Hootie & The Blowfish Reunite With Darius Rucker, Announce First Tour In A Decade

– Hootie & the Blowfish

Hootie & the Blowfish announced their return Monday on The Today Show. The rock band, whose seismically popular debut, 1994’s Cracked Rear View, went 21 times platinum earlier this year, will embark on the extensive Group Therapy Tour in late May — and also plan to release their sixth studio album in 2019.

Though the group has played a smattering of gigs over the years, they’ve generally stayed off the road since 2008, when frontman Darius Rucker decided to focus solely on his solo career. It’s been even longer since the group released their fifth and most recent album, 2005’s Looking For Lucky.

“Having those shows at fraternity houses, clubs and dive bars under our belt prepared us for success to a degree, and it’s something we’re proud of — that we put in the work — but what matters to me the most is that we’re still a band all these years later,” bassist Dean Felber said. “We’ve never stopped being a band.” 

AP Photo – Hootie & The Blowfish

Guitarist Mark Bryan noted that the tour’s concluding show will bring Hootie back to Columbia, South Carolina — where they met at the University of South Carolina in 1986 — for the first time in nearly 20 years.

That Sept. 13 gig will close out a 44-date itinerary that kicks off May 30 in Virginia Beach, Virginia and will take Hootie to amphitheaters throughout North America. Barenaked Ladies will open the shows, and tickets go on sale Dec. 7 at 10 a.m. local time.

During Hootie’s absence, Rucker became a bona fide solo star. The 52-year-old’s 2013 cover of Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Wagon Wheel” netted him a Grammy for Best Country Solo Performance, and he’s been bankable on the road, grossing $14 million and $9.3 million in North America in 2015 and 2016, respectively.