Less than a year following their first trip to the South by Southwest multimedia festival in Austin, Sunspot are taking their "arena rock for geeks" back to the sandier climes of the country. One week ago on Tuesday, Dec. 26, this trio consisting of Mike Huberty (lead vocals and bass), Ben Jaeger (guitar and vocals), and Wendy Lynn Staats (drums and vocals) kicked off their "Making the West Wilder" tour. Starting in Springfield, Missouri, the band is performing twelve consecutive days, hitting most major cities in the southwest quadrant of America.
Their third tour stop was on Thursday, Dec. 28, when they played at the Aardvark in Fort Worth. A live concert video clip from that show follows below.
Sunspot's west-side tour caps a year that saw them attend SXSW, play over 80 tour dates, and celebrate their tenth anniversary. This tour also kicks off 2007, which will flare up quickly for the band with the release of their new albumNeanderthal later in January.
After performing in Springfield, Oklahoma City, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, and Phoenix, Sunspot will rounding out the second half of their tour with three stops in California before turning home. After playing on Tuesday, Jan. 2 in San Diego, the trio will be moving on to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Denver before returning to good ol' Madison. The band is documenting the tour on their blog with brief dispatches, including their stops at The Aardvark, the Last Concert Café, the Flamingo Cantina, The Dirty Dog, and The Bangkok Pepper, among other clubs. More views from the tour are also available at Sunspot Wendy, Staats' photoblog.
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