The Walkmen are set to perform this Friday, September 15, at The National’s Homecoming Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio. That set is more or less an appetizer for their headlining North American tour, which began on Wednesday, September 13, at Lincoln Theatre in Washington, DC and will pick back up at Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee on September 16.
A revolving door of openers will feature throughout the run, according to an Instagram post by The Walkmen on August 9. Yeah Baby is responsible for September 13, 16, 18, 21, 24, 26, and 27. Martin Courtney will take over for the September 29 show at Fox Theater in Oakland, California. The next one-off opener will be Taper’s Choice on October 2 at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, California, followed by Cash & Skye on October 3 at LA’s The Fonda Theatre and Emile Mosseri for the third and final Fonda Theatre show on October 4.
Heavy Medo is set for October 6 at Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas Texas. Kiwi Jr will warm up the stage on October 11 at History in Toronto, Ontario, Canada before Rostam tackles two dates: October 14 in Boston, Massachusetts and October 17 in Brooklyn, New York. Cosmic Guilt handles the October 15 finale at Asbury Lanes in Asbury Park, New Jersey. See all of the dates here.
In April, The Walkmen performed together for the first time in 10 years on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, sparking fans’ curiosities about the state of their reunion moving forward. Upon their May announcement of their fall tour dates, band member Peter Matthew Bauer offered a statement, which can be read below.
“The last few weeks have been an absolute blast.
Honestly, when we decided to get back together to play these shows, we had no idea if anyone would even show up. It’s been an incredible joy seeing all these people out there, playing these shows, getting to run into old friends from all over the world.
There was a review of our first show back that said something really nice — that it felt like ‘time was bending back on itself.’ It really has and it’s been the strangest feeling. We all flew to New York, had dinner at Hamilton’s house with his family and actually did not practice as promised. The next day we played the Stephen Colbert show live on television. I think each of us hold on to playing Letterman as a very important memory. So, to be back at the Ed Sullivan Theater and be playing this song for the first time in ten years with your friends was like an out of body experience.
We are just getting going and I’m not really sure we want it to end. I will say, after being the dummy who I guess broke the band up last time saying something about an ‘extreme hiatus,’ I’m going to avoid saying anything like that again. I will say, what makes it all special is when you don’t know what’s going to happen next and when you can actually wonder if this is the last time you’re ever going to get the chance to do this. Everything feels ragged and lively which is what all of us thought was good about the band in the first place.
So, I don’t know what happens next but I do know these shows are just about the end of what’s happening now. We are headed west across the USA this fall. We’ll go all the way to California and the Pacific Northwest and play cities we haven’t in many years ultimately ending back east. Also, there’s still some tickets available for our UK run, so check the site and grab. We’ve got maybe one or two more in us to announce in the coming weeks. But that is it (I guess?)”
