simian coypu: Red Hot Chili Peppers Announce U.S. Tour

Band's first Stateside shows in four years kick off in January.
By James Montgomery

Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers
Photo: Getty Images

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have announced their first run of U.S. shows in more than four years, in support of 2011's (don't-call-it-a-comeback) disc I'm With You.

Currently in between runs of shows in the U.K. and Europe, the Peppers will return to the States for a trek that kicks off January 25 in Charlotte, North Carolina. So far, just six U.S. dates have been revealed, but according to a spokesperson for the band, more shows will be unveiled in the coming weeks. Tickets for the first six shows go on sale December 3. For more information, check out the band's official site.

The 2012 arena tour will mark RHCP's first full-scale tour of the U.S. since 2007, when they wrapped their massive Stadium Arcadium jaunt — and subsequently went on hiatus — and their first with guitarist Josh Klinghoffer as a full-fledged member of the band. (He served as a backing musician on the Arcadium tour.)

The Chili Peppers recently unveiled the Raymond Pettibon-influenced video for "Monarchy of Roses," the second single off I'm With You, which was released in August and debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200, selling more than 229,000 copies. When MTV News spoke to the band on the eve of the album's release, they told us that, more than anything, they couldn't wait to take their new songs out on the road, especially since their handful of warm-up dates — including a headlining slot at Japan's Summer Sonic fest — had gone swimmingly.

"It's very dynamic, so we really have to focus on letting each song exist unto itself with all its beauty. There's a lot going on," frontman Anthony Kiedis said. "We felt pretty good about everything that we had done in terms of writing and recording, but no one really knew [how the warm-up shows would turn out] and it was just as good as one could have ever dreamt of ... It was like being 21 years old and not being able to sleep the night before a show."

The first dates for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' I'm With You tour are as follows:

» January 25 - Charlotte, NC @ Time Warner Cable Arena
» January 27 - Raleigh, NC @ RBC Center
» January 28 - Columbia, SC @ Colonial Life Arena
» January 30 - Duluth, GA @ Gwinnett Arena
» January 31 - Greensboro, NC @ Greensboro Coliseum
» February 3 - Memphis, TN @ FedEx Forum