André 3000 is taking his flute on tour, including a five-night stay in Los Angeles.
The multi-hyphenate artist announced the New Blue Sun Live tour on Tuesday to promote his first solo album, “New Blue Sun.” The instrumental album, his first new music in more than a decade, was critically acclaimed in November, along with the first song “I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a 'Rap' Album but This is Literally the Way the Wind Blew. “Me this time.”
The album was also met with some raised eyebrows and slight derision. Hip-hop fans anticipating something new from the musician expected bars from the piper, a former rapper affectionately called Three Stacks. They weren't expecting “a celebratory work in the form of a living, breathing, improvised aural organism,” as the album is described in the release announcing the tour.
“It's just another iteration of what I've always been doing. I haven't really changed my shape at all. It's just that this is a little further away,” André 3000 told NPR before the project fell through.
The musician has also enjoyed some strange, random moments of “flow,” like playing at the Atlanta airport or during a yoga class in Philadelphia. But this tour will include live shows at several historic venues.
The tour kicks off in Brooklyn on January 29. He will then play three nights at the famous Blue Note Jazz Club in Manhattan.
The “intimate” tour will then move to Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco and Atlanta.
The “Roses” artist will be accompanied on the tour by Carlos Niño, co-producer of “New Blue Sun.” Other collaborators will also tour the country with the former rapper, including Nate Mercereau, Surya Botofasina and Deantoni Parks. There is no indication that Big Boi, the other half of the legendary rap group Outkast, is involved.
André 3000 is expected to finish the tour in Los Angeles. The seven-time Grammy winner will play five nights starting March 5 at the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever.
Fans and curious people will be able to buy tickets starting Wednesday through the artist's website, to Myriad of Pyramids.
