Extra date added for TEN YEARS AFTER SIX DECADES OF WOODSTOCK FIRE COMES TO BARNOLDSWICK

One of the great surviving names from the golden age of British blues-rock is coming to our tiny cellar venue as the legendary TEN YEARS AFTER arrive in Barnoldswick for an extraordinary celebration of more than SIX DECADES of music.

There are rock bands with history, and then there are bands who actually made history. Ten Years After belong emphatically in the latter category. This is a group whose story stretches from the smoky British clubs of the 1960s to Woodstock, from the Marquee Club to the Isle of Wight Festival, from countless American tours to a catalogue containing some of the most enduring blues-rock music ever made..

Think about that for a moment. A band whose music thundered across the field at Woodstock in August 1969, sharing one of rock history's most famous weekends with the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Joe Cocker, will perform more than 57 years later in the intimate surroundings of our little cellar listening room in Barnoldswick. No enormous arena. No festival field. No giant screens. Just Ten Years After, a handful of feet away, playing the music that helped define an era.

The roots of Ten Years After reach back to Nottingham and the mid-1960s. Ric Lee had already been performing with Ivan Jay and the Jaymen before the pieces finally fell into place alongside Alvin Lee, Leo Lyons and Chick Churchill. In 1966 the name Ten Years After was born, reportedly inspired by Elvis Presley's breakthrough year of 1956. The following year they established themselves on London's burgeoning club circuit, secured a residency at the legendary Marquee and appeared at the Windsor Jazz Festival. That performance helped lead to a deal with Deram, the Decca subsidiary taking the unusual step of signing the band despite them having no hit single.

Their self-titled debut appeared in 1967, but it was onstage that Ten Years After really became something else. This was music built to be played live: blues stretched, electrified and pushed towards breaking point. The 1968 live album Undead contained an early version of the song that would become their calling card, "I'm Going Home", while 1969's Stonedhenge brought another enduring favourite in "Hear Me Calling." America was beginning to take notice, and Ten Years After became ferocious transatlantic road warriors.

Then came 17th August 1969 and the moment that would forever change their place in rock history. Ten Years After walked onto the stage at Woodstock and delivered a performance that became part of the mythology of the entire festival. Their blistering rendition of "I'm Going Home", powered by Ric Lee's explosive drumming and Alvin Lee's extraordinary guitar playing, was captured in the subsequent Woodstock film and soundtrack. Millions who had never seen Ten Years After suddenly witnessed a British blues-rock band playing as though somebody had connected them directly to the electricity supply.

More than half a century later, that Woodstock footage still feels dangerous. There are no backing tracks, no elaborate stage production and nowhere to hide. It is four musicians pushing each other harder and harder, and sitting at the back of it all is Ric Lee, driving the entire thing forward from behind the drum kit.

That is what makes the forthcoming Barnoldswick concert particularly remarkable, because RIC LEE IS STILL THERE.

At the astonishing age of 80, this genuine Woodstock veteran remains behind the drums, still performing, still touring and still carrying the name and music of Ten Years After into another generation. He isn't simply appearing onstage to reminisce about 1969. He is still playing the music, still hitting those drums and still driving the band with an energy that defies the passing decades.

Following Woodstock, the story became even bigger. In 1970 came "Love Like a Man", the group's major UK singles-chart success, alongside Cricklewood Green, one of the defining Ten Years After albums. That summer they appeared at another legendary gathering, the Isle of Wight Festival, once again finding themselves at the heart of British rock culture.

Then, in 1971, came A Space in Time and perhaps their most enduring studio recording, "I'd Love to Change the World." Where "I'm Going Home" captured the sheer ferocity of Ten Years After onstage, "I'd Love to Change the World" revealed another side completely — reflective, atmospheric and beautifully constructed, yet still carrying that unmistakable guitar sound.

The statistics are staggering. Between 1968 and 1973, Ten Years After achieved eight consecutive Top 40 albums in Britain, while twelve albums entered America's Billboard 200. They toured the United States relentlessly, reportedly making around 28 American tours during their extraordinary late-'60s and early-'70s period. Albums including Cricklewood Green, A Space in Time, Rock & Roll Music to the World and Recorded Live established them as one of the major British rock exports of their generation.

There have inevitably been different chapters and different line-ups across six decades, but Ric Lee remains the living link running through this extraordinary story. From Nottingham clubs to Woodstock, from the Isle of Wight to America, from the original Ten Years After to the band that will walk onto our stage in Barnoldswick in January 2027, Ric has been there.

And the current Ten Years After is no nostalgia exercise. Ric has surrounded himself with musicians carrying serious rock and blues credentials. Guitarist and vocalist Sam C Lees has worked onstage with artists including Robin Trower, Jack Bruce and Joe Bonamassa. Bassist and vocalist Craig Fletcher brings more than 25 years' experience with John Lees' Barclay James Harvest, while keyboard player and violinist Dave Burgoyne brings extensive session experience to a line-up designed to keep this extraordinary catalogue alive.

That means Barnoldswick Music & Arts Centre can expect the songs that built the legend. "Hear Me Calling." "Love Like a Man." "I'd Love to Change the World." And inevitably, the song that transported four British musicians into rock immortality at Woodstock — "I'm Going Home."

Imagine hearing that riff begin in our cellar. Imagine standing only a few feet from Ric Lee as the drummer who played "I'm Going Home" at Woodstock in 1969 launches into it again in Barnoldswick in 2027.

That is what makes this concert different.

Our room holds only a tiny audience compared with the hundreds of thousands who witnessed Ten Years After during those legendary festival years. There will be nowhere at Barnoldswick Music & Arts Centre where you are detached from what is happening. You'll see the musicians working. You'll hear the amplifiers breathing. You'll feel the kick drum. This is exactly the kind of intimate encounter with rock history that our venue was created for.

And there will be another extraordinary opportunity on the day. Ric Lee will be taking part in a special Access All Areas VIP Meet & Greet, Q&A and autobiography signing, allowing fans to meet a man who didn't read about the golden age of British rock afterwards — he actually lived it. Here is somebody who can talk about Woodstock because he played Woodstock, and the Isle of Wight because he was on that stage.

So circle the date.

THURSDAY 7TH JANUARY 2027.

TEN YEARS AFTER.

BARNOLDSWICK MUSIC & ARTS CENTRE.

Over sixty years after the story began, one of the great names of British blues-rock is coming into one of the smallest rooms it could possibly play. A Woodstock veteran behind the drums. A phenomenal band around him. Six decades of history. And songs that still carry enough voltage to shake the walls.

From Nottingham to the Marquee. From America to Woodstock. From Woodstock to the Isle of Wight. And now, incredibly...