Wicked Cool/Big Machine/UMeE Street Band guitarist “Little Steven” Van Zandt has lined up a fall North American tour with his recently re-formed backing group, The Disciples of Soul, in support of his new solo album, Soulfire. The trek officially kicks off September 23 in Port Chester, New York, and is mapped out through an October 26 show in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The tour, which follows a series of European summer concerts, will be Little Steven and the Disciple of Soul’s first stateside outing in 30 years. Van Zandt tells ABC Radio that the Soulfire album and its supporting trek mark the beginning of a rekindled focus on his solo career.
“I will now start to get back into fronting the band, which is going to take a couple tours before I become a frontman again, really,” he admits. “And then, [I’ll] start to write again. I haven’t written a new album in a long time, so it’s gonna take a minute.”
As previously reported, Soulfire, which is Van Zandt’s first solo album since 1999, features mainly renditions of songs Steven wrote or co-wrote for other artists over the years, plus a few new tunes and covers.
He describes Soulfire as “a great reintroduction of myself to people who already knew me and a great introduction to people who don’t know me.”
At his recent shows, Steven and the Disciples of Soul’s sets have included almost the entire album, as well as select tunes from his other solo efforts.
Little Steven says he’s hoping to alternate playing with The Disciples of Soul and with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. In addition, the former Sopranos and Lillyhammer star says he’d ideally like to have time to work on a new television show.
Here are all of Van Zandt’s confirmed North American dates:
9/21 — Holmdel, NJ, Laid Back Festival – PNC Bank Arts Center#
9/23 — Port Chester, NY, The Capitol
9/25 — New York, NY, Gramercy Theater
9/27 — Staten Island, NY, St. George Theater
9/29 — Boston, MA, The Orpheum
10/1 — Philadelphia, PA, Electric Factory
10/2 — Baltimore, MD, The Lyric
10/4 — Huntington, NY, The Paramount
10/6 — Northfield, OH, Hard Rock Live
10/8 — Chicago, IL, House of Blues
10/9 — Toronto, ON, Canada, Danforth Music Hall
10/13 — San Francisco, CA, The Fillmore
10/15 — Seattle WA, Showbox SODO
10/18 — San Diego, CA, Humphreys
10/19 — Los Angeles, CA, Orpheum Theatre
10/22 — Dallas, TX, The Bomb Factory
10/24 — San Antonio, TX, Tobin Center
10/26 — Fort Lauderdale, FL, Revolution Live
# = previously announced festival appearance.
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