The enduring influence and breadth of appeal of The Animals in 2009 is best exemplified by a typical snapshot of their tour diary of recent times; headlining Gloucester Blues Festival, storming The Rebellion Punk Festival; seizing the day at a Midlands rock festival (with ex-Scorpions guitarist, Michael Schenker) and headlining  London’s legendary 100 Club  - twice.

Now 50 years since The Pirates first hit record, the cornerstone of this legendary band - guitarist Mick Green -returns as a Special Guest in this titanic package.

The Animals remain a seminal rhythm & blues band who still command great respect internationally amongst their peers as well as from fans of all ages who instinctively respond so enthusiastically to such pivotal songs as ‘We Gotta Get Out Of This Place’, ‘Boom Boom’, ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’, ‘Baby, Let Me Take You Home’, ‘I Put A Spell On You’ and the bands’ multi-million selling anthem and Number One hit across the world - ‘House of The Rising Sun’

This tour presents a very rare chance to see the guitarist that inspired the youth of the 60’s. Pete Townsend maintains that it was Mick Green that inspired him, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Dr Feelgood’s Wilko Johnson to name just a handful.

Performing all the classic hits he enjoyed with The Pirates including the massive Number One hit, ‘Shakin’ All Over’ - along with ‘Hungry for Love’, ‘Please Don’t Touch’, ‘You Got What It Takes’, ‘Restless’, ‘I’ll Never Get Over You’ and many more from his amazing career.

Mick Green
Mick Green is an original guitarist that has become the cornerstone for British rock and inextricably linked with one song: ‘Shakin’ All Over’. His guitar style – mixing both rhythm and lead guitar at the same time - is unique.

Mick’s career started in 1962 when he joined Johnny Kid & The Pirates, after several chart-topping hits he then moved on to join Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas  with whom he also enjoyed abundant success .

After the death of Johnny Kidd in 1966, Mick and fellow Pirates veterans Johnny Spence and Frank Farley reformed The Pirates , going on to rock many notorious venues,and record many legendary albums all over the world. Back in the 60's they played with Johnny Kidd at all the popular venues including The Cavern ( Liverpool ), The Oasis ( Manchester ), The Star Club ( Hamburg ) and on the Liverpool Riverboat Shuffle they were supported by the then little known Beatles. They went on to record a number of tracks including ‘A Shot of Rhythm and Blues’, ‘I Can Tell’ (famously re-recorded by Dr Feelgood in the 70’s and featuring Green acolyte, Wilko Johnson) , ‘Hungry For Love’ and ‘Dr Feelgood’ !.

The mid-70s saw the Green-Farley-Spence trio tour and record as The Pirates, signing to Warner Brothers in the UK and releasing the albums ‘Out of Their Skulls’ and ‘Skull Wars’.

As well as being part of the reformed trio, Mick is also called upon for session work. In 1999, after a previous recording stint with Paul McCartney, Paul asked him to join him on stage with Pinks Floyd’s Dave Gilmour at the illustrious Cavern gig in Liverpool .

Since then Mick has appeared on seven Van Morrison albums, two by Bryan Ferry (including his most recent, ‘Dylanesque’) and has toured in over 100 countries as well as appearing on two Paul McCartney albums, including ‘Run Devil Run’ – which also featured drummer Ian Paice of Deep Purple, another member of the McCartney ‘live’ band at The Cavern. Mick also just made an appearance on five tracks of the latest Van Morrison album, ‘Keep It Simple’, the first Van Morrison album to enter straight into the US Top Ten.

A new album from The Pirates ‘Out Of Their Skulls’ (Prism) was released in 2006, featuring new songs as well as a storming re-recording of ‘Shakin’ All Over’ and also includes ‘You Don’t Own Me’, written by Mick and Alan Lancaster of Status Quo. The song originally appeared on Quo’s ‘Rockin All Over The World’ album. The two had met whilst Mick was touring as a member of Shanghai, who opened for Quo on their ‘Blue For You’ tour, the band  also featuring Cliff Bennett (of ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’ fame) in the line-up. Shanghai also recorded two fine albums in 1974 and 1976.

The Animals – the history bit
In 1964 a wave of new energetic rock and roll swept over the youth of the world. On the crest of this wave was The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and from the banks of the River Tyne came the North East's offering; The Animals - with a brand of rhythm n blues that the whole world seemed to grasp greedily.

2007 marked founder member John Steel’s 50th year as performing musician. Back in 1957 he and The Animals co-founder Eric Burdon began plying their trade in and around their native Tyneside with not the slightest inking that they would - in a very few years – find themselves part of a group that would be forever bracketed with the very best of British music – The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds – and respected all over the world. The Animals were also be the second British band after The Beatles to top the American charts with their multi-million selling anthem, ‘House of The Rising Sun’.

Let us not forget that it was Bob Dylan’s ‘House of the Rising Sun’ that so inspired this legendary band to record what history has shown to be the definitive take. It is even whispered that Dylan looked to their version as inspiration for his infamous ‘going electric’.

In 2004, to commemorate forty glorious years, the band recorded a new studio album – ‘Instinct'. Produced by guitarist extraordinaire Jerry Donahue ( Fairport, Joan Armatrading, Sandy Denny, Chris Rea, Gerry Rafferty) this recording features an amazing array of invited friends as guests.  A new album is being prepared, tentatively titled  ‘Prehistoric’ – which will feature recordings of the songs that so inspired John Steel and Eric Burdon as they grew up on Tyneside

In 2005, the band also released TWO ‘live’ albums, recorded in Copenhagen during their very successful Scandinavian tour in 2004 ‘Live’ In Denmark, Vols. 1 & 2’ (Organic Mountain Records MPS02/03.

After over forty years the legend still grows.