Nazareth – August 9, 2024

Event Details

General Admission & Bleachers – All Ages

Date: Friday, August 9

Doors: 6:30 PM

Show Time: 8:00 PM

Event Cost: $49.50 – $59.50 (Plus applicable fees)

About This Performance

Nazareth is without a doubt the biggest rock band to emerge from Scotland. They were the pioneers who took Scottish Rock international and paved the way for the many other great Scottish bands that came later… the likes of Big Country, Simple Minds etc. The original members first came together in Pete Agnew’s band “The Shadettes” in 1968 and changed the name to Nazareth in 1970.

They toured with Deep Purple in the early ’70s where they met Roger Glover who produced their breakthrough album Razamanaz in 1973 that included the hits “Broken Down Angel” and “Bad Bad Boy.” The album was followed by Loud’n’Proud later the same year featuring the single “This Flight Tonight,” which became a massive hit throughout Europe and sent the band to Number 1 in Germany. It was also a huge hit in Canada where the band became the first foreign band to do a coast to coast tour of the country that wasn’t just part of a North America tour. When they arrived in the country, they were told it was the fastest selling Canadian tour of all time, even selling out faster than Elvis who had been there recently. As you can imagine, you can still hear a host of “faster than Elvis” jokes in Nazareth dressing rooms to this day.

Then came Rampant and the massive tour in support of its release seeing the band play 50 shows in 9 countries throughout Europe and Scandinavia. The tour was quickly followed by the release of the single, “My White Bicycle” which gave them another chart hit in UK and Germany. They were riding a crest of popularity around the world but still had not managed to get that elusive American hit that every band needs to prove that they really are a global success. As it turns out, that hit was just around the corner. The classic album that brought them American success and international acclaim was the next one, Hair Of The Dog and its title track (popularly, though incorrectly shown as ‘Sonofabitch’ due to its hook lyric) became a staple of rock radio throughout the world. Many bands were later known to say how much that song influenced them and in fact, it was covered by Guns N’ Roses on their Spaghetti Incident album, as the guys are well known Naz fans.

The American version of the album contained the beautiful “Love Hurts,” which still sets the standards for a rock ballad vocal to this day. The song became a worldwide hit, reaching Number 1 in six countries and remained on the Norwegian chart for 60 weeks. In 1982, the band released “Dream On,” another ballad that was to become an anthem throughout Europe.

From 1971 till now, Nazareth have recorded 23 studio albums, earning them platinum, gold and silver awards throughout the world with 3 platinum and 8 gold albums coming from Canada alone. Their latest release, Rock’n’Roll Telephone (2014) was described by one music press critic simply as “one more masterpiece.” The lineup today consists of Jimmy Murrison (the longest serving Naz guitarist in the band’s history), Lee Agnew (drummer since Darrell Sweet’s death in 1999), Pete Agnew (founder member since he can’t remember) and new singer Carl Sentance who joined the band in 2015 after Dan McCafferty had to retire due to ill health.

Over the last five decades, Nazareth have played literally thousands of concerts worldwide ranging from rock clubs to stadiums and when asked if he could remember playing in a certain town, Pete answered “if its got electricity, we’ve played it.”