Matchbox Twenty frontman Rob Thomas announces Fall Tour :
Matchbox Twenty front-man Rob Thomas has just announced he is gearing up for huge massive fall tour.
It is about time and long over-due in our book!

With his second solo album due in stores next week, Thomas has announced a list of cities and dates for his tour, which is due to launch in late September and ending in mid-November.
Shows are currently planned in 30 cities, and One Republic and Carolina Liar will be the tour’s opening acts, according to a press release.

Tour Dates can be found Here. ...Source...

Rob Thomas tour announces new solo run for 'Cradlesong' :
Frontman Rob Thomas will take another break from rock juggernaut Matchbox Twenty to promote his latest solo endeavor on the road. The singer-songwriter has announced plans to follow his upcoming album release with an extensive North American tour this fall.
The tour is only roughly outlined at this point with concert dates booked in 32 cities, starting September 23 in Hollywood, FL, and ending November 12 in New York, NY. The only venue confirmed so far is for Thomas's October 18 concert in San Jose, CA, which will hit the Event center at San Jose State University.

Throughout the seven-week tour, Rob Thomas will spread his time fairly evenly across the various regions of the United States, including an October 4 show in Houston, TX, an October 15 stop in Seattle, WA, an October 20 concert in Los Angeles, CA, an October 31 performance in St. Louis, MO, and a November 9 concert in Boston, MA.

The musician has only has two stops slated for the provinces at this time, beginning out west for an October 14 gig in Vancouver, BC, and heading north again in the east for a November event 4 in Toronto, ON.

Venues and ticketing information for the tour will be announced in the coming weeks and can be found listed here.
Thomas is touring behind his second solo effort, "Cradlesong," to be released June 30. His first solo effort "...Something To Be," released in 2005, set the bar high for Thomas with a chart-topping debut on the Billboard 200 and a string of successful singles, including "Lonely No More."

While Thomas does his own thing, Matchbox Twenty is alive and well and working on material for a new album, according to a fall 2008 interview with Billboard.

"We never had so much fun, and I think we know we're a band," he told the entertainment magazine. "I'm able to work on my solo record and the guys are still able to be creative as a band. Our future's kind of wide open, whatever we want to do." ...Source...

Rob Thomas announces Australian tour dates; Vanessa Amorosi supports :
Rob Thomas, lead singer of Matchbox Twenty and a hugely successful solo artist in his own right, returns to Australia this summer for a limited series of concerts.

Thomas is a prolific songwriter who has contributed to the sales of over 80 million albums worldwide to date - as lead singer/songwriter with Matchbox Twenty, as an award-winning collaborator with the likes of Willie Nelson, Mick Jagger, Bernie Taupin and Carlos Santana, and most recently as a solo artist.

After warming up with a two-month tour of the US, Thomas will return to Australia for a series of arena and winery shows, commencing in February 2010.

Rob Thomas undertook his first solo Australian tour in February 2006, a visit that included 9 sold-out arena dates.

As the front man of Matchbox Twenty and solo, Rob has toured Australia 6 times, most recently in 2008, with total ticket sales now well in excess of 350,000 nationally.
Thomas embarked on solo career with the 2005 album release Something To Be. Fuelled by the #1 worldwide smash hit Lonely No More, This Is How A Heart Breaks, and Ever The Same, the album went #1 here and in the US, and hit multi-platinum sales.

Last month, his follow up album Cradlesong was released. The album went straight into the top 5 on the ARIA album chart and hit #3 in the Billboard Top 200, and features the hit single Her Diamonds, a multi-week # 1 airplay hit in Australia.

The Grammy Award winner has his name on an impressive number of smash hits including US #1s Push, 3AM, If You're Gone, Bent, How Far We've Come, the Carlos Santana hit Smooth, as well as on other major tracks such as Real World, Back 2 Good, Little Wonders, Mad Season, and Bright Lights.

"The reason I do what I do is because I have all these songs that are always building up in my head, so it's really cathartic to get a load of them out into the world and start over again," Thomas says. "And the solo career is a really important way for me to do that."

Special guest on the tour will be one of the great voices of Australian music VANESSA AMOROSI. ...Source...

Rob Thomas Biography (Brief) :

As the driving force of matchbox twenty, Rob Thomas is widely acknowledged as one of the most distinctive vocalists and gifted songwriters in contemporary music. Since making their debut in 1996, matchbox has evolved into one of the most admired and consistently successful rock bands in recent history, with over 25 million albums sold worldwide.

As matchbox twenty’s primary composer, Thomas has penned a remarkable string of chart-topping hits, including “Push,” “3AM,” “If You’re Gone,” “Bent,” “Real World,” “Back 2 Good,” “Mad Season,” “Disease,” “Unwell,” and “Bright Lights.” matchbox has earned the distinction of having had more #1 hits and spending more weeks at #1 on both the national Modern AC and Adult Top 40 charts than any other artist in history.

Rob’s growing reputation as an exceptional songwriter has led to invitations to collaborate with a select list of artists – most notably Santana, for whom he wrote and sang the smash single, “Smooth,” which earned Thomas three Grammy Awards. He has also worked with the likes of Willie Nelson, Marc Anthony, Mick Jagger, and Bernie Taupin. Combining all of his projects, Thomas has contributed to the sales of over 75 million records. He has earned 13 BMI Awards, including both songwriter and song of the year, and he was named Billboard’s Songwriter of the Year two years in a row.

In June 2004, the Songwriters Hall of Fame presented Thomas with its first-ever “Starlight Award” – created to recognize a songwriter in the early years of his or her career who is already making a lasting impact. Rob’s composing talent has also been acknowledged with cover stories in American Songwriter (which named him songwriter of the year) and Performing Songwriter.

Among his many honors, in 2001 Rob was inducted into the South Carolina Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. Thomas – who grew up in such South Carolina cities as Lake City, Turbeville, and Columbia – became the youngest-ever member of the Hall of Fame. The award placed him in the company of such South Carolinian legends as James Brown, Minnie Pearl, and Dizzy Gillespie.

Rob and his wife have established Sidewalk Angels Foundation, a non-profit organization created to aid those in need in and around America’s big cities – working with various charities to assist people who are destitute or homeless and get lost in the system; those who cannot afford proper medical care; and animals that have been abandoned or abused.

Sidewalk Angels Foundation takes its name from the lyrics to Thomas’ solo recording, “A New York Christmas.” First released in 2002, the single’s sales that year benefited Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, N.Y. Reissued for Christmas 2003, the single’s proceeds were given to Pets Alive, a no-kill animal shelter in Middletown, NY. In August 2004, a benefit concert in New York City featuring Rob, Jewel, Daryl Hall, and Rhett Miller raised over $100,000 for Sidewalk Angels, which in turn donated the evening’s proceeds to Pets Alive.

Born on a military base in West Germany, Rob spent much of his youth shuttling between his grandmother in South Carolina and his mom in Florida. After dropping out of both high school and his difficult home life, the 17-year-old drifted around the Southeast, hitchhiking and crashing where he could. The only constant in his life was music, an inspiring soundtrack that included artists ranging from Al Green and Van Morrison to Elvis Costello and Elton John. He released the pressures of his life in his songwriting, at the same time developing his signature vocal style while fronting a number of local rock bands – which ultimately led to the formation of matchbox twenty.

With the forthcoming release of his debut solo album, Thomas begins a new chapter in his remarkable musical journey.
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