The Doobie Brothers add Las Vegas concerts to 50th anniversary tour

The Doobie Brothers will hit it on the strip in the spring when the classic rock giants reveal a limited engagement in Las Vegas.

The shows, which begin on May 13th, represent a makeover for the band. A series of dates in February 2020 ended after a few gigs when singer / guitarist Tom Johnston fell ill with an illness he now believes it was an early attack of COVID-19.

The Doobie Brothers will command the Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino for eight dates: April 13-14. May; 18; 20-21; 25 and 27-28. Tickets are available on December 17 at 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET via ticketmaster.com/DoobieBrothersVegas. Various pre-sales will take place from 15.-16. December will be available.

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In October, the band ended the first part of their 50th anniversary tour – which was postponed to 2020 – with singer / keyboardist Michael McDonald returning in a smoky voice.

McDonald will join Johnston, guitarist Pat Simmons and guitarist / multi-instrumentalist John McFee for the Las Vegas appointments.

Both Johnston and McDonald spoke to USA TODAY in separate interviews to share their anticipation of being stationed in the buzzing entertainment city for a few weeks.

Q: What do you look forward to while playing in Las Vegas?

Michael McDonald: I’m pretty excited because we’re making some adjustments over time. (Keyboardist) Bill Payne is not going to be with us because of his Little Feat (next year) engagements and nobody is more sad about that than me. So I readjust my keyboard position. (Vegas) will definitely be fun, but it’s also a chance to get a dip in the changes I need to bring on the summer dates.

Q: This is more of a “limited engagement” than a full residency. Would you ever consider doing anything longer term?

Tom Johnston: I don’t know anywhere for a couple of months, but that’s just me. It’s a long time being in a place like country artists in Branson, Missouri. I like to travel. I like the idea of ​​being in a different city every night. So you see a lot more people and I like to travel internationally, even if all of that currently has a big question mark.

Q: do you like Vegas in general?

Johnston: It’s a neat place. I don’t often go to Vegas alone, but I don’t go a lot of places! But there are a lot of great shows.

McDonald: I never disliked Vegas, but I never felt like it was a place we’d spend a lot of time. When I was playing clubs in LA, a lot of these guys went to Vegas and played in the lounges there to get a well-paid gig. In many cases, the hotels paid for everything at the time. If you went anywhere in town, even a cafe on the strip, if they knew you were working, you would get the receipt and the hotel would put your meal together.

Q: So not really a gamer?

Johnston: (laughs) We used to play on a plane in the 70s and play around with a deck of cards on the floor, but that was about it.

McDonald: No, not at all. I find that anything that is least addictive is not something I should be doing. I could get addicted to chocolate milk.

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Q: These shows are usually compressed to get people back up to the casino floor. You have a catalog that is not easy to compress. What do you think you will do, set-wise?

Johnston: That’s a very good question. I have to think about it and figure out how to reduce the length of the set. It was great to be back on the road. This tour was successful beyond my dreams. Not only were the shows full every night, but Michael was also with us and the crowd that reacted to songs from all eras … especially after this year that was going nowhere. We’re also playing new music from the latest release (“Liberté”) so we’ll probably play a few additional (new) songs plus what we did along the way.

Q: You have those Vegas concerts in May and then the rest of the tour and some makeup dates in June. How does the rest of 2022 look for the band?

Johnston: Assuming things are going well in the medical end of the world, we’ll be fully booked all fall – and with Michael.

Q: Michael, what did it mean to you to be back with The Doobie Brothers?

McDonald: It’s that feeling that it feels so natural; it doesn’t feel much different than ever before. Our friendships have always been around, so it’s almost like we’ve always been. But on the other hand, it made us grow. If you spent most of a month together at any given time, we could sit around and remember many things. I talked to John (McFee) about the fact that at our age we still play in these venues and go on tour like that, that’s not a matter of course for us.