André 3000 is taking his flute on the road, including a five-night stint in Los Angeles.
The multi-hyphenate entertainer announced the New Blue Sun Live tour Tuesday to support his first solo album, “New Blue Sun.” The instrumental album, his first new music in more than a decade, came out to critical acclaim in November, along with the first track “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 light mocking. Hip-hop heads anticipating something new from the musician were expecting bars from the flutist, a former rapper affectionately called Three Stacks. They were not expecting “a celebratory piece of work in the form of a living, breathing, improvised, aural organism,” as the album is described in the statement announcing the tour.
“It’s just another iteration of what I’ve always been doing. I haven’t really changed my form at all. It’s just this is kinda further out,” André 3000 told NPR before the project dropped.
The musician has also enjoyed some random, odd moments of “flutitude,” such as playing in the Atlanta airport or during a yoga class in Philadelphia. But this tour will comprise live shows in several storied venues.
The tour starts in Brooklyn on Jan. 29. Then he will 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 joined on tour by Carlos Nino, the co-producer of “New Blue Sun.” Other collaborators will also tour the country with the erstwhile 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, will be involved.
André 3000 is expected to wrap 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 the curious can buy tickets starting Wednesday via the artist’s website, a Myriad of Pyramids.
