Panic! At The Disco will headline this year’s eighth annual Honda Civic Tour, scheduled to visit approximately 45 cities in North America this spring/summer. The trek will support the Las Vegas four-piece’s sophomore album, “Pretty. Odd,” due March 25 via Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen.
The upcoming jaunt begins April 10 at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco, and wraps June 14 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. Although a full list of cities, dates and support acts won’t be released until early February when tickets go on sale, rock acts Motion City Soundtrack and the Hush Sound are expected to join the lineup, a source close to the tour tells Billboard.com.
The 2008 Honda Civic Tour will visit primarily theaters and scaled-down arenas in the United States and Canada, with Live Nation promoting the bulk of dates. Tickets will be priced between $25 and $35, with $1 of every ticket sold going to a fund designated for nonprofit, green-friendly tour partners Reverb and Global Inheritance.
As in years past, a one-of-a-kind Honda Civic Hybrid, designed by members of Panic!, will be showcased at each tour stop. Concertgoers can enter to win the vehicle at special computer kiosks at each show, or by registering at hondacivictour.com.
The trek will also feature “eco spots,” where fans can educate themselves about such environmental-friendly issues as solar backpacks and re-usable water bottles, according to the trek’s executive producer, Marketing Factory CEO Rob Tonkin.
“We wanted to make [the Honda Civic Tour] more about what fans can do to make a difference,” Tonkin tells Billboard.com.
Meanwhile, Panic! fans should be in for a treat when seeing the band in concert, as most new songs “are definitely more geared toward playing live,” guitarist/lyricist Ryan Ross told Billboard.com in December. “We just wanted the record to sound like four people playing a song,” he explained, citing such classic rock influences as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and the Beach Boys.
Although Panic! has become known for its elaborate stage setup and elaborate costumes, Ross noted that future shows would be different. “We’re not going to do a circus show again,” he assured.
