Hootie & the Blowfish Reunite for New Album and Tour: 'We've Never Stopped Being a Band'

Sarah Michaud
Updated
Hootie & the Blowfish Reunite for New Album and Tour: 'We've Never Stopped Being a Band'

It’s true — they only wanna be with you.

With the 25th anniversary of their classic album Cracked Rear View approaching, Hootie & the Blowfish are reuniting for a new album and a 44-city tour, the band announced on the TODAY show Monday.

Lead singer Darius Rucker, Mark Bryan, Jim “Soni” Sonefeld and Dean Felber hope to have a new single out by the spring and a completed album ready for summer 2019, they told the Associated Press.

“We’re writing songs in the studio, we’re making a new album,” Rucker — who’s enjoyed a successful country career as a solo artist for the past decade — said during a live interview with TODAY.

“We’re not doing it for us. We’re doing it for those people who used to plan their vacations around the Hootie & the Blowfish tour. When we play ‘Hold My Hand’ or ‘Let Her Cry’ or ‘Only Wanna Be with You’ … when you hear that crowd, sshhh. I’ll play it every night.”

The band will hit the road with fellow ’90s pop-rockers the Barenaked Ladies on the Group Therapy Tour, kicking off May 30 in Virginia Beach, Virginia and taking them throughout the country before wrapping in their hometown of Columbia, South Carolina on Sept. 30.

Hootie & the Blowfish
Hootie & the Blowfish

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“What matters to me the most is that we’re still a band all these years later,” Felber said in a press release. “We’ve never stopped being a band.”

Bryan added, “There’s nothing like playing music live. For the first time in nearly 20 years, we’ll be coming back to Columbia, South Carolina where it all began.”

Hootie & the Blowfish in 1995
Hootie & the Blowfish in 1995

Tickets for the Group Therapy Tour go on sale to the general public this Friday at http://www.LiveNation.com. Presale tickets will be available earlier this week to Citi cardmembers, Hootie & the Blowfish fan club members and Barenaked Ladies fans who purchased VIP packages in the past. A full list of tour dates is below.

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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 7 Tampa, Fla. | MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
June 8 West Palm Beach, Fla. | Coral Sky Amphitheatre
June 13 Austin, Texas | Austin360 Amphitheater
June 14 Houston, Texas | The 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

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

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