Exclusive: Bad Company Plots One-Off Reunion
Paul Rodgers

July 02, 2008 , 10:05 AM ET

Gary Graff, Detroit
Bad Company will ride again this summer -- for one night only.

The '70s rock troupe plans to reunite for a one-off show on Aug. 8 at the Seminole Hard Rock & Casino in Hollywood, Fla., the group's first performance since a 1999 reunion tour.

And although frontman Paul Rodgers tells Billboard.com that "it'll be great to see the guys and play and go back down that road again just for one night," there's also a business component to the gig.

"What I'm doing is protecting the legacy that we have built ... cementing the rights to the trademark Bad Company for touring," explains Rodgers, acknowledging that the group has learned of plans for at least one bogus Bad Company planning to hit the road. "I can't really go into that because it's kind of in the hands of our lawyers at the moment. But there are a lot of things that make it necessary to reinforce our rights here.

He continues, "By doing this one-night stand with Bad Company, we will be cementing our right to the trademark 'Bad Company' for touring, and anyone who attempts to challenge us and tour misuing our trademark and mislead the fans will be liable to legal action."

Rodgers will be joined in August by original Bad Company guitarist Mick Ralphs and drummer Simon Kirke, who continued the group with other singers after Rodgers left in 1982. Lynn Sorenson from Rodgers' solo band will take the place of late bassist Boz Burrell, who died in 2006.

The show will be dedicated to the memory of Steve Weiss, the longtime attorney for Bad Company, Led Zeppelin and Swan Song Records, who passed away last week in Florida. It will also be recorded for a DVD that will accompany a Bad Company compilation expected out later this year.

"I think it should be pure Bad Company and nothing else," Rodgers says of the show's repertoire. "We're gonna dig into the catalog a little bit. There are some great songs there I'd like to revisit, like 'Simple Man,' and of course the favorites, too," such as "Can't Get Enough," "Bad Company," "Feel Like Makin' Love" and "Rock'N'Roll Fantasy."

Rodgers does not expect to do more with Bad Company after this show, however, owing to his solo career and to his involvement with Queen + Paul Rodgers, which is working on final mixes for a studio album, tentatively titled "The Cosmos Rocks" and due out this fall. The group will start a world tour in September in Europe, and it recently previewed a new track, "C-lebrity," on British TV.

"We're in great shape, actually," Rodgers says. I think it touches a lot of emotions. Every song is different from every other song, but I do think there is a very powerful emotional content in every song. I'm a great believer in variety in music, and so are the other guys."

Rodgers finally gets most of Bad Co back together and it's a friggin' one shot deal! He's focusing on the wrong group, if you ask me. And I know, you didn't ask.

Don't worry, Paul Rodgers will end up being the lead singer for every band before he's done.

I'm sure Obama will fix this along with everything else.

Thanks for posting this, Starz! I'm about 20 minutes from that venue!! It's a great place to see a show!! After missing out on some terrific tours that bypassed Florida, it's great to have a chance to see this special event!!

This is awesome news except, without Boz, this isn't the original Bad Co. of course. Anyway, I find this interesting. Who is the "bogus" Bad Co. they speak of? Most likely the Brian Howe crapfest that bills itself as Bad Co. featuring Brian Howe or something bogus like that.
However, Ralphs has reformed Bad Company and there are touring dates in the UK. I can't imagine this is being considered bogus because Rogers is doing this special show.
The re-formed not original lineup has Ralphs, Robert Hart (vocals with Bad Co. from 1995-97 and a great Rogers styled voice), "Bucket" Colwell on guitar (1990-97 and 2001-02), Jaz Lochrie on bass (2001-02) and Harry James of Thunder on drums. They have a website up and running, and Simon Kirke was originally a part of this but now he's not. While most everyone has been in Bad Co. some would call this a frivolous Bad Co., so what are they referring to?

IP, Bad Co without Paul Rodgers is not Bad Co. Neither is Foreigner without Lou Gramm. Right now, Bad Co should be Rodgers, Ralphs and Kirke to be the closest we could get to the original Bad Co. The Brian Howe incarnation is Bad Co in name only, which, unfortunately, a lot of the old bands are these days. You may or may not like the Stones, but you gotta respect the fact that they have pretty much their longtime line-up intact, not some Jagger sound-alike fronting the band. IP, from reading your posts, I know you like these 70's bands that are still plugging along under completely different line-ups, such as Foreigner sans Lou Gramm, but to me, these bands aren't even CLOSE to what they were when they were in their heyday and are just profiting from their name. And that of course is just my opinion, I prefer the original.

So, they are going to release a hits package? Why don't they do something that might be even better? (Please keep in my mind that the great Audio Fidelity version of Bad Company-Bad Co. is out there. I have a copy.) How about new expanded remasters of Bad Co, Straight Shooter and Run With The Pack? I'm sure they can also find some soundboard copies of shows they did from back in the day and release those in an official form and not in the controversial way Mick Ralphs released that one show a few years back. I mean, another hits package? C'mon!

This is a band I 100% have been waiting to see new remasters from. I have the Audio Fidelity of "Bad Company", but to be honest, I only think it's marginally better than before. I didn't have any of the other remasters but I was told they were pretty flat and the packaging was nothing. Rhino easily should've handled all the Rogers albums.
I don't mind a new best-of as they only have 2 and one is the disappointing double-disc set which did have 4 very good new songs and sought-after rare tracks, but porrly chosen classics.
"Straight Shooter", "Run With The Pack", "Burning Sky" and "Desolation Angels" and even "Rough Diamonds" all deserve the treatment.
James Dean:
There's only a couple of bands who I think are still valid with new members and yes, Foreigner is one of them and so is Styx. I've seen them live many times and they are both amazing. I agree-no Rogers (my favorite singer), no Bad Co. My post was more or less asking, if they say there's a bogus band out there, but Ralphs is playing in a Rogers-less version than what are they talking about? I did like the Howe and Hart-era stuff, but Howe getting a bar band together and using the Bad Company name is disgusting. My guess is, that's what they are trying to stop.

So is Thin Lizzy still Thin Lizzy?

No way in hell. Not one original member. I have gone on record as saying that that is not Thin Lizzy at all. With Styx and Foreigner you have members who have written, produced, played on all the legendary tracks (Mick Jones is Foreigner essentially, and JY has been on everything Styx have done and Tommy Shaw is pretty close).
I'm happy that the Thin Lizzy material is still being played live, but they should not be using the name-no Lynott, no Lizzy. I love Scott Gorham and John Sykes, but it's just not right using the name.
At the same rate, The Eagles have only 2 original members, is this still The Eagles? Of course, everyone says yes. You can pretty much point out a lot of these things in almost every band in existence-it's usually when the singer or main writer leaves that it becomes dodgy. I love Jethro Tull, and they have a myriad of personnell changes-but it's always Tull with Anderson and Barre there.
I guess when one member leaves you feel the band should break up? A situation like Rush, ZZ Top, The Police or U2 is very rare but a cool thing indeed when lineups remain intact for decades (only Rush had one personnel change, that being in the very beginning).

Not me - I agree with you that in most cases, what defines a "band" is the creative core.

IP, The Eagles have had Henley, Frey, Walsh and Timothy B. Schmidt in the fold for 28 years--that's The Eagles. Conversely, a band like Whitesnake is essentially David Coverdale and interchangeable guitarists, so that is still Whitesnake IMO. Queen with everybody but no Freddie Mercury is not Queen, IMO. Supertramp without Roger Hodgson is still Supertramp to me because Rick Davies shared lead vocals. To me, if the voice of the band is gone, so is the band. But hey, I still think AC/DC isn't AC/DC without Bon Scott, so what do I know?

Yeah, it's really all subjective-the only place I have a problem is when a bogus version of a band pops up because one guy had a very tenuous link and decides to make some bucks playing club shows until the 'ol "cease and desist" order pops up. Something like the Deep Purple scam from 1980 or the Fleetwood Mac shows from the early 70s with a fake lineup.
I agree, Whitesnake is Whitesnake as long as Coverdale is on board, just like Heart with the Wilson sisters, though I wish the original lineup would reunite. When a member, even a key member of a band leaves it's really no different than a new QB or goalie or picther, etc. It's still a band and bands will rarely keep every member.
Queen is not Queen without Freddie, no doubt, but at least they're not billing themselves as Queen. Supertramp without Hodgson is a lesser band and they can't sell any records, but they're still a good band, and at least some key guys are still there, much like Foreigner and Styx.
Chicago isn't the same but with the horns and Lamm and the other guys on board for so long it's still very much Chicago, just watered down.
Then there are issues like Thin Lizzy-that is NOT Thin Lizzy out there, nor is it Big Country without Stuart Adamson who was the band. These guys should bill themselves as tributes not the real thing. ELO Part II was a good band with many former ELO members, but without Jeff Lynne who wrote EVERYTHING, it shoudl not have even used (or use) the ELO name just like Creedence Clearwater Revisited or other bogus entities.
One of the most appalling is the Sensational Alex Harvey Band touring without the late Alex Harvey!!!