ACCEPT Announces Fall 2022 North American Tour

Legendary German/American metallers ACCEPT will embark on a North American tour in the fall. The trek, featuring support from NARCOTIC WASTELAND, will kick off on September 29 in Nashville, Tennessee and conclude on October 29 in Columbus, Ohio.

ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann comments: "After two difficult years, I am very much looking forward to returning to the USA and playing in front of our American friends again. Let's rock out and have a great ACCEPT metal party with all of you headbanging metal veterans out there!"

Fans can expect a career-spanning setlist of new and classic tracks, including mega-hits "Balls To The Wall", "Princess Of The Dawn", "Fast As A Shark" and many more.

"Too Mean To Die - Tour North America 2022" dates:

Sep. 29 - Nashville, TN - Brooklyn Bowl
Oct. 01 - Houston, TX - The Concert Pub North
Oct. 02 - Fort Worth, TX - Rail Club
Oct. 04 - El Paso, TX - Rockhouse
Oct. 07 - San Luis Obispo, CA - The Coach House
Oct. 08 - West Hollywood, CA - The Whiskey
Oct. 09 - Las Vegas - Vamped
Oct. 11 - Denver, CO - The Venue
Oct. 13 - Milwaukee, WI - The Rave Ballroom
Oct. 14 - St. Charles, IL - The Arcada Theater
Oct. 15 - Westland, MI - The Token
Oct. 16 - Toronto, ON - The Phoenix Theater
Oct. 18 - Vineland, NJ - Landis Theater
Oct. 20 - Jim Thorpe, PA - Penns Peak
Oct. 21 - Patchogue, NY - Stereo Garden *
Oct. 22 - Peekskill, NY - Paramount Theater *
Oct. 23 - Teaneck, NJ - Debonair Music Hall *
Oct. 25 - New York City, NY - The Gramercy
Oct. 26 - New Bedford, MA - The Vault
Oct. 27 - Harrisburg, PA - XL Live
Oct. 29 - Columbus, OH - King Of Clubs

* no NARCOTIC WASTELAND

This past February, it was announced that ACCEPT had inked a worldwide deal with Napalm Records.

ACCEPT's latest album, "Too Mean To Die", came out in January 2021 via Nuclear Blast. The LP was the group's first without bassist Peter Baltes, who exited ACCEPT in November 2018. He has since been replaced by Martin Motnik. ACCEPT's lineup has also been expanded with the addition of a third guitarist, Philip Shouse, who originally filled in for Uwe Lulis during 2019's "Symphonic Terror" tour, before being asked to join the band permanently.

"Too Mean To Die" was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee with British producer Andy Sneap (JUDAS PRIEST, MEGADETH),who has been responsible for the studio sound of ACCEPT since 2010.

ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann told France's Loud TV about the "Too Mean To Die" album title: "It's more or less our answer to the whole corona vibe in the land, in the world. Of course, it's not meant serious — we said, 'We're too mean to die. We can't be bothered by any little virus that's out there.' Of course, it's not meant to be totally serious. But it sounded like a metal album, it sounded like a metal title, and we liked it. So we decided to go that route and give the metal fans a fresh and in-your-face sort of statement and a metal album that doesn't really deal with anything corona-related. 'Cause I think people had enough of all the corona stuff by now. It's time to move on."

Regarding ACCEPT's decision to release "Too Mean To Die" during the COVID-19 pandemic, Wolf said: "It's gonna be a while until we can do a proper headlining tour. But we decided to go ahead and release it, because maybe fans will enjoy it now that they're in lockdown, and maybe it's gonna take their mind off everything. And it's better than waiting until who knows when — until we can tour again. So let's have the album out now. Fans can enjoy it and listen to it, and then one day we'll be on tour and we'll meet each other again."

Mark Tornillo joined ACCEPT in 2009 as the replacement for the band's original lead singer, Udo Dirkscheider. He can be heard on ACCEPT's last five studio albums, "Blood Of The Nations" (2010),"Stalingrad" (2012),"Blind Rage" (2014),"The Rise Of Chaos" (2017) and "Too Mean To Die".

Asked about ACCEPT's overall approach since he came into the group, Tornillo told "That Jamieson Show": "Basically, [we went] back to what we did in the '80s — what everybody did back in the day. The whole thing was, when I joined the band, Wolf did not want the band to rest on its laurels and only go out and play the classics. He wanted a real band. So we've been album-tour, album-tour — like it always was."

Mark also talked about his musical personal chemistry with Hoffmann, who is the sole remaining member from ACCEPT's classic lineup.

"It's grown quite a bit, actually," he said. "We've got a great mutual respect for each other and for our talents. This album ['Too Mean To Die'] was a total collaboration. This is the first ACCEPT album without Peter, so that was a big gap to fill. But everybody stepped up. Our [new] bass player Martin Motnik contributed quite a bit to this album."

"The Rise Of Chaos" marked ACCEPT's first release with Lulis and drummer Christopher Williams, replacing Herman Frank and Stefan Schwarzmann, respectively.

Photo credit: Deaf Music Inc.