Hootie & The Blowfish announces ‘Group Therapy Tour’ to mark 25th anniversary of its debut album

Hootie & the Blowfish, which has kept a low public profile for at least the past decade, will mount a major 2019 tour to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its debut album, “Cracked Rear View.” Moreover, the South Carolina-bred pop-rock band, which has not released a new album since 2005’s “Looking for Lucky,” has signed a new contract with Universal Music Group Nashville and is set to release new music later this year.

Hootie, which is headed by singer-turned-country-music-star Darius Rucker, will kick off its 44-city Group Therapy Tour on May 30 in Virginia Beach, Va. The tour, announced Monday morning, concludes Sept. 13 in the band’s hometown of Columbia, S.C. All dates and cities appear below.

The extensive concert trek will include five California shows, beginning with a June 21 performance at San Diego’s North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre.

The other California dates are: June 23 at FivePoint Amphitheatre in Irvine; June 25 at the Hollywood Bowl; June 28 at Toyota Pavilion in Sacramento; and June 29 at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View.

The Canadian band Barenaked Ladies will be the opening act for all the shows on the nostalgia-fueled tour.

Released in 1994, Hootie’s “Cracked Rear View” album sold 14.5 million to 16 million copies, depending on the source, and produced such hit songs as “Hold My Hand” and “Only Wanna Be With You.”

Hootie’s representatives stress that the Group Therapy Tour is a concert trek designed to commemorate the 25th anniversary of “Cracked Rear View,” not a reunion tour.

That may be technically correct. But since Rucker launched his successful country solo career more than a decade ago, the number of Hootie’s concerts has diminished dramatically. Indeed, the band does not appear to have performed anywhere between August 2008 and August 2012.

Since then, the four-man group has played live only a handful of times each year.

“You know, life’s going pretty good for everybody right now, so we’re not really dying to get back together and do a tour or anything like that,” Rucker told abcnews.go.com in 2017. “But, you know, someday.”

Hootie’s “someday” comes six years after Rucker became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 2012.

“We’ve never stopped being a band,” said Hootie bassist Dean Felber, in a statement released Monday morning.

“There’s nothing like playing music live,” added guitarist Mark Bryan. “For the first time in nearly 20 years, we’ll be coming back to Columbia, South Carolina, where it all began.”

Tickets for the Group Therapy Tour go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. to the general public at ticketmaster.com and livenation.com, and by phone at (800) 745-3000.

An online pre-sale for Citi card members and Hootie fan club members begins today, Monday at 10 a.m. and runs through 10 p.m. Thursday, at citiprivatepass.com.

Hootie & the Blowfish’s Group Therapy Tour itinerary

Thursday, May 30: Virginia Beach, Va., Veterans United Home Loan Amphitheatre

Friday, May 31: Raleigh, N.C., Coastal Credit Union Music Park

Saturday, June 1: Atlanta, Lakewood Amphitheatre

Thursday, June 6: Orange Beach, Ala., the Wharf

Friday, June 7: Tampa, Fla., MidFlorida Amphitheatre

Saturday, June 8: West Palm Beach, Fla., Coral Sky Amphitheatre

Thursday, June 13: Austin, Texas, Austin360 Amphitheatre

Friday, June 14: Houston, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

Saturday, June 15: Dallas, Starplex Pavilion

Wednesday, June 19: Phoenix, Ak-Chin Pavilion

Friday, June 21: San Diego, North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre

Saturday, June 22: Las Vegas, T-Mobile Arena

Sunday, June 23: Irvine, FivePoint Amphitheatre

Tuesday, June 25: Los Angeles, Hollywood Bowl

Friday, June 28: Sacramento, Toyota Pavilion

Saturday, June 29: Mountain View, Shoreline Amphitheatre

Thursday, July 11: Englewood, Colo., Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre

Friday, July 12: St. Louis, Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre

Saturday, July 13: Rogers, Ark., Walmart Amphitheatre

Saturday, July 20: Cincinnati, Riverbend Music Center

Sunday, July 21: Pittsburgh, KeyBank Pavilion

Friday, July 26: Cleveland, Blossom Music Center

Saturday, July 27: Bristow, Va., Jiffy Lube Live

Sunday, July 28: Camden, Pa., BB&T Pavilion

Friday, Aug. 2: Gilford, N.H., Bank of New Hampshire

Saturday, Aug. 3: Boston, Xfinity Center

Sunday, Aug. 4: Saratoga Springs, N.Y., SPAC

Thursday, Aug. 8: Columbia, Md., Merriweather Post Pavilion

Friday, Aug. 9: Rochester, N.Y., CMAC

Saturday, Aug. 10: New York, Madison Square Garden

Friday, Aug. 16: Detroit, DTE Energy Music Theatre

Saturday, Aug. 17: Indianapolis, Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center

Sunday, Aug. 18: Des Moines, Iowa State Fair

Thursday, August 22: St. Paul, MN, Minnesota State Fair

Friday, August 23: East Troy, WI, Alpine Valley Music Theatre

Saturday, August 24: Chicago, IL, Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre

Thursday, August 29: Toronto, ON, Budweiser Stage

Friday, August 30: Hershey, PA, Hershey Park Stadium

Saturday, August: 31 Hartford, CT, XFINITY Theater

Thursday, September 5: Charlotte, NC, PNC Pavilion

Friday, September 6: Birmingham, AL, Oak Mountain Amphitheatre

Saturday, September 7: Nashville, TN, Bridgestone Arena

Friday, September 13: Columbia, SC, Colonial Life Arena

george.varga@sduniontribune.com

Twitter @georgevarga