GONG Returns To The UK in September 2010

After the success of their 2009 40th Anniversary UK tour and the critically acclaimed album "2032", GONG, the legendary progressive/psychedelic rock band will return to the UK in September 2010 for three exclusive concerts in Glasgow, Manchester and London, support for these concerts will come from very special guests Nik Turner's Space Ritual.

The forthcoming UK concerts will once again reunite core GONG members, including original founding member Daevid Allen(Guitar & Lead Vocal), Steve Hillage (Lead Guitar), Gilli Smyth (Space Whisper and Poetry), Miquette Giraudy (Synthesizer), Chris Taylor (Drums), Dave Sturt (Bass) and Ian East (Sax and Flute).

Described as exhilarating, compelling and other worldly, GONG's 2009 "2032" album represented the first time Hillage has recorded with original Gong founder, Daevid Allen, since 1974's "You" album.

"2032" continues Gong's famous ‘Radio Gnome' album trilogy which includes the psychedelic progressive rock albums "Flying Teapot" (1973), "Angel's Egg" (1973), and "You" (1974). "2032" is the year that the Planet Gong makes full contact with the Planet Earth - a major new chapter in the continually evolving Gong mythology.

Gong September 2010 UK Tour Dates
Ticket Hotline: 0871 230 0333 www.artistticket.com
Date: Thursday 9th September 2010
Venue: Glasgow 02 ABC
Box Office: 0871 230 0333
Address: 300 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JA

Date: Friday 10th September 2010
Venue: Manchester Academy
Box Office: 0871 230 0333
Address: Manchester University Union, Manchester, M13 9PR

Date: Saturday 11th September 2010
Venue: London HMV Forum
Box Office: 0871 230 0333
Address: 9-17 Highgate Road, Kentish Town, London, NW5 1JY

Gong originally formed in 1967, after Daevid Allen, a member of Soft Machine, was denied entry to the United Kingdom because of a visa complication. Allen remained in France where he and a London-born Sorbonne professor, Gilli Smyth, established the first incarnation of the band. This line-up, including Ziska Baum on vocals and Loren Standlee on flute, fragmented during the 1968 student revolution, with Allen and Smyth forced to flee France for Deya in Majorca.

They allegedly found saxophonist Didier Malherbe living in a cave in Deya, before film director Jérôme Laperrousaz invited the band back to France to record the soundtrack of his movie "Continental Circus." They were subsequently approached by Jean Karakos of the newly formed independent label BYG and signed a multi-album deal that included the albums - "Magick Brother," "Mystic Sister," "Camembert Electrique," plus Allen's solo album "Bananamoon."

Gong played at the second Glastonbury Festival in June 1971, which they followed up with a UK tour the following autumn. In late 1972 they were subsequently one of the first acts to sign to Virgin Records, getting first pick of the studio time ahead of Mike Oldfield. By now, a regular line-up had established itself and Gong released their "Flying Teapot" album. After the band signed with Virgin subsidiary Caroline Records, "Camembert Electrique" was given a belated UK release in late 1974.

Between 1973 and 1974, Gong, now augmented by guitarist Steve Hillage, released their best-known work, the "Radio Gnome Trilogy", three records that expounded upon the Gong mythology, "Flying Teapot," "Angel's Egg," and "You."

In 1975 at a gig in Cheltenham, Allen refused to go on stage, claiming that a "wall of force" was preventing him, and subsequently left the band. With both Smyth, who wanted to spend more time with her two children, and synth wizard Tim Blake having jumped off in previous months, this marked the end of the 'classic' line-up.

The band continued, touring the UK in November 1975 (as documented on the 2005 release "Live in Sherwood Forest '75") and worked on their next album "Shamal", but Hillage, who had been the band's de facto leader since Allen's exit, and his partner Miquette Giraudy, who had taken over from Smyth in late 1974, left before "Shamal" was released in early 1976. They re-joined the band briefly for a 1977 live reunion in Paris, and released the punk rock-influenced "Opium For The People" single.