Don McLean at Wilkins Theatre

Grammy award honoree, Songwriters Hall of Fame member, and BBC Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Don McLean is set to embark on his 2023 American Pie 50th Anniversary Tour with 20 additional cities throughout the United States and Canada. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of one of the most iconic songs and album ever this year. “After spending the past 18 months at home, I am thrilled to be getting back on the road with my band,” says Don McLean. “2022 marks the 50th anniversary from when American Pie landed at the #1 spot on the Billboard chart and we will be celebrating on tour all year long. We will be performing all the songs from the American Pie album plus many of the other hits that fans will be expecting to hear.” As tragic as the backstory behind the song “American Pie” is with the much too early death of the new rock’n’roll-hope Buddy Holly, the track is also magnificent and legendary. The eight-and-a-half-minute ballad “American Pie” has been making history since its release in 1971. McLean’s composition was also voted “Song of the 20th Century”. Handwritten lyrics to the song were auctioned off for more than $1.2 million in 2015, and the composition was added to the Library Of Congress National Recording Registry two years later. Among other things, Don McLean has a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame and was inducted into the National Academy of Popular Music Songwriters’ Hall Of Fame in 2004.