Monday, August 25, 2008

Tour offers classic rock "Flashback" for fans




By Mitchell Peters
1 hour, 25 minutes ago


Jimi HendrixPink
Floyd
Led ZeppelinJanis JoplinDeep PurpleClassic Rock Experience


The nearly 50-date U.S. arena tour launches Wednesday
(August 27) at the Mobile Civic Center in Mobile, Alabama.


Inspired partly by Paul O'Neill's Trans-Siberian Orchestra
(TSO), which features a full rock band, a string section,
multiple vocalists and a laser/light show, "Flashback" boasts
14 musicians and singers, along with an 11-piece string and
horn section. The concert's approximately 30-song set features
such classics as Hendrix's "Purple Haze," Led Zeppelin's
"Stairway to Heaven," Pink Floyd's "Money" and the Doors'
"Light My Fire."


The idea to create "Flashback" came after seeing a TSO
concert in 2006, veteran promoter and "Flashback" producer Rick
Bowen told Billboard. "In a lot of ways (TSO has) plowed
the ground for us, because we combine rock music and orchestra
music together," he said. "We've just taken it to the classic
rock platform and tried to play the very best of the music in
the era of the late '60s and early '70s."


"Flashback" will feature LED lighting, lasers, pyrotechnics
and a 30-foot inflated zeppelin that will hang in the center of
arenas. Seven video screens will play vintage video footage by
artists whose music is featured during the nearly three-hour
show.


The first leg of "Flashback" will visit 6,000- to
25,000-seat U.S. arenas through the beginning of November.
Tickets cost $17 to $55.


"We want to build a fan base, have a fair-priced ticket and
have the show proliferate with other versions that come out in
the future," Bowen said. "We're looking for an eight-to-10-year
lifespan on this show, not a one-time go-around."


The second leg of "Flashback" is tentatively scheduled to
begin in mid-February 2009 and run through early spring, Bowen
said.


Reuters/Billboard

This content was originally posted on http://entertainews.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

No comments: