THIS JUST IN from the folks at Cookman International:
Legendary artist Manu Chao will return to North American shores for an extensive tour in support of his forthcoming studio album. Key festival dates include April 29th at Coachella and June 15th at Bonnaroo. The 2007 tour follows last year’s series of sold-out Stateside dates. Chao’s new album has been mixed by Mario Caldato (Beastie Boys, Jack Johnson) and Andrew Scheps (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mars Volta), to be released this spring.
In order to make the shows as accessible and reasonably priced as possible, Manu Chao will make a limited quantity of tickets available with discounted services fees exclusively at www.manuchao.tickets.musictoday.com Tickets may be purchased at this site starting on Tuesday, March 13th at 9am local time and ending on Friday, March 17th at 5pm Eastern Time.
MANU CHAO – NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES
April 29th – Indio, CA – Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival
May 25th – Vancouver, BC Canada – Commodore Ballroom
May 26th – Quincy, WA –Sasquatch Festival at the Gorge Amphitheatre
May 28th – Portland, OR – Roseland Theatre
May 30th – San Francisco, CA – Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
June 2nd- Los Angeles, CA (Venue TBA shortly)
June 5th – San Diego, CA – Bayside Concerts – Embarcadero Marina Park South
June 8th – Denver, CO – Red Rock Amphitheatre
June 10th – Dallas, TX – Palladium Ballroom
June 11th – Austin, TX – Stubbs
June 13th – New Orleans, LA – Tipitina’s Uptown
June 15th – Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo Music Festival
June 17th – Chicago, IL – Aragon Ballroom
June 19th – Detroit, MI – St. Andrews Hall
June 21st – Toronto, ON – Kool Haus
June 23rd- Washington, DC (Columbia, MD- Merriweather Post; has not been confirmed)
June 24th – Boston, MA – Avalon Ballroom
June 26th & 27th – Brooklyn, NY – Celebrate Brooklyn – Prospect Park Bandshell
June 29th – Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory
Manu Chao was born to Spanish parents in Paris and has long used his cross-cultural surroundings and background as inspiration for his music. An offspring of the French alternative scene, Manu Chao formed his first major band, Mano Negra, in the mid-1980’s. They exploded onto the music scene and quickly acquired international acclaim for their innovative albums and explosive live shows.
Following the split of Mano Negra in 1995, Manu Chao traveled to Madrid and formed Radio Bemba with local musicians and soon after decided to go solo as Manu Chao. He began collaborating with musicians from diverse backgrounds and sought inspiration from street culture and local bar scenes. The end result was his debut solo album entitled “Clandestino.”
“Clandestino”, released in 1998, was a highly personal album, recorded with a tiny portable studio in which Manu Chao kept as a type of musical ’diary’ of his travels. Mixing computer sound effects and street sounds with simple acoustic guitar, Manu Chao created an album with predominantly Spanish lyrics that ultimately produced a strong Latino ’roots’ feel. “Clandestino” became one of France’s top-selling albums and one of the best-selling French albums abroad establishing itself as one of the best-selling albums in French music history with sales totaling more than 2.5 million copies.
Chao released a second album, “Proxima Estacion: Esperanza”, in 2001 once again topping the European charts and also receiving attention from international media with Rolling Stone naming “Esperanza” one of the best albums of the year and Manu Chao also making the front page of the Wall Street Journal. Manu Chao began touring extensively, bringing his unique blend of musical styles and languages to sold-out crowds around the world.
In 2002, Manu Chao released “Radio Bemba Sound System”, a live album paying tribute to Radio Bemba, and offering a reflection of the atmosphere during the tour. Following the “Radio Bemba Sound System” tour, Manu focused on producing albums for various artists including critically-acclaimed Malian duo Amadou & Mariam.
Meanwhile, he was also hard at work on a new album “Sibérie m’était contée”, an acoustic-flavored album with lyrics in French. The album, which was released with a book featuring drawings by Wozniak, found Manu Chao concentrating on winter in Paris.
Throughout the success of his career, Manu Chao has remained true to his anti-establishment principles and continues to mix music and politics by performing at events that promote anti-globalization efforts. He continues to tour around the world playing to sold-out crowds in Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico and Central and South America in the past year. He also made a return to the U.S. after a few years absence, playing several sold-out dates across the country last summer.