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War on Drugs will headline next summer's Xponential Festival

The "Deeper Understanding" Philly band will be Saturday night headliners at the Camden music fest. Country-rock rebel Sturgill Simpson is also on the bill.

Adam Granduciel sits in his South Philadelphia studio. The War on Drugs will headline the Xponential Festival next summer.
Adam Granduciel sits in his South Philadelphia studio. The War on Drugs will headline the Xponential Festival next summer.Read moreMARGO REED / Staff Photographer

It's not winter yet, but put this on your summer 2018 concert calendar: Philadelphia's War on Drugs will headline the Saturday night portion of July's Xponential Music Festival at the BB&T Pavilion on the Camden waterfront.

The Adam Granduciel-led rock outfit, whose sumptuous 2017 Atlantic Records debut A Deeper Understanding is landing near the top of many year-end best-of lists (including mine), will play the BB&T on July 28. The band will headline a killer triple bill with country rebel Sturgill Simpson playing a full set in the second slot. New Orleans' Preservation Hall Jazz Band will open.

These are the first Xponential names to be announced for the fest, which last year took place over three days on two stages at adjacent Wiggins Park, as well as two nights at the BB&T. Reserved under-the-roof tickets for the War on Drugs and Simpson go on at sale at 10 a.m. Friday at  Ticketmaster.

I talked to Granduciel about A Deeper Understanding this year, and chatted with Steven Hyden on his "Celebration Rock" podcast over at Uproxx. Read about Simpson's dust-up with the New York Times over the paper's use of an out-of-context quote in a story about Luke Bryan here.

Watch the War on Drugs perform while floating down the Schuylkill in director Emmett Malloy 's "Pain" video below, and see Simpson do "Call to Arms" on Saturday Night Live below that.