The country’s best blend of cool music, hot video games and raw energy soon will visit a city near you. The 2005 Nintendo Fusion Tour kicks off its fall tour on Sept. 28 in Detroit, and will play nearly 40 other U.S. dates before the tour wraps up on Nov. 23. Each venue on the tour will be outfitted with video game stations, where concertgoers can check out new Nintendo products like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for Nintendo GameCube, the hot new Game Boy micro and games for the hot-selling Nintendo DS.
"We’re giving both music and video game fans an incredible fusion of entertainment," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America’s senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications.
Fall Out Boy headlines the tour, and joins other bands The Starting Line, Motion City Soundtrack, Boys Night Out and Panic! At the Disco. Fall Out Boy’s new album, From Under the Cork Tree, has recently been certified gold since its release two months ago. The first single, “Sugar, We’re Going Down,” has been racing up the modern rock charts, while the video has been getting heavy play on MTV, including a No. 1 rank on TRL. Chicago’s favorite sons have come a long way since their indie debut on Fueled by Ramen Records in 2003.
"We’ve been fans of Nintendo since the days of Excitebike and Kid Icarus," said Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy. “We are excited to be a part of the Nintendo Fusion Tour because of the diverse offerings it gives our fans. While they check the bands out, they also get the chance to check out some new video games. Besides, we have all always been video game nerds anyway."
The Starting Line credits their success to building a rabid fan base through relentless touring. All that road work paid off when their debut, Say It Like You Mean It, released in 2002, earned them a No. 1 spot on Billboard's "Heatseekers" chart and has since sold nearly a third of a million copies, a feat even more impressive when one considers that they did it without radio airplay. In 2005, the band released its much-anticipated sophomore collection, Based On A True Story. That CD debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at No. 18 with more than 40,000 copies sold in its first week, and Alternative Press magazine gave it a 5 out of 5 review. After their summer tour, The Starting Line will play a week of dates in Japan and then headline clubs in the UK prior to joining the Nintendo Fusion Tour. The band’s video for “Bedroom Talk” can be seen on MTV’s All Things Rock, Fuse and mtvU.
The highly charged second full-length album from Minneapolis’ Motion City Soundtrack, Commit This To Memory (Epitaph), is a blitz of indie rock, pop and punk. Produced by Mark Hoppus (Blink-182), Commit This To Memory "…is an inspired, mature sophomore disc chock full of catchy, intelligent pop-rock that will sound as good as the soundtrack to a long car ride as it will for spooning with your significant other." (Alternative Press). Featured guest spots include Patrick Stump (Fall Out Boy) on the first single, "Everything is Alright," as well as Hoppus on "Hangman." The video for "Everything is Alright" is airing on Fuse and mtvU. Motion City Soundtrack filmed spots for Fuse's Steven's Untitled Rock Show and are slated for mid-August appearances on MTV's Advance Warning and 10 Spot Drop. These appearances will be followed by full tours of Australia and the UK prior to the start of the Nintendo Fusion Tour.
One of Alternative Press' most anticipated releases of 2005, Boys Night Out’s Trainwreck hit stores Tuesday, July 26. A close second to the band’s anticipation of this release is their excitement for this fall’s Nintendo Fusion Tour. "We’re super excited to be touring with four awesome bands, and we’re all big video gamers," says Jeff Davis of Boys Night Out. "I couldn’t think of a better way to spend this fall than on this tour, because we definitely plan to play our fans in video games each day!"
Panic! At the Disco is one of the first signings to Decaydance Records, which is the label of Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy. There is a great buzz on this Las Vegas band, whose debut album, The Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, comes out Sept. 27.
The Nintendo Fusion Tour is produced and marketed by branded live entertainment specialists Clear Channel Entertainment Properties, which also produced the last two Nintendo Fusion tours. The music magazine Blender is signed on as an exclusive sponsor of the tour. The 2004 Nintendo Fusion Tour featured My Chemical Romance and Story of the Year, while the 2003 headliner was Grammy-winner Evanescence.
During the tour, Nintendo will host an exclusive sweepstakes to win a limited-edition, Nintendo Fusion Tour-branded Game Boy Micro. For ticket availability, up-to-date tour dates, and ongoing news about the Nintendo Fusion Tour, tune your browser to www.nintendofusiontour.com.
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