It's Reunion Week, Pt 2: The Return of the Rentals

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If you’ve followed my previous articles you'd know a lot of British bands are doing the reunion thing: Led Zeppelin is supposedly playing playing a memorial concert, the Spice Girls are expected to burn our collective ears with state-of-the-art fake singing on an upcoming world tour, and Brit-poppers the Verve have cleaned out their veins and started work on a new album.

The reunion fever has even spread to the states, as geeky sweater-pop also-rans the Rentals have decided to fulfill the prophecy of their first album, The Return of the Rentals, by... returning. It’s debatable if the band ever truly broke up, but they effectively dropped off the planet into geek-pop obscurity after releasing their last EP back in ’99. I had almost forgotten they ever existed, though memory repression may have played its part.

For those unfamiliar with the band’s oeuvre, the Rentals are best remembered as the one-hit-wonder responsible for the mildly annoying, Moog heavy, pseudo-hit “Friends of P.” Dig deep into the annals of your '90s memory, and you might also recall the band is fronted by original Weezer bassist Matt Sharp. His departure from the once-great gods of KISS worship might explain that band's ugly transformation into a diarrhea sandwich, but you can decide for yourself.

As Pitchfork informed us Monday, the Rentals are back in action with an obscenely large tour and an EP titled Last Little Life scheduled to drop on August 14. Los Angeles residents can look forward to an upcoming residency at Spaceland next month.

06-26 Bakersfield, CA - The Dome *
06-27 San Luis Obispo, CA - Downtown Brew *
06-28 Fresno, CA - The Belmont *
06-29 Reno, NV - Club Underground *
06-30 Las Vegas, NV - Beauty Bar *
07-07 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland *
07-14 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland *
07-21 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland *
07-28 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland *
08-01 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall *#
08-03 Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre *#
08-04 Seattle, WA - Neumos *#
08-05 Spokane, WA - The Big Easy *#
08-07 Boise, ID - The Big Easy *#
08-08 Salt Lake City, UT - Club Sound *#
08-09 Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre *#
08-10 Omaha, NE - Slowdown *#
08-11 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue *#
08-12 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater *#
08-14 Chicago, IL - Metro *#
08-15 Sauget, IL - Pop's *#
08-16 Cleveland, OH - House of Blues *#
08-17 Covington, KY - Madison Theatre *#
08-18 Detroit, MI - Majestic Theatre *#
08-19 Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall *#
08-21 Millvale, PA - Mr. Small's Theatre *#
08-22 Baltimore, MD - Sonar *#
08-23 New York, NY - Nokia Theatre *#
08-24 Cambridge, MA - Middle East *#
08-25 Philadelphia, PA - The Fillmore at TLA *#
08-26 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club *#
08-28 Winston-Salem, NC - Ziggy's *#
08-29 Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel *#
08-30 Charlotte, NC - Amos' Southend *#
08-31 Nashville, TN - City Hall *#
09-01 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade *#
09-02 Jacksonville, FL - Free Bird Live *#
09-04 Lake Buena Vista, FL - House of Blues *#
09-05 Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Revolution *#
09-06 St. Petersburg, FL - Jannus Landing *#
09-07 Tallahassee, FL - Beta Bar *#
09-08 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues *#
09-09 Houston, TX - Warehouse *#
09-10 Dallas, TX - House of Blues *#
09-12 Austin, TX - Emo's *#
09-14 San Antonio, TX - White Rabbit *#
09-15 El Paso, TX - Club 101 *#
09-16 Flagstaff, AZ - The Orpheum *#
09-18 Anaheim, CA - House of Blues *#
09-19 Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues *#
09-20 San Diego, CA - House of Blues *#

* with Goldenboy
# with Copeland
Don't forget to dig out those thick-rimmed glasses:

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/news/all/21775/Its-Reunion-Week-Pt-2-The-Return-of-the-Rentals/