British art rock sensations Radiohead played an awesome performance on the Chicago lakefront on Friday, headlining the first night of the three-day Lollapalooza music festival.  Lollapalooza is billed as the largest alternative music festival in the United States, a midsummer ultra-marathon of music, street food, beer, drugs and sweat.

A sell-out crowd of about 75,000 watched the five-piece ensemble from Oxfordshire, accompanied by a spectacular video and light show as darkness fell over the Windy City.  Bass guitarist Colin Greenwood gave a nod to the host city, wearing a Chicago Transit Authority T-shirt.

Radiohead, which released its first single in 1992, has been this year’s hot ticket as it tours in support of the critically acclaimed 2007 release “In Rainbows.”

The band famously sold downloads of the disk for whatever price customers chose, including for free. Recently Radiohead has led an MTV campaign against sweatshop labor and human trafficking.

Fans camping out ahead of Radiohead’s set said they were at the festival to hear a variety of music. “We just came from The Go! Team, and it was really cool,” said Wayne Bromgard, 22, of Chicago, referring to a band from Brighton, England whose music is heavy on action theme songs and cheerleader chants.

This is one I am very sorry to have missed, I must catch them next time around.

Rock on dude!  New Jersey rockers Bon Jovi will play a free concert in Central Park on July 12, the band announced Monday. The show, billed as an “All-Star Concert in Central Park,” will take place in conjunction with the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, which is set for July 15 at Yankee Stadium. 

The concert will take place at 8 p.m. on the park’s Great Lawn and will not be televised. Fans will be allowed to enter the area beginning at 2 p.m. Tickets will be available beginning July 2 at baseball parks as well as at events throughout New York.

No more than 60,000 tickets will be distributed in an attempt to maintain the safety and integrity of the lawn’s grass, Bloomberg said. “Our interest is in keeping the park open and making sure at the same time that we protect the investment the public has made,” he said.

I can’t wait for this one,  even my 12 year old daughter wants to go with me!

Yikes, a bit of hot water for Boy George. British singer Boy George has canceled his North American tour after U.S. authorities refused to issue him a visa because of legal trouble overseas, he said in a posting on his Web site on Tuesday.

The 47-year-old former Culture Club frontman was scheduled for a 30-date tour, starting with an Aspen, Colorado, show on July 10 and ending in Dallas, Texas, on August 23. The tour was also to take him to New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. George, whose real name is George O’Dowd, was arrested last year and accused of falsely imprisoning a male escort from Norway. The 1980s pop star pleaded not guilty in February, but U.S. authorities denied his visa because of the case.

I guess all is fair in love, war and holding a male escort hostage?

21 year old Sarasota, Florida native Syesh Mercado is a real hottie.

On American Idol they switched up the judges’ format making them hold their comments until every contestant had a turn, Abdul offered feedback for two songs sung by Jason Castro - except that he’d only sung one song, doh! No matter have ditzy Paula acts sometimes you really gotta love her attitude, she is always up and really has only glowing things to say about each contestant, the perfect anti-Simon elixir.

 ”Oh gosh, we’ve never had to write these things down - I’m not fast enough,” she began, shuffling through her notecards. “Jason, first song, I loved hearing your lower register, which we never really hear, um … .” And that’s where she slipped down the slope of no return. “The second song, I felt like your usual charm wasn’t - it was missing for me. It kind of left me a little empty.”

After a bit of nervous crowd laughter, Jackson finally broke the tension. “That was just on the first song,” he said sheepishly, pointing up to Castro. “Just on the first one.” Simon Cowell closed his eyes and shook his head, and began to guffaw as Abdul’s confusion mounted. “Oh my god, I thought you - I thought you sang twice!” she said. She then tried to explain that she got confused by looking ahead at the notes for David Cook. At that point Seacrest, who makes his money by smoothing over situations just such as these, pointed to Abdul, saying: “You’re seeing the future, baby!” before cutting her off and throwing it to Cowell. Big deal, right?

As she hits her 18th chart-topper “Touch My Body,” Mariah Carey has passed Elvis Presley for the most No. 1 singles on the Billboard singles chart, and is now second only to the Beatles. But while the diva was in full celebration mode after learning of her latest milestone, she was also quick to put her accomplishment in perspective.

Carey’s single is the new No. 1 single on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart: The song also is No. 1 on the trade magazine’s digital download chart thanks to a precedent-setting 286,000 downloads in its debut week. She had been tied with Presley with 17 No. 1 singles; the Beatles are the all-time leaders with 20. (Madonna also beat a Presley record this week, surpassing the King for the most top 10 hits with her 37th for her hit “4 Minutes.”).  At age 38 we can probably expect a few more number one singles from her.