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The Pretenders break 'Concrete' on 2009 plans
The Pretenders will hit the road running in 2009, with the veteran crew pushing hard behind its first new album in six years, October's "Break Up the Concrete."
The English rockers--led as always by Ohio native Chrissie Hynde--kick off the outing Jan. 29 in Albany, NY. The sprawling trek will hit clubs and small theaters in 31 cities over a seven-week stretch, winding down in March on the West Coast. Dates are below.
The band will be playing on the tour without guitarist Adam Seymour and bassist Andy Hobson, two of the longest-serving Pretenders. The two musicians, who both joined the group in 1993, likewise both departed in 2006 and have been replaced by James Walbourne and Nick Wilkinson, respectively. Hynde and drummer Martin Chambers remain the only original members of the band.
The current lineup cut its teeth on "Break Up the Concrete," which hit stores in October. The album, the band's ninth official studio release, is the group's first new full-length effort since 2002's "Loose Screw." The set's drum parts were handled by veteran session man Jim Keltner; Chambers does not appear on the album, but will continue as the band's live drummer.
The disc, which spawned the single "Boots of Chinese Plastic," debuted at No. 32 on the Billboard 200 chart, where it remained for three weeks.
In 2005, The Pretenders were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At the ceremony, Hynde reflected on the band's original lineup, two members of which died from drug overdoses in the early '80s. "We're paying tribute to James Honeyman Scott and Pete Farndon, without whom we wouldn't be here," she said at the time. "And on the other hand, without us, they might have been here, but that's the way it works in rock 'n' roll."
