I really wasn’t expecting Ariel Pink’s tour itinerary to include a gig here in Edmonton when I opened up this post on Brooklyn Vegan (also: see Ariel Pink posts on NMM by myself and Aaron Vanimere after his episode last year at Pitchfork).
Not at all. After all, I’ve also learned not to be surprised by itineraries. And not to get upset by them either.
But I was curious that included in the itinerary was a stop at a little club called Badlander in Missoula, Montana, the day after performing at Sasquatch. Population 110,000. Which seems puzzling at first. I mean, why not switch things up a little bit and play a gig in Calgary and Edmonton (both with metro populations over a million), or maybe Winnipeg instead. But you know, sometimes logistically these things just work out the way they work out. If you need to be in Minneapolis for the 31st, you might as well do a show “somewhere” enroute. So okay, let’s move on.
But then I started thinking about it differently. How cool would it be to see Ariel Pink in a tiny little club in the middle of nowhere (or what’s basically nowhere, my apologies to Missoulans, but it’s a pretty small city). Epic, right?
According to Google, the drive from Edmonton to Missoula is 952 kilometres, or 10 hours and 11 minutes. Is that worth it to see Ariel Pink in his best environment, a tiny little music club? Probably not for me, but it may be for others. I mean, I drove 17-18 hours to Boise to see one of my favorite bands – Wilco – last summer, didn’t I.
Then again, you could drive out to Vancouver instead, in 11-12 hours, and you’d be in Vancouver instead. So you could do other things, maybe see other gigs on other nights. So yeh, that probably makes more sense now that I think about it.
Thanks for playing. Here’s the full itinerary.
Tour Itinerary – Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
Mar 09 – Monterrey MX at Festival NRML Mar 23 – Santa Ana CA at Burgerama Festival May 17 – Los Angeles CA at Hollywood Forever’s Masonic Lodge May 18 – San Diego CA at Casbah May 20 – Big Sur CA at Henry Miller Library May 21 – San Francisco CA at Chapel May 23 – Portland OR at Wonder Ballroom May 25 – Vancouver BC at Biltmore May 27 – Gorge WA for Sasquatch May 28 – Missoula MT at Badlander May 31 – Minneapolis MN at Cedars Jun 01 – Chicago IL at Do-Division Jun 01 – Chicago IL at Empty Bottle (late show) Jun 02 – Dekalb IL at Pink Ottos Jun 03 – Champaign IL at Blind Pig Jun 04 – Cleveland OH at Grog Shop Jun 05 – Pittsburgh PA at Altar Jun 06 – New York NY at Irving Plaza Jun 07 – Boston MA at Sinclair Jun 08 – Northampton MA at Pearl Street Jun 09 – Philadelphia PA at Union Transfer Jun 10 – Washington DC at U Street Jun 11 – Baltimore MD at Ottobar Jun 13 – Manchester TN at Bonnaroo Festival Jun 14 – Pensacola FL at Vinyl Music Hall Jun 15 – New Orleans LA at Tipitina’s Jun 17 – Dallas TX at Trees Jun 18 – Austin TX at Mohawk.
Press photo by Geneva Garvin.
