Gin Blossoms and Sugar Ray Announce Co-Headlining Summer Tour
GIN BLOSSOMS AND SUGAR RAY
ANNOUNCE CO-HEADLINING SUMMER TOUR
TOUR KICKS OFF AUGUST 31
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS TONIC AND FASTBALL
TICKET ON-SALES BEGIN FRIDAY, MAY 12
NASHVILLE, TN (May 8, 2023) — Gin Blossoms and Sugar Ray have announced their co-headlining summer tour with special guests Tonic and Fastball. The 12-date trek kicks off Thursday, August 31 in Wisconsin and will see the “Hey Jealousy” and “Every Morning” hitmakers, respectively, take amphitheater and theater stages across the Midwest and East Coast — with additional dates to be announced. Ticket on-sales begin on Friday, May 12 at 10:00am local time (see below for exact dates and times for each show).
Visit Gin Blossoms’ website or Sugar Ray’s website for more information and to purchase tickets.
“I’m so excited to tour with Sugar Ray, Tonic and Fastball,” says Robin Wilson of Gin Blossoms. “They’re some of my favorite bands to be on the road with. We’re looking forward to doing some rock’n’roll shows.”
Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray shares, “I can’t think of anything better than spending the summer with great friends playing music! This tour is a giant cavalcade of hits that just keeps delivering, and I’m always honored to share a stage with Gin Blossoms, Tonic and Fastball.” Sugar Ray’s guitarist and co-founder Rodney Sheppard adds, “I am most looking forward to this tour because all of these bands have a history and a friendship. I can’t wait for the backstage acoustic guitar sing-alongs.”
Emerson Hart of Tonic adds: “We are so excited to get back out there this summer and play rock and roll with our friends Gin Blossoms, Sugar Ray and Fastball. That’s a lot of great music in one night!”
(^) denotes without Sugar Ray
About Gin Blossoms:
Gin Blossoms, an American alternative rock band formed in 1987 in Tempe, Arizona. The band rose to prominence following the 1992 release of their first major label debut album, New Miserable Experience, and the first single released from that album, “Hey Jealousy” became a Top 25 hit and went gold. New Miserable Experience eventually went quadruple platinum and three other charting singles were released from the album including “Allison Road” and “Until I Fall Away.” The band's follow-up album, Congratulations I'm Sorry (1996), went platinum including the GRAMMY-nominated “As Long as It Matters” and the Top 10 single “Follow You Down.” Gin Blossoms continue to tour every year and in recent years have shared the stage with Collective Soul, Barenaked Ladies and Hootie & The Blowfish.
Above: Gin Blossoms; credit: Shervin Lainez
About Sugar Ray:
Beyond sales of 10 million records, four Top 10 songs, hundreds of millions of streams, and millions of tickets sold, Sugar Ray—co-founded by Mark McGrath [vocals] and Rodney Sheppard [lead guitar]—embody the endless summer of popular music and culture. How many artists still pack sheds a whole generation removed from their genesis? How many acts can claim sharing the stage with The Rolling Stones, KISS, and Sex Pistols, collaborating with Run-DMC, and being interpolated by Post Malone? Just Sugar Ray…1994’s Lemonade & Brownies took the guys around the world and earned cult classic status for its frenetic and unpredictable hybrid. It set the stage for FLOORED in 1997. The latter’s immortal lead single “Fly” [feat. Super Cat] made them a household name. 21 years down the road, Post Malone incorporated “Fly” in “Sugar Wraith” on the triple-platinum Beerbongs & Bentleys. Helmed by GRAMMY® Award-winning producer David Kahne [Sublime, Paul McCartney, The Strokes], FLOORED earned the band’s first gold plaque and eventually went double-platinum. Two years later, 14:59 bowed in the Top 20 of the Billboard Top 200, went triple-platinum, and gave us “Someday,” “Falls Apart,” and their second #1, “Every Morning.” In 2001, Sugar Ray crashed the Top 200 at #6 as “When It’s Over” staked out a spot on the charts. It added another platinum plaque to their walls. Enjoying a renaissance, Sugar Ray headlined the Under the Sun Tour 2013-2015. They inked a deal with BMG in 2019 and dropped their seventh full-length, Lil Yachty. In addition to features from Rolling Stone and Billboard, NPR claimed, “The Newport Beach natives returned to their signature uplifting and airy rock sound.” It only set the stage for more touring and music. No matter how much everything changes, we’ve got Sugar Ray forever.
Above: Sugar Ray; credit: Kevin Estrada
About Tonic:
The story of Tonic revolves around the longstanding, close brotherhood shared among members Emerson Hart [vocals, guitar], Jeff Russo [lead guitar], and Dan Lavery [bass]. Since 1996, the GRAMMY® Award-nominated multi-platinum trio has consistently delivered anthemic and undeniable rock fashioned from eloquent song craft, lyrical honesty, and unshakable melodies. To date, the band has landed six Top 10 singles, sold 4 million-plus records, and garnered a pair of GRAMMY® Award nominations. Their full-length debut, Lemon Parade, not only went platinum, but it also yielded the “#1 Most-Played Rock Song of 1997” in the form of the lead single “If You Could Only See.” The band’s follow-up single,“You Wanted More,” served as the lead-off from the platinum Original Soundtrack Album for American Pie and the second full-length, Sugar. In between a marathon of touring, they released Head On Straight 2002. The single “Take Me As I Am” received a GRAMMY® Award nomination in the category of “Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal” as the album vied for “Best Rock Album”— only to lose to Bruce Springsteen, “which is still a huge honor being from Jersey,” laughs Dan. After a five-year hiatus, the three-piece returned to the charts on the heels of Tonic in 2010, landing in the Top 50 of the Billboard Top Rock Albums Chart and Top 25 of the Billboard Top Independent Albums Chart.
Above: Tonic; credit: Catie Lafoon
About Fastball:
Formed in 1994 in Austin, Texas, Fastball combined a fondness for melodic, Beatles-inspired pop with the alternative aesthetic of late-90s mainstream rock. Guitarist/vocalist Miles Zuniga, bassist/vocalist Tony Scalzo, and drummer Joey Shuffield — all veterans of Austin's underground rock scene — originally banded together under the name Magneto U.S.A. After signing with Hollywood Records, the musicians changed their name to Fastball and released their debut album, Make Your Mama Proud, in 1996. The album demonstrated the band’s synthesis of modern flavor and bygone pop hooks, a combination that would later launch Fastball into the mainstream. Their lead-off single “The Way” proved to be a meteoric hit, topping the American rock charts for seven weeks while enjoying crossover success as a pop single. “Fire Escape” and the piano-fueled “Out of My Head” did similarly well, and “All the Pain Money Can Buy” went platinum within six months of its release, earning two GRAMMY nominations along the way. Fastball celebrated their success with a considerable amount of touring, including shows alongside Marcy Playground and Everclear.
Above: Fastball; credit: Caroline Le Duc