DOKKEN Announces Feb/March 2023 U.S. Tour Dates
Legendary frontman Don Dokken & his DOKKEN uniform has announced a half a dozen U.S. tour dates for February and March 2023. The run will start at The Vine @ Del Lago Casino Resort in Waterloo, New York on February 17, 2023 and is set to finish at the Arcadia Theater in St. Charles, Illinois on March 18, 2023. More shows are said to be added soon.
DOKKEN posted: "We are looking forward to seeing you!! More dates TBA! Stay Tuned!"
At some of the more recent DOKKEN shows, George Lynch has been joining the band on stage to perform songs like "Kiss of Death", "When heaven Comes Down" & "Tooth and Nail".
Lynch commented about his experience being on stage with Don Dokken earlier this month (January 2023) on Sirius Xm's "Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk": "It has been [fun], actually, more than I would have thought. I would have thought there… 'Cause Don [Dokken, DOKKEN leader] and I had had animosity towards each other at a couple of different levels over the decades. And it's kind of a weird thing, when you think about it. And sometimes, it is uncomfortable for me, because when I show up, I have to sit there, and, of course, they're playing the songs that I wrote. And the [current DOKKEN] guitar player, Jon [Levin], is a wonderful guy; we're friends. But they're doing my whole thing, and then I walk out.
"I think it comes down to, we're entertainers, and if I'm gonna spend my time crying about anything, I'm just gonna hurt myself and the fans, and that doesn't do anybody any good," George continued. "And so I try to keep positive about the whole experience. And it has been, actually, good for everybody. The fans love it. I love doing it because the easiest thing I can do is play DOKKEN songs — songs that I helped write 35, 40 years ago that I can play in my sleep with one arm tied behind my back and go out and enjoy it and not have to work that hard and just really enjoy what I'm doing, enjoy the moment. And it's the path of least resistance. A lot of these other projects I do, they're not as easy of a sell. When I'm doing a KXM project or whatever it is, I sometimes have to work at it a little bit — I do have to work at it a bit harder. What is this supposed to be? How am I supposed to write? How am I supposed to look? How am I supposed to sell this? With DOKKEN, I don't have any of those issues or concerns because all the work's been done, we've already established what we are and I know what to do. So it's really, like I said — the path of least resistance sometimes is the right one."
When asked why he only plays 3 songs Lynch replied: "Well, that's probably an economic issue on Don's side. I mean, Don owns the name of the band. It works on me on all levels at this point, and obviously it works for Don, so if it's not broken, why fix it? And I don't know… I would just be speculating that he's concerned maybe that something could pop up if he gets in bed with me and then now he doesn't have what he's built over all these years. So there's that. And maybe financially it would be not as — I don't know — not as [much of] a positive outcome for him. I'm not sure; we haven't talked about it. But what we're doing now works. Obviously, what you just brought up is something that everybody's thinking about, but, hey, it's not up to me to decide. But I certainly feel that would probably make sense [for me to play the whole set]; I could see that making sense. I'm already there — why don't I just go out and finish playing the rest of the songs that are part of my legacy? People would like that. There's a lot of different ways to think about that. There's what we do as a business, and I'm not ashamed of that. I don't think it's a bad thing to talk about the business side of music. It doesn't take away from the art; it doesn't take away from the creative part of it. Those are two different sides of the same coin. We all need to make a living. But you have to have that balance of appreciating and producing music that you love and that people enjoy, and at the same time, it has to make sense financially. So I'm not sure which one that is, as to why we're not back together on a more complete basis, where I'm playing the whole set, but I've got a feeling it's probably financial."
When asked if a classic DOKKEN lineup-reunion has been mentioned either for studio or live: "We have [talked about it], and the opportunity has come up every couple [or] few years. And we had offers, and they're good offers. But it's tricky at this point in all our careers, when we've all kind of established ourselves on other paths, to bring us all together. And even though the offers are good, it's not enough to make us all just stop what we're doing in our tracks and re-route our careers to do that. Every time it comes up, we always run into these obstacles. They're not anybody's fault in particular, but it just seems like an impossibility."
Feb./March 2023 DOKKEN tour dates:
Feb. 17 - The Vine @ Del Lago Casino Resort - Waterloo, New York
Feb. 18 - Penn's Peak - Jim Thorpe, PA
Mar. 10 - Surf Ballroom - Clear Lake, IA
Mar. 11 - Medina Entertainment Center - Medina, MN
Mar. 17 - The Des Plaines Theater - Des Plaines, IL
Mar. 18 - Arcada Theatre - St. Charles, IL
