Eiffel 65 Maps Out U.S. Tour, Talks Live Show

By archive-David-Basham

May 11, 2000 / 4:15 PM

Italian dance trio Eiffel 65 rocked clubs here in the U.S. this spring with its undeniably infectious "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" hit, and now the group will take its lighthearted grooves on the road for an extensive tour of American radio festivals, starting on May 12 in San Diego.

Originally formed by veteran producers Jeffrey Jey, Maurizio Lobina, and Gabry Ponte in 1998 as a side project from their day gigs, Eiffel 65 has taken Europe and the U.S. by storm with its "Europop" album, a record that has sold some 1.95 million copies to date here in the States alone.

For its concert show, Eiffel 65 frontman/singer Jeffrey Jey told MTV News that the trio models itself after such '80s and '90s dance-pop stadium draws as Depeche Mode rather than try to recreate a club vibe in the mode of such artists as the Chemical Brothers.

[article id="1443417"]"Well, Eiffel 65, as a live act, is an act made up of a DJ coming along with two CD players, and he's

practically taking care of the rhythm parts,"[/article] Jey explained. [article id="1443417"]"He's substituting [for] our drummer and maybe sometimes our bass player. You'll be seeing a typical [concert] situation like Depeche Mode. You'll see the band onstage.[/article]

[article id="1443417"]"It's not based on a dance act, because that's not what Eiffel 65 is going to be. You won't see us three dancing along with the other dancers. We might have some backing vocals live, speaking. Maurizio is playing the tunes that you hear on the records, and I'm singing live."[/article]

[article id="1443417"]"As for the vocoder situation,"[/article] he continued, [article id="1443417"]"we will have them on the [pre-recorded] CDs as backing vocals, so they're going to be there, but their volume is going to be a little bit lower than you would normally hear, and I'm going to be topping that.[/article]

[article id="1443417"]"You're going to be having a slightly different effect, but you can tell that it's live, of course, and that's mainly what the Eiffel 65 [show is]. We have some pretty strange acts in the middle of the songs, but we don't want to say anything, because we would like people to see it." [RealVideo][/article]

Upcoming dates and radio festivals where you can catch Eiffel 65: