Astoria, NY -- (SBWire) -- 01/03/2011 -- Dispatch, the band who drew more than 110,000 people to their most recent hometown appearance at Boston's Hatch Shell and was the first independent band ever to sell out New York City's Madison Square Garden, a feat they repeated for three consecutive nights, today announced their first summer tour in nearly a decade.

Highlights on the tour include the first ever concert at the 25,000 capacity, brand new Red Bull Arena soccer stadium in Harrison, NJ, less than 10 miles from Manhattan, the famed Red Rocks Amphitheater outside of Denver, the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, CA and a hometown stand at TD Garden in Boston. Dispatch has taken the extraordinary step of setting ticket prices at $40 across the board.

Tickets go on sale to the general public at 12 Noon local time on January 28th at www.dispatchmusic.com. Fans are also invited to sign up at htttp://www.dispatchmusic.com beginning today for access to a special presale which begins at 12 Noon local time on January 21st and runs until the public onsale.

The band is offering free downloads of their entire studio album catalog to fans who help get the word out about the summer tour. By following a few simple steps – including friending Dispatch on Facebook, following them on Twitter and sending five friends an email about the tour – fans will get a special code to enable the download of the band's four studio albums. Complete details are available at http://www.dispatchmusic.com.

"Over these past few years we've really missed playing together, we've missed the road and we've missed our fans, and now we're back like Halley's Comet!," said Dispatch. "It's going to be a great summer."

Social responsibility has always been a major component of the Dispatch culture and this summer's tour is no exception. This summer the band will roll out their Amplifying Education campaign, which will focus on educational issues here in the United States. Not only will fifty cents from each ticket sold go to benefit education in each local market, but the band is planning additional programs to spotlight education in every market they visit.

Known as a band who attained superstar live status completely on their own terms, the members of Dispatch – Brad Corrigan, Pete Heimbold and Chad Urmston – released album after album on their own Bomber Records label, steering clear of the major label system and selling more than 600,000 albums. In the process the trio became true indie pioneers, building an enormous, passionate base of fans through the embrace of internet file sharing, word-of-mouth and constant touring.

The band's career looked as if it would culminate in their historic show at Boston's Hatch Shell, The Last Dispatch, which drew more than 110,000 people from 25 countries. Meant as the band's farewell gig, the show was the largest independent music event in history. Then in 2007, inspired to reunite to raise money for charity projects in Zimbabwe, Dispatch played three sold out shows at Madison Square Garden. As the New York Times said of DISPATCH: ZIMBABWE, "It's a welcome reminder that the music industry isn't reducible to the rather sad spectacle of multinational corporations trying to exchange CDs for cash. Since so many concert fund-raisers seem vague or half-baked, it was gratifying to see that the band members really knew and cared about the cause." Both events were chronicled in successful film projects.

This month the band will enter the recording studio for the first time in 11 years to work on new material, some of which may appear in the set lists this summer and on a future release. The band has not released a studio album since 2000's Who Are We Living For? In addition to their four studio albums, the band has a number of live albums, as well as a full length feature film, THE LAST DISPATCH.

Tickets will be available for presale beginning on January 21st and to the general public beginning on January 28th. More information and tickets are available at http://www.dispatchmusic.com

DISPATCH TOUR 2011

DATE CITY VENUE
June 4 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Amphitheatre
June 8 Chicago, IL Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park
June 11 Berkeley, CA Greek Theatre
June 18 Harrison, NJ Red Bull Arena
June 21 Atlanta, GA Chastain Park Amphitheatre
June 25 Boston, MA TD Garden

For more information please contact:

John Vlautin at SpinLab at 818-763-9800 or via email at jv@spinlab.net