May 1, 2013  – In keeping with the resurging popularity of 70’s and 80’s sounds, legendary groovemeisters of the period Kool & The Gang (koolandthegang.com), are back in the arena limelight joining the first leg of Kid Rock’s “Rebel Soul Tour” (www.kidrockrebelsoul.com). The tour kicks off in Washington, DC, June 28, at Jiffy Lube Live.   In an unprecedented, fan-friendly move, Kid Rock announced a limited number of $20 tickets are being offered for the tour. Tickets are on sale now exclusively thru Ticketmaster.com.

Kool & The Gang’s pairing with Kid Rock follows on the heels of their wildly-successful 50-plus city tour in 2012 with Van Halen. Billboard reported: “One unqualified success was the experiment of Kool & the Gang’s opening set. If some — actually many — wondered how the R&B group would fare in front of Van Halen’s hard rock crowd, doubts were dispelled quickly with the breezy lite funk of the 11-piece outfit’s 50-minute set, which had the T-shirted, beer-drinking, fist-pumpers dancing exuberantly.”

Kool & the Gang’s 2013 summer tour schedule also includes joining the Dave Matthews Band in Hershey, PA, July 13 at Hershey Park Stadium as well as headline dates throughout the US.

Unique pairings for Kool & The Gang don’t exist only on stage; their bulletproof funk and jazzy arrangements have also made them the most sampled band of all time. With the explosion of hip-hop in the ’90s, Kool & the Gang’s incredible catalog of grooves has made them DJ favorites, and they are second only to R&B icon James Brown as sources of rap-music samples. The Hits Reloaded album found the band collaborating with such acolytes as Lil’ Kim, Sean Paul, Ashanti, and Blackstreet, among others.

Selling over 70 million albums worldwide the band influenced the music of three generations. Thanks to songs like Celebration, Cherish, Summer Madness and Open Sesame, Kool & The Gang has earned two Grammy® Awards, seven American Music Awards and amassed 25 Top Ten R&B hits, nine Top Ten Pop hits and 31 gold and platinum albums.  They have performed continuously longer than any R&B group in history.

“We are not over yet, we have other things we want to do—when my legs won’t run to those airports anymore then I might give up,” says band co-founder Ronald Khalis Bell.

As the purveyors of such booty-rocking standards as Jungle Boogie and Hollywood Swinging, the gang never fails to flex their funk – on both old-school workouts and hip-hop jams. Their music has been created by the same core players for over four decades: Robert “Kool” Bell, his brother Ronald Khalis Bell, their longtime friends Dennis “DT” Thomas and George “Funky” Brown.  Other band members include, Clifford Adams, Lavelle Evans, Larry Gittens, Timothy Horton, Shawn McQuiller, Michael Ray and Curtis “Fitz” Williams.

SUMMER TOUR DATES

Sat, June 1        Pittsburgh, PA                 PNC Park at North Shore

Fri, June 21       St. Petersburg, FL           Mahaffey Theater

Thu, June 27      Charleston, SC               The Clay Center

Fri, June 28       Bristow, VA                    Jiffy Lube Live (w/ Kid Rock)

Sat, June 29       Holmdel, NJ                   PNC Bank Arts Center (w/ Kid Rock)

Sun, June 30      Sterling Heights, MI          Freedom Hill Amphitheatre

Tue, July 2        Cleveland, OH                Blossom Music Center (w/ Kid Rock)

Thu, July 4        Louisville, KY                 Waterfront Park

Fri, July 5          Darien, NY                     Darien Lake Performing Arts Center (w/ Kid Rock)

Sat, July 6         Scranton, PA                  Toyota Pavilion At Montage Mountain (w/ Kid Rock)

Tue, July 9        Camden, NJ                  Susquehanna Bank Center (w/ Kid Rock)

Wed, July 10    Mansfield, MA                Comcast Center (w/ Kid Rock)

Sat, July 13       Hershey, PA                  Hershey Park Stadium (w/ Dave Matthews Band)

Sat, July 20       Winter Park, CO              Hideaway Park

Tue, July 23      Albuquerque, NM            Isleta Amphitheater (w/ Kid Rock)

Wed, July 24     Phoenix, AZ                   Desert Sky Pavilion (w/ Kid Rock)

Thu, July 25      Sacramento, CA             California State Fair

Fri, July 26        Irvine, CA                      Verizon Wireless Amphitheater (w/ Kid Rock)

Sat, July 27       Grande Ronde, OR         Spirit Mountain Casino

Fri, August 9      Ventura, CA                   Ventura County Fair

Fri, August 30     Snolquamie, WA             Snoqualmie Casino