The Black Crowes just announced a 90-city North American tour that will come to Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater on Nov. 10. That's good news considering the psychedelic soul-rockers will be supporting Warpaint, their best album in years (I four-starred it here). Unfortunately, the Tampa Bay gig is a long way off from the June 28 start date. So, here's to hoping those fight-prone siblings Rich and Chris Robinson (pictured) remain on good terms. I just emailed the Crowes' publicist to see if North Mississippi Allstar Luther Dickinson, whose sizzling slide guitar work is all over Warpaint, will be joining the Robinson brothers for the big tour. "Yep," was the publicist's reply, North Mississippi Allstar Luther Dickinson is touring with the Crowes. OK, now I'm really excited. Here's the publicity release with the three Florida dates listed at the bottom:
THE BLACK CROWES ANNOUNCE 90 CITY TOUR!
SPECIAL "MIDNIGHT PRE-SALES" WITH FREE DOWNLOADS!
April 15, 2008 — The Black Crowes announce a tour that will kick off on June 28th and conclude with a five night run at the Fillmore in San Francisco on Chris Robinson's birthday, December 20th.
The 90-city tour follows the success of their seven special "One Night Only" shows which featured their hit album WARPAINT, performed in its entirety. All of these special shows sold out instantly and were followed by shows in London and Amsterdam.
This six month itinerary will take them across the USA and Canada performing songs from WARPAINT, the band's first studio album in seven years, and favorites from their catalog as well as surprises.
One highlight of the tour will be two special evenings featuring all acoustic performances by The Black Crowes at the famed Town Hall in New York City on November 3 & 4. These shows will mark the first ever all acoustic performances in America in their eighteen year career. Tickets for the majority of the first leg shows will go on sale starting May 2 & 3 at 10am (est).
Special "Midnight Pre-Sales" will be available at http://www.blackcrowes.com/. A limited number of prime seats in each venue have been set aside by the band for fans and will go on sale at MIDNIGHT (est), the Friday one week before the public on-sales. Fans who purchase "Midnight Pre-Sale" tickets will receive free downloads of unreleased live material.
Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes had this to say of their 2008 tour announcement: "Set your mind to fly…come join the jubilee."
Their "Euphoria Or Bust" Tour follows the release of the band's new album WARPAINT, which debuted earlier this yeart at # 5 on Billboard's Top 200, # 1 on Billboard's Digital Chart, # 2 on the Indie Chart, as well as # 2 on iTunes.com.
11-10-08 — Ruth Eckerd Hall — Clearwater FL
11-11-08 — House Of Blues — Orlando FL
11-12-08 — Fillmore Miami @ Jackie Gleason Theater — Miami FL
This article appears in Apr 9-15, 2008.