Steve Winwood tour relives ‘Nine Lives’ in U.S. next year

Acclaimed musician Steve Winwood will ring in the New Year with a brief trek along the East Coast. The seven-city tour opens with a January 15-16 run at the United Palace in New York, NY, and wraps at the end of the month with a January 24 concert at the Ulster Performing Arts Center in Kingston, NY.

The singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist will perform four total shows in New York state, including a January 23 gig at Seneca Niagara Casino Theatre in Niagara Falls. The eight-show circuit additionally features a January 20 concert at the newly renovated Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, NJ, among other stops.

Winwood was last in the country for his Nine Lives summer tour with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The groups swept across North America from May through August, performing 40 shows in total.

The iconic musician also performed several scattered dates earlier in the year, including special engagements at Madison Square Garden in New York City on February 25, 26 and 28. During the three-night run, Winwood performed onstage with longtime friend and former bandmate Eric Clapton. The two rockers previously worked together in the short-lived band Blind Faith, a British supergroup that also featured former Cream member Ginger Baker and Ric Grech of Family.

Winwood is continuing to support “Nine Lives,” his most recent solo endeavour, released on April 28. Featuring Clapton’s handiwork on the track “Dirty City,” the record debuted at No. 12 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the charts for eight weeks.

“It’s a bit like a celebrity chef adding unusual flavors that people don’t usually expect,” the former Traffic and Spencer Davis Group member said on his Web site. “It’s something I’ve always tried to do consciously, right from early Traffic days where we used elements of African music, English folk music, rock, jazz. I just try to balance it out, because to me they’re flavors that taken all together create the whole dish.”

Steve Winwood itinerary:
(Dates subject to change.)