Mogwai tour lets ‘Hawk’ fly with North American spring concerts

Scottish post-rock quintet Mogwai will hit U.S. shores in a couple weeks for a four-week spring tour of the nation. The 22-city outing launches April 20 at Numbers in Houston, TX, and continues through May 16 at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, CA.

The coast-to-coast circuit includes shows on April 23 at the Orange peel in Ashville, NC, an April 27-29 run at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY, a May 8 gig at Congress Theatre in Chicago, IL, and a May 12 concert at Bluebird Theatre in Denver, CO.

The Glasgow-based rock troupe is also scheduled to play a couple dates in eastern Canada on the spring 2009 tour. Concerts are penciled in for May 3 at Metropolis in Montreal, QC, and May 4 at Phoenix in Toronto, ON.

Scottish indie band The Twilight Sad will appear on the tour from the opening show in Houston through the May 8 concert in Chicago. American psychedelic rock crew Dead Meadow will provide support on the three final dates of the tour in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco. An opening act for Mogwai’s remaining Midwest and Western dates has not been announced.

Largely an instrumental band, Mogwai is touring behind its sixth full-length studio album, “The Hawk Is Howling.” The disc hit stores in September 2008 and earned the group their highest placement on the Billboard 200 with a No. 97 peak position and a No. 10 spot on the independent albums chart.

Mogwai debuted in 1997 with the album “Mogwai Young Team” on the now-defunct U.S. label Jetset. The band reissued the album in 2008, an effort that Pitchfork Media called “still the band’s most cohesive and consistently bracing album,” giving the effort a nearly perfect score.

After completing the spring run of the U.S. and Canada, Mogwai will be back in the States in late summer for a festival appearance on August 2 at All Points West in Jersey City, NJ.

Mogwai itinerary:
(Dates are subject to change.)