Emerson, Lake & Palmer‘s sole surviving member, drummer Carl Palmer, will resurrect his old band with the help of modern technology for a new U.S. tour this fall.
Palmer, in association with the estates of his late ELP bandmates Keith Emerson and Greg Lake, will launch the Welcome Back My Friends — The Return of Emerson Lake & Palmer Tour on November 18 in Philadelphia.
The trek will feature Palmer performing live onstage with his current group, ELP Legacy, flanked by two huge video screens where digital footage of Emerson and Lake playing in concert will be projected.
“About five years ago I explored the idea of trying to reunite the band using digital holograms,” Palmer explains. “We saw a few shows of other artists but it did not seem like an honest approach.
“Then we realized the film we made of ELP’s sold-out run at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 1992 had everything we needed. We were able to use just the camera shots of Keith and Greg, with the sterling audio tracks of their performances, resulting in a combination of film and onstage performance that brings back the magic of ELP.”
The tour currently features 10 confirmed dates and is mapped out through a December 3 show in Akron, Ohio. More shows are expected to be announced soon. Tickets for the Welcome Back My Friends Tour are on sale now at CarlPalmer.com.
You can check out a trailer for the trek now on the YouTube channel of ELP and Carl Palmer’s manager, Bruce Pilato.
Emerson died by suicide in March 2016 at age 71, while Lake passed away in December that year of cancer at age 69.
Palmer also has plans to take part in a 40th anniversary Asia tour in early 2023.
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