Neutral Milk Hotel Adds A Few More Gigs

After talking to Romeo last year – when the indie rockers’ reunion only consisted of a handful of upcoming shows – Pollstar checked in with NMH’s agent again and asked about the future of the tour. 

“It’s not going to go on forever,” Romeo said. “I think they’re definitely going to do a few more festivals in the fall, a few more shows, but they won’t repeat any headline markets. They’ll take some time off in the next year. Rather than do the circuit again, they’ll concentrate on going to some smaller cities where they haven’t played before & maybe go to South America or some other far off and different places they’ve never been before. When that’s all done I doubt there will be more.”

This lines up with a message on Neutral Milk Hotel’s website that warns fans that the East Coast dates July 21-25 “will be the final headline shows in the NYC, Philadelphia and DC area for the foreseeable future.”

We also asked Romeo about the possibility of new material.

“A lot of the bands that reunite are ones that took their career to the end, took it as far as it could go and then came back around 10-15 years later and tried to breathe new life into it.  Neutral Milk Hotel stopped touring six months after their second record was released, so this is more of like unfinished business.

“Seeing this whole groundswell of popularity and the cultish following, it got to the point where there were a lot of people who wanted to see this band and hear this music who never got to experience it. I think that’s the general vibe of this thing. It’s not about new material or a new record. Neutral Milk Hotel is really trying to put on a good show and do those songs justice. I think they’ve done that and will do it for a little while longer but I doubt it will ever be more than that really.”

Next week the band launches a European tour, starting with a few nights in Ireland. In addition to the East Coast dates in July, Jeff Mangum and the gang will make appearances at Bonnaroo and Pitchfork Music Festival. Then the group heads back over the sea to Europe in August.

Here’s the plan for September:

Sept. 5 – Boston, Mass., (Boston Calling Calling)
Sept. 6 – Cooperstown, N.Y., Brewery Ommegang
Sept. 7 – Bridgeport, Conn., The Klein
Sept. 9 – South Burlington, Vt., Higher Ground – Ballroom
Sept. 10 – South Burlington, Vt., Higher Ground – Ballroom
Sept. 18 – Los Angeles, Calif., Hollywood Bowl

The band will also play Ottawa Folk Festival sometime during its Sept. 11-14 event. The Ottawa, Ontario, fest hasn’t revealed its daily lineup yet.

Tickets for Bridgeport go on sale May 16. An early bird onsale for Ottawa Folk Festival begins May 15. The rest of the dates are on sale now.

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