Ted Leo and the Pharmacists will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their classic fourth album, 2004’s Shake The Sheets, on tour this summer and fall. They’ll play the album in its entirety, along with more songs, and Ekko Astral opens the June shows, with Diners supporting on the August and November dates. Ted writes:
FOLKS, 2024 is somehow the 20th anniversary of our SHAKE THE SHEETS album, and I’m happy to announce some tour dates: full band, playing Shake the Sheets in its entirety (plus more, obviously), east coast, west coast, a little bit in between, spread out over pretty much the entire year. VERY EXCITED. We’re very VERY excited to be doing the east coast with DC’s Ekko Astral, who I don’t mind telling you, is one of the greatest bands I’ve heard in YEARS. I think they’re a beautiful, heavy, punk, and dare I say, important band, and I’m honored that they’re joining us for that leg. You also may have heard me wax on about Diners recently, because they put out a record LAST year that I absolutely loved, and that features two of the greatest power pop songs that I’ve heard, yes, I’m gonna say it… IN YEARS. Thrilled to have them join us, as well.
The tour starts in Asbury Park, NJ at The Stone Pony on June 19, and there’s a Brooklyn show at Warsaw on June 23. You can get tickets to Warsaw early on BrooklynVegan Presale starting Thursday, February 15 at 10 AM ET; use the password BVSTS. Our presale runs through 10 PM ET that day, and if you miss out, tickets to all dates go on sale to the general public on Friday, February 16 at 10 AM local time. See all dates below…
TED LEO & THE PHARMACISTS: 2024 SHAKE THE SHEETS TOUR DATES
Wednesday, June 19, 2024 Asbury Park NJ Stone Pony #
Thursday, June 20, 2024 Washington DC 9:30 Club #
Friday, June 21, 2024 Philadelphia PA Union Transfer #
Saturday, June 22, 2024 Boston MA Paradise #
Sunday, June 23, 2024 Brooklyn NY Warsaw #
Friday, August 30, 2024 Portland OR Revolution Hall ^
Friday, September 13, 2024 Minneapolis MN Fine Line
Saturday, September 14, 2024 Chicago IL Metro
Friday, November 15, 2024 San Francisco CA The Fillmore ^
Saturday, November 16, 2024 Los Angeles CA The Belasco ^
# with Ekko Astral
^ with Diners
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And here’s some more from Ted:
NOW, you may be saying… that’s not a lot of dates, Ted (if you’re talking to your screen), and you’re not wrong, but it’s what we can manage right now at this point in all our lives. Most of the problem is me, because I just can’t be away that much right now, but everyone in the band is in a place, doing other things, making other things, working at other things, to a degree that makes it tough for us to tour like we used to*; but for me (and for all of us, I think – and I hope you’ll agree if you saw the week we did in the northeast last September) it makes it that much more joyful when we CAN get together and make it happen. There may be some festival dates that will get added to this list, and they’ll be announced according to their own schedules, and it’s entirely possible that a small handful of other things might crop up, including solo shows and an end-of-year holiday variety show tour with Aimee Mann on the East Coast this year, but for now, we’re psyched to be able to do this series of shows, and I hope the presale thing works out for everyone!
*and when we talk about how we “used to” tour, please remember that for a long time, including the time period Shake The Sheets first landed and was toured on, we toured EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME, so… like… I know that St. Louis, Chattanooga, Houston, Denver, Winnipeg, Santa Fe, etc. exist – I’ve been there, and I’ve loved being there, and I dearly hope I’ll be there again, just not on this go-around.