Billy Porter is planning to strike a new pose this spring — but he wants his fans to manage their expectations accordingly.
The Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award-winning multi-hyphenate announced Thursday he will embark on his very first national tour this spring. However, it won’t contain any of the high-flying, attention-grabbing razzle dazzle that his pop music contemporaries depend on.
“I don’t really have many production elements,” Porter told the Daily News. “What I’m trying to do right now is establish myself in the mainstream music space. It’s very simple… I am not Beyoncé, I am not Pink. I am not any of these people. And this is a conversation that I’ve been having lately …. I am an anomaly.”
“Folks are coming to this show with an expectation that I’m giving you major production elements but I don’t have any hits in the music business. I’m starting out. I’m virtually starting over, again,” the 53-year-old added.
“Now, it’s not that I have any problem with that, at all, but I’m looking forward to gaining my reputation as a recording artist in this business. So please don’t come expecting that you’re gonna get a show from a multi-platinum artist, because I’m not a multi-platinum artist. Yet. That’s what we’re working on.”
Tickets for the “Black Mona Lisa: Volume One” tour, which takes its title from the artist’s forthcoming album, went on sale Friday.
The six-week jaunt is scheduled in 25 cities across the country, kicking off April 29 at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre. Before headlining New York City’s Beacon Theater on May 31, Porter will trek through other major stops including Los Angeles, Dallas, Detroit, Chicago and his hometown of Pittsburgh.
“I’m excited to be on the road and I am f—ing terrified,” Porter shared. “I’m excited for the terror. You know, we all should be a little bit terrified sometimes.”
“My hope is that it will be smooth, efficient and folks won’t get on my nerves on this bus,” the recent Hollywood Walk of Fame inductee quipped. “This is the real thing. Me and my band with 12 bunks in the back of the bus.”
Porter will be backed by a full band, equipped with lights and video elements for a 90-minute event where he says he will tell his life story through song.
The vocal powerhouse will sing his signature tunes such as “Love Is on the Way” and “Love Yourself.” He’ll also treat fans to some beloved Broadway fare and give a nod to “Pose,” the groundbreaking, NYC-set LGBTQ+ series that made him a household name in recent years.
“This is my first mainstream music tour and because I’m already famous, people are going to have a certain expectation. So I want your expectation to be about the music and focus on my message, which is love, joy and peace,” he added.
“And I’m giving the old-school, knock-down, drag out, Al Greene, Gladys Knight and Aretha Franklin-type music. It’s gonna be about music. I’m so excited about that, because it’s finally the music I really want to do.”
Fans will also have the opportunity to hear what else the ex-”Kinky Boots” star has been cooking up in the studio. His newest single, “Baby Was a Dancer,” is set to be released via Republic Records on March 24.
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