Pitchfork

Want to see Idlewild before July? You'll only have forty-three chances. The Scottish heath-rockers have announced a mammoth set of U.S. dates spread over two upcoming tours: A solo jaunt in March and April and a separate set of May and June dates in support of venerable grunge icons Pearl Jam. The first tour is presumably intended to stir up interest in Idlewild's latest languidly languishing release, The Remote Part, which will finally be released in the U.S. on March 25th, or about six months after every real Idlewild fan in America ponied up and bought the import-- the album has been available in the U.K. since last summer. This isn't the first time American Idlewild fans have been given the little discourage: The band's Pitchfork-approved sophomore release, 100 Broken Windows, suffered a similar delay. Roddy, if you're out there, and you're wondering why you're not bigger than Coldplay here... there it is, mate.

Maybe Pearl Jam can straighten these blokes out with some tips from their earlier days. Ten actually bears a certain similarity to The Remote Part, at least insofar as they're both albums so absurdly FM-friendly that they ought to come packaged with complimentary radios. Idlewild joins Sleater-Kinney, the Buzzcocks, and Sparta as the quartet of openers for Pearl Jam's four-month-long US tour.

Idlewild has not toured the U.S. successfully since early 2001, and a planned tour during the summer of that year had to be cancelled entirely due to the hospitalization of guitarist Rod Jones. Since then the band had ditched bassist Bob Fairfoull and added bassist Gavin Fox and former touring guitarist Allan Stewart. Frontman Roddy Woomble has claimed to NME that the band's expansion to five members will bring about "a different version of Idlewild"-- hopefully with more of the dense, dual-guitar crunch that made Robert Burns so envious of the backing Edwin Morgan got during latter half of "In Remote Part/Scottish Fiction". "Fuckin' lutes," griped Burns. "They always meed me soond lek sooch a pahnsy!" Tour dates:

All dates with French Kicks supporting, except SXSW:
03-05 Boston, MA - Paradise
03-06 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
03-07 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts
03-08 Baltimore, MD - Fletcher's
03-09 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
03-10 Atlanta, GA - Echo Lounge
03-11 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
03-13 Houston, TX - Rudyard's
03-14 Austin, TX - Antone's (SXSW)
03-16 Dallas, TX - Trees
03-18 Kansas City, MO - The Hurricane
03-19 Columbia, MO - Mojo's
03-20 Champaign, IL - Highdive
03-21 Chicago, IL - Double Door
03-22 Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
03-23 Omaha, NE - Sokol Underground
03-25 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theatre
03-26 Salt Lake City, UT - XScape
03-28 Seattle, WA - Graceland
03-29 Portland, OR - Lola's
03-31 Sacramento, CA - Harlow's
04-01 San Francisco, CA - Slims
04-03 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey
04-05 San Diego, CA - Casbah
04-21 Cleveland, OH - TBA
04-22 Pittsburgh, PA - TBA
04-23 Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall
04-24 Detroit, MI - TBA

Dates supporting Pearl Jam:
05-28 Missoula, MT - Adams Center
05-30 Vancouver, BC - GM Place
06-01 San Francisco, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre
06-02 Los Angeles, CA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
06-05 San Diego, CA - San Diego Sports Arena
06-06 Las Vegas, NV - Mandalay Bay Center
06-07 Phoenix, AZ - Cricket Pavilion
06-09 Dallas, TX - Smirnoff Music Center
06-10 Little Rock, AR - Alltel Arena
06-12 Kansas City, MO - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
06-13 Council Bluffs, IA - Mid-America Center
06-15 Fargo, ND - Fargo Dome
06-16 St. Paul, MN - Xcell Arena
06-18 Chicago, IL - United Center
06-19 Cincinnati, OH - Riverbend Music Center