Avantasia guitarist Oliver Hartmann has checked in with the following announcement:

"I'm happy to announce that the following guest musicians are confirmed for the special headliner show of Echoes at Rock Of Ages Festival on July 27th:

Geoff Tate (ex-Queensryche)
Midge Ure (Ultravox)

This event will also include the participation of our 4-piece string ensemble from Prague! More guest musicians will be announced during the next days so stay tuned for more great news."

During a new interview with Metal Underground, Operation: Mindcrime and former Queensryche frontman Geoff Tate revealed he will be guesting on the new Avantasia, album, Moonglow, due out in January 2019. Tate guested on Avantasia's previous album, Ghostlights, on the song "Seduction of Decay". He also performed live on tour with the band.

Tate: "Tobi (Sammet) is an incredible leader of that whole madness camp, I'll call it (laughs). And he's just a pleasure to work with. I'm going to Germany after this tour (Operation: Mindcrime) to work on the next record with him, so that'll be fun. He's very excited about it. He hasn't played me anything yet. He said, 'I'm waiting for you to get here, and then I will spring it on you....' (laughs), so I'm on pins and needles in anticipation, waiting."

On June 28th, 2017 Avantasia performed at Z7 in Pratteln, Switzerland. Fan-filmed video featuring a guest appearance by Geoff Tate is available below.

Hartmann's new solo album, Hand On The Wheel, is now available on CD, vinyl and as a download at this location. An official album trailer is available below.

The complete album tracklist is as follows:

"Don't Want Back Down"
"Your Best Excuse"
"Cold as Stone"
"Simple Man" (feat. Eric Martin)
"Last Plane Out"
"Soulmates"
"The Harder They Come"
"Dream World"
"I Remember"
"Lost in Translation"
"The Sky Is Falling"
"Heart of Gold"

The new single "Simple Man" featuring Eric Martin of Mr Big and The Vardigans has been released, the official video is below. The song is taken from the new hartmann album, Hands On The Wheel, due out on May 18th. It is available now via his online shop here.