"I get a little nervous before I go onstage," Erykah Badu told Rolling Stone about tour anxieties. "I just take a couple of breaths, pee and let that adrenalin flow. Sometimes the audience doubts me, sometimes they dote me, sometimes they love me. No matter what anybody else does, it doesn't change my attitude. I am who I am, and I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do."

And what Badu will do, is hit the road again behind her second studio album, Mama's Gun, for a nineteen-date U.S. tour starting July 5th in New Orleans with positive-vibe rappers Common and the Jurassic 5 on board. As for the opening acts, Common is still plugging last year's gold-certified Like Water for Chocolate, his best seller to date and the Jurassic 5 are likewise touting their 2000 release, Quality Control.

After the tour's initial U.S. stop, it will dart overseas for a seven-date European mini-tour, before returning to North America on August 1st in Portsmouth, Virginia, where it will run through the remainder of its itinerary, which concludes on September 3rd in Boston.

Erykah Badu tour dates:

7/5: New Orleans, Louisiana Superdome
8/1: Portsmouth, VA, Harbor Center
8/3: Washington, DC, DAR Constitution Hall
8/4: Richmond, VA, Landmark Theater
8/5: Baltimore, Pier Six Concert Pavilion
8/6: New York, Central Park Summerstage
8/8: Clarkston, MI, DTE Energy Music Theater
8/10: Columbus, OH, Palace Theater
8/11: Milwaukee, Riverside Theater
8/12: Minneapolis, Orpheum
8/15: Seattle, Summer Nights at the Pier
8/18: Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Bowl
8/19: Los Angeles, Greek Theater
8/22: San Diego, Humphrey's
8/23: Morrison, CO, Red Rocks Amphitheater
8/25: St. Louis, Pageant
8/26: Chicago, Arie Crown Theater
9/2: Atlantic City, NJ, Trump Taj Mahal
9/3: Boston, FleetBoston Pavilion

ANDREW DANSBY
(June 25, 2001)