STEVE HACKETT

GENESIS REVISITED – SECONDS OUT + MORE

FRIARS AYLESBURY at the WATERSIDE THEATRE  18 OCTOBER 2021

 TICKETS go on sale on FRIDAY 10 JULY 2020 10.00am from ATGtickets.com, Seetickets.com and Ticketmaster.co.uk.  

Presale tickets go on sale on Thursday 9 July at 10.00am from ATGtickets.com to Friars Aylesbury newsletter subscribers only. Go to www.aylesburyfriars.co.uk for free Friars newsletter subscription. Also from Planet Rock via Gigantic.com. 

The presale link will be sent out this Wednesday evening 8th July to those who subscribe to the Friars Aylesbury newsletter

Tickets limited to a maximum of 4 per person. Please note the Waterside Box Office is not open due to CV19. 

Following his stunning sell-out Friars date in November 2019, Steve Hackett returns to Friars Aylesbury, the place where Genesis began, for a special one-off show featuring songs from the Genesis live album ‘Seconds Out’ plus other tracks from Steve’s solo albums. This will be the first new Friars date to be announced since the CV19 lockdown. 

Seconds Out was the hugely successful double album recorded on Genesis’s 1977 concert tour together with The Cinema Show, from their 1976 tour, and featured Steve Hackett on guitar alongside Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks and Phil Collins who had taken on the role of vocalist following the departure of Peter Gabriel. The tour included music from each of the six studio albums from Steve’s time in Genesis and marked his final recordings with the band as he left to pursue his solo career upon its completion.

 Says Steve: 

“I hugely look forward to being back on the road in the UK, bringing the whole of Seconds Out back to life! The set features some of the most thrilling Genesis material, this time all numbers played in full, plus additional surprises...”  

Steve will be joined on the tour by regular musicians Roger King (keyboards), Jonas Reingold (bass), Rob Townsend (saxes/flutes) with Nad Sylvan on vocals.

Craig Blundell  (Steven Wilson, King Crimson, Iron Maiden) will be on drums & percussion. He was voted by Modern Drummer and Rhythm Magazine readers as one of the top progressive and forward thinking drummers in the world.

 Steve’s autobiography, A Genesis In My Bed is published on 24th July 2020.   Steve talks candidly about his early life, his time with Genesis, and in particular his personal relationships with the other four band members, with great insight into the daily goings on of this major rock band.

 About Steve Hackett

 Steve Hackett joined Genesis at the beginning of 1971 and first played Friars Aylesbury in June 1971. He quickly gained an international reputation as the guitarist in the band’s classic line-up alongside Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins. Steve’s intricate guitar work was a key element of Genesis albums from Nursery Cryme (1971) to Wind And Wuthering (1977) including the classic Selling England By The Pound.

After leaving Genesis at the end of 1977, Steve’s solo career, which now spans more than 30 albums, has demonstrated his extraordinary versatility with both electric and acoustic guitar. Steve is renowned as both an immensely talented and innovative rock musician and a virtuoso classical guitarist and composer and this was recognised in 2010 when he was inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame. He has also worked alongside Steve Howe of YES in the supergroup GTR.

Steve’s compositions take influences from many genres, including jazz, classical and blues. For his later studio works The Night Siren (2017) and At The Edge Of Light (2019) Steve has explored the influences of world music.

 Reviews from Steve Hackett’s most recent Genesis Revisited Tour

 ‘the night’s prog feast.. was Selling England’ ‘ which allowed the guitarist’s band to fully showcase their talents…’   ‘for one evening at least it was fantastic to dance with the Moonlit Knight once more.’  Simon Carter - The News Portsmouth 

‘Hackett's guitar effortlessly carves a path through the songs mixing melodic lines with experimentation and flat out rock...’  ‘The individual personalities of the band also shine throughout…’    Stuart Avis -The Brighton Magazine

 ‘a great riff, great lyrics and another guitar solo to die for...’ ‘the magic seems never-ending...’ Alan Jones – Getreadytorock

 ‘complex time changes and elaborate melodies were recreated by Hackett’s superb band with verve and skill.’  ‘Hackett may well be the best guitarist around. Oh, and a great light show too. Obviously.’  S Copeland - Brighton Argus

 “This is a consummately highly talented group of musicians, possibly the best working band currently playing anywhere in the world. Seriously.”  Paul H Birch – Ramzine

Steve Hackett backstage at Friars Aylesbury at the Waterside 2 Nov 2019

FRIARS AYLESBURY ARCHIVE PROJECT

 The Friars Aylesbury Archive is a not-for-profit project wherein we are trying to create a complete archive of all Friars related memorabilia including Friars news sheets, posters, tickets, video, recordings, press cuttings etc. We are then intending to completely digitise everything so that there is a permanent record of everything that has happened since Friars first started in June 1969. 

In order to finance the project we will be offering for sale items where we have excess copies. Any funds created will be used to add additional security to the archive, digitise the archive and to create a fund to buy any missing items of which there are quite a few, as you will see below. We were recently thrilled to be able to purchase a Friars U2 poster from June 1981 which we’ve been after for many years.

As explained we are very keen to acquire the items we are missing, for the archive. Some people have already kindly donated items to the archive for which we are very grateful, but we are quite prepared to pay for them if necessary.  

These are the missing handouts and posters as of June 2020: 

HANDOUTS 

POSTERS   (20” X 30”) 

If you have any of the above items and would like to donate them or allow us to purchase them from you we would be enormously grateful. Please contact Sue@fmlmusic.com 

Many thanks

FD

FRIARS 50^th ANNIVERSARY PODCASTS

Friars Aylesbury first opened its doors on Monday 2 June 1969. Exactly 50 years later on 2 June 2019, the 6 Friars Founding Fathers reunited in Aylesbury’s Kings Head to talk about the early days of Friars and the first magical years of Friars Aylesbury. 

Those participating are legendary rock journalists Pete Frame and Kris Needs as well as the Friars Founding Fathers Robin Pike, Adrian Roach, Jerry Slater, Terry Harms, John Fowler and David Stopps. Also participating are John Braley who managed the Borough Assembly Hall and the Civic Centre for many years, Stephen Daglish who managed Earth Records and created the Aylesbury Music Town website and Keith Martin who was Friars member No 1. 

http://www.buckstv.co.uk/friars-50th-anniversary-podcast-part-two/ 

http://www.buckstv.co.uk/friars-50th-anniversary-podcast-part-one/

 The photograph below shows those participating in the podcast: 

Left to right: 

Kris Needs, Adrian Roach, Robin Pike, David Stopps, Terry Harms, Jerry Slater and Pete Frame.

FRIARS AYLESBURY BIG BIG TRAIN and THE FLAMING LIPS DATES POSTPONED

We hope you’re doing well and keeping safe. 

It will come as no surprise that the Big Big Train date scheduled for 16 July 2020 and the Flaming Lips date scheduled for 24 July 2020 will sadly have to be postponed due to the Covid19 emergency regulations on social distancing and mass gatherings. 

The new dates have not been finalised yet but they will both be in 2021. We hope to have the new confirmed dates in the coming weeks. 

Tickets already purchased will be valid for the new dates so we would be extremely grateful if you would hang on to your tickets. Friars Aylesbury is really struggling at the moment as are all sectors of the live music industry and hanging on to your tickets would really help us survive. (which we’re determined to do).  If that’s not possible please contact the ticket agency where you bought the tickets. 

The next Friars Aylesbury date will be The Damned on 2^nd November.  

Like you, we can’t wait for live music to start again.

Until then, take care and stay safe

 Friars Duck

MESSAGE FROM THE CAPTAIN - THE DAMNED AT FRIARS AYLESBURY POSTPONED UNTIL 2 NOV

 Captain Sensible Here …

We’re absolutely gutted that we won’t be able to play Friars on 18 May due to this bloody CV19. Like everyone else we’ve had to postpone the date.  The new date will be Monday 2 November.  Hopefully by then we’ll be back to normal…..

Your tickets will be valid for the new date.  If you can hang on to them that would be great as it would really help us and Friars. If that’s not possible, please contact your point of purchase.

We’re looking forward to playing Friars again. It’s been too long.

Here’s a photo of the last time we played. (Must dig out those cricket pads)

Photo credit Mark Jordan

Aylesbury Waterside Theatre 

Waterside Box Office Telephone: 0844 871 7607

www.atgtickets.com www.ticketmaster.co.uk www.seetickets.com

Friars Aylesbury presents one of the most requested, influential, pioneering and legendary bands from the British punk era. 

The Damned were the first UK punk band to ever release a single, ‘New Rose’ in 1976, and an album, ‘Damned Damned Damned’ in 1977. They were also the first UK punk rock band to tour USA. They have had nine top forty singles ‘Love Song’ and ‘Smash it Up’ (1979), ‘Grimly Fiendish’, ‘The Shadow of Love’ and ‘Is it a Dream?’ (1985), their biggest hit ‘Eloise’ which reached No 3 and ‘Anything’ (1986), as well as ‘Gigolo’ and ‘Alone Again Or’ in 1987. Their biggest album was undoubtedly 1985’s ‘Phantasmagoria’ produced in New York by Toni Visconti. 

The Damned have only played Friars Aylesbury once before, on 1 Dec 1979, but it is remembered as one of the best Friars gigs ever. It was with the original line-up of singer Dave Vanian, guitarist Brian James, bassist Captain Sensible and drummer Rat Scabies. The band had many break-ups and periods of key members not being present in the band with Rat Scabies finally leaving the band in 1995. 

For this 2020 Friars gig the band will be Dave Vanian (vocals), Captain Sensible (guitar), long time bass player Paul Gray (who originally joined the band in 1980) and Monty Oxymoron on keyboards who joined the band in 1996. There will also be a top secret new drummer (?). 

From their first gig in July 1976 supporting The Sex Pistols at the 100 Club, The Damned have had a long and notorious career with involvement along the way from Chrissie Hynde, Lemmy, Nick Mason and Culture Club’s Jon Moss amongst many others. 

This will be a long overdue Friars homecoming for one of the most exciting and influential bands of the past forty years.

Friars Aylesbury presents

From Oklahoma City USA

THE FLAMING LIPS

 FRIDAY 24 JULY 2020 

Aylesbury Waterside Theatre 

Tickets available this Friday 31 January 10.00am from Waterside Box Office Telephone: 0844 871 7607

www.atgtickets.com www.ticketmaster.co.uk www.seetickets.com 

Friars Aylesbury is excited and honoured to present one of the most influential American bands of the past 20 years. 

This is one of only four UK concert dates the band will be playing this year in addition to two festival dates. The other concert dates will be Liverpool, Leeds and Bexhill-on-Sea.

Formed in 1983 The Flaming Lips released several highly acclaimed EPs and albums on the independent Restless label before signing to Warner Brothers in 1992. They released their classic breakthrough album ‘The Soft Bulletin’ in 1999 which NME voted ‘Album of the Year’. This was followed by their 2002 album ‘Yoshima Battles the Pink Robots’ which many regard as their finest work. In February 2007, they were nominated for a BRIT Award for "Best International Act". The group has won three Grammy Awards, including two for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. They were placed on Q magazine's list of the "50 Bands to See Before You Die" in 2002.  

The Flaming Lips biggest singles have been The Golden Path (with Chemical Brothers),  ‘Yoshima Battles the Pink Robots Part 1’ and ‘Do You Realise’ which many regard as one of the most important tracks ever recorded. 

Regarded as pioneers in alternative rock, psychedelic rock, post-punk and experimental rock this July date will feature the band’s founding members Wayne Coyne on vocals, guitars, keyboards and theremin, and Michael Ivins on bass, keyboards and backing vocals, alongside Steven Drozd (guitars, keyboards, bass, drums &, vocals), Derek Brown (guitars, keyboards, percussion & vocals), Jake Ingalls (Keyboards & guitars), Matt Duckworth Kirksey (drums, percussion, keyboards &vocals) and Nick Ley (percussion, drums & samples). 

The Flaming Lips are big supporters of record shops and the annual record store day. On Record Store Day, April 22, 2017, the Flaming Lips released Onboard the International Space Station Concert for Peace, a re-recording of seven tracks from their album ‘Oczy Mlody’ in a faux live setting. 

The band's most recent studio album, King's Mouth, was released on April 13, 2019 for Record Store Day. Mick Jones of The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite narrates the album; Wayne Coyne said of Jones that "he’s on almost every song... it really is quite unbelievable."

 THURSDAY 16 JULY 2020 

+ LAZULI 

Emerging prog giants BIG BIG TRAIN and LAZULI (from France) will play Friars Aylesbury for the first time on 16 July 2020. 

Remaining tickets on sale from Waterside Box Office ATG Tickets  (atgtickets.com), See Tickets (seetickets.com) or Ticketmaster (ticketmaster.co.uk) or ATG by phone 0844 871 7607. 

BIG BIG TRAIN and LAZULI – SPEARHEADING THE NEW WAVE OF PROG 

Prog bands take a long time to come to fruition. Both Big Big Train and Lazuli have been around for a while, slowing building a dedicated following with their exciting and inspirational music. Like Steve Hackett’s staggeringly good performance on 2 November and Camel who played Friars in 2018, both of these bands have an astonishing level of musicianship. It’s brilliant that  these two bands will be playing Friars – bands that have never played Friars before – or have they? 

The one connection with the 50 year history of Friars Aylesbury is Big Big Train’s Dave Gregory who played lead guitar with XTC from 1979 – 1999. Looking back XTC were one of the true pioneer pop-punk bands of that era. Dave played on their legendary Drums and Wires album (79),  Black Sea (80), English Settlement (82), Mummer (82), The Big Express (84), Skylarking (86), Oranges & Lemons (89) and Nonsuch (92). XTC’s singles ‘Making Plans for Nigel’, ‘Senses Working Overtime’, ‘Sgt Rock is Going to Help Me’ and ‘Dear God’ will be played forever.  

Dave guested on Big Big Train’s album ‘The Underfall Yard’ in 2009 and joined the band officially in 2011. The current band line-up is founder Greg Spawton (bass/keyboards), Nick D’Virgilio (drums), Rachel Hall (violin/vocals), David Longdon (vocals/flute/keyboards/guitar), Danny Manners (Keyboards/bass) and Rikard Sjoblom (keyboards/guitars). Until 2009 Bournemouth based BBT were active as a mainly studio project led by Spawton and released 12 studio albums and 3 EPs. They performed their first gigs in 17 years in 2015 at King’s Place London  which was awarded ‘Event of the Year’ by Prog magazine. Since then the band have been playing larger and larger venues. Their 2019 album ‘Grand Tour’ came flying in to the UK Top 40 and was voted ‘Album of The Year’ by Prog Magazine.

Lazuli were formed in 1998 and come from the South of France. Somewhere between rock, prog, world music, poetry and travel the music of Lazuli visits new territories with an unusual instrumentation: Marimba, French Horn, drums, percussion, guitars, vocals and a unique instrument created by Claude Leonetti – The Leode. For Lazuli, songs are canvases on which they mix colours to paint their own world. Lazuli have toured with Aylesbury legend Fish. Fish guitarist and local legend Robin Boult says that they are sensationally good and remain very French even in their playing. Expect a mass marimba solo at the end of the set.

Wow, that Steve Hillage and Gong gig was amazing - galleries from that gig and the other Friars gigs this year by clicking the relevant poster.

Sign up to the newsletter (link above) for all the latest gig news etc

HEROES....JUST FOR ONE DAY

The statue was unveiled on Sunday March 25th to a large crowd, a large audience watching live online and covered by local and national media. This was followed by an amazing gig featuring local heroes Marillion, Howard Jones, John Otway and the Dung Beatles.

To see the statue live, there is a dedicated webfeed here

Full gallery here

Neale Wareham's gallery here

Full gallery from Erasure gig here

The Thin White Book now available to purchase

At last it's here!

The Thin White Book - A History of David Bowie and Friars Aylesbury is now available here from the Friars Aylesbury online shop - link above in menu or click this link. goo.gl/D6LbGf