FRIARS AYLESBURY PRESENTS

STEVE HILLAGE + GONG  

 FRIDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2019

AYLESBURY WATERSIDE THEATRE 

TICKETS GO ON SALE THIS FRIDAY 31^st MAY at 10.00am from ATGTickets, Ticketmaster and See Tickets.

Steve Hillage is recognised as one of the 20^th Century’s most influential guitarists and producers and has a long and distinguished history with Friars Aylesbury. 

He first played Friars in December 1973 at the Borough Assembly Hall with his band GONG who are reforming for this 2019 tour and will be supporting Steve on 15 November. In October 1975 he released his first solo album ‘Fish Rising’ and in 1976 his follow up album ‘L’ which resulted in his first Friars solo headliner in October 1976. This was so well received that he topped the subsequent Friars Poll as the artist Friars members most wanted to see in 1977. So it was, that in October 1977 he made his much anticipated return, around his Motivation Radio album, which turned out to be one of the fastest selling Friars gigs of all time and resulted in him being presented with the prestigious FA Cup. He returned again in May 1978 in conjunction with his ‘Green’ album which was produced by Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason.

Since then he has been associated with a myriad of artists and bands including Kevin Ayres, Mike Oldfield, Hawkwind, Sting, Ozric Tentacles and even Sham’69. As a producer he has produced The Charlatans, Simple Minds, Genesis’s Tony Banks and Robyn Hitchcock among many others. 

Like Bowie, Steve Hillage has always been re-inventing himself so it was no surprise that in the late eighties he became involved with techno/ambient music and along with his wife Miquette Giraudy (who played with Steve on all his solo Friars gigs) formed System 7 which had collaborations with The Orb’s Alex Paterson, Laurent Garnier, Youth and Paul Oakenfold. 

For this monumental return to Friars Aylesbury Steve will be playing tracks from his 1970’s albums Green, L, Fish Rising and Motivation Radio. Reviews of shows earlier in 2019 have been astonishing. Expect to be moved. 

Tickets will be available this coming Friday at 10.00am from ATG Tickets, Ticketmaster and See Tickets.

2019 galleries of Friars gigs this year - click on a poster to view

FRIARS AYLESBURY in its 50^th Anniversary year  1969-2019

 presents Aylesbury band

THE DUNG BEATLES

at the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre

performing Abbey Road in its entirety and other Beatles classics on 26 September 2019 – the 50^th anniversary of the release of the Abbey Road album. 

Tickets on sale from the Waterside Box Office, atgtickets.com and ticketmaster.co.uk

Friars Aylesbury has a long tradition of supporting local bands and over the years has supported and presented Marillion, John Otway, Howard Jones, Callow Saints and many others.

In its 50^th anniversary year Friars now presents Aylesbury heroes The Dung Beatles who are considered to be one of the very best Beatles bands in the UK. They will be playing the Abbey Road album in its entirety, plus other Beatles classics. This gig will be on Thursday 26 September 2019 which will be 50^th anniversary, to the day, of the release of the Abbey Road album. 

Formed in 2013 and featuring Steve Hillier (rhythm guitar and vocals), Danny Prendergast (lead guitar and vocals), Mike Ashton (drums), Phil Toler (bass guitar and vocals) and Martin Kent (keyboards) the DBs have been building a solid fanbase throughout Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire. They have sold out many local venues including Aylesbury’s Limelight Theatre, St Mary’s Church, The Elgiva Theatre in Chesham and the Thame Theatre.

They have also played The Cavern in Liverpool. 

This will be the DBs second Friars Aylesbury gig as they played at the Earthly Messenger Unveiling Concert at The Waterside on 25 March 2018 alongside John Otway, Howard Jones and Marillion. They went down an absolute storm that night. That concert included an international audience many of whom had flown in to attend the unveiling. This 26 September Friars concert will be the biggest concert of their career so far. Big fans themselves, the DBs focus on playing the Beatles’ songs with as much love and feel as possible, from the tenderest ballad to the raunchiest rocker, combining well known classics and more obscure album gems. 

Dung Beatles will be augmented on stage by horn section the Hornettes who are Andrew Dimond (saxophone), Kathy Gifford (trumpet), Michele Toler (saxophone & flute) and Toby Whiffin (trombone).

STEVE HACKETT  FRIARS AYLESBURY 2 NOV 2019

**SOLD OUT**

For the first time ever, Steve will perform the seminal Genesis album ‘Selling England By The Pound’ in its entirety. Released in 1973, the album went to No.3 in the UK charts and has been described as ‘the definitive Genesis album’. It includes such favourites as ‘Dancing With The Moonlight’, ‘Firth Of Fifth’, ‘Cinema Show’ and, of course, ‘I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)’. Other favourite classic Genesis tracks will also feature in the show.

2019 also marks the 40th anniversary of one of Steve’s most popular solo albums Spectral Mornings and Steve will rightly celebrate this milestone by performing some of the masterpieces from this album.
Fans will also be treated to highlights from Steve’s new album, to be released in 2019.

Photo reportage of the unveiling of the Earthly Messenger in case you didn't see it

Live webcam of the Earthly Messenger

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

All proceeds from the book will go to the Aylesbury Bowie Statue fund. We still need to raise £65K to fully fund the project so every amount helps. The book is written by the legendary Kris Needs and also has contributions from Pete Frame, Robin Pike, Rick Pearce, Vivien Symons, Mike O'Connor and David Stopps. It contains some amazing Friars Aylesbury photographs by Michael Putland and Mick Rock as well as copies of the Bowie Friars newsheets, tickets, posters and contracts. Mick Rock’s famous fellatio shot with Bowie and Mick Ronson taken at Friars Aylesbury on 15 July 1972 is included.

For those of you who received copies of the book through the Kickstarter reward packages, here is Kris Needs signing the books (in the same room and on the same sofa that he designed the iconic Friars original news-sheets including the Bowie ones)

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Thank you for your continued support of Friars Aylesbury and till the next time, be good to each other.

Mike

Webmaster