Three Friends - Freehand

[plumage12]

They're coming in my corner of the worls in October. I'LL SO BE THERE!!!

[DonVitoco72]

Exelente !!!

[klinkerkk]

God gave us the Gentle Giant in the 70's. God could give us them back nowadays. Just keep the faith.

[GolasgilEldemar]

I just discovered this! Thanks so much you guys! Thank you so much! I hope to catch you on the road! TRY AND STOP ME!

[ezcarmona]

John weathers plays fine, with feeling, mortimore too, u can se mister class by thrre friends,

[dantalionable]

THIS IS INDEED A RARE, UNLOOKED FOR REUNION. I MISS THE SCHULMAN'S, BUT AT LEAST THEY AREN'T CALLING IT GENTLE GIANT. SOME NEW MATERIAL WOULD HAVE BEEN WELCOME BUT THIS WILL SURELY SUFFICE. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR SHARING. I SAW THEM OPEN UP FOR TULL'S "BRICK" TOUR IN MISSISSIPPI OF ALL PLACES.

[2318PAM]

Michael Mortimore ??????

I think I prefer Malcolm Mortimore

[ezcarmona]

michaelmortimore plays better than john weathers altough john plasy so good

[underagedpickle]

@ezcarmona weathers has better feel in my opinion although mortimore is more skilled technically.

[kingcherub]

How could I have not known about this? I could have seen these guys play! Well I hope to God they come around again soon.

[goruby2]

very good cover.

[klinkerkk]

@goruby2 rather a self-cover. Kerry and Gary are playin' on stage.

[mrprogjazzgto]

WOW... Great Vibe of the Old GG..!!

Please, play in South Florida...!

[morrron5]

it's cool because some gg player are in , but the necessary isn't there

[PeeceSells]

@OldSchoolSkill ive heard the Schulmans and John Weathers want them to stop...i dont see why....promotes GG

[fyrwyrstrings]

John digs them I think and is ok with it...

[themurderock]

Bravissimi....!!!!!!!!!!!

[claytunes]

Ya! Finally,  my favorite band rocks the world again in the 21st century. Sounds great guys.

[TerrellaMedia]

These guys are great, but you can definitely hear how modern digital technology sucks the life out of the tone.

[maida1982a]

Wow-do they sound great! Going to be a gig at BB KIng's in NYC in June, 2010...used to see GG in Montreal in early 70's.

[thehellhecould]

Just love Gary Green's playing!! He still has it!

[tboneplayer8]

Gentle Giant, one of the greatest band ever. Although this band sounds pretty good, it is a pity that Kerry Minnear is no longer with the group. That was a fast movement, it sucks.

[lferlan]

When are you guys coming to Seattle? If you need a place to stay you can stay at my house! Rent free, just some guitar lessons from Gary.Who I think is one of the most under rated guitar players in the rock world! Larry

[waynedanberry]

Wow, Malcolm, you brought a tear to my eye around 6:43, when you paid tribute to John Weathers. I know you were the drummer for GG,until you broke your leg in a motorcycle accident? That's when they got John to take your place. You are a "CLASS ACT"! Hope you guys get into Minnesota in 2010. With Kerry!? Garry, you should wear that green and white striped shirt, and maybe pants.

[Machadomm]

please! please!please!!!....

we demand a tour!!

love Gentle Giant!!!

[wigginsdesign]

I love these guys but it's a scary proposition for me to see them without the perfect GG voice of Derek and the most coolest most-animated & funkiest prog-bassist ever Ray. It's like going to see YES without Jon Anderson. Hard pill to swallow but still a fan for ever. May have to let my 70's live GG memories sustain me, then again the music is still HOTTTT!

[FoxtronInk]

F9(*&^&(ck yeah!

[Francomassimo]

GG was the best progressive rock band all over the world !! They were incomparable and inimitable !

[apisdude]

I saw the original GG in Seattle years ago(decades?), they played with ELO and Kansas, I had never heard of them, but was evangelized by them, and still am to this day.

Brad

[jamescdo]

Can you beleive there are so many of us that still dig GG? It's time to write that biopic movie I have been working on.

Thanks for this.

[buchla300]

Great stuff. If I get achance to see them, I will. Hear rumours of a possible album being worked on.

[progmeck1]

Gentle giant music is THE STANDARD of prog rock. Every musician, who wants to play prog rock is confronted with this hard matter of fact.

[Beadbud5000]

Any chance of a US tour? Just Florida then..

PLEASE!?!

[evilchris3]

NEARfest 2010 then they kick off their US tour. wooo!

[Beadbud5000]

LUCKY YOU!@

[krsongs]

@evilchris3

Where can we get US Tour info (dates) from?

[TheRealSlipperman]

Loving everything but the singer. He can't even remotely hit the high stuff. He's running out of tone as he crosses the A below high C. He's cheating into the bottom of the B natural in the Acap. Copping Derek requires tone and power to HIGH D. You can't cheat, ya can't escape. Believe me I know. I was singing this very song in front of paying audiences all through the late 70's. Crazy huh? Still loving this post. Thanx to those who provided it.

[Pectiniculus]

They uploaded some exceprts of the gig in Germany!

[hope2prosper]

re Dereks health, he did a fairly extensive interview with Eddie Trunk on VH1 a few years back and looked and sounded great. This interview can be seen as a special feature on one of GG's dvd's.

[progbc]

how fucking wicked is this??????

[joealanouf]

tighter then the stone of gibrolter

[jamesbach54]

GG fan...from the inception...this has caused quite a stir!!!...

[christeli]

I saw the show yesterday in Montreal. This was simply amazing. You could feel the pleasure in the crowd and you could see the pleasure of the band also. After each songs the crowd got up and applauded for minutes. I think there is a special bound between Montreal and GG and it showed yesterday. Incredible show.

[Pectiniculus]

What songs did they play?

[christeli]

Pantagruel's nativity, Just the same, free hand, schooldays, mister class and quality, three friends, think of me with kindness, in a glass house, playing the game, cogs in cogs...and others. I hope i'm not mistaking on any of those but I think not. It was really incredible.

[Pectiniculus]

thank you christeli!!

it's incredible! so they added cogs and cogs, schooldays and more! wow!

hopefully, they'll start creating new songs for next year's nearfest!

[Pectiniculus]

I hope some lucky guy from Montreal will be so kind to share an excerpt...

[400216ADM]

Wow! Montreal you're in for a treat, these guys were great last night.

[ibafyarmtl]

All tickets are sold. Sorry.

[merp0001]

I saw Kerry, Gary and Malcolm play GG in Quebec City in 2005. It was magnificent, this is other worldly.

[ibafyarmtl]

I'm seeing them on Sept 13 in Montreal! BTW, not a 100% sure but i may have a few tickets available...

[merp0001]

I am interested in tickets for Sept 13.

[vectorfive]

How many and how much???

[grayngreen]

My first show ever was Gentle Giant opening for Yes July 23rd 1976..... and still the best show I've ever seen 33 yrs later !! Great stuff.... when's the official N American tour guys ???

[delfia406]

yeah.. Malcolm is very good!!!!!!!! I still miss John P. Weathers a bit.. he played the drums the way i had never heard before and i have never heard afterwards....

[wigginsdesign]

THe BOOGIE WOOGIE phrase is OFF THE HOOK. This is one of several funkiest tunes in all prog. Damn Gary still kicks ars

[antonjjok]

yes! Great Mortimer.

[Beadbud5000]

Nice solo section!

[Beadbud5000]

Excellent job on doing the GG cover. Does this band write any of their own stuff?

[PCFDD]

This is their own stuff.

[Beadbud5000]

No. This is a cover of the song, Free Hand off Gentle Giant's 1975 album. My question was does the band also do any of their own material? Covers don't count.

[PCFDD]

Ok, sorry I was counting it as an original as Minnear and Green are involved.

Love the Free Hand record, amazing skill, even for prog.

[Beadbud5000]

I'm sorry. I did not realize that Minnear, Mortimore & Green were playing. What happned to Rental Riant that Weathers and Green were doing?

It woulde bei interesting to see what new original material Three Friends would come up wth. Yiy have elements of Octopus then. Is that Dio from Dio? (Rainbow)

[jonsilence]

Love this! Please come to L.A., and thanks for making the efort to do this for all the GG fans out there.

[EyMeng]

I'm impressed with the precision and musicianship. Check out our version. There's no video, and its a crappy recording, but we are a bunch of kids...we did not include the big instrumental part like you did. We should have but oh well. This is pretty good.

[MrBubzzi]

the guy has a good voice but wrong expression.

and john weathers is NEEDED

[Pectiniculus]

I think Mortimore was actually the best player in those gigs.

[Pectiniculus]

After performing at the PMFM, Three Friends are going to Japan and Germany!!

[DeadDogHowlin]

absaloutley perfect well done boys lets see some more performances i n uk from the best prog rock band ever.

[jake15700]

best prog rock band? haha you mean the best band... period...

[DeadDogHowlin]

i came across this the other day and thought this is as close as you will ever get to gg then i realised who it was these boyswere and stillare the best prog rock band ever to walk this earth of course thats my oppinion

[chungiemunchin]

Malcolm Mortimore is the third luckiest drummer in rock history........John Weathers being the second........can you guess the first?

What must it mean to Gary Green and Kerry Minnear especially, to be playing this incredible music again......TOGETHER!

[Pectiniculus]

The first one would have to be Martin Smith, right? He recorded some of the greatest GG songs with the boys but unfortunately he passed away during the 90's.

I totally agree. The boys really seem to be having a lot of fun along with Mortimore. I hope they write new songs as Malcolm has stated. That would be...

[Fernweeks]

Christ! but it's good good to hear Gary take a solo again.

[EmersonsL100]

John Weathers was in the audience! I bet he liked what he heard.

[tero1712]

increiiiblee!!!

[thewordofgord]

thanks for this; lovely to see them back together, saw them in Toronto and Guelph around 74/75 methinks. of course, they were awesome.

those were the days i tell ya!

wordofgord

[100PIES]

I just know that a show's gonna end up close to Derek and he'll end up onstage with them!!. That would be Awesome!!, and this band sounds Great!!

[Pectiniculus]

I doubt Derek has trained his voice these years, though. Besides, this band doesn't

[100PIES]

Yeah, he's probably rusty, but give him a few Drinks and who knows! jej

[Beadbud5000]

I loved Derek, but age and the range of the needed voice may be too much of a stretch

[100PIES]

I know, but If He hasn't Been Singing and If he

has Taken Care of Himself (and his Voice) There's No Reason to Believe That He Can't Do It... Look at Jon Anderson from YES he is an "Alto Tenor" and He Still has that High Voice, So it Depends on If You're Lucky, and If you Take Care of Your Self, So with Derek: Who Knows??... Maby Someday We'll See... I Hope :-)

[joctre]

WHAT A PERFORMANCE !!! A GREAT NEWS TO MONTREAL THIS SEPTEMBER 11-12 !!!! (From an happy owner of tickets for FMPM)

[Pectiniculus]

Wasn't it on 12-13?

Anyway, in the FMPM, Three Friends as a specially important reunion/new band are gonna be given more time to perform than other bands. And I think they're gonna be on the second night (and last) so no doubt it'll be great! And I bet by September they'll be even better and show a different track list.

[petecellar]

Just watched and loved Malcom's ending drum "tribute"

JOHN WEATHERS! JOHN WEATHERS!

[AndyKub]

It's so great to see the Giant is once again awake!

[bassplayer142]

COME TO MICHIGAN!!!

[Beadbud5000]

I got to see Gentle Giant in 1975 open in between Gary Wright and Rick Wakeman at Cobo Hall! GG stole the show from Wakeman

[charleslsegal]

Why can't they play more gigs in the U.K. ?

I can't wait !

[teddingtontcu]

Maybe a few trial runs in UK before they trot off over the pond (Please) otherwise I am booking a plane ticket,

[nomorephil]

Playing FMPM in Montreal Sept 12-13!!

[FunkyMuleFromSussex]

great to see this! In HD as well! wooo