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Well, talk about building the suspense! There aren’t many things that fans would wait so long for, but tickets selling out with 24hours of going on sale is a testament to the bands continuing popularity and loyal fan base.

This is the bands first festival gig in 25 years (wow! hope they practice hard to get it right!), and is Glastonbury’s 40th anniversary.Glastonbury iss one of the biggest, best and most loved festivals in the UK, and to play here really is an honour – to know that this band have been asked to perform for the last quarter of a century shows how great they are.

I have no idea who half of them are, or how many there are (think there were only 6 at last count, but wasn’t there about 40 to start with?!), and there music is not exactly the everlasting tunes our kids will be humming along to in a generation or so’s time, but they’re ok. I suppose. Very hot looking individuals, saw them live once, stunning outfits.

But with regards to their impact on the music industry, the only one we know of by name is lead singer Nicole Scherzinger. What are the rest of them called? Are these sorts of groups really a group? Or are they simply backing singers and dancers for the lead?

Well, in the UK music world there is only one thing that is winding up the population so much – X Factor of course!

I’ve talked about it previously, and it does give new artists a stage to perform on and shine. But it is getting to big for it’s boots?

Calvin Harris, the Dance Wiv Me singer, made his feelings known by charging the stage and hugging John and Edwards whilst wearing a pineapple on his head (to symbolise their crazy hair). He wanted to bring attention to the show – to xpress his distaste at the UK charts, or more accurately, the dominance that X Factor has.

Should it be as big as it is? Or should the charts be a place where you really earn your way in on talent alone?

Mr Reg Walker, an industry insider who was speaking at the UK Festival Awards and Conference in London on Thursday, said that the thousands of fake tickets and wrist bands are likely to be in circulation next summer. He believes that friminals even had “test runs” this year to ensure that their mercandise would get through the scrutiny of the festival security.

Its a scary notion because as a none-expert in tickets, how does Joe Public tell the fake from the real thing? And what kind of come back do we have when buying these things online? Not a lot I would imagine.

Wow!

That’s all I can say really! When I read the news that the one and only Rolf Harris was releasing a song, I was … well, shocked and in fits of giggles! But how cool is he? I remember him from that art show he did when I was a kid, totally nutty but funny.

Rolf is teaming up with Status Quo singer and guitarist, Rick Parfitt, to realease a Christmas single this year. The new single, called Christmas in the Sun, is all about rolf’s memories of growing up in the Ozzie sunshine, having a yummy turkey dinner in the blazing sun.

It will be up again the X-Factor song, which has had the Xmas number 1 for the last four years, but I hope it gets there – it’d be ace!

I have not been a big X-Factor fan, I prefer Strictly for my Saturday nights in, but on a night in at a friend’s this weekend, I got made to watch it.

Oh dear. I was not impressed!

I appreciate that with this type of competition, the artists cannot do their own music yet, but oh dear. It is rare that shows like this find a unique and new act, let alone a new voice, because they impose such strict guidelines on what they have to do.

And I do not think an artist can be unique and themselves, when they are forced to conform. So, as far as I can see, these shows simply regurgitate the same old stuff, year in year out.

Ok, when we go to a concert, we want to see and heard exactly what our idols can do; we want to feel the magic. But does lip-synching really prevent us from enjoying the magic?

I don’t think so. Yes, it would be great to hear the songs come straight from the singers mouth, but to do that, they would not be able to dance around, and give us the visual stimuli that is expected with any live production.

A band singing in your local pub has to be able to sing live, people are close enough to get a good look and hear what they can do. But for the big shows, each pulling in thousands of fans – there’s just not the room, and so the visual stuff has to be good.

If lip-synching lets them put on a real show, so be it.

I (unwillingly) have to admit that as a child, I was not a Michael fan. I know, I know, it is not normal, but I grew up in the late eighties and early nineties, and this was during his “weird” stage.

The public perception was that he was a bit of a freak andwhen his name was mentioned it was rarely in a sentence with praise. I remember a kid at my primary school in tears once because all of the other kids were teasing him about being a Michael Jackson fan.

But in the last few years, I really began to appreciate the genius that was Michael – and really wish I had been a fan from an earlier age.

The original line-up for the Sugababes included Keisha Buchanan, Mutya Buena and Siobhan Donaghy. After recent rumours that the 3 ladies had met for lunch earlier this week, the gossips went into over-drive about what it was all about – could the babes be coming back?

Weeks after Keisha left the current line up, the rumours started about her getting the original girls back together.But her record label, who also manage the Sugababes, said she was definately working on her solo stuff only.

Hmm…

The remaining girls,  Heidi Range and Amelle Bebarrah, were recently joined by Jade Ewen, the British entry into this year’s Eurovision. Their new album has been postponed until February.

It will soon be the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – and people want to celebrate. A free concert has been staged, and 10,000 tickets were snapped up within hours of their release. The problem is that nearly 10 times this number are trying to get in and listen to the concert, especially as they are hoping to catch a glimpse of U2.

So some bright spark has decided a barrier to keep out the un-ticketed is a good plan. It is unknown whether or not MTV or U2 gave the order for the building of this barrier, but either way – what a bad publicity stunt!