Nick Mason is amongst the musicians taking part, alongside Tom Jones, Eric Clapton, Mick Hucknall, Rick Wakeman, Gary Brooker, Paul Jones, John Illsley, Paul Carrack, Bonnie Tyler, Mike Rutherford, and Paul Young, plus others to be announced, all gathered to help raise funds for The Royal Marsden's brand new cancer treatment and research facility, the Oak Cancer Centre.
Eric Clapton said: "This is a great cause and I'm honoured to be part of the efforts to raise money for The Royal Marsden. I also couldn't say no to the opportunity to work with the other artists and bandmates in the line-up. I am sure it'll be a fantastic evening providing much needed support for this pioneering hospital."
Some great news for many of you: with Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets clearly loving life on the road, the thirteen dates already announced in Ireland and the UK in April/May 2020, have been augmented with a further four shows in the UK, and fifteen in Europe! One of the additional UK shows is in a venue that Nick would have been rather familiar with in the earlier days of Pink Floyd...
For those yet to check them out (and if so, where have you been?!), Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets brings together some familiar names, all great musicians: joining Nick are Gary Kemp and Lee Harris on guitar, Guy Pratt on bass, and Dom Beken on keyboards. Before coming together to form Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets, Kemp was best known for his work with Spandau Ballet, Harris as having played guitar with The Blockheads (Ian Dury's band), Pratt needs no introduction, and Beken was principally known for his work with The Orb, and Transit Kings (with Pratt). The band play early Pink Floyd songs, concentrated on the period of 1967-1972.
Tickets for the additional nineteen concerts, which are really not to be missed, have just gone on sale, via this direct link at SeeTickets.com for the UK dates, with different outlets for the European shows, links below. The dates and venues for the dates so far in 2020 are as follows, with the newly added concerts shown in bold:
Each date above links off to its individual show page, which should build into a record of each concert, a home for your reviews, pictures, and more!
This is a very special opportunity to experience Pink Floyd's celebrated and significant early body of work played live including songs from albums 'The Piper At The Gates of Dawn' and 'A Saucerful Of Secrets', through to 'Obscured By Clouds'. The band have been very highly praised by fans and the media alike for the quality and uniqueness of each performance - the Saucers clearly have a wonderful time performing together, and that comes across clearly in the music.
To mark the release of The Later Years, David Gilmour gave BBC Radio’s Matt Everitt unprecedented access with his only interview about the project, the result of which is the four part podcast which will be available weekly on Mondays from 25th November, via your chosen podcast service.
Covering the material and stories featured in The Later Years box set, the episodes are split into four key themes from the band's career from 1987 to the present day, delving into the multi-faceted elements of Pink Floyd's creative output:
The Studio
David talks about the band's return to the jam sessions in the recording studio and embracing new technology when faced with mountains of new advances in synthesisers and other instruments.
Artwork
David tells of his ideas for the band's artwork including how his simple sketch of a single, empty bed was transformed by the artist Storm Thorgerson into the epic image of hundreds of beds on the cover of A Momentary Lapse of Reason.
Live Performances
How the band were preparing for the terrifying prospect of the upcoming tour, only added to by
the enormous pressure facing them whilst rehearsing in a massive aircraft hangar at Toronto
airport.
Unreleased New Material from the box set
David talks about the many hours of new and rare material included in The Later Years, his memories jogged by watching footage of the band flying around in promotional airships over Miami beach, watching hapless swimmers surrounded by sharks.
Fleetwood has lined up musicians such as Billy Gibbons, David Gilmour, Jonny Lang, John Mayall, Christine McVie, Zak Starkey, Steven Tyler and Bill Wyman to perform on the night. "The concert is a celebration of those early blues days where we all began, and it's important to recognise the profound impact Peter and the early Fleetwood Mac had on the world of music," Fleetwood said. "Peter was my greatest mentor and it gives me such joy to pay tribute to his incredible talent. I am honoured to be sharing the stage with some of the many artists Peter has inspired over the years and who share my great respect for this remarkable musician."
Alongside the invited guest musicians, the house band consists of Fleetwood alongside Andy Fairweather Low, Dave Bronze and Ricky Peterson, and the concert will be filmed for eventual release.
Money from the event will go to the very deserving Teenage Cancer Trust charity, and tickets go on sale on Friday (November 15th) at 10am GMT via Ticketmaster UK. There are a number of tickets available in a Ticketmaster presale, again through that link.
Just released is The Pretty Things Final Bow, a limited edition 5 disc (2CD, 2DVD and 10" vinyl) release housed in a 52 page deluxe hardback book. The legendary band's final live performance, recorded at the London's O2 Indigo in December 2018, celebrates 55 years of the "greatest band most people have never heard of". The Final Bow captures The Pretty Things at their rocking and unique best across 3 sets of classic tracks - the entire concert - featuring guest appearances from David Gilmour and Van Morrison.
The first 500 copies of the deluxe set include an insert signed by Phil May and Dick Taylor. The Final Bow represents The Pretty Things's remarkable history on two concert film DVDs and a live audio recording on the two CDs as well as a special 10" of Phil May and Dick Taylor's track selections.
The 52-page hardback book is packed with live photography by Judy Totton, 'The Gospel according to Mark St. John' extensive sleeve notes and Phil and Dick's individual sleeve notes telling their tales of the ballsy, arrogant and ambitious band.
The evening was transformed from unmissable to sensational with the guest performances of David Gilmour on classics including Cries from the Midnight Circus and LSD, and legendary vocalist Van Morrison on blues classic Baby, Please Don't Go and soul standard You Can't Judge a Book by its Cover.
You can see David performing She Says Good Morning with The Pretty Things from the show, here:
The Pretty Things frontman Phil May told Prog magazine, "After 55 years, saying goodbye to The Pretty Things electric band was a seismic, emotional blow and a genuine life loss, for all the band and our manager. But, to be forced into it on health grounds, when the band was riding high, creating great new music and touring so successfully, throughout the world, made matters worse. But, life's a bitch and then you die...
"That said, this box set and what it represents, as a lasting tribute to the band I love, the life we have lived, and the way we have lived it, in music and performance, is unparalleled. I know I’m lucky, I, and the band, made it through a 2-hour 45-minute performance, in the best form we could have hoped for and we all feel that we created a performance, worthy of The Pretty Things at their best.
"That we captured it on film and on record, that we had our great, old friends, David Gilmour and Van Morrison alongside us and creating the moment and that, most of all, the O2 was sold out with our friends, old and new, young and old, and the people that we have done it for and who made it possible for us, was the icing on the cake."
As well as the deluxe edition, there's also a 140gram heavyweight vinyl edition available, with a selection of tracks from the evening. You can order either through the following direct links. Please note the price varies heavily between the different Amazon stores, so you are best to check neighbouring Amazon stores to see if they have it for a better price - they all ship worldwide.
THE PRETTY THINGS: Final Bow - deluxe 2DVD/2CD/10" vinyl:
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Tickets have just gone on sale for the newly announced Music For The Marsden, a concert being held in aid of The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity
