Noel Gallagher on Man City, Madonna at the VMAS and Taylor Swift’s Bad Reviews

Sidetracked with Annie and Nick

Annie and Nick navigate a week of heavy-hitting music news, covering everything from Celine Dion's triumphant return to the controversial at

Key takeaways

• Celine Dion is embracing a new chapter of life through large-scale performances in Paris.
• Elton John performed an intimate set at the newly opened Apple Music Hall in Battersea Power Station.

Main topics

• Celine Dion's return
• Elton John at Battersea

Notable quotes

It's just not that deep. I'm just acting.

Conclusion

A vibrant discussion on how legendary artists maintain relevance and h

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) This BBC podcast is supported by ads Speaker 1 (0:02) outside the UK. Speaker 1 (0:06) So, quick summer recap? Speaker 3 (0:08) Heat waves, data leaks, AI hacks, folding phones, and a viral, spinally challenged raccoon. Yeah, Speaker 1 (0:13) I think that covers it, right? I'm Thomas Germain. I'm Speaker 3 (0:17) Jess Maddox, and The Interface is back from its summer break. Speaker 1 (0:19) New season, new co-host, same deep dives into the tech that's shaping our world and our lives. So Speaker 3 (0:26) before AI wipes out all of humanity, Speaker 1 (0:28) allegedly, join Speaker 3 (0:30) us for The Interface. Listen Speaker 1 (0:31) on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 2 (0:38) Hello. Hello. Welcome to Sidetracked. If you are listening to Sidetracked or maybe you're watching Sidetracked. Hello if you are watching. Hello if you're listening. Because Speaker 4 (0:48) we're getting more visual by the week, to be honest. Do Speaker 2 (0:50) you know Speaker 4 (0:50) what? Speaker 2 (0:50) No offence to visualisation and the team, but I remember in the olden days when I thought, what do I want to do with my life? I thought, let me do radio. Speaker 4 (1:00) Yeah, because then no one will see me. Speaker 2 (1:02) Yeah. And here we are. Speaker 4 (1:04) But listen, you dress so well. Every week you dress so perfectly. You match the set. You think about it. You consider it. You've got your nice hair and your glasses. Thank Speaker 2 (1:13) you. Why Speaker 4 (1:14) should people not see that? Why Speaker 2 (1:15) waste this beauty? We get the pleasure every Speaker 4 (1:17) week of seeing Grimm's looks. Yeah. Everyone else should too. Yes. That's what I say. Speaker 2 (1:21) And ditto. Your eyes would be wasted on audio only. Speaker 4 (1:25) If you are watching. Thank you so much. Speaker 2 (1:27) Please Speaker 4 (1:28) leave a comment. We'd love to hear from you if you're watching on YouTube, but we will try and reply. And tell us what you thought of today's episode. Speaker 2 (1:34) Yes. We should give you a swear warning. There may be swearing in this podcast, so just a heads up. Speaker 4 (1:41) Take Speaker 2 (1:41) that how you will. Speaker 4 (1:43) Okay. Speaker 2 (1:43) Let's get into it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Speaker 2 (1:50) How was last week? So babe, Speaker 4 (1:52) I think that we found a debutante. Oh. Speaker 2 (1:57) Is Speaker 4 (1:57) that a word? No, debutante. Deputy for you. Speaker 2 (2:01) Yes. Speaker 4 (2:02) Now, I'm not saying. Speaker 2 (2:03) Okay. So it went well. It Speaker 4 (2:05) went well. Speaker 2 (2:05) I'm fired. I Speaker 4 (2:06) haven't actually spoke to any of the production team about this. Speaker 2 (2:09) Yeah. But Speaker 4 (2:10) he, you know when someone's just like naturally charming and good and informed and like a fan and funny and I'll stop. But he was great. I Speaker 2 (2:18) love him. He was fantastic. He's really easy to talk to. I've never talked to him. Speaker 4 (2:22) Have I talked to him on the radio? Speaker 2 (2:24) I've talked to him in real life many a time. We're talking about Speaker 4 (2:26) Jack Rook, by the way. Yeah, sorry. He was our co-host last week. Jack Rook was here last week. Jack Rook, yeah. Speaker 2 (2:31) And I've spoke to him many a time in real life. And I love talking to him. I'm going to bump into him. And he's, yeah, you're right. He knows what's up. He's got an opinion. He's across things. Really Speaker 4 (2:40) smart. Yeah, so smart. Really smart. So I really enjoyed it. It was one of those ones where... Speaker 2 (2:44) Was it nice Speaker 4 (2:44) to have a Speaker 2 (2:44) smart person alongside you? Speaker 4 (2:46) Shut up. Which feel Speaker 2 (2:47) like Marina Hyde with your Richard Osman. Finally. Speaker 4 (2:51) It was like just natural. Yes. It was like, you know when sometimes a co-host feels like a co-host and sometimes it just feels like a conversation. And sometimes it feels like an interview. It's Speaker 2 (3:00) a Speaker 4 (3:00) conversation. Yeah. And it felt a bit like a conversation, which I think is a win. It was great. So it was really good. We talked about Ed Sheeran. Yes. He was really good on that. He'd really thought it through. And he was very honest. And that was fab. And we talked a lot about Celine Dion. Yeah. Speaker 2 (3:15) I loved the clip that I saw of you guys talking about Celine. And I'm glad that you talked about it because obviously she's back doing these huge shows. Speaker 4 (3:23) Paris loves her. Speaker 2 (3:24) And they are, they're big for, well, they're big in size, that they're literally like 45,000 people a night. But they're also big and important because we thought maybe Celine would. never perform again. Maybe she'd never talk again. So they're big on that level as well. And I loved what you said about how she's now just fully embracing life. And yeah, I'll tap dance in the street after my gig. Yeah, Speaker 4 (3:46) I'll jump on that car bonnet. Speaker 2 (3:48) Yeah, I will. Yeah. Yeah, I'll dance Speaker 4 (3:50) like I've been at a football all day. Yeah. In head Speaker 2 (3:52) to toe Schiaparelli. Why not? Why Speaker 4 (3:55) not? Yeah, Speaker 2 (3:55) I'm going to be dancing outside in a £20,000 outfit. Like, why not? You Speaker 4 (4:00) know, I never knew how to pronounce. that word before. So many fashion brands I've only ever seen written down because I don't hang out in Speaker 2 (4:07) the Speaker 4 (4:07) fashion world. So I always thought it was Miu Miu. Speaker 2 (4:09) Miu Miu. Yeah. Very my mum. Miu Miu. I Speaker 4 (4:13) thought Schiaparelli. Is it? But you said Schiaparelli. Schiaparelli. Yeah, again. I mean, it goes on and on. Lowe. I thought it was Lowe. Speaker 2 (4:20) Lowe. It's Speaker 4 (4:21) not Lowe. Speaker 2 (4:21) Loewe. Speaker 4 (4:22) Loewe. See? You don't, unless you go to fashion shows, you don't know this. Speaker 2 (4:26) Well, my mum has been, because we've been very obsessed with Celine dancing in the street and we've been watching it all and stuff. My mum can't stop calling her, what's she been calling her? She's basically been saying Celine Dion. She's been it. Salon Dion. And I'm like, she's not called that. And my mum goes, oh no, Celine. And she's going, Salon Dion. Everyone loving Salon Dion. Speaker 4 (4:44) Yeah. My Speaker 2 (4:45) cousin went. Speaker 4 (4:46) Really? Speaker 2 (4:46) In Paris through the night, yeah, and said it was phenomenal. I'd Speaker 4 (4:49) say what a show. I'd say Speaker 2 (4:51) it Speaker 4 (4:51) was an amazing show to Speaker 2 (4:52) watch. Yes. And Speaker 4 (4:54) you'd get all dressed up, wouldn't you? And you'd have like champagne before and you'd really like lean into the glitz. Yeah, get the Schiaparelli on. The glitz and the glamour. Yeah, get down there. But no, I Speaker 2 (5:02) loved that bit. It was so good. And you were both so right that it's so good to see someone of that level. Having the Speaker 4 (5:09) f***ing show. Have a blast. Have a blast. Time. And it's a Speaker 2 (5:11) good reminder. You know what? I just interviewed Florence Pugh and it will be on the radio this Friday. And she is, bear with me, like Celine Dion in that she's a master of her craft, but it's not that deep. Yeah. She's not like, I'm some serious actor. She doesn't take herself too seriously. Like she's really excellent at her job. Couldn't be better. Or like, you know, like a Samantha Morton, like an incredible actor. Speaker 1 (5:34) It's just not that deep. I'm just acting. Speaker 2 (5:35) And I feel like that with Celine. It's not that serious. It's not like, don't look at me. Don't engage with me. Let me just get into the car. No, she's... No. I like that. She's having it. She's having it. Speaker 4 (5:45) Speaking of artists who we thought we might never hear from again, you went to see Elton John last night. Speaker 2 (5:53) I did. And we need to talk about Stevie Wonder in a second. But first, there's a few that we thought we were done for the music. Yeah, I went to see Elton John last night. And he was performing at this Apple Music Hall that they've opened in Battersea Power Station in London, which was obviously a power station and then derelict for a really long time. Such a long time. I don't Speaker 4 (6:16) know Speaker 2 (6:16) how long. Speaker 4 (6:17) It's an iconic building in London. It has these four big chimneys that are kind of really symbolic. And, you know, Speaker 2 (6:23) and Speaker 4 (6:24) it's so cool that it's being used for something productive. creative do Speaker 2 (6:28) you remember when we went and did a tv show down there i actually didn't do it no Speaker 4 (6:32) you Speaker 2 (6:33) did it we Speaker 4 (6:33) did a show called switch it was a bbc sound it was called the show was Speaker 2 (6:37) called sound Speaker 4 (6:37) sound sounds sounds Speaker 2 (6:39) sound sound Speaker 4 (6:40) and uh it was a tv pro like a music performance show and we did it from all different iconic locations in london and one of those was about a sea power station yeah Speaker 2 (6:49) and Speaker 4 (6:49) i interviewed rihanna in Speaker 2 (6:51) a Speaker 4 (6:51) hard hat yeah Speaker 2 (6:52) in the rubble in Speaker 4 (6:53) the rubble surrounded by sign Speaker 2 (6:54) off of that i was thinking last night How was that cleared? I know, Speaker 4 (6:58) for the BBC. A Speaker 2 (6:59) derelict building. I Speaker 4 (7:01) have no idea. And Speaker 2 (7:02) I feel like Endhub's run it as well. Speaker 4 (7:04) What, that same show? Same Speaker 2 (7:05) show. Speaker 4 (7:06) Your memory's better than mine, babe. Speaker 2 (7:08) Yeah, I feel like they were. I Speaker 4 (7:09) wonder, is this anywhere to view? Must be in the BBC archives because it existed as a TV show. Speaker 2 (7:15) I don't know if YouTube was about then. Speaker 4 (7:18) Oh, we got a clip of it once because we've talked about this before because I asked her about you. I think I was slagging you off in the interview or something. Oh, right. Okay, thanks. I can't remember. But no, you know, in a funny way. Speaker 2 (7:27) Yeah, in a Speaker 4 (7:27) funny way. So... Anyway, it reminded me of us Speaker 2 (7:31) being down there for doing sound. And I'd been in like a few years ago and it was like a shopping centre. Yeah. And I... Listen, I love to shop. But I was like, I don't know, I felt like it should have something that would make you want to... be back in this place. Where has the Speaker 4 (7:47) ice rink at Christmas? There's the Speaker 2 (7:48) ice rink. I've skated there. But yeah, they've opened this venue. It's like 600 people. And last night Elton John performed on the opening night. But what I wanted to talk about was the fact was I thought we went to the last Elton John show. Speaker 4 (8:01) Which was supposed to be where? Glastonbury? Speaker 2 (8:03) Well, I feel like he said it was going to be Glastonbury or the rumour was or the sort of conversation was once he's done Glastonbury. He's never playing in the UK ever again. And everyone was getting very excited about it, talked about it. Then I think he did some like European dates afterwards. He Speaker 4 (8:18) did a retirement tour. Like he definitely did like a farewell tour. Definitely did a goodbye Yellow Speaker 2 (8:21) Brick Road tour. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where he sort of ascended at the end up a thing, you know, the symbolism of heading off into the ether. Speaker 4 (8:29) It's giving cremation. It was a little Speaker 2 (8:30) cremation, if I'm honest. However, he did a few European dates after that. And I remember Angela, who I do Dish with. Yeah, Speaker 4 (8:38) Angela Hartnett. Speaker 2 (8:39) Angela Hartnett was like, oh, I'm going to go to his last show because she loves Elton. Speaker 4 (8:44) And Speaker 2 (8:44) she was like, I'm going to go to his last show. So I think it was Copenhagen. But I remember her going in like 2023 and like taking some time off, flying out there, buying the tickets, getting the hotel. And then he's like, might do another one afterwards. She's like, Speaker 4 (8:57) bloody hell, I thought that was the last, the Speaker 2 (8:59) last show. So I took Angela last night. And did she like it? Yeah, she loved Speaker 4 (9:04) it. Speaker 2 (9:04) In Speaker 4 (9:04) a 600 cap venue, that must have been a real treat. But Speaker 2 (9:06) it was just him on the piano. Like it wasn't like a, you know, like the show he saw at Glastonbury. Speaker 1 (9:10) Bit of chat, not Speaker 2 (9:11) too much Speaker 1 (9:12) chat. Speaker 2 (9:12) He Speaker 4 (9:12) wasn't letting you know how he was? He wasn't Speaker 2 (9:14) letting us know how he was. He was saying, oh, let's try and not fuck this bit up now. And then he was like, I won't fuck it up. And then he was excellent. He sounded fantastic. I Speaker 4 (9:23) wonder how much he got paid. Speaker 2 (9:24) I know. That's what I was thinking. So why did he do that? That Speaker 4 (9:27) Apple bank account is very deep. Speaker 2 (9:29) But surely there's... Speaker 4 (9:31) Well, he has his affiliate. He does his radio show for the Apple Music. So, you know, maybe. Speaker 2 (9:36) Maybe it was a. Speaker 4 (9:37) No, he will have got paid. Speaker 2 (9:39) No, I know he will have got paid. I was going to say maybe it was like, you better do it or you're not on the radio anymore. No. There's Speaker 4 (9:44) not much leverage, is it? Speaker 2 (9:45) No. For them. He'd be like, OK. Yeah. But yeah, so no, but great to go and see him. Great to do it on a Monday night. And I actually had quite an amazing experience on the way to go and see him perform there, which was our WhatsApp group was going and it was the. the fact that Stevie Wonder had released these four... Are they out? Yeah. Speaker 4 (10:04) They weren't out yet? No, they came out. Oh my God. Yeah. There's four unreleased Stevie Wonder tracks. Yeah, from Speaker 2 (10:11) 1976, from the Songs in the Key of Life session. Songs Speaker 4 (10:14) in the Key of Life, In the World, and I haven't even listened. Yeah. Fuck me, that's Speaker 2 (10:16) bad. Speaker 4 (10:16) So I listened Speaker 2 (10:17) to them and it was sort of a bit grey, not grey, maybe it was a bit cloudy. There's a sort of moodiness in the sky and a sort of going through London and not being from London, but living in London. I don't know if you still get that, that I'm like, London. Speaker 4 (10:30) Especially when you go over the river. Going Speaker 2 (10:32) over the river. Classic. Going over the river, listening to New Stevie Wonder on the way to the Elton. Wow. It's quite an out of body experience for a Monday. And what Speaker 4 (10:39) were the songs like? They're Speaker 2 (10:40) fantastic, obviously. Speaker 4 (10:42) Yeah. Speaker 2 (10:42) Yeah, they're really good. There's one called The Story of My Love Life or The Life of My Story of Love. Speaker 1 (10:51) What's it called? Speaker 2 (10:53) Oh, they're here. Speaker 4 (10:54) Are they all on stream? My Life Speaker 2 (10:56) Story of Love was my favourite. My Speaker 4 (10:58) Life Story of Love. And they're all on streaming. Everyone can just access them. All Speaker 2 (11:01) on streaming, Speaker 4 (11:01) yeah. I mean, gosh. Yeah. I can't believe it. I thought it wasn't coming out for a while. Yeah, Speaker 2 (11:04) no. Speaker 4 (11:04) I thought you announced them. So Speaker 2 (11:05) it was the 50th anniversary on Monday of this week. Yeah. So it was a nice little... Speaker 4 (11:11) God, it's all... You two are 50 as well this week. Everyone's turning 50.