosted the concert in recognition of Black History Month and the legacy of Motown, the distinctive soul-infused pop music sound, style and presentation that was born in Detroit and embodied by the Motown Records label.
Hosted by Jamie Foxx the concert includes performances by Foxx, John Legend, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Natasha Bedingfield, Sheryl Crow, the group Gloriana, Nick Jonas, Ledisi, Amber Riley, Mark Salling, Seal and Jordin Sparks.

The Motown Records label was invented by music entrepreneur Berry Gordy and it launched a historic cultural shift in the racial integration of popular music, with crossover hits and artists such as Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Smokey Robinson, Mary Wells, The Four Tops and many others. It transformed a whole generation musically and it’s rich legacy continues to be felt today.

Download these shows and add them to your music library

This is part of a 10-week series that we will be running on our blog, with the music videos conveniently separated into individual performances so that you can save and download your favourite artists, or the whole show if your prefer. Creation 5’s YouTube feature lets you download videos so you can watch offline when you’re travelling and enjoy great music on-the-go. Don’t forget that you can download Creation 5’s YouTube In-app purchase absolutely FREE, which normally costs €4.49 ($4.99), as we currently have a promotion running in celebration of hitting 450,000 downloads on the App Store!

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In Performance at the White House: Motown Sound (Full Show)

01. Intro [President’s speech]
02. Jaime Foxx, Nick Jonas, Seal and John Legend – Medley of the Temptations
03 Sheryl Crow – I want you back (The Temptations)
04 Nick Jonas – I Can’t Help Myself (The Four Tops)
05 Ledisi – My Guy (Mary Wells / Smokey Robinson
06 John Legend – I Heard It Through The Grapevine (Marvin Gaye)
07 Natasha Bedingfield, Jordin Sparks and Ledisi – Stop! In The Name of Love (The Supremes)
08 Seal – My Girl (The Temptations)
09 Natasha Bedingfield – Tracks of My Tears (Smokey Robinson & the Miracles)
10 Amber Riley – Livin’ For The City (Stevie Wonder)
11 Gloriana – Aint No Mountain High Enough (Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell)
12 Jordin Sparks – You Can’t Hurry Love (The Supremes)
13 Sheryl Crow & Smokey Robinson – You Really Got A Hold On Me (Smokey Robinson & the Miracles)
14 Stevie Wonder – You Are The Sunshine of My Life
15 All Performers – Dancin’ In The Street

President Obama explained the origins of Motown in his opening speech: “Over the years this room has hosted some of the most talented musicians in the world from clasical to country…but Motown is different. No one knows exactly where jazz began. Nobody knows who the first person was to sing a freedom song, but we know where Motown came from. We know it was born in the basement of a house on West Gran Boulevar in the motor city, Detroit. And we know it started with a man named Berry Gordy, who is here with us tonight. Berry could recognise talent and potential better than anyone else in the business. It began with Smokey Robinson, who stopped by the Motown House with a group of friends calling themselves The Miracles. Then came one of Smokey’s neighbours, a high school senior named Diana Ross. One of the Miracles brought along his little brother who invited a 10.year-old blind boy named Stevland Hardaway Judkins to tag along. And then there was a group called The Jackson 5 fresh from amateur night at the Apollo. Motown’s blend of tight lyrics, catchy melodies and deep soul began to blur the line between music that was considered either black or white.”

Jaime Foxx, Nick Jonas, Seal and John Legend – Medley of the Temptations

Sheryl Crow – I want you back (The Temptations)

Nick Jonas – I Can’t Help Myself (The Four Tops)

Ledisi – My Guy (Mary Wells / Smokey Robinson

John Legend – I Heard It Through The Grapevine (Marvin Gaye)

Natasha Bedingfield, Jordin Sparks and Ledisi – Stop! In The Name of Love (The Supremes)

Seal – My Girl (The Temptations)

Natasha Bedingfield – Tracks of My Tears (Smokey Robinson & the Miracles)

Amber Riley – Livin’ For The City (Stevie Wonder)

Gloriana – Aint No Mountain High Enough (Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell)

Jordin Sparks – You Can’t Hurry Love (The Supremes)

Sheryl Crow & Smokey Robinson – You Really Got A Hold On Me (Smokey Robinson & the Miracles)

Stevie Wonder – You Are The Sunshine of My Life

All Performers – Dancin’ In The Street

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Happy Birthday to the undisputed Queen of Music! Beyoncé turns 33 today and to celebrate we’ve made a Queen Bey Playlist – Get Drunk in Love, have some Sweet Dreams and enjoy the music – it’s Flawless!

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Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter was born and raised in Houston, Texas and rose to fame in the late 1990s as lead singer of R&B girl-group Destiny’s Child. Her career has spanned 16 years – she has won 17 Grammy awards and sold over 75 million records as a solo artist and a further 60 million as part of Destiny’s Child. This makes her one of the best selling artists of all time. In 2009, Billboard named her the Top Radio Songs Artist of the Decade, the Top Female Artist of the 2000s and their Artist of the Millennium in 2011. In 2014, she ranked Nº1 in Forbes’ Celebrity 100 list and became the highest-paid black musician in history. Featured on the cover of Time Magazine, she was included in their list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2013 and 2014.

Beyoncé seems to have made her way into everyone’s heart and it’s not too hard to see why. She supports strong women and leads by example. She has managed to make a headlining tour look like child’s play. She completely changed the music game last year by dropping her self titled album as a complete surprise. Her daughter Blue Ivy stole the show at this year’s VMA’s with the words “yeah, Mommy”. Beyonce is a force of nature.

According to Hollywood reports she will be celebrating her birthday in Europe on their yacht with some friends – it’s her favorite way to celebrate. Jay Z will also be buying her some serious bling – but it’s the downtime on the boat that is the most valuable to Queen Bey. And the timing is perfect because they start their tour in France the next week.

So…charge your glasses and be upstanding…A toast to the Queen of Music, May your career continue to flourish and may your family life be as successful as your career. Here’s to Beyoncé!

Queen Bey Playlist

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Stripping is not just for professional strippers, in it’s true form it’s an art. It’s an opportunity for women and men to wake up their senses, appreciate their bodies, and bare it all. It can be one of the most beautiful things you’ll ever do or witness, especially in an intimate situation. Of course, it can just be a laugh and a jiggle. Read More

The annual iTunes Festival in London returns tonight for its eighth edition and will run for 30 nights during September, showcasing some of the biggest and most diverse names in music. The festival takes place at Camden’s historic Roundhouse, one of London’s most intimate and special venues. Apple will be streaming the live shows via iTunes – so everyone can watch the action, from the comfort of their own home. And if you have Apple TV you can stream it straight to your Big Screen.

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Since its inception, more than 400 artists have performed at the festival, while millions of fans have watched the magic live. In an interview with The Guardian, Oliver Schusser, Senior Director of iTunes International at Apple, said that he hopes that fans are happy with the selection of artists on offer this year.

Arctic Monkeys – iTunes Festival 2013

“This is our eighth year, and from the first year on, for us it was about diversity” he said. “It’s really a fully-curated month: we want to make sure we have some pop artists, some classical artists, jazz. Some well-established artists, and some up-and-coming artists that we really believe in. I’m really proud, because I think it’s as diverse as we can get.”

Indeed, this year’s line-up is quite the mixed bag of goodies and surprises. Deadmau5 is to kick off the festivities tonight, while Clean Bandit, Tony Bennett, Kiesza, Sam Smith, Jungle, Pharrell Williams, Foxes, Mary J. Blige, Blondie, Lenny Kravitz, Kylie Minogue and Ed Sheeran are amongst those on the eclectic line up. It has just been confirmed that opera legend Plácido Domingo will close the festival.

Ed Sheeran – iTunes Festival 2012

The festival itself has had a major influence on the timing of new releases and marketing campaigns targeted around artists performing at the event. “It feels like this has become really a great part of everyone’s promo activity, from a label and manager and artist perspective”, explains Schusser. “It happened already two years ago: all of a sudden this became a key part of everyone’s plan. Lady Gaga opened last year on the first, and that was the kick-off for her new project, and the same for Katy Perry at the end.”

As always, tickets to attend the festival cannot be purchased and are being handed out to contest winners in Europe, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico and the U.S., via online competitions run by local media partners on platforms such as iTunes, Twitter and Shazam, in newspapers such as the London Evening Standard and on radio stations like Global Radio.

Alicia Keys – iTunes Festival 2011

iTunes provides live-streaming, live news feeds, and even a way for fans to apply for tickets. It also allows people to stream the September gigs for free in more than 100 countries.

This is Apple’s genius way of giving the festival a global profile and allowing up-and-coming artists in support slots – Jungle, Foxes, Jess Glynne, Luke Sital-Singh, MNEK and Wolf Alice – to reach a worldwide audience. Not only is this an excellent way of promoting these artists, it also gives the London festival a first-class rating.

“We do invest a lot in the technology: spending a lot of time, energy and R&D in making sure we have the right cameras, the best angles, the synchronisation between the cameras and the stage. It’s really a one-year project every time.”

iTunes Festival line-up

01 Deadmau5	02 Beck Jenny Lewis
03 David Guetta Clean Bandit + Robin Schulz	04 5 Seconds of Summer Charlie Simpson
05 Kasabian	06 Tony Bennett Imelda May
07 Calvin Harris	08 Robert Plant Luke Sital-Singh
09 Sam Smith Sohn	10 Pharrell Williams Jungle
11 Maroon 5 Matthew Koma + Nick Gardner	12 Elbow Nick Mulvey
13 Paolo Nutini Rae Morris	14 David Gray Lisa Hannigan
15 The Script Foxes	16 Blondie + Chrissie Hynde
17 Gregory Porter Eric Whitacre	18 Jessie Ware Little Dragon
19 SBTRKT	20 Rudimental Jess Glynne
21 Ryan Adams First Aid Kit	22 Jessie J James Bay
23 Placebo The Mirror Trap	24 Ben Howard Hozier
25 Mary J. Blige	26 Lenny Kravitz Wolf Alice
27 Kylie Minek	28 Nicola Benedetti Milos + Alison Balsom
29 Ed Sheeran Foy Vance	30 Plácido Domingo

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Michigan Indie/Rock band Citizen have become one of the most well known bands in the alternative music scene, following the launch of their latest album, Youth (2013).

Citizen, who play a blend of emo, melodic hardcore and grunge, signed to Run For Cover Records in 2012 – a move that led to the release of their EP Young States and to them jumping on tour with key bands such as Circa Survive, Title Fight and Daylight.

After speaking with Nick Hamm (guitarist) from Citizen, it’s clear that the guys have all the high hopes and excitement of a band grasping their bright future in the palms of their hands, as they prepare for their first headline tour this autumn.

You’re one of the most well known bands in the alternative music scene. To whom or to what do you owe your success?
Honestly, I don’t know how much I’m able to recognize or even gauge where we are as a band. I just really don’t know. I see a lot of bands selling out shows quicker and playing to more people, but I do know that the past year has been really cool. I don’t really know what we owe it to. I think we were 18 year olds writing songs that we liked and other people ended up liking them too. I know that’s not the most introspective answer but we just kind of wrote what we wanted to write, and it ended up being a fun year.

How does it feel to play to huge audiences such as at the Vans Warped Tour, Riot Fest and Fashion Meets Music Festival?
I generally view most shows in the same manner. Once you’re up there, it’s business as usual and it more so feels like the 5 of us are in a room together. I really like playing small intimate rooms with no barrier but playing big shows and fests allow me to appreciate the smaller ones so much more.

What’s the greatest thing about playing at a festival?
Seeing bands you don’t usually get to play with. That’s by far the best part.

What’s the craziest thing that’s happened on tour?
We’re pretty tame but one time, our booking agent, Peanut, fell down an entire flight of spiral stairs. I was the only one who asked him if he was okay but he thought I was making fun of him and flipped out on me. That’s a memory we always bring up.

Stagediving – a) How awesome is it? b) How dangerous is it?
I love it but obviously sometimes people just shouldn’t do it. I see a lot of people run to the edge of the stage, stop, and then try to jump with no momentum. That’s not a good idea.

What was it like to produce your latest album, Youth, at Studio 4 with Will Yip?
3 weeks of recording and writing with your best friends (Will Yip included). It was one of the best times of my life.

Which is your favourite song on the album and why?
“The Summer” is the song that we collaborated the most on. I think it’s the most definitive Citizen song because it sounds straight up like Mat’s writing style meeting my writing style. I’m not really sick of that song yet. I haven’t listened to the record in a really long time so it’s hard for me to say. My other fav is “Figure You Out”.

Citizen – The Summer

How do you divide the song-writing tasks between the band members?
On Youth, it was mostly either me writing a song and letting Mat screw with it a little bit, or Mat writing a song and then letting me screwing with that. I really like the way we do that. I think the new one will probably have more direction from everyone though.

What do you enjoy the most about being in a band?
Traveling and not having to work!

You just finished touring the UK. How does the response in Europe differ to in the US?
It was honestly pretty similar. I think the people coming to the shows might be a little more excited to see us since they haven’t before but besides that, pretty similar to the US.

Do you have a favourite city or crowd to play to?
I love Philadelphia and Chicago. Those are my top two. London was also incredible.

Your latest album, Youth, got leaked. How do you feel about the Internet age, illegal downloads, streaming and the general loss of control over the diffusion of your music?
At the time Youth leaked, I was glad it leaked because I just wanted people to hear it. However, we didn’t have some crazy airtight roll out plan that was sacrificed or anything. As far as the Internet age, it sort of sucks because I love physical packaging and record covers and all of that. I think packaging is really important.

You begin your very first US headline tour this fall. How psyched are you and what are you looking forward to the most?
Oh I can’t wait. This is Citizen’s first opportunity (tour-wise) to offer something that we’ve kind of built ourselves. We got to pick all of the bands and it was really exciting putting it together. I think it’s going to be a blast.

Citizen – Silo

From the 7″/Digital “Silo,” available only on the band’s Fall 2014 tour with You Blew It!, Hostage Calm, True Love and Praise. Tickets available at www.citizentheband.net

Like Citizen on Facebook and Follow them on Twitter!

Citizen chose our Sunday Sessions this week. Click here for the playlist!

Youth Tracklist 1. Roam The Room 2. Figure You Out 3. The Summer 4. Sleep 5. How Does It Feel? 6. The Night I Drove Alone 7. Speaking With A Ghost 8. Your Head Got Misplaced 9. Sick And Impatient 10. Drawn Out Buy Youth at the Run For Cover store!

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Operas are often perceived as dry and dull affairs and, indeed, many of them are. The Bregenz Festival in Austria, however, will surely change your mind. Held on the banks of Lake Constance, the festival is famous for not only the high standard of the opera productions, but also its amazing floating stage.

The first Bregenz Festival was held in 1946 – the week-long Bregenz Festwoche. The inaugural performance was staged upon two barges moored on Lake Constance – one carrying the stage structures for Mozart’s early work, the other the orchestra. In a town that didn’t even possess a theatre, the idea of mounting a festival seemed eccentric; but the initially makeshift solution of choosing the loveliest part of the town – the lake – as the stage proved to be a hugely successful one. Visitors from Austria, Germany, Switzerland and France made the Festival an international event in its very first year. The Festival orchestra from the outset was the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, which has made a major contribution to the evolution and success of the Festival.

The floating stage faces an auditorium of 7,000 making it one of the biggest lakeside venues in the world and thousands of music enthusiasts from all over the globe come every year to experience “The play on the lake”. There’s a fabulous atmosphere as the audience enjoys a pre show drink and then settles down to enjoy the production as the sun slowly sets over the lake.

It is not only the spectacular stage scenery that impresses but also the wonderful music. This year’s Bergenz Festival had the motto “Vienna bitter-sweet”. Turning our attention to “wealth, poverty, charm, corruption, high spirits and neuroses, cultivatedness and deviancy, sensibility and sentimentality, friendliness and falsity”, this last season, under the artistic director, David Poutney, paid tribute to the “many-layered antitheses of Austria’s legendary capital, Vienna.”

The fantastic fairy tale opera, “The Magic Flute” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was staged on the incredible floating stage. Directed by David Poutney, the opera played to almost 100% of its capacity, with just over 200,000 people witnessing the perfect performance for a magical setting. With an audience totaling approximately 406,000 over its two-year run, the opera achieved the best audience figures since the festival was founded in 1946, and is rumoured to have set a new record, surpassing the musical “West Side Story”, which drew an audience of 405,314 in 2003 and 2004.

Directed by Michael Sturminger and composed by Heinz Karl Gruber, the bitter satire about the mendacity and brutality of the petit-bourgeoisie, “Tales from the Vienna Woods”, was premiered for the first time. The opera sold out 97% of its tickets and was all in all seen by 4,074 people.

“Gloria von Jaxtberg” (Gloria – A Pig Tale), also composed by Heinz Karl Gruber, and directed by Frederic Wake-Walker in co-production with the UK’s Mahogany Opera Group and Buxton Festival, ran on two nights and was performed to 833 people, selling 79% of seats. The satirical opera tells the story of a pig called Gloria who falls in love with her butcher.

The festival also staged family operas in the Great Hall of Festspeilhaus, which consisted of two short operas played back-to-back: “Le Rossignol” (The Nightingale) by Igor Stravinsky and “L’hirondelle Inattendue” (The Unexpected Swallow) by Simon Laks. Described as “two enchanting tales about the power of song”, the operas were eagerly received by a multi-generational audience, which included children of six years old and over.

There was also a cross-culture program for children and young people between the ages of 6 and 26 and almost 6,000 participants attended the workshops, tours and concerts.

After 11 years of service, the Bregenz Festival said farewell to the festival’s beloved artistic director, David Poutney, who, only a few days ago, came to the end of his final season. Under the motto “Vienna bitter-sweet”, Poutney put together a multi-dimensional festival program that included four music theatre and three chamber music world premiers. His farewell concert, held last Sunday morning, heard the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra perform works by Leonard Bernstein, as well as “Der Schauspieldirektor” (The Impresario) and “Singspeil” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in an adaptation by Poutney himself.

“David Pountney’s final season is the highly successful close of a sensational eleven-year era as artistic director, in which the festival has developed substantially and has created many artistic achievements and magic moments. My thanks go not only to David Pountney, however, but to all the artists and the personnel too,” said the president of the festival, Hans-Peter Metzler. “It is time to say goodbye. After such a marvellous season that’s as easy as it’s difficult. The festival has once again brought together the popular and the radical, the entertaining and the avant-garde, and has found its audience. That makes me happy,” David Pountney said.

The Bregenz Festival will return in the summer of 2015 and will welcome its new artistic director, Elisabeth Sobotko. Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Turandot”, directed by Marco Arturo Marelli, will open next year’s festival on the lake stage. Jacques Offenbach’s opera “The Tales of Hoffmann”, in production by Stefan Herheim, will be performed at the Festspielhaus, and the orchestral concert will feature works by Luciano Berio, Johannes Brahms, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Franz Schubert. Miroslav Srnka’s orchestral work “No Night No Land No Sky” will also be included in the program, along with performances of Wesendonck Lieder of Richard Wagner by the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra and Johannes Brahm’s Symphony No.4 in E minor.

The Magic Flute – Building of the Seebuehne (Lake Stage)

The Bregenz Festival 2015 will run from July 22 – August 23. Tickets for next year can now be booked online via the festival website:
www.bregenzerfestspiele.com

This year’s VMAs won’t go down as one of the best in MTV history, but it will certainly be remembered for its touching and surprising moments. There were also quite a few screw ups, from production mistakes to fashion mistakes. A few days before the show, Iggy Azalea slipped offstage while performing “Fancy” at the MTV benefit concert, a 6-foot boa constrictor apparently bit a background dancer during a rehearsal for Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda” performance, and rap king Suge Knight was injured in a shooting at a West Hollywood nightclub for an unofficial pre-VMA party hosted by Chris Brown.

We expected to see a lot last night at the 2014 VMA’s, held at The Forum in Inglewood, California – a place where year after year celebrities make the headline news worldwide for their “conservative” display of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll.

Although we didn’t expect Miley twerking with teddy bears this year, nor did we expect Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech or Madonna French kissing Britney, we did expect to see smashing performances from Jessie J, Nicki Minaj, Iggy Azalea, Ariana Grande, Sam Smith, Taylor Swift, Usher, Maroon 5, Five Seconds of Summer and, of course, the incredible Queen Bey – who, by the way, pretty much owned the award ceremony !

We saw some HOT performances last night. We saw Miley gracefully step back from the limelight as she sent Jesse, a homeless youth, to accept her trophy “on behalf of the 1.6 million runaways and homeless youths in the United States who are starving, lost and scared for their lives” and to raise awareness and funds to end youth homelessness… Way to top last year’s performance, Miley! Yes, we caught a glimpse of Miley shed a few tears, we also caught Beyoncé bow down and wipe her tears away after Jay Z and Blue Ivy surprised their very own Queen with the MTV Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award (A.K.A. the Lifetime Achievement Award). Yes, there were many very special moments.

Yet not much happened in the name of controversy at the 2014 VMA’s.

We review the highlights:

Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj and Jessie J – “Break Free”, “Anaconda” and “Bang Bang”

Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj and Jessie J opened the VMA’s by performing a crazy medley of “Break Free”, “Anaconda” and “Bang Bang”. There was definitely some twerking, jiggling, floor writhing, booty rubbing, twisting and turning involved in the trio’s performance and, despite the rumours, the last time we saw a live snake on a VMA stage was in 2001, during Britney’s performance of “I’m A Slave 4 U”. That’s right, there were no Anacondas dancing on stage last night. We did, however, see wardrobe changes and wardrobe malfunctions (although not as memorable as Janet Jackson’s slipup at the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, alongside JT), when Nicki Minaj’s zipper wouldn’t zip after a 40 second costume change. She kept it professional though as she held her dress together with her hands, restricting her from further booty shaking.

Taylor Swift – “Shake It Off”

Taylor Swift performed her latest single “Shake It Off” for the first time on live television, surrounded by an ensemble of tuxedoed men. About half way through her performance, Swift almost jumped off a platform and into the arms of her strong handsome entourage. Instead of double-back-flipping off the stage (like we thought she would), she very sweetly got in touch with her dorky self and told the audience that safety comes first, even at the VMA’s, and walked down the platform.

Sam Smith – “Stay With Me”

Sam Smith did it again by bringing down the house and stunning the audience with his soulful, striped-down, piano-accompanied performance of “Stay With Me”. His performance brought back memories of Adele’s timeless and heartfelt performance of “Someone Like You” at the 2011 VMA’s. If the two Brits hadn’t touched our hearts by the time either of them had performed at the VMA’s, they sure left the stage leaving us wanting more. Smith’s simple and stunning vocal performances needed no dancers, stunts or special effects. It was perfect.

Iggy Azalea and Rita Ora – “Black Widow”

With a huge spider web as their backdrop, the sexy duo, dressed in matching diamond-studded, black sequined catsuits, brought their lyrics to life last night. They sure looked hot as they rocked the stage!

Beyoncé – a medley of her entire album!

Beyoncé outdid our expectations last night by delivering an incredible, stunning and perfect medley of tracks from her self-titled album, that took the world by storm earlier this year. Queen Bey avoided any wardrobe interruptions and owned the stage in a fabulously sexy bejewelled bodysuit throughout her 15-minute performance. Indeed, Beyoncé was having a blast up on that stage, giggling while singing the lyrics to “Drunk in Love”, as Jay Z and Blue Ivy gazed at her tirelessly from the sideline. Like always, she managed to get the crowd to stand up on their feet, to sing along, and to clap along, while she continued to deliver an outstanding performance, with a huge smile across her face.

To top it all off, Jay Z and Blue Ivy surprised “mama” on stage by presenting her with the Video Vanguard Award. Jay Z named her the “greatest living entertainer” and locking lips with the star, putting all divorce rumours to bed (thank you very much Mr. and Mrs. Carter!). What’s more, Blue added, “Good job, Mommy”, at which point the whole audience chanted out “Beyoncé, Beyoncé!” who, by the way, looked sensational as she held back her tears, bowed down to the crowd and said “I have nothing to say, but I’m filled with so much gratitude. I thank God for this moment. I love y’all so much. Blue Blue, I love you. My beloved, I love you. My fans, I love you. MTV, I love you. Goodnight”.

2014 MTV VMAs Winners
Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award: Beyonce
Video of the Year: Miley Cyrus, “Wrecking Ball”
Artist to Watch: Fifth Harmony, “Miss Movin’ On”
Best Rock Video: Lorde, “Royals”
Best Hip-Hop Video: Drake ft. Majid Jordan, “Hold On (We’re Going Home)”
Best Pop Video: Ariana Grande ft. Iggy Azalea, “Problem”
Best Male Video: Ed Sheeran ft. Pharrell, “Sing”
Best Female Video: Katy Perry ft. Juicy J, “Dark Horse”
Best Lyric Video: 5 Seconds of Summer, “Don’t Stop”
Best Collaboration: Beyonce ft. Jay Z, “Drunk In Love”
MTV Clubland Award: Zedd ft. Hayley Williams, “Stay the Night”
Best Video With a Social Message: Beyonce, “Pretty Hurts”
Best Cinematography: Beyonce, “Pretty Hurts”
Best Editing: Eminem, “Rap God”
Best Choreography: Sia, “Chandelier”
Best Direction: DJ Snake & Lil Jon, “Turn Down For What”
Best Art Direction: Arcade Fire, “Reflektor”
Best Visual Effects: OK Go, “The Writing’s On the Wall”


Click here to view MTV’s exclusive videos of the show!

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The incredible music foursome, Clean Bandit, sky-rocketed straight out of Cambridge University and into the top music charts worldwide, selling over 3 million copies of their Nº 1 single “Rather Be” (Feat. Jess Glynne), and reaching over 100 million YouTube views, in less than six months.

In May this year, the band released their debut studio album New Eyes, made up of positive, tasteful and elegant songs that simply ooze talent, and that pretty much have made up the soundtracks to our lives this summer.

Clean Bandit have achieved their highly deserved success by working really hard, writing and producing everything themselves, including their own music videos. And they’ve been having a hell of a lot of fun along the way!

We caught up with Neil (strings) to talk about the band and their new album.

Your debut studio album “New Eyes” was released in May. How do you feel about the response so far?
It’s been amazing. The best thing about having the album out is having people sing it back to you at gigs.

Did you ever envision you’d become this successful when you first embarked on this endeavour?
Definitely not. When we started out we didn’t even really intend to record anything, so even before Rather Be had come out we had kind of surpassed all the ambitions we started out with.

Clean Bandit – Rather Be feat. Jess Glynne

You all met at Jesus College, Cambridge University and share a whole load of degrees between you. What were they?
Grace studied Russian and Italian, Jack studied architecture and then spent a year at film school in Moscow, and I studied History and then did a masters in Economics.

Was music always on the cards for you?
In a way, I suppose it was. I’ve been playing the violin since I was 2 and just never really stopped.

You’ve collaborated with an eclectic bunch of talented musicians, including folk singers, soul singers and rappers to create a fresh and unique blend of electronic music, baroque pop, house, funky and feel-good beats. How did you discover these new vocal talents?
We found them all in very different ways. Eliza Shaddad, for example, was busking in the street in Shoreditch, and Jack heard her and managed to persuade her to come down to the studio with us. Love Ssega, on the other hand, was a friend of ours at university who we wrote some of our earliest tracks with.

What has been your craziest or worst experience as a band?
Our very first festival appearance was at the Secret Garden Party in Cambridgeshire, and we were all pretty excited. When we got there, it emerged that they had hired us solely to play the blind date theme tune as an in house band…

Clean Bandit – Come Over feat. Stylo G.

You produce all your music videos yourselves – who’s to thank for the brilliance behind the conceptual, visual and artistic aspects of your videos?
Jack is! Most of his ideas start off as jokes, and then everyone else takes them seriously. Before long they get realised and become the central ideas behind each video.

Your polygon logo creeps up in all your videos. Trying to find them is almost like playing a game of “Where’s Wally”. What do the symbols mean? Are you trying to brainwash your fans with hidden messages?
(Haha) Yeah but those messages are more subtle and insidious! Our logo was originally intended as a blueprint for four stringed instruments, but we never got round to having them made and the configuration of the shapes just stuck to us.

You’re all very closely connected. Clean Bandit is made up of two brothers (Luke and Jack Patterson), a couple (Jack Patterson and Grace Chatto), and two childhood friends (Grace Chatto and Neil Amin-Smith). Who is the peacekeeper?
Our tour manager, James. None of us for sure!

Which one of you came up with the name Clean Bandit and what does it mean?
When Grace used to live in Russia, one of her friends used to call her this Russian expression, which translates directly as Clean Bandit but actually meant something like total bastard. We thought it was a funny title and adopted it for our own.

What has been your biggest challenge to date and how did you overcome it?
We had a gig at the top of a mountain in Austria and our bus couldn’t get up there. But James our tour manager managed to persuade them to turn on the ski lift after hours to transport us and all our instruments up.

Who are your biggest musical influences?
Radiohead, Hudson Mohawke and Shakira.

If you could collaborate with any one of your idols, dead or alive, who would it be?
Stevie Wonder

Do you have any advice for up-and-coming bands trying to break into the industry?
Do as much of the non-musical side of things for yourself, for as long as you can.

What’s next?
Touring the world and writing our second album.

Thank you Neil – hat’s off to you all – you took the world by storm without even intending to! We’re looking forward to seeing you perform on September 3rd at the iTunes Festival in London!

Follow Clean Bandit on Facebook and Twitter.
Visit their Website.
Buy their music on iTunes.

Clean Bandit chose our Sunday Sessions this week. Click here for the playlist!

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SHOWTIME! We continue our series of ‘In Performance at the White House’ – a series of concerts created to showcase the rich fabric of American culture in the exclusive setting of the nation’s most famous home. To see last weeks post, Women of Soul, click here.

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Memphis Soul

This incredible show was taped in the East Room of the White House and celebrates the timeless classics of Memphis Soul. Hosted by President and Mrs. Obama, the all-star concert includes performances by Alabama Shakes, William Bell, Eddie Floyd, Steve Cropper, Ben Harper, Queen Latifah, Cyndi Lauper, Joshua Ledet, Sam Moore, Charlie Musselwhite, Mavis Staples and Justin Timberlake, with Booker T. Jones as music director and band leader.

The concert honored the memorable soul sounds from the mid- to late-1960s that came from Memphis, Tennessee and pays homage to Memphis, a segregated city in the 1960s where many whites and blacks nonetheless came together to make soulful music, a mix of gospel and potent rhythmic grooves — known today as “Memphis Soul.” President Obama said in his opening speech “It’s the music that challenged us to accept new ways of thinking with four timeles words ‘Can you dig it?’”

Download these shows and add them to your music library
This is part of a 10-week series that we will be running on our blog, with the music videos conveniently separated into individual performances so that you can save and download your favourite artists, or the whole show if your prefer. Creation 5’s YouTube feature lets you download videos so you can watch offline when you’re travelling and enjoy great music on-the-go. Don’t forget that you can download Creation 5’s YouTube In-app purchase absolutely FREE, which normally costs €4.49 ($4.99), as we currently have a promotion running in celebration of hitting 400,000 downloads on the App Store.

In Performance at the White House: Memphis Soul

01. Intro [President’s speech]
02. Sam Moore & Joshua Ledet – Soul Man
03. Mavis Staples – I’ll Take You There
04. Justin Timberlake & Steve Cropper – (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay
05. Eddie Floyd – Knock on Wood
06. Alabama Shakes, Steve Cropper & Booker T – Born Under a Bad Sign
07. Queen Latifah – I Can’t Stand the Rain
08. William Bell – You Don’t Miss Your Water
09. Joshua Ledet – When a Man Loves a Woman
10. Ben Harper & Charlie MusselWhite – I’m In I’m Out And I’m Gone
11. Sam Moore – When Something is Wrong With My Baby
12. Cyndi Lauper & Charlie Musselwhite – Try a Little Tenderness
13. Finale, Full Cast – In The Midnight Hour

Introduction – President Obama

Sam Moore & Joshua Ledet “Soul Man”

Mavis Staples – I’ll Take You There

Justin Timberlake & Steve Cropper – (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay

Eddie Floyd – Knock on Wood

Alabama Shakes, Steve Cropper & Booker T – Born Under a Bad Sign

Queen Latifah – I Can’t Stand the Rain

William Bell – You Don’t Miss Your Water

Joshua Ledet – When a Man Loves a Woman

Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite – I’m In I’m Out And I’m Gone

Sam Moore – When Something is Wrong With My Baby

Cyndi Lauper & Charlie Musselwhite – Try a Little Tenderness

Finale, Full Cast – In The Midnight Hour

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