The few shows that have been announced look to start around the beginning of December on the East Coast. They follow Bowie’s U.K. arena outing and will continue through the new year. A good chunk of the dates confirmed are for Canada, which means Bowie is not missing out on the Great White North contingent – a plus for any Canadian fan.

Macy Gray is slated to accompany Bowie as a special guest on the North American leg. Additional shows are forthcoming.

The trek, titled A Reality Tour, is expected to include 17 countries over an anticipated seven months. Currently, Bowie is wowing fans in Europe on the arena outing, a marked change to his tour plans in recent years.

Since Bowie’s 1995 Outside World Tour, he has mostly concentrated on more intimate one-off live events and festivals in Europe, although he did participate in last year’s Area2 extravaganza and performed a string of East Coast dates last fall.

The chamaeleon-like pop icon cited the success of recent live shows as the prime reason for embarking on the ambitious tour.

“My band is playing at the top of its form right now,” Bowie explained, “and it would be foolish not to play a tour this year while we’re in such good spirits about the live show aspects of our work.”

Tickets for confirmed shows are available through davidbowie.com/tickets on a presale that ends September 18. After that, it’s a general free-for-all.