Dylan and Young duet … finally!

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Butler to star as Elvis in Luhrmann’s biopic

LOS ANGELES, July 16, (RTRS): Bob Dylan and Neil Young harked back to the days of the Carter administration – the Carter Family administration, that is – on Sunday for their first-on stage duet in a quarter-century: “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”.

Fans had hoped for a teaming between the two at other stops along the way on their European tour, including their massive show Saturday at London’s Hyde Park. But it only came to fruition when the rock legends closed out their trek at Nowlan Park in Kilkenny, Ireland.

Young’s part of the show was streamed on his Archives subscriber service, but that didn’t mean that the duet was part of the broadcast: It came up 11 songs into Dylan’s 20-number set. Dylan performed it standing at the piano, as he does nearly every tune on tour now, while Young joined Dylan’s combo on an acoustic guitar. Although the performance wasn’t streamed, plenty of fans posted it on YouTube.

Writing about the show on Boblinks, attendee Colin Lacey described it as “a joyous mid-set duet” and added, “Bob’s singing was superb. The two giants meeting mid-stage to shake hands felt like a climax, but there was much more top-shelf Bob to come. Dylan seemed to be loving it all, looked fit and sang like his life depended on it. One of the best outdoor Dylan shows I’ve seen – though not everyone agreed: on the way out of the stadium one attendee says, ‘Dylan has lost the plot’. Hard to agree – at 78, he’s still amazing: more like the plot thickens.”

The last time Young and Dylan are believed to have sung together on stage was at New York’s Roseland Ballroom in October 1994, when they were also joined by Bruce Springsteen for a pair of Dylan classics.

Dylan is first known to have sung “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”, a folk and country music standard, live in 1961, and then again in 1996; surprisingly, given all the other traditional songs that he’s sprinkled into his sets over the years, this one never became a staple for him. Young has performed it a handful of times since 1995, with and without Willie Nelson as a duet partner.

Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic has found its king of rock ‘n’ roll.

After numerous screen tests, Austin Butler has been tapped to play Elvis Presley in Luhrmann’s next feature film for Warner Bros. The studio tested with a handful of actors in full hair and make-up at the end of June to see who would join Tom Hanks, who is playing Presley’s manager, Col Tom Parker.

“I knew I couldn’t make this film if the casting wasn’t absolutely right, and we searched thoroughly for an actor with the ability to evoke the singular natural movement and vocal qualities of this peerless star, but also the inner vulnerability of the artist,” Luhrmann said in a statement. “Throughout the casting process, it was an honor for me to encounter such a vast array of talent. I had heard about Austin Butler from his stand-out role opposite Denzel Washington in ‘The Iceman Cometh’ on Broadway, and through a journey of extensive screen testing and music and performance workshops, I knew unequivocally that I had found someone who could embody the spirit of one of the world’s most iconic musical figures.”

Luhrmann also co-wrote the script with Craig Pearce. The movie covers the relationship between the veteran manager and the young singer, who came from dirt-poor origins to become an iconic star who changed the course of music. The project marks Luhrmann’s first film since his adaptation of “The Great Gatsby” starring Leonardo DiCaprio. He most recently worked on the Netflix series “The Get Down”.

The plan is to shoot at the top of 2020 to accommodate Hank’s schedule, which includes the upcoming Paul Greengrass movie “News of the World”, which shoots in the fall.

Also:

NEW YORK: Diddy’s “Making the Band” is officially coming back to TV.

The music mogul announced Monday that the hit series, where he discovered groups including platinum-sellers Danity Kane, would return to MTV in 2020.

“Making the Band” made its debut on ABC in 2000 when Lou Pearlman, who managed the Backstreet Boys and ‘NSync, launched the show and formed the boy band O-Town. Diddy re-vamped the show for MTV in 2002 and discovered the rap group Da Band. Diddy also launched the careers of Day 26, Donnie Klang and Danity Kane – who released two No.1 albums under his Bad Boy Records – on the show.

Diddy went viral last week when he asked his social media followers if he should bring back the series.

The global casting call for the show begins Monday across social media platforms.

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