Willie Nelson postponing Mystic Lake gigs

Willie Nelson postponing Mystic Lake gigs

Willie Nelson is going to make us wait even longer for his first Twin Cities headline concert since 2002. His official website announced over the weekend that a week's worth of shows -- including those Friday and Saturday at Mystic Lake Casino in Prior Lake -- have been postponed until October due to an "unanticipated scheduling conflict."

JAKARTA : All rock stars look the same today, tsk-ed an ageing-hipster friend of mine recently, not unlike how my mother pooh-poohs the off-key wannabes on "American Idol" ("Kids today have no star power. Elvis - now that's a star!")

I'd like to add another sweeping statement to the biased pot: All the music journalists look the same today - no matter where in the world you are.

Crumpled grungy plaid shirt or old-school metal tee over a pair of skinny jeans, worn with Converse sneakers and a general disdain for the world (piercings represent rebellion!). It looked like the Ritz Carlton Jakarta had been overrun by mildly depressed, overgrown teenagers still mourning the death of Kurt Cobain, their despondent bodies littered along the carpeted corridors like bleeding-heart memorials to rock 'n' roll.



Hey, it felt like home.

The plaid brigade and I (plaid-less in a Willie Nelson T-shirt) were gathered in the Indonesian capital on February 16 to join together in giddy worship of alt-rock trio Placebo, whose lead singer could never be accused of looking like everyone else.

Brian Molko - an American brought up and residing in Europe - is like the illegitimate love child of Michael Stipe, David Bowie and Shirley Manson. And that's meant to be a compliment. He performs with a fierce bite, speaks with a languid intensity, and dresses with the subtle androgyny of a Ziggy Stardust in the age of Jil Sander. And the 37-year-old has been rocking the eyeliner and nail polish since Adam Lambert was clomping around in his mother's heels.

Formed in 1994, Placebo has been effective medication for a generation of disaffected youth - and then some. Songs like "Nancy Boy", "Teenage Angst", "You Don't Care About Us", "Every You Every Me" and "Special K" continue to be cranked out from behind the bedroom doors of some complicated young people (and still-complicated not-so-young adults).

Their new album - recorded with new drummer Steve Forrest, who replaced the old drummer Steve Hewitt - is called "Battle For The Sun". Molko, Forrest and bassist/guitarist Stefan Olsdal are set to perform at Fort Canning on March 18.

Molko remembers us well, Singapore. Speaking exclusively to TODAY, he said he remembers our island to be clean, warm, and filled with beautiful people.

Of course, the last time they performed here was at MTV's Fashionably Loud event in March 2006, where freakishly beautiful models obstructed their view of us - the greasy, sweaty, crumpled people in the audience.

I didn't correct him. It was a matter of national (in)security.

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