Yeah Yeah Yeahs may have lost out to Wet Leg at the Grammys in Best Alternative Album category on Sunday (Feb. 5), but that hasn’t stopped them from pushing forward. Today, the group released a new video for “Blacktop” and confirmed spring and summer international tour dates.
The David Black-directed clip for “Blacktop,” which can be found on Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ 2022 album Cool It Down, started out as a means by which to create still images with a 1970s-era analog video camera.
“He had me sing to ‘Blacktop’ before I had even memorized the lyrics,” Karen O says. “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.”
She continues, “‘Blacktop’ stuck out to me early on. The demo was very stripped down instrumentally and emotionally. 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.”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs will return to the road on May 3 in Washington, D.C., and will also make previously announced appearances at the Shaky Kees, Just Like Heaven, and Boston Calling festivals. International dates begin in late July at Japan’s Fuji Rock Festival and wrap Aug. 29 in Berlin. The Faint and Perfume Genius will support throughout.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ 2023 tour dates:
May 3: Washington, D.C. (The Anthem)
May 5: Atlanta (Shaky Knees Festival)
May 7: Houston (713 Music Hall)
May 9: Irving, Tx. (Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory)
May 12: Salt Lake City (Kilby Block Party)
May 13: Pasadena, Ca. (Just Like Heaven Festival)
May 26: Allston, Mass. (Boston Calling)
June 1: Chicago (Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island)
June 3: Minneapolis (Armory)
June 5: Morrison, Co. (Red Rocks)
June 7: Redmond, Wa. (Marymoor Live)
June 8: Troutdale, Ore. (McMenamins Edgefield)
June 10: Berkeley, Ca. (Greek Theatre)
July 28-30: Yuzawa, Japan (Fuji Rock Festival)
Aug. 25: London (All Points East)
Aug. 26: Paris (Rock en Seine)
Aug. 28: Amsterdam (Paradiso)
Aug. 29: Berlin (Columbiahalle)
