This July marks the 50th anniversary of the public performance debut of “Alice’s Restaurant,” the epic, 19-minute story-song that introduced us all to Arlo Guthrie, the son of Woody Guthrie, one of America’s greatest folk singers.
The song became the title track of Arlo Guthrie’s debut album in 1967. He has been active ever since, recording new music and touring constantly, which is exactly what he has planned for the coming months. This time he’s naming the tour after his second album. Here is the itinerary for the “Running Down the Road” tour:
1-29 Fort Pierce, FL The Sunrise Theater
2-2 Jacksonville, FL The Florida Theater
2-3 St. Petersburg, FL The Palladium Theater
2-4 Fort Lauderdale, FL Parker Playhouse
2-15 Frederick, MD The Weinberg Center
2-17 Alexandria, VA The Birchmere
2-18 Alexandria, VA The Birchmere
2-19 Alexandria, VA The Birchmere
2-23 Greensboro, NC The Carolina Theater
2-24 Asheville, NC Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
2-26 Atlanta, GA The Woodruff Center
3-3 Newark, NJ NJPAC
3-4 Greenvale, NY The Tiles Center
4-5 Solana Beach, CA Up Tavern
4-7 Irvine, CA Irvine Barclay Theatre
4-8 Irvine, CA Irvine Barclay Theatre
4-9 Thousand Oaks, CA Fred Kavli Theatre
4-11 Santa Barbara, CA Lobero Theatre
4-13 Livermore, CA Livermore Valley PAC
4-14 Rohnert Park, CA Green Music Center
4-15 Davis, CA Mondavi Center for Performing Arts
4-17 Arcata, Ca Van Duzer Theatre
4-19 Edmonds, WA Edmonds Center for The Arts
4-20 Bellingham, WA Mt. Baker Theatre
4-21 Kirkland, WA Kirkland Performance Center
4-23 Tacoma, WA Broadway Center
4-26 Bremerton, WA The Admiral Theatre
4-28 Victoria, BC Canada Farquhar Auditorium
4-29 Duncan, BC Canada Cowichan Performing Arts Centre
5-2 Portland, OR TBA
5-13 Galveston, TX Grand 1894 Opera House
5-16 Oklahoma City, OK Hudson Performance Hall
5-18 Kansas City, MO Uptown Theater
5-19 Lincoln, NE Rococo Theatre
5-25 Nashville, TN Shermerhorn Symphony Center
7-2 Housatonic, MA The Church
7-3 Housatonic, MA The Church
7-4 Housatonic, MA The Church
Related: The “Alice’s Restaurant” 50th anniversary tour
Previewing the “Running Down the Road Tur,” Guthrie said, on his website, “Many of these songs have not been seen or heard on stage for more than two decades. Unlike almost all previous tours, this show will be filmed before the bulk of the shows take place. So, the tour will have footage for venues and promoters at the beginning rather than at the end of the road trip. We may even have the show available for everyone who won’t be able to get to the nearest venue.”
Blues great Taj Mahal will open selected shows on the tour. Check local listings to see if he’s performing with Arlo in your area.
Guthrie, who will turn 70 on July 10, has maintained a busy career over the years. In addition to recording more than two dozen albums (some with the late Pete Seeger), he’s appeared in films and on television programs, has written music for film and has been involved in a number of political and social activities.
Guthrie has often kept a distance from his most famous composition—formally known as “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree”—which recounts a visit two years earlier to Great Barrington, Mass., to visit his friend Alice Brock for Thanksgiving dinner and his subsequent arrest for dumping garbage he was taking to the town dump, which was closed for the holiday. It tells how his criminal record for littering later prevented him from being drafted into the army.
Although he went for many years without performing it in concert, Guthrie has since loosened up and performed it on occasion, usually to commemorate an anniversary. He finished up a 50th anniversary tour celebrating it last summer.
Watch Arlo Guthrie perform “Alice’s Restaurant”
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