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‘The Song Is Over’ The Who Announces Final Farewell Tour Of US And Canada 

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The iconic British rock band, The Who, has announced a final farewell tour of the United States and Canada. The Song Is Over tour is set to be “a truly grand finale of their illustrious six-decade career,” the band said.

The Song Is Over tour will begin in August with the first stop being in Florida, and then will make stops in New York, Toronto, Seattle, and will end in Las Vegas. The Who played their first shows in America in 1967.

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The tour has been described as a “bittersweet final tour of the US and Canada as a truly grand finale of their illustrious six-decade career.”  

Roger Daltrey, lead singer, said that when the band first started, they knew that making it big in the US charts was “every musician’s dream.”

“The warmth of the American audiences over the years have been inspirational to me, and reflects the feeling I remember getting after hearing the first rock records coming across the radio,” Daltrey said. 

“Musical freedom! Rock gave us a feeling of generational rebellion. To me, America has always been great. The cultural differences had a huge impact on me, this was the land of the possible,” he said.

“It’s not easy to end the big part of my life that touring with The Who has been. Thanks for being there for us and look forward to seeing you one last time.”

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“I must say that although the road has not always been enjoyable for me, it is usually easy: the best job I could ever have had,” he stated. 

“I keep coming back. Every time I do, I meet new fans and feel new energy. Roger and I are in a good place, despite our age, eager to throw our weight behind this fond farewell to all our faithful fans, and hopefully to new ones who might jump in to see what they have been missing for the last 57 years. 

This tour will be about fond memories, love and laughter. Make sure you join in.”

The band most recently made headlines after their drummer, Zak Starkey was fired following a disagreement regarding his performance at Royal Albert Hall. He was later reinstated in the band and released a statement:

“There have been some communication issues, personal and private on all sides, that needed to be dealt with, and these have been aired happily.” He added that Starkey would need to “tighten up his latest evolved drumming style.”

cancelled

Russel Brand’s Comedy Tour Postponed Amid Sexual Assault Allegations 

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This Monday, British police stated that they have received a sexual assault allegation after media outlets published multiple claims made by several women against Russel Brand. Promoters have now postponed the remaining dates of Brand’s comedy tour.

Both a talent agency and a publisher have parted ways with Brand, 48, as well over the allegations and questioning over his abuse of power as a public figure. 

Brand has denied the allegations made by four women in a Channel 4 television documentary as well as The Times and Sunday Times newspapers. The accusers have not been named, and one claims that she was sexually assaulted by him when she was 16 and they were in a relationship. Another woman states that Brand raped her in Los Angeles in 2012. 

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London’s Metropolitan Police force stated that the since the initial reports of the allegations against Brand were made, they have “received a report of sexual assault which was alleged to have taken place in Soho in central London in 2003,” which is three years before the earliest of the initial allegation reports. 

“Officers are in contact with the woman and will be providing her with support. [We’re urging] anyone who believes they may have been a victim of a sexual offense, no matter how long ago it was, to contact us.”

Max Blain, spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, said the allegations were “very serious and concerning.” 

“This merits and needs a criminal investigation, because for too long we have seen men — and the perpetrators of these sorts of crimes are almost invariably men — not being held to account for their behaviors and their actions,” Conservative legislator Caroline Nokes, told BBC radio.

The BBC, Channel 4, and the production company behind “Big Brother” spin offs that were hosted by Brand have all said they launched investigations into his behavior and how the complaints were initially handled. 

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Brand’s talent agency Tavistock Wood has also dropped the performer after being “horribly misled” by him. 

Ellie Tomsett, a senior lecturer at Birmingham City University who also studies Britain’s standup circuit, said to the Associated Press that “Brand was a product of a live comedy scene that was riddled with misogyny – and still is, despite progress made by women and others to diversify the comic landscape.

“When we’ve had a rise of popular feminism … we’ve also had a rise in popular misogyny epitomized by the likes of (social media influencer) Andrew Tate, but evident in all aspects of society, and definitely reflected on the U.K. comedy circuit.”

“More and more things are springing up to try and counter this, but the idea that it’s something that happened in the past and doesn’t happen anymore is, quite frankly, nonsense,” she added.

Golf Ball

News From The Presidents Cup

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The Presidents Cup in Melbourne, Australia has seen a last minute attempt in day two’s foursomes from the United States that has seen them stay within three points of the International team.

After being in the lead overnight by 4-1, the International team stayed in front for the five matches at the prestigious The Royal Melbourne Golf Club, finishing the day winners at 5-1.

And although the International Team are still in the lead, the United States seems to have the momentum going forward.

However both teams exchanged points before United States’ Justin Thomas and captain Tiger Woods won another match in the competition.
Friday’s final match was halved, leaving the score 6½-3½.

Speaking afterwards, self chosen wildcard Woods said “at one point it looked pretty bleak, but the guys turned it around. They played phenomenal coming in.
It was important for us to end the way we did and it totally changed the last hour.

The energy has been there. These guys are all young and extremely excited about being part of this team.

I think more than anything, it’s just getting a feel for this golf course. It is fast.”

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On the second day Matt Kuchar and Dustin Johnson were beaten 3&2 by International’s Adam Scott and Louis Oosthuizen in their first foursomes match.

However Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay were able to gain a much needed point to earn the United States a 1UP victory over Joaquin Niemann and Adam Hadwin yet the International team’s lead was restored to four points thanks to Marc Leishman and Abraham Ancer beating Webb Simpson and Patrick Reed with a 3&2 win.

Afterwards Cantlay commented that “it was a hard-fought match all day. We played really well, both sides. Fortunately we came out on top. That putt was just a little right-to-left and really fast, so just had to get it started.”

After only claiming a single point during the opening day, Woods and Thomas managed to beat Hideki Matsuyama and An Byeong-hun with a 1UP victory.

Im Sung-jae and Cameron Smith were up again United States’ Gary Woodland and Rickie Fowler for the final match and ended with the game being halved therefore enabling the U.S. to steal a half-point from the Internationals.

“Momentum is huge,” Woodland said. “That was a huge half-point. Any time you can scrape out something; we did it. Now we have to regroup. We have 36 ahead of us tomorrow and hopefully go out and flip this a little bit.”

International captain Ernie Els commented that “they (the US) played good at the end there. But hey, look at the record we’ve had in the foursomes the last 25 years and for us to come out 2½-2½ in the session is like a win for us. We would have taken that at the start of the day.”

On Saturday morning Woods opted to not play himself during the fourball matches and instead played Rickie Fowler alongside Justin Thomas, commenting:

“That was kind of the game plan. It would be hard for me to go all the sessions. I’ve been fortunate enough to go out there with JT (Justin Thomas) and we’ve got two points.

JT played great and Rickie [Fowler] played awesome this afternoon. They have been looking forward to playing with one another and they have had success before, and send them back out.”

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Although Woods did go on to comment that he knew he would be “stressed out watching these guys play.”

Mark Leishman and China’s Haotong Li – who is making his tournament debut after Ernie Els had dropped him for the first few days – will be playing against Thomas and Fowler.

While session winner Adam Scott will partner An Byeong-hun who both play against Tony Finau and Matt Kuchar.

And after winning their foursomes match on Friday, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay will be taking on Abraham Ancer and Sungjae Im.

Webb Simpson and Patrick Reed are hoping to end their losing streak playing against CT Pan and Hideki Matsuyama. Recently, many fans have been questioning Woods’ choice of pairing however he has defended his decision saying:

“They have done all the little things right. It’s just a matter of having things go your way, and that’s part of playing these team sessions. You know, a putt here, a shot here or there, or you just get outplayed, it happens. But these guys have paired up really well. They are excited about being with one another, and they have handled everything extremely well.

Unfortunately, they just haven’t won points.”

With points being the main purpose of any competition many in America are hoping they will start to win some, particularly with the International Team potentially looking at an end to their run of defeats after losing the last eight biennial competitions.