Lake Street Dive has partnered with PLUS1 so that $1 per ticket goes to supporting First Peoples Fund and their work supporting artists and culture bearers in order to help Native communities heal and thrive; and the PLUS1 LA Fires Fund providing critical relief and long-term recovery support for individuals, families, and communities impacted by the devastating LA wildfires.
Much has happened since Lake Street Dive released its latest album Side Pony earlier this year: the band was invited to play at the White House, was a music guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and on The Today Show, sold out 42 shows in 2016 throughout the United States, and were featured on Chris Thile’s hosting debut of A Prairie Home Companion, among many other high points. The band recently finished the US leg of its tour, playing sold-out shows for enthusiastic audiences at the iconic Wang Theatre in Boston and Radio City Music Hall in New York, among others, before heading to Europe for the second time in 2016. The new year will start with a bang as the band will be playing shows in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan before digging into a two-month US tour beginning in February 2017. The US tour will include stops at the band members’ alma mater, The New England Conservatory, for the prestigious school’s 150th anniversary; at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall with The Baltimore Symphony; at The Fox Theatre in Oakland, CA; and at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles (complete schedule below).
The quartet’s live shows have long been widely praised. Billboard recently said that Lake Street Dive successfully combined “Amy Winehouse, Rita Hayworth and R&B charisma,” while Philadelphia’s WXPN/The Key said “Lake Street Dive played an incredible set …The crowd went wild,” Mountain Xpress said “They perform with absolute joy, their passion contagious,” and the Charleston City Paper called a show “serious fun.”
The band’s recent album Side Pony, which Rolling Stone called “irresistible,” was produced by Grammy winner Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell). Upon its release the album was #1 on the Alternative chart and #11 on the Billboard Album Sales chart.
The title Side Pony takes its name from a song on the record that refers to a whimsical hairstyle, but it also serves as a metaphor for Lake Street Dive’s philosophy and personality as a band. As Kearney puts it, “When we were settling on the album title, that one just stuck out to us as embodying the band’s spirit. We’ve always been this somewhat uncategorizable, weird, outlying, genre-less band. That’s the statement we wanted to make with this record: be yourself.”