Kaiser Chiefs are on the road just before the scheduled release of their fifth album, Education, Education, Education & War. The British punk rock band has announced spring and summer tour dates that continue a show which started earlier this month in the U.K. and finishes up at this summer’s Firefly Festival in Dover.
The nearly 15-year-old group has a lot to live up to, with a history that includes three Brit awards, being shortlisted for a Mercury Prize and huge Top 40 hit successes in the U.K. Frontman Ricky Wilson was just tapped to join the panel of judges on “The Voice,” alongside Kylie Minogue and Sir Tom Jones.
The new album had a lot of geographical collaboration; the ten-track collection took shape in London, Nashville, Los Angeles and Atlanta before it was finished. Education, Education, Education & War won’t be available until April 1, but the band has just released the second single and video. The first single, “Bows and Arrows” debuted in January. Second single “Coming Home” has a more streamlined, mature feel than Kaiser Chiefs’ former, more zealous punk sound, but it’s also catchy, a good choice for the first inkling of what’s to come with the band’s fifth album. The video, recently released on VEVO, shows the band pacing along a path in a field that could be an English moor. Dressed in varying degrees of military attire and uniform, they encounter medieval knights, cowboys exchanging gunfire and pause briefly to share a cup of tea before settling into a neat row of bright beach chairs.
Kaiser Chiefs have had a lot of success and fans will expect a lot from the upcoming album and tour. But the first single is a good sign, showing that they’re staying current, reinventing their sound, but still sticking to the classic guitar lines and vocals that have kept them relevant since the start of the century.
Tour Dates
Buy Tickets on Ticketmaster
Feb 25: Los Angeles, CA – El Rey
June 11: Louisville, KY –Mercury Ballroom
June 13: Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
June 15: Detroit, MI – St. Andrew’s Hall
June 17: Cleveland, OH – House of Blues
June 18: Washington, D.C. – 9:30 Club
June 20: New York, NY – Webster Hall
June 21-22: Dover, DE – Firefly Festival
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