Punch Brothers bring their all-instrumental album to the State Theatre

The band's biggest North American tour since 2019 reaches Ithaca on Saturday, Nov. 14, behind The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers, their first record with no vocals.

For their seventh album, Punch Brothers took out the singing. Next Saturday, Ithaca gets to hear how that plays in the State Theatre.

The facts: Punch Brothers play The State Theatre of Ithaca on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, at 8 p.m. Tickets run $39.50 to $184 through Tixr. The theater holds about 1,600.

The record behind the trip is *The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers*, out July 24 on Nonesuch Records. According to Nonesuch, it's the Grammy-winning band's seventh album, its first made entirely of instrumental tunes, and its first with fiddler Brittany Haas. It has eight new original compositions and three traditional songs the band arranged. "New Bike" was the lead single (JamBase), followed by "Song of the Water Kelpie (unsung)."

The tour has been running since May 14, when it opened in Morristown, N.J. It's a 64-city run, the band's biggest since 2019, per Grateful Web and Pollstar. The fall leg was added later in a 31-date expansion announced by Nonesuch. Ithaca falls in a busy upstate stretch: the band plays the University at Buffalo the next night, Nov. 15, and the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Nov. 21.

For their seventh album, Punch Brothers took out the singing.

After that, they head overseas. In January the band starts a 12-date European tour in Bristol, its first shows in Europe in almost a decade, according to Red Light Management. So this fall's American dates are the last chance to catch this run at home for a while.

That's what makes the Ithaca date worth the night. An instrumental record puts all the attention on the playing, and a room the size of the State Theatre lets you hear every part. The band has been playing these songs on stage since spring, so by mid-November they should be well worked in.

Before you go: it's a Saturday at 8 p.m. downtown, so leave time for parking and dinner on the Commons. Tickets range from $39.50 to $184 on Tixr. Give the new album a listen before you go, and then hear it in the room.

Sources: Nonesuch — Punch Brothers release The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers, their first all-instrumental album, July 24 (nonesuch.com); Nonesuch — Punch Brothers Add Dates to Extensive North American Tour (nonesuch.com); JamBase — Punch Brothers Prep 1st All-Instrumental Album 'The Unsung Adventures' & Roll Out 'New Bike' (jambase.com); Grateful Web — Punch Brothers Add 31 Dates to 2026 North American Tour (gratefulweb.com); Pollstar — Punch Brothers Add 31 Dates To North American Tour (news.pollstar.com); University at Buffalo — Punch Brothers Return to the UB Center for the Arts This Fall (buffalo.edu); Red Light Management — Punch Brothers announce January 2027 European tour (redlightmanagement.com); Tixr — Punch Brothers at The State Theatre of Ithaca (tixr.com)