This is a blatant plug for an upcoming band, I’m making no excuses for it. But it’s also your chance to get in on one of those breakthrough moments. You know the ones where we all want to be there and see a band just as they start to soar. To be able to claim that you saw them live before they got really big. With some new dates just announced for their first-ever headline US and Canada tour, more of you will have the chance to see this exciting band.
The Cardinal Black is the band. They have been making great steps forward in the UK and closed off a short tour there in January. They hail from Wales, home of the Manic Street Preachers, and have a super vocalist in Tom Hollister up front. He brings real soul and feeling to their music.
The title referred to a brilliant guitarist, that’s Chris Buck. He is a phenomenal player with some amazing solos. He was deservedly named Best New Guitarist In The World 2019 by Guitarist Magazine. On drums is the very solid Adam Roberts.
Why should check out Cardinal Black on the first headlining tour
There may be a small lineup change for the new tour dates. Bass player Sam Williams recently explained on the band's Instagram that he might have to miss a few dates while he balanced the financial needs of a new home with needing to work and play in the band. He wasn't included on the tour PR photo suggesting there may be a stand-in.
The band did play three dates last summer one at the Playing With Fire Festival in Omaha, then in Nashville, and at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. The last two were sell-out gigs. That helped get the band noticed and they just recently announced that they had signed deals with Nashville record label Thirty Tigers and global agency WMA.
You can expect to hear more of the band over the weeks and months ahead. The tour dates kick off at The Mercury in New York on August 6, 2025, including a couple of dates in Toronto and Ontario, and then ten more dates across the US, ending at Delfino Farms, Camino, on August 30.
So, if that has got you interested, let me share a few more reasons why you should be checking those dates to see if they are heading your way. I first saw them as support for Peter Frampton at the Royal Albert Hall, London in November 2022, he knows a good band when hears one as they had an incredible night in front of their biggest audience ever.
Their recent UK tour saw them in excellent form, too, when they played at a Cambridge venue in October. It’s your turn next if you are in the US or Canada. You won't regret buying a ticket and seeing The Cardinal Black and hopefully catching one of those must-see moments.