UFO to continue Last Orders Tour with Neil Carter rejoining the band
Following the tragic death of Paul Raymond, UFO have announced they will complete their 50th anniversary Last Orders Tour with Neil Carter rejoining the band.
Paul Raymond sadly died from a heart attack on 13th April just days after UFO wrapped up the triumphant UK & Ireland leg of the Last Orders Tour with a sold-out homecoming show at London Shepherd’s Bush Empire.
In a statement issued today (30th April), UFO have confirmed they will continue with all their upcoming tour dates throughout Europe this summer and North America in the autumn.
Having enjoyed a three-year tenure with the band in the early eighties and contributing to three studio albums, Neil Carter will rejoin UFO on keyboard, guitar and vocal duties for the remaining shows.
UFO’s full statement reads:
“On April 13th 2019, the UFO family got the tragic news that our bandmate Paul Raymond had died of a heart attack. It had been just a week since we finished the first leg of our “Last Orders Tour” in the UK. While mourning his loss, sadly we also had to face the reality of what to do with the band. We feel moving forward with the tour is the right thing to do. We all know this is what Paul would have wanted us to do. We are therefore very pleased to announce that our friend and former bandmate Neil Carter has agreed to join us again and take over the keyboards/guitar and vocals slot for the remainder of the tour. Neil was already part of the family between 1981 and 1983, playing on the albums “The Wild, The Willing And The Innocent”, “Mechanix” and “Making Contact”. Before he joined UFO he was in Wild Horses, later he continued his career with Gary Moore. Together with Neil, we will bring our 2019 LAST ORDERS TOUR to a close. We want to make sure that all our amazing fans get a fantastic experience out of it one more time.”
As well as commemorating their half-Century landmark, UFO’s Last Orders Tour is their swansong run of shows with sole constant member Phil Mogg as frontman before he retires.
The European leg opens at Musik Zentrum in Hannover, Germany on Friday 7th June and also takes in dates in Sweden, Holland, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium and a series of other German dates into early August.
Opening with a sold-out show at San Francisco Great American Music Hall on 9th October, the US leg sees UFO play a total of 19 shows.