Sean Lennon to launch club tour this month in NY

LOS ANGELES, Oct 24 (Reuters) Sean Lennon, son of the late Beatle John Lennon, will launch a 14-date tour in New York City later this month in support of ''Friendly Fire,'' his first solo album in eight years, his label said.

The tour, Lennon's second road trip since launching his career as a solo artist eight years ago, will open with a ''warm-up'' show on October 29 at the Living Room club in Manhattan, a spokesman for Capitol Records said yesterday.

The tour will continue with appearances at 13 other club-size venues in North America, wrapping at the Ram's Head Tavern in Baltimore on December 22, Capitol said.

Other performances include dates at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, Park West in Chicago, the Birchmere outside Washington, DC, and the Bowery Ballroom in New York.

''Friendly Fire,'' Lennon's sophomore CD, opened at No 152 on Billboard magazine's pop albums chart and has sold a modest 9,700 copies in its first two weeks of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Lennon's 1998 solo debut ''Into the Sun,'' landed at No 153 on the charts and went on to sell 62,000 copies, SoundScan said.

Lennon, 31, told Billboard in a recent interview that the songs he wrote for his new 10-track set were inspired by his ex-girlfriend, actress Bijou Phillips, the breakup of their relationship, ''and my best friend having had an affair with her.'' The album also features background vocals from Phillips and contributions from Paul Simon's son, Harper Simon, a longtime friend of Lennon's who was the main guitarist on the project.

Lennon, whose mother is musician and peace activist Yoko Ono, was 5 years old when his father was shot to death by a deranged fan in Manhattan in December 1980.

REUTERS SY BST0934