Simon Cowell predicts "X Factor" will thrash rivals (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Big, brash and confident as ever, Simon Cowell said on Friday that his upcoming "The X Factor" would thrash the competition on U.S. television and topple "American Idol" as the nation's most-watched show.

Cowell, both executive producer and acid-tongued judge on the U.S. version of "The X Factor" called the singing contest a "game changer" and said it was "completely different" in style and content from his old vehicle "American Idol".

Asked whether he thought "X Factor", with its unprecedented $5 million cash prize for the winner, would beat "Idol" in the TV ratings when it debuts on Fox in September, Cowell told television journalists.

"If I didn't think we could -- and its not just 'Idol', it's any show -- we don't enter something for the silver medal. You do it because you want to be number one, and for the next few months we are going to throw everything at this to try and make it the best show on TV," the British producer said.

"I wouldn't have made the show unless I thought it would be different...we see this as a game changer," he added.

Fox, which broadcasts both talent shows, said it believed "X Factor" would reverse the network's historically "patchy" ratings in the fall TV season.

"If 'X Factor' can do half of what we hope it will do in the fall, Fox is going to be really difficult for the other guys to reckon with," Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly said.

"X Factor" marks the return of the abrasive but popular Cowell to U.S. television after quitting "American Idol" in 2010 following 10 years in the judges' seat, and reunites him with his old "Idol" sparring partner Paula Abdul.

The new show debuts in a now-crowded market for TV talent contests that includes the surprise success of NBC newcomer "The Voice" earlier this year, and established favorites like "America's Got Talent" and a capella contest "The Sing-Off", as well as a revamped and resurgent "Idol" which airs from January-May.

"X Factor" welcomes contestants 13 years-old and up, as well as singing groups. It turns the judges into competing mentors and has contestants auditioning before vast stadium audiences.

"We will show the good bits, the bad bits, the ugly bits -- and there are a lot of ugly bits," Cowell said, saying there was room for more than two or three hit TV singing shows,

While the revamped "American Idol", with new judges Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler, increased audiences last season with a softer and kinder attitude toward its aspiring young stars, Cowell has clearly abandoned none of the sarcasm and biting wit that helped make him a star on U.S. TV.

Asked how it felt to be working again with Cowell, Abdul told reporters, "It's nice to be back in a demented relationship. It's like home."

"I think its more like 'The Exorcist 2'," retorted Cowell.

But he confessed that he had met his match in some of the younger contestants auditioning for a spot on the show.

"We have had to say to some of the 14-year-olds 'please be kind to me'...I was quite traumatized after some of the auditions." Cowell said that one young rapper had "absolutely chewed me apart. But I quite like that."

"The X Factor" arrives on Fox on September 21 with a two-hour premiere, and ends with a two-part finale on Dec 21 and 22, where a winner will be chosen by public vote and scoop up a $5 million cash prize, as well as a recording contract with Cowell's Sony Music-owned record label SyCo.

Yahoo! News

Mud rivals music at Glastonbury festival (Reuters)

PILTON, England (Reuters) – Mud matched the music as the abiding memory at this year's Glastonbury festival, where U2, Coldplay and Beyonce played the top slots and 180,000 people braved boggy conditions to hear their favorite

acts.

Getting from one stage to another on the 900 acre site in southwest England was a major undertaking, requiring the "zombie walk" that did not prevent rain boots being sucked off people's feet and dozens of fans ending face first in the mud.

Patience paid off and raincoats were ditched for bikinis when the sun came out on Saturday and Sunday, making the festival site easier to navigate.

"I think the main memory has to be the mud," said Matt Bennett, in his early 20s, sitting at the Other Stage and basking in the hot sunshine.

His friend Amy Mortimer added: "You do get used to it, and once the sun came out you could concentrate on the music."

Michael Eavis, founder of Glastonbury who owns the picturesque dairy farm where the event has been held most years since 1970, praised the stoic spirit of festival-goers.

"We managed to survive in the most adverse conditions," he told reporters. "We are survivors after 41 years."

There will be no Glastonbury in 2012, Olympic year in Britain. Eavis said he already had three major acts lined up for the 2013 edition, but he would not name them.

U.S. superstar Beyonce Knowles was the closing performer late on Sunday, making her Glastonbury debut three years after husband Jay-Z proved a surprise hit.

Jay-Z was in the boisterous crowd of tens of thousands as Knowles gave a high octane performance of her own hits, cover versions and a medley of well-known tracks by her old band Destiny's Child.

"I want you all to know right now you are witnessing my dream," she called out. "I always wanted to be a rock star and tonight we are all rock stars ... I want you to get lost in this music tonight."

U2 PROTEST, POLITICIAN DEATH

On the eve of the festival, Eavis had bemoaned the lack of political activism at Glastonbury in recent years, reflecting some people's feeling that it was being taken over by middle class music fans out solely to enjoy themselves.

He got his wish in the form of a small protest during Irish rockers U2's Friday night concert held in the driving rain.

A pressure group called Art Uncut inflated a large balloon with the words "U Pay Tax 2?" in protest against the band's decision several years ago to relocate its operations from Ireland to the Netherlands for tax purposes.

Campaigners complained of rough handling by security guards who forced them to take the balloon down, but Eavis shrugged off the criticism, saying the story had been exaggerated.

"It was only one balloon," he said. "It was all churned up as being a huge thing, but it wasn't at all."

Headliners Coldplay, "surprise guests" Pulp, blues veteran B.B. King, London rapper Tinie Tempah and Manchester rockers Elbow were all named as favorite acts by fans and critics.

Hundreds of other bands fought for attention in venues across the site, and a handful of celebrities braved the conditions including soccer star Wayne Rooney and supermodel Kate Moss, who watched her fiance Jamie Hince of The Kills.

Casting a shadow over the event, Christopher Shale, chairman of West Oxfordshire Conservative Association, was found dead in a portable toilet in the VIP camping area on Sunday morning.

Prime Minister David Cameron said he and his wife Samantha were "devastated" at the loss of their friend.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

Yahoo! News