{"id":10290,"date":"2022-04-27T10:37:14","date_gmt":"2022-04-27T09:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.progradar.org\/?p=10290"},"modified":"2026-08-21T16:01:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T15:01:00","slug":"the-journey-continues-big-big-train-welcome-new-vocalist-alberto-bravin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/progradar.co.uk\/index.php\/2022\/04\/27\/the-journey-continues-big-big-train-welcome-new-vocalist-alberto-bravin\/","title":{"rendered":"THE JOURNEY CONTINUES – BIG BIG TRAIN WELCOME NEW VOCALIST ALBERTO BRAVIN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Big Big Train have recruited Alberto Bravin as lead vocalist following the tragic death of David Longdon in November 2021.

Based in Trieste in Italy, Bravin\u2019s career includes performing around 200 shows with progressive rock legends PFM between 2015 and January 2022, both in Italy and internationally, singing lead and backing vocals and playing keyboards.

Alberto Bravin says: ?I am extremely honoured to have the opportunity to join Big Big Train. I was already a huge BBT fan and am looking forward to play my part in taking this great band forward while also honouring the memory of David Longdon.

Big Big Train bassist and founder Gregory Spawton comments: Before Covid-19 hit, Nick D?Virgilio and I had both seen Alberto perform with PFM. We were very impressed with his abilities as a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist and therefore approached him earlier this year.

We know that David is irreplaceable and we miss him deeply both musically and personally,? Spawton continues. We were very clear that we didn\u2019t want to bring someone into the band who would seek to mimic David; that just felt fundamentally wrong. Instead we wanted someone who could do justice with their own musical skills and personality to the songs that David sang for Big Big Train as well as being able to help to drive the band forwards. From his first audition singing some BBT classic songs and subsequently his work on some new material that we\u2019re working on, we\u2019re confident that we\u2019ve found the right person in Alberto.?

Aside from Alberto\u2019s great voice and all round musical skills, it was also vital for us to find the right personal fit, particularly after being struck with David\u2019s sudden death,? drummer Nick D?Virgilio comments. We flew Alberto to London several weeks ago so we could hang together for a few days and the chemistry immediately felt right. <\/td><\/tr>
‘THE JOURNEY CONTINUES’ EUROPEAN TOUR 2022<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Big Big Train are also pleased to confirm that their two previously announced UK shows in September 2022 will take place. In addition the band have scheduled six further shows for September in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and France.

Keyboardist\/vocalist Carly Bryant is unable to tour with the band in September 2022 for family reasons. After over two years of being part of Big Big Train and involved in two studio albums, I was extremely keen to go on the road with the band. However a recent change in my family situation means that sadly I cannot be away from home in the autumn,? Bryant explains. ?I love being part of BBT and will be on stage with the band at the earliest opportunity when my family commitments permit.

Alongside Bravin, D?Virgilio, Spawton and longstanding guitarist Rikard Sj?blom, the Big Big Train line-up for the September 2022 shows will consist of guitarist Dave Foster, violinist\/vocalist Clare Lindley, keyboardist Oskar Holldorff and the Big Big Train brass section led by Dave Desmond. Holldorff leads Norwegian band Dim Gray, whose debut album Flown was much acclaimed last year and who are preparing to release their second album later this year.

Oskar came to our attention from his work with Dim Gray and is another tremendous talent to involve in Big Big Train,? Sj?blom says. We\u2019re very grateful to him for stepping in while Carly is unavailable. It\u2019s also exciting that Big Big Train is becoming an increasingly international band \u2013 in September we will have an American, a Swede, an Italian and a Norwegian on stage with the Brits.

During the September tour Big Big Train will be playing material from various stages of their career and also one new song.

We were originally scheduled to play live shows in spring 2020 but then Covid-19 derailed our live plans repeatedly and since then we\u2019ve prepared numerous different set lists,? Sj?blom continues. We\u2019ve released two full albums since we last played live and are spoilt for choice with the set list for September.?

In addition to our UK shows, I\u2019m really looking forward to getting back into continental Europe,? D?Virgilio adds. As well as visiting the prog strongholds of the Boerderij and Z7, we thought it would be cool to play some smaller venues in France and Germany as we re-establish BBT as a live band. We can\u2019t wait to get out and play again and show what this band can do!

Big Big Train September 2022 tour dates<\/strong>
Friday 2 September \u2013 Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury, UK
Saturday 3 September \u2013 HRH Prog festival, Leeds, UK
Monday 5 September \u2013 Cultuurpodium Boerderij, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands
Tuesday 6 September \u2013 Harmonie, Bonn, Germany
Wednesday 7 September \u2013 Kuz, Mainz, Germany
Thursday 8 September \u2013 Frannz Club, Berlin, Germany
Saturday 10 September \u2013 Z7, Pratteln (Basel), Switzerland
Sunday 11 September \u2013 Caf de la Danse, Paris, France

Support bands for all shows (except HRH Prog) will be announced shortly.

Tickets for the UK shows are on sale now. Tickets for the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and France shows go on sale at 10am UK time on Friday 29 April. See www.bigbigtrain.com\/live<\/u><\/strong><\/a> for ticket links.? <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Big Big Train have recruited Alberto Bravin as lead vocalist following the tragic death of David Longdon in November 2021. Based in Trieste in Italy, Bravin\u2019s career includes performing around 200 shows with progressive rock legends PFM between 2015 and January 2022, both in Italy and internationally, singing lead and backing vocals and playing keyboards. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11,10,7],"tags":[4694,17,415,19,407,15,25],"class_list":["post-10290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news","category-gigstour-news-news","category-news","tag-alberto-bravin","tag-big-big-train","tag-dave-foster","tag-greg-spawton","tag-nick-dvirgilio","tag-progradar","tag-rikard-sjoblom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phnn7q-2FY","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/progradar.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Screenshot-2022-04-27-at-10.31.57.png?fit=1100%2C518&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/progradar.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/progradar.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/progradar.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progradar.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progradar.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10290"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/progradar.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17739,"href":"https:\/\/progradar.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10290\/revisions\/17739"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progradar.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/progradar.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progradar.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progradar.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}