UFO PREPARES TO KICK OFF NORTH AMERICAN TOUR
DRUMMER ANDY PARKER AND GUITARIST VINNIE MOORE COMMENT ON THE UPCOMING SHOWS
UFO‘s 2011 North American tour with special guests MINDFLOW will kick off this Thursday May 5th at The Crazy Donkey in Farmingdale, NY. The band will be touring North America in support of their greatest hits collection entitled “Best of a Decade” which is out now on SPV/Steamhammer. UFO is also in the process of working on a new studio album scheduled for release this fall. The following are a list of all confirmed dates as of now:
5/5: Farmingdale, NY @ The Crazy Donkey
5/6: Poughkeepsie,NY @ The Chance
5/7: West Springfield, VA @ Jaxx
5/9: Pittsburgh, PA @ The Altar
5/10: New Hope, PA @ Havana
5/11: Baltimore, MD @ Bourbon Street
5/13: New York, NY @ B.B. Kings
5/14: Foxboro (Boston), MA @ The Showcase Live
5/15: Londonderry,NH @ Tupelo Music Hall – SOLD OUT
5/17: Dayton, OH @ McGuffys House of Rock
5/18: Milwaukee, WI @ Shank Hall
5/20: Chicago, IL @ House Of Blues
5/21: Chicago/St. Charles, IL @ The Arcada Theatre
5/22: Akron, OH @ The Tangier
9/15: Santa Rosa, CA @ Last Day Saloon
9/16: Sacramento/Orangevale, CA @ Boardwalk
9/17: Santa Clara, CA @ Avalon
9/23: Las Vegas, NV @ Boulder Station Casino
9/24: Los Angeles, CA @ The Key Club
Drummer Andy Parker commented on the upcoming dates:
“I can’t wait to get back on the road again, before my wife finds me something else to do. It’s been two years since we toured the U.S. so I am really looking forward to the upcoming shows. Where will we see you?”
Guitarist Vinnie Moore chimed in:
I am looking forward to the may USA tour. We haven’t played any shows since December and i have some pent up energy that needs to be released before I go mental. Also, it’s been a while since we played America and I am excited that we will be hitting some of our favorite places like Chicago, NY…etc. I can’t wait to see all of our fuckin’ awesome fans again.
True rock legends such as UFO are characterized not only by the fact that they have added several classic anthems to the annals of rock history, but that their musical output, after many years, still remains at such a consistently high level and they always have something new and fresh coming up. With classic albums such as “Phenomenon”, “Force it” and “No Heavy Pettin” Phil Mogg, Vinnie Moore, Andy Parker and Paul Raymond still sound vital and imaginative to this day.
UFO’s global breakthrough came when German guitarist, Michael Schenker, joined the fold in 1973, having left his band the Scorpions to accept an offer from Phil Mogg and Pete Way. UFOreleased three consecutive rock classics with Schenker (“Phenomenon” (1974), “Force It” (1975) and “No Heavy Pettin'” (1976)), featuring classics such as: ‘Doctor Doctor’, ‘Shoot, Shoot’, and ‘Rock Bottom’. Following the arrival of keyboardist/rhythm guitarist Paul Raymond, UFOreleased the albums “Lights Out” (1977) and “Obsession” (1978), which included the hit singles ‘Too Hot To Handle’, ‘Lights Out’ and ‘Only You Can Rock Me’. Their live release “Strangers In The Night” came out in 1979 and is still considered to be one of the best live releases of all time, unfortunately, this also brought about the end of the Mogg, Way, Schenker, Parker & Raymond line-up.
The reorganized band underwent fifteen years marked by various eras and numerous line-up changes. To everyone’s surprise, autumn 1993 saw the return of the former UFO line-up consisting of Mogg, Way, Schenker, Parker and Raymond. This new edition of the classic team released the album “Walk On Water”, their first joint effort after in over fifteen years and they embarked on a world tour. However, Schenker left UFO again during the “Walk On Water” tour to continue working with his own group, MSG, while Mogg & Way went on to release their second album, Chocolate Box. The UFO album “Covenant and Sharks”, recorded by Mogg, Way and Schenker, arrived at the stores in 2000 and 2002. Vinnie Moore soon joined the band and recorded songs for the new album “You Are Here”which also featured Jason Bonham taking over the drumming duties. During the subsequent world tour, UFO recorded a show in Germany, which was later released as the live album, “Showtime”, as well as a DVD featuring additional bonus material. In 2006 left UFO to join Foreigner and was replaced by UFO’s original drummer, Andy Parker for their release “The Monkey Puzzle” In 2009 UFO released the critically acclaimed album “The Visitor”.
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See, now this is how a real legendary band gets it done! they still tour their asses off, and put out fresh new material every couple years. Not only that, but they’re not afraid to add their new tunes to the setlist. I hope they add a San Diego date to the tour because I am absolutely there if they do!
the last time they played down here, the opening band was some local band whose name I can’t remember, but who had a huge following who came out to see them. to that band’s credit, they kept hyping that UFO was coming up next. the majority of the opening band’s fans stuck around for UFO. You could tell at first that these young people weren’t sure what to make of these old guys up on the stage, but after about three or four songs, you could tell that UFO was winning them over, and they started making their way down front. UFO are true pros who still bring it night after night, and release albums that are still worth buying and cranking.
Were ready and fired up in pgh..