After a three-year hiatus, groundbreaking hip-hop tour Smokin’ Grooves will return this summer armed with a lineup that includes Outkast, Lauryn Hill and the Roots.
The outing, which will also feature West Coast rhyme slingers Jurassic 5, is scheduled to kick off July 18 near San Francisco and hit 15 major markets before wrapping up August 7 in Atlanta.
DJ Shadow, Cee-Lo, and Damien Marley and the Ghetto Youth Crew will appear at some of the dates, along with several other surprise performers, according to the tour’s promoter.
Two shows, August 1 and 4, will feature Black Lily, an all-female jam session that has launched the careers of notable East Coast singers like Jaguar Wright.
Outkast, who have performed on past Smokin’ Grooves tours, said Sunday that fans should expect a different show from them than what they saw on last year’s Area: One tour.
“It’s gonna be a little longer, since we’re headlining,” Dre said from the video set of “Land of a Million Drums,” their new single from the upcoming “Scooby-Doo” soundtrack. “We have a couple new songs under our belt. We might be doin’ the ‘Scooby-Doo’ song, depends how it works out in the lineup. And we’ll be bringin’ in new artists like Killer Mike and TCP.”
With the Fugees, Cypress Hill and A Tribe Called Quest headlining, Smokin’ Grooves launched in 1996 as hip-hop’s answer to Lollapalooza.
Cypress Hill returned the following year with Erykah Badu, Pharcyde, the Brand New Heavies and Outkast, though it was 1998’s outing that carried the most heavyweights. That tour saw Public Enemy, Busta Rhymes, Cypress Hill, Wyclef Jean, Pras, Canibus, Gang Starr, Mya and Black Eyed Peas share the stage.
Smokin’ Grooves Tour Dates, According To The Promoter:
- 7/18 – Mountain View, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre
- 7/19 – Universal City, CA – Universal Amphitheatre
- 7/20 – Chula Vista, CA – Coors Amphitheatre
- 7/22 – Englewood, CO – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
- 7/24 – Tinley Park, IL – Tweeter Center
- 7/25 – Minneapolis, MN – Target Center
- 7/26 – Milwaukee, WI – Marcus Amphitheatre
- 7/28 – TBA
- 7/29 – Clarkston, MI – DTE Energy Music Theatre
- 7/31 – Mansfield, MA – Tweeter Center
- 8/1 – Camden, NJ – Tweeter Center
- 8/2 – Bristow, VA – Nissan Pavilion at Stone Ridge
- 8/4 – Wantagh, NY – Jones Beach Music Theater
- 8/5 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center
- 8/7 – Atlanta, GA – HiFi Buys Amphitheatre
