As if the 15 months of touring Moby plans to do after this summer's

Area2 weren't enough, the electronic music wizard will hit the road for a

few weeks before the festival kicks off July 28.

Moby will play eight nights beginning July 10 in St. Paul, Minnesota, and

ending July 25 in Portsmouth, Virginia.

The shows will promote the just released 18, though don't expect the

"We Are All Made of Stars" crooner to perform the new songs as they are on

record.

"18 is a very subdued, subtle sort of melancholic record," Moby said

last month. "One of my challenges is gonna be to take some of these songs

and actually present them in an interesting way in a live context. Part of

that will be taking some songs that are very quiet and delicate and maybe

making them a little more up-tempo and slightly more aggressive."

Aside from being in smaller venues, the solo shows will feature Moby

performing for up to three hours, as opposed to the 90-minute headlining

sets he will do on Area2.

Moby won't mind playing the "more concise, slightly truncated version" of

his show on the second annual Area outing, however, since that only means he

will be making more room for his hand-picked openers.

"Part of the criteria for picking people for the tour is that they have to

make really interesting records, they have to be really eclectic,

interesting musicians, but they also have to be able to put on a great

show," Moby said.

"I played a concert a few years ago. It was Sonic Youth, Busta Rhymes and

myself, and I was so impressed with Busta Rhymes' performance that I really

wanted him to be involved in Area. And David Bowie is my favorite musician

of the 20th century. He's an amazing live performer, and I can't think of a

single musician from the 20th century who made as many remarkable albums as

he did. And also he influenced everybody. You know, without David Bowie,

popular music as we know it pretty much wouldn't exist."

Area2, which begins July 28 in Bristow, Virginia, and ends August 16 in

George, Washington, will also feature DJs Carl Cox, John Digweed and the

Avalanches (see [article id="1453647"]"Moby Taps Busta, Bowie,

More For Area2"[/article]).

18 debuted at #4 on this week's Billboard 200 albums chart

behind new releases from P. Diddy, Cam'ron and Weezer (see [article id="1454469"]"P. Diddy Outpaces Cam'ron, Weezer, Moby To

Debut At #1"[/article]).

Moby tour dates, according to his spokesperson:

• 7/10 - St. Paul, MN @ Roy Wilkins Auditorium

— Corey Moss, with additional reporting by [article id="1453176"]Gideon Yago[/article]