ROCK MEETS CLASSIC organizers have revealed that KROKUS frontman Marc Storace will be a special guest at their March 23rd show in Zürich, Switzerland when they play the Hallenstadion.

Footage of Storace performing with Rock Meets Classic in 2011 can be viewed below:

All tour dates for Europe can be viewed below.

PRIMAL FEAR bassist Mat Sinner is featured in a new interview with BraveWords scribe Carl Begai about his annual ROCK MEETS CLASSIC tour, which features his MAT SINNER BAND teaming up with the Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Prague and rock artists from the '70s and '80s. An excerpt from the story is available below:

“Every Rock Meets Classic tour is a learning experience. The music of these artists is so different and we have to learn how to sing or to play it all. If you work with Ian Gillan (DEEP PURPLE) or Paul Rodgers (BAD COMPANY), of course you’re going to learn something. They’re two of the legends in rock music, so if we play with them on the same stage it’s something really different from a Primal Fear show, for example.”

Rock Meets Classic 2014 welcomes shock rock legend ALICE COOPER as its official headliner, a billing that nobody outside of the head office expected. URIAH HEEP members Mick Box and Bernie Shaw, Joe Lynn Turner (RAINBOW, Deep Purple), Midge Ure (ULTRAVOX) and Kim Wilde round out the roster, guaranteeing another diverse show for a wide range of rock tastes.

“It’s amazing for us to have Alice Cooper on this tour,” Sinner affirms, “but it was also amazing to have Ian Gillan and the other singers with us. Alice has never done this before, and I’ve been speaking to his manager for nearly three years about making this happen. He’s one of my favourites as a headliner that I could approach. There’s some money involved plus he wants his guitarist ORIANTHI with him, and he has a certain window of time where he can do the tour. So, we found a compromise where everyone is happy, and we’re all looking forward to the tour.”

Five years in, Rock Meets Classic has the earmarks of a European Trans-Siberian Orchestra minus the cheesy Christmas theme and overblown special effects. There’s been a gradual yet constant evolution year after year while keeping the music at the heart of the production. Sinner and Co. have come a long way with a monstrous project that could have fallen flat with a resounding crash.

“I remember the first tour very well,” Sinner laughs. “Doing things this way was so new to me, it was very strange, but after the first tour I knew that it could be great if we did it right. There were some good ideas, but the whole show element – the staging, the set-up, the lights – I knew we could do it better. I came up with the idea to have Ian Gillan on the Rock Meets Classic tour very early on, and I think we were lucky to have him do it. He had some free time, there was great communication back and forth about his setlist and what we wanted to do, and he helped this project take the next big step… or even steps. The progress of the whole thing… the production we’re going out with in 2014 is on a world class super-professional level. We have a new lightshow, we have a new stage show, we have some new ideas where each member of the band gets their own little spot, so we’ve taken another big step with this one. We learn with every tour. This is very nice yet ambitious work for me to do. It’s a really exciting thing.”

Go to this location for the complete story.

Going into its fifth year, Rock Meets Classic showcases classic rock artists of the '70s and '80s performing their hits backed by a full-on rock band and an orchestra. Artists that have taken part in previous tours include Ian Gillan (DEEP PURPLE), Eric Bazilian (THE HOOTERS), Dan McCafferty (NAZARETH), Steve Lukather (TOTO), Lou Gramm (FOREIGNER), Chris Thompson (MANFRED MANN'S EARTH BAND) and Jimi Jamison (SURVIVOR).

THE MAT SINNER BAND includes Primal Fear members Mat Sinner (bass/master of ceremonies), Alex Beyrodt (guitars), Randy Black (drums), Ralf Scheepers (backing vocals), and also features TRILLIUM / AVANTASIA's Amanda Somerville (backing vocals), Avantasia's Oliver Hartmann (guitars), VOODOO CIRCLE's Jimmy Kresic (keyboards), Tiffany Kirkland (backing vocals) and Sascha Krebs (backing vocals).

Confirmed shows thus far can be viewed below. More details coming soon.

March

9 - Berlin, Germany
11 - Fankfurt, Germany
12 - Neu-Ulm, Germany
13 - Nuremberg, Germany
14 - Wurzburg, Germany
16 - Passau, Germany
18 - Mannheim, Germany
19 - Kempten, Germany
20 - Munich, Germany
21 - Regensburg, Germany
23 - Zurich, Switzerland
25 - Strasbourg, France
26 - Innsbruck, Austria
27 - Ingolstadt, Austria
29 - Halle-Westfallen, Germany
30 - Leipzig, Germany

April

1 - Hamburg, Germany
2 - Essen, Germany
4 - Stuttgart, Germany
5 - Dresden, Germany

Drummer Randy Black commented: "It's going to be more of those "pinch me" moments on this tour for sure! Can't wait to start working on the songs."

Watch the official Rock Meets Classic Facebook page here for updates.