Devin Townsend recently announced dates for the Empath Vol. 1 North American tour, with special guests Haken and The Contortionist. The trek is set to kick off in Toronto on February 27, and wrap up in San Francisco on March 25. He has checked in with the following update:

"Hey all, Dev here…so full disclosure: I think we made a mistake in terms of the VIP packages we’re offering for this upcoming tour by not adding a meet and greet.

Because of the logistics of this upcoming tour and the amount I am responsible for in a day, the decision was made in my camp to offer a VIP package to help offset the costs of this run and keep me on task up to showtime. But I guess I hadn’t taken into consideration that people are more interested in a ‘meet and greet’ style experience than a ‘watch the soundcheck’ style VIP thing.

I suppose I can chalk it up to a self-deprecating frame of mind, (or possibly low self-esteem), but I didn’t recognize that people actually care about meeting me. It still seems strange after all these years I guess, and I apologize for that.

So here's the thing: I've talked with management and the touring crew, and I feel its important on a number of levels to make time every day to meet people, sign things, and take photos. Not only to help with tour costs in this day and age but like I've said from the beginning: I can't do this without your support. It means so much to me to be able to do this and I'd love to meet you if you're still interested. The tour is selling well, but that wouldn’t be the case had I not had the support I've had all these years. To not offer something like this is wrong for me.

So if you're still into the idea of a meet and greet, I will absolutely make myself available and I'm sorry if the vibe we put out by not offering that in the first place appeared aloof. I've just been busy as heck and didn’t think it through enough.

Thank you for the support that allows me to do this. The tour is almost sold out and I don’t take that lightly."

Dates:

February
27 - Phoenix Concert Theatre - Toronto, ON
28 - Corona Theatre - Montreal, QC
29 - Warsaw - Brooklyn, NY

March
1 - Paradise Rock Club - Boston, MA
3 - Theatre of Living Arts - Philadelphia, PA
5 - The Underground - Charlotte, NC
6 - Center Stage - Atlanta, GA
7 - The Plaza Live - Orlando, FL
9 - Warehouse Live - Houston, TX
10 - Granada Theater - Dallas, TX
12 - Cannery Ballroom - Nashville, TN
13 - The Crofoot Ballroom - Pontiac, MI
14 - Metro - Chicago, IL
15 - House of Blues - Cleveland, OH
16 - Rams Head Live - Baltimore, MD
19 - First Avenue - Minneapolis, MN
20 - Granada Theater - Lawrence, KS
21 - The Oriental Theater - Denver, CO
23 - The Van Buren - Phoenix, AZ
24 - The Mayan - Los Angeles, CA
25 - The Regency Ballroom - San Francisco, CA