Paul Rodgers
British singer Paul Rodgers has announced that he will head out across the U.K. next month on what’s being billed as the “Free Spirit” tour. The former lead vocalist of Free (as well as Bad Company, and now a solo artist) will perform songs strictly from the Free catalog. The tour will culminate with a show at the famed Royal Albert Hall in London.
Free is best remembered in the U.S. for the 1970 Top 5 classic rock anthem “All Right Now.”
On the subject of performing songs from Free’s back catalog and why the decision was made to name the outing the “Free Spirit” tour, Rodgers said, in a press release:
“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 organizational skills, everybody loved him and rightly so.”
Kossoff died in 1976, at age 25.
“The first song that Koss and I wrote together,” Rodgers continues, “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 Korner 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. What better way to thank the fans for their years and years of devotion to Free than to do this Free Spirit U.K. tour.”
Related: Rhino will reissue two of Bad Company’s albums in May
Free (l. to r.): Paul Kossoff, Simon Kirke, Paul Rodgers, Andy Fraser
Paul Rodgers’ Free Spirit Tour Itinerary
(All dates in May)
Friday 5 – Clyde Auditorium | Glasgow
Sunday 7 – City Hall | Newcastle
Monday 8 – O2 Apollo | Manchester
Wednesday 10 – Colston Hall | Bristol
Friday 12 – Pavilions | Plymouth
Sunday 14 – New Theatre | Oxford
Wednesday 17 – De Montfort Hall | Leicester
Friday 19 – City Hall | Sheffield
Saturday 20 – Royal Concert Hall | Nottingham
Monday 22 – Cliffs Pavilion | Southend
Tuesday 23 – Regent Theatre | Ipswich
Thursday 25 – Guildhall | Portsmouth
Saturday 27 – Symphony Hall | Birmingham
Sunday 28 – Royal Albert Hall | London
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1 Comment so far
Jump into a conversationWow. I hope he decides to tour the US doing Free. One thing that was left out was that he was also the lead singer for The Firm with Jimmy Page. They were great the 2 times I saw them at MSG. Always hoped they’d reform. Good for Paul Rodgers for bringing back the great music of Free!