Jan Akkerman To Play Two Special UK Shows To Celebrate His 75th Birthday
15th February 2022The legendary Jan Akkerman will be playing two very special UK shows to celebrate his 75th birthday. He will be playing two nights â 11th and 12th March â at Trading Boundaries in Fletching, East Sussex. Tickets are also available with a dining option, and you can purchase them here.
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Jan will be playing music from throughout his career including songs from his most recent album âClose Beautyâ, which his first studio album in 8 years when released in 2019 via Music Theories Recordings / Mascot Label Group and you can listen to via Spotify HERE
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âItâs been a while since Iâve played the UK,â says Akkerman. âBut now Iâm back and I canât wait to play these shows and hope to see you there.â
The supremely gifted guitarist is equalled by very few and his legendary ability makes him impossible to pigeonhole. His position as Dutch royalty has been cemented, he received the Golden Harp Award in early 2005, Hollandâs most prestigious music prize and in 2012 he was appointed Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau, a royal honour that acknowledged his contribution to Dutch music and his influence on musicians around the world.
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Akkerman was a founding member of Focus from 1969 to 1976 where he recorded a number of breakout albums including, âFocus II/Moving Wavesâ (1971). The album spawned the mega-hit âHocus Pocusâ which reached #9 on the US Billboard Chart, #12 in The Netherlands and #20 in the UK singles chart and the song has gone on to appear on numerous TV shows such as; Top Gear, Skins, Supernatural, Vinyl, My Name is Earl and Shameless as well we the 2007 film Hot Fuzz, 2014 remake of Robocop and 2017s Baby Driver. The song has been covered by a number of other artists including Iron Maiden, Marillion, Helloween, Gary Hoey, The Vandals and Vanessa-Mae. âFocus 3â (1972) featured another hit single in âSylviaâ which reached #4 in the UK singles chart and led to an appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test and Top of the Pops.. That year Melody Maker declared him the âBest guitarist of the worldâ, above Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.
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 âClose Beautyâ is the return of the distinctive âAkkerman-soundâ, which runs like a thread through twelve compositions; acoustic, electric, solo performing and accompanied by his own band, Marijn van den Berg (drums), David de Marez Oyens (bass) and Coen Molenaar (keyboards). Molenaar also produced the album, which was recorded at Marten Haakâs Studio.
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He has collaborated with a number of musicians including Alan Price (The Animals), Jack Bruce and Ice T and counts fans in Brian May who said Akkerman was âtotally a hero of mine, there are some people in life that no matter how old you are, you feel nervous if you meet someone, heâs one of those, heâs a real role modelâ. B.B. King has also talked highly of him saying, âHow can you forget a guy like Jan, usually with people that are as great as he is, you know of them, but you donât always get to know them or their music, but you know their reputation. The nights that we played together was great, I wish I could play the things that he did.â Whilst Yes guitarist Peter Banks has also lauded him calling him âan almost perfectly formed musician, his classical playing was tremendous and his improvising was second to none.â
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For generations, he has impressed and inspired large numbers of guitarists with his timing, harmonics, virtuosity and his ability to perform with a wide range of musicians from various musical backgrounds and these nights will be truly special.