As a taster from our forthcoming live album and DVD, and in advance of our next two live shows, here is a sneak preview of Last Song from MMX.

MMX: Twelfth Night Live

Work is progressing on our next DVD: MMX: Twelfth Night Live. This will comprise the full show from Montgomery Hall, Wath, recorded at the end of May. At time of writing we have a rough edit of the whole show, and so far we are delighted with both the filming and our performances! Clive is busy remixing the soundtrack with help from Mark. Dean and Andy have written some new short pieces of music to go under the menus and picture galleries. Andy Wild has written the sleevenotes, and all of us are generally ‘helping’ David Read with the video editing, artwork and design.

There is still lots to do, but we are confident that this will be ready for release in a few weeks time, hopefully by the end of August. MMX will be a double DVD featuring the complete two-hour plus concert performance plus a whole load of exciting extras, including photograph galleries, radio interviews, and much more.

We hope to invite pre-orders early in August. We are also thinking of making the soundtrack available as a separate (double) CD release, because it sounds so good…!

As soon as we can we will release some clips to our YouTube channel.

So the first “new” Twelfth Night release since 1986 is almost here!

April/May Gigs

Thanks to all of you who came to see us at one (or more) of our April and May gigs. We hope you had as much fun as we did..!

Many thanks to the Miles and Steve and the Classic Rock Society for putting on three of the shows and Paul Tippett for helping us sell out the Reading one. Thanks also to our crew: - Stu, Tony, Paddy, David, Jonathan, Angela, Andy B, Daniel, Greg, Nick, and Mark… without whom etc.

Don’t forget to send us any video footage you took… and let us know if you come across any reviews.

Classic Rock Presents Prog reviewed the Kilburn gig in their July issue – and described the musicianship as “arresting and alluring”, the music as “enigmatic, dramatic, twisted and dark”, and the show as “a delight”. We’ll settle for that – thanks Richard.

We’ve got lots of great photos the best of which will be on the forthcoming DVD.

Definitive Editions

The Definitive Edition of Art and Illusion was released at the end of April … and has sold surprisingly well. The general reaction has been very positive – something we do not take for granted with our CD re-releases – so thank you.

Rich Wilson says in the July issue of Classic Rock presents Prog that the live bonus disc “highlights the fact that Twelfth Night were always a dazzling onstage act” – which is high praise indeed. Copies are available from our web store for just £12.

You can read reviews here and here.

Our next Definitive Edition should be Live and Let Live later this year, with Fact and Fiction, Live at the Target and possibly a “pre-Target” collection scheduled for 2011. More news soon.

David Read

The band would like to take this opportunity to say a big public THANK YOU to David Read. David has been working on a number of major projects for us this year: filming shows and editing footage from various places, as well as directing and producing (with Andrew Wild) a very special documentary for release later this year. David is just one of many good friends who work very hard on our behalf. His credits so far include design, artwork and editing for the Play On DVD and Reading Rocks ’83, and David is currently playing a major part in our next DVD release, as well as the Live and Let Live project...

Reading Rock 83

We have had a fantastic reaction to this DVD, and excellent sales. Copies of our painstakingly restored festival appearance are available from our web store for just £12. Jerry Ewing – the esteemed editor of Classic Rock presents Prog, a magazine that is proving to be a good friend to the band, described it as “an utter joy from start to finish”.

There’s also a review here.

Live at the Albany 2007

With so much going on the release of the Live at the Albany 2007 DVD has been pushed back to the end of the year. We would however like to express our continued thanks to Mark Spencer for all the hard work he is putting in to this project. It will be worth the wait..!

Andy Sears

Andy has just set off to cross the Pyrenees … by foot! Good luck to him, we say!

Andy Revell

Rev has been interviewed on camera in the last few days for a forthcoming DVD project and has asked us to send his very best wishes to the Twelfth Night following.

Merchandise update

As many of you already know it’s very expensive putting TN on the road and we really do depend on your support … we do it for fun nowadays and any money we make goes back into band projects such as filming and recording…

We enjoyed phenomenal merchandise sales on the recent tour, so a BIG thank you to everyone who bought something, and to Mark Hughes and his team who sold it..! This is what keeps us afloat as the costs of putting on the TN show are far more than we normally get paid.

We still have a few Play On tour t-shirts left … all sizes except Medium and XXXL. After the gig in Germany we probably won’t have any left so if you missed it earlier now might be your last chance to get ones of these special designs. Note: The Play On T-shirts are a little smaller than previous ones – so if you normally find a Large only just fits you’d be better to order an XL this time.

The first print run of Play On, our official biography has completely sold out and we have taken delivery of a reprint – so there are lots of copies available - if you don’t have yours yet (or want to buy another – for a friend or relative!) Copies are available from our web store for just £18 (Don’t forget they are accompanied by a stunning DVD – which is “well worth the money on its own” – says BD).

There have been some book sales in Europe via Festival Music to whom we extend our thanks.

All of our Archive Releases (CDRs) are always in stock - thanks to Mark Hughes – but other items can vary – so please check first by e-mailing Brian at brian@twelfthnight.info

Marquee Documentary

We have been asked to contribute to a new film about the legendary Marquee club, and it’s possible that excerpts from recent interviews with Brian and Clive will be included, along with live footage from 1983. Apparently there are plans to reopen a venue under the Marquee name later in the year … now there’s an idea!

Galahad News

Our friends at Galahad recent performed their 25th anniversary gig at Mr Kyps in Bournemouth on 10 July. Apparently all went very well… Dean, Roy, Stu, Spence and Neil will start recording their new album next month.

James Mann News

Many of you will know that Geoff and Jane Mann’s younger son, James, is the singer in the band No Good Reason in his home town of Bolton. James, who performs under the name Jackson Green, and his colleagues have just finished their first album. You can hear selections at their Facebook and MySpace pages.

Best wishes, Twelfth Night