THE ARISTOCRATS

After 2 singular shows at Rockhal, the world’s most raucous rock/fusion instrumental trio is set to return to Rockhal to complete the DUCK World Tour. The Aristocrats – GUTHRIE GOVAN/guitar, BRYAN BELLER/bass, MARCO MINNEMANN/drums – will bring their trademark musical virtuosity and inherent absurdity back to our stage, where they’ll be playing a sizable chunk of their new concept album DUCK as well as classic cuts from their five-album catalogue.

“Europe has always been very special for us,” the band said in a unified voice, “and it was the very first continent we properly toured, back in 2012. Right from the beginning we could feel the love and support for what we were trying to do. Thirteen years and many tours later, it’s still special. And now we’re finally bringing our DUCK album show to the people who have been asking for it for over a year now.”

DUCK is, quite improbably, an instrumental concept album about an Antarctic duck fleeing a penguin policeman all the way to New York City, where further misadventures and danger await. It was met with rave reviews upon its February, 2024 release.

Over the past 14 years, The Aristocrats – guitarist GUTHRIE GOVAN (STEVEN WILSON, HANS ZIMMER, Asia/GPS), bassist BRYAN BELLER (JOE SATRIANI, STEVE VAI, DETHKLOK), and drummer MARCO MINNEMANN (STEVEN WILSON, JOE SATRIANI, STEVE HACKETT) – have established themselves as one of the most musically original, refreshingly irreverent, and astoundingly entertaining instrumental rock-fusion acts on the planet.  Global media have gushed with the UK’s Rhythm Magazine declaring them “More fun than fusion has a right to be…” and The San Diego Union Tribune avowing, “If there is a more accomplished, empathetic and versatile all-instrumental trio in rock than The Aristocrats, I’ve yet to hear them…”

The buzz from their supposedly one-off debut gig at the Anaheim NAMM show in 2011 led to The Aristocrats’self-titled debut album. Tracked in just eight days, THE ARISTOCRATS (2011) was hailed as an instant classic in leading music publications worldwide, appearing on many of that year’s top ten lists. The Aristocrats then proceeded to make four more critically acclaimed studio albums over the next decade-plus, two of which landed in the Billboard Top 10 Jazz Chart. Four world tours and three live albums later, the band is known on five continents as a must-see whirlwind musical experience.