In April 2018, Wayne Kramer of Detroit’s proto-punk/hard rock band MC5 announced 35 North American dates for “Kick Out the Jams: The 50th Anniversary Tour.” Calling the band the MC50—which includes guitarist Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), drummer Brendan Canty (Fugazi), bassist Dug Pinnick (King’s X) and frontman Marcus Durant (Zen Guerrilla)—Kramer will be celebrating the landmark anniversary of the MC5’s debut album Kick Out the Jams and the release of his memoir The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5, and My Life of Impossibilities, to be published Aug. 14 by Da Capo Press. (Pre-order here.)
On May 2, the band announced they would be bringing the tour to Europe and the U.K. Their first dates will now be with four festival appearances beginning June 8. See the complete schedule below.
The North American tour begins in early September and culminates with an October 27 concert back where it all began: in Detroit in 1968, where Kick Out the Jams was recorded live in front of a hometown audience at the Grande Ballroom on Halloween night. The final Detroit show will also be the grand re-opening of the soon-to-be-renovated Fillmore. On the MC50 tour, Kramer and the band will play the album Kick Out the Jams in its entirety followed by an encore of MC5 material that will change each night.
Says Kramer in a press release, “This band will rip your head off. It’s real, raw, sweaty, total energy rock ’n’ roll, like a bunch of 40-to-70-year-old punks on a meth power trip.”
Wayne Kramer in MC5
The release adds, “Kick Out the Jams is recognized as the galvanizing live document that introduced a major voice of late ’60s counterculture and proved incomparably influential on metal, punk, stoner rock and almost every other form of loud, limitless, long-haired music to come. The recording took place just months after the band’s appearance at Chicago’s riotous 1968 Democratic National Convention, a pivotal moment in modern American politics.”
Says Kramer of revisiting Kick Out the Jams, “Today, there is a corrupt regime in power, an endless war thousands of miles away, and uncontrollable violence wracking our country. It’s becoming less and less clear if we’re talking about 1968 or 2018. I’m now compelled to share this music I created with my brothers 50 years ago. My goal is that the audience leaves these concerts fueled by the positive and unifying power of rock music.”
Related: An interview with Danny Fields, who signed the MC5 to Elektra Records
Tour Dates (Tickets are available here)
6/08 – Aarhus, Denmark – Northside Festival
6/20 – Sweden – Liseberg Amusement Park Series
6/22 – Vitoria, Spain – Askena Festival
7/06 – Lille, Belgium – Sjock Festival
9/05 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution Live
9/06 – St. Augustine, FL @ Backyard Stage at St. Augustine Amphitheatre
9/07 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
9/08 – Raleigh, NC @ Hopscotch Music Festival
9/09 – Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
9/11 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
9/12 – New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall
9/13 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
9/14 – Huntington, NY @ The Paramount
9/15 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
9/17 – New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
9/18 – Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre
9/19 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
9/21 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre
9/22 – Grand Rapids, MI @ 20 Monroe Live
9/23 – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
9/25 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Ballroom
9/26 – St. Louis, MO @ The Ready Room
9/28 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk
9/29 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
10/1 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Marquee
10/2 – Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl
10/3 – San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
10/4 – San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom
10/5 – Los Angeles, CA @ John Anson Ford
10/15 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
10/16 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
10/17 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
10/19 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall
10/20 – Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre
10/23 – Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater
10/24 – Chicago, IL @ Metro Chicago
10/25 – Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart’s
10/26 – Detroit, MI @ St. Andrew’s Hall
10/27 – Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore
11/09 – Bristol, U.K. – Bristol Academy
11/10 – Glasgow, U.K. – Glasgow ABC
11/11 – Manchester, U.K. – Albert Hall
11/12 – London, U.K. – Shepherds Bush Empire
11/14 – Paris, France – Elysee Montmartre
11/15 – Montpellier, France – Rockstore
11/21 – Milan, Italy – Alcatrazz
11/22 – Zurich, Switzerland – Komplex
11/23 – Munich, Germany – Neue Theatrefabrik
11/25 – Vienna, Austria – Flex
11/27 – Cologne, Germany – Gloria
11/28 – Berlin, Germany – Columbia Halle
11/29 – Hamburg, Germany – Fabrik
11/30 – Alkmaar, Holland – Victory
12/01 – Antwerp, Belgium – Trix
Watch a video set to “Kick Out the Jams”
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