Category Archives: Events

Rolling Stone called it “one of the ten hottest summer package tours of 2012” and Entertainment Weekly spotlighted it on their “2012 Summer Must List.” We’re talking, of course, about the Barenaked Ladies’ uber-successful “Last Summer On Earth,” a rollicking roadshow that tore through more than 30 arenas and amphitheaters during its near-sold-out run. Back by popular demand, this year’s lineup sees the multi-platinum-selling Ladies joined by Ben Folds Five and Guster for a hot-ticket-tour set to kick off June 17th at the Verizon Theatre in Dallas, TX. The “Last Summer On Earth 2013” will hit 30 arenas and amphitheaters across the country, with public sale beginning today at Ticketmaster.com and Livenation.com.

As an added bonus, those who purchase tickets for “The Last Summer On Earth” will receive a voucher for a download of the Barenaked Ladies’ much-anticipated new album to be released June 4^th on Vanguard Records, featuring the single “Boomerang.”

It’ll be a busy summer for the Barenaked Ladies (guitarist/vocalist Ed Robertson, bassist/vocalist Jim Creeggan, keyboardist/vocalist Kevin Hearn and drummer/vocalist Tyler Stewart), who are celebrating their 25^th anniversary with the release of a brand-new studio album (their twelfth, for those keeping count) and their first for new label Vanguard Records. The band is putting the finishing touches on the album, which was recorded in Toronto with producers Gavin Brown (The Tragically Hip, Metric), Howie Beck (Feist, Josh Rouse) and Mark Endert (Maroon 5, Train). Over the course of the past twenty-three years, Barenaked Ladies have amassed an international fanbase whose members number in the millions. Their plethora of career highlights includes eight Juno Awards and multiple Grammy nominations, more than 14 million albums sold worldwide and a series of hit singles, including No. 1 hit “One Week,” as well as “Pinch Me, “Brian Wilson,” “If I Had $1,000,000” and many more, along with the theme song for the hit CBS television series, “The Big Bang Theory.”

Ben Folds Five is touring in support of The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind, the group’s first album of new music in 13 years. The groundbreaking pop trio of pianist Ben Folds, bassist Robert Sledge and drummer Darren Jessee launched in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in‘94 and released debut album Whatever And Ever Amen in ‘97. A slice of pure pop perfection, the album introduced the ballad “Brick,” which broke the band commercially and sold more than two million copies worldwide. BF5 recorded its last album, ‘99’s The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner, which included the single “Army,” before disbanding in 2000. (The trio reunited for a one-off live performance of The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner on MySpace in 2008). In 2011, the original three members of Ben Folds Five came together to record three new studio tracks for The Best Imitation Of Myself: A Retrospective, a career-spanning anthology. The band’s magic rekindled in the new tracks, BF5 gave its first concert in more than a decade to a spellbound audience at New York’s Mountain Jam Festival on June 2, 2012. That inspired a short run of key US summer festival dates, including Bonnaroo, Milwaukee Summerfest, and Old St. Patrick’s Church Block Party in Chicago which set up a massive comeback tour with dates in the US, UK, Australia, and Japan.

Guster recently self-released Guster: Live Acoustic, a collection of live recordings from their 2012 acoustic tour. It’s been eight years since Guster released a proper live album – 2004’s Guster On Ice – and two years since their last studio album, Easy Wonderful.  The sixteen tracks from Live Acoustic are a musical tribute to the varied faces and places that made last year’s travels one of the most remarkable in Guster’s impressive career. Known to open up for themselves in disguise as psychedelic rockers “Trippin’ Balls” and as Christian Southern Rock outfit “The Peace Soldiers,” Guster has also shared the stage with the Boston Pops Symphony Orchestra and the Colorado Symphony in recent years.  Singer Ryan Miller has branched out into scoring films – including 2012’s beloved Sundance standout Safety Not Guaranteed.  Bandmate Adam Gardner has started his own non-profit called “Reverb,” which works with bands, artists, and venues to reduce the music industries environmental footprint.

Dates are as follows:
June 17                 Dallas, TX                             Verizon Theatre
June 19                 Denver, CO                          Red Rocks
June 20                 Salt Lake City, UT              USANA Amp
June 22                 Santa Barbara, CA             Santa Barbara Bowl
June 23                 Los Angeles, CA                 Greek Theatre
June 25                 Saratoga, CA                       Mountain Winery ●
June 26                 Saratoga, CA                       Mountain Winery ●
June 28                 Boise, ID                              Botanical Gardens
June 29                 Seattle, WA                         White River Amp
June 30                 Missoula, MT                     Big Sky Brewing Company
July 3                     Fargo, ND                            Newman Field ●●
July 5                     Columbus, OH                    LC Pavilion
July 6                     Cincinnati, OH                   (Venue TBA March 29)
July 8                     Lansing, MI                         Commonground Festival
July 9                     Chicago, IL                          Charter One Pavilion ●
July 11                    Toronto, ON                       Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
July 12                   Detroit, MI                         DTE Energy Music Theatre
July 13                   Nashville, TN                     The Woods at Fontanel
July 15                   Columbia, MD                   Merriweather Post Pavilion
July 16                   Boston, MA                        Bank of America Pavilion ●
July 18                   Philadelphia, PA               Mann Music Ctr
July 19                   Uncasville, CT                    Mohegan Sun Arena
July 20                   Holmdel, NJ                      PNC
July 21                   Bangor, ME                        Waterfront Park
July 23                   Lenox, MA                         Tanglewood
July 25                   Charlotte, NC                    T W Cable Uptown Amp
July 26                   Alpharetta, GA                 Verizon Wireless Amp
July 27                   Charleston, SC                  Family Circle Stadium
July 28                   Raleigh, NC                       Red Hat Amphitheatre
July 30                   Brooklyn, NY                    Celebrate Brooklyn! at the Prospect Park Bandshell

● = BNL & BF5 only
●● = BNL & Guster only