Pivot Gang are going back on the road in March 2027, eight years after their only album as a group

Pivot Gang are packing the van again. The Chicago collective will play 13 shows in 20 days next March, a run called the All My Friends Tour, as they close in on their first group album in eight years.

The dates sit in rooms built for fans who want to be close: Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia, Brighton Music Hall in Boston, the Turf Club in St Paul, Barboza in Seattle. It is a deliberate scale for a crew whose music has always sounded like friends talking over each other at the kitchen table, and whose best-known member, Saba, has spent the past decade as one of rap’s most respected writers.

Who are Pivot Gang?

The collective formed in Chicago’s Austin neighbourhood on the West Side in the early 2010s. The current line-up is Saba, MFnMelo, Joseph Chilliams, Frsh Waters and producer daedaePIVOT.

Its story has been shaped by loss. Founding member John Walt, Walter Long Jr, a cousin of the group, died in 2017 at 24, and his death runs through Saba’s 2018 album Care for Me. In August 2021 the group announced that producer Squeak had died at 26 after being shot in Austin while visiting his grandmother.

Their only group album so far, You Can’t Sit With Us, came out on 19 April 2019, with guests including Smino, Mick Jenkins and Kari Faux.

What is the new music like?

“Location”, released on 28 October, puts Saba, MFnMelo, Joseph Chilliams and Frsh Waters on one track, produced by daedaePIVOT with Ben Nartey. The video, directed by JLEAN, plays out as a low-lit basement games night, the crew trading verses around the table. The group has described it as a “That ’70s Show-style cypher”.

It is their first new song since “Who At The Door” in 2024. The second album has no title yet and is due early in 2027, which would put it out around the time the tour starts.

Where and when are the shows?

• 5 March: Atlanta, Terminal West
• 6 March: Raleigh, Kings
• 7 March: Washington DC, The Atlantis
• 9 March: Philadelphia, Johnny Brenda’s
• 10 March: Brooklyn, Elsewhere Hall
• 11 March: Boston, Brighton Music Hall
• 13 March: Toronto, Annabel’s
• 15 March: St Paul, Turf Club
• 17 March: Denver, The Bluebird Theater
• 20 March: Seattle, Barboza
• 21 March: Portland, Mississippi Studios
• 23 March: Berkeley, Cornerstone
• 24 March: Los Angeles, The Echoplex

Tickets are on sale through the group’s own website and Ticketmaster.

Why does this matter beyond Chicago?

Rap collectives rarely last. Most splinter once one member breaks out, and Saba broke out years ago, with acclaimed solo albums and, in 2025, a full-length project with veteran producer No ID. Pivot Gang going back on the road together, as a unit and in small rooms, is a statement that the crew still comes first.

For Australian fans, the announcement is North America only. Nothing has been said about a run here, and there is no sign of one yet.

What else is coming up?

Before the tour, the group will hold its John Walt Day benefit at Thalia Hall in Chicago on 19 December. This year’s show also marks 10 years since Saba’s breakout mixtape, Bucket List Project.