Resuming a tour? Hall & Oates can go for that

John Oates of Hall & Oates, the multi-platinum soul-pop duo behind hits like “Private Eyes,” “Rich Girl” and “Maneater,” is eager to return to concert stages again and prepared for an extra loud reaction when he does.

“I think there’s definitely going to be an energy there that is very unique. No one’s ever experienced a time like this in our modern world,” he said. “Quite honestly, this is the longest I have not played live in my entire professional career.”

Hall & Oates had planned to tour in 2020 but only managed one stop at Madison Square Garden in late February before COVID-19 restrictions led to the nation’s concert venues being shuttered.

“We really had a cool show planned. And so because we had invested time and energy into that show, we kind of just put it in mothballs, basically. And now we’re bringing it back up because no one’s really seen it,” Oates said.

The new tour kicks off Thursday in Mansfield, Mass., and hits Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Denver, Los Angeles and Honolulu, before ending with a two-night stand Dec. 3-4 in Mashantucket, Conn. Squeeze and KT Tunstall will join the duo on certain concerts.

The tour kicks off just as the delta variant of the virus is spreading rapidly and Oates said he and the band will take it day-byday. “Every day is going to be a new day,” he said. “You know, we don’t know what the world’s going to deliver to us in the next month. We’ll roll with it and take what we can get.”