Marillion, Howard Jones, John Otway and the Dung Beatles all set to perform in Aylesbury area special gig

Each band/artist will play for 45 minutes and the concert will be entirely seated. Each artist will have equal billing.

Tickets will go on sale this Friday January 26th at 2.00pm from the Aylesbury Waterside Box office and on-line from atgtickets.com. Tickets will be limited to a maximum of two per person.

There will be a special 4-hour presale for all those that pledged money to the statue via Kickstarter or direct to Friars Aylesbury since the Kickstarter campaign ended. All those that put money in to the project will be notified directly about the presale arrangements.

David Bowie performed the world debut of two of the most iconic albums of the 20th Century, ‘Hunky Dory’ and ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars’ at Friars Aylesbury in 1971/72. He formed the Spiders from Mars in the tiny Friars Aylesbury dressing room and referenced Aylesbury Market Square in the first line of ‘Five Years’ from the Ziggy album.

This will be the first David Bowie statue in the world and is expected to attract Bowie fans from all over the world for the next 100 years. In so doing it will give a significant boost to the town’s economy. The Beatles legacy has been measured at £83million per year in Liverpool and employs over 2000 people. If Aylesbury achieves 10% of that it will be significant.

The unveiling will take place at 2.00pm on Sunday 25th March and the benefit concert will take place that same evening. There will be a screen at the bottom of the Market Square which will show the unveiling for those that can’t get under the arches.

The statue by Andrew Sinclair is currently in its final stages of creation in his studio in Devon.

The Dung Beatles are one of the best bands to have emerged from Aylesbury in the past 5 years. Their renditions of the Beatles classics have built them a large Buckinghamshire following which is rapidly growing. The Dung Beatles are Steve Hillier (Guitar/vocals), Danny Prendergast (guitar/vocals), Phil Toler (bass/vocals), Mike Ashton (drums) and Martin Kent (keyboards).

John Otway is simply a living Aylesbury legend. Last year he recorded his first studio album for many years in Montserrat and was the first artist to record there since most of the island, including George Martin‘s studio, was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo in 1989. When John appeared at Friars by way of a free concert in 1978 over 20,000 people turned up in Aylesbury Market Square. The Square has never seen that many people ever. This will be a wonderful homecoming for one of Aylesbury’s most famous sons.

Howard Jones actually comes from High Wycombe but was a regular at Friars Aylesbury when he broke to national fame in the early eighties. Managed by Friars promoter David Stopps from 1982-2015 Howard continues to expand his worldwide audience, particularly in USA where he is currently in the middle of a 38-date acoustic tour. To date he has had nine top twenty hits in the UK and has sold over 8 million albums worldwide. This will be Howard’s first Friars Aylesbury appearance since 1984 and will be an emotional homecoming to one of the most talented artists out there. Local guitar legend Robin Boult and drummer Jonathan Atkinson will be playing on stage with Howard.

Marillion are getting bigger and bigger exponentially. They have sold out Friars twice in recent years and sold-out the Royal Albert Hall in just a few hours back in the summer of 2017. They virtually invented the concept of crowd-funding and have a reputation for loyally looking after their fans. Marillion are of course Steve Hogarth (vocals/keyboards), Steve Rothery (guitar), Pete Trewavas (bass), Ian Mosely (drums) and Mark Kelly (keyboards). Superbeing Steve Hogarth was particularly supportive of the Bowie Statue campaign in the early stages, even writing to the Bucks Herald, and we’re very grateful to him. Not one to miss.

Friars Aylesbury is extremely grateful to all 4 bands/artists for participating in this concert and giving their services for free. This Earthly Messenger project has turned out to be far bigger than was ever imagined, and it’s wonderful that these superb musicians are prepared to support the club where it all started…….in it’s time of need.