Gearing up for the June 10 release of their highly anticipated third full-length album Egomaniac [Epic Records], KONGOSexpand their stacked 2016 schedule with a string of new dates this summer and a full-scale North American fall headline tour—just announced today. Following Life Is Beautiful Festival in Las Vegas on September 23-25, the multiplatinum rock band plays major markets coast to coast, concluding October 29 at The Crescent Ballroom Outdoors in their hometown of Phoenix, AZ for “Dia De Los KONGOS.”The Joy Formidable will be a special guest on most dates of the fall tour.
A special artist pre-sale goes live tomorrow (June 7) at 10am local time. At the same time, fans that preordered Egomaniac at KONGOS.com may also buy tickets before the general on-sale date at this LINK. General on-sale begins Friday at 10 am local time. All confirmed dates are included below. Pre-order Egomaniac: http://smarturl.it/Egomaniac. VIP ticket packages—featuring exclusive merchandise, meet & greets, photo-ops and other special offers—will also be available for all headline shows on the fall tour through On the List Presents.
Next week, the boys take the stage on NBC’s The Today Show Wednesday June 15 for a performance of their latest single “Take It From Me.” Meanwhile, the song continues rising at radio, going Top 10 at Alternative this week. Its wild N**Jam-inspired music video just crossed 600,000 views on YouTube/VEVO and is in regular rotation now on FM, MTV, MTV2, MTV Hits, mtvU, MTV Live, and Revolt.
Once again, KONGOS inflate their signature sound and break boundaries with the explosive Egomaniac.
Following two successful years on the road supporting 2014’s breakoutLunatic,KONGOSreturned home in late 2015 with a bevy of ideas. The guys wrote initial demos separately and convened at Tokoloshe Studios—their full-scale production studio located in their hometown of Phoenix, Arizona. While sharing ideas, they collectively realized a thematic commonality, which would eventually inform the creation of Egomaniac.
Egomaniacboasts 13 new tracks from the group. These range from the blues guitar-driven accordion shuffle of“I Don’t Mind,”which instantly became a live favorite, to the skittering electronics and sharp commentary on“Autocorrect”and the epic send-off at the heart of “Look At Me.”The full tracklisting is revealed below.
In 2014,“Come With Me Now”fromLunaticputKONGOSon the map. The group became unanimously recognized as one of rock music’s most infectious and invigorating new voices as the track went RIAA double-platinum for sales in excess of 2 million. It occupied the #1 spot at Alternative Radio for five weeks, marking the quickest ascent to the top by a new band in history. The song was heard everywhere with placements byThe Expendables 3, Universal Studios, Dodge Ram, Samsung Galaxy,American Idol, The Originals, MTV Movie Awards, HBO, FX, CNN, NBC Sports, ESPN, NFL, WWE, PlayStation 4 and more. The video has been viewed over 45 million times: http://smarturl.it/CWMNvideo. They’ve hit the stage atLate Night With Seth Meyers,Jimmy Kimmel LIVE!,The Today Showand more and received acclaim fromRolling Stone,USA Today, and many others.
In addition, KONGOS will return to South Africa for the first time since finding success outside their homeland. The band will headline this year’s Oppikoppi Festival outside Johannesburg in August and perform two additional shows: the Durban Botanic Gardens August 3 and at The Hillcrest Quarry for One Night in Cape Town August 5.
The band will return to the U.K. for the first time this year for a show at Dingwalls in Camden, London on July 19. Tickets for this show go on sale June 10. http://www.gigsandtours.com/tour/kongos/
The brothersKONGOS—Johnny, Jesse, Dylan, and Danny—have music in their blood. Their dad John Kongos landed multiple chart hits in the seventies, and the boys picked up instruments at a young age. Now, they’ve got a musical legacy all their own.
Summer Tour Dates:
6/18 Glen Allen, VA Innsbrook After Hours/Innsbrook Pavilion
7/2 Sioux, City, IA Saturday in the Park
7/3 Indianapolis, IN INDYpendence Day
7/4 O’Fallon, MO Heritage and Freedom Festival
7/7 Chicago, IL Taste of Chicago
7/9 Toronto, ON Velvet Underground
7/10 Philadelphia, PA WRFF Radio Show – Festival Pier
7/14 Little Rock, AR Metroplex
7/16 Martindale, TX Floatfest
7/19 London, England Dingwalls
8/3 Durban, South Africa Durban Botanic Gardens
8/5 Cape Town, South Africa The Hillcrest Quarry for One Night
8/7 Northam Limpopo, S.A. Oppikoppi Festival
8/13 Redmond, WA Marymoor Park Concerts 107.7 (The End Summer Camp)
8/14 Portland, OR Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (94.7 Birthday Bash)
8/16 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Amphitheatre w/Dirty Heads
8/28 Palmer, AK Alaska State Fair
Fall Tour Dates:
9/23-25 Las Vegas, NV Life Is Beautiful Festival
9/25 Santa Cruz, CA The Catalyst
9/27 Spokane, WA Knitting Factory Concert House
9/29 Edmonton, Alberta Union Hall
9/30 Calgary, Alberta MacEwan Ballroom
10/1 Saskatoon, Saskatechewan Loui’s
10/2 Winnipeg, Manitoba Garrick Centre
10/4 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater
10/6 Detroit, MI St. Andrews Hall
10/8 Montreal, Quebec Metropolis
10/9 Toronto, Ontario Danforth Music Hall
10/11 Rochester, NY Main Street Armory – Downstairs
10/12 Boston, MA The Royale
10/14 Silver Spring, MD The Fillmore
10/15 New York, NY PlayStation Theater **
10/20 New Orleans, LA House of Blues
10/21 Houston, TX Warehouse Live
10/23 Dallas, TX Gas Monkey Live!
10/27 San Francisco, CA Regency Ballroom
10/28 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern
10/29 Phoenix, AZ Dia De Los KONGOS at Crescent Ballroom Outdoors
Head Honcho, Editor in Chief and writer here on VENTS. I don't like walking on the beach, but I love playing the guitar and geeking out about music. I am also a movie maniac and 6 hours sleeper.