The Sweet Announce UK Tour
Wednesday, May 8, 2019 at 07:20AM From my inbox - with lots of quotes from our glam favorites!
Following their sold-out “Still Got the Rock” European Tour legendary 70’s rock band SWEET embark upon the perfect Christmas gift for their UK fans, a 16-date nationwide tour November 28th until December 21st. Tickets go on sale on Wednesday May 8th via www.planetrocktickets.co.uk and www.thegigcartel.com, and from the 24 hour ticket box office - 08444 780 898. With over 55 million records sold worldwide, 34 number 1 hits worldwide, SWEET continue to tour and perform to sell out audiences around the globe.
Gene Simmons of KISS says, “Without the Sweet there would not have been a KISS."
"We wanted to be The Sweet" - Nikki Sixx - Mötley Crüe
"This is the band I wish I had been in." - Joe Elliot - Def Leppard
By the early 70’s The Sweet were arguably the hottest ticket in town with a string of top ten records in the UK and Europe including Blockbuster, Hellraiser, Ballroom Blitz,Teenage Rampage and The Sixteens.
In 1975 the USA had discovered the band with Fox on the Run hitting the number 3 spot in the Billboard 100. Another self-penned hit Action followed in 1976 firmly establishing Sweet in the US charts.
On the face of it they were primarily a singles band however with albums including Desolation Boulevard (1975) and Give Us a Wink (1976), the band showed a much harder rocking band. The album Level Headed, released in 1978, brought with it another award winning million-selling worldwide hit with Love is Like Oxygen written by Andy Scott.
In 1979 original lead singer Brian Connolly left the original line up leaving Andy Scott, Steve Priest & Mick Tucker to continue as a 3 piece. Sadly, both Brian Connolly & Mick Tucker passed away in 1997 and 2002 respectively and with Steve Priest relocating to the USA, Andy Scott was left to fly the flag. After a couple of line-up changes over the years, since 2006 the line-up has been primarily unchanged from what it is today.
Andy Scott (lead guitar, vocal), Bruce Bisland (drums, vocal) Tony O’Hora (lead vocal, bass) and Paul Manzi (guitar, keyboards, vocal). The Sweet still tour the world extensively with one of the most dynamic and slick live shows on the circuit. 1968 to 2019, 51 years and counting of hellraising, star chasing, trail blazing.
For more information, follow this link – www.noblepr.co.uk/press-releases/sweet/uk-tour-2019.htm
Reader Comments (5)
I ran into him when he stumbled into the bar at The Four Seasons one night in 1994 donning a garishly cut black suit (had to be Versace) and dripping in gold. Gold Rolex, gold cuff links, gold chains and hilariously overly ornate gold Fendi sunglasses to make Elton John proud. And by gold, I mean solid 24 karat gold! Needless to say, he was quite a site, his signature blonde shag with not a hair out of place.
I was in L.A. with my copywriter at the time (coincidentally whose last name is Connolly!) shooting a commercial and we were staying at the hotel. We were feeling no pain but no match for Brian as was totally plastered and barely coherent at that point as he stood weaving next to me at the bar.
My copywriter asked me who he was and I whispered I didn’t know, which is true since at that moment I have been describing, I honestly could tell he was a Rock Star just couldn’t place who though I just knew he was because of his expensive attire and wild hairdo.
Meanwhile, while we were trying to identify him, he was ordering $75 glasses of bourbon (remember, this is 1994!) and tipping the bartendress with $100 bills! The only problem was, he was crumpling them up and throwing them in her face. How classy is The Four Seasons bar and how big are the tips? She just grabbed the crumpled one hundreds and flung them right back at him, refusing to accept them if that’s the way he was going to tip her.
With that my copywriter, the other Connolly, said she was out of there and left the bar. Now Brian Connolly starts telling me, get this, swear to The Metal Gods, he is the new bass player for Led Zeppelin and with that takes the previously mentioned napkin and signs it with his phone number and tells me to bring girls to his house.
Well, my eyes popped out on seeing his signature which was astonishingly in perfect script despite his being completely knackered as the Brits like to call it. Besides his phone number beneath his signature, he also included “Bass Player Led Zeppelin”, though this was a little more crooked than his signature which I guess he had on autopilot from all those years of autographing girls bodies!
Considering Connolly’s condition and the fact he was throwing all those hundreds at the bartendresses, I decided to play along with the guy. We drank for another hour or so talking about how he was about to go on tour with Led Zeppelin and how great it was going to be. Meanwhile, the whole time I’m thinking, what is wrong with this dude?! Didn’t he realize what a Rock giant he was in his own right?!
Well, at this point, things got even crazier when he said, “C’mon, let’s go to The Rainbow!” Out in front of the hotel, his immaculate Forest Green 1968 Rolls Royce sparkled under the lights. This is where all the Ferraris, Maseratis and Bentleys are parked and this night Connolly’s Rolls. How classy is The Four Seasons?
The car was literally 20 feet from the front door yet a Valet still backed it out of it’s spot to the front door. Of course, he might have had another motive. He may not have wanted Connolly pulling out his Rolls which was wedged n pretty tight against those Ferraris and Lambos. Well, let me tell you, it was a miracle we made it to The Rainbow even though it was right up the street as he was swerving that Roller all over the place.
By the time we got there, it was too late to get in and leather clad Rockers were pouring out of the place. Of course, Connolly was ambushed and announcing to everyone he was the new bass player for Led Zeppelin. I suddenly realized I had a shoot the next morning, getting a dose of reality since The Rainbow was closed and I hailed a cab and got the h*ll out of there!
Looking at the napkin the next day, I noticed one or two digits were illegible so there was no way to call and thank him for the drinks. I still have that napkin to this day.
Funnily, later I realized I never got the chance to introduce both Connellys to each other though it’s probably for the best as she woulda busted his chops.
Epilogue: The next afternoon, I noticed the same valet on duty. I remarked to him how beautiful Connolly's Rolls was and how cool it was to ride in it with him. And he says, “That car was actually stolen right from that very spot it was parked last night. The cops went looking for it for three days but couldn’t find it. Well, guess who finally found it and it wasn’t the cops! It was the Four Seasons! The Four Seasons Security team are the ones who located it! That’s The Four Seasons for you!” Impressive indeed, but how the h*ll did the thing get stolen in the first place and right out from under their noses, right in front of the joint?
Still remember the Millie story, like ti was yesterday. Please keep sharing them.
In hindsight I wish I had hung out on The Strip more! At one point in 1987, I stayed at Le Parc Hotel for 6 weeks and though I hung out with The Cult by the Rooftop pool, saw Kingdom Come (as a guest of The Cult!), caught L.A. Guns at The Country Club, WW III at The Troubadour and Lemmy hangin’ out at the bar at The Rainbow, I was too stupid to realize I should have been going up there every night while I was there!
p.s. Now, I know I REALLY am fried! I don’t remember telling a story about Millie. Who’s Millie?!
And I know what you mean Metalboy! - Hindsight is 20/20 and I too look back on certain events and wonder why I did not milk them more, or why i made certain choices that I would never have made now.
As an example, the second time we hung out with Jani and Jerry after one of their shows in /96 at a small club, we bumped into DIO at the bar, who was also in town the same night. We only chatted with him for a couple minutes, as we ended up spending the evening with Jani and Jerry, which no offence to them but, I mean it was DIO, come on! What was I thinking And I wasted the chance to really talk to him on just a quick hello, how are you. Wow. If only I knew how amazing that opportunity was.
The sad thing is, I don't even remember that conversation a whole lot. Oh well. C'est la vie, as they say.