It started innocently enough. Outkast was confirmed last week as the headliner for the Coachella Music Festival in Coachella. A few days later, member Big Boi dropped via Twitter that the duo would also be playing New York City's Governor's Ball music festival. Now, a few days after the Governor's Ball announcement, the group has declared that it will be performing at more than 40 festivals around the world during 2014.
Forty festivals. Forty shows is fairly lengthy tour for most performing acts. And Outkast isn't an act you assign to a half-hour set at the opening of the show. Unless the aforementioned festivals have somehow booked the most star-studded lineups of all time, Outkast is going to be a headlining set at every concert. According to Andre 3000, who didn't give out any names, the pair will power through to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its debut album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik.
"And imagine, all we wanted to do was rap," he said. "I am thankful to have been a part of a group that allowed me to explore anything that came to mind and have fun doing it. Returning to the stage together is the most exciting way for us to thank everyone for their 20 years of supporting OutKast."
The obvious next question is: What festivals are they playing? There are a few obvious solutions, such as Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, plus Outkast has indicated they'll be heading abroad for some huge gigs as well. One would have to imagine Glastonbury (which has only declared Arcade Fire's presence thus far) and Reading & Leeds are good bets. Either Music Midtown or A3C are a safe bet for at least one appearance, if not two, in Outkast's hometown of Atlanta. But seriously, with 40 possibilities, we can all hope for the bestselling hip-hop duo of all time to stop by our neighborhoods.
