(NEWTON, NJ) -- Carl Palmer brings Welcome Back My Friends – An Evening with Emerson Lake & Palmer to The Newton Theatre on Sunday, March 16, 2025 at 7:00pm. This is not a tribute act – this is the real thing.
Created by Carl Palmer and his management, Welcome Back My Friends – An Evening with Emerson Lake & Palmer will be presented with the full cooperation of the Estates of Keith Emerson and Greg Lake. Through modern technology they will reunite the band: Palmer with his two bandmates, playing together along with Emerson and Lake, who both passed away in 2016. The show combines video performance of Emerson and Lake from a legendary sold out 1992 Royal Albert Hall ELP show, with live on stage performances of Palmer with his own ELP Legacy band, Paul Bielatowicz on guitar and Simon Fitzpatrick on bass and chapman stick. All the musicians play together in sync to present a complete and authentic ELP show.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) was an English progressive rock supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards) of the Nice, Greg Lake of King Crimson (vocals, bass, guitar, producer), and Carl Palmer of Atomic Rooster (drums, percussion). With nine RIAA-certified gold record albums in the US and an estimated 48 million records sold worldwide, they are one of the most popular and commercially successful progressive rock groups of the 1970s, with a musical sound including adaptations of classical music with jazz and symphonic rock elements, dominated by Emerson's flamboyant use of the Hammond organ, Moog synthesizer, and piano (although Lake wrote several acoustic songs for the group).
The band became prominent after performing at the Isle of Wight Festival in August 1970. In their first year, the group signed with E.G. Records (who distributed the band's records through Island Records in the United Kingdom and Atlantic Records in North America) and released Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1970) and Tarkus (1971), both of which reached the UK top five. The band's success continued with Pictures at an Exhibition (1971), Trilogy (1972), and Brain Salad Surgery (1973, released on ELP's own Manticore Records label). After a three-year break, Emerson, Lake & Palmer released Works Volume 1 (1977) and Works Volume 2 (1977). After Love Beach (1978), the group disbanded in 1979.
Tickets range from $49-$79 and are available for purchase online starting Friday, January 3rd at 10:00am. The Newton Theatre is located at 234 Spring Street in Newton, New Jersey.
The band members played in various solo and partial reunion combinations during the 1980s. In 1991, the original trio re-formed and released two more albums, Black Moon (1992) and In the Hot Seat (1994), and toured between 1992 and 1998. Their final performance occurred in 2010 at the High Voltage Festival in London to commemorate the band's 40th anniversary. Emerson and Lake died in 2016, leaving Palmer as the only surviving band member.
In 2022, Palmer and his manager developed and launched the show initially as THE RETURN OF EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER show, again with the full cooperation and involvement of both the Keith Emerson and Greg Lake estates. The show has been re-branded for 2025 as AN EVENING WITH EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER.
The Newton Theatre was founded in 1924. It is a beautifully restored 605 seat performing arts center in the heart of Sussex County, presenting diverse programming, including world-renowned music acts, comedians, family productions, holiday shows and much more.
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