Take one listen of his Vampire Weekend cover, and you’ll clearly hear that North Carolina born rapper B.o.B is cut from a different cloth. He claims that he wanted to be a star from the ripe, old age of 13 and made it his mission to fill notebook upon notebook with rhymes, but the Georgia based emcee (who also plays guitar and cello) refuses to be labeled as just a rapper. “I’m focused on painting a picture of myself as a musician,” he has said, “I’m not just making rap music; I feel like I’m changing music, period.”
It looks like he’s looking make his mark on the touring game, too. B.o.B (aka Bobby Simmons) is plotting a headlining tour that takes quite an unusual route. The “Shooting Stars Tour” is a 45-date journey starts with stops in Atlanta and Ottawa before it crosses the border to zig-zag its way through every region to the east of the Rocky Mountains. Unfortunately, the west coast will get no love from B.o.B. on this tour.
Highlights on the trek include two shows on August 6th that are over 1,000 miles apart (an early set at Lollapalooza and a headlining gig at Dallas’ House of Blues), and while the tour mostly hits amphitheatres and clubs, it also features stops at five different Six Flags theme parks and several shows at places good-ol’’ Bobby Simmons never thought he’d find himself. Having never gone on to pursue a higher education, he’ll also be filling auidtoriums and gymnasiums at 15 different colleges and universities across the country. What’s more, the 21-year-old is playing two Grey Goose sponsored shows in Detroit on Spetember 17th and the nation’s capital on October 30th.
Yelawolf and Playboy Trey are opening for select dates and tickets range from $7.11 (for his 7-Eleven Battle of the Bands show in Dallas) to $40 reserved seats at club gigs in Boston. Tickets are already on sale and are available through the venues’ websites or Ticketmaster.com.
B.o.B 2010 Tour Dates:
07/21 – Melbourne, AU @ Billboard
07/24 – Osaka, JP @ Club Quattro
07/31 – Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage
08/01 – Ottawa, ON @ Scotiabank Place
08/03 – St Louis, MO @ Six Flags
08/04 – Gurnee, IL @ Six Flags
08/06 – Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
08/06 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
08/07 – Columbia, MD @ Summer Spirit Festival
08/08 – Toronto, ON @ Kingswood Music Theater
08/10 – Comstock Park, MI @ Fifth Third Ballpark
08/11 – Youngstown, OH @ Club Gossip
08/13 – Springfield, MA @ Six Flags
08/14 – Bangor, ME @ House of Blues
08/15 – Boston, MA @ House of Blues
08/17 – New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
08/18 – Jackson, NJ @ Six Flags
08/20 – Washington, D.C. @ American University
08/21 – Charlottesville, VA @ John Paul Jones Arena
08/22 – Atlanta, GA @ Six Flags
08/24 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution
08/25 – Orlando, FL @ University of Central Florida
08/26 – Jacksonville, FL @ University of North Florida
08/28 – Richmond, VA @ Virginia Commonwealth
08/31 – State College, PA @ Bryce Jordan Center
09/04 – Oneonta, NY @ SUNY
09/16 – Blacksburg, VA @ Virginia Tech – Burris Hall Auditorium
09/17 – Detroit, MI @ TBA
09/18 – Utica, NY @ Utica College
09/19 – Princeton, NJ @ Princeton University
09/21 – Lawrence, KS @ University of Kansas
09/22 – Columbia, MO @ University of Missouri
10/14 – Fresno, CA @ Big Fresno Fairgrounds
10/21 – Lexington, KY @ Memorial Coliseum
10/22 – Nashville, TN @ Vanderbilt University
10/23 – Atlanta, GA @ Emory University
10/24 – Towson, MD @ Towson University
10/28 – Harrisonburg, VA @ James Madison University
10/29 – Lewisburg, PA @ Sojka Pavillion
10/30 – Washington, D.C. @ TBA
11/07 – Kansas City, MO @ TBD
11/09 – Dallas, TX @ TBD
11/10 – Houston, TX @ TBD
11/12 – Knoxville, TN @ University of Tennessee
11/14 – Ithaca, NY @ Cornell University
