Aqualung Set to Headline North American Concert Tour Presented by VH1

Aqualung Set to Headline North American Concert Tour Presented by VH1

Critically-Acclaimed UK Musician Selected as a VH1 'You Oughta Know' Artist

Aqualung Tour Begins September 7

NEW YORK, Aug. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Aqualung, the musical brainchild of British prodigy Matt Hales, will headline an upcoming North American tour, presented by VH1, beginning September 7 in St. Louis (see itinerary following). Support acts on the Aqualung/VH1 tour will include The Perishers and Tracy Bonham.

Aqualung has recently been selected by VH1 as a "You Oughta Know" artist while a clip for the hit "Brighter Than Sunshine," directed by Elliott Lester (Jason Mraz and Sum 41), is currently in heavy rotation on the music channel. Aqualung recently taped three performances for "Live @ VH1.com": "Brighter Than Sunshine," "Left Behind," and "Strange & Beautiful (I'll Put A Spell On You)," the song that broke Aqualung in the UK. Log on to VH1.com for the latest tour updates and for more information on Aqualung.

"Brighter Than Sunshine," the first single from Strange & Beautiful, Aqualung's American debut album, is currently a Top 15 record at Triple A radio. The track is a key song in the film and on A Lot Like Love (Music From The Motion Picture), the soundtrack from the Touchstone Pictures and Beacon Pictures romantic comedy starring Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet. The DVD edition of "A Lot Like Love," slated for release on August 23, will feature an exclusive film-related version of the video for "Brighter Than Sunshine," which differs from the video seen on VH1.

A live version of "Brighter Than Sunshine," recorded at the Shepherd's Bush Empire theatre in London, is part of a new Aqualung EP, available for downloading exclusively on iTunes. The exclusive iTunes Aqualung EP, released on August 16, includes the rare b-sides "Nothing Else Matters" and "Over."

Strange & Beautiful is currently #3 on the Billboard Alternative New Artist Album Sales chart and has just jumped from #12 to #9 on the Heatseekers Album Sales chart.

Aqualung drew raves from the stateside press during his first North American tour earlier this year. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "The fragile feminine tilt of his voice recalled the hard shell of professionalism that once surrounded the profound vulnerability of the late Jeff Buckley."

Rolling Stone, in a four-star review of Strange & Beautiful in its March 10th issue, wrote: "Uniting Radiohead-ish British rock and symphonic pop in the masterly mold of Burt Bacharach, the Beatles and the Beach Boys, tenor Hales delivers keenly focused keyboard-based drama that blows away all pretenders trailing in Coldplay's wake. 'Garden State' soundtrack fans, take note."

Entertainment Weekly rated the album an "A-," praising its " ... gorgeous, lo-fi Coldplay swoons by British balladeer Matt Hales, highlighted by the must-hear title track."

According to People magazine's three-star review, "Aqualung breathes a strange beauty into these atmospheric, keyboard-driven tracks with his choirboy tenor and sumptuous arrangements that at times achieve an almost classic grandeur."

With tracks remastered for its inaugural release in America, and song selection curated by Hales, Strange & Beautiful provides a perfect introduction to the music of Aqualung, an impeccably cohesive collection culled from Aqualung's critically-acclaimed best-selling UK albums, Aqualung (2002) and Still Life (2003). American audiences may already be familiar with Aqualung's music through its appearances in such hit TV programs as "Smallville," "Nip/Tuck," and "The OC."

Strange & Beautiful includes Aqualung's breakthrough single, "Strange & Beautiful (I'll Put A Spell On You)," the mesmerizing track which first introduced Hales' music to the public in 2002 via an enormously successful Volkswagen Beetle television ad campaign. Powerful and enigmatic, the single version of "Strange & Beautiful," from Aqualung's self-titled debut album, hit the UK singles Top 10 (#7) that same year.

Strange & Beautiful features four other UK hits from Aqualung, including that album's second single, "Good Times Gonna Come," and "If I Fall," the title track from Aqualung's double-disk EP.

VH1 PRESENTS AQUALUNG TOUR DATES

09/07/05 St. Louis, MO Blueberry Hill
09/08/05 Milwaukee, WI Pabst Theater
09/09/05 Chicago, II The Metro
09/10/05 Minneapolis, MN Fine Line Music Cafe
09/12/05 Kansas City, MO Grand Emporium
09/13/05 Omaha, NE Sokol Underground
09/14/05 Boulder, CO Fox Theater
09/17/05 Seattle, WA Showbox
09/20/05 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
09/21/05 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theatre
09/22/05 Tempe, AZ Marquee Theater
09/24/05 Austin, TX Austin City Limits
09/25/05 Dallas, TX Trees
09/28/05 Baltimore, MD Baltimore Ram's Head Live
09/29/05 New York, NY Webster Hall
09/30/05 Philadelphia, PA TLA
10/01/05 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
10/02/05 Burlington, VT Higher Ground
10/04/05 Knoxville, TN Blue Cats
10/05/05 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
10/06/05 Louisville, KY Phoenix Hill Tavern
10/07/05 Grand Rapids, MI Calvin College Fine Arts Center
10/08/05 Cleveland, OH Cambridge Room @ House Of Blues
10/09/05 Detroit, MI St. Andrews Hall

Source: Columbia Records

CONTACT: Benny Tarantini, Media - New York, +1-212-833-5858,
Benny.Tarantini@sonybmg.com, or Tour Press: Sandee Gardner, Media, Santa
Monica, +1-310-449-2902, Sandee.Gardner@sonybmg.com, both of Columbia Records

Web site: http://www.columbiarecords.com/
http://www.aqualungmusic.com/
http://www.vh1.com/

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