NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ Columbia Records) - With his long awaited fourth studio album, BLACKsummers'night, slated for release by Columbia Records on July 7, the contemporary soul artist
Maxwell will return to the concert stage for first leg of a major North American tour kicking off June 17 in Grand Rapids, Michigan and finishing July 31 in Miami (please see
Maxwell tour itinerary following).
Along his 2009 tour route, Maxwell will headline the main stage of the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans on July 4, appear at the BET Music Awards in Los Angeles on June 28, and perform on the CBS "Late Show with David Letterman" on July 10.
Tickets for Maxwell's 2009 summer concert tour are available via Ticketmaster (www.ticketmaster.com). Tickets for Maxwell's Milwaukee performance are available at Ticketmaster now with Grand Rapids and Vancouver going on sale Friday, May 22 and Las Vegas going on sale Saturday, May 23. Please visit Ticketmaster.com for on-sale information for all shows.
Maxwell's 2009 summer tour dates mark the artist's first extended run of evening's length concerts since breaking a six-year hiatus from live performance with his standing-room-only US tour in October 2008. When all 144,000 tickets for that tour sold-out within minutes of going on sale, the itinerary was extended from 26 to 33 cities. Maxwell's live performances were met with unanimously positive critical responses. The New York Times praised Maxwell's Radio City Music Hall concert as "exquisite" and "powerful" while the Boston Herald lauded his "awesome talent." Maxwell premiered new songs from BLACKsummers'night during his 2008 fall tour, among them "Pretty Wings," "Bad Habits," "Help Somebody," and "Cold."
BLACKsummers'night is the first full-length Maxwell release since Now, his critically-acclaimed third studio album, debuted at No 1 on the Billboard 200 in August 2001.
BLACKsummers'night is the sensuous opening installment of the artist's monumental BLACKSUMMERS'NIGHT trilogy. (The trilogy's subsequent chapters, blackSUMMERS'night and blacksummers'NIGHT, are slated for release in 2010 and 2011 respectively.)
"Pretty Wings," the first single from BLACKsummers'night, became available through digital service providers on Tuesday, April 28 while a video for the song premiered that same day on BET's "106 & Park" and on musze.com, Maxwell's website.
BLACKsummers'night reunites Maxwell with long-time collaborator Hod David, who serves as co-producer and co-writer of the album. Striving for an emotional authenticity and real world sound for the album, Maxwell and Hod recorded the entire album live in the studio with an a-list ensemble of elegantly sympathetic musicians.
Maxwell first rocketed to fame when he redefined classic soul music for a new generation with the release of his critically-acclaimed debut album, Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite, in April 1996.
Fueled in part by the RIAA gold single, "Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)," the Grammy-nominated Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite was certified platinum in March 1997, less than a year after its release, and achieved double platinum status, in recognition of sales of more than 2 million copies in the US alone, in 2002.
Maxwell followed up with his MTV Unplugged EP, released in July 1997 and certified gold in September 1999. His second full-length album, Embrya, was released in June 1998 and certified platinum in May 1999.
Another Maxwell single, the hit "Fortunate," was certified gold in June 1999. To date, Maxwell has achieved 10 gold and platinum certifications from the RIAA for his albums and singles.
Maxwell - BLACKsummers'night North American Tour - Summer 2009:
Wed-Jun-17 Grand Rapids, MI DeVos Performance Hall
Fri-Jun-19 Hammond, IN The Venue/Horseshoe Hammond
Sat-Jun-20 Milwaukee, WI Riverside Theatre
Tue-Jun-23 Seattle, WA Paramount
Wed-Jun-24 Vancouver, BC The Centre
Fri-Jun-26 Las Vegas, NV Pearl
Sun-Jun-28 Los Angeles, CA BET AWARDS
Mon-Jun-29 Phoenix, AZ Dodge
Wed-Jul-1 Austin, TX Bass
Thu-Jul-2 San Antonio, TX Majestic Theater
Sat-Jul-4 New Orleans, LA Essence Festival (Superdome)
Sun-Jul-12 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium
Mon-Jul-13 Louisville, KY Palace Theatre
Wed-Jul-15 Columbus, OH Palace Theatre
Thu-Jul-16 Cleveland, OH Allen Theatre
Sat-Jul-18 Pittsburgh, PA Heinz
Sun-Jul-19 Buffalo, NY Sheas PAC
Tue-Jul-21 Albany, NY The Palace
Wed-Jul-22 New Jersey NJPAC
Fri-Jul-24 Atlantic City, NJ Borgata
Sat-Jul-25 Foxwoods Foxwoods
Mon-Jul-27 Norfolk, VA Chrysler Hall
Tue-Jul-28 Savannah, GA Johnny Mercer
Thu-Jul-30 Tampa, FL Ruth Eckerd Hall
Fri-Jul-31 Miami, FL The Knight Center
Additional tour dates & information TBA
