Nickelback plots 2009 tour

By Jonathan Cohen

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Canadian rock band Nickelback will begin a North American tour February 25 in Nashville in support of its just-released album, "Dark Horse."

Tickets go on sale December 5 via LiveNation.com, but Nickelback fan club members get first crack on Friday (November 28).

Seether and Saving Abel will provide support on the jaunt, which runs through April 23 in Columbia, South Carolina.

"Dark Horse," from Roadrunner Records, is expected to debut Wednesday in the upper reaches of the Billboard 200 album chart. First single "Gotta Be Somebody" has sold 570,000 downloads in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Asked recently by Billboard why Nickelback opted to wait to tour until next year, frontman Chad Kroeger said, "We've been bitten too many times by going out too early. I'm always adamant about making sure there's at least a true rock song from the band that's gone to radio, just to give a more diverse selection of music for people to listen to.

"We've been consulting with some people; I'm interested to see someone else's take on what this band could look like live, and we've had some real interesting stuff come back," he continued. "I think we're gonna try some stuff that, believe it or not, no one has ever done live before."

Here are Nickelback's tour dates:

February 25: Nashville (Sommet Center)

February 27: Lexington, Ky. (Rupp Arena)

February 28: Detroit (Joe Louis Arena)

March 2: Toronto (Air Canada Center)

March 3: Hamilton, Ont. (Copps Coliseum)

March 5: Worcester, Mass. (DSU Center)

March 6: East Rutherford, N.J. (IZOD Center)

March 8: Uncasville, Conn. (Mohegan Sun Arena)