McCartney to tour U.S. in fall

It’s looking as though Paul McCartney will get back on the road this year. Billboard reports that he’ll announce a fall tour of North America during his halftime appearance at Super Bowl XXXIX on Feb. 6.

McCartney’s U.S. spokesman would not confirm the information Thursday, saying only that “it’s a pretty good bet that we’ll see you on the road in 2005.”

Billboard’s report says the tour will open Sept. 16 in Miami and cover 38 cities in North America through the end of November. There is no information about any Southern California dates.

McCartney’s tours have been at or near the top of the year’s highest-grossing when he’s played the U.S., but this fall he’ll see competition from U2, on its Vertigo tour, and the Rolling Stones, who also are expected to be on the concert trail later this year. On the former Beatle’s last visit to the U.S. in 2002, he played to about 800,000 people in 53 performances that pulled in $103 million, the highest concert gross of that year.

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Randy Lewis