RICHIE KOTZEN Announces Spring/Summer 2024 European Tour

Richie Kotzen will embark on a European tour this spring/summer.

The 53-year-old guitarist/vocalist, who has been a member of THE WINERY DOGS since 2012, has scheduled the following dates:

June 4 - Batschkapp, Frankfurt, DE (supporting EXTREME)
June 5 - Colos-Saal, Aschaffenburg, DE
June 6 - Rosenhof, Osnabrück, DE
June 8 - Sweden Rock Festival, Sölvesborg, SE
June 9 - Pumpehuset, Copenhagen, DK
June 11 - Victorie, Alkmaar, NL
June 12 - TurbinenHalle, Oberhausen, DE (supporting EXTREME)
June 13 - Metropool, Hengelo, NL
June 14 - Forum, Vaureal, FR
June 16 - La Riviera, Madrid, ES (supporting EXTREME)
June 17 - La Salamandra, Barcelona, ES
June 20 - Rock Imperium Festival, Cartagena, ES
June 22 - Crossroad, La Rochelle, FR
June 24 - Garage, Saarbrücken, DE
June 25 - Gross Freiheit, Hamburg, DE (supporting EXTREME)
June 26 - F-Haus, Jena, DE
June 28 - Backstage, Munich, DE
June 29 - MMC, Bratislava, SK
June 30 - C-Club, Olomouc, CZ
July 1 - Colosseum, Kosice, SK
July 4 - Durer Kert, Budapest, HU
July 6 - Metal Park Festival, Vicenza, IT
July 7 - Dynamo, Zurich, CH
July 10 - Limelight, Belfast, Northern Ireland
July 11 - Opium, Dublin, IRE
July 13 - Islington Assembly Hall, London, U.K.

Kotzen's most recent solo single, "Raise The Cain", came out in September 2020. The track featured a guest appearance by Kotzen's THE WINERY DOGS bandmate, drummer Mike Portnoy.

"Raise The Cain" marked the first new solo music from Kotzen since the release of his 22nd solo album, "50 For 50", which came out in February 2020 via his own custom label, Headroom-Inc. That three-disc set was just what the title implies: a collection of 50 previously unreleased compositions produced, performed and written by Kotzen in honor of his birthday.

Richie explained his decision to release "Raise The Cain" in a social media post: "So after releasing a 50 song original album at the start of 2020 I had absolutely no intention of releasing any more new music at any point this year. At least after doing some touring to support the '50 for 50' release… Well, That didn't happen…LOL. Suddenly I found myself like all of us locked up wondering what now? As one could have easily predicted I started receiving some new musical inspiration and new ideas from who knows where…

"The nucleus of this song came out of a phone conversation I had with my fellow Winery Dog band mate @MikePortnoy at the start of our Covid quarantine. He mentioned his drums were miked up and that he had been doing some recording. I said 'hey Mike, I've got an idea for you if you're up for it… Take 4 or 5 different tempos and different grooves and lay down a few song forms. Pretend I'm jamming with you and record as if it were a song. Once you get them sorted send them off to me and I'll see if I can edit some of your beats and possibly write them into songs.'
"I ended up writing the riff to Mike's 7/8 drum groove which then lead me down the road to completing a song which is 'Raise The Cain'.

"Initially I thought of sitting on the track to include on a full length album down the road but then reality sank back in. Why bother? Why bother sitting on a finished track and letting it sit on a hard drive until who knows when? No good reason to do that so here we are with yet another RK single release featuring some badass drumming from Master @mikeportnoy."

THE WINERY DOGS were founded after Portnoy and bassist Billy Sheehan — who initially aimed to collaborate with former WHITESNAKE and BLUE MURDER guitarist John Sykes — reached out to Kotzen, who played with Sheehan in MR. BIG from 1997 to 2002. The group has released three albums so far: 2013's self-titled debut, 2015's "Hot Streak" and 2023's "III".