Despite selling tens of millions of records during their mid-to-late 1990s heyday — and holding radios and department-store music playlists hostage for years after that — middle-of-the-road rockers Hootie & the Blowfish aren’t the type one might peg for a massive revival in the second decade of this fractious century.
But thanks to Hootie lead singer , as well as the ever-forgiving passage of time, Hootie is back with a vengeance.
Next summer the band will undertake its first tour in more than a decade, including a stop headlining the massive (17,000-capacity) Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre on July 11 with another ’90s-heyday artist, Barenaked Ladies.
“We’ve played with Hootie & the Blowfish a few times over the years, and it’s always been a good time,” said Barenaked Ladies vocalist/guitarist Ed Robertson in a cheeky press statement. “We’re thrilled they asked us to support them on this tour. I can’t imagine a better triple bill. Barenaked Ladies, Hootie AND the Blowfish?!! Sign me up! Wait, I’ve already signed up!”
Tickets for the all-ages Group Therapy Tour will cost $30-$129.50 and are on sale at 10 a.m. Dec. 7 via .
The 44-city tour features a Citi cardmember pre-sale beginning today at 10 a.m. and running through 10 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 6. Visit for details.
Fan club members of both bands can also access pre-sale: Hootie’s started , while Barenaked Ladies’ starts at .
Hootie, a two-time Grammy-winning group, also plans to release an album in 2019 through a new record deal with Universal Music Group Nashville — the same label-group where Rucker is currently signed as a solo performer, .
Make fun of Hootie & the Blowfish all you want: Rucker’s established commercial prowess (minus his middling, 2002 solo R&B debut, “Back to Then”) means we’re not likely to hear the last of his band anytime soon. And with white faces still a reigning factor in most of the rock and country worlds, we’re inclined to think that’s not a bad thing.
“I really like to think it’s all about the music,” Rucker told The Denver Post in 2009. “When you write a great song, it doesn’t matter what label you put on it. I look at Charley Pride (a pioneering African-American country artist), who was one of the reasons that I was able to do this. But I think, ‘God, what must that guy have gone through to do what he did?’ “
