Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy Tour Comes to SOPAC Nov 17

Carl Palmer, among the most renowned drummers in rock history and a founding member of the supergroups Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Asia, brings Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy to SOPAC on Sunday, November 17 as part of the final leg of his 2019 World Tour, Emerson, Lake & Palmer Lives On!

The tour, a musical celebration of the groundbreaking progressive rock band ELP, follows Palmer's major U.S. trek in The Royal Affair Tour with Yes, Asia and John Lodge (The Moody Blues). Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. concert range from $33-$43 and can be purchased at SOPACnow.org/carl-palmer.

Palmer's latest CD/DVD, Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy Live, is an international release of his 2016 Pictures at an Exhibition tribute to ELP band mate Keith Emerson (1944-2016) and the band's Live in the USA CD (BMG Music label).

Prior to his work with the legendary ELP, whose megahits "Pictures at an Exhibition," "Lucky Man," "From the Beginning," "Tarkus" and more helped define prog rock, Palmer brought the drum set to the forefront of rock and roll by anchoring the bands Atomic Rooster and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.

Now Palmer has reinvented the music of ELP with a red-hot power trio that features Palmer on drums and percussion; guitarist and vocalist Paul Bielatowicz; and bassist Simon Fitzpatrick. As with his previous solo tours, Palmer presents bold, new arrangements of the best-loved instrumental music of ELP and other composers. A multimedia experience combining music and video projection, the show promises to be among the most musically compelling tours of the year.

"The band is running on all cylinders and has never sounded better," says Palmer. "Fans can expect the biggest hits of ELP along with some of its epic pieces, all presented with a full visual element of special films created for the tour."

The tour also highlights Palmer's collection of fine art, recently done in conjunction with California's Scene Four Art Studios. The images combine motion, color and lighting into visually striking works. Visit CarlPalmerArt.com.

Carl Palmer was born in England's West Midlands in 1950, placing him among the youngest members of his generation of rock musicians. He was an indifferent student who preferred to practice his drums, and he was serious enough to take lessons with a teacher in London. He reached his teens just as the Liverpool sound started sweeping the country; Palmer was a fan of the Beatles, but already he had musical idols including drummer Buddy Rich, whom he came to know personally, Philly Joe Jones, Art Blakey, Gene Krupa and other figures from jazz and the big-band swing era.

Palmer also was influenced by R&B and was a formidable player when he joined his first professional, R&B-based group, originally known as The King Bees but later rechristened The Craig. He found a steady gig with Chris Farlowe's backing band The Thunderbirds, and followed this with a stint in The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Out of that, and his friendship with keyboard player Vincent Crane, he co-founded Atomic Rooster.

Following his exit from Atomic Rooster, Palmer crossed paths with Greg Lake (1947-2016), a bassist/guitarist/singer who was a refugee from the first lineup of King Crimson, and Keith Emerson of The Nice, who had split with his group. In a sense, Palmer was the vertex of a triangle formed by the three personalities: a Beatles fan and a pop-rock listener like Lake, but also a jazz enthusiast like Emerson. Within a year of ELP's debut in 1970, Palmer had become one of the most idolized rock drummers in the world, principally by virtue of his work with the band.

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