Tom Brislin – Musician | tombrislin.com

What better way to end a tour than to have one of the biggest rock legends in history come up on stage and sing a song?  That’s exactly what happened at the final gig of the fall tour with Francis Dunnery and the New Progressives, this past Friday in Oswestry UK.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Mr. Robert Plant.

If you can’t see the video, follow this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRG7gPwPGCo

We’d been touring throughout the UK and have had some great musical guests sit in for a song or two, on any given night.  The buzz among the band was that for the last show, Robert Plant would come and sing  “Calling To You” with us (we recorded a new version of the song on Francis’ new CD).   Mr. Plant had fun with it, complete with stream-of-consciousness jokes about progressive rock that you can hear at the beginning of my keyboard solo.

It went something like this:

“It’s getting really ‘prog’ now.  Ooh.  Mountains come out of the sea and they just stand there.  I used to know Jon Anderson, you know.  And I worked with Jethro Tull too.  It was fantastic!  All that standing on your own like that with a flute….”

Less than 24 hours later, we were on a plane back to the US, a bit exhausted but still laughing about it all.  Thanks to all the friends, old and new, who came to see the tour, and thanks to Francis, Dorie Jackson, Brett Kull, Jamie Bishop, and Paul Ramsey for being such a great band to be a part of.

Tom Brislin and Robert Plant, November 2009

I can’t believe that the first tour with Renaissance is over. It went by way too fast. It was great to see so many familiar faces, and thanks to the fact that nearly every show was sold-out, we’re likely to be back on the road next year.
Not 24 hours after getting home, I’m heading to the U.K. and manning the keys for Francis Dunnery’s New Progressives. This is my first trip to England since I toured with Yes in 2001. We’re there supporting Francis’ new CD There’s A Whole New World Out There, on which I recorded keyboard tracks.  You can find all the tourdates at tombrislin.com/shows .

I got to talk with the Illustrious Imogen Heap about the making of her new album Ellipse in the October issue of Keyboard Magazine.  Check out the video clips here.

Tom with Imogen Heap, July 2009

In other news, I’m now in full swing on my first tour playing keyboards with Renaissance.  Nearly every show has been sold out, but there are still tickets available for the final show on this tour, Saturday October 17 at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, NJ.  Then I’m off to the UK with Francis Dunnery’s New Progressives tour.  The fun never ends!

Before I set out for the Renaissance tour next month, I’m going to play a solo show at Rockn’ Joe in Kendall Park, NJ on October 3.  The good folks at NJProghouse put together the night, which is for all ages, and there’s no cover charge….and I’m playing 2 sets!

So come on out and say hi before I hit the road…

See the shows page for details.