Paul Rodgers has announced that he will be heading out across the UK
this May on the ‘FREE Spirit’ Tour performing songs strictly from the
Free catalogue. The tour will culminate with a show at the famed Royal
Albert Hall in London.
On the subject of performing songs from Free’s renowned back
catalogue and why the decision was made to name the tour the ‘FREE
Spirit’ Tour, Paul Rodgers had the following to say:
“It was 50 years ago in 1967 when Paul Kossoff and I met and later
formed Free. We first jammed together at the Fickle Pickle Blues Club in
Finsbury Park, we wanted exactly that, to be free to play the music
that we loved, blues and beyond. We knew we had something special
between us when people told us that when we played time stood still. He
brought in the rhythm section, Simon Kirke from his band The Black Cat
Bones and found the advertisement at the Nags Head Battersea for a “Bass
player ex-John Mayall looking for a gig” Andy Fraser.
Not only was Koss the soul of the band, playing every note
deeply…from his very soul he also had great organisational skills,
everybody loved him and rightly so.
The first song that Koss and I wrote together was “Moonshine”. I
remember him playing the music and he asked if I could write the melody
and lyrics. In fact it was that song we were playing when Alexis Corner
walked in to our rehearsal and gave us the suggestion for a band name
“Free At Last”.
We went with just Free and I am still reeling from the memories.
It was so inspirational playing Free material with Deborah Bonham’s
band, led by guitarist Pete Bullick, when we played charity gigs to
support Willows Animal Sanctuary and Assisted Therapy Unit,
which my wife Cynthia and I plus Deborah Bonham and Pete Bullick are
Patrons of, that I promised myself that someday we would tour the UK
with this band. Well…that someday has come. Pete will be on guitar, Ian
Rowley on bass, Rich Newman on drums and Gerard Louis “G” on keyboards.
Special guest will be Deborah Bonham featured with a keyboardist.
We are calling the tour “Free Spirit” and the back story is that two
ponies were abandoned by their guardians on the Shetland Islands when
concerned neighbours contacted Willows who agreed to rescue them. After a
fourteen hour ferry ride the two arrived, one heavily pregnant and both
full of worms. The drugs needed would most assuredly kill the unborn
foal. However miracles do happen and a healthy foal was born christened
“Free Spirit” by Willows. Which in turn inspired the name for the tour.
What better way to thank the fans for their years and years of
devotion to Free than to do this “Free Spirit” UK Tour”. PAUL RODGERS
Full FREE Spirt UK Dates. For tickets and more information visit the TOUR page. General public on-sale starts Friday, January 27th at 9:00 AM.
May 2017
Friday 5th – Clyde Auditorium | Glasgow
Sunday 7th – City Hall | Newcastle
Monday 8th – O2 Apollo | Manchester
Wednesday 10th – Colston Hall | Bristol
Friday 12th – Pavilions | Plymouth
Sunday 14th – New Theatre | Oxford
Wednesday 17th – De Montfort Hall | Leicester
Friday 19th – City Hall | Sheffield
Saturday 20th – Royal Concert Hall | Nottingham
Monday 22nd – Cliffs Pavilion | Southend
Tuesday 23rd – Regent Theatre | Ipswich
Thursday 25th – Guildhall | Portsmouth
Saturday 27th – Symphony Hall | Birmingham
Sunday 28th – Royal Albert Hall | London
VIP Packages including Meet & Greet available from vipnation.eu/PaulRodgers
