JAY-Z Announces The '4:44' Tour

After releasing a politically deep and relevant album, JAY-Z has announced the 4:44 Tour launching in October 2017. The dates, which will take him from Anaheim back around to Los Angeles, might be exciting to fans, but there's one thing that probably won't excite them: tickets to JAY-Z's 4:44 Tour won't go on general sale until Friday, July 14. Until then, only TIDAL members and Citi card members will have access to the pre-sale. So, you know, basically only the most dedicated fans. Not that this is an unusual method of ticket sale; stars like Harry Styles and Ed Sheeran both offered pre-sales for their tours this year.

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According to Metro Styles gave codes to fans who had pre-ordered his new album, which gave them priority access to the pre-sales, while Sheeran offered his loyal Sheerios a pre-sale "powered by Ticketmaster" that claimed to use verification so tickets would go to "true Sheerios, not a software program."

And while it's frustrating if you don't have a TIDAL account, it's a smart way of ensuring that many of the pre-sale tickets will go to fans who are obsessive enough about JAY-Z to sign up to the streaming service just because they wanted to hear the new album as soon as it came out. From one perspective, this is just the rapper asking fans to put their money where their mouths are and prove their devotion with dollars.

Still, there's still hope if you don't think you qualify for the pre-sales and don't like your chances of scoring tickets in the second round of sales. Aside from the 4:44 Tour, the rapper will also be performing at a few festivals this year, including The Meadows (which takes place in New York City between September 15 and 17), the Austin City Limits Festival in October, and Made In America Fest in Philadelphia in September (though the latter was founded by JAY-Z, and, unsurprisingly, the same Tidal pre-sale conditions applied to tickets for this). Europe-based fans can catch JAY-Z at V Festival in Chelmsford in the U.K. on the weekend of Friday, August 18.

But if you don't want to see your favorite rapper perform at a festival, then perhaps being flexible in terms of place will help. After all, according to Rolling Stone, the 4:44 Tour has the 47-year-old performing at 31 different venues if you miss out on your local one:

• October 27 — Anaheim, CA @ Honda Center
• October 28 — Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena
• November 1 — Fresno, CA @ Save Mart Center at Fresno State
• November 3 — Phoenix, AZ @ Talking Stick Resort Arena
• November 5 — Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center Arena
• November 7 — Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
• November 8 — Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
• November 9 — New Orleans, LA @ Smoothie King Center
• November 11 — Orlando, FL @ Amway Center
• November 12 — Miami, FL @ American Airlines Arena
• November 14 — Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena
• November 15 — Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
• November 16 — Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center
• November 18 — Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
• November 19 — Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena
• November 21 — Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
• November 22 — Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
• November 25 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden
• November 26 — Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
• November 29 — Washington, DC @ Verizon Center
• December 2 — Uniondale, NY @ Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
• December 5 — Chicago, IL @ United Center
• December 6 — Lincoln, NE @ Pinnacle Bank Arena
• December 9 — Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place
• December 11 — Vancouver, BC @ Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena
• December 13 — Seattle, WA @ KeyArena
• December 14 — Portland, OR @ Moda Center
• December 16 — Oakland, CA @ Oracle Arena
• December 17 — Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center
• December 19 — San Diego, CA @ Viejas Arena
• December 21 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Forum

His last major solo tour, the Magna Carter World Tour that ran between 2013 and 2014, won him breathless reviews; critics described JAY-Z's performance as "the bare, breathing sound of one man’s talent, preciously rare at an arena show" (The Independent) and the rapper as a "dependable source of charisma"(The LA Times). But don't believe everything you read in print. Go and see for yourself, instead.

Editor's Note: This article has been updated from its original version.