The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band gear up for eventful 2023

Vivian Stanshall — (Image credit: David Redfern/Getty Images)

Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band fans look set for a treat on 2023 with a series of reissues and live performances that will celebrate the band, especially late members Vivian Stanshall and Neil Innes, the latter who died in 2019.

The band spent much of 2019 embroiled in a legal fight over the rights to their own name, which the band eventually won. The ensuing pandemic delayed any further develpments for thew band, but next year will see a string of Bonzo and related releases, as well as a live event to celebrate what would have been Stanshall's 80th birthday at the Union Chapel on March 23.

"2023 will be the year of Vivian Stanshall and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band as a number of archival projects finally come to fruition," the band's representatives state. "The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah band are the subject of a major box set celebrating the band who not only pioneered British absurdist humour in rock music, influencing both The Beatles and Monty Python along the way, but went on to become a national institution, much beloved by Stephen Fry and Adrian Edmondson to name but a few. Vivian Stanshall, the band's late eccentric frontman and one half of a writing duo with The Rutles’ pop wizard Neil Innes, will similarly be the subject of a major career appraisal, not least for his now legendary saga Sir Henry at Rawlinson End.

"For many years it was rumoured that there was a significant amount of unreleased Vivian Stanshall material in the vault, and in anticipation of that material finally seeing the light of day, producers Michael Livesley and multi-instrumentalist Andy Frizell will be presenting previews of it live at the Union Chapel, Islington on March 23rd 2023 to celebrate what would have been Vivian's 80th Birthday. Vivian Stanshall’s 80th Birthday Party’ promises to be a riotous, musical journey from Bonzo Dog to Rawlinson End, stopping at all points in between. Sequins optional."

Artists

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.