Stephin Merritt announces alphabetical solo tour

Stephin Merritt, frontman and singer/songwriter behind The Magnetic Fields, is plotting a solo acoustic tour this spring in North America. There’s an interesting concept behind the album though — which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone familiar with Merritt’s concept-based works. Each show will comprise a setlist of 26 songs from Merritt’s discography, and each song’s title will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. So, for instance, he might begin one show with “Absolutely Cuckoo,” and then end with “Zebra.” And they’ll be played in alphabetical order, naturally.

For each show, Merritt will be joined by cellist and longtime collaborator Sam Davol. Check out the schedule of Stephin Merritt tour dates below.

Stephin Merritt tour dates:

5/2 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
5/3 Washington, D.C. – Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
5/4 Atlanta, GA – Buckhead Theatre
5/6 Austin, TX – Central Presbyterian Church
5/8 Los Angeles, CA – Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
5/9 Los Angeles, CA – Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
5/10 San Francisco, CA – The Independent
5/12 Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater
5/13 Seattle, WA – Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya
5/15 Minneapolis, MN – Cedar Cultural Center
5/16 Columbus, OH – Wexner Center for the Arts
6/9 Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair
7/24 Annandale-on-Hudson, NY – The Spiegeltent