Amyl & The Sniffers have issued a pointed statement of solidarity with Bob Vylan and Kneecap in the wake of growing media backlash surrounding the artists’ pro-Palestinian messages at Glastonbury 2025, accusing the press of misrepresenting what they say was a festival-wide stance.

Posting to Instagram Stories on Monday (July 1), the Australian punk rock band criticized the British media’s “frenzy” over select sets that included political speech, specifically targeting how coverage framed Bob Vylan and Kneecap as outliers.

“The British media in a frenzy about Bob Vylan and Kneecap but artists all weekend at Glastonbury from pop to rock to rap to punk to DJs spoke up onstage and there were toned of flags on every streamed set,” the band wrote. “Trying to make it look like just a couple of isolated incidents and a couple of ‘bad bands’ so it appears the public isn’t as anti-genocide as it is, and trying to make it look like Bob and Kneecap are one-offs, instead of that the status quo has shifted majorly and that people are concerned and desperate for our governments to listen.”

They continued: “And if you don’t want politics in music don’t blame the musicians, blame the politicians and journalists, and the political landscape in general, for not doing their job, and there’ll be more and more of [this] until it stops.”

The statement follows Bob Vylan’s controversial performance at Glastonbury, during which the punk-rap duo led chants condemning the Israeli Defense Forces. The BBC later confirmed it “should have pulled” the livestream and did not re-air the performance. Irish rap group Kneecap, who followed Vylan on the West Holts stage, waved Palestinian flags and made their own statements during their set.

Amyl & The Sniffers — who also performed at the festival — delivered a politically charged set of their own. During a passionate moment onstage, frontwoman Amy Taylor used the platform to discuss colonization, Australia’s treatment of Indigenous people, and the importance of political expression. “They want us to shut the f–k up,” Taylor said to the crowd. “Because if we think about Palestine, then back home in Australia, we think about the Indigenous people there… and that’s disgusting.”

Their comments were met with roaring applause, and clips of the speech circulated widely online — though notably, they did not attract the same level of media criticism as Bob Vylan or Kneecap.

Glastonbury 2025 saw a significant wave of political statements from artists across genres, with Palestinian flags visible at nearly every major stage. Acts from the pop, punk, indie, and dance scenes voiced solidarity, many calling out what they see as governmental inaction and media silence on the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

Amyl & The Sniffers’ statement adds to the growing chorus of artists using their platforms to speak out, echoing a shift in live music where festival stages have increasingly become vehicles for protest and visibility. The band’s message is clear: they stand behind artists who speak up — and won’t back down from the fight for accountability and awareness.

Australian rock icons Cold Chisel are marking their 50th anniversary with the release of a new live album, vinyl set and documentary film capturing their sold-out ‘Big Five-0’ tour across Australia and New Zealand.

The band, which played to more than 250,000 fans between late 2024 and early 2025, will release The Big Five-0 Live on Aug. 8 through Universal Music Australia. The 27-track album was recorded at Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Nov. 23, 2024 — a scorching 37-degree night that frontman Jimmy Barnes described as producing “a blistering and joyous performance.”

“Every show on our ‘Big Five-0 Tour’ had something special, but Melbourne really brought out something unforgettable in us,” Barnes said in a statement. “The crowd nearly drowned us out, they sang so loud and proud. It was a show we will never forget.”

The CD and vinyl editions will feature 24 songs from the show plus three bonus tracks: “Plaza,” “Mr Crown Prosecutor” and “Wild Colonial Boy.” Fans will have the option of classic black vinyl, a red-and-black splatter vinyl exclusive to JB Hi-Fi, and a limited-edition picture disc through the band’s official merch store.

Also arriving Aug. 8 is a 90-minute DVD documentary offering fans a behind-the-scenes look at the tour and Cold Chisel’s five-decade run. Directed by Andrew Lord and produced by Paul Clarke, the film features interviews with all five band members, rare archival photos, backstage moments, and 10 additional live tracks.

“At 50 years old, Cold Chisel are on fire in this film,” said Clarke. “I’ve never seen audiences punching the air one moment and openly sobbing the next.”

The band’s 50th anniversary was not just a nostalgic milestone — it proved Cold Chisel’s enduring popularity and multi-generational appeal. The tour’s ticket sales spanned major cities including Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Auckland, drawing longtime fans as well as younger generations discovering the band for the first time.

The Big Five-0 Live is expected to include career-spanning setlists featuring hits like “Khe Sanh,” “Flame Trees,” “Cheap Wine,” and “Bow River.”

Cold Chisel formed in Adelaide in 1973 and rose to prominence with their 1980s-era albums East, Circus Animals, and Twentieth Century. With Jimmy Barnes’ unmistakable vocals and Don Walker’s acclaimed songwriting, the band became one of Australia’s most iconic and influential rock groups.

Pre-orders for The Big Five-0 Live are available now through Cold Chisel’s official site and Universal Music Australia.

Barbra Streisand has dropped a behind-the-scenes video highlighting her recent collaboration with Ariana Grande and Mariah Carey on the stirring track “One Heart, One Voice.”

The song appears on Streisand’s newly released album The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two, out now via Columbia Records.

Streisand took to Instagram to reflect on the collaboration’s emotional core, writing, “When the idea of recording a song with Mariah and Ariana was first suggested, it felt inevitable that it would speak to female empowerment.”

“The lyrics ‘we’ve got every right to make a choice’ resonated with me. The song became a vehicle for three strong-willed women to join in voice and purpose. Thank you to both @mariahcarey and @arianagrande for lending their talent and sharing this special moment with me.”

In the video, the legendary EGOT winner reflects on the team-up, saying, “When the idea of recording a song with Mariah and Ariana was first suggested, it felt inevitable that it would address female empowerment,” Streisand shares.

For Carey, who has often cited Streisand as a personal inspiration, the experience was both surreal and emotional. “Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve loved Barbra,” Carey says. “So when I got a chance to work with her on ‘One Heart, One Voice,’ it was a huge honor.”

Grande, who grew up idolizing both Carey and Streisand, called the moment “a dream come true.” She adds, “Barbra has, quite literally, always been a part of my life. I went to go see Barbra with my mom, and we made it into the concert DVD somehow! We’ve come a long way from being in the audience to collaborating on the album.”

The soaring ballad sees all three artists trading lines and harmonizing on a message of unity, resilience, and generational strength. The release marks a major moment for fans of powerhouse vocals and pop history alike, pairing three of the most influential and technically gifted singers of the last six decades.

The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two is a follow-up to Streisand’s 2014 Partners album, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and featured duets with Stevie Wonder, John Legend, and Blake Shelton. The new collection continues that legacy, featuring collaborations with Paul McCartney, Josh Groban, Hozier, Laufey, and more.

Streisand, one of the most decorated artists in entertainment history, has notched 11 No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 (the most among women) and earned 10 Grammy wins, along with two Oscars, five Emmys, and countless other honors. Her duet partners on the track are no strangers to accolades either: Carey holds the record for the most No. 1 singles by a solo artist in Billboard Hot 100 history (19), while Grande boasts six No. 1 hits and remains one of the most streamed artists globally.

“One Heart, One Voice” marks the first time all three artists have appeared together on a single track.

Jimmy Swaggart, who was among the most successful televangelists in the U.S. in the 1980s, died Tuesday (July 1) at the age of 90. He died at Baton Rouge (Louisiana) General Medical Center two weeks after suffering a cardiac event on June 15, according to a statement from Megan Kelly, a family spokesperson.

Over the course of his career, Swaggart wrote nearly 50 books and dozens of study guides and commentaries on the Bible.

He also recorded numerous albums. His 1980 album Worship received a Grammy nomination for best gospel performance, traditional. Swaggart placed four albums on Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart in the mid-1980s: Living Waters (No. 12 in 1984), Jesus Just the Mention of Your Name (No. 32 in 1984), Sweet Anointing (No. 22 in 1985) and It’s Beginning to Rain (No. 13 in 1986).

But Swaggart was not a fan of Christian rock music. In 1987, he co-authored Religious Rock n Roll: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing with Robert Paul Lamb, in which he argued that the rise of the Contemporary Christian Music is as an extension of “worldly” entertainment interests.

Jimmy Lee Swaggart was born on March 15, 1935, in Ferriday, a small town in northeastern Louisiana. Swaggart had two cousins who made it big in music: rock ’n’ roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis (who was also born in Ferriday) and country music star Mickey Gilley. They were known locally as The Ferriday Three. Lewis, who was in the first class of artists inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and Gilley, who amassed 17 No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, both died in 2022 – Gilley in May at age 86; Lewis in October at age 87.

A fire-and-brimstone Pentecostal preacher, Swaggart began full-time evangelistic work in 1955. In 1960, he began recording gospel music albums and transmitting on Christian radio stations. In 1961, he was ordained by the Assemblies of God. A year later, he began his radio ministry.

In 1971, Swaggart began transmitting a weekly, 30-minute telecast over local TV stations in Baton Rouge. Two years later, he proposed to television producers in Nashville a program including a music segment, a short sermon and time for talking about current ministry projects. Within weeks, The Jimmy Swaggart Telecast was being broadcast around the U.S.

By 1984, Swaggart had overtaken Robert Schuller and Oral Roberts as America’s top televangelist. The Jimmy Swaggart Telecast reached nearly 2 million viewers a week on 500 stations. Swaggart’s monthly magazine, The Evangelist, was distributed to more than 800,000 households.

By 1985, his ministry was reportedly bringing in approximately $120 million a year from collections, magazine sales and merchandise sales.

A bitter rivalry among the top televangelists of the era led to ruin. Swaggart took the first swing when he accused Jim Bakker of having an affair with church secretary Jessica Hahn. On April 6, 1987, Swaggart and Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker appeared on the cover of TIME magazine with the cover line “Unholy Row: TV Preacher Jimmy Swaggart and the Besieged Bakkers.” Swaggart acknowledged that he had passed along rumors of Jim Bakker’s illicit behavior to officials of the Assemblies of God, the Pentecostal denomination in which both were clergy.

Swaggart also went after New Orleans preacher Marvin Gorman, accusing him of having multiple affairs. Gorman fought back, suing Swaggart for defamation and ultimately settling out of court for $1.8 million. Suspicious that Swaggart was an adulterer, Gorman asked his son to tail Swaggart one night. The son found Swaggart at a motel in New Orleans and took photos of the preacher checking into a room with a prostitute. On Feb. 16, 1988, Gorman handed the photos over to the Assemblies of God, which ordered Swaggart suspended for three months.

Five days later, Swaggart tearfully delivered what came to be known as “I have sinned” speech on live television, an image that has become iconic.

The national presbytery of the Assemblies of God defrocked Swaggart, removing his credentials and ministerial license. Swaggart countered by becoming an independent and non-denominational Pentecostal minister, establishing Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, based at the Family Worship Center in Baton Rouge.

A second scandal involving another prostitute three years later further diminished Swaggart’s popularity. Even so, Swaggart was senior pastor of Family Worship Center until his death.

Swaggart is survived by his wife of 73 years, Francis (whom he married when he was 17 and she was 15); a son, Donnie; three grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.

THE BIG STORY: Snoop Dogg reached a confidential settlement with Trevor Lawrence Jr., a veteran studio musician who has been credited on songs by Bruno Mars, Alicia Keys, Ed Sheeran, Kendrick Lamar and other top artists. Snoop and Lawrence were locked in litigation for close to a year over two backing tracks on the 2022 album BODR.

Lawrence claimed Snoop did not properly license his backing tracks before using them on the BODR songs “Pop Pop” and “Get This D–k,” and that the legendary rapper made matters worse by also releasing both songs as NFTs (non-fungible tokens) without his permission.

Snoop, meanwhile, said he had a deal with Lawrence and paid the producer $20,000 before releasing BODR. The rapper’s lawyers criticized Lawrence in court papers for seeking a “preposterous windfall” of millions of dollars through the litigation.

Snoop and Lawrence’s settlement, reached with the help of a mediator, allows the two men to avoid a costly trial that was scheduled to begin in September. But, even without going to trial, the lawsuit provided a glimpse at industry practices surrounding the use of backing tracks.

Lawrence alleged in his legal complaint that he often creates these instrumentals “on spec” and shops them around to prominent artists. Lawrence said he allows artists to “experiment” with the tracks in the studio for free, as he did in this case with Snoop Dogg, but that he expects a license to be negotiated before a song is commercially released.

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Other top stories this week…

DIDDY DELIBERATIONS – After seven weeks of trial, a jury of 12 New Yorkers finally began discussing whether to find Sean “Diddy” Combs guilty of racketeering, sex trafficking and prostitution. Deliberations began after lengthy closing statements, during which the prosecution argued that the rapper ran a mob-like criminal syndicate to force women to participate in the marathon sex shows he called “freak-offs,” and the defense countered that Diddy and his girlfriends were just “swingers.” After two days of deliberations, the jury said they’d reached a partial verdict on some of the charges but remained deadlocked on racketeering. Their decision on all counts remains a mystery, and they were instructed to continue working.

A WIN FOR BUZBEE – A Los Angles judge struck down Jay-Z’s extortion and defamation lawsuit against Tony Buzbee, the personal injury attorney who filed a shocking rape lawsuit against the rap icon that has since been dropped. The judge made clear, though, that Jay-Z might be able to get his defamation claims revived on appeal if he can convince a higher court to consider evidence of the anonymous accuser supposedly admitting that Buzbee pushed her to fabricate the rape lawsuit.

BEAT BATTLE – Flo Milli, Babyface Ray and 42 Dugg were hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit from a man who claims to own the exclusive license to a beat called “Youu.” The man, named Shamar Deal, said the beat was illegally re-licensed to Ray and Dugg for their 2023 track “Ron Artest,” which Milli then sampled on her Billboard Hot 100 hit “Never Lose Me.” Deal’s lawsuit asked for more than $1 million in damages from all three rappers and also targeted distributors EMPIRE and Sony Music Entertainment.

ATTORNEY ARRESTED – Tyrone Blackburn, a lawyer who’s bringing salacious racketeering and underage sex claims against Fat Joe, was arrested for allegedly hitting the rapper’s process server with his car. After Blackburn pled not guilty to the charges and was released without bail, his criminal defense attorney told Billboard that the incident was either an accident or a set-up by Fat Joe amid their court drama. Legal Beat readers might remember Blackburn for trying (unsuccessfully) to drag Universal Music Group and its CEO Lucian Grainge into a sexual assault lawsuit against Diddy.

J. LO PHOTO CASES – Paparazzo Edwin Blanco and celebrity photo agency BackGrid USA dropped lawsuits alleging Jennifer Lopez posted pictures of herself outside a Golden Globes pre-party to Instagram and X without paying to license the images. The cases accused Lopez of violating the federal Copyright Act and carried possible damages of up to $150,000 per photo. Voluntary dismissals like this are often signs of settlements, but it was not clear whether the pop singer and actress paid to get the cases dropped.

ASSAULT LAWSUIT – Music producer Abe Diaw agreed to dismiss his civil lawsuit accusing Chris Brown of assaulting him at a London nightclub in 2023. As with the J. Lo case, it is not known whether Brown paid a settlement before the suit was dropped. Brown is still facing criminal charges in England over the incident at Tape nightclub, where the R&B singer allegedly struck Diaw multiple times with a bottle of Don Julio 1942 and then stomped on him until he fell unconscious.

PIRACY PRECEDENT – The Supreme Court agreed to review a $1 billion jury verdict won by Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group over alleged music piracy by users of Cox Communications from 2019. In taking up the case, the justices set the stage to decide on a broad scale whether the country’s various internet service providers can be held liable if they fail to take action when subscribers download music illegally.

ERAS TOUR PLOT – German prosecutors charged a Syrian-born teenager with helping plan the foiled terrorist attack at Taylor Swift’s planned Eras Tour stop in Vienna last summer, saying a juvenile identified as “Mohammed A” translated bomb-making instructions for the main suspect and sent along the Islamic State oath of allegiance. Authorities in Austria previously made three arrests over the harrowing near-incident, which was discovered and thwarted, but still forced the cancellation of Swift’s planned shows at Ernst Happel Stadium.