Amy Winehouse appears at the V Festival on Saturday
Photo: snitcherdesk.com/ Splash News

Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga all made impressions on the crowd at this weekend's V Festival in the U.K., but there was one female performer who stole the whole weekend. Embattled singer Amy Winehouse made her first U.K. concert appearance in more than a year on Saturday, joining veteran ska band the Specials onstage for two songs, according to the BBC.

The band introduced Winehouse as "our good friend Amy," and she entered to a loud ovation. She sang with the group on two of its songs, "You're Wondering Now" and the original lineup's last single, 1981's classic "Ghost Town." Winehouse has previously expressed her affection for the Specials by recording one of the group's songs, "Hey Little Rich Girl." It ended up becoming a B-side during her sessions for her breakout album Back to Black.

"What a day, huh? Sunshine, Specials are here, count yourself lucky!" Winehouse told the crowd before the first song. It was a far cry from her problem-plagued set at the St. Lucia Jazz Festival in May, which Winehouse ended after six songs. Saturday's Specials set wasn't the only appearance that Winehouse made during V: She also ran onstage to introduce fellow troubled Brit Pete Doherty before his set on Saturday.

Winehouse spent most of the early part of the year on the island of St. Lucia working on music with Back to Black producer Salaam Remi, and since then she has been distracted by non-musical tasks like going to court for assaulting a fan (she was acquitted) and divorcing her husband and onetime muse Blake Fielder-Civil.

• Taylor Swift, Amy Winehouse, Lady Gaga Perform At The UK's V Festival

• Amy Winehouse
• The Specials

With a little help from members of the Specials, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Hepcat, northern California punk purveyors Rancid are preparing to return to record racks with "Life Won't Wait" this summer.

The album, the band's follow-up to its 1995 big-market breakthrough "...And Out Come The Wolves," will arrive courtesy of Epitaph Records on June 30 and will feature a number of the group's musically-minded friends.

Roddy Radiation, Lynal Golding, and Neville Staples of ska-kings the Specials turn up on a track called "Hooligans," while members of Hepcat lend vocals to "Hoover Street," a tale of addiction. The album will also boast a cameo from Agnostic Front singer Roger Miret on a song titled "Something In The World Today."

As we first reported last year, Bosstones frontman Dicky Barrett also popped in the studio with Rancid, and will turn up on the song "Cash, Culture & Violence."

The band will soon shoot a video for the album's first single, a track called "Bloodclot" (a song that carried lyrical references to Lee "Scratch" Perry and the Ramones), with video director Nick Egan. Rancid will spend the better part of the summer co-headlining this summer's Vans Warped tour, which as we reported yesterday kicks off on June 30 in Phoenix, Arizona.

• Hepcat
• Mighty Mighty Bosstones
• Rancid
• The Specials

One of the final pieces of the summer concert puzzle is beginning to fall into place, as organizers for the Vans Warped Tour have announced a tentative itinerary for the rock & roll meets skateboarding fest.

This year's Warped Tour will launch June 30 in Phoenix, Arizona, and will feature a line-up that includes Rancid, the Deftones, the Specials, Reverend Horton Heat, NOFX, Bad Religion, the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Die Toten Hosen, Def Con Dos and Frenzal Rhomb. The tour will play 30-plus dates over the course of six weeks.

As we previously reported, the Warped Tour also plans to merge with the Ozzfest for a combined mega-concert on July 18 in Minneapolis.

The dates for this year's Warped Tour:

• 6/30 - Phoenix, AZ @ Celebrity Theater
• 7/1 - San Diego, CA @ Del Mar Rodeo Arena
• 7/2 - Anaheim, CA @ Arrowhead Pond Lot
• 7/4 - Lake Tahoe, CA @ Boreal Ridge
• 7/5 - San Francisco, CA @ Pier 30/32
• 7/7 - Seattle, WA @ KingDome Lot
• 7/8 - Vancouver, BC @ TBA
• 7/9 - Portland, OR @ Portland Meadows
• 7/10 - Boise, ID @ TBA
• 7/11 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Fairgrounds
• 7/12 - Boulder, CO @ Colorado University Field
• 7/14 - Oklahoma City, OK @ All Sports Stadium
• 7/15 - St. Louis, MO @ Riverport Lot
• 7/16 - Chicago, IL @ TBA
• 7/17 - Milwaukee, WI @ TBA
• 7/18 - Minneapolis, MN @ Somerset Park
• 7/19 - Kansas City or Lawrence, KS @ TBA
• 7/21 - Pittsburgh, PA @ IC Light Amphitheater
• 7/22 - Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews Street
• 7/23 - Cleveland, OH @ TBA
• 7/24 - Toronto, ONT @ TBA
• 7/25 - Montreal, QUE @ Hippodrome
• 7/26 - Quebec City, QUE @ Place La Bourge Neuf
• 7/28 - Buffalo, NY @ TBA
• 7/29 - Northampton, MA @ Fairgrounds
• 7/30 - Philadelphia, PA @ Corestates Center
• 7/31 - Washington, DC @ Equestrian Center
• 8/1 - New York, NY @ Randall's Island
• 8/2 - Asbury Park, NJ @ Stone Pony Lot
• 8/4 - Jacksonville, FL @ TBA
• 8/5 - Orlando, FL @ Central Florida Fairgrounds
• 8/6 - Miami, FL @ Pompano Amphitheater
• 8/8 - Houston or Austin, TX @ TBA
• 8/9 - Dallas, TX @ TBA

• Rancid
• Deftones
• The Specials
• Reverend Horton Heat
• NOFX

Minneapolis may never be the same. On July 18, that city will face the joint force of this summer's Ozzfest and Vans Warped tour as those annual outings merge for what promises to be one fierce date.

Both tours will hit Minneapolis' Somerset park on July 18 and will present their usual daily schedules which this year include the likes of Tool, Rancid, Limp Bizkit, the Deftones, Megadeth, NOFX, the Melvins, Bad Religion, and many more.

The date will also feature the usual midway offerings of each tour, and tickets for the double-stuffed show are $27.

This year's Warped tour, which kicks off on June 30 in Phoenix, will haul the Deftones, Rancid, the Specials, the Reverend Horton Heat, NOFX, Bad Religion, Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Die Toten Hosen, Def Con Dos, and Frenzal Rhomb around the country for the summer (see "UPDATE: Deftones, Rancid, Specials, More Join Warped Tour").

Ozzfest, which begins its run on July 3 in Holmdel, New Jersey, will be packing a line-up that features Tool, Megadeth, Limp Bizkit, Sevendust, Coal Chamber, Two, the Melvins, Snot, Incubus, Ultra Spank, Kilgor, System Of A Down, and Ozzy himself (see "Halford And Two Join Ozzfest '98 Line-Up").

• Ozzy Osbourne
• Tool
• Rancid
• Limp Bizkit
• Deftones

The Offspring, Wyclef Jean, the Specials, Steel Pulse, Royal Crown Revue and One Hit Wonder will rock for AIDS research and awareness at this weekend's fifth annual Board Aid Benefit in Big Bear, California.

As we previously reported, the festival will also feature snow- and skateboard demonstrations, guest speakers, and AIDS information booths in additon to the musical guests.

"It's kind of a wild three-ring circus," festival organizer Fran Richards told the "L.A. Times." "We've got guys flying through the air on skateboards and snowboards right by the stage."

Co-sponsored by the Life Beat Organization, Board Aid has raised close to $500,00O since it was founded in 1993, with the proceeds having been distributed to AIDS programs across the country.

Spurred by its stateside success, Board Aid organizers have recently expanded their horizons and held a Euorpean Board Aid festival, headlined by Run-DMC, earlier this month in Andermatt, Switzerland.

• The Fugees
• Lauryn Hill
• Wyclef Jean
• The Offspring
• Pras

Masters of sonic destruction the Deftones join Rancid, the Specials and the Reverend Horton Heat as the most recent additions to this summer's Vans Warped tour line-up, which also features Bad Religion and NOFX.

A spokesperson for the band told MTV News Online that the Deftones will be one of the headliners on this year's outing, which is set to begin on June 30 in Phoenix, Arizona.

A spokesperson for the tour confirmed the band will be part of a Vans Warped Tour '98 line-up that also includes Rancid, the Specials, the Reverend Horton Heat, NOFX, Bad Religion, Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Die Toten Hosen, Def Con Dos, and Frenzal Rhomb. This summer's tour will mark a return for the Deftones, who played the Warped tour in 1996.

This year the tour will also continue to feature smaller and local acts on secondary stages. The last time we checked in with the Warped tour, talks were also underway to include seminal L.A. punk outfit X on a few select dates as well (see "Bad Religion, NOFX Join 'Ladies Lounge' On Warped Tour"). However, a spokesperson for the tour now says that X's involvement seems unlikely.

In a market saturated with package tours, last year's Warped tour (which featured the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Pennywise, Desendents, Reel Big Fish and others) managed to hold its own and build on the audiences it drew in previous years.

We will of course keep you posted on Warped developments and any other summer tour news right here at MTV News Online.

• Deftones
• Rancid
• The Specials

Featured artists for Board Stiff include Rancid, Blink-182, The Specials, Our Lady Peace, and Harvey Danger, who will each play one or more of the four days of the festival. Pennywise is confirmed to play the Mt. Hood, Oregon show on April 25. Board Stiff kicks off on March 28 at The Summit at Snoqualimie in Summit West, Washington, the first of the four dates.

In addition to the live music performed on a mountainside stage, there will be the Big Air Series, a beer-sponsored pro-invitational snowboard competition where athletes will be competing for a $65,000 pot. There will also be in-line, pro skate, and BMX demos, as well as a trade show.

Artists who have graced the stages of Board Stiff in the past include Garbage, Oasis, Suicidal Tendencies, Social Distortion, Bad Religion, Reel Big Fish, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Third Eye Blind.

Board Stiff, The Where and When:

• Saturday, March 28 @ Summit West, WA
• Saturday, April 4 @ Sugar Bowl, CA
• Saturday, April 18 @ Loon Mountain, NH
• Saturday, April 25 @ Mt. Hood, OR

• blink-182
• Our Lady Peace
• Rancid
• The Specials

Our Lady Peace, Blink-182, and the Specials have signed on for the upcoming Bud Light/K2 Big Air snowboarding series, the latest addition to the family of rock-meets-extreme-playtime-in-the-snow type events.

The bands have all committed to play at least one of the dates on the tour, which kicks off on March 28 outside of Seattle, and more acts will be added soon.

It looks like snowboarders will have plenty of chances to catch Blink-182, as the band has also signed on to play the Swatch Sno-Core tour, which kicks of Saturday in San Bernadino, California. As we first reported last month (see "Primus, Blink 182 Sign On For Sno-Core Tour"), the band will be joined by Primus, the Aquabats, the Long Beach Dub All Stars, and the Alkaholiks on the Sno Core tour.

If you would rather catch the band with Our Lady Peace and the Specials on the Big Air tour, here are the dates that are confirmed so far:

• 3/28 - Summit West, WA @ 107.7 The End's Board Stiff
• 4/4 - Sugar Bowl, CA @ 98 Rock's El Nino
• 4/18 - Loon Mountain, NH @ WBCN's Totally Board
• 4/25 - Mt. Hood, OR @ 94.7 NRK's Snow Job (Big Air finals)

• blink-182
• Our Lady Peace
• The Specials

September 17 [16:00 EDT] -- Fans of No Doubt, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, Buck-O-Nine, or any of the current wave of ska-punk hybrids will have plenty of opportunities to trace the roots of the genre through a string of upcoming releases.

Fans can check out one a major influence on the current wave of ska bands on "Total Madness," a new best-of on the 80's British ska-rock outfit Madness (who did a good deal more than "Our House").

To hear the sounds Madness grew up on, fans can try a pair of new Island Records compilations: "Ska's The Limit" featuring early 60's tracks by such giants as Prince Buster and the Skatalites...and "Ska Island" which boasts newly recorded tracks by some of those same artists, as well as modern acts like Fishbone and the Toasters.

Meanwhile, the Specials (the cornerstone of the English 2-Tone ska movement of the late 70s and early 80s) have a new deal with the MCA-distributed Way Cool Records and should have a new album out in January. The seminal outfit will precede the album with a single in October.

If you'd like to start your ska education a little closer to the punk-driven sound you're used to, you might want to check out "Take Warning," a tribute to the band many credit with bringing together the sounds of ska and punk, Operation Ivy. As we reported in August, you can find Reel Big Fish, Long Beach Dub All-Stars, the Blue Meanies, and others paying tribute to Op Ivy on the disc, which is in stores now.

• Madness
• Skatalites
• The Specials