Pretty Things Cancel S.F.Sorrow Tour

Legendary "original rock opera" was to be performed in its entirety.

By Fred Mills

Sad news came down the pike this week for Pretty Things fans - the legendary sixties garage-punks-cum-flower-punks had been planning to stage a series of concerts celebrating the 40^th anniversary of their rock opera masterpiece S.F. Sorrow (which, technically, came out 41 years ago, but who keeps track?). Now, however, comes word that the four U.K. shows have been cancelled due to unspecified "scheduling difficulties" which has led to speculation that poor ticket sales were the root cause.

Shows had been slated for Jan. 28, 30 and 31 plus Feb. 1 in Glasgow, Birmingham, London and Manchester, and were to be presented by British classic rock station Planet Rock. According to the original press releases issued by Planet Rock in October, "The shows will feature the entire album, played exactly as recorded, and in full by the original line-up, who recorded the album in 1967. The band never performed the record live when it was current, and have only ever attempted it on one previous occasion as a public performance, at a sold out Royal Festival Hall Show in 2001, where they played it with Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour making a guest appearance... As always with The Pretty Things, expect the unexpected and be prepared for the full on onslaught of passion, energy and excitement that characterises every performance by the longest surviving, original line-up band in the world."

Expect the unexpected from the Pretties, well, that's for sure. Here's hoping they get the situation under control and are able to move forward again with the shows.