Yeah Yeah Yeahs Announce New Tour, Share “Blacktop” Video

New York City-born rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs has announced an upcoming 2023 summer tour and shared a new music video for their single, “Blacktop,” from the group’s Grammy-nominated 2022 album, Cool It Down.

Videos by American Songwriter

Yeah Yeah Yeahs will be joined by Perfume Genius and The Faint on the road. Tickets go on sale Friday (February 10) at 10 a.m. local time.

“‘Blacktop’ stuck out to me early on, the demo was very stripped down instrumentally and emotionally,” Karen O said in a release. “It was a step towards what radical closeness feels like after a long separation. Each record has one of these diamonds in the rough that just feels like flying to me. 

“It felt right to keep the video as stripped down and dare I say beautiful in its naïveté. David Black put us in front of his 70s analog video camera with the intention to pull stills for band shots. He had me sing to ‘Blacktop’ before I had even memorized the lyrics, I thought I knew the song by heart but it felt like an introduction, like meeting it for the first time.  It wasn’t intended to end up as a video and as a return to the earliest visuals from the record it completes a circle, we’re so happy we have it, a simple layered performance for a deceptively simple song.”

Check out the new video and the band’s tour dates below.

5/3 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem 

5/5 – Atlanta, GA @ Shaky Knees Music Festival  

5/7 – Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall +

5/9 – Irving, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory + 

5/12 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Block Party

5/13 – Pasadena, CA @ Just Like Heaven

5/26 – Allston, MA @ Boston Calling Music Festival

6/1 Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island

6/3 Minneapolis, MN @ Armory *

6/5 Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre *

6/7 Redmond, WA @ Marymoor Live *

6/8 Troutdale, OR @ McMenamins Edgefield *

6/10 Berkeley, CA @ The Greek Theatre *

7/28-30 – Yuzawa, JP @ Fuji Rock Festival

8/25 – London, EN @ All Points East

8/26 – Paris, FR @ Rock en Seine

8/28 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso

8/29 – Berlin, DE @ Columbiahalle

+ w/ The Faint

* w/ Perfume Genius

Photo by David Black / Courtesy Grand Stand Media