Any Magnum or Saga fans?

[Rufus]

Will probably catch this co-headlining tour!


Home > News > Magnum confirm 19th album and tour
Magnum confirm 19th album and tour
Comments 1 Martin Kielty at 07:39am November 7 2013

Magnum have confirmed the release of their 19th studio album, Escape From The Shadow Garden, for March 24 next year.

They’ll support the release with a European tour, featuring co-headliners Saga. It includes 10 UK shows in April and May, and the bands say more are likely to be added due to demand.

Escape From The Shadow Garden is the follow-up to acclaimed 2012 release On The Thirteenth Day. The new record will be available as a standard CD, download, limited-edition digipak with bonus material and double-vinyl LP. Artist Rodney Matthews has once again created the cover.

Canadian outfit Saga recently released a live DVD entitled Spin It Again, recorded in Munich in 2012.

TIckets for the double-headline tour – part of a wider European trek – go on sale next week.

Magnum and Saga UK dates
Apr 23: Bristol O2
Apr 24: Norwich Waterfront
Apr 25: Leamington Spa Assembly Halls
Apr 26: Manchester The Ritz
Apr 28: Nottingham Rock City
Apr 29: Glasgow Garage
Apr 30: Newcastle O2
May 02: Holmfirth Picturedome
May 03: Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall
May 04: London Islington Town Hall

[iguana]

good to see this tour venture beyond germany

[PeterG]

Yep, love Magnum, have followed them since the 80s. Never really followed Saga that much apart from a few tracks and know very little about them.

[Deano]

Hope I'm wrong but not convinced Saga are coming along for the UK shows (despite what Classic Rock intimate)

after the co-headline shows in Germany they have their own headline shows already booked:-
26-04-2014 - Oslo - Norway - Rockefeller
27-042014 - Copenhagen - Denmark - Amager Bio
30-04-2014 - Worpsewede - Germany - Musichall
01-05-2014 Osnabrück - Germany - Rosenhof
02-05-2014 - Netherlands - tba
03-05-2014 - Netherlands - tba

The UK venues are also the ones Magnum usually play on their own - Wulfrun Hall etc

[Rufus]

Hope I'm wrong but not convinced Saga are coming along for the UK shows (despite what Classic Rock intimate)

after the co-headline shows in Germany they have their own headline shows already booked:-
26-04-2014 - Oslo - Norway - Rockefeller
27-042014 - Copenhagen - Denmark - Amager Bio
30-04-2014 - Worpsewede - Germany - Musichall
01-05-2014 Osnabrück - Germany - Rosenhof
02-05-2014 - Netherlands - tba
03-05-2014 - Netherlands - tba

The UK venues are also the ones Magnum usually play on their own - Wulfrun Hall etc

Mmmm, even Magnum's website doesn't make it much clearer but I would guess those UK dates don't incl. Saga?

[JKL2000]

Sure, I like Saga. Definitely one of my favorite Crackadian bands.

[Blah_Blah_Woof_Woof]

How does Magnum's The Eleventh Hour rate among their releases?

[NogbadTheBad]

Used to like Magnum back in the day, Chase the Dragon was probably my favorite, saw them at Redcar Coatham Bowl, know by my friends as the infamous "turd in a glass" gig.

[NogbadTheBad]

How does Magnum's The Eleventh Hour rate among their releases?

It's meant to be one of their best along with Chase The Dragon & Storyteller.

[JJ88]

What I remember of that one, it was not well produced (self-produced, a shame after they'd worked with Jeff Glixman) and the songwriting was patchy. I like the more prog-leaning tracks on it like 'The Prize' and 'The Road To Paradise', and the power ballad 'The Word' was also strong IMHO. They turned it around for 'Storyteller's Night' and then got a big deal with Polydor. It seems surprising now just how popular they were in that era, though some of the material is very of the era ('Start Talking Love' and 'It Must Have Been Love', for instance).

Saga I know very little about, not really a band that made too much impact in the UK.

[Yanks2014]

I've never heard a second of Magnum, but i'm a pretty big Saga fan. They are one of those acts I so wish I had a chance to see live, but they never play the US.

[glawster2002]

What I remember of that one, it was not well produced (self-produced, a shame after they'd worked with Jeff Glixman) and the songwriting was patchy. I like the more prog-leaning tracks on it like 'The Prize' and 'The Road To Paradise', and the power ballad 'The Word' was also strong IMHO. They turned it around for 'Storyteller's Night' and then got a big deal with Polydor. It seems surprising now just how popular they were in that era, though some of the material is very of the era ('Start Talking Love' and 'It Must Have Been Love', for instance).

Saga I know very little about, not really a band that made too much impact in the UK.

Magnum were very big in the UK in the late 80s/early 90s.

I'll be seeing them in Bristol as usual. looking forward to the new album as well, their last one was their strongest for a long time.

[Rand Kelly]

It's meant to be one of their best along with Chase The Dragon & Storyteller.

The Eleventh Hour is good. I didn't care much for Vigilante though. It forgot to rock out iirc. I'm a huge fan of Saga and bought all their albums except Steel Umbrellas. Magnum I have a lot of on lp but only one cd,Wings Of Heaven. Interesting they are touring together as they have something in common from way back around 1990....they both recorded albums at Goodnight L.A. studio. In fact,Magnum titled their album exactly that,Goodnight L.A. The Saga album I think was The Security Of Illusion and I could be wrong.

[Rand Kelly]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=ca9SBhPx9YI

[Rand Kelly]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=n8GBhcd5KfM

[JKL2000]

I tried to like Magnum a couple of times, but failed.

[iguana]

SAGA never made any impact in the UK whatsoever, despite getting many good reviews and, of course, having recorded their best-known albums in buckinghamshire. there were a few chaps at the early KERRANG! magazine who were positively glowing about them – in fact, i remember their two much maligned trio albums (“wildest dreams”, 1987 and “beginner’s guide”, 1989) getting KKKKK-reviews! when i moved to the UK in the mid-1980s for a few years i was already a big SAGA-fan (having been preconditioned in my german teen years during SAGA’s commercial heyday), but quickly learned that there was another huge act from canada that i ought to be paying attention to. thus, i found myself at the NEC on april 21st 1988 and my life took another, far more significant turn. but i digress...

it would be good to see SAGA remain on this tour for the UK-dates for some belated, proper exposure (apart from the odd london gig that they used to do in the past) and i reckon that they will go down a storm with MAGNUM’s audience. a full-scale double headlining job might not work, though – they would have to retreat to support or “special guest” status, where an hour of stage time may be negotiable for them. both SAGA and MAGNUM are really no longer on my playlists, but i remember the glory days (MAGNUM’s peak in 1988 and returning to the UK in 1990 to see them perform at a sold-out wembley arena). good times.

[interbellum]

Magnum releases a new album this month, called The Serpent Rings, of course with a cover by Rodney Matthews (see http://www.magnumonline.co.uk/)
Matthews is also the reason for resurrecting this thread. This illustrator is also a drummer and has made a couple of albums. Many years ago he and guitarist Jeff Scheetz agreed to do an album based on a couple of Matthews paintings. Due to all kinds of circumstances this recording, called Trinity, finally saw the light in December last year. It features well known musicians like Oliver & Rick Wakeman, John Payne, Pete Coleman, Tony Clarkin and Steve Amadeo. Very good mix of AOR, classic rock, folk and progressive rock.

https://www.rodneymatthewsstudios.co...ctions/trinity
https://www.rodneymatthewsstudios.co...usings/trinity

And here a top 10 of covers Matthews did:

[interbellum]

Well, to satisfy the Magnum-fans, here's the teaser for mentioned new album:

[JJ88]

^Reminds me of 'The Prize'.

The line-up seems to have changed completely (beyond the omnipresent Catley/Clarkin) since I last paid them attention! I knew something went on with Mark Stanway.

[Rufus]

^Reminds me of 'The Prize'.

The line-up seems to have changed completely (beyond the omnipresent Catley/Clarkin) since I last paid them attention! I knew something went on with Mark Stanway.

Mark now has his own version of Magnum called Kingdom of Madness. Think Micky Barker is also the drummer

[Rael]

Mark now has his own version of Magnum called Kingdom of Madness. Think Micky Barker is also the drummer

Why did Mark leave Magnum in the first place? It's kind of odd that he left the band only to start up his own version of the band, unless there was a personal falling out?

[TheH]

^^
There was some Beef going on between Mark an the guys, and yes he left during a tour.

His band Features a handfull of Magnum alumni. Not only Barker but also Richard Bailey (original keyboardist) and I think Mo Birch (his wife) and Laurence Archer do also have a touring past with Magnum.

Neil Murray was also in the band but has left I think

[interbellum]

Magnum releases a new album this month, called The Serpent Rings, of course with a cover by Rodney Matthews (see http://www.magnumonline.co.uk/)
Matthews is also the reason for resurrecting this thread. This illustrator is also a drummer and has made a couple of albums. Many years ago he and guitarist Jeff Scheetz agreed to do an album based on a couple of Matthews paintings. Due to all kinds of circumstances this recording, called Trinity, finally saw the light in December last year. It features well known musicians like Oliver & Rick Wakeman, John Payne, Pete Coleman, Tony Clarkin and Steve Amadeo. Very good mix of AOR, classic rock, folk and progressive rock.

https://www.rodneymatthewsstudios.co...ctions/trinity
https://www.rodneymatthewsstudios.co...usings/trinity

And here a top 10 of covers Matthews did:

The Trinity-album is now available as download too: https://rodneymatthews.bandcamp.com/...eid=db3c8d6480

[dropforge]

Saga is working on a new album, their first without original bassist Jim Crichton.