Marty Friedman Announces North American Tour, His First in Over a Decade!

Marty Friedman hasn’t toured the States (or Canada) in more than a decade. That would seemingly make his upcoming fall tour — just announced moments ago — a huge deal. Coupled with the success of last year’s most excellent solo album Inferno — and the general increased interest in instrumental metal right now — and you’d think this tour will do gangbusters.

Will it, though? I ask because I really do not know. It certainly SEEMS like a big deal — to me and my friends, anyway, because HOLY SHIT MARTY FRIEDMAN IS COMING BACK TO TOUR THE STATES, HE’S BASICALLY JAPANESE NOW! — but will it be greeted that way by the metal populace at large? Particularly its younger cohort who wasn’t around for Marty’s first go-round.

The good news is I shared this exact same concern during the run-up to the release of Inferno and I was proven wrong: everyone loved the thing. Hopefully I’ll be proven wrong yet again.

Tour dates below. Support will come from just one act, Exmortus, meaning we get a whole lotta Marty, and tickets go on sale this Friday at 10am.

9/9 Baltimore, MD – Soundstage #
9/10 NYC, NY – Gramercy Theatre #
9/11 Pittsburgh, PA – Altar Bar #
9/12 Philadelphia, PA – Northstar Bar #
9/13 Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall #
9/15 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom #
9/16 Toronto, ON – Virgin Mobile Mod Club #
9/17 Detroit, MI – Token Lounge #
9/18 Chicago, IL – Reggie’s Rock Club #
9/19 St. Louis, MO – Fubar #
9/20 Kansas City, MO – Riot Room #
9/22 Denver, CO – Marquis #
9/23 Salt Lake City, UT – Liquid Joes #
9/25 Seattle, WA – El Corazon #
9/26 Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw #
9/27 Portland, OR – Aladdin #
9/29 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall #
9/30 Hollywood, CA – Whisky-a-Go-Go #
10/1 Anaheim, CA – House of Blues #
10/2 Las Vegas, NV – Backstage Bar #
10/3 Ramona, CA – Mainstage #
# with Exmortus