 Rascal Flatts may truly be “Unstoppable.” As word comes down today that Rascal Flatts confirmed dates for the second leg of their immensely popular “Unstoppable” tour (see sidebar for dates), you have to acknowledge that the marketing army behind the group may just have hit a home run when they ran with the title of the group’s latest single, just dropped to radio this week. Rascal Flatts really may be “Unstoppable.” Their fan base is as centered as you would expect from their genre, but you might be surprised by how far afield some of their fans are. We somehow doubt it’s simply a result of the Christmas presents they sent out this year. After bringing home the American Music Award’s “Group of the Year” honors five times, and selling more than 20 million albums and 25 million digital downloads, you might think the country powerhouse would slow for a breather. But they won’t. This year marks the tenth that the ensemble has played together, and there’s no sign they are winding down. In 2009, the band sold more than one million concert tickets, just more than four million in the last four years, according to a press release from the group, and nearly six million since forming in 2000 near Columbus, Ohio. In the process, they sold out Madison Square Garden three consecutive times, and were the first and so far only country act to sell out Wrigley Field. That’s perhaps not as surprising as you might think, considering the high-tech features of their shows, which often include lasers, explosive pyrotechnics, videos and other special effects, and which apparently leave fans feeling pleased and satisfied with their live performances, and ready to recommend them to others on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.
Article continues below... Rascal Flatts has posted no fewer than eleven Number One singles on the country charts, starting with their very first single “Prayin’ For Daylight,” and have more titles in the Billboard Top 100 Songs of the Decade than any other country group. Their crossover hit “What Hurts the Most” shot to Number One on both the country and Adult Contemporary charts in 2006, and placed in the top ten on the Pop chart that year as well.
They may be best known for their smash hit “Life Is a Highway,” which was recorded for Pixar’s popular animated film Cars, and has since gone on to be featured in innumerable commercials and radio spots, despite never being officially released to country radio as a single. They’ve gone on record as saying they’d like to stretch out a bit from the records they’ve made so far, perhaps doing a complete Christmas album, and they certainly would like to return to the hardcore country roots that they grew up on. Said bassist Jay DeMarcus, “…there’s an itch inside of each one of us that wants to do a hardcore country record that hearkens back to the stuff we grew up on, and that our parents loved, and that we’ve been singing our whole lives.” If you can’t make one of the stops on their tour, you can get a little taste of their live act at the Academy of Country Music Awards April 18, alongside Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, and host Reba McEntire. But even if you can’t, you certainly wouldn’t want to stand in their way. For as the namesake tune of the tour indicates, you’ll have a hard time even slowing them down. Rascal Flatts 2010 Tour Dates | January 15 & 16 | Uncasville, CT | Mohegan Sun | | January 22 | State College, PA | Bryce Jordan Center | | January 23 | Charleston, WV | Charleston Civic Center Coliseum | | January 24 | Toledo, OH | Lucas County Arena | | January 28 | London, Ontario | John Labatt Centre | | January 29 | Ottawa, Ontario | Scotiabank Place | | January 30 | Hamilton, Ontario | Copps Coliseum | | February 4 | Evansville, IN | Roberts Stadium | | February 5 | Detroit, MI | The Palace of Auburn Hills | | February 6 | Dayton, OH | Nutter Center | | February 18 | Peoria, IL | Peoria Civic Center | | February 19 | Kansas City, MO | Sprint Center | | February 20 | Moline, IL | i wireless Center | | February 25 | Sioux City, IA | Tyson Event Center | | February 26 | Milwaukee, WI | Bradley Center | | February 27 | Green Bay, WI | Resch Center | | March 4 | Huntsville, AL | Von Braun Center | | March 5 | Columbus, GA | Columbus Civic Center | | March 6 | Orange Beach, AL | The Amphitheater at the Wharf | | March 10 | Houston, TX | Reliant Stadium |
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