Although Snoop has also recently received his UK visa, other American music stars haven’t been granted the same right. After being convicted of assaulting his former girlfriend, pop star Rihanna, R&B singer Chris Brown has been refused entry to the UK.

Whilst many will be happy that the UK Home Office is taking such a firm stand on visas for convicted criminals, Brown’s fans will be disappointed that his UK tour has been postponed indefinitely.

The set itself cost around $100,000 but a further $150,000 was reportedly spent on the diva’s production costs. Desperate to keep her on the line-up, the organisers of the three day festival – held in Chicago – agreed to Gaga’s demands.

Lady Gaga, who previously spent £52,000 on her X Factor performance in 2009, will be performing at Lullapalooza in August alongside Green Day, The Strokes and Arcade Fire.

• Latitude
• The Big Chill
• Bestival
• Lovebox
• Reading and Leeds
• Isle of Wight (last weekend)

The campaign was launched after research suggested that every year, 500 UK festivals generated a staggering 84,000 tonnes of CO2.

In response, the participating festivals are introducing measures to reduce their carbon footprints. These include everything from using more solar power and cutting down on waste water, electricity and food to increasing recycling and even using composting toilets.

Here’s to a greener summer!

Set designers including Kylie Minogue’s main man William Baker – using David Bowie’s 1986 fantasy adventure as ample inspiration – produced a lavish backdrop for Leona, who performed her hits ‘Bleeding Love’ and ‘Happy’ amongst others in an equally vamped-up costume. Despite wearing some pretty sexy hoods and thigh-high leather boots, Leona maintains she will never be as sexed-up on stage as Rihanna or Lady Gaga.

Speaking of the new tour – which has received mainly positive reviews so far – Leona has said:

“I’ve been so excited about this tour. I get to unleash my childhood fantasies and be a princess.”

The bigger of the two, Latitude 2010 already has a number of amazing acts on the line-up for all stages including:

• Music – Florence and the Machine, Belle and Sebastian, Vampire Weekend, Corinne Bailey Rae, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Mumford & Sons, Grizzly Bear, James and The National.
• Comedy – Ardal O’Hanlon, Marcus Brigstocke, Rich Hall, Mark Watson, Phil Jupitus
• Literature and poetry – Bret Easton Ellis and John Cooper Clarke

Running on 15th – 18th July, Latitude is set to be absolutely fantastic (fingers crossed the weather holds out!)

Its no surprise then that the Black Eyes Peas are going to be her support act! that’s right! Its a massive surprise for me that the Black Eyes Pea are doing this, mainly because they have released what is said to be their last album together and for them to then tour only as a supporting act is a surprise when they could steal the show themselves, who knows maybe that’s the plan!

Either way you will be able to see them on tour in places like Manchester, London and Birmingham, if you want tickets i would move fast because i expect they wont be around for long.

The opening night was a performance from Peter Hook and some very special guests indeed, the tickets were £22 e3ach. The second night to sell out was White Lies. Again something that has deemed very popular. Tickets are still left for both of the after parties for these gigs which starts at 11 on the respective nights

The gig in Manchester will be on September 4th with the Wembley leg being on the 11th September. For any band Wembley is like the ultimate goal, The old Wembley made legends and just through the name it means you have made it as a band to the top of your game.

Old Trafford cricket ground however does not have the same legendary ring to it, It is fast becoming a major place to play with Take That taking over in 2009 selling the ground out night after night.

Tickets will be available for around £45 which isn’t cheap but if you get to see your favourite band in one of the best open air venues in the country then it will be more than worth it.

Guy thinks he has seen something in the band which will go mainstream and make both of them a lot of money. The band is an Irish Folk band which isn’t a surprise considering Guy always has Pikies in his films!

Guy has been quoted as saying that he has seen the band connect with people and they have every chance of making it with a wider audience. Guy wants to finance them and make them a success.

Their first single will be released on March 1st.

Once upon a time there was a company called Factory Records. They carved out a pretty spectacular scene in Manchester and they ruled the roost in terms of what was popular and what the masses listened to in Manchester. Around this time they had a couple of bands that they managed, you might have heard of them, they were called the Happy Mondays and New Order!

They made a guy famous for dancing on a stage with maracas, and they also made a building famous for letting people dance in it. The guy was Bez and the nightclub was the legendary Hacienda. Bez is still with us but unfortunately the Hacienda has had its day and is now a block of flats (like everything in Manchester).

Now Factory Records who heavily financed and heavily lost out with the Hacienda are back on the block. The Hacienda was known as FAC 51 as this was the catalogue number for the original factory that stood in its place. The club saw legendary status thrown upon it in the late 80’s and early 90’s. The rave scene had just kicked off and it was a new era for music that was here to stay.

The Hacienda was forced to close its doors in 1997. Fast forward 13 years and the original creators of Madchester are back were everything was created to do it all again, (all be it slightly different this time!)

FAC 251 was were everything was created. It was the offices and hub for Factory Records. As you can imagine it was FAC 251 as this was the buildings catalogue number. However they are starting it all again. The building will be re opening at the end of January and once more the people behind the Hacienda will be running a club again. This time round it will be different in a lot of ways.

The place will start out busy because of the history behind it all and so it should be. The scene, clubbing and music have evolved beyond recognition over the last 13 years. 13 years ago Rave music was immerging, now you cant go out and listen to ‘Rave’ like it used to be. The scene is very well established in terms of dance music as well. As the Hacienda was in mid flow there were some smaller nights popping up around the country. London had a club called Ministry of Sound, Liverpool  had Cream, Birmingham created GodsKitchen and a little known warehouse in Sheffield played host to a night called Gatecrasher. Very few people will think that these clubs were open around the time of Hacienda but they were. With the correct management these clubs became the names of clubbing on a global scale and even though today, the clubs may not be open on a regular basis they are still the biggest names in the industry the Hacienda was once the most famous club in the world for.

This time round though the owners don’t want a repeat of the Hacienda. They have been around the block and learnt from the past. People of old are still there as well as the mind behind Digital in Newcastle (which is in a museum) i will leave you with what to expect. The club opens on the 29th January.

where the records were once stored, will now become a space for live gigs.The middle floor, originally for PR and A&R, will now house the more eclectic end of electronica.Upstairs – the boardroom with the infamous “hanging table” immortalised in 24 Hour Party People – will play host to rock star DJs – the likes of Mani from The Stone Roses and the lads from The Inspiral Carpets – the instigators of the original MADchester revolution.