the shadows

Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch and Brian Bennett are back on the road again after their electric 37 date ''farewell'' 2004 UK tour. The twenty-five date tour will take in ten countries, kicking off in Denmark on April 13th and culminating at Birmingham''s NIA on Saturday May 14th and Sunday May 15th with The Encore Concerts - back by popular demand!

2004 has been a fantastic year for Hank, Bruce and Brian. The final UK tour was a smash and the album ''Life Story'' charted at no.7 staying three weeks in the UK''s top ten. Just before going on stage at the London Palladium for the final concert in their UK 2004 tour, Cliff Richard presented The Shads'' with a gold sales award to mark the success of the album.

Shadows guitarist Hank Marvin said, "the UK tour was a complete success which sold out very quickly leaving many people disappointed that they couldn''t get tickets. Now that we''re taking the show to Europe, we have the opportunity to play another concert in the UK and give the people who missed it the first time around a chance to see The Shadows perform for one last time. We chose the NIA because of its central location and were lucky enough to get a weekend date which, hopefully, will make it easier for people who have to travel."

To add to their success, Sir Cliff Richard and The Shadows scooped the award for the best of the 50s Decade in the very first UK Music Hall Of Fame.

The event took place at the Hackney Empire, London on Thursday 11th November and was the pinnacle of the Channel 4 Sunday night series that took an in-depth look at five musical decades - the 50''s, 60''s, 70''s 80''s and 90''s..

A panel comprising respected artists from all eras, music journalists, broadcasters and music industry executives helped create a shortlist of artists spanning all five decades with the final decision up for the public vote.

Hank and Bruce in January 2005 with the new Burns Shadows custom Model guitar to be launched in April 05.

It was during a hot summer day in June 1960 that THE SHADOWS entered Abbey Road''s Studio 2 to record ''Apache'', the track that was to become the instrumental hit of the decade. It shot to No. 1, became an instant classic and saw the start of a string of over thirty hits - including another four No.1''s, ''Wonderful Land'', ''Kon-Tiki'', ''Dance On'' and ''Foot Tapper'' - for the group who pioneered the now familiar band line up of two guitars, bass and drums. ''Apache'' was also responsible for inspiring a new generation of artists such as Eric Clapton, Dire Straits'' Mark Knopfler, Pete Townshend of The Who and Queen''s Brian May to take up the guitar. THE SHADOWS quickly became instrumental heroes; they developed a polished, crisp sound and had a unique knack for drawing out the sweetest melodies in their most haunting form.

''Life Story - November 8th 2004 sees the release of The Final Tour DVD which was recorded at Cardiff''s International Arena on June 5th.

The Very Best of The Shadows'', a magnificent double cd featuring 45 classic Shadows tracks, is available now. The essential collection is named after the title track, ''Life Story'', which was the last tune written by Jerry Lorden - composer of ''Apache''- and the most recent to be recorded by the band.

November 8th 2004 sees the release of The Final Tour DVD which was recorded at Cardiff''s International Arena on June 5th.