Steve Earle To Embark on 30th Anniversary Copperhead Road Tour
It was 30 years ago that Steve Earle’s iconic alt-country masterpiece full of piss, vinegar, and stories of moonshining and contrabanning turned country music upside down and created an entirely new avenue and sound for unruly country rockers to do their thing. Copperhead Road was Steve Earle’s opus, and it established him as a force in country, rock, and songwriting for the next three decades to come.
If you’ve ever sat banging your head to “Copperhead Road” or singing along to “Devil’s Right Hand” and wished you could see all those songs played again in cycle like it was 1988 all over, then you will get your opportunity when Steve Earle embarks with his backing band The Dukes on a 30th Anniversary Tour commemorating Copperhead Road‘s release. Along with playing the record verbatim, attendees can expect Earle to play selections from his new album So You Wanna Be An Outlaw, and other songs from his three decade career.
The dates so far span from March through May, beginning in El Dorado, Arkansas. Earle then will be heading to Europe for a string of club and festival dates, bisected by an installment of his Camp Copperhead songwriting retreat June 25th to 28th at the Full Moon Resort in Big Indian, New York.
30th Anniversary Copperhead Road Tour Dates:
March 16 – El Dorado, AR – Griffin Music Hall
March 17 – St. Louis, MO – Delmar Hall
March 20 – Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room
March 21 – Minneapolis, MN – Pantages Theatre
March 23 – Des Moines, IA – Hoyt Sherman Place
March 24 – Sioux City, IA – Anthem at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
March 25 – Madison, WI – Barrymore Theatre
March 27 – Iowa City, IA – The Englert Theatre
March 28 – Green Bay, WI – Meyer Theatre
March 30 – Milwaukee, WI – Pabst Theater
March 31 – Chicago, IL – Old Town School of Folk Music
April 2 – Cleveland, OH – Music Box Supper Club
April 3 – Alexandria, VA – The Birchmere
April 4 – Hopewell, VA – The Beacon Theatre
April 5 – Bethlehem, PA – Musikfest Café
April 7 – East Greenwich, RI – Greenwich Odeum
April 8 – Niagara Falls, NY – Rapids Theatre
April 10 – New Haven, CT – College Street Music Hall
April 11 – South Burlington, VA – Higher Ground
April 12 – Northampton, MA – Academy of Music Theatre
April 14 – Portland, ME – State Theatre Portland
April 15 – Peekskill, NY – Paramount Hudson Valley
April 27 – Spring, TX – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
April 28 – Del Valle, TX (Austin) – Austin360 Ampitheater
April 29 – Dallas, TX – Majestic Theatre
May 5 – Pelhan, TN – The Caverns
June 25-28 – Big Indian, NY – Camp Copperhead
June 30 – Maidstone, England – Ramblin’ Man
July 6-8 – Riaza, Spain – Huercasa Country Festival
July 9 – Leipzig, Germany – Parkbuhne
July 11 – Zurich, Switzerland – Volkshaus Zurich
July 12 – Antwerp, Belgium – OLT Rivierehof
July 15 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso Grote Zaal
February 28, 2018 @ 9:05 am
He is also playing in Springfield, IL at Boondocks on March 18th! I can’t wait for this show!
February 28, 2018 @ 2:23 pm
Yep. Got my tix last week!
March 1, 2018 @ 6:55 am
Really? Boondocks? Damn, that’s only an hour away. Hmmmm…
February 28, 2018 @ 9:25 am
DUH-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh. DUH-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh.
Just saw Steve and the Dukes in December, so I’ll probably pass on the April Birchmere show. I’ll tell you what, though. They were great in December. They might have played every song from SYWTBAO. And of course, they did play Copperhead Road.
February 28, 2018 @ 9:42 am
Glad to hear that Jack, I.m seeing them in April, here in Vermont!
February 28, 2018 @ 9:59 am
Why so late to announce a spring tour?!? I already have tickets for 5 shows (starting with Tyler Childers Friday) from March – May.
Still today one of my favorite all-time concerts was Steve Earle with Jackson Browne and Keb Mo …. 2000 or 2001 (I’ll have to look up the date).
February 28, 2018 @ 11:18 am
Saw Tyler twice last weekend.. You will not be disappointed. He entertains.
February 28, 2018 @ 12:21 pm
I’m can’t wait!
February 28, 2018 @ 7:09 pm
I’m seeing Tyler tomorrow night! Can’t wait.
February 28, 2018 @ 8:00 pm
The announcement has been out for a while now. Trigger is just picking it up. I have my tickets for a at least a month now.
February 28, 2018 @ 10:21 am
The April 8th date should be Rapids Theater Niagara Falls. Don’t know why some have it listed for Riviera Theater.
February 28, 2018 @ 2:25 pm
Huh, they must have changed that date recently. Got the dates directly from email. Got it corrected. Thanks.
February 28, 2018 @ 2:47 pm
Yeah when the show was fist announced it was the Riviera Theater but when I went to go it said Rapids Theater and it’s listed on Rapids Theater’s website. Don’t know why it was change.
February 28, 2018 @ 10:46 am
Great, great album. If I never heard “Devil’s Right Hand” again I wouldn’t miss it a bit, but the title track, “Snake Oil,” and “Johnny Come Lately” were worth the price of admission alone.
February 28, 2018 @ 12:20 pm
I have about a dozen versions of “Devil’s Right Hand” in regular rotation.
My favorite Earle version is from (don’t laugh) the Brokeback Mountain Soundtrack:
https://youtu.be/lfp70ymGxGE
My favorite cover … Johnny Cash:
https://youtu.be/YDVCMHX9r0k
Who is playing electric guitar on this version? The linear notes are too biblical to sort out.
February 28, 2018 @ 10:53 am
Holy crap, Arkansas is the first stop! This year hasn’t been easy on the wallet as far as concerts are concerned, and it just keeps getting worse.
February 28, 2018 @ 11:02 am
Saw the Copperhead Row tour in ’88 in Nashville when it was ‘Upstairs at The Cannery”. Can’t remember if if was open to public or an MCA show, but it was packed. Steve was deep into the bag at that time, and you could almost smell it sweating out of him.
I remember him on Letterman telling Dave “well everybody tells me I don’t know how to play the mandolin, so I wrote a song featuring it…so I know how to play it for MY song!”
February 28, 2018 @ 11:19 am
April 11 – South Burlington, VA – Higher Ground
This is South Burlington Vermont (VT) not Virginia.
February 28, 2018 @ 12:02 pm
Steve Earle playing the Old Town School is the musical equivalent to the scene in the movie Being John Malkovich where John Malkovich goes into his own head.
February 28, 2018 @ 12:06 pm
Interesting how there are several comments about strained concert budgets and how many tours are going around. I find the same thing — going broke on shows. Wonder if this is caused by artists needing to tour to survive? Probably.
February 28, 2018 @ 12:26 pm
Usually concert season for me is runs from mid April to mid October. But this year, I have four concerts before mid April. For whatever reason, seems like artists are touring early. Maybe it is a financial decision.
February 28, 2018 @ 1:47 pm
I,m finding tickets to be pretty cheap for shows too.
Tyler Childers was $10 in vt..
How do they make money?
He did have about 600 there.
And Merchandise sales I guess.
February 28, 2018 @ 1:57 pm
Childers is $12 here in Pittsburgh, but they moved it to a bigger venue.
February 28, 2018 @ 9:03 pm
Where did they move it to? On another topic, mark chestnut is in town this Saturday
February 28, 2018 @ 9:13 pm
From the AE Club to the AE Main Stage. So technically, the same venue but to the side with a larger capacity. Funny … as of today, Margo Price is still on the AE Club side.
I didn’t know that venue had 3 stages … Outside, Main, and Club.
March 2, 2018 @ 1:16 pm
They sent out a low ticket announcement yesterday. If Childers sells out Stage AE tonight (and I expect some walk-ups), hell of something Cody Jinks couldn’t last year, Old Crow Medicine Show with Sturgill Simpson in 2015 … sell out!
February 28, 2018 @ 2:59 pm
that’s gotta be the best QPR in the music world today
February 28, 2018 @ 2:27 pm
Definitely more tours and especially older artists are touring more because that’s how they make their money. All that mailbox money dried up.
February 28, 2018 @ 12:09 pm
Get to see him the same week as Jack Ingram & Travis Meadows. That right there is a pretty good week!
February 28, 2018 @ 12:30 pm
So great and looking forward very much to see and hear him in Amsterdam ♥
February 28, 2018 @ 6:41 pm
I think April 3 must be Alexandria VA not VT. Sadly for me!
February 28, 2018 @ 6:42 pm
Copperhead Road changed my life. Learned all the songs by heart. Play them live many, many, many times!
February 28, 2018 @ 8:06 pm
Yes, the Birchmere is in Alexandria VA. Northhampton too far?
February 28, 2018 @ 8:08 pm
And there is a Burlington date, which is VT not VA!
March 1, 2018 @ 5:50 pm
Well shut my mouth! I’d missed that. Only a couple of hours from Montreal. Thanks!
March 1, 2018 @ 8:53 pm
Have Fun!
February 28, 2018 @ 8:04 pm
He did a similar Guitar Town tour in 2016, which was great, but with fewer dates. I am definitely excited about this one. His current band is excellent.
March 1, 2018 @ 8:51 am
I love Steve Earle, even though I don’t agree with a lot of his politics. Saw him in Tarrytown, on a card with Los Lobos last winter. Great show.
I think it’s sort of funny that as p.c. in some ways as Steve has become, his most memorable lyric is still “Everybody told me you can’t get far/ On thirty-seven dollars and a Jap guitar.”
March 1, 2018 @ 9:10 am
WATCH
March 2, 2018 @ 10:11 am
People change and besides, it’s a good rhyme. Nobody is going to accuse Earle of xenophobia.
At least he’s not like Charlie Deaniels, who has gone back and scrubbed the drug references from all his old lyrics, as if they never happened….
March 3, 2018 @ 6:37 am
My introduction to that song was Emmylou’s version on the Nash Ramblers album. She changed the lyric from “Jap” to “cheap.” I didn’t hear Steve’s version until maybe five years later. I’m sure he needed to make a poetic word choice that fit the meter. 😉
Tarrytown, eh? I guess that was the Music Hall. I saw Richard Thompson there over the Thanksgiving weekend some years back.
March 3, 2018 @ 4:04 am
Glad to see that crazy old bastard still out there doing his thing.
First time I got introduced to him was this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHE1dM4hYCw
March 15, 2018 @ 4:59 am
Don’t waste your time or money. Saw him in Steelevile Missouri last year and had to walk out. 30 years ago he was great, but now he has moved some far left he makes Clinton look conservative. And he’ll tell you this song after song. Ruined my whole night.