Just days after wrapping their nationwide “I Love You…But I Chose The Maine” headlining run in Dallas on May 2, The Maine is already looking ahead. The Arizona emo band had alluded to something else coming — “We’ll see you sooner than you think” — and they weren’t kidding. Announced today, the band unveiled plans for “The Tour Next Door,” a unique new headlining run built around two completely different live experiences in a single night.

The concept is simple and very on-brand for a band entering what feels like one of their most creatively confident eras yet. One quiet part. One loud part.

According to the band’s announcement on Instagram, the evening will be split into two distinct sets:

“Set one: A stripped down acoustic set playing some of the more fragile tunes from our records along with peeled back versions of some of the live staples.
Set Two: Nothing but heaters including more from Joy Next Door and all of your favorites.”

For longtime followers of the band, the setup feels like a natural evolution of what made the spring tour special while giving the new material more room to breathe. Released on April 10 in the middle of their previous headlining run, Joy Next Door only had a limited presence in the setlist night to night. 

Tracks from Joy Next Door are expected to play a much larger role on this run, and personally, I’m hoping “Half A Spark” and “3:31” finally make the cut this time around. Both songs stood out as fan favorites almost immediately after the record’s release, and neither had a chance to shine during the spring tour.

The announcement also revealed a deeper purpose behind the routing. Rather than revisiting their usual major-market stops, the band plans to play neighboring cities and secondary markets instead:

“Our mission with this tour is to play the places next door to our usual stops in order to give ourselves and everyone new experiences and new places to visit with their friends.”

The band described the run as “the last headlining shows of the year” and “another beautiful reason to get the entire 8123 family together again to celebrate the Joy Next Door era.”

In addition, The Maine announced that $1 from every ticket sold will be donated to The Ally Coalition, an organization founded in 2013 by Jack Antonoff and Rachel Antonoff with a mission of bettering the lives of LGBTQ youth through tours, social media campaigns and collaborative partnerships, providing meaningful support to organizations serving LGBTQ youth.”

The tour will feature 11 dates total, with the first three taking place in August before the remaining shows resume in November. Artist presale begins Wednesday, May 13 at 10 a.m. local time, while general ticket sales start Friday, May 15 at 10 a.m. local time. To sign up for the pre-sale, visit: https://www.themaineband.com/tour.

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