Eric Church took people to church at Stagecoach’s Mane stage on the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, Calif., on Friday night (April 26), but not all attendees of his closing set at the festival’s opening night were ready for some religion.

The country superstar curated a one-of-a-kind set that he obviously put a great deal of thought into, from the stained-glass backdrop and 16-person choir to the setlist that included covers of “Hallelujah,” “Take Me to the River,” “Stand By Me,” “I’ll Fly Away,” “When the Saints Go Marching In” and even “Gin and Juice.”

“This was the most difficult set I have ever attempted,” Church said in a press release issued after the show. “I’ve always found that taking it back to where it started, back to chasing who Bob Seger loves, who Springsteen loves, who Willie Nelson loves, you chase it back to the origin. The origin of all that is still the purest form of it. And we don’t do that as much anymore. It felt good at this moment to go back, take a choir and do that.”

“For me, it’s always been something with records, with performances, I’ve always been the one that’s like, ‘Let’s do something really, really strange and weird and take a chance.’ Sometimes it doesn’t work, but it’s okay if you’re living on that edge, because that edge, that cutting edge, is where all the new guys are going to gravitate to anyway. So if you can always challenge yourself that way, it always cuts sharper than any other edge,” he said.

For much of the set, the only accompaniment was Church on guitar, the choir and his frequent collaborator, Joanna Cotton, but his full band joined at the end for a handful of Church’s tunes, including “Country Music Jesus” and “Springsteen.”

For some fans, the show was a thrilling chance to see a (presumably) once-in-a-lifetime set, while for others, it was too much of a deviation from his regular live show. To be fair, Church has mixed it up on festival gigs before: at the 2019 CMA Fest he did a 17-song acoustic medley, and at last year’s CMA Fest he played a seven-song set that featured some hits with new arrangements and some covers, including Little Feat’s “Sailin’ Shoes,” that left some casual attendees scratching their heads, which surprised Church. “I was shocked because I played the show that I went out there to play,” he told Rolling Stone. “We had a time slot and I went out there to play that slot and try to show a little bit, a peek, as to what I was working on for this tour.”

Some attendees were exhilarated by the one-of-a kind show at Stagecoach:

Others, not so much, with reports on social media of attendees leaving mid-show to to attend Nickelback’s performance at the Palomino stage. Palm Springs Desert Sun reporter Brian Blueskye described the scene as an “unplugged jam session” that “sent festivalgoers for the exit of the Empire Polo Club starting about 15 minutes in, a sight that could be best described as Moses parting the Red Sea” in his review.

Representatives for Stagecoach did not respond to a request for comment. A representative for Church said he declined to comment beyond Church’s statement.

Following well-received sets Saturday night (April 29) by Post Malone (who was joined by Dwight Yoakam, Sara Evans and Brad Paisley) and Miranda Lambert (who was joined by Reba McEntire), Stagecoach concludes Sunday with a closing set by Morgan Wallen.

Salma Hayek helped Madonna bring her career-spanning Celebration Tour to a close in Mexico City, where the actress appeared on the Queen of Pop’s stage during her performance of “Vogue” at the Palacio De Los Deportes Friday night (April 26).

The number had Hayek, dressed in an ensemble inspired by Frida Kahlo, joining in to guest judge the tour dancers’ vogueing. (Hayek portrayed the iconic painter in the 2002 biopic Frida, for which she received an Oscar nomination for best actress.)

Hayek reacted to her experience with Madonna on Instagram in a post on Saturday, writing, “Thank you so much @madonna for letting me be a part of your iconic celebration tour. This unforgettable night goes in my bag of precious treasures.”

Madonna has just one show left on her current itinerary, a free concert on May 4 at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that Visit Rio officials said is forecast to bring in two million fans. Entrance to the show, sponsored by Itaú Bank, is on a first-come, first-served basis on the day of the event. Fans who can’t attend will be able to watch the show broadcast live on TV Globo.

Mexico City hosted Madonna for a series of five concerts at the Palacio De Los Deportes. Last weekend, on Saturday, April 20, the singer spoke of her love of Mexican culture and Kahlo, telling the audience how she discovered the painter’s art as a young girl.

“As you know, I have a great history, a long history with Mexico,” said Madonna, who reportedly met with the Kahlo family at their home in the city neighborhood of El Pedregal.

“When I was a girl,” she said, “I discovered Frida Kahlo. I went to the only museum that existed in Detroit, and there were Diego Rivera murals everywhere, but to be honest, I was more interested in a small picture in a corner, of a beautiful woman with her hair gathered in braids and intense eyes.”

The Celebration Tour kicked off in the fall, after a delayed start due to Madonna’s hospitalization for a serious bacterial infection over the summer.

See a clip of Hayek’s visit to Madonna’s “Vogue” set in Mexico City below.

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The 2024 NBA playoffs are here, and one of the most anticipated matchups pits the Los Angeles Lakers against the Denver Nuggets. The Western Conference series has no shortage of star power, with Nikola Jokic and last season’s NBA champs Nuggets facing off against LeBron James and the always-powerful Lakers.

The Nuggets took game one 114-103 behind Jokic’s 32 points in the Western Conference playoff opener. They are currently up two games against the Lakers.

Want to watch game four of the Lakers vs. Nuggets on TV and online? Here’s what you need to know.

L.A. Lakers vs. Denver Nuggets Playoff Games: Date, Time

The Lakers and Nuggets play their next game tonight, Saturday, April 27, at 8:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. PT from Crypto Arena in Los Angeles.

Last-minute tickets to watch the Lakers vs. Nuggets in person are still available on sites like Stubhub, Vivid Seats and SeatGeek. All three sites guarantee that your tickets will be delivered digitally in time for the game or your money back. BONUS: use promo code BILLBOARD10 to save $10 off your purchase at SeatGeek.com.

How to Watch Lakers vs. Nuggets on TV

If you want to watch the Lakers vs. Nuggets on TV, tonight’s game is airing live on ABC. You can watch the Western Conference playoff game on TV through your local affiliate.

How to Watch Lakers vs. Nuggets Online Free

Want to watch the Lakers vs. Nuggets online without cable? Get this five-day free trial to DirecTV Stream, which includes a live feeds to ABC, ESPN, TNT and more as part of its channel offerings. DirecTV Stream is one of the best streaming services for live sports and one of the easiest ways to stream live TV without cable.

Another way to livestream games online free is through Max, which is streaming select NBA playoff games online. Max lets you watch playoffs games on TNT from your phone, tablet, laptop or TV.

Unlike DirecTV Stream, Max does not currently offer a free trial. Still, your $9.99 subscription fee gets you access to all of Max’s (formerly HBO Max’s) movies, TV shows, documentaries, specials and more.

Another way to watch the Lakers-Nuggets game online? You can sign up for NBA League Pass to stream out-of-market NBA playoff games as well as have 24/7 access to highlights, replays, live stats and more.

Lakers vs. Nuggets Odds, Predictions, Favorites

The Nuggets are looking to become back-to-back NBA champs after taking home the title last year, and Denver is the odds-on favorite to win the series over the Lakers. Denver also swept L.A. in the Western Conference finals last year.

The Lakers are facing elimination after losing 112-105 to the Nuggets in game three. Now, for the second consecutive year, the Lakers are once again facing elimination from the playoffs thanks to a 3-0 deficit.

Still, this is a resilient L.A. team that hopes to continue the Lakers dynasty. Aside from last year’s lopsided loss, the Lakers have won seven of the eight playoff series between them and Denver. Los Angeles also leads the all-time series 138-91.

Although no NBA team in history has ever rebounded from a 3-0 deficit, the Lakers are taking it “one game at a time at this point,” James said in a post-game interview alongside teammate Anthony Davis after back-to-back losses to the Nuggets.

“You lose, you go home, so you come with the mindset of let’s get one [and] force a Game 5 and go from there. As long as you still have life, then you always have belief,” he added. “You play until the wheels fall off. That’s what it’s always about for me as a mindset and I know [Davis] feels the same way.”

Livestream the Lakers vs. Nuggets online free on ABC through DirecTV Stream here.

Lawyers for Sean “Diddy” Combs pushed back against a woman’s lawsuit that accused him of sexual assault, filing a motion on Friday (April 26) to dismiss some claims that were not under law when the alleged incident occurred.

The motion filed in a New York court claims Combs cannot be sued because certain laws didn’t exist when Joi Dickerson-Deal made the allegations against him in 1991.

The music mogul’s lawyers want certain statues from Dickerson-Deal’s claims such as revenge porn and human trafficking to be dismissed with prejudice.

In a filing last year, she said Combs “intentionally drugged” her then brought her home and sexually assaulted her after a date in Harlem when she was a 19-year-old college student.

Without her knowledge, Combs videotaped the assault and later shared it with several friends in the music industry, the suit alleges. He denied the allegations, accusing her of seeking to exploit the New York law that temporarily extended the statute of limitations.

Dickerson-Deal’s claim came nearly three decades after his alleged misconduct and the New York State Revenge Porn Law was not codified until 2019, Combs’ lawyers said.

His attorneys also pointed out a few others including the New York Services for Victims of Human Trafficking Law, which came into effect in 2007.

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Dickerson has done.

Last month, Combs’ properties in Los Angeles and Miami were raided by federal authorities in a sex trafficking investigation. The criminal investigation is a major escalation in the scrutiny of Combs, who has been the defendant in several recent sexual abuse lawsuits.

In a lawsuit Combs settled the day after it was filed in November, his former protege and girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, sued him alleging years of sexual abuse, including rape. The lawsuit said he forced her to have sex with male prostitutes while he filmed them.

In February, a music producer filed a lawsuit alleging Combs coerced him to solicit prostitutes and pressured him to have sex with them.

Another of Combs’ accusers was a woman who said he raped her two decades ago when she was 17.

Combs and his attorneys have denied all of the allegations in the lawsuits.