opens

IF you’re looking to escape the heat, there is a huge new indoor attraction that is the first of its kind in Europe.

Slick City in Nottingham opened earlier this year, with everything from slides to coasters.

For example, you could head on Royal Flush, where you’ll head down a sheer drop before being whizzed around a massive bowl – just like the motion of a flushing toilet.

Then there is Fast Lane, which is ideal for competitive families as it is a four-lane slide.

On Hyperloop, you’ll head through a number of twists and turns.

The attraction is the first Slick City in Europe and is also home to the world’s first UV AirGlider – a gravity-powered aerial coaster that creates the feeling of flying.

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In between trying out the slides, visitors can test out the interactive games as well.

There’s a freestyle air court and sports court too, which has a cushioned, bouncy base ideal for parkour tricks.

Little ones aren’t left out either, as they can enjoy a soft play area.

While the kids are playing, parents can grab a bite to eat and a drink at the onsite cafe.

Though, Slick City isn’t just for kids – big kids (adults) can also have fun at one of the adults-only nights on the first Friday of every month.

The neon-lit attraction is for ages four and older and if you just want to watch you don’t have to pay entry.

There are a number of different ticket types available including ones for shorter 90 minute sessions and ones for longer two hour sessions.

Tickets cost £19.95 and £24.95 per person, respectively.

If you want to go on the AirGlider you’ll have to pay extra though – it’s £4 for one ride or £10 for three rides.

When at the attraction you also have to wear CitySocks, which cost £3 a pair – but you can keep and re-use them.

One recent visitor commented: “The slides are insane and it’s just so much fun.”

Another added: “Unique experience, such a great idea.

“It’s like a waterpark without the water.”

Little Disasters is a gripping Channel 5 drama series that has been keeping viewers on the edge of their seats.

Channel 5 audiences have been gripped as they follow the compelling series Little Disasters, starring EastEnders‘ Jo Joyner, Bridgerton’s Shelley Conn and The Office’s Patrick Baladi.

The six-part drama chronicles the lives of four friends who have been close for a decade. Yet their bond faces its ultimate test when a single incident transforms everything.

When one of the women, Jess (Diane Kruger), brings their baby daughter to hospital with an unexplained head injury, her close friend and A&E doctor Liz (Jo) finds herself with no option but to alert social services.

This triggers a devastating domino effect as the pressures of motherhood, hidden truths and feelings of guilt are all laid bare in the Channel 5 drama.

Meanwhile, the central question persists: what truly happened to the baby to cause her injury?

The concluding episode of the series is scheduled to broadcast this week, with revelations that could potentially shatter the group completely unveiled, reports the Express.

Last year, actress Jo posted some behind-the-scenes photographs from her time filming the programme, including shots of her alongside castmates wearing prosthetic pregnancy bumps in a flashback sequence.

Another image captured Jo wearing a pink wig, which was donned by Emily Taaffe in one episode. Further snaps featured the cast relaxing during breaks, sharing meals and enjoying games.

Others show Jo smiling at the camera sporting various hairstyles. She captioned the post: “What I did last summer…! After three months in Malta, I had two weeks at home before heading off to Budapest to film the first half of #littledisasters an adaptation of the gripping novel by @svaughanauthor. It was just long enough for me to change my hair from blonde to dark brown with the help of Tracy @westgate_salon & @racoonintl”.

“Filming in 38 degrees in the bustling city surrounded by a wealth of talent. Sitting next to a beautiful and talented Chanel model every morning in makeup, whilst having broken veins and dark circles painted on me, did nothing for my ego.

“But getting to play the down-to-earth, capable and witty Liz more than made up for it. Blessed to have spent the hours off set having great meals, hikes and conversation, and not to forget, crosswords- with the best of cast mates, glad and grateful for the visits from friends and family @n1cky00.

“Yes, we did all try the pink wig on! Choosing baby bumps is harder than you’d think. After spending the first half of the year away, it was a joy to come home and film the remainder in Richmond last summer.”

Little Disasters is currently available to stream on Channel 5.

A NEW multi-million-pound waterfront park is set to open today – and it’s three times larger than London’s Trafalgar Square.

Visitors will be able to walk across a 55-metre bridge from the High Street to the revamped riverside.

Stockton-on-Tees‘ Waterfront Urban Park is set to be unveiled today (June 20), as part of the council’s vision to regenerate the struggling town centre.

The £23million project will bring a “dynamic space for events, leisure and community life” to the area, where residents will be able to enjoy three separate play areas, event spaces and even a skate spot.

The focal feature of the park is a 21,000sq ft amphitheatre designed for live events, which connects the upper and lower sections of the park via 402 granite steps.

Ten-metre play towers, an oval lawn and facilities that can accommodate pop-up food and drink vendors are also key landmarks in the area.

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The history of the town centre has also been integrated into the space, with text, poetry and illustrations featuring Stockton’s heritage carved onto floor and wall surfaces.

Activities for children include a toddler trail, swings, climbing nets, trampolines and “exhilarating” slides connecting the amphitheatre to the riverside.

The waterfront space features sweeping views of the River Tees, and more than 17,000 plants have been installed from over 224 species.

The entire project, completed by contractors Esh Construction, cost more than £41million, which included the demolition Castlegate Shopping Centre and the Swallow Hotel.

Building began in December 2024, and now the opening will take place as part of Armed Forces Celebration Day.

Councillor Paul Rowling, the deputy leader and cabinet member for resources and regeneration, said: “Stockton Waterfront urban park is going to have a transformational effect on the borough, the wider Tees Valley and beyond.

“The Waterfront Park is set to be a catalyst for further investment and drive our ambitions for the future. This is only the beginning of that journey.”

The project has been named “one of the most ambitious regeneration projects in Europe” in a bid to help revitalise the deprived market town.

A HUGE new lido has opened in the UK with saunas and a wellness space.

Found at Canary Wharf’s Eden Dock in London, Sea Lanes is a new ‘floating’ lido.

The 50-metre long and 1.3-metre deep pool is a year- round attraction and has two saunas.

In total there are six lanes for swimming.

Sea Lanes has dubbed it the city’s “leading destination for open water swimming,health and wellbeing”.

Next to the lido, visitors will also find a clubhouse, where wellness events are hosted.

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The first at the clubhouse is on June 25 and features an Open Water Masterclass with Olympian Katy Sexton.

There’s a spot to grab a bite to eat by the pool as well with breakfast dishes including mushroom and avocado flatbread (£11) and build-your-own-lunch bowls from £11.

The pool will be open from 6am to 9pm Monday to Friday and from 7am to 7pm at the weekends.

Make sure to check the website before you visit as well, for the latest details about the weather and water temp.

With this weekend’s weather expected to hit highs of 30C, the current 16.4C water makes for a refreshing dip.

There are a number of different memberships available including the Swim and Sauna membership, which gives unlimited access to the pool and saunas all year round.

It costs £90 per month.

Alternatively, visitors can pay-per-swim, which will cost £10 for a swim session, £10 for a sauna session or £18 for both.

If visitors want to rent a wetsuit, they can do so at a small store too.

The first visitor at the pool today said: “First one in the water on opening day.

“What a fantastic facility in the middle of Canary Wharf!

“The pool was the perfect temperature for swimming without wetsuit.

“The changing facilities were bright and clean with lovely hot showers, hairdryers and lockers.

“Love the two saunas with whole wall picture windows facing the pool.

“From the chats with other swimmers, I can picture a wonderful community developing here.”

Former US President Barack Obama opened his presidential centre in Chicago, using the occasion to call for unity, urging Americans to reject division and invest in the next generation.

June 18 (UPI) — The Obama Presidential Center will open Thursday in Chicago with a long list of celebrities attending.

The grand opening will be livestreamed starting at 11 a.m. CDT Thursday on Obama.org and on the Obama Foundation’s social media accounts. The opening is invitation-only, and there are no more tickets for the Midway Plaisance Park watch party in Chicago.

The center will be open to the public beginning Friday, and it’s expected to see up to 1 million visitors per year. Tickets, which are $30, are sold out through October.

The center is a 19-acre space on the south side of Chicago that features a tall building that includes a museum of the Obamas’ lives. It shows what life was like in the Obama White House.

The campus also has a branch of the Chicago Public Library, an NBA regulation-size basketball court and Women’s Garden dedicated to women leaders in Chicago. It also has an auditorium, a media suite that visitors can use, a Wetland Walk, a fruit and vegetable garden and a playground.

But it’s not a presidential library and doesn’t house the Obama presidential documents. Those are in the mostly digital Barack Obama Presidential Library run by the National Archives, though the center does have some artifacts on display that are on loan.

Some of the celebrities planning to perform are Bruce Springsteen, Christina Aguilera, John Legend, Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Hudson, Marc Anthony, The Roots, Common, Eddie Vedder, Bono and The Edge, Tems and Marsai Martin.

Every living president will be there except President Donald Trump.

CEO of the Obama Foundation Valerie Jarrett has said Trump is welcome to visit the museum, and they’d love to give him a tour. She said he simply was not invited to the dedication.

“I can tell you that this is a celebration for those who helped get President Obama where he is. And this is a gift to them,” Jarrett said. “And so the people who will be here are the people who’ve been helpful along the way.”

EUROPE’S largest funfair is returning to the UK this weekend, as the huge stretch of rides comes back for its 144th year.

Over 400 spectacular attractions will be on offer for all the family, including a new record-breaking ride for the ultimate thrillseekers.

The Hoppings is back for its 144th year this weekend, as Newcastle’s Town Moor anticipates the return of Europe’s biggest funfair.

Located at the heart of the city centre, the funfair offers over 400 attractions and rides for thrillseekers and families alike – from the giant ferris wheel, to the classic helter skelter.

Despite occupying a smaller space than previous years, due to drainage works on the Moor, the fair still keeps all its excitement, and visitors can expect to see a jam-packed line-up.

After centuries of history, and a deep-rooted sense of North East nostalgia the fair evokes, generations of Geordie families love returning to The Hoppings year after year.

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This year, the fair has unveiled a whole host of adrenaline-pumping rides, including the return of fan-favourites Atmosfear and Extreme.

The stage has been set for the arrival of a record-breaking high-flying experience with the launch of the brand-new Elevate85 attraction.

Climbing up to 80metres, this drop tower with flying chairs has been hailed as “the world’s highest travelling ride” – only 10metres shorter than London’s Big Ben.

Foodies have another reason to celebrate with a brand-new Spud Bros stall joining the line-up, only weeks after the launch of its popular North Tyneside store.

The daily line-up also includes a Live Lounge stage with country, rock, and pop music, alongside delicious treats on offer from the Feast Street food village.

The arrival of the Hoppings in the last week of June is a fixture of the Geordie calendar, and has been since 1882.

Opening on the Town Moor over a century-and-a-half ago, the fair was initially marketed as a tee-total event to counteract the boozy activities of Newcastle Race Week.

Its initial form included traditional amusements and roundabouts, as well as kite-flying contests and military shows – a step away from its current form.

The Hoppings has evolved to represent the warmth and welcoming nature of Geordies themselves, and shows a city beyond bustling nightlife and football passion.

Now, the fair attracts over half a million annual visitors to indulge in the vibrant lights, exhilirating rides, and all the fun of the fair.

For those wanting to visit Newcastle, The Hoppings is the perfect starting point for organising a tour, with the city centre situated a 30-minute walk away from the Town Moor.

From there, a walk along the Quayside to see the famous Tyne Bridge, The Glasshouse and River Tyne is a must, with foodstalls often lining the streets on weekends.

Newcastle, and surrounding North East towns, are incredibly well-connected with the Tyne and Wear Metro, with 60 stations and two separate lines.

Many may not know that the city has some of the best coastlines in the UK – travel 30 minutes east on the Metro and visit Tynemouth Longsands and enjoy the scenic views from the coastal villages.

Entry to The Hoppings is completely free this year, with standard ride prices ranging from just £3 to £5 and high-thrill attractions costing slightly more.

The Hoppings is returning for its 10-day bonanza between June 19 and June 28, running from 2pm to 11pm on weekdays, and 1pm to 11pm on weekends.

The saga of the Constellation class frigate is emblematic of so many chronic issues with the Navy’s way of procuring warships. The vessel that was supposed to make the wrongs of the Littoral Combat Ship debacle right failed spectacularly and the timing couldn’t have been worse. Now Constellation is dead and the Trump administration is building a different frigate from a different yard. While the Navy has said why it is moving on, we wanted the other side of the story. We recently had a conversation with George Moutafis, CEO of Fincantieri Marine Group, to get exactly that.

Before we get to the questions and answers, however, here is the backstory.

The U.S. Navy needed the Constellation class frigate, badly, and the program to construct it seemed built to deliver. Rather than a clean-sheet design, the service chose the proven Franco-Italian FREMM as its parent design, betting that adapting an existing platform would be far faster and cheaper, and overall less risky than starting from scratch.

It wasn’t. Among the issues plaguing the program, constant change orders pushed the design far from its origins. Two years into construction, the first ship was barely 10% complete while its design was still being finalized. Meanwhile, costs and schedules blew well past original projections.

As a result of these issues, the Navy late last year cancelled the program. That left Fincantieri’s Wisconsin yard sidelined while a contract to replace the Constellation class frigate went to rival Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula.

In the wake of the program’s implosion, the Navy created the Vessel Construction Manager (VCM) system. It uses a hired manager to hold the prime contract and run the show, overseeing shipyard performance, controlling subcontracts, and acting as a buffer between the service and the builder to keep costs and schedules on track.

In a wide-ranging, hour-long exclusive interview, Moutafis – appointed CEO on July 1, 2025 as the wheels were already falling off this project – gave us unique insights into Fincantieri’s version of how Constellation turned into a debacle and what needs to change as a result. He also touched on an array of other topics, which we will address in future installments.

Some of the questions and answers have been edited for clarity.

Q: Why was the Constellation class frigate cancelled from your point of view? What happened that caused the program – which was seen as a must-succeed endeavor, and hugely promising – to get to the point where it was shuttered?

A: It’s for sure a tricky situation. On one hand, the way the Constellation class program was initially laid out and envisioned – potentially a lot of the things that were driving it may have been ahead of its time.

So, while you’re saying you want to attempt to do one thing, but at the same time you’re not evolving the way you execute can lead you to an undesired effect. And I say this because in my eyes, some of those lessons learned out of Constellation are being manifested in the things that the Navy has been rolling out the past few months – a new approach that empowers PAEs [Navy Portfolio Acquisition Executives] to make decisions, to minimize change, to embrace innovation and new technologies. All these elements that we see now being rolled out, I think to a certain degree, connect back to lessons that have been learned out of the Constellation class journey.

Q: What lessons, specifically?

A: Figure out what you want to prioritize, to what extent you want to prioritize schedule, and what’s the best way to say this. When you know when you need something delivered and at what pace, then enable the right level of decision-making. Because otherwise – I don’t want to sound this the wrong way – but perfection sometimes is the enemy of more than good enough.

Going beyond the Constellation class, now the needs are for vessels to be out there for the warfighter as soon as possible. For sure, we will see many cases where it will be considered that a vessel with these capabilities – even though potentially, in some areas, it may not have enough tons of steel on its sides, or whatever – it will be good enough to assist the warfighter as they head into harm’s way.

Those trade-offs are now being placed at the PAE level, allowing Navy leaders at that level to make the right decisions – figuring out whether to continue going down a design spiral versus just moving out with production and enabling us to have the right capabilities on time for the warfighter.

You can see former Navy Secretary John Phelan announce the cancellation of the Constellation class in the following video.

Q: Could the Constellation class have been salvaged? What would have needed to change to get it to a place where it was affordable, on time and efficient?

A: I think the initial and envisioned approach was a healthy one. Had we kept on track with what was, back then, the principles that led to the selection – but also how it was originally set up – we probably would have kept closer to the original design. And thus allowing [us] to be closer to the original schedule. And thus allowing [us] also to build the vessel that was desired, without delays or major changes.

On our end, from day one or day two – let me say that once the Navy decided their shift, we opted to consciously become a true partner and showcase that we are a true partner to the Navy and the nation. We said, ‘Okay, we will adjust, we will move forward.’ And it’s a clear reality that what we have in Wisconsin is an asset for the Navy, especially in a time like this that leaves all of us eager to serve the way you would need us to serve – whether it’s today through serial production of landing ships and/or icebreakers or others. And in the future, should the small surface combatant segment have additional needs, it’s obvious that the infrastructure [in Wisconsin] has been built to ideally serve that type of vessel, so we’re ready to answer the calling.

Q: Why didn’t the Navy just take the base class and do minimal modifications to it? It became what seemed like a totally new ship.

A: That’s a great question, Howard, but I would need to speculate to answer that one, and I wouldn’t want to do that, because you’re right. But at the same time – what’s the saying? Hindsight is 20/20. It’s probably one of those occasions at this point. But it’s a great question. I’d love to be with you when we pose it to the right folks.

Q: But what do you think is the answer to that question, from your point of view?

A: From our point of view – from the get-go, when the award was made, it was made because there was a review of the requirements, a review of the design, and a review of all the elements that led to recognition that the parent design possessed exactly the right features to represent the path forward. So collectively, we had marched on that path. We might find ourselves in a different situation right now, but like I said, it’s one thing asking somebody to change their M.O. and adopt a new approach without fully empowering them or doing something drastic to signal that type of transformation. And it’s another where we said ‘we will try this new approach.’ But there was a lot of follow-through that was needed.

Everybody has developed experiences in certain ways, and everybody – especially when you have folks that have been doing it for decades – has developed their own rules of thumb and approaches to dealing with certain situations. It’s not easy to pivot an entire structure to a new idea or a new approach. So like I said, probably it was the right idea, but a little bit ahead of its time.

Q: What do you think of the lessons that should be learned from the Constellation class’s story?

A: I want to be a glass-half-full type of guy, so that’s why I connected back the things that I’ve been seeing being rolled out by our Navy the last few months as indeed adopting some of those lessons learned. So I’ll go back to the fact that they’ve decided to find new ways to apply the principle that schedule is king. And those new ways include changes that are not just at the leadership level, not just at the level following that, but indeed of restructuring and reorganizing the teams that are there to implement those guidelines – because that’s key in order to be able to change your ways and adopt lessons learned.

So I’m hopeful that this new approach of the PAE setup will be an enabler to adopt the lessons learned: of how to move fast, of how not to mess with a design especially when it’s meeting and exceeding requirements, of how to manage change – not in the rollout of a change, but in the decision-making of whether to adopt change or not. So a lot of those new ideas that they’ve been trying to apply are promising to that effect.

Q: The Navy adopted the new VCM program to oversee construction of the new Landing Ship Medium (LSM) vessels you are working on. This is a direct result of what happened with the Constellation class, right?

A: I would definitely think so, because it indicates the whole idea that the Navy is recognizing – instead of applying the typical layers of full team presence in the shipbuilder’s yard, additional layers of engineering design, etc. – we’re saying, ‘Okay, in a case where we want to go fast, let’s make our decisions ahead of time, select the design, check it quickly ahead of time, and assign it as a production-related design in the hands of that VCM, and allow an industry set of characters between the VCM and the shipbuilder to deliver.’

Q: What does Fincantieri have to give up in this VCM approach?

A: Thinking on this – Fincantieri, as a global group, likes to be end-to-end with the end customer. Our strategy is to develop the design according to the needs and requirements, move forward all through construction, and even post-construction to provide full support throughout almost the entire lifecycle of a vessel. That’s the Fincantieri model around the globe.

In this case, we’re looking to adjust to the approach that the Navy is looking to apply – and we can view it as a benefit. We can take it on as a build-to-print: be the shipbuilder that respects this design, doesn’t try to mess with it, just works out all the kinks to ensure producibility, and then moves swiftly into quick serial production.

From that perspective, we’re not really giving up something – we’re just placing at the disposal of the nation the assets that are already in place, and looking to produce as many vessels as quickly as possible.

Q: How will this speed up U.S. shipbuilding?

A: How I interpret this strategy is the Navy saying: in programs that work, find an approach that allows them to almost get out of the picture. They recognize schedule is priority number one and a quality vessel is priority number two. In order to enable that ‘build more and build fast’ approach, they’re seeking to place somebody – the VCM – to take on the construction, provide them with a mature, production-ready design with no changes to it, and enable the kind of interaction you’ve seen in commercial shipbuilding. That allows those two parties – the VCM and the shipbuilder – to work fast through daily decision-making in a way that favors schedule without compromising quality.

They’re seeking to equip the VCM with a design that will not be touched – a build-to-print situation – and empower them to make these types of decisions daily, so that at the end of the day they simply deliver a vessel to the Navy, minimizing the Navy’s need or propensity to intervene.

It’s an innovative approach, and it definitely requires all parties to give up habits and practices that have taken hold in the past. As long as parties stick with this new approach, it has a great chance of success. On our end, we’re trying to be disciplined in respecting it and pushing forward.

Our next installment of this interview focuses on how Fincantieri is planning to help build Trump’s Golden Fleet and the challenges ahead.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

TEDDY SWIMS says he is glad he was 30 years old before achieving global success – otherwise he could have gone off the rails.

The US star, whose single Lose Control sent his profile rocketing in 2023, said he doesn’t understand how younger stars like Benson Boone have coped with their early fame.

Teddy explained: “He’s crushing it at, like, 23. If they would have gave me that at 23, I would have sent that straight up my nose.

“Thank God it happened to me at the time it did and I’m capable of understanding this and taking it seriously.

“I’d have probably been so terrible about it. I’d have spun out immediately if I’d been given that at such a young age.”

Since then though, Teddy’s had further hits with The Door and Bad Dreams, but doesn’t let success get to his head.

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He said: “I try not to hang up my diamond or platinum records in my house, because I feel like I’ll just be looking at them and be like, ‘My best days are behind me,’ or something.

“So I try just to keep my head down and keep rocking.”

Asked if they’re in storage, he confessed: “A lot of them I’ve given to my family on Christmas. It saves me a little money there too.

“You know, my aunt’s got The Door gold record from a year ago.”

A real beauty spot, Maya

MAYA JAMA is clearly feline fine as she turns up the heat in a skimpy leopard-print mini dress.

The Love Island host sizzled as she fronted the dating show’s ITV2 spin-off Aftersun in the slinky number.

Maya, who previously dated grime star Stormzy, split from her Manchester City footballer boyfriend Ruben Dias in April after 18 months together.

But she clearly isn’t moping around, and has been on holiday in Ibiza, where she flaunted her curves in a tiny bikini.

Maya said of the break-up: “I’m an all-or-nothing girl, I don’t casually date, so yes, I will love loudly or not at all – and if it ends, it ends. I decided a long time ago not to base my life decisions on public opinions.”

Sounds like she’s got the dating game sussed.

JACK WHITEHALL has apologised to Becky Hill for calling her a “Wetherspoons Whitney”, claiming the pair “had a chuckle” about his dig – despite her writing diss track Daddy’s Range Rover about him.

I revealed last month how Becky has penned the song all about him making her the butt of a joke while he hosted the 2024 Brits.

Jack says: “I think my biggest surprise is it’s taken so long for some- one to write a diss track about me. I apologised when I saw her.”

Becky doesn’t sound like she sees the funny side, however – blasting the “privately educated nepo baby”.

Jesy’s hol of a look

LITTLE MIX singer Jesy Nelson celebrated her 35th birthday pondering what is coming next for her.

Holidaying with friends, she mused: “Whatever will chapter 35 bring?”

Well, it is unlikely to bring a reunion with her estranged former bandmates.

Jesy was not a guest at Perrie Edwards’ wedding to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in Portugal over the weekend, after Perrie said Jesy made her “blood boil” by claiming she felt unsupported during a mental health crisis.

Whatever comes next, it’s going to be a page-turner.

LEAH LETS LOOSE IN IBIZA

ENGLAND women’s football captain Leah Williamson made the most of her break from the game by enjoying a wild girls’ trip to Ibiza.

I’m told the Arsenal player let her hair down at the White Isle’s most legendary club Pikes last week.

Then on Friday night she let loose at Calvin Harris’ residency at superclub Ushuaia, where she partied with pals and her model girlfriend Elle Smith.

One onlooker told me: “Leah was ­having a great time doing shots with her mates – she was really ­living her best life.”

A calf injury meant she was ruled out of the last Lionesses squad, and it sounds like she is still feeling the effects as Leah wasn’t dancing as much as her mates.

But I reckon a blow-out in Ibiza might be just what she needs before getting her head back in the game.

FRESH off a collaboration with Ed Sheeran, Martin Garrix has teamed up with Madonna.

The Dutch DJ debuted Bizarre, one of the tracks from Madge’s highly anticipated Confessions II album, during a New York party.

From the clip I’ve heard, it sounds like an absolute beast.

ASTON: MY BOY’S READY TO HAVE BITE AT POP STARDOM

JLS star Aston Merrygold reckons he could have the next Justin Bieber on his hands in the form of his talented eldest son.

He revealed that eight-year-old Grayson Jax is already showing serious star potential.

The Beat Again singer said: “My oldest is full-on – he’s ready, he wants to do everything. He’s so much better than I ever was. Little Justin Bieber on the way.”

While fans wait to see if another Merrygold is about to hit the charts, Aston is juggling life as a musician with being a hands-on dad to his three children and setting a good example.

The singer has teamed up with Bupa Dental Care to launch the kids’ story and audiobook The ­Dentist’s Apprentice, aimed at ­helping youngsters overcome fears over check-ups on their teeth.

Aston said: “The whole premise is about trying to get rid of dental anxiety that young people have.

“Having all that pent-up anxious energy is not healthy for anyone. The dentist is about check-ups, it’s about prevention.”

Aston will soon be back on the road with JLS for their UK tour.

They are playing eight more shows, ending in Derby on August 29.

IF you’re looking for a new London hang-out spot, Olympia has it all from pretty bars to top-tier entertainment.

After a £1.3billion upgrade, the impressive project is opening its rooftop ‘Canopy’ today and its music venue later this week.

The enormous revamped building in West Kensington is opening its rooftop bars and restaurants that can only be found at Olympia today.

For anyone who fancies Mexican, check out Bar Arriba which serves up fresh cocktails and small bites from tacos to tostadas.

Lillie’s Wine Bar & Restaurant is the spot for the best of British food from Gressingham duck to Devon crab salad and you can even try a rhubarb and custard cocktail.

The outside area looks like an English country garden too with sculptures and beds of daffodils.

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At Wolves of Tokyo dig into Japanese dishes from sushi to grilled skewers, gyozas and tartare.

Arbour is the food hall which has more of a casual vibe and inside are four different spots; Café Modo, Fry Baby, The Rambler and Whammy Burger.

All of these spots are up on the rooftop so they’re perfect for a sunny weekend.

But if the weather doesn’t play ball, there is a retractable roof to protect punters from the rain.

Another dining venue at Olympia called Pillar Hall opened in March, 2026.

It’s found in the Grade-II listed part of Olympia that was built in 1886 and is home to Idalia an all-day restaurant and Pepperbird, a speakeasy-style bar.

That’s not all that opens this week as tomorrow, the state-of-the-art music venue, British Airways ARC will open.

It’s been described as a ‘world-class venue’ which will host music, comedy and entertainment.

It will start with performances by Self Esteem and McFly before the likes of Van Morrison and Khalid take to the stage later in the year.

This will be followed by the 1,575-seat British Airways Theatre in 2027 which will be London’s largest new theatre in 50 years.

The Hyatt Regency hotel which will have 204 rooms will open to guests from July 6.

The other on-site hotel, CitizenM London Olympia will have 146 rooms and is expected to open this summer, although no official date has been announced.

Olympia London first opened in 1886 and has held performances by Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd and was used as an exhibition space by the likes of Vivienne Westwood.

KATIE Price has said that nobody knew just how bad things were for her when she experienced some very ‘dark moments’ in her life.

The TV star, 48, is gearing up for the release of her upcoming tell-all docuseries, Katie Price: Nothing to Hide – in which she will recount her 2018 and 2021 breakdowns.

Her candid and unfiltered account of three decades in the spotlight is coming to Sky and NOW on July 8.

This week, Katie attended the Sheffield DocFest where she revealed that during her darkest moments and confessed ‘no-one knew how bad it was’, with this set to play out in her new series.

Katie suffered a major mental breakdown in around 2018 following a build-up of traumatic events in her life, she then suffered another in 2021.

She experienced severe depression, suicidal thoughts, and even checked into The Priory amid her breakdown.

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Speaking about this at the DocFest event ahead of her Sky show dropping next month, Katie got candid and confessed: “When I had my breakdown, I don’t think people really knew how bad it was, and how it affected people in my life.

“To hear that my loved ones cried and how much they loved me is like a wake-up call for me.

“There are some really dark moments [in the series] but at the same time, uplifting.

“People have to remember that it’s actually my life, so if you’re exhausted just watching it, imagine how exhausting it is for my little pea brain.

“But I really enjoyed doing it.

“I said they should do 10 parts and they wanted to, but we were lucky to push it to four [episodes].

“There’s still so much you could put in it. Even from what you’re reading today.”

Elsewhere at the event, Katie said: “I’m an open book.

“When [the team] came to me about the documentary, I got excited because something about me and my life is perfect.

“The media narrative is so different to what I’m really like but as you say, every day, even now, there’s always something.

“My life could actually be a soap story – it just doesn’t stop. I’m normal but it’s a weird world I live in. I can’t explain it.”

She also touched on being authentic.

“I have nothing to hide, and when they asked me, ‘are there any areas you don’t want us to go?’, I said, no! You can talk to absolutely anyone you want and you can talk to me about anything you want,” she confessed.

“Luckily the duty of care was amazing. Sometimes after two hours [of interviews], I couldn’t do any more.

“There are moments where I’ve had therapy to get over some of the things in my life, and I had to relive them.

“But I think this is what makes a good show, and I love watching documentaries.

“So many people are so manufactured and they’re in on the edits, so they look like a polished turd, basically. I am not that!

“Even I’m cringing at some of the stuff in the first episode! I haven’t had time to reflect on anything in my life because there’s always the next thing, and the next thing.”

HOLLY Hagan says she has been left in ‘excruciating pain’ while attempting to breastfeed her newborn daughter.

The Geordie Shore star, who gave birth last weekend, told fans that part of her nipple had ‘fallen off’ after spending 12 hours feeding the newborn.

Taking to her Instagram Stories, Holly opened up about struggling to breastfeed, admitting there was something stopping her from being able to feed comfortably.

Sharing how it currently feels like ‘glass’ going through her breasts, the reality star said she had been through a night from hell with daughter Madison-Darci.

The mum-of-two, who also shares son Alpha-Jax with her husband Jacob Blyth, wrote to the platform “Apologies for the lack of update but we had a BADDD night.

“Little missy awake for like 5 hours 3-8, nothing would settle her, she’d just fall asleep and wake up again.

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“My nipples honestly feel like they have glass running through them. I worked out I fed her 18 times for an average of 40 minutes that’s 12 hours of my day sat feeding! I have zero time to think about eating which is WILD for me I think about food 24/7.

“My bum hurts so much from constantly sitting down, my body hurts so much from being so tense when she feeds through the excruciating pain.”

Holly continued that Madison-Darci – who is sweetly named after her late sister – has been checked by doctors, who have confirmed there is no issue with her.

“Yes she’s been checked twice for a tongue tie. It’s not her latch that’s actually so strong, it’s my anatomy.

“It’s still excruciating with a nipple shield, still can’t get any more of my nipple in her mouth after expressing a bit off. Thank god I’d caught quite a bit of milk and stored it in the fridge so Jacob could take her this morning.

“But wow hats off to anyone who breast feeds it is more than a full time job!”

Despite the agonising pain, Holly, who didn’t breastfeed the first time around, said she is going to keep trying in the hopes it will get easier.

She ended the story: “I thought I wouldn’t care about adding formula especially since I only did formula with AJ but I REALLY want to breast feed this time!

“Not going to give up just yet, trying some bigger shields and seeing if my nipples toughen up.. a physical piece of my nipple fell off today LOL”.

In many ways, the most ambitious World Cup in history — which kicked off Thursday in Mexico City — has inspired more angst than anticipation, more fear than fervor.

The competition, returning to North America for the first time in more than three decades, has expanded to 48 teams and 104 matches, to be played over 39 days in 16 cities in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. The complex planning was eight years in the making.

Yet even before the competition opened with Mexico facing South Africa at the iconic Estadio Azteca, it has been marred by a number of controversies that threaten to overshadow the soccer and cloud the tournament’s legacy.

“I view this World Cup as the most politically combustible World Cup in recent history. And that’s saying something,” said Jules Boykoff, a political science professor at the University of Portland and author of eight books on the politics of international sport.

“We’re in uncharted territory in many ways.”

Relations between the host countries, once strong, have been strained by the Trump administration’s tariff policies and disagreements over border security. Travel bans have barred potential World Cup visitors — and even support staff and match officials — from entering the U.S. and others are fearful of making the trip, worried about ICE raids and immigration roundups.

The U.S. is at war with a tournament qualifier, Iran. And Iran has fired missiles and drones on Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, nations that also are World Cup participants.

The International Sports Press Assn. said Iranian and African journalists have been denied visas to cover games in the U.S., and Iran protested after more than a dozen members of its support staff had their requests to enter the U.S. rejected. The Iranians, who were forced to move their training base from Tucson to Tijuana, will spend limited time in the U.S. during group-play games that will take place in Inglewood and Seattle.

Players and journalists from Senegal, Uzbekistan and Iraq have been detained at U.S. airports for up to seven hours by immigration officials. Then on Monday, Omar Artan, a decorated referee and the first Somali official selected to work a World Cup, was turned away at Miami International Airport.

In addition, ticket prices have been so high and the lottery process for obtaining them so opaque, the attorneys general of New York and New Jersey have begun formal investigations into FIFA practices. Other states, including California, hosting tournament matches have begun asking questions as well.

All that has conspired to produce a World Cup that is struggling to catch on with the public. According to a recent poll by Yougov.com, a majority of Americans — 54% — say they are not at all interested in the tournament and nearly six in 10 say they will not watch any matches.

“People are just in a bad mood,” Boykoff said. “It’s a tough time.”

FIFA president Gianni Infantino remains optimistic, promising this will be “the biggest, the most inclusive, the greatest FIFA World Cup ever.” He made the same claim about the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the 2018 tournament in Russia.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino speaks during a news conference on Wednesday before the start of the World Cup.

(Carl Recine / Getty Images)

“The World Cup should be understood as both a global sporting celebration and a major commercial enterprise, with these two dimensions being mutually enforcing rather than contradictory,” said Steve Georgakis, a lecturer on sports studies at the University of Sydney and a frequent author on soccer.

This year’s tournament is projected to swell FIFA’s coffers by nearly $9 billion and the TV ratings, it says, will be massive.

“Its universal appeal combined with the participation of 48 nations ensures that it remains a genuinely global sporting event,” Georgakis said.

Boykoff has his doubts.

“In this particular political moment, with the Trump administration being erratic and impulsive and needing a win from this tournament and the fact there’s so many moving parts geopolitically, I don’t have confidence that it’s just going to end up being a soccer-focused next five weeks,” he said.

This is not the first World Cup to kick off under some kind of black cloud.

The 1974 tournament in West Germany was tarred by the geopolitical fallout of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Four years later Argentina’s military dictatorship used the World Cup to sportswash a “Dirty War” in which as many as 30,000 people were tortured, murdered and disappeared.

The 2010 and 2014 World Cups were troubled by cost overruns and delays in the construction of stadiums and other infrastructure and the threat of labor unrest while global outrage over human rights violations and discrimination against women and LGBTQ people hung over the last two tournaments.

Those issues never fully disappeared but were overshadowed by the brilliance of the soccer. Jonathan Wilson, a columnist with the Guardian and author of “The Power and the Glory: The History of the World Cup,” expects the same this summer.

“The other stuff will still be there in the background,” he said, “but fundamentally the football will, for the vast majority of people, take over. It’s just sort of a natural cycle.”

Argentina star Lionel Messi controls the ball during an international friendly against Iceland on Tuesday.

(Butch Dill / Associated Press)

And as with every World Cup, there undoubtedly will be unforgettable moments.

Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, the top scorers in soccer history, will be playing in their sixth and final World Cups — Messi chasing a second straight title and Ronaldo pursuing the only prize that has eluded him.

Kylian Mbabbe will be trying to take France to a third consecutive final while young superstars like Erling Haaland of Norway and Lamine Yamal of Spain will be looking to put their mark on their first World Cups.

Four teams — Jordan, Curacao, Cape Verde and Uzbekistan — have qualified for the tournament for the first time.

And there will be other storylines no one saw coming, all of which will contribute to the narrative of this World Cup.

“Major sporting events have a way of capturing public attention and shifting the conversation toward what is happening on the field rather than off it,” Georgakis said.

How much the actions of the Trump administration affect that calculation remains to be seen.

There are travel restrictions in place that fully or partially bar citizens from 39 countries — including a number of World Cup participants — from entering the U.S. And the administration has said ICE and Homeland Security personnel will have a visible presence at World Cup venues, including SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, where the American team will begin play Friday.

“There will be federal agents,” confirmed L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna, who added that he could not guarantee immigration sweeps would not take place. “ They told us that specifically would not be occurring,” he said. “Any of that’s subject to change.”

Mexico fans celebrate during a watch party at Plaza Mexico in Lynwood on Thursday.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

The difficulty in obtaining visas and the fear of being rounded up by immigration agents are being blamed, in part, for less-than-expected tourist traffic. Hotel operators in all 11 World Cup host cities say bookings for the tournament are well below projections. Several countries have issued warnings about travel to the U.S.

Then there are the own goals from FIFA over tickets and parking prices as high as $900 at some stadiums, weather issues and a short-lived ban on water bottles.

FIFA has defended its policies on ticket prices by arguing that premiums are necessary to maximize revenue, which it will invest in global soccer development. Variable, market-based pricing, it said, simply reflects standard entertainment practices in North America. The organization did, however, reverse its ban on fans bringing bottles into games. Spectators are now allowed to enter stadiums with one soft, plastic 20-ounce water bottle.

And despite a warning from climate scientists that one in four World Cup games could be played in dangerously hot conditions, FIFA will start 40 of them at 3 p.m. or earlier local time, the warmest time of day, to accommodate European TV viewers.

Georgakis said the play on the field will have to overcome all those issues if this World Cup is to earn a favorable place in history.

“Ultimately the success of the World Cup will be judged by what happens on the field,” he said. “If the football is compelling, dramatic and memorable, the tournament will likely be remembered as a great World Cup. If the play falls short, then the off-field issues such as ticket prices, extreme heat, ICE enforcement activities, the Trump administration will receive great attention and could shape perceptions of the event.”

FATBOY Slim has opened up about the ‘awkwardness’ he felt with ex Zoe Ball after their divorce, shortly after they reunited to take some new family snaps.

The couple tied the knot in 1999 but their romance wasn’t all smooth sailing, with Zoe admitting to having an affair with DJ Daniel Peppe.

After briefly separating the duo got together again three months later up until their divorce in 2016.

Speaking to Davina McCall on her Begin Again podcast about it Fatboy Slim, real name Norman Cook, shared how ‘awkward’ he felt with Zoe initially after the split as they attempted to co-parent their children Woody and Nelly.

Though overall the star praised the dynamic him and Zoe hold today, saying it might even be better now than when they were a couple.

He said: “Our triumph is to remain really good friends and parents, even though we’re not a couple anymore… 

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“It was a bit awkward at first, but then we got this rhythm where… we’re probably actually better than we were when we were a couple.

“You sign on to be parents, that’s for life. 

“You can sign up for marriage and you can get divorced. But you can never stop being parents.”

Norman also praised Zoe for being really good at keeping him “grounded”, noting: “Going through it together was great because, Zoe is a really good teacher, she was really good, really measured and she’s kept me really grounded to earth…”

The podcast chat comes a week after Norman and Zoe reunited to attend a friends wedding over the weekend.

Their daughter Nelly was a bridesmaid at the stunning event that took place at Parnham Park in Dorset.

Zoe posted a series of sweet clips and snaps from the day to her Instagram account.

She wore a cream dress with a slit covered in ruffles, while Norman opted for a handsome grey suit.

In the post’s caption, Zoe penned: “Congratulations Eva & James & Willow

“We love you so much. The most perfect wedding celebration for our dear magic friends.

“Groomsmen, Bridesmaids & a few close folk to celebrate the Wedding.”

FANCY staying in a hotel that’s so big it feels like a docked cruise ship?

Well, you are in luck, as Hotel Gołębiewski Pobierowo in Poland will open next week with a staggering 1,240 rooms in total, making it one of the largest hotels in Europe.

Spread across 13 floors, the cruise ship-like hotel actually boasts more rooms than the total population of Pobierowo itself (1,000 people).

Inside the hotel – which officially opens on June 17 – guests will find 50-square-metre rooms, most with a balcony.

And the Baltic Sea Beach is just 150 metres from the hotel, so you couldn’t be closer to the sand.

If you don’t like getting sandy toes, then the hotel also has a 104-metre-long pool, a waterpark, indoor pools, whirlpools and saunas.

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For kids wanting to have some fun, there are also waterslides and a children’s area.

One slightly more unusual feature of the hotel is a salt grotto.

Adults wanting to relax a little can enjoy live piano music in the lobby as well.

But the hotel’s offerings don’t stop there.

It also boasts climbing walls, a cinema and a bowling alley – so you’ll never run out of fun things to do.

Forgot something? You needn’t worry as the five-star hotel also has a supermarket for guests.

And if you like keeping fit, there are volleyball courts as well.

Rooms at the hotel cost from €350 (£302.34) a night, with a suite costing up to €900 (£777.45) a night.

It sits right by the beach, which features golden sand and stretches 2.5 miles.

It is also known for being a great spot to watch the sunset.

The closest city to the hotel is Szczecin, which is about an hour away.

Flights from the UK to Szczecin cost from £15 in June and take under two hours.

The German border is also only 37 miles from the hotel, with Berlin under a three-hour drive away.

Other big hotels in Europe include The Royal National Hotel in Bloomsbury, London, which has around 1,630 rooms in total.

There’s also Barceló Punta Umbría Beach Resort in Spain, which has around 1,200 rooms spread across three buildings, costing from £160 per night.

Call the Midwife favourite Judy Parfitt appeared on ITV’s Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh

A Call the Midwife legend has opened up about their emotional exit from the BBC drama.

Judy Parfitt is best known for playing Sister Monica Joan in the long-running series. Viewers were therefore left heartbroken when the cherished nun passed away peacefully in her bed at Nonnatus House in the season 15 finale.

During her final moments, Sister Monica Joan was emotionally reunited with Sister Evangelina (played by Pam Ferris), who unexpectedly died during the season five finale from a suspected stroke.

Actress Judy Parfitt appeared on ITV’s Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh on Sunday (June 7), where she was joined by Brian Conley, Freddie Fox, Julian Ovenden and Honeysuckle Weeks.

After being shown an “enormously sad” clip of Sister Monica Joan being reunited with Sister Evangelina, Alan said: “I can’t watch that,” with Judy admitting: “Neither can I!”

She added: “Showing me at my best, I see. Also, [I] had a cap and it had the thing [go] round, so all the wrinkles were pushed up. So, [you think], ‘God, do I look as bad as that?’ And the top lighting, it looked like the Grand Canyon!”

On being reunited with Pam Ferris, Judy went on: “It was absolutely wonderful, because, I think, Pam left after four years, and we used to sit together quite a lot during the time she was there, swapping recipes and everything – it was wonderful.

“I hadn’t seen her, we only phoned a couple of times after she left, and it was so wonderful to do that scene with her, because it’s like you’ve found your teammate, sort of [like] tennis or something, and she was throwing the ball back.

“It was just a lovely atmosphere, and we’ve kept in touch ever since then – it was lovely.”

Judy then looked back on being part of the drama for so many years, sharing: “It was like a family, and that’s what I miss terribly. We’d seen each other through marriages, births, deaths, divorce – everything. And we helped each other.

“It was lovely because it was mostly women. Sorry guys, but it was wonderful to be in a show where instead [of there being] 13 men and two women – one young one and one old one – you have a show with all these women. There was no jealousy, no rivalry or anything. It was wonderful.”

BBC viewers will be pleased to learn that they haven’t seen the last of Sister Monica Joan.

Following the latest season of Call the Midwife, the show will rewind the clock to World War II with a prequel series, titled Sisters in Arms, which will be set in Poplar during the London Blitz.

Creator and writer Heidi Thomas revealed that it will include younger incarnations of Sister Monica Joan, as well as Sister Evangelina and Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter).

The returning Sisters will also be joined by three new young midwifes, who are new to the East End.

Call the Midwife is available to watch on BBC iPlayer, while Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh is streaming on ITVX

French activists who took part in a Gaza-bound foreign aid flotilla accuse Israeli forces of abuse and torture.

French anti-terrorism prosecutors say they have opened a preliminary investigation into suspected “torture” and “war crimes” over Israel’s alleged mistreatment of French activists who took part in a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last month.

The probe was opened on Friday following a referral from the foreign ministry late last month, said the national counterterrorism prosecutor’s office (PNAT), after activists on the Global Sumud Flotilla accused Israeli authorities of severe mistreatment during their detention.

Israel abducted and detained some 430 activists from about 40 countries after intercepting them in international waters on May 18 as they made the latest in a string of attempts to break the blockade on Gaza, which the United Nations and human rights organisations say is illegal, describing it as a form of collective punishment.

Israeli far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir attracted widespread condemnation after he posted a video mocking the flotilla activists while they were bound.

France banned Ben-Gvir from entry and, like several other allies of Israel, summoned the Israeli ambassador over the incident.

Several French activists described what they said was a violent and humiliating ordeal when eight of them returned to France on May 22.

Two of the more than 30 French people who were on board the flotilla were still hospitalised in Turkiye, they told reporters.

One returnee described a soldier groping and slapping her in a dark container, and being terrified that she would be raped.

Another recounted detained activists being put in what she called a “stress position”, on their knees with their foreheads on the ground for several hours, while the Israeli national anthem played on repeat.

‘Most severe case of ill-treatment’ in a decade

Speaking to Al Jazeera late last month, Suhad Bishara, legal director at Adalah, the Israeli legal centre for Palestinian rights, said that without accountability, Israel will continue to use violence against activists.

“Based on accounts received, and drawing on over a decade of representing flotilla participants, this appears to be the most severe case of ill-treatment documented in the past 10 years, potentially amounting to torture,” said Bishara.

Adalah lawyers have been informed of repeated physical violence resulting in serious injuries, prolonged stress positions, and sexual humiliation and harassment.

The Global Sumud Flotilla said it has documented at least 15 cases of sexual abuse.

Lawyers for French flotilla activists have said they plan to file a separate complaint on behalf of their clients over allegations of rape, torture and humiliation.

The activists have refused to meet with the French government to discuss their experiences, accusing it of supporting Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Asked by the AFP news agency to respond to the claims of mistreatment, the Israeli prison service said the accusations were “entirely without factual basis”.

Francesca Albanese, an outspoken UN expert on the Palestinian territory, has said the treatment of the flotilla activists “is a luxury compared to what is inflicted on Palestinians in Israeli prisons”.

THE UK’S biggest strawberry-picking field that spans more than 150 acres is an affordable day out.

A trip to a pick-your-own fruit farm is a wholesome activity that should be on everyone’s summer checklist.

And a Surrey farm, 19 miles from London, boasts Britain’s largest strawberry picking field, with acres of plants to harvest your own fruity treats from.

Garson Farm in Esher has been growing crops for over 155 years and now welcomes visitors to have a field day picking strawberries every summer.

Open now for the season, guests can take to the expansive greenery and help themselves to the tunnel-grown strawberry plants.

Open rain or shine every day of the week, the farm costs just £2.50 per person to enter, while under twos go free, with bookings limited to eight tickets.

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The farm is open from 9am to 6pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 5pm on Sundays and the ticket price does not cover any crops picked during the outing.

While fruit fans can expect supplies of strawberries in the field to be booming in the height of summer, the farm warns that crops can be limited during the early season.

“The 2026 PYO season has begun with delicious early-season strawberries,” the Garson Farm website states.

“During the early season, crops may not yet be available in abundance. In this phase, we may need to rest the crops to allow them time to grow and produce more fruit.”

Typically, the UK’s strawberry season is between June and late August, with mid-July being peak time.

The farm also offers its pick-your-own deal for plenty other fruits and veggies when they are in season, although it’s just strawberries up for grabs right now.

There are apples, blackberries, carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, cherries, onions, plums and more growing in the fields – but the farm states that “these crops need more time to grow” for now.

A waterfront amphitheater roughly twice the size of the Greek Theatre and two-thirds the size of the Hollywood Bowl is set to open this week in Long Beach — and there’s a lot riding on its success.

City leaders hope F&M Bank Amphitheater of Long Beach, located next to the famed Queen Mary, will supplant declining revenues from oil extraction and lead to an uptick in tourism. Concert promoters, meanwhile, see it as filling an important gap in Southern California’s music venue market.

The temporary amphitheater, which has a maximum capacity of 11,000, is meant to be a precursor to a permanent “Long Beach Bowl,” which is being pitched as the largest waterfront venue on the West Coast. The site opens June 6 with a performance by native son Snoop Dogg, and is expected to last for up to 10 years.

The new amphitheater represents a years-long dream of Mayor Rex Richardson, who began championing an outdoor performance venue on the waterfront in 2023. Soon after the closure of Irvine’s FivePoint Amphitheatre in October of that year, he accelerated those plans by proposing this facility. The general feeling was that Irvine’s loss could be Long Beach’s gain.

“This will be a place where memories are made, where music brings people together and where our city shows up on the big stage,” he said during a January groundbreaking. “The amphitheater represents direction to invest in our city’s future, to embrace our creative economy [and] to shape how people experience Long Beach for generations to come.”

Good vibes by the water is the driving energy behind the temporary venue.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

While Los Angeles and Orange County have no shortage of cavernous indoor arenas, the region has recently lacked a proper “summer shed” capable of hosting many national amphitheater tours, said Nick Storch, head of global artist development for booking agency Independent Artist Group. Those tours typically play venues larger than the Greek, Irvine’s Great Park Live or Costa Mesa’s fairgrounds-adjacent Pacific Amphitheatre, but smaller than the Hollywood Bowl.

Such tours, Storch said, are of “massive” importance to the concert industry. “With amphitheaters, it’s not just the music — it’s the experience of being outside and watching a concert, getting a bite to eat with your friends and all those kinds of things,” said Storch, whose agency’s clients Motley Crue and Five Finger Death Punch will perform at the F&M Bank Amphitheater in September.

“FivePoint was a great venue to help artists that are in that in-between stage, and not fully ready for arenas,” he said. “Long Beach having an amphitheater is going to grow the market again.”

Amphitheaters are also crucial to veteran artists with established fan bases. The long-running hard rock band Tesla — who also will perform at the F&M Bank Amphitheater in September — has not played a show in Los Angeles or Orange counties since the closure of FivePoint, which hosted the group twice.

Brian Wheat, the band’s bassist and manager, said he’s excited the new venue will help change that. “Sheds are great in the summertime, and outdoor summer gigs always create a great atmosphere for both bands and fans,” he said.

Much like the F&M Bank Amphitheater, FivePoint Amphitheatre was designed to serve as a temporary venue following the closure of Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, which operated from 1981 to 2016. (From 2000 to 2014, it was known as Verizon Wireless Amphitheater.)

At 11,000 seats, the amphitheater is roughly two-thirds the size of the Hollywood Bowl. Its permanent replacement will be “architecturally iconic,” said Mayor Rex Richardson, while this temporary version is likened to a “summer shed.”

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

From its opening in October 2017 until its closure, FivePoint hosted nearly 500 concerts, including artists such as KISS, Dave Matthews Band, Charlie Puth, Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs.

Venue operator Live Nation — which manages more than 300 facilities across the country — initially hoped to build a permanent amphitheater nearby, but scrapped those plans in 2023 after the Irvine City Council ended negotiations. Soon after, Live Nation announced the venue would shutter.

After learning of Live Nation’s fallout with Irvine, Richardson and members of his economic development team attended the final FivePoint concert, a performance by the Zac Brown Band, to “explore the feasibility if we were to do the same thing.”

Three months later, Richardson announced plans to build a temporary amphitheater in Long Beach to bridge the gap until a permanent facility — which he envisions as an “architecturally iconic and significant” waterfront venue akin to San Diego’s Rady Shell at Jacobs Park — can be permitted, financed and constructed.

The site’s location is central to its appeal, said Dan Hoffend, executive vice president of North American venues for Legends Global, the operator for F&M Bank Amphitheater. “If you sit in the very top row — what you would consider the worst seat in the house — it’s a spectacular view,” he said. “The Queen Mary is sitting there in all its glory. You’re looking across the harbor. What would be perceived as the worst seat is actually the best seat because you see it all.”

Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, left, and amphitheater general manager Tra Jones sit in the stands. Even from the nosebleeds, you still have a view of the waterfront at the F&M Bank Amphitheater.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Tra Jones, general manager of the new amphitheater and a Long Beach native, said he’s striving to make it feel less stopgap and utilitarian than FivePoint.

“It doesn’t have a temporary feel at all,” he said. “We looked at all our surroundings and said, ‘What does this look like from a stylistic point of view?’ We leaned into the port/SteelCraft vibe — a very cool industrial look. When you walk in, you’re experiencing a vibe. That’s what we want to resonate with concertgoers coming here.”

The word “vibe” also pops up frequently in conversation with Richardson. Under his watch, Long Beach recently started branding itself as “Vibe City,” which he said is an attempt to encapsulate the charm of L.A. County’s second-largest city, and the state’s seventh-largest.

“Long Beach is special, but it’s hard to explain why if you haven’t been here,” he said. “Because you have to experience it for yourself, the best way to describe it is that it’s a vibe.”

Still, Richardson is aware that vibes can only go so far. During an April meeting with residents of downtown Long Beach, attendees were more interested in discussing homelessness and a recent uptick in traffic fatalities than how a new concert venue might add to the city’s cultural cachet. Some downtown residents have circulated a petition regarding noise-related concerns.

“The job of the mayor is to meet the needs of your residents today — keeping a roof over your head, making sure it’s safe to walk down the street, making sure you have access to amenities and services in your community — but also to think about the future,” he said.

That means finding a way to offset revenues from oil extraction, which currently finance many municipal services, and are projected to drop from more than $50 million annually to around $21 million by 2035. According to Richardson, the new amphitheater — managed by Legends Global, but owned by the city — will help cover that shortfall. The venue is projected to be profitable within five years and generate nearly $29 million in revenue by 2036.

Oil revenues, which pay for city services, are projected to drop by more than half. The amphitheater is being pitched as a budget gap solution.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

“We were fortunate that revenue from oil provided a lot of our services and built our beautiful waterfront, but as California moves away from oil production, we have to plan a more sustainable future by investing in what we know will be here in the long haul,” Richardson said. “In order to do that, we have to invest in arts and culture and tourism.”

Richardson is betting on music at a time when other cities — including Los Angeles — are doubling down on sports, warehousing or data centers. The amphitheater is also meant to remind the world of the city’s impact on pop culture.

From War to Warren G and Sublime to Snoop, Long Beach has a rich musical history. The city hosted the first concerts by the Beach Boys and No Doubt, while Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Elvis Presley, the Eagles and Iron Maiden all graced the stage of the Long Beach Arena.

While that venue currently holds more conventions than concerts, Long Beach has hosted notable outdoor music festivals in recent years, including Warped Tour, Day Trip and Dreamstate. Richardson believes the success of those events helped prove the city’s viability as a concert destination.

“This is the first step toward a legacy of leaving our city in a more economically resilient position,” Richardson said. “At every big turn in our city’s economy, we’ve leaned on arts as a way forward, and this is no different.”

Even the bleacher seats represent Long Beach pride at F&M Amphitheater.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)