Soundgarden Announces Summer 2011 Tour Dates, Close to Completing New Album

The rest of the country gets a shot at checking out the recently reunited Soundgarden this July, as the '90s rock heroes will cross the continent on a 16 date tour that kicks off July 2 in Toronto.

After breaking up in 1997, the Seattle-based band reformed last year, but only for a tantalizing handful of concerts. Now, after spending some time together recording a brand new album -- they expect to be finished in May, if the second-hand sources we're trusting are correct -- it seems they're ready to visit a larger portion of our fine country.

Soundgarden were underground and critical darlings long before they hit it big, so it stands to reason they're bringing some of the biggest names from later generations of thinking-person's hard rock music along with them on various dates of this tour. Coheed and Cambria will appear the first week or so, then the Mars Volta takes over on July 14 in Atlantic City.

Things really get interesting for the last two dates of the tour, with the Meat Puppets and the mighty Queens of the Stone Age both opening up the July 29 show in Vancouver, and then Mastodon joining that lineup in an apparent effort to make the July 30 Seattle show a mini-festival that we're going to have to beg our boss to let us cover.

Soundgarden 2011 Summer Tour Dates:

07/02 – Toronto, ONT
07/03 – London, ONT
07/05 – Ottawa, ONT
07/06 – Uncasville, Ct.
07/08 – Newark, N.J.
07/09 – Wantagh, N.Y.
07/10 – Mansfield, Mass.
07/13 – Philadelphia, Pa.
07/14 – Atlantic City, N.J.
07/16 – Chicago, Ill.
07/18 – Morrison, Colo.
07/21 – San Francisco, Calif.
07/22 – Los Angeles, Calif.
07/23 – Las Vegas, Nev.
07/29 – Vancouver, B.C.
07/30 – George, Wash.

Watch Soundgarden's Seizure-Inducing Video for 'Rusty Cage'