Violent Femmes To Play Their Full Debut Album In 40th Anniversary Tour

03-02-2023

Album art

(dmk) Violent Femmes has announced that they will be performing their trailblazing, self-titled, debut album from cover to cover as part of the record's 40th anniversary tour.

Kicking off at the Ventura Music Hall on Saturday, May 6 and hitting such legendary venues as the Fonda Theater in LA, Rady Shell in San Diego, CA, where they will perform with the San Diego Symphony, and Pappy + Harriet's in Joshua Tree, CA, the tour will culminate in Denver, CO at the Levitt Pavilion on Sunday, May 21. Tickets go on sale Friday, March 3 at 10 AM local time here.

Once hailed as the "soundtrack to male puberty," Violent Femmes' first record amplified teenage angst and alienation in the 1980s with such songs as "Kiss Off," "Add It Up," and "Gone Daddy Gone," written by Lead Vocalist and Guitarist Gordon Gano before he'd even gotten his driver's license. The album, which was mostly autobiographical, would later prove to embody some of the most powerful anthems of a disenchanted youth that the world has ever known. And while it took 10 years to go Platinum and hit the Billboard Top 200, it has now sold three million copies worldwide and is still in rotation on today's top rock stations, substantiating it as more than a simple battle cry for a misunderstood youth. Today, it stands as a pillar of an American underground movement, and one of the best early examples of alternative rock.

For the remainder of the '90s, Violent Femmes continued to record new material, while their earliest songs remained in the zeitgeist, thanks to popular shows and films like "My So-Called Life," Reality Bites, and Grosse Pointe Blank. Since that time, the band has released 10 studio albums including their most recent Hotel Last Resort (2019). Today, Violent Femmes continues to resonate with audiences of all ages. Upon the band's 40th anniversary, Pitchfork wrote that "The Femmes don't signify an era so much as a time of life," adding that "for young people growing up in the internet age" their music "is part of a shared language."

Joining Violent Femmes as support for the tour is critically-acclaimed Americana, folk rocker Jesse Ahern. Currently promoting his much-anticipated forthcoming album Roots Rock Rebel (mid-2023 on Dummy Luck Music), which was produced by Ted Hutt (Dropkick Murphys, Gaslight Anthem), Ahern is no stranger to the road. In fact, he has spent the last four years touring the world and sharing the stage with such iconic bands and artists as Dropkick Murphys, Rancid, Chuck Ragan, Frank Turner, and Jaime Wyatt. This March, he will, once again, support the Dropkick Murphys as they embark on their "St. Patrick's Day Tour."

Saturday, May 6 Ventura Music Hall Ventura, CA

Sunday, May 7 Fonda Theater Los Angeles, CA

Wednesday, May 10 Rady Shell (with select orchestral support) San Diego, CA

Thursday, May 11 Pappy + Harriet's Pioneer Town, CA

Friday, May 12 Pappy + Harriet's Pioneer Town, CA

Sunday, May 14 Rialto Tucson, AZ

Tuesday, May 16 House Of Blues Dallas, TX

Wednesday, May 17 White Oak Music Hall Houston, TX

Thursday, May 18 Stubb's Austin, TX

Friday, May 19 Cain's Ballroom Tulsa, OK

Sunday, May 21 Levitt Pavilion Denver, CO