Tickets go on sale Friday, Jan. 17, for A Great Big World's upcoming mini-tour, which starts Feb. 27. The fact that they're doing a tour is somewhat ironic, because they've just released a new single, "then there were sparks," which was inspired by how apprehensive they'd gotten about performing live in the past few years.
"A lot of things happened in both of our lives and it just led to less performances," the duo's Ian Axel says. For example, he just welcomed his third child. His musical partner Chad King, who has multiple sclerosis, has been managing health problems.
In addition, Ian tells ABC Audio, "We were working on some other projects. And I kind of forgot who I was as an artist — that [performing] side of me. And I just kept making excuses for myself. So really, the song's about rediscovering what that is for me ... when you, like, reach into your heart and you make something new out of nothing."
Chad's MS means he won't be joining Ian for the mini-tour, which will find him playing City Winery venues in several cities. "It's affecting my walking and stamina," Chad explains. "So touring is just really hard for me right now, but it might change in the future and we'll see how it does."
Ian says fans can expect "some new songs, some covers" and "some old music" on the tour, but he's not completely comfortable with flying solo — yet.
"It's my first time kind of going out without Chad on this one, so it's brand-new territory for us," Ian says. "And it's scary but exciting. And so we'll kind see how it goes. It feels very brand new to me right now. So I'm just trying to embrace it."
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