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Like Winona Ryder and Matrix-chic fashion, pop-rock icons Hootie & the Blowfish never really made sense outside the ’90s (or had a hit to rival their 1994 debut, Cracked Rear View).
Still, the band made a comeback in 2019 (with Imperfect Circle, their first studio album in 14 years) and holds nostalgic appeal for fans of a certain age (not to mention millennials who discovered them thanks to that Hootie-centric Friends episode). If that’s you and you live in the Portland-Vancouver area, you can get your fix next summer.
Five years after their last full tour, Hootie & the Blowfish are embarking on a 43-city tour (dubbed Summer Camp With Trucks) of the U.S. and Canada. And one of their stops will be none other that Ridgefield, Wash., just a 30-minute drive from Portland.
On July 19, 2024, the band (which still includes founding members Mark Bryan, Dean Felber, Darius Rucker and Jim “Soni” Sonefeld) will play the 18,000-seat RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater. The show, taking place just a few weeks after the 29th anniversary Cracked Rear View, will feature Collective Soul and Edwin McCain as special guests.
“Basically overnight, our lives changed when Cracked Rear View did what it did, and yet as we quickly moved from vans and college bars to tour busses and arenas, not much else changed with how we approached making music and sharing it with our fans,” Mark Bryan said in a statement.
Tickets go on sale at 10 am Friday, Nov. 10, via Hootie.com (there will be presale access for Hootie & the Blowfish e-newsletter subscribers beginning at noon Nov. 7 until 10 pm Thursday, Nov. 9.
And just for the record: The name “Summer Camp With Trucks” doesn’t mean that the show will be some sort of concert-meets-monster truck rally extravaganza. The trucks, it seems, are symbolic.
Bryan explained, “Edwin McCain told someone at the time that touring with us felt like summer camp with trucks…and that’s exactly how we want next year to feel, too.” Sounds like the words of a man in a very Hootie place.