Coheed and Cambria and Mastodon will coheadline a spring and summer tour, dubbed the Unheavenly Skye Tour, which features a unique twist for fans of the latter band. Where Coheed and Cambria will be supporting their new album, Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures, Mastodon will be playing their critically acclaimed 2009 prog-metal opus, Crack the Skye, in its entirety. Every Time I Die will open all of the shows.
Tickets will go on sale on Friday at 10 a.m. local time, with presales happening earlier this week.
Coheed and Cambria issued Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures, last October, and it debuted on the Billboard albums chart at Number 14. The release is a concept album set in the same universe as the group’s previous Armory Wars–themed releases. It’s a prospect that seems unusual even to the band’s leader, Claudio Sanchez. “Concept records in themselves are not weird, but for a band to continue a concept over their discography can be a little intimidating to somebody on the outside,” he told Rolling Stone last year. “It’s like a monthly issue comic book, like, ‘I don’t want to get invested into this 10 issues in. I need to know where to start. If I can’t get issue one, I’m just not going to read it.’”
Mastodon’s Crack the Skye, which came out in 2009, was also a concept album, inspired in part by the 1990 suicide of drummer Brann Dailor’s sister, Skye. The drummer has since appreciated how the LP has helped some of their fans through tough times. “Coming out publicly about my little sister’s suicide on Crack the Skye opened up this whole new world of fan interaction and human interaction,” he told Rolling Stone in 2017. “After shows, people would come up and say, ‘I went through this. My brother just committed suicide, and your album [helped me].’ I don’t know if it would’ve had the same impact for those people if I hadn’t come out and explained what it was about. I think people seek [us] out as a Band-Aid or a remedy for something. Music is definitely healing.”
Unheavenly Skye tour dates:
May 28 – Louisville, KY @ Iroquois Amphitheater
May 29 – Columbus, OH @ Express Live! Outdoor Amphitheatre
May 31 – Atlanta, GA @ Coca-Cola Roxy
June 1 – Simpsonville, SC @ CCNB Amphitheatre at Heritage Park Simpsonville
June 2 – Baltimore, MD @ MECU Pavilion
June 4 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Stone Pony Summer Stage
June 6 – Boston, MA @ Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion
June 7 – New York, NY @ Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk
June 8 – Camden, NJ @ BB&T Pavilion
June 10 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE – Outdoors
June 11 – Detroit, MI @ Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill
June 13 – Council Bluffs, IA @ Harrah’s Council Bluffs – Stir Cove
June 14 – Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
June 15 – Minneapolis, MN @ The Armory
June 18 – Kansas City, MO @ Starlight Theatre
June 19 – Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium
June 20 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Great Saltair
June 22 – Seattle, WA @ Marymoor
June 23 – Portland, OR @ Theater of the Clouds at Moda Center
June 25 – San Francisco, CA @ The Masonic
June 26 – San Diego, CA @ Petco Park – Park at the Park
June 28 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas
June 29 – Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre
June 30 – Phoenix, NV @ Comerica Theatre
July 2 – Austin, TX @ Austin360 Amphitheater
July 3 – Irving, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory