Paul McCartney will finally end a 24-year drought of playing concerts in Australia when he announces his first tour of the Land Down Under since 1993 on Wednesday. The announcement adding the shows to his current One On One Tour will be made in a live online web event on Facebook with comedian Tim Minchin at 7:30 p.m. AEST and 9:30 p.m. NZST (For those in the U.S., that’s 5:30 a.m EDT and 2:30 a.m. PDT.) that was announced Tuesday night by Australian tour concert promoter Frontier Touring. Fan questions can be left for the online chat on McCartney’s Facebook page.
Frontier revealed the news of the online tour announcement on its Twitter account (@frontiertouring). “Tune in tomorrow from 7.30PM AEST / 9.30PM NZST as @PaulMcCartney and @timminchin go #OneOnOne on Facebook Live!” Australian website news.com.au reported McCartney will play shows in December in Australia and New Zealand. The Melbourne Herald Sun had revealed in early June that McCartney was negotiating for tour dates.
McCartney’s previous Aussie dates, set for Melbourne in 2002, were canceled after two bombs killed 202 people on the island of Bali on Oct. 12, 2002. “Like many who have a deep fondness for Australia, I have been shocked and saddened by the recent terrible events in Bali. My heart goes out to all who have been affected by this tragedy,” he said in a statement released at the time. “As a mark of respect to both the families who have lost loved ones and to the families of the injured, I have decided to postpone my planned concert in Melbourne as this is not the appropriate time for a rock show.” He last played the country in several dates on his New World Tour in the month of March, 1993.
McCartney representatives did not respond to a request from Variety for comment on the tour announcement. The former Beatle is managed by Scott Rodger at Maverick.
Earlier today, McCartney announced his latest tour stop: Oct. 24 at Atanasio Girardot Stadium in Colombia.