Tiesto maps North American club tour ahead of 'Sunrise'

Trance/electronica DJ Tiesto [ tickets ] has lined up a club tour kicking off in May and running into early summer to back the latest edition of his "In Search of Sunrise" mix album series.

The Dutch producer/performer, whose real name is Tijs Verwest, will launch the run May 23 in San Francisco. Tiesto's schedule this time around shows him with multiple shows in many cities, often at different venues in the same town. The trek is due to hit 24 cities through late June. Details are below.

The DJ will "return to his club roots" on the outing, according to a press release, by playing before smaller and more intimate crowds than he faced on his world tour last year.

"I used to play two hour sets, and the commercial, mainstream crowds who listened to the radio and stuff weren't happy because I only played four or five of my own tunes, and the core fans weren't happy either, because they don't want the hear those tracks anymore, they want to hear new stuff and deeper stuff," Tiesto said in an interview last year with LiveDaily, explaining his five-hour-plus performances in New York and L.A. on his previous tour.

"I'm caught between being a DJ and an artist, so the first two-and-a-half hours I present the new album ['Elements of Live'], and you have the four elements that are the theme of the tour," he added. "Then I have the one hour that I call the power mix, all the biggest Tiesto tunes, and everything is synched, the visuals, lights, effects, pyrotechnics, everything. The last two-and-a-half hours is Tiesto the DJ, an old-school type set with trance records and big dance anthems."

"In Search of Sunrise 7: Asia," is Tiesto's latest entry in the popular mix series, which began in 1999. As with previous volumes in the series, including last year's "In Search of Sunrise 6: Ibiza," the new set will once again find Tiesto remixing songs originally recorded by other artists.

Armani, which is sponsoring the upcoming club tour, will also sponsor a 3-CD best-of compilation drawn from the various "Sunrise" albums to be sold exclusively at Armani Exchange stores.

Tiesto's most recent studio effort, last year's "Elements of Life," was the DJ's third album consisting of original compositions. The set was released last spring, peaking at No. 1 on Billboard's Electronic Music chart.

The album features vocal contributions from a variety of guest performers, including Charlotte Martin, Christian Burns, longtime Tiesto collaborator BT and Julie Thompson of electronic duo Holden & Thompson.