Billy Porter plans to strike a new pose this spring, but he wants his fans to manage their expectations accordingly.
The multiple Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award winner announced Thursday that he will embark on his first national tour this spring. Yet he will contain none of the glitzy, high-flying glare on which his pop music contemporaries depend.
“I don’t really have a lot of 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’m not Beyoncé, I’m not Pink. I am none of these people. And this is a conversation I’ve been having lately…. I am an anomaly.
“People come to this show expecting it to give them major production elements, but I don’t have any success in the music business. I am beginning. I’m practically starting over,” added the 53-year-old.
“Now, it’s not that I have a problem with that at all, but I hope to earn my reputation as a recording artist in this business. So please don’t come here expecting a show from a multi-platinum artist, because I’m not a multi-platinum artist. Still. That’s what we’re working on.”
Tickets for the “Black Mona Lisa: Volume One” tour, which takes its title from the artist’s upcoming album, will go on sale on March 10.
The six-week tour is scheduled in 25 cities across the country, kicking off April 29 at Seattle’s Paramount Theater. Before headlining New York City’s Beacon Theater on May 31, Porter will tour other major stops including Los Angeles, Dallas, Detroit, Chicago and his hometown of Pittsburgh.
“I’m excited to be on the road and I’m fucking terrified,” Porter shared. “I am excited by terror. You know, we should all be a little terrified sometimes.”
“My hope is that it’s fluid, efficient, and that people don’t bother me on this bus,” the recent Hollywood Walk of Fame inductee joked. “This is the real thing. Me and my band with 12 berths in the back of the bus.”
Porter will be backed by a full band, rigged with lights and video elements for a 90-minute event where he says he will tell the story of his life through song.
The vocal powerhouse will sing her signature tracks like “Love Is on the Way” and “Love Yourself.” He’ll also treat fans to sample some Broadway favorites and nod to “Pose,” the groundbreaking LGBTQ+ series set in New York City that made him a household name in recent years.
“This is my first mainstream music tour and since I’m already famous, people are going to have certain expectations. That’s why I want your expectation to be focused on the music and focused on my message, which is love, joy and peace,” he added.
“And I’m giving the music of the old school, knock-down, drag out, Al Greene, Gladys Knight and Aretha Franklin. It will be about music. I’m really excited about that, because it’s finally the music I really want to make.”
Fans will also get a chance to hear what else the former “Kinky Boots” star has been cooking up in the studio. Her new single, “Baby Was a Dancer,” will be released via Republic Records on March 24.
