Fall Tours: Wilco/Neil Young, The Hold Steady/Drive-By Truckers

It seems like a new trend these days is for big name acts to team up and tour together. Maybe the price of gas is causing this, or maybe they just want to attract larger crowds to the shows. Whatever the reason, it is to our advantage for sure.

The big one is Wilco teaming up with Neil Young to play a handful of dates. Neil Young is also going to tour with Death Cab for Cutie, another great opener. Unfortunately for me none of the dates are in the SF Bay area, although BOTH Death Cab for Cutie and Wilco will be at this year's Bridge School Benefit in Mountain View, CA (http://www.bridgeschool.org/events.html).

Here are the Neil Young tour dates:

Oct. 14: St. Paul, Minn. (Xcel Energy Center, w/ Death Cab For Cutie)
Oct. 16: Winnipeg, Manitoba (MTS Centre, w/ Death Cab For Cutie)
Oct. 18: Regina, Saskatchewan (Brandt Centre, w/ Death Cab For Cutie)
Oct. 19: Calgary, Alberta (Pengrowth Saddledome, w/ Death Cab For Cutie)
Oct. 21: Everett, Wash. (Comcast Arena, no opener specified)
Oct. 22: Vancouver (GM Place, w/ Death Cab For Cutie)
Oct. 29: San Diego (Cox Arena, w/ Death Cab For Cutie)
Oct. 30: Los Angeles (Forum, w/ Death Cab For Cutie)
Nov. 1: Reno, Nev. (Events Center, w/ Death Cab For Cutie)
Nov. 4: Kansas City, Mo. (Sprint Center, w/ Death Cab For Cutie)
Nov. 5: Omaha, Neb. (Qwest Center, w/ Death Cab For Cutie)
Nov. 29: Halifax, Nova Scotia (Metro Centre, w/ Wilco)
Dec. 1: Montreal (Bell Centre, w/ Wilco)
Dec. 2: Ottawa, Ontario (Scotia Bank Place, w/ Wilco)
Dec. 4: Toronto (Air Canada Centre, w/ Wilco)
Dec. 7: Auburn Hills, Mich. (Palace of Auburn Hills, w/ Wilco)
Dec. 9: Chicago (Allstate Center, no opener specified)
Dec. 12: Philadelphia (Wachovia Spectrum, w/ Wilco)
Dec. 15: New York (Madison Square Garden, w/ Wilco)

Although not huge names like Neil Young or Wilco, Drive-By Truckers will be teaming up with The Hold Steady for a bunch of dates on what they are calling the "Rock and Roll Means Well Tour". These are two incredibly energetic live bands and this is one show I would love to see. Looks like Counting Crows will be joining them on a couple dates as well. The dates are:

30-Oct Louisville, KY Coyote's @ City Block
31-Oct Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium
1-Nov Atlanta, GA Tabernacle
2-Nov Tallahassee, FL The Moon @ FSU
3-Nov Raleigh, NC Lincoln Theatre
5-Nov State College, PA The State Theatre
6-Nov New York, NY Terminal 5
7-Nov New York, NY Terminal 5
8-Nov Philadelphia, PA Electric Factory
9-Nov Boston, MA Orpheum Theatre
11-Nov Toronto, ONT Phoenix Theatre
12-Nov Pittsburgh, PA Carnegie Music Hall
13-Nov Bloomington, IN Bluebird
14-Nov Chicago, IL Riviera
15-Nov Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
16-Nov Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
19-Nov Boise, ID The Knitting Factory Concert House
20-Nov Seattle, WA The Showbox
21-Nov Seattle, WA The Showbox
22-Nov Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom
23-Nov San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
24-Nov San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
25-Nov Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern
16-Dec Den Bosch, NL Brabanthallen (w/ Counting Crows)
20-Dec Dublin, IE O2 (w/ Counting Crows)
21-Dec Belfast, UK Odyssey Arena (w/ Counting Crows)