Formed in 1973, England’s Bad Company put a stamp on rock and roll with the creation of some of the most timeless rock anthems ever and will be performing in Penticton on Sept. 14 at the South Okanagan Events Centre on their summer tour.
Bad Company were dubbed a super-group upon the band’s formation which came to life when Paul Rodgers (vocals/multi-instrumentalist) was looking to start anew after the disintegration of his legendary band Free, a band with a dynamic body of work including the 1970 smash All Right Now.
Rodgers met up with Mott The Hoople’s Mick Ralphs (guitar) plus Free’s Simon Kirke (drums) and King Crimson’s Boz Burrell (bass), who passed away in 2006, to form Bad Company. Over the next nine years, the band released a string of six albums that sold tens of millions of copies, yielding international hits Can’t Get Enough, Bad Company, Grammy nominated Feel Like Makin’ Love, and many others penned by the main songwriters Paul Rodgers and Mick Ralphs.
Original members Rodgers, Ralphs, and Kirke will be joined by guitarist Howard Leese and bassist Todd Ronning (from Paul Rodgers solo band) on the summer tour.
The band appeared in June, 2012 at the Sweden Rock Festival, which followed a tour of Japan and North America in 2010 that staged 21 appearances. Prior, Bad Company toured the U.K. for an eight-date run, which concluded at Wembley in London, followed by 10 shows in the U.S. in 2009. In front of the tour, Paul Rodgers shares, “When Mick and I formed the band we were amazed at the instant success. It didn’t hurt to have Led Zeppelin behind us, and we wrote some decent songs that still resonate. This one is for the fans.”
Bad Company has inspired many of today’s musicians. Most notably, metal band Five Finger Death Punch who scored a No.1 active rock hit with a cover of the song Bad Company. Since 2001, the band has only played 11 isolated performances, and has not staged a tour of The United States and Canada until now.
Recordings of all appearances where available will be released to fans the evening of the appearance so that they have the opportunity to walk out of the show with the concert they just attended. These double CD sets, which will be individually numbered and packaged in super high quality DigiPaks commemorating the 40th Anniversary Tour, will also contain an extra bonus CD with an exclusive rockumentary style interview with Bad Company. Fans may go to www.disclivenetwork.com to reserve their copy today.
Bad Company’s summer tour takes them on 27 stops in the U.S. and just three in Canada with shows in Orillia, Ont., Coquitlam and Penticton. Tickets for the Penticton show go on sale May 31 at 10 a.m. and are available in person at the Valley First Box Office at the SOEC, Wine Country Visitor Centre, by phone at 1-877-763-2849 or online at www.ValleyFirstTix.com. Prices range from $40 to $92 (plus applicable service charges).
