• The roaring cheers and screams at Jingle Ball grew louder and louder as performers hit the stage, from Ed Sheeran to Sam Smith to Demi Lovato. But when Taylor Swift entered Madison Square Garden on Friday night, the noise easily hit its peak. Swift closed the nearly five-hour concert in New York City, strutting from left to right as she sang "Shake It Off," "Blank Space" and the latest hits off her new album, reputation. Even the sound of her name earned screeching cheers, as iHeartRadio and Z100 teased the performance throughout the night. "Well, thank you New York," she yelled after she kicked off her set with the thumping "...Ready for It?" The venue, full of teenagers, parents and the in-between, transformed into a colorful dance party when Swift sang "Shake It Off." She closed the night with "Look What You Made Me Do," performing dance moves in a loose black top, black shorts and blonde bangs. Sheeran -- who joined Swift onstage for the new song "End Game" -- kicked off the concert by strumming his guitar, and belting hits like "Shape of You," "Thinking Out Loud" and "Perfect." The rapper Logic, who recently earned two Grammy nominations, was also a fan favorite: the audience was energetic when he performed "1-800-273-8255," the suicide-prevention anthem that recently peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Smith, who slowed things down during the mostly high-energy show, was a vocal powerhouse, while Lovato was in fine form, especially during "Tell Me You Love Me" and "Sorry Not Sorry." Others who dominated with radio hits this year performed Friday, including Halsey, Julia Michaels, Charlie Puth and the Chainsmokers.
• France bid farewell Saturday to its biggest rock star, honoring Johnny Hallyday with an exceptional funeral procession down the Champs-Elysees, a presidential speech and a parade of motorcyclists -- all under intense security. Few figures in French history have earned a send-off as elaborate as the one for the man sometimes dubbed the French Elvis. It was ordered by President Emmanuel Macron -- a Hallyday fan himself, like generations of others across the French-speaking world. Hallyday's death Wednesday at age 74 after fighting lung cancer unleashed emotion across the country, where the man known to the public simply as Johnny had been an icon for more than half a century. "He should have fallen 100 times but what held him up and lifted him was your fervor, the love that you brought him," Macron told Hallyday fans on the steps of Paris' Madeleine Church, referring to the musician's illnesses and extreme lifestyle. Shouts of "Johnny! Johnny!" and thunderous applause rose up as Macron finished his speech. Fans then broke out in the singing of Hallyday tunes.
A Section on 12/10/2017