Just Announced! Steven Wilson returns to North America (including 6 dates in Canada) in November/December 2018 for the continuation of his ‘To The Bone’ tour. From his website:
“I’m pleased to announce that the To the Bone tour will return to North America in November and December of this year, playing many cities I didn’t get a chance to visit on the previous leg of the tour, including 6 shows in Canada. Tickets for these shows go on sale 3rd August at 10am local time. See you there!”
YES hits the road again with their Yestival tour kicking off in Greensboro NC this Friday. Also appearing on the bill (at most dates) are Todd Rundgren and Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy. The 31-date trek includes four Canadian dates, in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and London.
YES will play one track from each of their first ten albums in chronological order – from 1968’s ‘Yes’ through to 1980’s ‘Drama’, with ‘added surprises’. This sounds like a tour not to be missed, with YES continuing to perform deep cuts alongside fan favourites.
Alan White will be supported for this tour by additional drummer Dylan Howe, son of Steve. From the YES Official Facebook page:
YES’s Alan White welcomes Dylan Howe to rhythm section for #YESTIVAL– Double Drumming! Video Diary!
2017 Tour Dates & Tickets: http://yesworld.com
2017 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees YES and longtime drummer Alan White have today (7/26) announced that Dylan Howe, son of guitarist Steve Howe, will be joining the band’s rhythm section on this summer’s 31-date North American YESTIVAL Tour creating a twin drum powerhouse alongside White, in similar fashion that Bill Bruford and White brought on their Union Tour in the early 1990s with two drummers playing simultaneously.
“It’s a pleasure for me to welcome Dylan Howe to the YES stage,” shares White. “I’ve known Dylan for most of his life and I’m proud to think I’ve helped to be an inspiration in his musical journey. I’m very much looking forward to performing with him this summer for the upcoming YES tour.”
“I feel very honored and fortunate to have got the call to join YES this summer,” adds Dylan. “This to me is, quite possibly, the musical zenith of my career – my love for this music and the great musicianship that runs through it has always been a massive inspiration to me. Bill and Alan’s drumming is why I started playing the drums in the first place, and to have the opportunity to honor their great contribution to drumming whilst playing alongside Alan with my brilliant father and this outstanding lineup is a dream come true for me.”
2017 has been an ‘interesting’ year in Yesworld. April saw the 8-man ‘Union’ line up inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, which resulted in a patched up performance at the induction ceremony by members of both YES and ARW (now know as Yes Featuring Anderson, Rabin, Wakeman). Since then, both bands have reiterated their own plans to celebrate YES’s 50th Anniversary in 2018.
YESTIVAL tour dates:
Aug 04 – White Oak Amphitheatre at Greensboro Coliseum Complex, NC
Aug 05 – Holmes Convocation Center, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC
Aug 07 – Pier Six Concert Pavilion, Baltimore, MD
Aug 08 – Tower Theatre, Upper Darby, PA
Aug 10 – The Grand Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, CT
Aug 11 – Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk, Brooklyn, NY
Aug 12 – P.N.C. Bank Center, Holmdel, NJ
Aug 14 – Hershey Theatre, Hershey, PA
Aug 16 – The Palace Theatre, Greensburg, PA
Aug 17 – DTE Energy Music Theatre, Clarkston, MI
Aug 19 – Festival Park – Grand Victoria Casino, Elgin, IL – (A benefit for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)
Aug 20 – Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica, Cleveland, OH
Aug 22 – The Zoo Amphitheatre, Oklahoma City, OK
Aug 23 – Smart Financial Centre, Sugar Land, TX
Aug 25 – Celebrity Theatre, Phoenix, AZ
Aug 26 – The Joint @ Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, NV
Aug 28 – Balboa Theatre, San Diego, CA – (only Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy supporting)
Aug 29 – Microsoft Theater, Los Angeles, CA
Aug 31 – Grand Sierra Resort, Reno, NV – (YES only – no support)
Sep 01 – Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, CA – (YES only – no support) – Tickets on sale Fri July 21
Sep 03 – Tulalip Amphitheatre, Tulalip, WA
Sep 05 – Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver, BC – (only Todd Rundgren supporting)
Sep 07 – Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Edmonton, AB – (only Todd Rundgren supporting)
Sep 08 – Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Calgary, AB – (only Todd Rundgren supporting)
Sep 11 – Bluestem Center For The Arts Amphitheatre, Moorhead, MN – (only Todd Rundgren supporting)
Sep 12 – McGrath Amphitheatre, Cedar Rapids, IA – (only Todd Rundgren supporting)
Sep 14 – Budweiser Gardens, London, ON – (only Todd Rundgren supporting)
Sep 17 – The Wilbur Theatre, Boston, MA – (YES only – no support)
Sep 18 – The Paramount, Huntington, NY – (YES only – no support)
Sep 19 – The Paramount, Huntington, NY – (YES only – no support)
Danish band MEW make a welcome return to North America this Summer, including a date at Toronto’s Mod Club on August 10th. The tour will see MEW promoting their latest album ‘Visuals’ which was released last week.
Tickets for all dates go on sale Friday May 5th.
Visit the MEW website for all things MEW related
YES Official have announced the dates for their Yestival American tour which will feature Todd Rundgren and Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy as support acts. According to Yesworld.com “…. YES will play one track live, from each studio album from YES (1969) to DRAMA (1980), chronologically, with a few surprises thrown in.”
Aug 04 – White Oak Amphitheatre at Greensboro Coliseum Complex, NC
Aug 05 – Holmes Convocation Center, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC
Aug 07 – Pier Six Concert Pavilion, Baltimore, MD
Aug 08 – Tower Theatre, Upper Darby, PA
Aug 10 – The Grand Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, CT
Aug 11 – Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk, Brooklyn, NY
Aug 12 – P.N.C. Bank Center, Holmdel, NJ
Aug 16 – The Palace Theatre, Greensburg, PA
Aug 17 – DTE Energy Music Theatre, Clarkston, MI
Aug 19 – Festival Park – Grand Victoria Casino, Elgin, IL
Aug 20 – Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica*, Cleveland, OH
Aug 22 – The Zoo Amphitheatre, Oklahoma City, OK
Aug 23 – Smart Financial Centre, Sugar Land, TX
Aug 25 – Celebrity Theatre, Phoenix, AZ
Aug 26 – The Joint @ Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, NV
Aug 29 – Microsoft Theater, Los Angeles, CA
Sep 03 – Tulalip Amphitheatre, Tulalip, WA
Presales begin 13th April, with there being a possibility of extra dates being added.
YES were recently inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame of course, but if anyone was hoping or expecting any kind of further union, the ongoing name-grabbing attempts by ARW – who appear to have a legal right to be known as ‘YES featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman’ – and the frosty nature of relations during the induction ceremony have put an end to that. Both camps have separately announced there will be no further unions, despite next year being the band’s 50th Anniversary.
YES already have plans to tour Europe in early 2018 when they are expected to be performing Relayer in full.
ARW themselves return to North America in August/September, including 3 concerts in Canada:
September 16th – Toronto Massey Hall
September 18th – Quebec Grand Theatre
September 19th – Montreal Theatre St Denis
Full dates on the ARW website.
The first batch of 2017 King Crimson live dates have been announced via the band’s website – http://www.dgmlive.com. Some are still to be confirmed, and extra dates including New York City in the Autumn are expected to follow.
Three Canadian dates are scheduled, at Montreal, Toronto, and Quebec.
Bill Rieflin returns to the fold for 2017, completing an 8 man line-up, which potentially includes 4 drummers.
13th June – Seattle, WA – Moore Theatre
15th June – Saratoga, CA – Mountain Winery
17th June – San Francisco, CA – to be confirmed
19th June – San Diego, CA – Humphrey’s
21st June – Los Angeles, CA – to be confirmed
24th June – Denver, CO – to be confirmed
26th June – Minneapolis, MN – to be confirmed
28th June – Chicago, IL – Chicago Theatre
30th June – Rochester, NY – Kodak Hall
3rd July – Montreal QC -Montreal Jazz Festival
5th July – Toronto, ON – Massey Hall
7th July – Quebec, QC – to be confirmed
9th July – Red Bank, NJ – Count Basie Theatre
14th July – Mexico City – to be confirmed
15th July – Mexico City – to be confirmed
Big Big Train have revealed the artwork and track listing for the 28th April release of their ‘Grimspound’ album.
Hot on the heels of 2016’s ‘Folklore’, ‘Grimspound’ contains 8 tracks and will be the first Big Big Train release to feature a guest vocalist with Judy Dyble of Fairport Convention fame singing lead vocal on one track.
2017 also sees Big Big Train return to the live stage with three shows at Cadogan Hall in London on September 29, 30 and October 1.
The album will be available on CD, 180g double vinyl, hi-resolution 24/96 download, standard resolution download and via streaming services.
Pre-orders will begin 2nd March, from Burning Shed and The Merch Desk.
‘Grimspound’ Track Listing:
Brave Captain
On The Racing Line
Experimental Gentlemen
Meadowland
Grimspound
The Ivy Gate
A Mead Hall In Winter
As The Crow Flies
Danish band Mew return in 2017 with their seventh album, entitled ‘Visuals’ and a European Tour. The album is released on 28th April 2017 and can be pre-ordered now from Mew’s website.
World wide tour dates are expected to be announced soon, the following dates in Europe are now confirmed:
FEB 9, Academy of Music (Copenhagen, Denmark) – two shows
MAY 17, Paradiso (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
MAY 19, Point Ephémère (Paris, France)
MAY 20, TRIX Centrum voor Muziek (Antwerp, Belgium)
MAY 21, Trinity Centre (Bristol, UK)
MAY 22, O2 Ritz Manchester (Manchester, UK)
MAY 23, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire (London, UK)
MAY 25, Luxor (Cologne, Germany)
MAY 26, Knust (Hamburg, Germany)
MAY 26-27, Immergut Festival (Neustrelitz, Germany)
JUL 14, Ilosaarirock (Joensuu, Finland)
JUL 20-22, Musik i Lejet (Tisvilde, Denmark)
Fans have become accustomed to waiting a few years between Mew albums, so today’s announcement has come as a welcome surprise. Front man Jonas Bjerre explained that the tour that accompanied 2015’s ‘+-‘ album found the band reaching a creative peak that they felt was too exhilarating to be dampened by a period of extended cave-dwelling. They arrived home with demos that had been written on the road and the spark was lit. They wanted to break the cycle and make an album quickly.
Track listing for the new album is as follows:
1-Nothingness and No Regrets (4:28)
2-The Wake of Your Life (4:41)
3-Candy Pieces All Smeared Out (3:37)
4-In a Better Place (4:40)
5-Ay Ay Ay (3:41)
6-Learn Our Crystals (5:21)
7-Twist Quest (3:19)
8-Shoulders (2:53)
9-85 Videos (4:37)
10-Zanzibar (2:04)
11-Carry Me To Safety (4:27)
They have also released a video single ‘Carry Me To Safety’, the last song on the album:
Just a few personal favourites from 2016…..
1. STEVE HACKETT – The Total Experience Live In Liverpool
2. BIG BIG TRAIN – A Stone’s Throw From The Line
3. IQ – Live On The Road Of Bones
4. KING CRIMSON – Radical Action (To Unseat The Hold Of Monkey Mind)
5. STICK MEN – Midori
Progressive Music Review’s pick of the Top 5 Reissues for 2016.
1. YES – Tales From Topographic Oceans
2. KING CRIMSON – On (And Off) The Road
3. TANGERINE DREAM – The Official Bootleg Series Volume Two
4. ANTHONY PHILLIPS – Wise After The Event
5. HAWKWIND – The Charisma Years
1 BIG BIG TRAIN – Folklore
2 MARILLION – F.E.A.R.
3 HAKEN – Affinity
4 RIVERSIDE – Eye Of The Soundscape
5 THANK YOU SCIENTIST – Stranger Heads Prevail
6 SYD ARTHUR – Apricity
7 STEVEN WILSON – 4 1/2
8 VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR – Do Not Disturb
9 STICK MEN – Prog Noir
10 OPETH – Sorceress
Progressive Music Review 