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The ‘Brooklyn Loves Michael Jackson’ event was held in New York on Sunday (29.08.10) – which would have been the ‘Thriller’ singer’s 52nd birthday – and featured artists including Snoop performing sets of their own hits remixed with Michael’s songs.

Snoop also wore a sparkling glove onstage, a replica of the type frequently worn by Michael during his career.

Of the singer’s legacy, Snoop, 38, said: “His music, his spirit represented love and peace around the whole world and it influenced me and what I do, so for me to come through, it’s just showing love and respect and paying homage to a great artist who meant so much to music in general and the people.”

The party also included performances by New York rapper Fabolous, Warren G and a set by DJ Spinna, with participation from the thousands strong crowd encouraged.

The event was organised and filmed by director Spike Lee, who is producing a video tribute to ‘Beat It’ singer Michael – who passed away last June of acute Propofol intoxication - which will also be called ‘Brooklyn Loves Michael Jackson’. He also held a party on Michael’s birthday last year, and said he plans to make the tribute an annual event.

Afterward, one partygoer posted on site pinkisthenewblog.com: “My favorite part was when Spike handed out posters with different lines from ‘Wanna Be Starting Something’ like, ‘You’re a vegetable’, ‘Yeah Yeah!’, and ‘Ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma cu sa’ and whenever you heard your line you held your poster up. Imagine a crowd of people just chanting and jumping collectively–it was incredible!”

The drummer released his debut solo album ‘Familial’ this week and said he’s had to quickly learn about how to act onstage and in front of crowds as a frontman.

He told US magazine: “It’s something I’m learning about, really. It has its fun moments. It certainly sheds a different light on yourself as well.

“It’s a good process to go through. It’s all part of the same grand plan, isn’t it?”

Phil also said the inspiration behind becoming a solo artist - after seven albums and 25 years - with his main band was to give a showcase to his real character outside of the group.

He added: “I just got to the point where I’d written enough of these pieces that things have kind of been falling into a bigger body of work, which had very much of my character in it. It didn’t feel appropriate to do in Radiohead, and I was about to turn 40, so I think that makes you go through the process of reflection of all your accumulated experiences and any ambitions that you had.”

‘Familial’ is available now.

The band’s singer, Alison Goldfrapp, donned an unusual black jacket and sparkly leggings for the performance, which included a tour of the group’s greatest hits, including ‘Rocket’, ‘Ooh La La’ and ‘Strict Machine’ with crowds cheering through the set, despite a downpour.

One onlooker said: “The rain didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits. The set started a little slow with some of their lesser known singles but by the end the crowd was dancing along and singing all the words.

“Strangely though, they didn’t perform anything from their third folk album – for the crowd they struck strictly to their electronic material.

“Alison seemed a little nervous at times, only managing the occasional, ‘Thank you,’ to the crowd, but the hits kept everyone enjoying themselves.”

Other bands to play at Victoria Park as part of the new two-day festival included Friendly Fires, who put on an energetic set and Aphex Twin, who was joined onstage for a special performance by South African rap trio Die Antwoord.

The Canadian alternative group said they are conscious of losing the intimate atmosphere of their shows by playing in larger venues, but remain confident they can rise to the occasion and make their tour a success.

Drummer Jeremy Gara told website NME.com: “The fear of playing shows the size we’re playing shows now is that you can’t connect with the audience.

“Either because of the room, or if the sound is bad.”

The group had experience of playing to huge audiences this weekend, when they headlined the Reading and Leeds festivals in the UK, an experience which the group– which also includes Win Butler, Regine Chassagne, Richard Reed Parry, William Butler, Tim Kingsbury and Sarah Neufeld - admitted was daunting.

From the stage, frontman Win said to the crowd at Reading on Saturday (28.08.10): “It’s nice to meet you! Look, we’ve never had a hit song, so I don’t know what the f**k we’re doing here, but until someone comes with a hook we’re going to stay.”

Arcade Fire’s third album, ‘The Suburbs’ is available now, and the band is set to tour North America at the beginning of September, before returning to Europe in November.

The US metal band returned to their roots to record ‘Korn III: Remember Who You Are’, and reunited with producer Ross Robinson - who was behind their genre defining self-titled debut album and its follow-up ‘Life Is Peachy’.

The band told how the producer used unorthodox studio techniques to encourage them to release their most creative energy and get a reaction, particularly from singer, Jonathan Davis.

Guitarist James ‘Munky’ Shaffer explained: “He’ll do some unusual stuff while you’re tracking, like grab your guitar or grab you, like ‘What the hell man?’, and he’ll just do it just to jar you.

“I think that’s kind of part of what he does, to p**s you off. He wants to bring that out of you, like no matter what you’re doing.

“With John too, he’s just digging deep into his head for emotions. We’d leave there sweating, crying, bleeding.”

The ‘Let The Guilt Go’ rockers’ drummer, Ray Luzier, said the record also features no computer wizardry, and was recorded as a live band in the studio, which leant it a certain atmosphere.

Ray told website Watchmojo.com: “It was pretty cool from a creative standpoint, playing the song from beginning to end, instead of using pro tools to cut, copy paste.

“When you’re in a tight room like that, nothing escapes, we’re all really close to each other, so nothing got out of that room, so recording in that environment transpired to tape.”

‘Korn III: Remember Who You Are’, the band’s ninth album, is available now.

The band’s bassist says that after they originally parted ways with guitarist Graham Coxon in 2002 and the band was left in a state of limbo following their last full album `Think Tank’, he turned to classical music to help soothe his state of mind.

Alex, 41, said: “It was moving into the farmhouse where I now live that got me into it, in 2003, at a time when Blur was disintegrating before my eyes.

“All my adult years had been driven by this purpose - being in a band that had become a global megalith.  But, when Blur got put on hold, I found myself stuck in the middle of the countryside with nothing to do.  No pubs, no gigs, no parties.  It was like Rock Star Family Robinson.

“Eventually, I started wanting to dig deeper into musical history and I started thinking about Rossini’s `William Tell Overture’, which I hadn’t heard since I was a 12-year old school kid.  I bought a copy, sat in my studio, turned the speakers up loud and, my God, I just burst into tears.”

From here Alex became more and more absorbed with the classical world, and became obsessive about the great composers.

He added: “To use a food analogy, it’s the same thing with eating oysters.  They are, to start with, so foreign, so unusual, it’s hard to tell which bit of is supposed to be the part you enjoy. Once I’d had about six, though, I thought there just might be something in it and once I’d had 12 they were all I could think about.”

As a result of his classical endeavours, Alex presented the radio show the ‘The A-Z of Classic FM Music’ on British radio station Classic FM, and has worked with the station to produce a collection of four music CDs and an illustrated book on classical music with a foreword from Alex, also titled `The A-Z of Classic FM Music’, which will be available from Friday (03.09.10), priced at £39.99.

The late musician’s wife, Yoko Ono, is organising two concerts with her We Are Plastic Ono Band in Los Angeles to celebrate her late husband and many stars have signed up to take part.

The project will be helmed by the couple’s son, Sean, and will also feature hip hop producer the RZA, Jane’s Addiction singer Perry Farrell and noise rock group Sonic Youth’s members Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore.

Speaking of the planned events Yoko said: “The fact that this year is John’s 70th birthday year is very special for us all.

“We are all together celebrating John for having given us so much good energy in his lifetime and now.”

The widow of former Beatle John – who was assassinated in 1980 - will also hold her annual lighting of the Imagine Peace Tower on the island of Vioey, off the coast of Iceland on October 9th.

This can be viewed around the world via a live video feed at imaginepeace.com.

Yoko will also present the LennonOno Grant for Peace biannual award and a special concert with Sean Lennon will take place on the island after the ceremony.

Yoko explained: “A tribute concert for John given by Sean and I that evening will be the icing on the cake!”

Record label EMI are also planning to mark the singer’s birthday by reissuing his solo albums, along with some previously unreleased home recordings.

The British pop group deliberately turned their back on their hometown, opting instead to build their own studio in Berlin to develop a bigger sound than their debut ‘We Started Nothing’.

Multi-instrumentalist Jules De Martino said: “Doing it in Manchester seemed too much like trying to replicate the first album.

“We hated the fact we’d become pigeon holed as a cool DIY ‘credible’ pop band. We always felt we were more than that – we want to have big shows, like a proper pop band.”

The group’s other member, guitarist and singer Katie White, said the group spent their time working hard rather than partying on the city’s famous club scene.

Katie told NME magazine: “We weren’t bothered with much of that. I was more into going to Netto supermarket in my pyjamas rather than clubbing.

“I had already ended up in hospital over Christmas. We’d been knocking ourselves out for two years – saying yes to absolutely everything, touring so hard. I went back to my mum’s and concentrated on getting well.”

The group’s next single ‘Hands’ is released on October 11, with their as-yet-untitled second album to follow in January next year.

The reclusive star – who has not made an album since 1998s ‘The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill’ – has recently returned to live performance, and is preparing new material for release.

The ‘Everything Is Everything’ singer told MTV: “I respect the different sounds that I’m hearing. It’s been such a long time since I’ve gotten my voice and my ideas out. We’re getting closer. We’re getting closer. That’s all I can say.”

Although she would give no hints as to the direction of her new songs, Lauryn said she isn’t likely to include collaborations on an album.

She added: “I have respect for what people do. I also like to hear the eclectics, I like to hear the mixture. But in terms of collaborations, that’s not even something I’ve been thinking about, per se.”

The singer – who rose to fame as a member of The Fugees before starting a successful solo career – also said she is aware of how people now consume media differently and that the musical landscape has changed since her last album.

She added: “It’s not what it was. That doesn’t necessarily means it’s a bad thing — it’s a different thing. You got a lot of young talent out there. Because we don’t necessarily have the same sort of industry complex that used to exist, people don’t always give proper respect.

“But some people are doing it in a really kind of unusual, unique and hard-core way. Because the system is not necessarily in place like it used to be.”

The electronic duo – which was formed from the ashes of indie rock group Simian – admitted they are hoping to change they are seen as a dance pop group, as their musical tastes have changed “drastically” to become more influenced by techno music.

They explained: “We are consciously trying to change how people perceive us at the moment, mainly because our tastes have changed quite drastically as we’ve been exposed to more and more club music. It may take some fans of our early stuff a while to get their heads around our new stuff but in general, the reaction has been really positive.”

Simian Mobile Disco, which includes producer James Ford - who has worked alongside Klaxons, Arctic Monkeys and Florence and the Machine – and Jas Shaw said they are presently working on a third album, but still keeping their Delicacies record label “ticking over”.

They added to website BeatPortal.com: “We are starting to work on a new Simian Mobile Disco album as we speak but we plan to keep Delicacies ticking over as an outlet for the darker clubbier side of what we do.

“We always try to make our albums something you would want to listen to at home rather than at 6am in a darkened club. Having said that, I do think our next album will be influenced by the Delicacies stuff we have been making.”