Warped Founder Planning Country Music Tour

Vans Warped tour co-founder Kevin Lyman plans to launch a similar tour for the country genre, and has opened an office of his 4fini Productions in Nashville to put the tour together.

Lyman, who has also launched the Rockstar Taste of Chaos and Rockstar Mayhem tours, now has his sites set on a similar model for country- a multi-act, multi-stage, sponsor-driven tour with heavy label involvement and a conservative ticket price.

Lyman's team visited Nashville in January and started meeting with labels, managers and agents on an exploratory trip, and interest was high. "Everyone was saying the time is right," he says. 4fini execs Sarah Baer and Kate Truscott have relocated to Music City from Chicago, and former Clear Channel online music manager Allison Skiff has joined the Nashville team.

The first version of the yet-to-be-named tour will go out in summer 2010. "We want to customize what we've been able to do with Warped [in the punk genre], and last year with Mayhem in metal," Lyman tells Billboard.biz. "We invested a lot of time with the metal labels before we put that tour into motion, and we've put a lot of time into this [new] project."

The inaugural country tour will probably book about 13-14 acts and 10-12 singer/songwriters, Lyman says. He also envisions targeted ancillary events with other exhibition partners, and action sports exhibitions. "It's very wide open. We're not down to those details yet, but we're not discounting anything," Lyman says.

Promoter Live Nation works with Lyman on the Mayhem tour, and Lyman says a similar model would be likely for the country tour. "There is a commitment from them to support if we can put the right project together," he says. Baer and her team are actively seeking sponsors for the country tour and Lyman says they're already garnering interest.

Meanwhile, Warped had its strongest Internet pre-sale ever, up 48%, from 24,000 to over 35,000 this year, according to Lyman. "Now it's selling like the Warped tour, but we've got a pretty good head start," Lyman says, attributing the increase to a more coordinated digital marketing effort. "Mayhem pre-sales are also up quite a bit, which might be attributed to more brand awareness."

No Doubt Regrouping For Tour, Album

No Doubt will return to the road in 2009 while it finishes its first studio album in seven years. The group made the announcement via an instant message transcript posted on its official Web site, but did not provide specific details.

"I have cabin fever. Maybe we should play some shows or something," guitarist Tom Dumont wrote. Vocalist Gwen Stefani answered, "I think we should go out now. I don't think we should wait. Pack up the babies and get a bunch of nannies. So fun! Would be so inspiring to get out there and play all those songs again."

The group then discusses how continuing to write new music on the road would be inspiring, and vows to alert management to its plans.

No Doubt has been in the studio on and off throughout 2008. But Stefani's participation has been limited of late, having given birth to her second son in late August.

The group hasn't played live since mid-2004, and its last studio album was 2001's "Rock Steady." Since then, Stefani has released two critically acclaimed solo albums, while the other group members have pursued solo and session work as well as producing. Most recently, they appear on Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland's solo album, "'Happy' in Galoshes."

Panic At The Disco, Dashboard To 'Rock' On Tour

Panic At The Disco and Dashboard Confessional will anchor the first "Rock Band"-branded tour this fall, which will offer local fans the chance to play the video game on stage in each market. Plain White T's and the Cab are also on the bill.

The tour begins Oct. 5 in San Diego and will play arenas through Nov. 14 in Houston. Details about the on-stage "Rock Band" competitions will be forthcoming on the event's Web site.

All the acts on the trek will be spotlighted in a downloadable content bundle for "Rock Band 2" in the fall. The new game hits stores in September.

Panic At The Disco is touring in support of its second album, "Pretty. Odd," which has sold 323,000 copies in the U.S. since its March release, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

As previously reported, Dashboard Confessional will release its next album this fall via Vagrant, and Plain White T's' "Big Bad World" is due Sept. 23 via Hollywood.