Hootie and the Blowfish
September 5, 2019
PNC Music Pavilion
(December 3, 2018) – Iconic pop-rock band Hootie & the Blowfish appeared on NBC’s TODAY this morning to announce a highly anticipated return to full-time touring in 2019, as the foursome sets out on the 2019 Group Therapy Tour with direct support from special guests Barenaked Ladies.
The band formed by Mark Bryan, Dean Felber, Darius Rucker and Jim “Soni” Sonefeld during their time as students at the University of South Carolina will visit 44 cities on the tour produced by Live Nation, kicking off Thursday, May 30 in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and wrapping Friday, Sept. 13 with a Columbia, South Carolina homecoming.
Hootie & the Blowfish with special guests Barenaked Ladies will play Coastal Credit Union Music Park Raleigh on Friday May 31, PNC Music Pavilion Charlotte on September 5, and Colonial Life Arena Columbia on Friday September 13.
Citi is the official presale credit card for the Group Therapy Tour. As such, Citi cardmembers will have access to purchase presale tickets beginning today at 10:00am local time until Thursday, December 6 at 10:00pm local time through Citi’s Private Pass program. For complete presale details visit www.citiprivatepass.com.
Hootie & the Blowfish fan club members can also access an exclusive pre-sale starting today, Dec. 3, at 10 a.m. local time. Barenaked Ladies fans who have purchased VIP packages in the past will receive an exclusive code to purchase tickets early on Wednesday, Dec. 5 starting at 10 a.m. local time before they go on sale to the general public this Friday, Dec. 7 at www.LiveNation.com.
“Once the four of us met and started playing shows, we toured for years before signing a record deal,” reflects Rucker who, in the 10+ year break since their last formal tour and nearly 15 years since their last studio album as a band, has charted nine No. 1 singles on Country radio. Felber notes, “Having those shows at fraternity houses, clubs and dive bars under our belt prepared us for success to a degree, and it’s something we’re proud of – that we put in the work – but what matters to me the most is that we’re still a band all these years later. We’ve never stopped being a band.” “We were content playing clubs and small theaters, so playing to three-, four- and five-times that size was incredible, and we’re looking forward to that feeling again on this tour,” Sonefeld echoes.
Bryan adds, “There’s nothing like playing music live. For the first time in nearly 20 years we’ll be coming back to Columbia, South Carolina where it all began,” before Rucker interjects, “and we’re ready to rock.” In addition to hitting the road on the Group Therapy Tour in 2019, the band described as “beloved” by the New York Times and praised by Billboard for their “undeniable charm” will also release a forthcoming sixth studio album under new label home Universal Music Group Nashville as their debut Cracked Rear View celebrates its 25th anniversary.
Cracked Rear View, certified by the RIAA as 21x Platinum and the fifth-most certified studio album of all time, marked the beginning of a whirlwind of success for the two-time GRAMMY winners who have gone on to sell over 25 million albums and notch 17 Billboard-charting songs to date.
For more information about Hootie & the Blowfish, visit www.hootie.com or follow on Facebook @hootieandtheblowfish, Twitter @HootieTweets and Instagram @hootieofficial.
For more information or to purchase tickets go to livenation.com.
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About Hootie & the Blowfish With the rich, bluesy vocals of Darius Rucker and gleeful harmonies of guitarist Mark Bryan, bassist Dean Felber and drummer Jim "Soni" Sonefeld, Hootie & the Blowfish have sold over 25 million records worldwide to date after their infectious melodies hit the airwaves in 1994 with hits such as "Hold My Hand", "Let Her Cry" and "Only Wanna Be With You." The quartet met at the University of South Carolina where endless gigs at frat houses and local bars built a major local buzz. Their blend of pop, folk, blues, soul and rock made them hard to pigeonhole, but easily accessible to anyone who loved good music. Atlantic Records, impressed by their regional draw, signed them and released Cracked Rear View in 1994. The album had been out for six months before the band played on the Late Show with David Letterman which sent sales skyrocketing, eventually landing at No. 1 on the Billboard chart the following spring. Cracked Rear View and the band went on to win two GRAMMY Awards, an MTV Video Music Award, a Billboard Music Award, and multiple People's Choice Awards. Cracked Rear View went on to earn the band Billboard's Band of the Year Award in 1996 and the RIAA's Diamond Award for sales in excess of 10 million units. Cracked Rear View remains the 5th most certified studio album in music business history.The band remained a top draw nationwide and released five more albums for Atlantic: Fairweather Johnson, Musical Chairs, Scattered, Smothered & Covered, Hootie & The Blowfish and The Best of Hootie & The Blowfish, as well as Looking For Lucky on their own Sneaky Long Records and LIVE in Charleston, The Homegrown Concert Event DVD and CD. The band took a break from full-time touring in 2008, reuniting annually for a variety of philanthropic events while also pursuing solo projects. 2019 will mark the band's first full-time touring year in over a decade as they embark on the Group Therapy Tour in support of forthcoming new music under a new record deal with Universal Music Group Nashville.About Barenaked LadiesOver the course of their remarkable career, Barenaked Ladies have sold over 15 million albums, written multiple Top 20 hits (including radio staples “One Week,” “Pinch Me,” “Brian Wilson, “If I Had $1,000,000”), garnered 2 GRAMMY nominations, won 8 JUNO Awards, had Ben & Jerry’s name an ice cream after them (“If I Had 1,000,000 Flavours”), wrote and recorded the theme song to the award-winning TV series “The Big Bang Theory,” participated in the first-ever “space-to-earth musical collaboration” with astronaut Chris Hadfield and garnered an international fan base whose members number in the millions. In 2018, the band (vocalist/guitarist Ed Robertson, drummer Tyler Stewart, keyboardist Kevin Hearn and bassist Jim Creeggan) celebrated their 30th anniversary with the release of a dynamic new album, Fake Nudes, a much-deserved induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame (with Rush vocalist Geddy Lee handling the honors) and a proclamation from Toronto Mayor John Tory declaring October 1st “Barenaked Ladies Day.” The band is currently in pre-production for a new album due in 2019. For more information, visit www.barenakedladies.com.