Rick Wakeman, Marillion, Steve Hackett Head Up Stone Free In June

Rick Wakeman will perform his 1975 album The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur & The Knights Of The Round Table for the first time in 41 years!

Prog’s caped crusader will headline the prog day of a new Prog/Classic Rock event, Stone Free festival, which will take place at the O2 Arena on Thursday June 19. He will be joined by fellow proggers Marillion and Steve Hackett, with more acts to be added. Alice Cooper will headline the Wednesday Classic Rock night on June 18. Southern rockers Blackberry Smoke are also on the bill.

“After the success of the Journey To The Centre Of The Earth shows last year, I’m over the moon to have the opportunity to perform King Arthur for the first time since 1975 with an orchestra and choir,” says Wakeman. “It’s going to be wonderful!”

The original Arthur "on ice" (Image credit: Getty)

Marillion’s Steve Hogarth added: “We’re delighted to be part of the very first Stone Free festival. To be playing the main arena at the O2 on the same bill as Rick Wakeman and Steve Hackett, two of rock’s outstanding and legendary instrumentalists is a great honour. We looked up to and were inspired by these guys when we were kids, so to share such a big stage with them is fantastic. We promise our fans this will be a weekend you will not want to miss.”

Stone Free will feature multiple stages, special acoustic performances, Q&As with headline performers, cinema screenings (including Jean Luc Godard’s Sympathy for the Devil, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Live at Knebworth Fair 1976, and Supermensch: The Legend Of Shep Gordon), a vinyl fair, market stalls, classic album playbacks, craft beers and street food alongside the venue’s restaurants.

Day, weekend and Rock Royalty tickets (including artist meet & greets and signing sessions), will go on sale from the festival website at 10am on Friday November 20.

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.