The Orb & Ozric Tentacles (A Co Headline Show) 

The Orb – Ozric Tentacles

Live at Peak Cavern, Castleton

Saturday 24 May 2025

Spring 2025 sees two giants of underground psych-dance culture coming together for the first time on an extensive tour of the UK. The Orb – mixing ambient soundscapes and pulsing rhythms and Ozric Tentacles – blending instrumental psychedelic rock with ethnic beats and spacey soundscapes coming together for an evening of audio-visual sensory overload!

THE ORB
Thirty-five years since Alex Paterson lit the multi-coloured touchpaper on The Orb’s interstellar space odyssey, he continues to swerve, becoming his own tribute act by never standing still and preparing a cluster of fresh new projects.

2023 saw the release of Prism, the eighteenth Orb studio album and being hailed as their most towering set for years, followed by extensive tours of the UK, Europe and the USA. Towards the end of 2023, The Orb reunited with Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour to follow 2010’s Metallic Spheres with Metallic Spheres In Colour (sleeve again by Ghahary). What’s more, 2024 will be graced by an up-to-date Best of The Orb set.

With Alex Paterson always setting the controls for the perfect ambient flight, dance groove or exploring previously unknown vistas, The Orb initially manifested as visionary mischief-makers in 1988’s acid house revolution, taking “ambient house” to number one in the album charts accompanied by his parallel devotion to the art of DJing and very British sense of humour. Always working with telepathic sonic lieutenants, Alex’s latest forays have been achieved with the brilliant Michael Rendall.

OZRIC TENTACLES
Ozric Tentacles are regarded as one of the most influential bands to emerge from the UK’s festival scene, formed during the solstice at Stonehenge Free Festival 1983 going on to become psychedelic staples at Glastonbury and other festivals. The creative vision of multi-instrumentalist Ed Wynne, the Ozrics’ uniquely trippy soundscapes connect fans of progressive rock, psychedelia and dance music culture.

In the 1980s the band built a fan base on the festival circuit and made a series of cassette releases, sold at gigs and via a fan club. Their first label release was Pungent Effulgent in 1989, followed by Erpland (1990), an album dedicated to Erp, a character who appears on many of the band’s album artworks. 1991 saw the Strangeitude LP. The track “Sploosh!” was used by BMW in an advertising campaign and became the band’s only single. By 1993 their Jurassic Shift album reached the top ten of the U.K. album charts.

The band has gone through many line-up changes, with only Ed Wynne (guitar and keyboards) maintaining a constant presence. The sonically illustrated excursion through the musical realms the band have explored has resulted in 17 albums to date, with their latest, Lotus Unfolding, released in their 40th anniversary year. The band maintain their identity and continue to tour worldwide and produce intriguing albums.