The legendary U2 is planning to set up shop in the desert for a slate of shows. The announcement was made during a 15-second spot that aired during Super Bowl LVII. The Las Vegas residency is being dubbed U2: UV Achtung Baby Live at the Sphere and will be held at the MSG Sphere at the Venetian hotel. In anticipation of the residency, U2 is also set to release a collection of 40 songs called Songs of Surrender. Drummer Larry Mullen, however, will be out with a scheduled surgery.
France-Wakanda Relations
France is unhappy with the way French soldiers were depicted in Marvel's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Defense minister Sebastien Lecornu took to Twitter to denounce a scene that showed captured soldiers with their hands tied behind their backs. The soldiers were apparently dressed similarly to French troops that were deployed to Africa's Sahel region to fight terror groups. "I am thinking of and honouring the 58 French soldiers who died defending Mali, at its request, in the face of Islamist terrorist groups," he said. He went on to say that troops were being misrepresented.
RiRi's Return?
After seven long years, Rihanna's Navy was treated to a dazzling Super Bowl halftime performance. It was filled with her hits, visuals that could make your palms sweat, and even a baby announcement! But for fans who were expecting this performance to be the kickstart to a Rihanna era, brace yourselves. In an interview leading up to the big performance, she revealed that a new album "would probably take some time" but that she was open to dropping loose songs here and there.
Ari Redbord, head of legal and government affairs and TRM Labs, joins Cheddar News to discuss why Facebook is ditching its crypto project and what that means for the space.
Natalie Fertig, federal cannabis policy reporter at Politico Pro, joins Cheddar News to discuss a new YouGov poll that looks at how Americans feel about marijuana and politics.
A virtual gathering in the online space, Decentraland, of Elvis Presley impersonators is looking to grab the Guinness World Record for most Elvis impersonators in one place after the record-keeping org recently approved the use of avatars as stand-ins for people.
A powerful winter storm hit the Northeast over the weekend leaving 100,000 New Yorkers in the dark as well as snowfall up to 30.9 inches in parts of Massachusetts. The nor'easter hit with blizzard conditions of wind speed and poor visibility.
After classic rocker Neil Young demanded removal of his music from Spotify over vaccine misinformation coming from The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, the platform made the decision to take down Young's songs and continue supporting Rogan with whom they have an exclusive contract. The move touched off a firestorm of controversy, leading to responses from both the streaming service and the podcasting host. Evan Nierman, CEO of Red Banyan Crisis PR, joined Cheddar to break down the latest on the fracas. "I think when [Spotify] initially said, we're not going to be commenting on that, that was a silly move because guess what? They did end up commenting about it, and nine times out of 10, when an organization says they're not going to be issuing a comment, they ultimately do," Nierman noted.
The 1999 cult classic "Fight Club" has been given a very different ending in China — and this time, the authorities win. Cheddar News speaks with Joan Solsman, senior media reporter at CNET who breaks down how China is using films for political messaging.
NFT art platform TRLab recently raised $4.2 million in funding. TRLab launched just last year but says its platform focused on NFT curation and distribution is growing quickly. The company hopes to bridge traditional and digital art worlds and help artists explore NFTs as an emerging medium. TRLab co-founder and chairwoman Xin Li-Cohen and co-founder and CEO Audrey Ou joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
