Killer Mike, who appeared on the Vicious Lies… track “Thom Pettie,” will be providing support for the “Shoes For Running” tour, and according to Big Boi, the two will perform together during the main set each night. The tour will be stopping by LA on May 18th for a show at House of Blues, but seeing as how the two days before that show are not currently booked, I wouldn’t be surprised in another LA date (or two!) get added to the roster.

Big Boi Tour Dates:

4/18 – Athens, GA – Georiga Theater
4/19 – Asheville, NC – Orange Peel
4/20 – Charlottesville, VA – University of Virginia
4/21 – Baltimore, MD – Sound Stage
4/23 – Providence, RI – Lupo’s
4/24 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Bowl
4/25 – Williamsburg, VA – College of William & Mary
4/26 – University Park, PA – Penn State University
4/27 – Philadelphia, PA – TLA
4/30 – Indianapolis, IN – The Vogue
5/01 – Chicago, IL – Vic Theater
5/02 – San Francisco, CA – San Francisco State University
5/03 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave
5/04 – Memphis, TN – Beale Street
5/05 – Lawrence, KS – Granada Theater
5/07 – Denver, CO – Cervantis
5/08 – Fort Collins, CO – Aggie Theater
5/09 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Depot
5/13 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
5/15 – Santa Cruz, CA – The Catalyst
5/15 – San Francisco, CA – Mezzanine
5/18 – Los Angeles, CA – House of Blues
5/19 – Albuquerque, NM – Observatory
5/23 – Houston, TX – Bayour Music Hall
5/24 – Austin, TX – The Backyard
5/25 – Dallas, TX – Palladium Ballroom
5/26 – Chillicothe, IL – Summer Camp Fest
5/30 – Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works
5/31 – Chattanooga, TN – Track 29
6/01 – Mobile, AL – Soul Kitchen
6/02 – Birmingham, AL – Avondale Brewing Co.
6/04 – Orlando, FL – The Plaza Live
6/05 – Fort Lauderdale, FL – Revolution
6/06 – Jacksonville, FL – Brewsters Megaplex
6/07 – Altanta, GA – Masquerade
6/08 – Charleston, SC – Music Farm
6/09 – Wilmington, NC – Brooklyn Arts Center
6/11 – Raleigh, NC – Lincoln Theater
6/12 – Charlotte, NC – Amos
6/14 – Washington D.C. – Howard’s Theatre
6/15 – Buffalo, NY – Town Ballroom
6/16 – Toronto, Ontario – North By Northeast
6/19 – Boston, MA – Paradise

For more info:

Big Boi

The National has also confirmed that fans can expect a new studio album in May via 4AD. Little is known about this follow-up to the critically acclaimed High Violet (2010) as the band has yet to release a title, cover art, or tracklisting, but you know I’ll be keeping you up to date on the latest news from The National camp as it’s released. In the meantime, those of you on the East Coast or in Europe can pick up your tickets when they go on sale beginning this Friday, March 1st.

The National Tour Dates:

05/16 – State Theater – Ithaca, NY
06/05 – Barclay’s Center – Brooklyn, NY
06/06 – Merriweather Post Pavilion – Columbia, MD
06/07 – Mann Center for Performing Arts – Philadelphia, PA
06/08 – The National – Richmond, VA
06/10 – Red Hat Amphitheatre – Raleigh, NC
06/11 – Stage AE – Pittsburgh, PA
06/13 – Lachine Canal – Montreal, Canada
06/14 – Yonge Dundas Square – Toronto, Canada
06/15 – LC Pavilion – Columbus, OH
06/13-6/16 – Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival – Manchester, TN
06/21 – Hurricane Festival – Scheessel, Germany
06/22 – Southside Festival – Neuhausen ob Eck, Germany
06/25 – Cirque Royal – Brussels, Belgium
06/28 – Live At The Marquee – Cork, Ireland
06/30 – Parco Della Musica – Rome, Italy
07/01 – City Sound Festival – Milan, Italy
07/02 – Salata – Zagreb, Croatia
07/14 – Cincinnati, OH – Bunbury Festival

For more info:

The National’s website

Now that my little PSA is out of the way, on to the new tour announcement! Those in SoCal who aren’t going to Coachella may be disappointed to know the band doesn’t have an LA date set, but maybe you have a friend up at UC – Davis you can crash with for the night? Ticket pre-sale begins Thursday at 10am EST and general sale will be on Friday, so check out the full list of dates below, and for more info on the upcoming Phoenix album, Bankrupt!, projected for release via Glassnote Records this spring, keep your eyes right here on LA Music Blog where there is no risk of having an epileptic fit.

Phoenix Tour Dates:

3/28 – Vancouver, BC @ QE Theatre
3/29 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
3/30 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
4/02 – Davis, CA @ Freeborn Hall
4/08 – Phoenix, AZ @ Marquee Theater
4/09 – Tucson, AZ @ AVA Amphitheater
4/10 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Cosmopolitan Pool
4/13 – Indio, CA @ Coachella
4/20 – Indio, CA @ Coachella
5/11 – Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion (Sweetlife Festival)

For more info:

Phoenix’s Facebook Page

This April, whether you head north or south, a live Postal Service show is within reach as the group will be headlining both weekends of Coachella as well as playing shows in San Luis Obispo and Davis, CA. Jenny Lewis (formerly of Rilo Kiley) will be providing support, so check out the full list of dates below, and be sure to pick up your tickets to see the duo now because who knows how long we’ll have to wait for the next tour?

The Postal Service Tour Dates:

04/09 – Grand Sierra Theatre – Reno, NV
04/10 – Mondavi Center – Davis, CA
04/12 – Madonna Expo Center – San Luis Obispo, CA
04/13 – Coachella – Indio, CA
04/18 – Comerica Theatre – Phoenix, AZ
04/19 – The Chelsea Ballroom At The Cosmopolitan – Las Vegas, NV
04/20 – Coachella – Indio, CA
05/18 – Manchester Academy 2 – Manchester, England
05/20 – O2 Academy Brixton – London, England
05/21 – Le Trianon – Paris, France
05/23 – Primavera Sound – Barcelona, Spain
06/14 – Barclays Center – New York, NY

For more info:

The Postal Service

Fiona announced the news via a handwritten letter posted to her Facebook account this morning, and you can read the full text below (it’s a little easier on the eyes). I don’t have any “real” children (nor do I plan to), but I’ve always believed that having a pet is the closest a non-parent can come to feeling like a mom or dad. The big difference is that you know you’re likely to outlive your furry adopted “child.” The best you can do is give them a happy life and be there to support them when it ends. My heart goes out to Fiona, and hope Janet finds peace soon.

No word yet of which dates specifically will be affected or if they’ll be rescheduled, but we’ll be sure to keep you updated as more information is revealed.

“It’s 6pm on Friday,and I’m writing to a few thousand friends I have not met yet.
I am writing to ask them to change our plans and meet a little while later.
Here’s the thing.
I have a dog Janet, and she’s been ill for almost two years now, as a tumor has been idling in her chest, growing ever so slowly. She’s almost 14 years old now.I got her when she was 4 months old. I was 21 then ,an adult officially – and she was my child.
She is a pitbull, and was found in Echo Park, with a rope around her neck, and bites all over her ears and face.
She was the one the dogfighters use to puff up the confidence of the contenders.
She’s almost 14 and I’ve never seen her start a fight ,or bite, or even growl, so I can understand why they chose her for that awful role. She’s a pacifist.
Janet has been the most consistent relationship of my adult life, and that is just a fact.
We’ve lived in numerous houses, and jumped a few make shift families, but it’s always really been the two of us.
She slept in bed with me, her head on the pillow, and she accepted my hysterical, tearful face into her chest, with her paws around me, every time I was heartbroken, or spirit-broken, or just lost, and as years went by, she let me take the role of her child, as I fell asleep, with her chin resting above my head.
She was under the piano when I wrote songs, barked any time I tried to record anything, and she was in the studio with me all the time we recorded the last album.
The last time I came back from tour, she was spry as ever, and she’s used to me being gone for a few weeks every 6 or 7 years.
She has Addison’s Disease, which makes it dangerous for her to travel since she needs regular injections of Cortisol, because she reacts to stress and to excitement without the physiological tools which keep most of us from literally panicking to death.
Despite all of this, she’s effortlessly joyful and playful, and only stopped acting like a puppy about 3 years ago.
She’s my best friend and my mother and my daughter, my benefactor, and she’s the one who taught me what love is.
I can’t come to South America. Not now.
When I got back from the last leg of the US tour, there was a big, big difference.
She doesn’t even want to go for walks anymore.
I know that she’s not sad about aging or dying. Animals have a survival instinct, but a sense of mortality and vanity, they do not. That’s why they are so much more present than people.
But I know that she is coming close to point where she will stop being a dog, and instead, be part of everything. She’ll be in the wind, and in the soil, and the snow, and in me, wherever I go.
I just can’t leave her now, please understand.
If I go away again, I’m afraid she’ll die and I won’t have the honor of singing her to sleep, of escorting her out.
Sometimes it takes me 20 minutes to pick which socks to wear to bed.
But this decision is instant.
These are the choices we make, which define us.
I will not be the woman who puts her career ahead of love and friendship.
I am the woman who stays home and bakes Tilapia for my dearest, oldest friend.
And helps her be comfortable, and comforted, and safe, and important.
Many of us these days, we dread the death of a loved one. It is the ugly truth of Life, that keeps us feeling terrified and alone.
I wish we could also appreciate the time that lies right beside the end of time.
I know that I will feel the most overwhelming knowledge of her, and of her life and of my love for her, in the last moments.
I need to do my damnedest to be there for that.
Because it will be the most beautiful, the most intense, the most enriching experience of life I’ve ever known.
When she dies.
So I am staying home, and I am listening to her snore and wheeze, and reveling in the swampiest, most awful breath that ever emanated from an angel.
And I am asking for your blessing.

I’ll be seeing you.
Love, Fiona”

The tour includes two shows each in New York City, Toronto, Chicago, San Francisco, and the band’s hometown of Seattle, finishing off the run of shows with back-to-back dates at the Wiltern in LA on February 15th and 16th (saving the best for last, eh?). Fan club pre-sales begin this Monday, November 12th, and tickets go on-sale to the public starting next Friday, November 16th.

Soundgarden has also announced a commemorative poster art design contest for the tour, so all you creative types get to work using the album title as the theme to create “a ferocious and primal design that embodies the untamed disposition of a ‘King Animal’.” Pretty badass! The deadline for submission is December 21st, so I suggest you get inspired now by watching Soundgarden’s newly released video for “Been Away Too Long,” the first single from King Animal, below.

Soundgarden 2013 Tour Dates:

01/18 – Washington, DC @ DAR Constitution Hall
01/19 – Upper Darby, PA @ Tower Theatre
01/20 – Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre
01/22 – New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom
01/23 – New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom
01/25 – Toronto, ON @ Sound Academy
01/26 – Toronto, ON @ Sound Academy
01/27 – Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore
01/29 – Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theater
01/30 – Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theater
02/01 – Milwaukee, WI @ Eagles Ballroom
02/02 – Minneapolis, MN @ Orpheum Theatre
02/06 – Portland, OR @ Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
02/07 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theater
02/08 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theater
02/10 – Vancouver, BC @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre
02/12 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theatre
02/13 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theatre
02/15 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
02/16 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern

For more info:

Soundgarden

Frontman Yannis Philippakis has been quoted as saying that the album is going to have “some heavier moments and some dirtier moments. It’s swampy, some of the grooves are quite stinky.” He goes on to reference a song called “My Number” which will be on the upcoming Holy Fire LP, likening it to a “Curtis Mayfield groove” and elaborating on the fact that the band is trying to separate itself from the indie rock disco vibe saying, “”We’ve always been pretty rhythmically preoccupied, but once the four-on-the-floor, hi-hat, indie disco stuff’s dead and buried with a chain of garlic around its neck, that feels like a really fertile place to go to.”

I, for one, am stoked for Holy Fire. The release of Total Life Forever in 2010 made my year musically, easily taking my AOTY award, and after seeing Foals put on such a great show live, it is hard not to expect bigger and better things from this band as they continue to grow and sculpt their sound.

For more information on Foals visit:

Foals
Foals Tour Dates

Hot Water Music’s first headlining tour in 8 years kicks off in January and will be swinging by The Echoplex in Los Angeles on February 5th. The band will be joined by La Dispute and The Menzingers for these dates, and presale tickets go on sale tomorrow, October 30th, at 10am local time, with general on-sale for all shows kicking off November 2nd (with the exception of the Washington, DC date on January 22nd, which will go on sale November 1st).

Check out the full list of dates below, and be sure to catch Hot Water Music when they hit a city near you. Or near enough for a road trip anyways (listening to HWM the whole way, of course).

Hot Water Music Tour Dates:

01/16 – Tampa, FL – Orpheum
01/17 – Orlando, FL – Beacham Theatre
01/18 – Gainesville, FL – Florida Theatre
01/19 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
01/20 – Charlotte, NC – Amo’s Southend
01/22 – Washington, DC – 930 Club*
01/23 – Providence, RI – The Met
01/24 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
01/25 – Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
01/26 – Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory
01/28 – Montreal, QC – Olympia
01/29 – Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall*
01/30 – Pittsburgh, PA – Altar Bar*
01/31 – Chicago, IL – Metro*
02/01 – Minneapolis, MN – Mill City Nights*
02/02 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown
02/03 – Denver, CO – Summit
02/05 – Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex
02/06 – Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory
02/07 – Sacramento, CA – Ace of Spades
02/08 – Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theatre
02/09 – Vancouver, BC – The Vogue
02/10 – Seattle, WA – Showbox

* signifies with La Dispute and TBD

For more info:

Hot Water Music

The tour kicks off October 3rd in Washington D.C., and The Dig will be joined by Portland, Oregon act The We Shared Milk for the 24-date tour. Fans who email the band their ticket receipts for any show on the fall tour can redeem a free download Midnight Flowers, so be sure to keep your receipt when you purchase tickets to their show at the Bootleg Theatre with Here We Go Magic on October 24th.

The Dig Tour Dates:

10/03 – Washington, DC @ Red Palace
10/04 – Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
10/05 – Northampton, MA – The Basement – FREE SHOW
10/06 – Brooklyn, NY @ Cameo
10/10 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Garfield Artworks
10/11 – Columbus, OH @ Kobo
10/12 – Chicago, IL @ Tonic Room
10/13 – Bowling Green, KY @ Tidball’s
10/14 – Nashville, TN @ The Basement
10/16 – Oxford, MS @ Proud Larry’s
10/17 – Denton, TX @ Hailey’s
10/18 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk (indoors)
10/19 – San Antonio, TX @ The Limelight
10/20 – El Paso, TX @ The Hoppy Monk
10/21 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Rogue Bar
10/23 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Royal House – FREE SHOW
10/24 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Bootleg
10/25 – San Francisco, CA @ Cafe Du Nord
10/26 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
10/28 – Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
10/31 – Minneapolis, MN – Halloween Party @ 400 Bar
11/01 – Madison, WI @ The Frequency
11/02 – Detroit, MI – Benefit Show @ Starkweather Arts Center
11/03 – St. Louis, MO @ Cicero’s

For more info:

The Dig

Anberlin will be heading out on the road with the Billy Corgan-fronted act from October 2nd through the 20th, including a stop at the Gibson Amphitheatre in LA on October 14th. Tickets for that date are currently available, and fans can also preorder their copy of Vital, which is available in several cool packages. Feel free to vote in the comments on which package is the best.

Anberlin Tour Dates:

10/02 – Winnipeg, MB @ MTS Center *
10/04 – Calgary, AB @ Scotiabank Saddledome *
10/05 – Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place *
10/07 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena *
10/10 – Seattle, WA @ Comcast Arena *
10/12 – San Francisco, CA @ Bill Graham Civic * Auditorium
10/13 – San Diego, CA @ Viejas Arena *
10/14 – Los Angeles, CA @ Gibson Ampitheatre *
10/16 – Denver, CO @ First Bank Center *
10/18 – St. Louis, MO @ Chaifetz Arena *
10/19 – Chicago, IL @ Allstate Arena *
10/20 – Minneapolis, MN @ Brighton Music Hall *
11/06 – Charleston, SC @ The Music Farm
11/07 – Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theatre
11/09 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
11/10 – Buffalo, NY @ Infinity
11/11 – Allentown, PA @ Crocodile Rock
11/14 – Toledo, OH @ The Omni
11/15 – Grand Rapids, MI @ The Intersection
11/16 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls
11/17 – Albany, NY @ Upstate Concert Hall
11/18 – Hartford, CT @ Webster Theatre
11/20 – Knoxville, TN @ Valarium

* w/ Smashing Pumpkins

For more info:

Anberlin