NEWS

All the latest happenings from the world of The Orchestra

June 2008

Kelly Radio Interviews
Kelly has been busy today (17 June) recording a series of radio interviews, to promote The Orchestra autumn UK tour, for various stations which will be going out around England in the next day or two...or sometime this week. Here's a list of where you'll find him and with which presenters, although we don't actually have any dates, so you'll have to keep listening in...the Gold Radio interview is quite a long one by all accounts...

Virgin Rock with Russ Williams. website

Gold Radio with David Jenson. website

BBC Radio Leeds with Paul Carrington. website

BBC Radio York with Adam Tomlinson. website

BBC Radio Stoke with Tim Wedgewood. website

BBC Radio Kent with Roger Day. website

More Tour Dates
Another date has been added to the Autumn UK tour, this time at the Cliffs Pavilion at Southend-on-Sea on 29 September. There's also a short East European tour from mid-November to the start of December taking in Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. More on the Gigs page

UK Spring Tour comes to a close
The UK spring tour ended Friday night (11/04) in Eastbourne, unfortunately a bit too far for me to travel but judgeing by the guestbook it seems to have been a great end of tour gig.
If you had any funny moments on the tour please feel free to share them with us on the Guestbook. One moment springs to my mind at the Guildhall in Preston. The lights dimmed, the intro music starts, Greg's excellent lighting and graphics swirl around the stage, the guys slowly walk on stage...everything is nicely building up to the opening drum roll from Gordon to go into the first song...silence...oh dear...where's Gordon? Still backstage! So they had to start all over again. One lives for embarrasing moments like that.

Autumn 2008 UK Tour

Things are now lining up for another UK tour in the Autumn. Dates are already penciled in starting on 27 Sept and finishes 26 Oct. The tour includes Liverpool (27/9), Scarborough (28/9), Bradford (1/10), Oxford (2/10), Doncaster (3/10), Blackpool (6/10), London (Shepherds Bush 7/10), Bilston (8/10), Hastings (10/10), Dartford (11/10), Margate (12/10), Stoke (14/10), Buxton(15/10), Isle Of Man (16/10), Northampton (18/10), Brentwood (19/10), Worthing (20/10), Salisbury (22/10), Truro (23/10), Tunbridgewells (24/10) and Bristol (26/10). However I must stress that these dates are all still to be confirmed and are subject to change. Keep checking our sister site at www.orchestrafan.com for official dates. Lets hope that promotion for this tour is better than the last - Spread the word...The Orchestra are returning!
Other News...
Louis Clark is rumoured to be starting work on a new Hooked On Classics project. Eric will be supporting Billy Joel in the USA at the Hershey Stadium on 10 July and the Shea Stadium on 16 and 18 July. Phil and Mik along with Tina McBain of The Eleanor Rigby Expierience will be launching the Beatles, Blues & Blue Violin Project at the Acoustic Festival of Britain at Catton Hall over the May Bank Holiday on 26 May. For more details visit Phil's website at www.phil-bates.co.uk .

February 2008

UK Preparations and One Off Gigs
Kelly has already done a couple of local radio interviews in the UK to promote the up and coming UK tour. So far he's done interviews for BBC Radio Gloucestershire which was broadcast over two days on the John Rockley Show (7 and 8 Feb) and by Judi Spiers on BBC Radio Devon (4 Feb). If you hear of any more interviews let me know and I'll post them up here.
In the meantime the UK guys have flown off to the USA for a one off gig (8 Feb) in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, and later in the month it's reported that they'll be in Mexico. Looking further ahead they'll be in Sweden for the Sweden Rock Festival in June.

January 2008

UK Tour Dates Released - Plus a New Website
The dates for the UK tour have been announced. The guys will be touring from March 4 to April 11. All the dates can be found on the all new Orchestra Portal Website at www.orchestrafan.com . This is the new home to gain access to just about everything to do with The Orchestra (featuring former members of ELO and ELO Part II), with lots of links to the various band member and band sites including this one. There's also lots of photos there to view taken at Leeds in August of last year taken by yours truly.
Also watch out for more UK dates coming in Autumn. Happy days for the UK.

December 2007

UK Tour
The Orchestra is putting the final dates together that will see the band touring the UK during spring 2008. The official release of these dates is imminant and we hope to have them published here soon. The band line-up sees one change from the line-up that toured in 2006 with former ELO Part II member Phil Bates returning on guitar and vocals.

November 2007

ELO/ELO Part II Former Members Back In The USA
The Orchestra are doing a one off gig at the Silver Moon in Colorado Springs on the 16 December 2007. Entry is by ticket only so get yours before they're all snapped up!
More...

May 2007

Violinski CD Release
Mik's band from around the 1979 / 1980 period, Violinski, have a ' best of ' release on CD titled 'Clog Dance - The Very Best Of Violinski' on 28 May 2007. It contains 20 tracks taken from the two Violinski albums plus a number of bonus tracks.
Track Listing:

Clog Dance Silent Love Captain Dandy Save Me What's Your Game? Princess of Darkness (Instrumental) Caped Crusader Hide It I Don't Know Clear Away Tango (Instrumental) Ruby Rhythms (Alternate Mix) No Cause For Alarm (Early Version) Need Your Love (Instrumental) Rock Steady Scenario (Alternate Take) Paris (Instrumental) Mirror Mirror Home For Tea (Alternate Take) Clog Dance (Rock Version)

17 February 2007

Party In The Desert!
The band have just announced a US gig. It's taking place on April 7 at the Spotlight 29 Casino near Palm Springs, CA. Website

4 February 2007

Hux on the Bluerailroad
Parthenon Huxley has recently contributed an article on the Bluerailroad website describing the members of The Orchestra, how he joined the band and life on the road, particularly in Russia.
Click Here to read all about it.

25 September 2006

Website and other Jottings
Some people may have noticed the website went missing last week for a number of days. This was due to the company who we had the domain name registered with going bust. Hopefully things are now sorted out with another provider.
On a different note, the band are currently doing a number of dates in Russia. Unfortunately here at Orchestra Towers (often confused with the Tower of Terror, Orlando) we didn't receive any dates or info for the site, hence their absence on the Gigs page (which has since gone awol). Sorry!

2 September 2006

New Website Makeover
Well it's been a long time in coming but at last it's here. Finally managed to give the old website a new colour scheme and got rid of those not-so-popular frames in the process. Hope you like what you see. I hope to be expanding some of the pages over the next month or so but if you come across any problems or something isn't working let me know at weborchestrator@googlemail.com I'll try and fix it asap.

15 August 2006

Wedding Bells For Kelly
Kelly and Anna finally tied the knot in the Priory Suite at the Dudley Register Office on 15 August. A selection of photos of the event are available on Kelly's website (www.kellygroucutt.com)

24 June 2006

Merchandise on Tour
The following merchandise is available to buy on the current UK tour...
These goodies are not available to buy in the shops.
However, the Tour Book, No Rewind CD and the Homemade Spaceship CD are all available to buy at Hux's website: www.parthenonhuxley.com

CD's:

No Rewind - The Orchestra
Latest CD from the guys complete with new sleeve design by George Reed.
Pre-Show Sampler
Features tracks by individual members of The Orchestra.
Kelly - Kelly Groucutt
Kelly's solo album from 1980's available for the first time on CD.
Homemade Spaceship - P.Hux
Hux's rather special interpretations of ELO songs.

Tour Brochure:

World Tour 2006
A superb, lavish, 16 page full colour tour programme with info on the band and individual members.