EARTH, WIND & FIRE

Friday, June 27, 2008

Tickets On Sale

Friday, April 25 at 10:00 AM

Ridgefield, WA – Live Nation welcomes Earth, Wind & Fire to The Amphitheater on Friday, June 27, 2008 at 8:00 PM.

When Memphis-born Maurice White left his plum gigs as a Chicago session drummer and member of the Ramsey Lewis Trio - as the ‘60s became the ‘70s - he had a plan. He wanted to form a band that abolished the lines between musical genres, freely borrowing from all styles without regard to convention. "I wanted to do something that hadn't been done before," Maurice explains. "Although we were basically jazz musicians, we played soul, funk, gospel, blues, jazz, rock and dance music...which somehow ended up becoming pop. We were coming out of a decade of experimentation, mind expansion and cosmic awareness. I wanted our music to convey messages of universal love and harmony without force-feeding listeners' spiritual content."

Any well-rounded musicologist knows that there is nothing...nothing...like an Earth, Wind & Fire concert. Along with Maurice, Verdine White is often the mastermind behind-the-scenes live, and is arguably in possession of the most energetic stage presence of any performer on the planet! Just as "The Fire" vowed to go where no other band had gone before on records, they hired magician Doug Henning and his then-unknown assistant David Copperfield to design their bedazzling stage shows. Band members levitated, soared and disappeared, later to emerge from Egyptian pyramids and spacecrafts. Meanwhile, drum sets and synthesizer banks flipped upside down, and Maurice battled "The Force" with a light saber while scores of whirling lights and lasers winked in sync. With precision and panache, Earth, Wind & Fire and their legendary Phenix Horns section high-stepped through some seriously athletic choreography, never missing a lick on their instruments. "It was like Carnival, Mardi Gras, Broadway, Vegas and Cirque du Soleil all at once," Verdine proudly exclaims.

The music and showmanship of Earth, Wind & Fire remains a natural for traditional media and new media alike. VH1, HBO and the Arts & Entertainment Network have all aired top rated concert performances with A&E releasing its 1999 Live By Request program on DVD. The Eagle Vision video company released the EWF ..ary Shining Stars, which contains rarely seen historic video footage along with in-depth interviews with the band members. As always, EWF continues to appear on numerous network television shows from "Oprah" to "Leno." And Hollywood continues to have a love affair with their mass appealing music, commissioning new Earth, Wind & Fire music for films such as Roll, Bounce ("Love Together"), Robots ("Love's Dance") and Hitch, ("This is How I Feel"), as well as tapping their classics for films such as Be Cool ("Fantasy"), Soul Food ("September") and Muppets in Outer Space ("Shining Star").

Tickets are $45.00, $55.00 and $65.00 and go on sale Friday, April 25 at 10:00 AM at all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster.com or livenation.com or charge by phone (360) 573-7700 or (503) 224-4400. All tickets subject to applicable service charges and fees. Dates and times subject to change without notice.