Back in the year 2000, Elvis Costello picked “The Best of Blondie” to be on his epic list of “500 Albums You Need.” Now he’s put the Debbie Harry-fronted band on an even shorter list of groups he needs to tour with. The two artists, both of whom have remained active since the late ’70s, will co-headline a 13-city tour this summer.
The teaming between Costello & the Imposters and Blondie focuses on the east and west coasts, although it does go inland as far as Las Vegas. Their opening gig is July 20 in Bethel, New York, at the amphitheater on the site of the original 1969 Woodstock festival. From there the tour is split up almost evenly between points east and west, with a date at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles August 5 before the tour wraps up in Seattle August 10.
The tour, which is being advertised as “Blondie and the Beastly E.C.!,” an apparent nod to “Beauty and the Beast,” will have a fan club resale beginning at noon in the appropriate time zones today, followed by a general on-sale at the Live Nation website 10 Saturday morning.
Costello and Harry have performed together on record before, on a 1996 album by the Jazz Passengers, which led to a TV duet on David Letterman’s show. Otherwise, they’ve rarely shared even a festival bill before.
Popular on Variety
Neither act is a complete stranger to the strength in numbers of a co-headlining tour, however. Blondie went out as equal partners with Garbage in the summer of 2017. In 2015, Costello went out with Steely Dan, although he was officially designated as a support act on that one.
Costello was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003, along with his original backup group, the Attractions, with which the crew he’s toured with since 2001, the Imposters, shares all but one member. Blondie, which still has three key members from its so-called classic lineup, was called up into the Hall of Fame in 2006.
The full itinerary:
7/20 – Bethel, NY @ Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
7/21 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
7/23 – Boston, MA @ Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion
7/24 – Forest Hills, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium
7/26 – Washington DC @ The Anthem
7/27 – Camden, NJ @ BB&T Pavilion
8/1 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Pearl Theater At The Palms
8/2 – Temecula, CA @ Pechanga Summit
8/4 – Irvine, CA @ FivePoint Amphitheatre
8/5 – Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre
8/7 – Santa Barbara, CA @ Santa Barbara Bowl
8/8 – San Francisco, CA @ Concord Pavilion
8/10 – Seattle, WA @ Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery
