Eric Burdon & War @ Royal Albert Hall April 21st

Live Nation have dropped me a line to say:

Live Nation is proud to announce the historic reunion of ERIC BURDON AND WAR, as they take to the stage of London's Royal Albert Hall on Monday 21st April 2008 for one very special night of electrifying R&B, funk, Latin and jazz. This will be the first concert Eric Burdon and War have performed in 37 years since they originally disbanded in 1971.

Originally the front man of the Animals, the legendary Eric Burdon is considered to be one of the greatest blues singers in the world. His contribution to music by joining forces with War; possibly the most popular funk groups of the 70's, makes this one-off concert one of the hottest must-see tickets of 2008.

With a distinctive sound that captured the heart and soul of 1970's America, Los-Angeles based WAR played the music that made people dance and think.Their 1970 album Eric Burdon Declares WAR included two No. 1 worldwide hits - Spill the Wine, and Tobacco Road.The follow-up 1970 album, The Black-Man's Burdon featured the hit singles They Can't Take Away Our Music and a cover of the Jagger-Richards seminal track Paint It Black, amongst many others. Both albums became cultural touchstones of the early seventies.

Although WAR's lyrics were sometimes political in nature (in keeping with their racially integrated line-up), their music almost always had a sunny, laid-back vibe emblematic of their Southern California roots. Shortly after the sudden death of Burdon's close friend Jimi Hendrix (Jimi overdosed on the night he jammed with Eric Burdon and WAR at Ronnie Scott's), the singer moved away from the group, and WAR went on to become a creative force and released many successful albums in their own right.

Eric Burdon & WAR rode the fine line between brilliance and excess during their time together, performing & recording with a sense of risk, imagination, and adventure.
“The diversity of influences on us was not only musical, but was social as well,” says singer-keyboardist and founding WAR member Lonnie Jordan. “As a result we tried to be entertaining while also spreading the word of peace, harmony and brotherhood. Our instruments and voices became our weapons of choice and the songs our ammunition. We spoke out against racism, hunger, gangs, crimes and turf wars, as we embraced all people with hope and the spirit of brotherhood.”

The London Royal Albert Hall reunion concert also dovetails a massive reissue campaign that will see Rhino Records releasing all of Eric Burdon and War's seminal albums. The two 1970's albums Eric Burdon Declares WAR and Black-Man's Burdon will be released in the UK on Monday 24th March, followed by the release of their 1976 compilation album Love Is All Around on Monday 31st March.

All of War's subsequent studio albums will follow through the month of April. The reissue campaign will end on 14th April with the release of The Best of Eric Burdon and WAR and The WAR Anthology.

The line-up for the gig is as follows:

Eric Burdon
Lonnie Jordan
Salvador Rodriguez
Fernando Harkless
Marcos Reyes
Start Ziff
Francisco 'Pancho' Tomaselli
Mitch Kashmar