Baffled, I googled the tour, and it consists of Carl Palmer playing drums live with film of Keith Emerson playing on a movie screen.

I find this ghastly.

Even worse than the holographic Frank Zappa from a few years ago.

There are films and recordings of most deceased masters that should suffice in allowing people too young to have seen them live to get the gist of their performances.

I had no beef with Palmer for touring with a band playing ELP music, I even own 2 CDs from them.

These ghoulish "concerts" are just money grabs.

basicallly me 

I think the problem here for many folks isn't that Carl wants to continue to perform ELP music but that he is calling it ELP when it clearly isn't just to grab the cash cow. As such he's having Keith and Greg on stage in videos and many seem to feel that is unethical. I can understand where people are coming from but I think maybe they are being a little quick to judge. I think his biggest mistake is calling it ELP (if that actually is the case and so far it seems that way).

It sounds like some of you are not getting the point that both the Emerson and Lake estates are benefiting from this and have given their blessing to make it happen. Neither would see a dime if Carl just did his same old same old. So money grab? How about providing revenue for the surviving members of the E&L families ?

Plus, it's a 50th Anniversary celebration of ELP so why wouldn't the other two souls (pun intended) be included.

Haters be haters, I learned to tune them out long ago. I personally have never seen these types of events before so I might find it interesting, hard to say.

I'd have expected this from Emerson or Lake, not Palmer.

We all have bills to pay......although I have no desire to see such a circus show.

HOWever, Carl could do it in a way that would more than likely by accepted by most: to do this only, and I mean only, as an ENCORE segment after the initial set proper by the Carl Palmer Trio.

The lights come down, suddenly two large screens flank Carl, and it's...the "return" of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. "They" do a few signature trio songs, e.g. "Knife Edge," "Tarkus" (abridged), "Tank," "The Barbarian." The show ends.

That's how it could work, but that's not the setup.

Hi,

I think that ZPZ was already losing it, and the hassle Dweezil was having with his brother and the rest of the family was not helping, and maybe using some of the film stuff was a way to help sell some of the old stuff.

All in all, I think ZPZ was already on the decline, and it showed in a show here in Oregon (Eugene) where they opened for RETURN TO FOREVER, and in the end, ZPZ came off like a garage band, and not ready for prime time, which I think was really sad and Dweezil even messed things up more by giving some credit to Chick Corea (Moog on King Kong), and ignored the also well-known Jean-Luc Ponty who was a part of more than one of Frank's albums. 

All in all, it just made RTF look and sound even better, and you and I know that Frank would not have enjoyed that and probably fire all the musicians!

Carl's thing ... is scary and weird, and I think the whole thing will get dropped if the first show does not stand up as really fine. I suppose there is a possibility of some fine work to be done that had not been done before, but all in all ... it's just a sad thing and I would not buy a ticket.

Hi,

Heyyyyy ... c'mon ... where's the kid in you? THE CLOWNS ARE FUNNY! 

Very much so. Although I'm not heating up very much for this kind of things, it is at least a creative, interesting and maybe also a great way to perform their wonderful music. I'm very happy to have seen them live on their Black Moon tour and I don't think this event will be as impressive, but it is good to continue to perform a great musical legacy.

Agreed, ELP were awesome live but I had to wait until the 'Black Moon' tour!!

Same here!

Yep, me too!

I wouldn't dislike something like this. Not sure about Emerson and Lake on the screen

 

^As this recent promo shot from Steve Howe clearly shows. 

I don't understand this macabre approach....wtf Carl?

Again...50th ANNIVERSARY, one off tour !

Take a chill pill everyone.

In one concert he played along with a video of Frank who was on a screen behind the band.

It was a somewhat moving tribute.

Playing an entire concert alone with the deceased members recorded seems to be too limited to be creative, and sort of crass.

Hi,

I have mixed feelings about all this ... especially since I have heard at least 4 or 5 versions of The Rite of Spring, or Beethoven's 5th or 9th, and Mahler's 3rd and so on ... they are all not quite the same and the ideas/visuals you get are a wee bit different, and for me they give the story of the music another level of interest that otherwise we might not have seen.

The same thing happened with Stokowski way back when as he discovered that recording could allow him to do something different with a piece of music and create moments that showed up in the piece a lot stronger than before by being somewhat buried in the regular orchestra setup. And right after this, Bernard Herrman did similarly, and made sure that the odd stuff was way up front for his Science Fiction soundtracks (all far out and must haves btw) ... and added a sense of action and excitement that does not happen if you turn the sound off and just watch the picture ... you get those two weirdos on the front talking over the picture and it looks stupid and bad, and worse ... the "audience" doesn't give a sh*t!

I have no issues with Carl doing this, and think he will know what he can do and not do much better than we give him credit for ... I don't think he would do this just for the money, when a retrospective with 6 or 7 or 8 folks wanting to be a part of it in various shows would love to do and try! It won't be the same, but 50 years later a "new audience" has a chance to experience something, with at least one third of the original, who must know what was right or wrong with the pieces he chose, and what worked or not! 

I would imagine that he can take any of Keith's solos apart, and create new drumming for it, and we end up with a completely different, and new piece of music ... that would be exciting to see, but rock audiences are not fans of the solo, unless it is a screaming and loud over the top thing that blows your ears to the next week ... and a piano or organ piece would not likely do that for us at all!

Again, I hope it all goes well ... I think Carl means the best and well for it, and I will feel really sad if folks trash it because it is nowhere near the original and sounds so different!

Out of curiosity, Rachel Flowers is awfully busy ... but I wonder why/how Carl would do with here because she is highly capable of experimenting and soloing and could give Carl a run for his drumming ... I kinda think that their mixing would be wonderful ... just a weird thought!

Seems strange that I'm applauding you but anyway 

Even if it's a one-off, I seriously f**king despite this kind of approach. I understand that I'm on the younger side and couldn't see a lot of these bands in their prime, but I DEFINITELY wouldn't want to see such a ridiculous imitation of the original band. Just like I have absolutely no intention to watch the new, horrendously fake version of Pantera that will be touring shortly... just as OP said, a complete, unabashed cash grab. Just let the deceased musicians rest already 

Hi,

Honestly, I think this is unfair. We don't go around saying these kinds of things about Mozart, Beethoven, Stravinsky, or even the Beatles done by some many others and sometimes ... better! Likewise, hearing other folks do Bob Dylan, many things have sounded fantastic, especially Sandy Denny, for example!

Time passes and things change, people come and go, and "interpretations" change, since the original is long gone. But many times, the originals end up not sounding as good, or as up to date with the new audience and sound compared to how you and I think.

Senselessly, there was one band's material that was redone, and it had a f**king drum machine in it, and it really ruined the music, even if it was meant to show to a new audience that thinks that the hard/loud drumbeat is the music, and it isn't. The most we can ask from some of the rap stuff is ... where is the music?

Honestly, I hope it comes off really well ... I kinda think that it would be a nice send off for a man that was a part of a band that gave us so much ... that we still do not understand or appreciate.

I wasn't particularly thrilled with some of the latest versions of some of King Crimson's 80's songs.  Jakko isn't Belew in some of those manners.

He doesn't even do the skat (?) part of Neurotica anymore.

Or how about Indiscipline ...

Though he is respectable in Epitaph 

(to wind it back to OP)

I don't think this is comparable with the (EL)P concert.  After the first 2 albums, King Crimson was Fripp + whoever else he allowed in the band.  The music changed with the different lineups.  Fripp had been moving away from playing songs from previous lineups.  Now he has a group that includes members who appeared on KC albums all the way back to the 70's.  I have no issues with them doing their renditions of the old songs.  It's still King Crimson, and able to be spontaneous while performing.

I don't see how (EL)P can be spontaneous in their reincarnation.

HI,

While I can appreciate the humor in this picture, in the end I find it sad. There are far more, old foggies playing our lovely music (our music??? Wow ... I'm addicted!), that don't look good enough to even get a cartoon done for them!

My only concern is that folks that played so hard and followed their instincts for a long time, are few and far in between, and essentially, they have grown old and not able to replicate the stuff as easily as they once did. And the cynical progressive music listeners, will always be upset that the original can no longer be seen or heard. Well, sheeeeepppp dip! The same for Mozart, Beethoven and Stravinsky, and we're not complaining ... we've become so hypocritical about this as to be sick ... and we think of ourselves as progressive, when the attitude is more repressive and boring!

I fully agree with Moshkito.

Steve Howe and Billy Sherwood, in my opinion, were the only Yes members making an effort to provide a worthy performance on the most recent studio album.  

I'm guessing you're a fan of Sledge Hammer too.....

Hi,

The sad thing (for me) is that we keep holding on to the old timers, and think they will deliver again, and I am not sure they can. They're no longer the same person, or have the same abilities, and sometimes, fame has a way of taking the talent away ... 

The only sad thing ... for me (again!!!) ... is that Keith Emerson is STILL not appreciated as a great composer, and even when you see his works dissected and shown with a copy of the score ... c'mon ... 9 out of 10 bands don't even come close to that ability or care and design for their music! 

But, in this group ... it's all about the song and the favorite number as in a top ten scale. And it is sad, because the appreciation for a true composer and artist, simply is not there in America, and won't be as long as we go around appreciating fake art like Andy Warhol, instead of the real "art" that was around NY that was totally ignored and dumped on to ensure that some folks could make millions off Warhol!

In many ways, we're still doing the same thing and tomorrow a new rendition of a remaster will make SW look like a kid in a toy store, and will be the new thing that will make JT and Yes and everyone else sound miraculously better! Forget the music, of course!

ELP at their magnificent best!

Definitely NOT a waste of talent and electricity, as BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel once said of ELP, although he was probably talking about their much-maligned Love Beach album. 

No...THIS IS !!!

Exactly.  I really have no problem with Palmer performing in this way.  It is the way it is being sold. The TicketScalper emails only billed the show as "Emerson Lake & Palmer" without any description of how the performance is being staged.  If it was performed in the same way but sold as "Emerson Lake & Palmer: A Tribute by Carl Palmer", I would have been less disgusted by it.   It's possible that Ticketb*****d is the driving force behind the marketing.

Concert films are a completely different animal.  The performance is accurate display of what a band looked and sounded like at a particular stage of their career.  And you usually are not charged a fortune to see it.

I can agree with your billing comment. I think Carl was promoting it as "The Return Of' Emerson Lake & Palmer. And yes, I see someone did use the words "the tour will actually reunite ELP LIVE ON STAGE through modern technology". (underlines are mine)

And I think this is an honest comment...

"they felt was a more honest approach using live footage of Keith and Greg on massive video walls alongside Carl (and his band) playing LIVE on stage". (underline is mine)

From Carl...

Sole surviving member Carl Palmer, in association with the Estates of his bandmates Keith Emerson & Greg Lake, has announced the much anticipated WELCOME BACK MY FRIENDS - THE RETURN OF EMERSON LAKE & PALMER Tour. Launching on Friday November 18th, 2022 at the 2300 ARENA in Philadelphia, PA, the tour will actually reunite ELP LIVE ON STAGE through modern technology.

After exploring the idea of a Hologram tour in detail, Palmer (with the Estates of Emerson and Lake) opted for what they felt was a more honest approach using live footage of Keith and Greg on massive video walls alongside Carl (and his band) playing LIVE on stage. The voice and instrumentation of Greg Lake and the unmistakable keyboard mastery of Keith Emerson will be mixed with Palmer's onstage live drumming to magically reunite ELP once again. Paul McCartney's duet with John Lennon at the end of his recent Got Back tour is a good idea of what ELP fans can expect from this show.

Both of the concerts shown are excellent, although I am partial to the California Jam one where you even get some jazz and some far out stuff and solo piano ... something that you don't get to see very often, and it is a treat to get to see someone just branch out and fly ... again, it makes so many "keyboard" players just look like kids learning to do chords ... it's amazing to watch, and I doubt we will see any more of that in our lives.