Two summers ago, drummer and trumpeter Steve Lamos left American Football, citing changing life circumstances that were interfering with his commitment to the band. Now, he’s back behind the kit for the twinkly, mathy emo pioneers. A week ago the band, which recently purchased the house from its iconic debut album art, shared rehearsal footage via singer-guitarist Mike Kinsella’s Twitter account. Today they’ve announced a surprise hometown show ahead of upcoming dates in the UK and North America.

A week from tonight, on June 28, American Football will play the Beat Kitchen, the same Chicago club where they launched their reunion in 2014. They’ve got a few UK dates in July and a few more back home in August and September. Check out the group’s email message to fans:

It’s hard to believe it’s been 3.5 years since our last show (New Year’s Eve heading into 2020 in Chicago). We’d intended to take a long break after the LP3 tour, but could not have imagined what the next few years would bring.

When Steve Lamos decided to step away from the band in the summer of 2021, we weren’t really sure how, or if, we could carry on without him. Thankfully, one thing this band is very good at is patience.

We couldn’t be more pleased to have Steve back in the fold, and are beyond excited to knock the rust off with our first show in 3 years at the Beat Kitchen in Chicago on June 28th. It feels appropriate that we’re revisiting the same venue where we played our first, unannounced, show back in 2014 for what we thought would be a handful of one-off shows to support the American Football LP1 reissue.

TOUR DATES:
06/28 – Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen
07/01 – Brighton, UK @ The Old Market
07/02 – London, UK @ Finsbury Park
07/05 – Leeds, UK @ Burdenell
07/06 – Glasgow, UK @ Garage
07/08 – Cheltenham, UK @ 2000trees
08/11 – Indianapolis, IN @ Hi-Fi Annex
08/12 – Detroit, MI @ El Club
08/13 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Four Chord Music Festival
08/14 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
09/07 – Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
09/09 – Raleigh, NC @ Hopscotch Music Festival
09/10 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl