Russell Crowe on playing Glastonbury: ‘Forget the other job – this is a band of monster musicians’
Russell Crowe has the war wounds of an actor who has completed his own stunts, including several “that didn’t go fully correctly”, over the years. “A whole screed of injuries,” is how he describes it.
So, the thought of a potential Glastonbury mud-fest after weeks of rain? The man who played Maximus Decimus Meridius will be able to handle it.
Well… “Probably,” he laughs. “We’re in the acoustic tent, which is a large tent with a covered stage, so we’ll be okay.”
Crowe makes his Glastonbury debut this year, not as an A-list VIP guest (although he is that, too), but as a performer with his band, Indoor Garden Party.
For those who know him for his “other job”, as he describes his Oscar-winning career of films including Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, LA Confidential, Les Miserables and more, this may come as a surprise – but the star has been playing guitar for far longer than he’s been playing characters.
“I had years and years and years of touring and playing in pubs and clubs and releasing records before I got a feature film,” he says, speaking on Zoom from a studio in Sydney, Australia, just a few days before travelling to Europe. “In fact, when I first started [acting], the idea I would be in a feature film one day was ludicrous.”
Indoor Garden Party are playing Glastonbury, Dublin and Warrington gigs. Pic: Joe Machart/Nick Hodgskin
‘We’re going to blow that place up’
There is a “reset and rebalance aspect” to making music, he says. “Film sets tend to be very controlled. You’ve got to respect the gods of film and be completely ready and have done your research. Just recently, for example, I had a 17-page scene to do with an actor, and that takes an enormous amount of preparation and quiet contemplation to get yourself in the groove.”
But walking out on to a stage to sing is different. “It doesn’t matter what you’ve necessarily prepared, the way the audience responds and everything will adjust and move that show. It’s that kind of anarchy, where you just don’t really know for sure what’s going to happen, that is really attractive.”
Crowe performing in the Czech Republic last year. Pic: CTK/AP
Crowe says he was “chuffed” to get the call for Glastonbury, where Indoor Garden Party will play on the Saturday evening. People who “feel like hooting and hollering” should forget about Russell Crowe, the famous actor, he says, and turn up for the music.
“We’re going to blow that place up,” he says. “It’s like, chuck, all the celebrity bullsh*t aside, or the fame for doing some other job aside. You’ll see a serious band and it’s full of monster musicians who know what they’re doing.”
‘As luck would have it, I saw him again…’
About the music, then. Indoor Garden Party is a collective, led by Crowe and featuring The Gentlemen Barbers band – made up of artists including members of his previous groups, Thirty Odd Foot Of Grunts and The Ordinary Fear Of God – as well as singer-songwriter Lorraine O’Reilly. The music veers between blues, rock, gospel and country, and they have a new album, Prose And Cons, released independently, out now.
The artwork is a simple but beautiful photograph of a swimmer, captured from behind as he looks out over a vast stretch of ethereally lit water.
“Tell you what, I took that photograph with my iPhone, at a place called Woolloomooloo, where I have an apartment, in Sydney,” says Crowe. “I was just walking around the bay and there was a man standing; it was a winter’s morning and it’s quite cold, Sydney Harbour water, in winter, and I think that’s probably what he was contemplating, the temperature he was about to experience.
“If you see the photograph up close, it’s so painterly, what the light was doing with the water – and we haven’t affected it at all, there’s no filters or anything.”
Pic: Indoor Garden Party/ Russell Crowe
Does the mystery swimmer know he’s a cover star for a Russell Crowe album?
“As luck would have it, I was sitting on the balcony one day and I saw him again. So I took off down the wharf and ran around the other side of the bay and had a conversation with him, and he was delighted to be on a record cover. So that’s cool.”
‘I’m a very sentimental person’
Fans will get to hear the new songs live at gigs in Warrington and Dublin, as well as Glastonbury, in the UK and Ireland. But before that, Indoor Garden Party have dates in Italy – including a special gig next to Rome’s Colosseum.
Crowe, who in 2022 was appointed by the mayor of Rome to be the city’s “ambassador to the world”, says he has had a special relationship with Italy ever since Gladiator, the film for which he won his Oscar for best actor in 2001.
Pictured with Julia Roberts after their Oscar wins in 2001. Pic: AP
“This relationship that I’ve had to Italy and Italian people since the release of Gladiator has been incredible,” he says. “I’m the ambassador for Rome in the world… it’s only a little bit of fun, but it’s cool, you know?”
With director Ridley Scott’s Gladiator sequel due for release next year, he says he has considered if things may be different after that.
“Next year they’ll have a new Gladiator, so my relationship to the people of Italy might change quite dramatically. So in a funny way for me – and I know this sounds very sentimental, but I’m a very sentimental person; I was born in New Zealand, I grew up in Australia, we tend to be that way – I’m going to get to go around the country [touring]… and say g’day and goodbye at the same time.”
Crowe says the Gladiator sequel makes him feel ‘old’ – and a ‘tinge of jealousy’. Pic: Reuters
‘There’s a tinge of jealousy’
The Gladiator sequel stars Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal, and will be released 25 years after filmmaker Scott’s first film. Crowe, now 60, has had no involvement, due to (spoiler alert) the events of the original.
How does he feel about it? “I feel old. That’s how I feel about it,” he says. “That period of my life, you know, was a huge change. Everything just went kind of crazy for a while.
“I do have extremely fond memories of it. And, to be completely honest, there’s a tinge of jealousy because I certainly wish I was back at being, you know, 35, 36, in a certain way, so I could have that kind of experience again.”
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The star says he still feels “humbled” by the attention he received for his performance. “Because really, my contribution to the film is quite small. It’s very definitely a director’s movie.
“The world created in that film is the work of Ridley Scott, you know? We did end up making five movies together, Ridley and I, and he’s probably still my favourite director to be on a on a set with.”
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While he has his own films out as well this year, for the next few months, it’s all about the music. There are tour dates in the US after Europe, and after that – who knows. If he likes Glastonbury, maybe there’ll be a sequel to that performance, too.
“If we make the main stage [next time],” Crowe laughs. “We’ll have more time then.”
Russell Crowe’s Indoor Garden Party play Glastonbury on Saturday 29 June, followed by shows at Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre and Warrington Parr Hall. Their album, Prose And Cons, is out now
Fewer police officers are working on unsolved murder cases amid warnings the Metropolitan Police is dangerously stretched.
Five officers from the force are moving from a specialist cold case department investigating the 30-year-old murder of Atek Hussain to instead bolster basic command units.
Mr Hussain, 32, was stabbed in the heart as he returned from work in September 1994. He managed to stagger to his home and tell his family that his attackers were Asian before collapsing.
No charges have ever been brought in the case despite two focused appeals by the police on the 10th and 20th anniversaries of his killing.
Mr Hussain’s daughter Yasmin was 10 when she watched her father die in their family home. She told Sky News she had hoped the Met would launch a renewed appeal on the 30th anniversary of his death this week.
“I waited and waited as September approached, hoping they’d say something but all of the officers I’d been dealing with have either retired or moved on, and it seems nobody knows what to do with me,” she said.
“One person told me to call 101.”
Yasmin Hussain has launched her own appeal for help to find her father’s killers
The Met told Sky News the case is not currently active. However, no unsolved murder investigation is ever closed and Mr Hussain’s case was last reviewed by its Serious Crime Review Group in August.
“Should any new information come to light, it will be assessed accordingly,” it said in a statement.
“In order to better protect the public, including the prevention of future homicides, we are moving some experienced officers from specialist units to bolster BCU (basic command unit) public protection teams to ensure they have the right skills, experience and capacity.
“The MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) continues to maintain a strong capability to investigate cold case homicides. No unsolved homicide is ever closed and all cases remain under review.”
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Clive Driscoll, a former Detective Chief Inspector of the Met Police who finally secured two convictions for the murder of Stephen Lawrence, explains how the forces deal with cold cases.
“Every two years you would review the case to see if there are opportunities. The one that always stands out is forensics opportunities. Forensics moved on while we’ve been talking. So that’s what you would do with a review, you would be looking to see whether or not something has changed from the last time you saw it.”
Mr Driscoll says forces across the country are facing challenges including a shortage of officers and staff, greater scrutiny of the police and an issue with confidence among officers.
Former Met Police DCI Clive Driscoll
“They feel that maybe their job has become harder,” he told Sky News before urging police units to go the extra mile.
“As hard as it may be for a police officer, it can’t be even a slightest comparison of how hard it must be for Mr Hussain’s children who’ve lost their father.”
Recent data shows the annual number of unsolved homicides across Britain has more than doubled since 2010. That is thought to be driven almost entirely by a surge in larger police forces, in particular the Met.
On Wednesday, Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley described the force as “dangerously stretched”, telling an audience at the Police Foundation that a wave of new pressures, a lack of investment, abuse and insults of the police and reduced confidence among officers has left London less safe.
Mr Driscoll warned that failing to properly review unsolved homicides sends a dangerous message.
“We don’t want to send the message out to people that feel they can take the life of a human being and after a certain amount of time ‘oh that’s alright then I’ve got away with it’. The message must always be that if there is an opportunity to affect an arrest, put someone before a court then we will take it. We must always show that we will not forget the victim and also that out there is someone who felt that they can take someone’s life.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Atek Hussain had spent the evening working at his family-run restaurant in Croydon before arriving home to Burnels Avenue in East Ham at around 2.35am on 18 September 1994.
Officers believe he had just got out of his blue Vauxhall Cavalier and was walking towards his front door when he was attacked and stabbed in the chest.
In the absence of a renewed public plea from the police, Yasmin Hussain has launched her own appeal for help finding her father’s killers.
If you have information that could help police, call 101 or post @MetCC, or to remain 100% anonymous contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, or visit crimestoppers-uk.org.
UK
Mohamed al Fayed ‘carried Viagra’ and ‘cherry picked’ women from Harrods shop floor, ex-employee claims
A former member of the Harrods management team has told how Mohamed al Fayed would “cherry pick” women from the shop floor.
Speaking to Sky News anonymously, the woman described the billionaire, who died last year aged 94, as “demonic” and said he “controlled everything with fear”.
Lawyers representing 37 alleged victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Fayed branded him a “monster” who was “enabled by a system that pervaded Harrods” at a news conference on Friday.
The former employee of the luxury department store, which the Egyptian businessman took control of in 1985, worked at Harrods at the height of his power.
“We were all told Harrods is the greatest place on Earth – but he controlled everything with fear,” she said.
“The power dynamic was so strong, in the blink of an eye you would lose your career and they would try and destroy you. It was this dark psychological trap and everybody was caught.”
She said she heard stories Fayed, known to staff as “the chairman”, would grope people although she was never a victim herself.
Harrods department store in London. Pic: AP
“The chairman would walk around the store and he would cherry pick people from the shop floor, if you had blond hair and brown eyes you were favoured,” she said.
“He used to say, ‘I want that one up in my office now’. He used to carry Viagra around in his pocket, and people were so scared of his ‘floor walks’ – if you weren’t smiling enough you were in the shit, if you smiled too much you were also in the shit.”
Read more: Egyptian tycoon was never far from controversy
The ex-employee, who worked at Harrods in her first job after leaving university, said when women were called to Fayed’s office they “couldn’t say no”.
“I would sit her down and I would say I need to let you know what you are walking into,” she said.
“It’s suddenly a pay rise, and you’ll be invited to expensive events and lavished with expensive gifts but really you need to be aware of something.
“I said you will get invited to Park Lane, and parties where there will be lots of rich men, and you would be invited to sleep with people.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
She said she was once asked to see Fayed in his lounge-like office where he was wearing his slippers and said: “When are you going to come up and work for me here?”
The woman said she told him she did not want to work there and went back to her normal job.
“Afterwards he would smile at me and was courteous but then I started getting extra money in my pay packet. I went to the pay office and they said it’s a bonus for what you are doing. It didn’t last long but it happened just after he’d asked to meet him.”
The woman said she now feels “really conflicted” as she was “vulnerable too”.
“It was my first job leaving university. It leaves me feeling angry that we put up with things in that generation, that was our norm,” she added.
Harrods has said in a statement it is “utterly appalled” by the allegations of abuse and apologised to Fayed’s alleged victims.
The department store has also set up a page on its website inviting former employees to come forward if they have allegations.
A body has been found in the search for a missing hospital chaplain who starred in a Channel 4 documentary.
Katherine Watson, 50, was last seen in the Heaton Road area of Newcastle, at about 1pm on Thursday and Northumbria Police had become “increasingly concerned” for her welfare.
But after “extensive searches”, the force said a body had been found in the Jesmond Dene area of the city. Although formal identification has yet to take place, “it is believed to be Katherine”, they added.
“Her next of kin have been made aware and are being supported by specially-trained officers,” it said.
“This is an incredibly sad outcome and our thoughts are with Katherine’s loved ones at this difficult time. We will continue to support them in any way we can and we ask that their privacy is respected.”
Also known as Reverend Captain Katie Watson, she joined the army in her late teens, serving in Bosnia in the 1990s and as part of the Royal Military Police.
“Once you have seen genocide first-hand on the streets of a European country, there is nothing left in the world that can faze you after that,” she told the Church Times in 2022, as the Geordie Hospital documentary was first aired on Channel 4.
“I have seen the worst of humanity and I have seen, and continue to see, the very best of it.”
Ms Watson worked at the Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for more than 16 years and was made head of chaplaincy in 2020.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Channel 4’s documentary Geordie Hospital was a six-part series that filmed hospital staff through a shift, featuring a cast including porters, surgeons, dental nurses and chaplains.
Speaking about her role in the show, Ms Watson said: “We only have two things to offer, the gifts of time and presence, but we give them whole-heartedly.”
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There was an outpouring of support online for Ms Watson following the news she was missing.
“She baptised our baby boy when he passed away at birth and presided over his funeral,” one person wrote on X. “She’s such a wonderful person who gave us unwavering support through our darkest hours.”
Another said: “The compassion and care you gave me and my family when our mum passed last year was a tremendous blessing and support.”
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