Michael Buble confirms Australian tour kicking off in NSW

Michael Buble’s tour dates Down Under have been revealed as the beloved Canadian crooner shares the family affair behind his new record, Higher.

Exclusive: Michael Buble paints an idyllic picture to illustrate the family affair that was the making of his new record, Higher.

During the vocal takes for his rendition of the stunning Bob Dylan song Make You Feel My Love, he was holding his three-year-old daughter Vida in his arms, balancing six-year-old son Eli on his knee and holding the hand of his eight-year-old son Noah.

In the seconds before the orchestra swung into action, Buble addressed his troops.

“So you get this sense of how romantic that was. What you won’t see is me saying just before that ‘If you guys talk, if you say one word, you are out of here!’” Buble says, adopting a sinister whisper resembling Liam Neeson in Taken.

“The first take, I’m singing and there’s ‘Papi, papi, I got to pee’. You just ruined it!”

Buble is living the Higher life on his new record. Picture: Supplied

Buble and his actor wife Luisana Lopilato did the big reveal they are expecting their fourth child via the final scene of their beyond-cute video for the album’s first single, I’ll Never Not Love You.

In the video, the pair recreate famous scenes from romance movies they love, from Casablanca to Love Actually.

It was a full circle moment to his 2009 hit Haven’t Met You Yet, written for his wife who also played his love interest in that clip.

Her experience came in handy when they were shooting their latest music video collaboration which required “acting” from the Canadian pop star.

“I know I’m a good singer, I’ve spent more than half of my life doing it, and that experience gives you a sense of confidence about what you’re doing. And I think it’s the same for her,” he says.

“She would always try to come to me in a really sweet way and say ‘Mi amor, less is more’.

“We’d finish a scene and people on set would go ‘That was good, Mike’. And they would clap for her!”

Michael Buble and wife Luisana Lopilato with their children. Picture: Instagram

Higher is undoubtedly a sonic love letter to Lopilato and their children.

Buble pushed to record the Barry White classic, You’re My First, My Last, My Everything, because it is one of his wife’s favourite songs.

Son Noah inspired the title track and receives a writing credit; he interrupted his father showering his siblings to declare he had written a song.

Buble “borrowed” the lyrics ‘When you go low, and I go high’.

The children would sit around the kitchen table or piano while dad tried out musical ideas and were often in the studio during the recording sessions.

Higher is a happy album. His previous record, 2018’s Love, was not a happy record.

He made it two years after Noah was diagnosed with liver cancer and underwent treatment – the boy has been cancer free for more than five years now.

Buble was last in Australia in 2020 to play shows and perform for Fire Fight benefit. Picture: Richard Dobson

“Only now, because I have the context of time, I know I wasn’t ready then, I wasn’t ready to come out with anything. I didn’t even know what was going on, I was still suffering,” he says.

“I knew it fulfilled me to make art, so I went and got a producer I love in David Foster (his longtime mentor) and made something that was safe (with Love).

“Now I can honestly say I guess I’m alive again; when I was making this album I was happy and content and satisfied, and I was inspired to write love songs and to be ambitious.”

His ambitions made him fearless.

It was an honor and a dream come true to work with Sir @paulmccartney on #MyValentine. Thank you so much for producing this song that was masterfully arranged by Nicholas Jacobson-Larson. Listen at the link below.https://t.co/vaVjHqh86dpic.twitter.com/654ZvDoC23

— Michael Bublé (@MichaelBuble) February 11, 2022

When word spread through tight-knit music industry circles that Buble was working on a new record, Paul McCartney’s manager got in touch to suggest he have a crack at the legendary songwriter’s song My Valentine, penned for his wife Nancy Shevell.

“And then me calling Paul McCartney back and saying ‘I’ll do that song but will you produce it for me?’” the fanboy Buble says, clearly still on a high from having worked with the legend.

“I didn’t ask Paul McCartney to produce because he’s a Beatle; I asked because he is one of the greatest musicians on the planet and I knew he could help me.

“He showed up, rolled his sleeves up, he helped me to understand the story of the song and to make it dramatic. And he was just so cool.”

McCartney wanted to spend more time with Buble after the session, with Shevell joining them once the recording was done, just hanging out and chatting.

“I felt like I kinda belonged … even though I’m going ‘OK, that’s Paul McCartney’. And then he asked where I was going afterwards and I said home to the wife and kids. He and Nancy were going for dinner with Bruce Springsteen. Yeah, he’s definitely still way cooler,” Buble says.

Buble will tour Australia in November. Picture: NCA

Buble is planning two visits to Australia this year. The first will be in May for one of his regular promotional tours. He will return in November for the Higher arena tour, his first shows back here since February 2020, just before the pandemic shut down the global concert business.

“I have been touring Australia for 20 years now and the fact that you all keep turning up to my shows makes me feel like the luckiest man alive,” he says.

The tour will open at Newcastle Entertainment Centre on November 30 before heading to Perth’s RAC Arena on December 3, Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on December 7, Adelaide Entertainment Centre on December 11, Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena on December 14 and Brisbane Entertainment Centre on December 17.

A Telstra Plus member pre-sale launches on March 29, with general tickets available from April 1 via www.tegdainty.com

Originally published as Michael Buble confirms Australian tour kicking off in NSW