
Though his first new album in four years is still several months away from release, Rick Springfield has already kicked off a lengthy tour schedule.
The singer has a fairly packed itinerary set up through the summer, with a handful of subsequent dates scattered into November. His official fan club is offering pre-sale tickets for a number of dates.
The outing precedes the release of Springfield's follow-up to 1999's "Karma." The new set, which is titled "shock/denial/anger/acceptance," is about three months away from completion, according to his official website. Springfield has said that the album is primarily made up of "three minute rock songs," according to his site.
Springfield's current tour and forthcoming album follow the December 2002 closure of "EFX Alive," a special-effects laden music and theatre show that ran at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Hotel for about seven years. Springfield took over the show's central role in January of 2001 after former "Partridge Family" teen idol David Cassidy vacated the slot.
"Actually, I'm very happy now that the show is behind me," Springfield said in a statement released at the time of the closure. "I kind of thought I would be. It was quite a grind but there was lots of positive stuff too. It was a bittersweet thing leaving Vegas but more sweet than bitter. I'll certainly miss people but I look forward to the new stuff."