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Ben Harper taps into 'Lifeline' on upcoming trek
After playing a few festival shows next month, Ben Harper and his band the Innocent Criminals will kick off a major North American theater tour to support their forthcoming album, "Lifeline."
The outing will get under way Sept. 1 in Boulder, CO, and hit US venues from coast to coast--as well as a few in Canada--through mid-November. Two-night stands are booked in Montreal, Toronto, Los Angeles and Seattle. The itinerary is listed below.
The run is Harper's first to take place in sit-down theaters, and he and the Innocent Criminals are planning to make it a stylish affair.
"The ICs and I are gonna dust off and dress up a little for this next tour, so feel free to do the same ... only if you're in the mood," Harper said in a posting at his website.
The shows will feature music from the band's new album, "Lifeline," which is due Aug. 28, as well as songs from Harper's back catalog.
"As much as this tour is focused around the kick off of 'Lifeline,' these upcoming theater shows are going to be an opportunity for us to play a lot of the songs that we haven't gotten to as often as we'd like--especially songs that we feel fit well with 'Lifeline,'" Harper said.
"It will be a different musical experience, and I am excited for this--more of a sit down, acoustic show, some amplification as well, but a mixture of all this and hopefully some new covers too," the performer added.
Harper and the Innocent Criminals recorded "Lifeline" over seven days in a Paris studio at the end of a nine-month world tour. Because the band members were so musically connected after such a long outing, they decided to record the set live in one room, straight to tape on a 16-track tape machine. The result is described in the band's bio as a "soulful masterpiece" with "an effortless energy that recalls the best works of Otis Redding, Bill Withers and 'Beggars Banquet'-era Rolling Stones."
The lead single and video from the album, "In the Colors," are streaming at Harper's website.
"Lifeline" is a departure from last year's "Both Sides of the Gun," on which Harper plays almost every instrument. That 18-track, double-disc set is divided into two styles: softer acoustic grooves on one disc and more rocking tunes on the other. Several songs from the album are streaming at Harper's MySpace page.
In addition to touring, Harper and the Innocent Criminals plan to make the late-night talk-show rounds over the next few months, performing on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" Aug. 28, "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" Sept. 21 and "The Late Show with David Letterman" Oct. 1.
