It's been a tumultuous year for Dance Gavin Dance, but the band is forging ahead with plans to tour this summer, announcing their "An Evening With Friends" run that will kick off in late July. The tour comes in support of their upcoming album, Jackpot Juicer, which is on schedule for a July 29 release.
As stated, the band has had to adapt on the fly this year. Back in April, their bassist Tim Feerick died unexpectedly, but the group decided to push forward with their Swanfest festival as well as their immediate tour dates. Then, earlier this month, sexual assault allegations arose against singer Tillian Pearson. The vocalist initially issued his response, and not long after the band announced that Pearson would be "stepping away" from the band to seek out professional help. In the aftermath, the group was dropped from their touring plans with Coheed and Cambria.
The remaining members of the band - unclean vocalist Jon Mess, guitarist Will Swan, drummer Matt Mingus and guitarist Andrew Wells - revealed at the time that they still intended to release their forthcoming album and tour in support of it.
At the time they stated, "We all worked incredibly hard on this album, and it is also the last recorded body of work from Tim — we want to be sure we give it the full release attention that it deserves to honor his legacy."
They added, "We know that this is a very upsetting and trying situation for all those affected, and we ask people to please be as understanding as possible while everyone works through this. We appreciate you always." The album is available to pre-order here.
As you might expect, the group will have a revised touring lineup for the upcoming dates. Guitarist Andrew Wells will be taking over clean vocal duties on the upcoming tour, while Veil of Maya's Marc Okubo will join the band to handle Wells' guitar duties. In addition, former Dance Gavin Dance frontman and current Royal Coda frontman Kurt Travis will sing on select songs.
The "An Evening With Friends" tour moniker is a significant one, as you can now see as Royal Coda are one of the support acts on the tour, with Body Thief rounding out their three-band bill.
Dance Gavin Dance drummer Matt Mingus states, “We are very pleased to announce our exciting and intimate headlining tour, ‘An Evening With Friends.’ Last month, unfortunately, and not by our choice, we were made aware that we could not perform on the summer tour we had been looking forward to for the past year. We were lucky enough to get the support from our partners to help curate a last-minute headline tour hitting most of the cities we already planned on performing in."
He continued, "It's yet another obstacle put in our way that we are willing and able to overcome. While change can sometimes be challenging to adapt to, we are optimistic and looking towards the future with our heads held high and a fantastic new album to celebrate. We look forward to seeing you this summer.”
The show promises 21 intimate concerts across the country with setlists filled fan favorites, deeper cuts and new songs from the Jackpot Juicer album, that's due July 29 lining up with the start of their touring. Tickets will go on sale to the general public this Thursday (June 30) at 10AM local time via the band's website.
It should also be noted that the tour starts with special show at the Whisky-a-Go-Go on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles with a portion of the proceeds from the night going to MusiCares. See all of the tour dates, cities and venues listed below.
Dance Gavin Dance / Royal Coda / Body Thief 2022 Tour Dates
July 26 - West Hollywood, Calif. @ The Whisky A Go-Go
July 27 - San Diego, Calif. @ House of Blues
July 28 - Anaheim, Calif. @ House of Blues
July 29 - Mesa, Ariz. @ The Nile Theater
July 31 - Austin, Texas @ Emo's
Aug. 01 - Dallas, Texas @ House of Blues
Aug. 02 - Houston, Texas @ House of Blues
Aug. 04 - Orlando, Fla. @ House of Blues
Aug. 05 - Fort Lauderdale, Fla. @ Revolution Live
Aug. 06 - St Petersburg, Fla. @ Jannus Live
Aug. 08 - Baltimore, Md. @ Baltimore Soundstage
Aug. 09 - Charlotte, N.C. @ The Fillmore Charlotte
Aug. 11 - Philadelphia, Pa. @ Theatre of Living Arts
Aug. 13 - Boston, Mass. @ Big Night Live
Aug. 14 - New York, N.Y. @ Irving Plaza
Aug. 16 - Detroit, Mich. @ St. Andrew’s Hall
Aug. 17 - Toronto, Ontario @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
Aug. 19 - St. Louis, Mo. @ The Pageant
Aug. 20 - Chicago, Ill. @ House of Blues - Chicago
Aug. 22 - Denver, Colo. @ Summit Music Hall
Aug. 24 - San Francisco, Calif. @ The Fillmore San Francisco
