With no new studio product to hawk since 2005, alt-rockers O.A.R. [ tickets ] will play to their strengths this spring by launching a tour to gather support for their upcoming dual live CD/DVD, due out later in the year.

The band will kick off a headlining jaunt March 1 in Syracuse, NY, the first of 17 shows the band has lined up for spring, with most of them taking place on college campuses.

The group will also make a March 11 appearance at the multi-day, outdoor Langerado music festival in Sunrise, FL. In addition to O.A.R., the festival features Widespread Panic, Trey Anastasio, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks and many others. More details are available at the event's website.

O.A.R. filmed and recorded a January concert at New York's Madison Square Garden for an upcoming, still-untitled DVD and dual-CD release, set to hit stores later this year.

Fans who sign up for the band's wireless alert list on its website will receive a free download of the group's performance of "Love and Memories" from that show.

O.A.R.'s last studio album was 2005's "Stories of a Stranger," which spawned a pair of modest radio hits in "Love and Memories" and "Heard the World."