May 02
After a succesfful UK tour in 2008, i’m happy to announce that Pentangle will be playing live again this summer. We’re playing the accoustic stage at Glastonbury on Saturday 25th June, Cambridge Folk Festival on 30th July and the Royal Festival Hall on August 1st.
Also keep your eyes peeled for a release of a live CD from 2008 and hopefully one from this year too.
Cheers Terry
This is fantastic news!
It seemed bizarre and very incomplete that, without any souvenir product (live CD) or explanation, The Pentangle simply disappeared after the successful reunion tour of 2008. With the lack of explanation, rumours persisted that band members (once again!) weren’t getting on – even that they couldn’t bear to be in the same room as each other long enough to mix down a decent enough live souvenir.
Hopefully further gigs – in the North, please, Terry…? – will be added – including weekends…? – giving more opportunity for the faithful to rediscover one of the most versatile and accomplished bands ever to take to a stage.
I’d assumed after the 2008 disappearance into the ‘black hole’ that the 2nd Pentangle reunion was over. (I did ask on ‘Walk Awhile’ – honestly! – and noone seemed any the wiser.) But maybe Pentangle are simply taking their 2nd reunion at a pace all 5 members can handle…?
Reflecting in Colin Irwin’s ‘Dazzling Stranger’ on the first Pentangle reunion (1982) rapidly dissolving into a set of substitutes – albeit VERY talented substitutes (John went in 1983, Danny in 1984 and our Terry in 1986) – Bert wondered if the originals might have held together longer if they’d “left it alone for a year or so and then come back to it”.
Is that the game plan this time around? Rather than put everything into it and drive to be a BIG success, just book some time when everyone’s diaries look to be clear and play at it…?
Terry, your thoughts on this?
For those who come upon this more by accident than by design, Terry is undoubtedly the Pentangler with the lowest profile/visibility – totally obscuring the fact this man is a musical GIANT!!!
Danny and Bert are, of course, just MOJO cult these days. John is still arguably the best acoustic guitarist on the face of the planet. Jacqui leads a very different but nonetheless intriguing outfit under the name of ‘Jacqui McShee’s Pentangle’.
Jacqui’s alternate Pentangle includes Gerry Conway who replaced Terry in the first Pentangle reunion, also plays with Fairport Convention, was the inspiration for ‘Animal’ in The Muppets and is truly one of the very best folk-ROCK drummers EVER. Yet he can’t hold a candle to Terry!
Took me years from being a spotty 14-year-old in 1968 to hearing the1st reunion Pentangle’s ‘IN THE ROUND’ to appreciate just what a diverse, unique and always interesting drummer Terry was/is. Even today I’ve been listening to the ‘THE TIME HAS COME’ Disc 4 version of ‘Reflection’ and wondering how the hell did he do that?!?!?
And that’s not to mention Terry’s songwriting – arguably the most prolific contributor after Bert to the Pentangle canon – or his vocals – especially what Jacqui dubbed “the fearless falsetto”. Want an example? Listen to the live ‘Wedding Dress’ on ‘THE TIME HAS COME’ Disc 4 – Terry swings tambourine, kicks the bass, hits the snare, slips in a couple of rolls, sings second lead on the later verses and goes into falsetto on the chorusses when John fills in on his second lead. The man is a musical miracle!!!
For those who love ‘Once I Had A Sweetheart’, one of the most sublime musical moments in my life took place in 2008 at Harrogate when Terry sang Jacqui’s overdubbed second vocal pitch-perfect and never even came close to missing a beat.
I’ll be doing everything I reasonably can to see Pentangle 2011. Don’t miss out!
‘The management’ have confirmed that it will just be these 3 dates this year, Keith. ‘Game plan’? Do legends like this need a game plan?
I ‘ve hoped against hope that they might, one day, repeat their unforgettable Royal Festival Hall concert from 2008. Couldn’t believe it when I read it’s actuallygoing to happen. I’ve now got my tickets, my general gloom has been lifted and only kidnapping or death will stop me being there! Pete Paphides, the former Times critic was right -in their heyday there wasn’t a band on the planet that sounded like them, and there still isn’t. Bring it on !!
Gutted, three gigs and I can’t get to any of them… Please please please play a couple oop’north, we NEED you!!
If you like you can come and play the not-for-profit Trades Club in Hebden Bridge, I’ll sort everything out and you would be helping out a wonderful venue…http://thetradesclub.com/
Great news on the live CD from 2008, we came to London and Manchester, still get shivers down the back when I remember those gigs..
Dear Terry
Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed Monday night’s show at the RFH and how inspired I was by your drumming. I echo Keith Rice’s comment. (I also pick up the sticks but am a tub thumper rather than musician. Had I a fraction of your dexterity and ‘feel’ I’d be a far better player).
I have found the joys of The Pentangle in my forties but, I guess, better late than never.
Best wishes and thanks.
Ian
Dear Terry,
It filled me with great pleasure to see you and the other Pentangle members in such good form at the Royal Festival Hall on the 1. August. A wonderful concert on a warm summer evening in London. I will never forget it and I would like to thank you again for giving me your autograph right after the concert on my old “Basket of Light” record cover,
A peaceful and happy life to you and Jaqui, Bert, John and Danny.
Ernest Lewinter, Germany
11th August 2011
Many thanks for the terrific concert at the Royal Festivl Hall Mon 1st Aug. I have been playing the music of Pentangle over and over again since I first discovered it with my first girl friend in 1968. A few girl friends later I shared it with the one I married, my Pearl of th Orient from Penang, Malaysia!. As a result of this union my children (now 35 & 30yrs) were played Pentangle music repeatedly in utero and throughout their childhood! It has had a lasting effect, as they joined us at the Royal Festival Hall for the concert as excitedly and appreciatively as we did. A true joining of the generations through your music.
My daughter now produces her own music and cites Pentangle in her blog as an influence on what she writes today.
Thankyou all for the ever present musical sound in our lives and it’s continued influence on all the family.
You have inspired me to take up ‘tub thumping’ as the writer above described it,as this is all it is the way I do it too. Never the less always with the Terry Cox sound and style in mind.
If you have the time and inclination, can you tell me what type of sticks you were using last evening. They seem unusual with the bandings on them.
Mike Houlden