Trailblazing alternative rock group Sonic Youth has been forced to postpone most of the dates on a fall tour of the Southwest due to an injury within the band.
Affected concerts were originally booked for September 25 at Fox Theatre in Pomona, CA; September 28 at the House of Blues in San Diego, CA; September 29 at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, CA; October 1 at The Marquee in Tempe, AZ; and October 2 at the Rialto Theatre in Tuscon, AZ.
Those concerts have been rescheduled for the same venues in early 2010. Tickets for the original performances will be honored on the new dates, which include support from Sic Alps.
While the band will make up most of its fall dates, performances have been cancelled outright for sets on September 26 at Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara, CA, and October 4 at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin, TX. Refunds are available for the Santa Barbara concert.
The postponements were announced after lead guitarist Lee Ranaldo fractured his left wrist during a game of tennis. “Please join us in wishing him a quick and thorough recovery,” the other members of Sonic Youth said in a statement.
Though the statement did not mention a projected time frame for Ranaldo’s recovery, international dates are still on Sonic Youth’s 2009 calendar for late October. The New York City based quintet is also still set for a few East Coast concerts on November 21 at Terminal 5 in New York, NY, and November 22-23 at Wilbur Theatre in Boston, MA.
Sonic Youth has been touring in support of its sixteenth studio album, “The Eternal,” released on June 9. The veteran band’s first leg of U.S. concerts launched over the summer, with more than 20 dates scheduled from June through August.
Formed in the early 1980s, the Sonic Youth line-up is currently composed of Ranaldo, frontman and principal songwriter Thurston Moore, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Kim Gordon, bassist Mark Ibold and drummer Steve Shelley. Both Moore and Ranaldo are critically acclaimed experimental guitarists and have earned the 33rd and 34th spots on Rolling Stone‘s “Greatest Guitarists of All Time” list.
Sonic Youth itinerary:
(Dates are subject to change.)
| November 21 | New York, NY | Terminal 5 |
| November 22 – 23 | Boston, MA | Wilbur Theatre |
| January 4 | Tucson, AZ | Rialto Theatre |
| January 5 | Tempe, AZ | The Marquee |
| January 7 | San Diego, CA | House of Blues |
| January 8 | Pomona, CA | Fox Theater Pomona |
| January 9 | Los Angeles, CA | The Wiltern |
