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Hootie and The Blowfish tack more dates onto tour

Hootie & The Blowfish, who last month crunched through a whirlwind tour of five Pacific Air Force bases, will continue to work the civilian circuit well into the summer.

The group has added to its itinerary a number of July and August dates, and has rolled out the tour's first September stops. Tickets for many of the dates are on sale now.

The outing includes a Tuesday (6/5) stop at the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ. Ticketmaster is currently auctioning off a handful of VIP packages for that show, which include a "one-on-one meeting with the band prior to their performance," according to the auction's webpage. A portion of the proceeds from the auction will benefit the Hootie & The Blowfish Foundation, which supports music education nationwide, according to organizers. (Ticketmaster is liveDaily's parent company.)

Last month, the multi-platinum-selling pop-rockers gave concerts at Air Force bases in Hawaii, Japan and Korea. The group logged about 15,440 miles round trip during the run, according to a press release.

"It's not often that civilians get a chance to thank our soldiers who are ready to put there life on the line for our freedom," drummer Jim "Soni" Sonefeld wrote in a recent journal entry posted at the band's website. He went on to say that, in addition to meeting soldiers and playing concerts, he and his bandmates "got to shoot some stuff and blow up some stuff, and do a mid-air refueling on our transport jet at 40,000 feet."

In March, Hootie & The Blowfish issued "The Best of Hootie & The Blowfish: 1993 thru 2003." The 17-song set includes 16 previously released cuts, as well as the group's rendition of "Goodbye Girl," from the Neil Simon play of the same name. The group recorded the track for cable-television channel TNT's recent remake of the production.

Last year, Hootie & The Blowfish released a self-titled collection of all-new material, which is its first new studio set since 1998's "Musical Chairs."

Hootie and the Blowfish's 1994 debut, "Cracked Rear View," remains their most successful release to date. The album--which features the hit singles "Hold My Hand," "Let Her Cry" and "Only Wanna Be with You" is multi-platinum certified for shipping 16 million copies in the U.S.