A month ahead of the highly-anticipated Group Therapy Tour launch, Hootie & the Blowfish announced seven dates throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland this October to follow their 47-date U.S. and Canada run of shows.

The announcement follows a wave of excitement surrounding news of the band’s first full tour in over a decade with forthcoming music under a new record deal with Universal Music Group Nashville. They will celebrate the soon-to-begin tour as part of National Concert Week with a performance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” this Wednesday, May 1.

“I had the incredible opportunity to play the Royal Albert Hall in London last year, which was a bucket list night for me,” explained frontman Darius Rucker. “The fans there and everywhere else we played in Europe were so special. In talking with all of the guys about how special this year’s tour is going to be, we knew it wouldn’t be complete without a trip back across the pond to see our amazing fans there.”

A pre-sale for Hootie & the Blowfish email subscribers begins Wednesday, May 1 at 9:00 a.m., as does the O2 Priority pre-sale, with a C2C pre-sale to follow on Thursday, May 2 at 9:00 a.m. Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday, May 3 at 9:00 a.m. All times are local.

Group Therapy Tour
May 30             Virginia Beach, Va. | Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater
May 31             Raleigh, N.C. | Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek

June 1               Atlanta, Ga. | Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood
June 6               Orange Beach, Ala. | The Wharf
June 8               West Palm Beach, Fla. | Coral Sky Amphitheatre
June 9               Tampa, Fla. | MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
June 13             Austin, Texas | Austin360 Amphitheater
June 14             Houston, Texas | Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman
June 15             Dallas, Texas | Dos Equis Pavilion
June 19             Phoenix, Ariz. | Ak-Chin Pavilion
June 21             Chula Vista, Calif. | North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre
June 22             Las Vegas, Nev. | T-Mobile Arena
June 23             Irvine, Calif. | FivePoint Amphitheatre presented by Mercury Insurance
June 25             Los Angeles, Calif. | Hollywood Bowl
June 28             Wheatland, Calif. | Toyota Amphitheatre
June 29             Mountain View, Calif. | Shoreline Amphitheatre

July 11              Englewood, Colo. | Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
July 13              Maryland Heights, Mo. | Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
July 14              Rogers, Ark. | Walmart AMP
July 19              Monticello, Iowa | Great Jones County Fair
July 20              Cincinnati, Ohio | Riverbend Music Center
July 21              Burgettstown, Penn. | KeyBank Pavilion
July 26              Cleveland, Ohio | Blossom Music Center
July 27              Bristow, Va. | Jiffy Lube Live
July 28              Camden, N.J. | BB&T Pavilion

August 2           Guilford, N.H. | Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion
August 3           Mansfield, Mass. | Xfinity Center
August 4           Saratoga Springs, N.Y. | Saratoga Performing Arts Center
August 8           Columbia, Md. | Merriweather Post Pavilion
August 9           Canandaigua, N.Y. | Constellation Brands-Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center: CMAC
August 10         New York, N.Y. | Madison Square Garden
August 11         New York, N.Y. | Madison Square Garden
August 16         Detroit, Mich. | DTE Energy Music Theatre
August 17         Noblesville, Ind. | Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center
August 18         Des Moines, Iowa | Iowa State Fair
August 22         St. Paul, Minn. | Minnesota State Fair
August 23         East Troy, Wis. | Alpine Valley Music Theatre
August 24         Tinley Park, Ill. | Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
August 29         Toronto, Ont. | Budweiser Stage
August 30         Hershey, Penn. | Hersheypark Stadium
August 31         Hartford, Conn. | XFINITY Theatre

September 5      Charlotte, N.C. | PNC Music Pavilion
September 6      Birmingham, Ala. | Oak Mountain Amphitheatre
September 7      Nashville, Tenn. | Bridgestone Arena
September 11    Columbia, S.C. | Colonial Life Arena
September 12    Columbia, S.C. | Colonial Life Arena
September 13    Columbia, S.C. | Colonial Life Arena

October 4          Dublin, Ireland | 3Arena*
October 6          Bristol, England | O2 Academy*
October 7          Leeds, England | O2 Academy*
October 9          Glasgow, Scotland | Barrowland*
October 12        London, England | Eventim Apollo*
October 15        Manchester, England | O2 Apollo*
October 16        Birmingham, England | O2 Academy*

*newly announced U.K. & Ireland dates

For more information and to sign up for the Hootie & the Blowfish email list, visit www.hootie.com. Follow on Facebook @hootieandtheblowfish, Twitter @HootieTweets and Instagram @hootieofficial.

About Hootie & the Blowfish
With the rich, bluesy vocals of Darius Rucker and gleeful harmonies of guitarist Mark Bryan, bassist Dean Felber and drummer Jim “Soni” Sonefeld, Hootie & the Blowfish have sold over 25 million records worldwide to date after their infectious melodies hit the airwaves in 1994 with hits such as “Hold My Hand,” “Let Her Cry” and “Only Wanna Be With You.”

The quartet met at the University of South Carolina where endless gigs at frat houses and local bars built a major local buzz. Their blend of pop, folk, blues, soul and rock made them hard to pigeonhole, but easily accessible to anyone who loved good music.

Atlantic Records, impressed by their regional draw, signed them and released Cracked Rear View in 1994. The album had been out for six months before the band played on the Late Show with David Letterman which sent sales skyrocketing, eventually landing at No. 1 on the Billboard chart the following spring. Cracked Rear View and the band went on to win two GRAMMY Awards, an MTV Video Music Award, a Billboard Music Award, and multiple People’s Choice Awards. Cracked Rear View went on to earn the band Billboard‘s Band of the Year Award in 1996 and the RIAA’s Diamond Award for sales in excess of 10 million units. Cracked Rear View remains the 5th most certified studio album in music business history.

The band remained a top draw nationwide and released five more albums for Atlantic: Fairweather Johnson, Musical Chairs, Scattered, Smothered & Covered, Hootie & The Blowfish and The Best of Hootie & The Blowfish, as well as Looking For Lucky on their own Sneaky Long Records and LIVE in Charleston, The Homegrown Concert Event DVD and CD. The band took a break from full-time touring in 2007, reuniting annually for a variety of philanthropic events while also pursuing solo projects. 2019 will mark the band’s first full-time touring year in over a decade as they embark on the Group Therapy Tour in support of forthcoming new music under a new record deal with Universal Music Group Nashville.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Essential Broadcast Media