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Forty years ago, Lancaster’s Great Hall descended into prolonged silence. It remains a house of memories for historic gigs from days gone by, bearing the footprints of names considered legends, including The Who, Black Sabbath and Queen. Then MASSIVE WAGONS brought the noise back. Proud to call Lancaster home, the rockers were a clear and perfect choice to restore rock music to this former gem of the touring circuit – and praised by original promoter Barry Lucas, author of “When Rock Went To College”.
The moment proved so important that they chose to preserve it on record forever. Due to be recorded on 19th and 20th September 2025, the live album will capture the grin-inducing, ear-ringing sense of fun the Wagons inspire when they get on stage and bash through their hits. And, given both shows sold out, it’s a means of travelling back to that glorious moment even if you couldn’t be there in person.
“We’ve been knocking around the idea of a live album for years now, but the time has never felt right,” says guitarist Adam Thistlewaite. “In these Lancaster University Great Hall shows, we have a great story in bringing live music back to an iconic venue and our live shows have been taken to another level after the heavy touring of the last few years. We love making studio albums, but the live energy, the passion of the crowd, it’s what we do it for ultimately, so this is going to be special.”
You can relive the magic on the record’s release day on 27th March 2026. Preorders are available now at the link here: earache.com/massivewagons. Fans who preorder before 7th October will benefit from early bird prices, with prices increasing after that. Don’t miss out!
The following formats are available for preorder. Please note all artwork is subject to change to include photos from the gig upon completion.
Signed Digipak CD w/ 12 page booklet
Digipak CD w/ 12 page booklet
Picture Disc Vinyl
Black / Yellow Merge Vinyl w/ poster
Black Vinyl
Digital Download
Following in the footsteps of many world famous acts who played at the venue in the 1970s and ‘80s, the five-piece will be joined by scene heavyweights The Virginmarys (Friday) and The New Roses (Saturday). Also making their Great Hall debut will be local acts singer-songwriter Harrison Rimmer (Friday) and indie pop rockers Life In Neon (Saturday).
The selection process was coordinated by Lancaster Music Festival who have worked frequently with Massive Wagons as part of the festival’s outreach programme, with band members recently touring local primary schools to perform their anti-bullying workshops. The acts were chosen by representatives of Massive Wagons, Lancaster Music Festival, Lancaster Music Co-op, The Tap House Unsigned, Your Own Stuff and Beyond Radio.
Continuing to give back to their community, Friday is also reserved for a special matinee show that’ll see the audience be made up of 10 local schools, their pupils, and teachers, in what could be a taste of their very first live rock n’ roll concert. That’s over 500 schoolchildren and 60 staff members on 11 coaches – full School Of Rock-style.
Riding high from a fruitful, successful, and busy 2024, the hard-working rockers celebrated a massive #1 album in the UK Rock Album Charts and a stellar #4 placement in the Official UK Top 40 Album Charts for their new release Earth To Grace. Fresh off the road from promoting the 11-track LP on their second leg of the UK, the Lancaster five-piece were also recently special guests at Myles Kennedy’s EU shows this past June, and special guests to seminal Boston rockers Extreme, at their O2 Academy show in Birmingham in August.
If you missed out on some Massive fun this summer, then you still have the opportunity to catch them this winter as they’ll be your Friday headliners for the 12th annual Planet Rockstock, taking place at Trecco Bay Holiday Park in South Wales this November, joining Ugly Kid Joe and The Quireboys on the star-studded lineup. After Rockstock, the quintet will be headed to the EU on their Blood & Bone tour with The Virginmarys and The Hot Damn! in tow.
Fri 19th Sep – LANCASTER – Lancaster University’s Great Hall (matinee show)
Fri 19th Sep – LANCASTER – Lancaster University’s Great Hall
Sat 20th Sept – LANCASTER – Lancaster University’s Great Hall
Fri 28th Nov – WALES – Planet Rockstock
Sat 29th Nov – BELGIUM Kortrijk – DVG Club
Mon 1st Dec – GERMANY Munich – Backstage Halle
Tues 2nd Dec – GERMANY Stuttgart – Wizemann Club
Thurs 4th Dec – NETHERLANDS Haarlem – Patronaat 2
Fri 5th Dec – FRANCE Paris – Backstage By The Mill
Sat 6th Dec – GERMANY Essen – Nikolautrockfest
Mon 8th Dec – GERMANY Hannover – Muzikzentrum
Tues 9th Dec – GERMANY Berlin – Franz Club
Weds 10th Dec – GERMANY Frankfurt – Dasbett
Fri 12th Dec – GERMANY Lubeck – Riders Cafe
Sat 13th Dec – GERMANY Wissen – Kulturwek
Tickets are available at https://www.massivewagons.com/live and https://www.planetrocktickets.co.uk/.
Photo credit – Rob Blackham
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