GRAMMY® Award-winning Atlanta hard rock juggernaut Mastodoncelebrate and commemorate the 10th anniversary of their groundbreaking 2009 concept album, Crack The Skye(Reprise Records), with special live performances, exclusive merchandise, and unreleased visual content throughout 2019. This summer, the band joins forces with Coheed and Cambria to co-headline The Unheavenly Skye Tour. At venues across North America, Mastodon will perform Crack The Skyein its entirety every night for the first time since 2010. As they initially wrote the album to be played from top-to-bottom, this will undoubtedly be an unforgettable run for the musicians themselves and fans alike. It kicks off Tuesday, May 28th in Louisville, KY at Iroquois Amphitheater, rolls through major markets coast-to-coast, and concludes Wednesday, July 3rd at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, TX. Check out the full itinerary below.
Brann Dailor of Mastodon offered the following message to their fans: “Back in the summer of 2008 when we finished recording our 5th full-length album Crack the Skye, we felt like we had created something very special. That is why, to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of one of our proudest moments, we decided to take it out on tour and play it start to finish along with some other golden oldies of course. We can’t wait to see all of you on tour so we can celebrate Crack the Skye’s birthday together!!”
Click here to view and share part one of THE MAKING OF CRACK THE SKYE.
Tickets are on sale now. For additional ticket information go to: mastodonrocks.com and www.livenationentertainment.com.
Additionally, Mastodon reveals new special edition merchandise for Crack The Skye – available now on the band’s official online store. These include a picture disc bundle alongside other 10th anniversary merchandise packages, spanning apparel, accessories, posters, and more. Check them out here.
Setting the stage for the summer tour, the band tease out unreleased visual content. They will debut new clips and vignettes of Crack The Skye on YouTube and their other online properties over the coming months. Stay tuned.
In 2009, Crack The Skye marked a turning point in the story of Mastodon and clawed out a place in the zeitgeist. Not only did it become their first Top 15 debut on the Billboard Top 200, but it graced numerous Year-End Lists. Metal Hammer and Rock Sound crowned it “Album of the Year,” while it staked out a spot in the Top 4 of annual roundups by Time (#3) and Kerrang! (#4). Entertainment Weekly described it as “superb,” and The New York Timeswrote, “Mastodon has earned its place at the forefront of progressive metal with a mix of headiness and brawn…but the ambitious vision and vivid executive of ‘Crack The Skye’ don’t feel like a departure for the band.” Classic Rock Magazine put it as best as, “their ‘black’ album, their Nevermind, their Dark Side of the Moon.”
Themes of catharsis and healing underpin this conceptual opus. It slips in and out of sonic and lyrical wormholes punctuated by progressive marvel and a triptych of emotionally charged vocals as these seven tracks tell a tale of astral travel, power struggle, identity, conjuration, and good versus evil. It raised the bar for hard rock and alternative music all at once with a combination of head-spinning songcraft and thought-provoking narrative.
Now, the group immortalizes their 2009 masterpiece in 2019 with a hard-earned celebration.
The band also immortalize the legacy of a friend on Saturday, April 13 – the 12thannual Record Store Day. Mastodon release Stairway To Nick John in tribute to longtime manager and confidant Nick John—who passed away in 2018 following a bout with pancreatic cancer. The quartet cut a cover of “Stairway To Heaven” by Led Zeppelin—who their late manager professed a lifetime of fandom for as his favorite band. For the first time, Mastodon will uncover their take on this classic as a permanent Record Store Dayexclusive vinyl, featuring the Studio Version on Side A and a Live Version on Side B. Only 1,500 copies pressed to 10-inchvinyl will be available in participating independent retailers during Record Store Day. Poised to sell out fast, fans are encouraged to get one as soon as possible. All of the proceeds benefit the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research. Click herefor further information. Stairway To Nick John arrives on all DSP’s this May.
As always, Mastodon keeps looking forward. Working on new music, expect them to roar to life in the studio very soon.
COHEED AND CAMBRIA AND MASTODON: THE UNHEAVENLY SKYE TOUR DATES:
# Indicates date a festival date not part of co-headline tour
#Sun May 12 Rockingham, NC Epicenter Festival
Tue May 28 Louisville, KY Iroquois Amphitheater
Wed May 29 Columbus, OH Express Live! (Outdoors)
Fri May 31 Atlanta, GA Coca-Cola Roxy
Sat June 01 Simpsonville, SC CCNB Amphitheatre/Heritage Park Simpsonville
Sun June 02 Baltimore, MD MECU Pavilion
Tue June 04 Asbury Park, NJ Stone Pony Summer Stage
Thur June 06 Boston, MA Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion
Fri June 07 New York, NY Ford Amphitheater/Coney Island Boardwalk
Sat June 08 Camden, NJ BB&T Pavilion
Mon June 10 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE – Outdoors
Tue June 11 Detroit, MI Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre/Freedom Hill
Thur June 13 Council Bluffs, IA Harrah’s Council Bluffs – Stir Cove
Fri June 14 Chicago, IL Huntington Bank Pavilion/Northerly Island
Sat June 15 Minneapolis, MN The Armory
Tue June 18 Kansas City, MO Starlight Theatre
Wed June 19 Denver, CO Fillmore Auditorium
Thur June 20 Salt Lake City, UT The Great Salt Air Pavilion
Sat June 22 Seattle, WA Marymoor Park
Sun June 23 Portland, OR Moda Center-Theater of the Clouds
Tue June 25 San Francisco, CA The Masonic
Wed June 26 San Diego, CA Petco Park – Park at the Park
Fri June 28 Las Vegas, NV The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas
Sat June 29 Los Angeles, CA Greek Theatre
Sun June 30 Phoenix, AZ Comerica Theatre
Tue July 02 Austin, TX Austin360 Amphitheater
Wed July 03 Irving, TX The Pavilion/Toyota Music Factory
#Thur July 18 Cadott, WI Rock Fest
#Sat July 20 Oshkosh, WI Rock USA