update: Filling in many of the blanks left in the wake of last week’s world tour announcement, Backstreet Boys [ tickets ] have unveiled dates, places and ticket on-sale information for the U.S. shows that will open the tour. The jaunt is set to open on Jan. 22 in the group’s home base of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

According to tour promoter SFX Entertainment, tickets for most shows will go on sale on Dec. 2. On-sale dates for two California dates--San Diego and Oakland--could not be confirmed at press time.

Dates and venues were revealed simultaneously at 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Clear Channel Communications-owned pop radio stations. Clear Channel merged with SFX earlier this year.

Promoters have confirmed 21 of the 23 cities that appeared on the tentative itinerary released by Backstreet Boys [ tickets ] last week. The exceptions are Sacramento, where no date or venue was announced by Monday (11/27) afternoon, and Los Angeles, where a venue was named in an early SFX announcement and later removed.

For the group's 11-week, 39-city tour in 1999, all 765,000 tickets sold out in one day.

Following the winter tour of North America, the group will tour South America in April and Europe in June. A second string of shows is being planned for U.S. stadiums in the summer of 2001, to be followed with shows in the Pacific Rim, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

The arena set up for the shows will be an end-stage production. Last year, Backstreet Boys used an in-the-round set up, which allows for more seating.

The group's recently released "Black & Blue" follows the 1999 album "Millennium." First-week sales of "Black & Blue" are expected to exceed 2 million, according to Inside.com. 1.13 million copies of "Millennium" were sold during its first week of release.

Updated information for the Backstreet Boys tour is available at liveDaily's Backstreet Boys 'Black & Blue' Tour page.