Blackberry Smoke Locks In New ‘Spirit Of The South’ Dates

The tour is mostly comprised of amphitheaters, from sixteen days from July 30 in Bridgeport, Conn., to Oct. 28 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colo. 

Most of the dates are rescheduled from a previous routing, but tickets to new dates in Bridgeport, Conn.; Canandaigua, N.Y.; Memphis, Tenn.; Alpharetta, Ga.; and Morrison, Colo.; go on sale May 21 at 10 a.m. local time. Allman Betts Band plays all shows, but Jaimoe and The Wild Feathers split the dates.

The full routing is below for the “Spirit Of The South Tour” is below:

July 30—Bridgeport, CT—Hartford Healthcare Amphitheatre*

July 31—Canandaigua, NY—CMAC*

August 1—Huber Heights, OH—Rose Music Center at The Heights*

August 3—St. Louis, MO—St. Louis Music Park* 

August 5—Dallas, TX—The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory*

August 6—Memphis, TN—The Soundstage at Graceland*

August 7—Ashland, KY—Riverfront* 

August 10—Jacksonville, FL—Daily’s Palace* 

August 12—Baltimore, MD—MECU Pavilion*

August 13—Asbury Park, NJ—The Stone Pony Summer Stage*

August 15—Charlotte, NC—Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre*

August 17—Raleigh, NC—Red Hat Amphitheater* 

August 19—Cincinnati, OH—PNC Pavilion*

August 20—Nashville, TN—Ascend Amphitheater*

August 21—Alpharetta, GA—Ameris Bank Amphitheater*

August 25—New York, NY—Pier 17 at South Street Seaport*

August 26—Boston, MA—Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion*

August 27—Reading, PA—Santander Arena*

September 23—Indianapolis, IN—Farm Bureau Insurance Lawn at White River State Park†

September 24—Sterling Heights, MI—Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill†

September 25—Cleveland, OH—Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica†

October 28—Morrison, CO—Red Rocks Amphitheatre*

Blackberry Smoke has been very active in trying to usher in the return of live concerts and they have many other performances scheduled in 2021, including two dates this week at Harrah’s Cherokee Event Center in Cherokee, N.C. The band is also scheduled to play multiple racing events, House Of Blues clubs and festivals in 2021.

Blackberry Smoke is an established theater headliner, having grossed $32,392 on two nights at City Winery NYC in New York April 6-7, 2019. More recently, they have been keeping their grosses up, earning $42,090 on 822 tickets on two shows at The Garden at Blue Grotto in Oceanport, N.J., on Sept. 11, 2020.  

“In standard tour routing, you choose target markets and identify venues in each market,” Blackberry Smoke’s agent CJ Strock of MINT Talent Group told Pollstar in February about trying to keep the band active while the industry was mostly shut down. “For social distancing touring, [we found] a promoter or venue partner first – one that’s in the social distancing business – and then you take the city that venue is in and route the tour.” 

“Who’s open? OK there’s The Caverns, a beautiful literal cave in Tennessee that has an outdoor amphitheater,” Strock said.  “You do that one day, tie that with Avondale Brewing in Birmingham the next day, just for example. You know those places are open and doing a good job. You know the artist will be safe, the venue will be safe and it’s a great experience. That’s opposed to booking by taking the cities first – there just aren’t venue options in a lot of cities.”

The band will be performing music from its new album, You Hear Georgia, which is out through Thirty Tigers on May 28.

The band’s full Canadian tour has been postponed to spring 2022.

Allman Betts Band has also been trailblazing in the return to touring and Pollstar spoke to band co-founder Devon Allman about the experience of going back out in January.