The Zombies’ Final ‘Odessey and Oracle’ Run

Considered one of the first albums in the progressive rock vein, Odessey and Oracle was recorded during summer 1967, released in April 1968 and included what would become one of the band’s most famous songs, “Time Of The Season.”

Designating 2017-2018 as the album’s “golden anniversary,” The Zombies welcome back original Odessey and Oracle musicians Chris White and Hugh Grundy joining with the current lineup of Argent and Blunstone along with Jim Rodford, Steve Rodford and Tom Toomey.

“The last song we recorded was ‘Time Of The Season.’ The writing of the song was finished in the morning before we recorded it in the afternoon.  I wasn’t that familiar with the song and this is where it started to get a little tense,” Blunstone told Pollstar in 2015. 

“Rod was in the control room trying to help me struggle through singing this song that had just been written. … I was taking a bit of time.  Rod was saying to me from the control room, ‘You’re not singing it quite right.’ And I’m trying to get it right and it got to the point where I more or less said to him, with very colorful language, ‘If you know the song so well, you come in here and sing it.’  And Rod is saying to me, ‘You’re the lead singer in the band. You stand there until you get it right.’”

Blunstone eventually got it right and “Time Of The Season” was originally released as a single in 1968.  But it wasn’t until its re-release the following year that the song started gaining traction.

Saying that it has more shows, including gigs in Europe and England, yet to be announced, the band has revealed a March-April run of North American cities.  Here’s the plan as it stands today:

March 17 – Glenside, Pa., Keswick Theatre
March 18 – Jim Thorpe, Pa., Penn’s Peak
March 20 – Durham, N.C., Carolina Theatre
March 21 – Virginia Beach, Va., Sandler Center For The Perf. Arts
March 23 – Washington, D.C., 9:30 Club
March 25 – New York, N.Y., Town Hall
March 28 – Boston, Mass., The Wilbur [Wilbur Theatre]
March 30 – Ridgefield, Conn., Ridgefield Playhouse
March 31 – Northampton, Mass., Calvin Theater
April 1 – Montreal, Quebec, Imperial Cinema
April 2 – Toronto, Ontario, The Danforth Music Hall
April 4 – Royal Oak, Mich., Royal Oak Music Theatre
April 5 – Lorain, Ohio, Lorain Palace Theatre
April 7 – Biloxi, Miss., Golden Nugget Biloxi
April 8 – Atlanta, Ga., Variety Playhouse
April 9 – Nashville, Tenn., James K. Polk Theater
April 11 – Springfield, Ill., Sangamon Auditorium
April 13 – Chicago, Ill., Thalia Hall
April 15 – Madison, Wis., Barrymore Theatre
April 17 – Minneapolis, Minn., First Avenue
April 18 – Winnipeg, Manitoba, Club Regent Event Centre
April 21 – Vancouver, British Columbia, Commodore Ballroom
April 22 – Seattle, Wash., The Showbox
April 23 – Portland, Ore., Aladdin Theater
April 25 – Berkeley, Calif., The UC Theatre

American Express presales begins this week.  General onsales launch Oct. 21.  VIP packages are available.  Click here for more information, and follow this link for Pollstar’s 2015 Colin Blunstone interview.