Ted Leo Announces Tour, Offends Fans Via Twitter

Photo by Mark C. Austin

Ted Leo recently announced a string of 22 new North American tour dates set to kick off this fall. In addition, Leo also announced via his Twitter several cities that he would not be visiting during this tour. It didn’t go over so well.

Leo addressed his attempt at humor via his blog, in an entry titled “Twittiquette.” Apparently, his tweets that read, “Yup, that’s right – no Houston. Also no Chapel Hill. No Boston, no San Francisco, no Omaha. No lots of other places. No London, no Singapore,” and “No Gaspée. No St. John. No San Juan. No South Padre Island. No Marco Island. No Orcas Island. No Kamloops,” were simply Leo kidding around. Unfortunately, they were the exact opposite for some disappointed fans on the Twittersphere, who, according to Leo’s explanatory blog post, had some unkind words for the veteran rocker.

Leo took to his blog to apologize for having potentially offended his fans. He wrote, “And if you weren’t one of the people who was a little jerky to me, then please don’t take anything that I say as being jerky back to you. I honestly thought the 5 tweet catalog of far flung cities would have indicated that I was just poking fun, but if you didn’t deserve to be poked, and it upset you to be wound up, then, again, I’m sorry.”

The upside to all this is that Leo tours like a madman, so he’ll most assuredly be announcing new cities soon. Below, there are a selection of new fall dates for a collection of non-disgruntled fans:

September
2 — La Jolla, Calif. @ Che Cafe Collective
3 — San Diego, Calif. @ Casbah
4 — Los Angeles, Calif. @ FYF Fest
6 — Vancouver, B.C. @ Rickshaw Theater
7 — Victoria, B.C. @ Element Nightclub
8 — Seattle, Wash. @ The Vera Project
9 — Portland, Ore. @ Crystal Ballroom
23 — Pittsburgh, Penn. @ Diesel
24 — Newport, Ky. @ Midpoint Music Festival
25 — Urbana, Ill. @ Pygmalion Music Festival
26 — Columbia, Mo. @ Blue Note
28 — Lawrence, Kan. @ Jackpot Saloon
29 — Denver, Colo. @ Marquis Theater

October
1-3 — Las Vegas, Nev. @ Matador 21
4 — Phoenix, Ariz. @ Rhythm Room
5 — Santa Fe, N.M. @ Corazon
6 — Norman, Okla. @ The Opolis
7 — Little Rock, Ark. @ Vinos
10 — Austin, Texas @ Austin City Limits
12 — Gainesville, Fla. @ Common Grounds
13 — Orlando, Fla. @ The Social
14 — St. Augustine, Fla. @ Cafe Eleven
15 — Greenville, S.C. @ The Handlebar
16 — Charlottesville, Va. @ The Southern