Europe calling!
On Sunday June 8 The Weakerthans will debut at Batofar in Paris. It's hard to believe that the band has been going strong for over a decade and not yet made it to the City of Light! Batofar is a really cool-looking boat permanently moored on the Seine River which has been turned into a club and is one of the city's hotspots. If you're in Paris on June 8, come on out and help channel the spirits of Johnny Hallyday and Serge Gainsbourg (with a good dose of les Berurier Noir and Louise Attaque mixed in!).
The band will be touring Europe with some great acts in tow: Winnipeg's own Christine Fellows will open the shows and join the band on keyboards. North American audiences know her already, from her own fine collection of albums on Six Shooter Records as well as from the recently completed US tour. This is Christine's first-ever trek to Europe, so be sure to get there early and give her a great big welcome! www.christinefellows.com.
Dawn Landes is a New York based singer-songwriter whose music falls somewhere between Woody Guthrie and Joanna Newsome...a tall order, no doubt! She has appeared with Jose Gonzalez, Le Tigre, and Feist, to name just a few, and will be joining The Weakerthans immediately after hitting much of the UK with The Wedding Present. Find out more about her at www.dawnlandes.com.
Felix Gebhard hails from Hamburg, where he often performs with his band Home of the Lame. Billboard magazine calls their music “a call to arms for anyone who still loves a good pop song or wants to write one.” He's appearing solo, but a force to be reckoned with nonetheless. Check it out for yourself at www.homeofthelame.com.
Find out which artists will be playing on which dates by checking the list below. You'll also find the complete list of May/June shows in Europe as well as the ever-expanding list of North American festivals the band will hit this summer on the tour section of the website. New dates, like the one for all you folks in the Lower Mainland on August 5 at Burnaby's deer lake Park opening for the incomparable Feist, are added as they are confirmed. If you don't see your favourite summer stage there yet, please check back often!
May
30 Fri: Neustrelitz, DE - Immergut Festival [ ticket info ]
31 Sat: Nijmegen, NL - Doornroosje [ ticket info ]*
June
01 Sun: Birmingham , UK - Barfly [ ticket info ]*
02 Mon: London, UK - Scala [ ticket info ]*
03 Tue: Manchester , UK - Academy 3 [ ticket info ]*
04 Wed: Bristol, UK - Carling Academy 2 [ ticket info ]*
06 Fri: Utrecht, NL - Tivoli de Helling [ ticket info ]*
07 Sat: Düsseldorf , DE - Zakk [ ticket info ]**
08 Sun: Paris, F - Batofar [ ticket info ]
09 Mon: Frankfurt, DE - Batschkapp [ ticket info ]**
10 Tue: Saarbrücken , DE - Roxy [ ticket info ]**
11 Wed: Nürnberg, DE - Hirsch [ ticket info ]**
13 Fri: Freiburg , DE - Jazzhaus [ ticket info ]**
14 Sat: Interlaken, CH - Greenfield [ ticket info ]
15 Sun: Wien, A - Novarock [ ticket info ]
17 Tue: Stockholm, SE - Kägelbanan [ ticket info ]
18 Wed: Copenhagen , DK - Loppen [ ticket info ]
19 Thu: Osla, NO - Garage [ ticket info ]
20 Fri: Dresden , DE - Scheune [ ticket info ]**
21 Sat: Scheeßel , DE - Hurricane [ ticket info ]
22 Sun: Neuhaus Ob Eck, DE - Southside [ ticket info ]
Openers Christine Fellows and Dawn Landes*
Openers Christine Fellows and Felix Gebhard**
July
06 Sun: Ottawa, ON - Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest [ ticket info ]
10 Thu: Winnipeg, MB - Winnipeg Folk Festival [ ticket info ]
12 Sat: Courtenay, BC - Vancouver Island MusicFest [ ticket info ]
August
03 Sun: Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza [ ticket info ]
04 Mon: Montreal, QC - Osheaga Music and Arts Festival [ ticket info ]
05 Tue: Burnaby, BC, Deer Lake Park - opening for Feist,
08 Fri: Regina, SK - Regina Folk Festival [ ticket info ]
September
07 Sun: Toronto, ON - V Fest [ ticket info ]
New Video Coming in June; single to follow in Europe!
Curling season might be over, but the new video for Tournament of Hearts is coming out next month. Although it's being released in June, the video was filmed in Winnipeg's Fort Rouge Curling Club back in February 2008 when the city was deep in the throes of icy temperatures and even colder wind chills. The video arrives just in time to keep you looking forward to a few extra ends and a pitcher of beer or two down at your local curling club next winter.
It's produced by Mighty Kraken Films, the same folks who brought you previous videos including Civil Twilight and Our Retired Explorer. If you don't know anything about curling, the video will help you out with the finer points of the game and its storied history. You'll want to hurry, hurry hard and check it out when it makes its debut next month.
Tournament of Hearts will also be released as a single in Europe, backed with an exclusive live version of Relative Surplus Value recorded last fall. It will be available throughout Europe via iTunes starting June 23rd and a variety of other platforms a week later.
