Good news, everyone! Even though he can hardly bear the sty-in-the-eye of his artistic integrity that is having parts of his songs performed by other musicians (because of course, “performance” is just a small hop away from “interpretation,” which is one false move away from “ownership,” which is one court hearing away from “intellectual property theft”), James Mercer is literally taking one for the team this year and agreeing to perform his DIY songs all over the world… (shudder) with a cast of additional musicians. For at least a few fleeting months, these musicians will be formally known as “The Shins” and will ably perform selections from Mercer’s new album Port of Morrow (TMT Acrostic Review), as well as some other Mercer-related albums.
In addition to the summer dates that we could-have-reported-before-but-didn’t, Mercer has added another dozen North American dates in September and October, including an appearance at this fall’s Austin City Limits festival, at which it’ll be awfully hard to keep the cameras off of the other players, who, according to Mercer’s PR person (who I assume is Mercer), will consist of Mxxk “James Mercer” Wxxxxxs on additional guitars and lap steel, Yxxxi “James Mercer” Mxxxxxxs on bass, Jxxxxxa “James Mercer” Dxxxxn on guitar, Rxxxxxd “James Mercer” Sxxxt on keyboards, and Jxe “James Mercer” Pxxxxxr drums. A portion of the dates’ pre-sale tickets will be available today at a lifestyle site that Mercer wrote the code for called Gilt City, and the rest of them will be available at James Mercers’ LinkedIn site; both starting at noon EST, also known as Mercer-o’clock.
Tourdates:
05.31.12 - Council Bluffs, IA - Harrahs Council Bluffs
06.01.12 - Minneapolis, MN - Orpheum Theatre
06.02.12 - Kansas City, KS - Livestrong Sporting Park
06.04.12 - St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
06.05.12 - Columbus, OH - LC Pavilion Outdoor Amphitheatre
06.06.12 - Detroit, MI - Fillmore Detroit
06.08.12 - Cleveland, OH - Masonic Auditorium
06.09.12 - Louisville, KY - Iroquois Amphitheatre
06.10.12 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo
06.22.12 - Frankfurt, Germany - Lüften Festival
06.23.12 - Neuhausen, Germany - Southside Festival
06.24.12 - Scheessel, Germany - Hurricane Festival
06.25.12 - Hamburg, Germany - Grobe Freiheit 36
06.27.12 - Arendal, Norway - Hovefestival
06.29.12 - Helsinki, Finland - The Garden Party
06.30.12 - Borlange, Sweden - Peace & Love
07.02.12 - Gothenburg, Sweden - Pusterviksbaren
07.03.12 - Malmo, Sweden - KB Club
07.051.2 - Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival
07.07.12 - Lisbon, Portugal - Super Bock Super Rock
07.23.12 - Melbourne, Australia - Festival Hall
07.25.12 - Sydney, Australia - Hordern Pavilion
07.27.12 - Byron Bay, Australia- Splendour In The Grass Festival
07.29.12 - Nigata, Japan - Fuji Rock Festival
08.03.12 - Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza
08.04.12 - Toronto, ON - Molson Amphitheatre
08.17.12 - Erfurt, Germany - Highfield
08.18.12 - Hasslet, Belgium - Pukkelpop
08.23.12 - Zurich, Switzerland - Open Air Festival
08.24.12 - Paris, France - Rock En Seine
08.25.12 - Reading, UK - Richfield Avenue
08.26.12 - Leeds, UK - Bramham Park
09.22.12 - Seattle, WA - Paramount Theatre
09.25.12 - Vancouver, BC - Orpheum Theatre
09.26.12 - Portland, OR - Keller Auditorium
09.30.12 - San Diego, CA - SDSU Open Air Theatre
10.02.12 - Universal City, CA - Gibson Amphitheatre
10.03.12 - Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre
10.04.12 - Albuquerque, NM - Kiva Auditorium
10.07.12 - Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
10.08.12 - Atlanta, GA - Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre
10.10.12 - Houston, TX - House of Blues
10.11.12 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues
10.13.12 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits
• The Shins: http://www.theshins.com
• Columbia: http://www.columbiarecords.com
• Aural Apothecary: http://www.facebook.com/Aural.Apothecary
More about: The Shins
