West Coast rapper The Game will be back on the road this year, touring behind what he long claimed would be his final album. The nearly 30-date outing launches on February 18 at The Grove of Anaheim in Anaheim, CA, and concludes March 29 at the House of Blues in Chicago, IL.
The coast-to-coast jaunt includes a February 20 performance at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, CA, a March 9 concert at the Belly Up in Aspen, CO, and a March 21 show at Blender Theater at Gramercy in New York, NY. Public onsales for the tour have already started.
The Game, whose full name is Jayceon Terrell Taylor, is promoting his August 2008 release “LAX.” Originally, the album was marked with a No. 1 debut spot on the Billboard 200, but after a recount by Nielson SoundScan, the top spot was given to “All Hope Is Gone” by metal band Slipknot, pushing The Game down to a No. 2 debut. According to published reports, the margin between the two releases was slightly more than 1,000 albums.
In the time leading up to the album’s release, The Game noted that it would be his final record. “I’m just tired with the way hip hop is going right now its just ugly,” he explained in an interview with 104.7 Kiss FM in Phoenix, AZ. “We’ll see what the next phase of hip-hop shows, and maybe I’ll be part of it, maybe I won’t.”
However, in more recent interviews, he has hinted that he could change his mind if the timing was right and demand was there.
“If my fourth album comes together, if the idea of it comes together the way that I want to, I’ll maybe consider doin’ a fourth album,” he said in an interview with DJBooth.net. “But if I can’t get in the studio with the people that I want to, and make it happen the way that I want to, if I can’t even get them to talk about the idea, then I won’t even consider it.”
The Game itinerary:
(Dates are subject to change.)
| February 18 | Anaheim, CA | The Grove of Anaheim |
| February 19 | San Diego, CA | House of Blues |
| February 20 | Los Angeles, CA | Club Nokia |
| February 21 | Phoenix, AZ | Celebrity Theatre |
| February 22 | Ventura, CA | Majestic Ventura Theatre |
| February 23 | Bakersfield, CA | Fox Theater |
| February 25 | Sacramento, CA | Avalon Sacramento |
| February 26 | Portland, OR | Roseland Theatre |
| February 27 | Seattle, WA | Showbox SoDo |
| February 28 | Eugene, OR | McDonald Theatre |
| March 1 | Medford, OR | Main One Center for the Arts |
| March 2 | Boise, ID | Knitting Factory |
| March 4 | Idaho Falls, ID | Civic Auditorium |
| March 5 | Missoula, MT | Wilma Theatre |
| March 6 | Magna, UT | Great Saltair Theater |
| March 7 | Albuquerque, NM | Sunshine Theatre |
| March 8 | Denver, CO | Ogden Theatre |
| March 9 | Aspen, CO | Belly Up Aspen |
| March 10 | Boulder, CO | Fox Theatre |
| March 12 | Tulsa, OK | Cain’s Ballroom |
| March 14 | Dallas, TX | House of Blues |
| March 15 | Houston, TX | House of Blues |
| March 16 | New Orleans, LA | House of Blues |
| March 18 | Norfolk, VA | The Norva |
| March 19 | New Haven, CT | Toad’s Place |
| March 20 | Providence, RI | Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel |
| March 21 | New York, NY | Blender Theater at Gramercy |
| March 29 | Chicago, IL | House of Blues |
