AM Weekly Update: 22 February, 2021

Hello everybody and welcome back to another instalment of Apocalypse Music weekly news! I don’t know about you but this week feels as though it has flown by so, while we eagerly await BoJo’s long anticipated roadmap out of lockdown, here’s the latest from the world of music:

#FreeBritney: This week marked the release of the Framing Britney Spears documentary, which examines the complex legal arrangement that has allowed other people, most notably Britney’s father James, complete control over Britney’s career, finances and personal life. Fans of the singer have long campaigned for this legal conservatorship to be lifted via the #FreeBritney hashtag, and the documentary also highlights prevalent themes such as the toxicity of the music and media industries towards female celebrities.

Man it’s so much fun out here !!!!! Especially when you don’t have to do ANYTHING AT ALL 🙊🙊🙊🙊🙊 !!!!! pic.twitter.com/G0VGYvmOoz
— Britney Spears (@britneyspears) February 19, 2021

Life on Mars: It has been a euphoric week for pop star Yungblud, whose cover of David Bowie’s Life On Mars was specially chosen by NASA to underscore the historic moment the Perseverance rover landed on Mars. The one-tonne robot touched down on the red planet on Thursday and has two built in microphones which will allow scientists to hear what Mars actually sounds like for the first time – pretty cool!

last night we went to mars ! one of the most incredible nights of my life. always remember anything is possible man. there is nothing you cannot achieve, if you can imagine it you can fuckin do it! be individual, be yourself. there is life on mars. 🖤🚀🖤 @NASA @DavidBowieReal pic.twitter.com/JRL3P0v4oF
— YUNGBLUD’s on mars (@yungblud) February 19, 2021

Very sadly, plans for a concert hall costing £288 million have been scrapped by the City of London Corporation as a result of the structural, practical and economic implications of the pandemic. The so-called future Tate Modern of classical music is the latest in a long line of such initiatives to be shut down, following abandoned ideas for a new opera house in the city. Fingers crossed that as things slowly start to open again, live music will yet again blossom and plans such as these will begin to appear again.

Plans for a new concert hall in London have been scrapped, a blow to Britain’s classical musicians who are already struggling with the impacts of Brexit and the pandemic. https://t.co/Nqz26yub21
— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 20, 2021

This week we were lucky enough to host the wonderful Max McLeish as our Apocalypse Session. A superb multi-instrumentalist, Max can be seen performing his own arrangement of “26-2” by John Coltrane in a brilliant video. To find out more about Max and to watch his session head to: https://www.apocalypsemusic.co.uk/max-mcleish-26-2-composed-by-john-coltrane-arranged-performed-by-max-mcleish/