Carl Palmer’s 64 years onstage and the ingenious way he’s touring as ELP

Whenever Carl Palmer joined a band, he was head-hunted by a bigger one - the King Bees, Chris Farlowe & the Thunderbirds, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Atomic Rooster and, eventually, Emerson Lake & Palmer. We get a vivid whirlwind tour here of six decades onstage – modest, very funny, barely pausing for breath – and a full account of how ‘An Evening with Emerson Lake & Palmer’ will work when he tours the show in 2027 (and the setlist). Tons of highlights, blink and you’ll miss them, these just a few …

… “You can’t call the group Emerson Lake & Palmer! What if somebody leaves?”

… playing jazz and cabaret from the age of 12 and memories of “formation dancing night”

… the King Bees at a Birmingham All-Nighter with Chris Farlowe, Steampacket and “a few black bombers”

.. the one-eyed bassist who drove the van

… American 10,000-seaters with Arthur Brown

… the Who in 1965 – “never seen anything like it!”

… who owns the name Emerson Lake & Palmer?

… the day he got a job for John Bonham

… being choppered to the Isle of Wight in their stage gear

... Vincent Crane sawing his Hammond in half

… the ELP audition and “Ahmet Ertegun from NY” ringing to twist his arm