More than a decade after they last went on tour together, the members of Hootie & the Blowfish are back together. The Group Therapy Tour, featuring opener Barenaked Ladies, will make stops in Austin on June 13th, Houston June 14th and Dallas on June 15th.

In 1994, Hootie & the Blowfish released “Cracked Rear View,” which went on to become a multi-platinum seller. Featuring songs like “I Only Want to be With You,” “Hold My Hand,” “Time” and the Grammy award-winning “Let Her Cry,” it instantly became a ‘90s classic and made Hootie & the Blowfish a pop-rock icon. The band went on to release four more albums before going on hiatus in 2008. The Group Therapy Tour will mark the band’s first tour since they released “Looking for Lucky” in 2005.

During their break, lead singer Darius Rucker found a new career in country music, which included a chart-topping cover of “Wagon Wheel.” Occasionally, the members would get together for charity shows, benefits, and a one-time performance on the Late Show with David Letterman in 2015.

Later that year, Rucker said the band had been working on a new album. But it wasn’t until December 2018 they announced that, not only would there be a new Hootie & the Blowfish album, but they would also be doing a 44-city tour with the Barenaked Ladies, another band who found fame in the ‘90s. Twenty-five years after the release of “Cracked Rear View” and 12 years since Hootie & the Blowfish last toured, the Group Therapy Tour is a collaboration bringing fans together to relive the sounds and hits of two ‘90s popular music icons known for their emotional ballads.

The Barenaked Ladies are celebrating a milestone of their own. After finding success in their home country, Canada, with songs like “Brian Wilson,” and “Broke into the Old Apartment,” they were ready to make the big jump to America. In 1998, the band released their album “Stunt.” With the catchy “One Week” the band from Canada finally found mainstream success in America. They went on to release other sings, such as “Pinch Me,” “It’s All Been Done,” and the theme song to “The Big Bang Theory.” Over the course of their career, Barenaked Ladies has had an ice cream named after them (Ben & Jerry’s ‘If I had 1,000,000 Flavours’), sold over 15 million albums, and even participated in the first so-called “space to earth musical collaboration.” In March of 2018, the Barenaked Ladies were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame by Rush frontman Geddy Lee.

Cover photo courtesy Hootie & the Blowfish

Native Austinite Brian Maass has long had a passion for live bands and good music, and is now bringing that same passion to the world of photography. @maass_brian and brian_maass_photographer