Minus the Bear are hitting the road again. The Seattle indie rock outfit have announced a fall run across the South, East Coast, and Midwest, continuing the ‘Menos El Oso’ 20th anniversary tour that launched last year. The beloved album received a deluxe reissue on Suicide Squeeze last August, and the response to the fall run clearly warranted more dates.
Guitarist David Knudson sums it up directly: “We had way too much fun playing Menos el Oso on the fall run last year so we’re gonna do it again. This time we’re hitting some of our favorite towns that we couldn’t squeeze into the last itinerary.” The new routing covers Nashville, Columbus, Grand Rapids, Saint Louis, Oklahoma City, Lawrence, Des Moines, Buffalo, New Haven, Richmond, and Raleigh, filling in the gaps from the first leg.
Two dates stand apart from the headline run. September 9 in Austin and September 10 in Irving see Minus the Bear joining Jimmy Eat World on their Bleed American tour, a pairing that feels exactly right. Knudson called it a chance they simply could not pass up. The run closes September 19 at Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta, with Keep supporting on all headline dates.
‘Menos El Oso’ remains one of the defining albums of its era, a record that balanced melodic sophistication with experimental edge in a way few bands have managed before or since. Hearing it played in full, night after night, is exactly the kind of live experience that reminds you why it mattered so much in the first place.
September cannot come soon enough.
‘Menos El Oso’ Tour Dates:
September 2 — Nashville, TN — Marathon Music Works (with Keep)
September 4 — Columbus, OH — Newport Music Hall (with Keep)
September 5 — Grand Rapids, MI — The Intersection (with Keep)
September 6 — Saint Louis, MO — The Sovereign (with Keep)
September 7 — Oklahoma City, OK — Tower Theater (with Keep)
September 9 — Austin, TX — Moody Amphitheater (with Jimmy Eat World)
September 10 — Irving, TX — Toyota Music Pavilion (with Jimmy Eat World)
September 11 — Lawrence, KS — Granada Theater (with Keep)
September 12 — Des Moines, IA — Val Air Ballroom (with Keep)
September 14 — Buffalo, NY — Town Ballroom (with Keep)
September 15 — New Haven, CT — College Street Music Hall (with Keep)
September 17 — Richmond, VA — The National (with Keep)
September 18 — Raleigh, NC — The Ritz (with Keep)
September 19 — Atlanta, GA — Shaky Knees Festival (with Keep)