Moby’s inaugural Area: One roving concert festival is taking shape with the addition of hip-hop duo Outkast and electro-rock group New Order to a lineup that includes previously announced acts Incubus and Paul Oakenfold.
Rap ensemble the Roots and techno DJ Carl Cox have also been added to the bill, according to Moby’s publicist.
“My reason for doing this is that there is a lot of music in the world that I love that does not always get the appropriate exposure,” Moby said in a press release.
The revolving lineup will have Incubus and Outkast playing East Coast dates and New Order playing West Coast dates. Ã
Area: One will play amphitheaters in 16 cities beginning July 11. The itinerary won’t be announced until later this month – a press conference will take place April 23 in New York – though the tour is scheduled to wrap up on August 5 in Los Angeles.
The revolving lineup will have Incubus and Outkast playing East Coast dates and New Order playing West Coast dates.
Dubbed “Mobypalooza” by fans, the tour will feature a main stage and an air-conditioned tent complete with a unique surround-sound speaker system. Some of the shows’ proceeds will be donated to local charities.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Oakenfold said Thursday (April 5). “It’ll be exciting to be in America just traveling around in the summer.”
Although Oakenfold is a longtime Moby fan, the two dance-music luminaries had not met until Moby contacted him about performing.
“He got in touch personally,” Oakenfold said. “I got email from him the other day thanking me. His last album has done so well; it’s good for dance music in general.”
New Order, who are recording with Oakenfold collaborator Steve Osborne, have not performed in America in nearly a decade. The British group will release its first album since 1993’s Republic in September.
Moby, who toured for two years in support of his 1999 album, Play, which has sold more than two million copies in the United States, is working in his New York home studio on his next album. Area: One will be his only live performances in America this year, according to his spokesperson.
