Barenaked Ladies Bring "Last Summer on Earth" Tour to Verizon

When you’ve been with someone for two decades, you have to find ways to keep it fresh.

So obviously, you break into song about the hot dog vendor outside or the vintage clothing store you went to earlier in the day. In short, anything is game at a Barenaked Ladies show, says the band’s drummer, Tyler Stewart.

“We like to have fun and there’s a lot of spontaneity and improvisation,” Steward told Patch by phone from his home in Toronto.

They’re a band that is known for having fun, whether it’s making up songs onstage or writing theme songs for TV shows such as “The Big Bang Theory.”

At one concert, as John Popper of Blues Traveler played harmonica, the members of BNL surprised him by appearing onstage wearing nothing but gold lame thongs, Stewart recounted.

“He was beside himself laughing but he was also on the verge of tears,” Stewart said.

So anything could happen when they take the stage at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park in North Fulton on July 16. What’s certain is they will be playing with Blues Traveler, Big Head Todd & the Monsters and Cracker, as part of their “Last Summer on Earth” tour, which kicks off in Toledo, Ohio on July 6.

You might hear songs from their latest release, “Stop Us if You’ve Heard This One Before,” a compilation of outtakes and B-sides, including the original demo for “Old Apartment” and a live cover of the Beastie Boys’ “Shake Your Rump.”

And with more than 250 songs to choose from, you might hear some old ones like “If I had $1000000” or “One Week.” Stewart says his favorites are “ones that say something familiar but in an oblique or humorous way." One example is “Pinch Me,” from the 200 album “Maroon,” a song about a suburban lifestyle, he said. “You try to scream but it only comes out as a yawn,” he quoted.

It has been two years since the band’s last album and three years since founding member Steven Page left, which now creates space for a “healthy workplace,” Stewart said.

“Once he left, it was like a big cloud was lifted,” Stewart said. “We’re able to have fun like in the early years of the band.”

And they keep creating. Next up for the Canadian group is a Broadway musical. They are writing original songs for a stage production of the movie “Animal House,” Stewart said. And lead singer Ed Robertson is collaborating with Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield to write and record music from space.

 “I think more than anything we’re more confident in who and what we are,” Stewart said. “We don’t feel like we have anything to prove to anybody. We’re blessed to be making music…and people still care.”

Barenaked Ladies launch their “Last Summer on Earth” tour with Blues Traveler, Big Head Todd & the Monsters and Cracker on July 6. They will perform at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park on July 16. For tickets, visit the Web site.