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THOMPSON TWINS’ TOM BAILEY
PERFORMS THOMPSON TWINS LEGENDARY 80’s ALBUM ‘INTO THE GAP’ IN ITS
ENTIRETY FOR THE FIRST TIME –
FRIARS EXCLUSIVE
Friars Aylesbury at the
Waterside Theatre
Saturday 3 September 2022
Tickets go on
sale this Friday, 25 March at 10.00am online from ATGTickets/Aylesbury,
Ticketmaster and See Tickets or by telephone on 0844 871 7615.
Special Presale will take place this Thursday, 24 March at 10.00am
exclusively to Friars Aylesbury newsletter subscribers. (Free
subscription is available at the link at the top of this age)
Friars newsletter subscribers will receive a link on the evening of
Wednesday 23 March.
Limited number of top price VIP tickets will include
best seats in the house, an exclusive Q&A session experience with
Tom Bailey, signed poster and a personalized laminated pass. VIP
tickets available from ATGTickets only.
The venue will be in all seated configuration.
Tickets limited
to a maximum of 6 per person. Doors open 6.00pm. Show 7.30pm.
In an exclusive
for Friars Aylesbury, Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey will be performing
one of the classic eighties albums ‘Into The Gap’ in its entirety
for the first time in his career at the Waterside Theatre on
Saturday 3 September.
This is not
part of a tour but is a one-off performance and is expected to
attract Thompson Twins fans both nationally and internationally.
Into The Gap included songs that were the soundtrack of our lives,
including ‘Doctor! Doctor!’, ‘You Take Me Up’, ’Sister of Mercy’,
‘The Gap’ and their biggest hit ‘Hold Me Now’. Bailey and his
all-female band will also be performing other classic Thompson Twins
hits such as ‘Love On Your Side’, ‘Lay Your Hands On Me’ ‘King For a
Day’ and ‘In The Name of Love’ in addition to tracks from his 2018
album ’Science Fiction’.
Bailey stormed
UK arenas in December 2021 when he and his band were special guests
to The Human League, receiving a standing ovation every night.

He will also be
playing European festivals this Summer, but never before has he
played the whole of ‘Into The Gap’ which is regarded as the Thompson
Twins' greatest work.
Thompson Twins
were one of the most iconic of the eighties bands, with huge success
particularly in the UK and the USA. In 1985 they appeared at Live
Aid in Philadelphia with Nile Rodgers on guitar and Madonna on
backing vocals. Thompson Twins singer and co-writer Bailey is
regarded as one of the UK’s premier songwriters, performers and
producers. He played on Grace Jones ‘My Jamaican Guy’ and
Foreigner’s ‘I Want to Know what Love Is’ amongst many others.
Thompson Twins
Tom Bailey feature Tom Bailey (vocals/guitar/harmonica/percussion),
Charlotte Raven (vocals/keyboards/electric cello), Paulina
Szczepaniak (vocals/electronic drums) and Alice Offley
(vocals/keyboards/bass guitar).
FRIARS LEGENDS MARILLION RETURN
TO WHERE IT ALL STARTED CELEBRATING THE RELEASE OF THEIR 2022 ALBUM
‘AN HOUR BEFORE IT’S DARK’.
Friars Aylesbury at the Waterside
Theatre
Saturday 24 September 2022
Tickets online from ATGTickets/Aylesbury,
Ticketmaster and See Tickets or by telephone on 0844 871 7615.
The venue will
be in standing/seated configuration.
Tickets
limited to a maximum of 6 per purchase. Age limit is 8 (accompanied
by an adult) for seated tickets and 16 for standing tickets. Doors
open 6.00pm. Show 7.30pm.
Can it be four years since the ultimate local heroes Marillion
played the Friars Aylesbury stage? Amazingly it is. The band last
played Friars on 25 March 2018 when they played a stunning short set
in support of the Bowie statue Earthly Messenger on the day it was
unveiled. This will in fact be Marillion’s 12th Friars
Aylesbury appearance the first of which was on 29 May 1981 when they
played in the Aston Hall which was the small hall in the good old
Aylesbury Civic Centre.
This 24 September date will be in celebration of their new covid era
album ‘An Hour Before it’s Dark’ which is getting ecstatic reviews
and is being regarded as possibly the best album of their career.
Started just as the pandemic hit in early 2020 ‘An Hour Before it’s
Dark’ is an album of compassion and hope rather than doom and gloom.
Amongst other things it celebrates the extraordinary selflessness of
those working in the front line of care during the pandemic which
hopefully sowed the seeds of a new beginning for the future.
Marillion
are by far the most important band to have ever come out of
Aylesbury and it’s so exciting that they will be bringing it all
back home on 24 September.
Marillion are Steve Rothery (guitar), Steve Hogarth
(vocals/guitar/piano), Pete Trewavas (bass), Ian Mosley (drums) and
Mark Kelly (keyboards).
We can’t wait.

STEVE HACKETT – GENESIS REVISITED – FOXTROT at 50 +
Hackett Highlights
FRIARS AYLESBURY at the WATERSIDE
THEATRE 13 SEPTEMBER 2022
TICKETS on
sale now from ATGtickets.com/Aylesbury, Seetickets.com and
Ticketmaster.co.uk.
This
is an all-seated concert. Tickets limited to a maximum of 8 per
person. Minimum age 8. The Waterside Box Office is not open during
the day.

Following his
stunning sell-out Friars date in October 2021, Steve Hackett returns
to Friars Aylesbury, the place where Genesis began, for a special
show celebrating the 50th anniversary of Genesis’s 4th
album ‘FOXTROT’ which they released in 1972. Foxtrot was the first
Genesis album to have chart success, reaching No 12 in the UK album
chart. Friars was closely involved with Genesis in 1972. Friars
thought the band were in danger of splitting up, so a special
Genesis Convention gig was organised at Watford Town Hall in June
1972 to celebrate how good they were and to attract some press
attention. It worked, and that summer the band wrote the Foxtrot
album which they debuted at Friars Aylesbury on 2 September 1972.
The album was released in October 72 which caused their fan
following to expand rapidly. Friars put the band on again on the
Foxtrot tour at Friars Dunstable on 26 February 1973 which was a
total sell out. Genesis’s Mike Rutherford said recently that if it
wasn’t for Friars the band may well have split up at that time.
FOXTROT
features some of the most classic Genesis tracks of all time
including the 23 minute epic ‘Supper’s Ready’, ‘Can-Utility and the
Coastliners’. ‘Get ‘em Out by Friday’, ‘Time Table’ ‘Horizons’ and
the Friars favourite ‘Watcher of the Skies’. Steve Hackett was a
major contributor to the success of Foxtrot both as a writer and a
performer.
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 was published in 2020.
Steve talks candidly about his early life, his time with Genesis,
and in particular his personal relationships with the other 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 recent tours
‘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
FRIARS LEGENDS CAMEL WILL RETURN
TO WHERE IT ALL STARTED CELEBRATING THEIR 50th
ANNIVERSARY, at the Waterside Theatre on 7 June 2023
Tickets go on
sale now online from ATGTickets/Aylesbury,
Ticketmaster and See Tickets or by telephone on 0844 871 7615.
The venue will
be entirely seated.
We’re still reeling from Camel’s last Friars Aylesbury appearance at
the Waterside on 10 September 2018 when they played the whole of
‘Moon Madness’. We were hoping they would be good, but no one
thought they would be THAT good. It was quite simply one of the
finest Friars Aylesbury gigs of all time.

We really value bands who are loyal to Friars and Camel are
certainly one of them. For this 50th Anniversary they are
playing just 6 dates. Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh,
Southampton, London and Aylesbury. After the 2018 gig Andy Latimer
particularly asked to come back to Friars.
For these ’50 Years Strong’ dates Camel will be playing their best
material from right across their long and distinguished career,
which includes their albums ‘Camel’, ‘Mirage’, ‘The Snow Goose’,
‘Moon Madness’, ‘Rain Dances’, ‘Breathless’, ‘I Can See your House
from Here’, ‘Nude’ and ‘Stationary Traveller’.
Back in the day, Camel played Friars no less than six times. They
first appeared on May 25 1975, just three months before Friars Phase
2 at the Borough Assembly hall ended. They went down a storm and
were immediately booked to play Friars again, which by this time had
moved to the Phase 3 Civic Centre. This second gig on Nov 8 1975 was
the one that many remember best. It was part of their classic Snow
Goose tour which is regarded by many to be Camel’s finest hour.
Expect to hear Camel play tracks like ‘Rhayader’ and ‘The Great
Marsh’ on this 50th Anniversary gig.
Camel feature main man Andrew Latimer on guitar, Colin Bass on bass,
Denis Clement on drums and Peter Jones on keyboards/vocals.
BIG BIG TRAIN rescheduled to
Friday 2 September
2022
Modern
prog heroes Big Big Train were originally scheduled to play Friars
Aylesbury on 16 July 2020 which, due to lockdown, was postponed
until 18 July 2021. This second date was also not possible due to
government regulations on live events.
Today we are announcing that this long-awaited date will now take
place on Friday 2 September 2022.
Tickets for the new date are on sale now from ATGTickets/Aylesbury,
Ticketmaster and See Tickets. If you have tickets for the original
date or the first postponed date, please hang on to your tickets…..
they will be 100% valid for this new rescheduled date.
Local prog legends LIFESIGNS will also be appearing with Big Big
Train on 2 September 2022 although that is still to be confirmed.
Big Big Train dropped their stunning new album ‘Common Ground’ on
30 July 2021 which is now available on streaming services, CD &
Vinyl. Tracks “The Strangest Times’, ‘All the Love We can Give’,
‘Apollo’ and ‘Common Ground’ just have to be heard.
The
band released a further new song ‘The Connection Plan’ via streaming
services on 24 August 2021 as part of their 'Stay Tuned' series."
Lifesigns
released their excellent third album ‘Altitude’ in March 2021

THE FLAMING LIPS RESCHEDULED FROM 21
JULY 2021 to 30 MAY 2022.
We
were all hoping that The Flaming Lips would be able to play Friars
Aylesbury at the Waterside Theatre on 21 July but due to Covid
uncertainty, travel and quarantine restrictions and the fact that no
band or live event in the UK is able to insure against Covid19, all
the Flaming Lips 2021 UK dates have been moved to 2022.

If you’ve
already bought tickets it would help Friars Aylesbury enormously if
you would hang on to them. They will be 100% valid for the 30 May
2022 date.
If you cannot
attend on 30 May 2022 please contact the ticket agency where you
purchased the tickets. (ATG Tickets, Ticketmaster or See Tickets)
Tickets for the
rescheduled date are available now to those who haven’t yet bought
tickets.
As you know
the live music industry has been decimated since March 2020 with 99%
of all live events being made impossible due to Covid restrictions.
Friars Aylesbury is hoping to survive this but we can only do it
with your help. This amazing Flaming Lips show will happen, but
we’ll all have to wait a while longer.
The May 30 date
will be an important date on the Flaming Lips American Head World
tour which will now kick off in the USA this coming Autumn.
We can’t wait
for live shows to start again. There’s a light at the end of the
tunnel.
TICKETS on
sale now from ATGtickets.com, Seetickets.com and Ticketmaster.co.uk.
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 May 2021:
HANDOUTS
1971 |
|
04-Sep |
Mott The
Hoople + Paul Brett's Sage |
|
|
1973 |
|
10-Feb |
Mott The
Hoople + Darien Spirit |
|
|
1974 |
|
25-May |
Cockney
Rebel + BeBop Deluxe |
06-Jun |
Cockney
Rebel + AJ Webber |
|
|
1982 |
|
18-Sep |
Simple
Minds + Hey! Elastica |
|
|
1983 |
|
29-Jan |
Solstice
+ Pendragon |
03-Nov |
Public
Image Limited |
29-Dec |
Marillion
+ Nigel Planer as Neil |
|
|
1984 |
|
17-Feb |
Thomas
Dolby + Dekka Danse |
23-Mar |
Ian Dury
& The Music Students + MG Giant + Adrenalin |
16-Jun |
Fiction
Factory + House Of Hearts |
POSTERS (20”
X 30”)
1969 |
|
25-Aug |
Renaissance |
8-Sep |
Quintessence + John Peel |
13-Oct |
Principal Edwards Magic Theatre |
20Oct |
Skin
Alley |
10-Nov |
Caravan |
17-Nov |
Graham Bond Intiation |
|
|
1970 |
|
5-Jan |
East of Eden |
12-Jan |
Writing OnThe Wall |
2-Feb |
Mott The
Hoople |
9-Feb |
Steamhammer |
23-Feb |
Hawkwind
+ Mick Softley |
2-Mar |
Writing
On The Wall + Black Apple |
9-Mar |
The Crazy
World Of Arthur Brown + SME |
16-Mar |
Edgar
Broughton Band |
23-Mar |
Matthews
Southern Comfort |
6-Apr |
Skin
Alley |
13-Apr |
Genesis +
Nick Drake |
20-Apr |
Roy
Harper + Mick Softley |
27-Apr |
Van Der
Graaf Generator |
4-May |
Mott The
Hoople + Mick Softley |
11-May |
Bronco |
18-May |
Gypsy +
Amber |
1-Jun |
Mick
Softley + Roger Ruskin Spear + Wishbone Ash + Les Payne |
8-Jun |
Groundhogs + Chameleon |
29_jun |
Stray |
6-Jul |
Argent |
|
|
1971 |
|
5-Jun |
Southern
Comfort + Help Yourself + Ade Roach |
26_un |
Al Kooper
+ Hookfoot |
2-Jul |
Lindisfarne + Gilbert Hampshire's Armpit Review |
10-Jul |
Van Der
Graaf Generator |
31-Jul |
East Of
Eden + Home |
21-Aug |
Hookfoot
+ Quiver |
9-Oct |
Quintessence |
|
|
1972 |
|
8-Apr |
Edgar
Broughton Band + Mr Moses School Band |
22-Apr |
Hawkwind
+ Magic Muscle |
8-Jul |
Caravan +
Gnidrolog |
12-Aug |
Stray +
Snakeye |
9-Sep |
Wizzard +
Glencoe |
21-Oct |
Jonathan
Kelly + Capability Brown |
|
|
1973 |
|
6-Jan |
Brinsley
Schwarz + Kala |
10-Feb |
Mott The
Hoople + Darien Spirit |
3-Mar |
Mott The
Hoople + Darien Spirit |
26-May |
Roy
Buchanan + Solution |
17_jun |
o'Burg
Hawk + Magus + Otway & Barrett (Raban's Rock '73 |
23-Jun |
Backdoor
+ Budgie |
7-Jul |
Jack The
Lad + Peter Hammill + Zox & The Radar Boys |
18-Aug |
Jo'Burg
Hawk + Glencoe |
1-Sep |
String
Driven Thing + Ducks Deluxe |
15-Sep |
Commander
Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen + Kilburn and The High Roads |
29-Sep |
Jonathan
Kelly + Gryphon |
3-Nov |
Darryl
Way's Wolf + Le Orme |
17-Nov |
Stackridge + Aj Webber + Warrior |
1-Dec |
Gong |
7-Dec |
Carmen +
Rotgut |
22-Dec |
Ducks
Deluxe + Starry Eyed And Laughing |
29-Dec |
String
Driven Thing + Kilburn and The High Roads |
|
|
1974 |
|
2-Feb |
Greenslade + Chilli Willi & The Red Hot Peppers |
16-Feb |
Can |
2-Mar |
Queen +
Fruupp |
9-Mar |
Manfred
Mann's Earth Band + Wally |
13-Apr |
Refugee +
Aj Webber |
20-Apr |
Blodwyn
Pig + Narnia |
8-Jun |
Silverhead + Blue |
21-Jul |
Capability Brown + Aj Webber + Druid + Palace + Avalon (Raban's
Rock '74) |
17-Aug |
Blodwyn
Pig + Nutz |
21-Dec |
Jess
Roden Band + String Driven Thing |
|
|
1975 |
|
19-Mar |
Hunter
Ronson Band + Warren Harry and The Yum Yum Band |
17-May |
Dr
Feelgood + Warren Harry |
8-Nov |
Camel +
Asylum |
|
|
1976 |
|
20-Nov |
The
Flamin Groovies + The Vibrators |
|
|
1977 |
|
18-Jun |
Tom Petty
and The Heartbreakers + The Boomtown Rats |
|
|
1978 |
|
7-Jan |
Osibisa +
Spartacus |
11-Mar |
Motorhead
+ The Radiators From Space |
22-Apr |
The
Modern Lovers |
28_Jun |
The Clash
+ The Coventry Automatics |
|
|
1983 |
|
25-Jun |
Big
Country + The Lotus Eaters + Red Beat |
29-Oct |
The Truth
+ Screen 3 + Doris and The Dots |
5-Nov |
The Alarm
+ Basta Roc + Perfect Crime + The Climb |
19-Jun |
Public
Image Limited + First Priority |
3-Dec |
Gary
Glitter + Gothique |
23-Dec |
The
Farmers Boys and The Higsons + Popular Voice |
|
|
1984 |
|
17-Feb |
Thomas
Dolby + Dekka Danse |
14-Apr |
Grandmaster Flash + Mike Bruce + Seelabeelia |
23-Jun |
X-Mal
Deutschland + The March Violets + Red Lorry Yellow Lorry |
2-Nov |
Sisters
Of Mercy + The Skeletal Family |
10-Nov |
The Alarm
+ Blue In Heaven |
24-Nov |
The Cult
+ Balaam and the Angel + Play Dead |
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
FRIARS 50th
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.


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
If you are in
the Aylesbury area you can also purchase the book from Rocky &
Kook or Aylesbury Music, both in Temple Street, Aylesbury or
Deco
Audio/Vicious Squirrel in Kempson Close, Aylesbury
(Avoids P&P charges).
