– Alicia Keys kicked off her Summer Tour 2002 on Saturday (July 6) at the DTE Energy Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan. The tour, in support of her 2001 debut album, Songs In A Minor, features special guests Nappy Roots. Keys has been warming up for her solo headlining tour by performing at several large summer music festivals, such as the Milwaukee Summerfest on Tuesday (July 2).

The five-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter told LAUNCH that she gets to check out the seating arrangements at a venue during her sound check, which is exactly what she did before her Summerfest performance. “I play on my piano that I bring on stage every day before I do a show. And I’m playing, I’m putting my spirit in the piano, and I’m looking at all these seats, and there’s a lot of seats out there man. I’m looking at all these seats and I’m like, ‘Well maybe, you know, like they’ll be like a couple (people) in the bottom, and a couple at the top, and it will be cool, because I don’t care–I’ll play for one person,’” he said.

Keys added that she was truly surprised at the large turnout for the concert. “By the time I came back out the entire place was filled, and this was something that fits 12,000 people, and this is the first time that I ever played a venue that size by myself…headlining.”

LAUNCH asked Keys, who performed in small theaters during her last outing, if she finds it harder to perform in large venues. “I’ll have to tell you as I go because as I go I’ll gain more experience about it,” she replied. But there is one thing about this tour that Keys already learned. “I think it’s just that the more people you have, the more noise there is,” she said with a smile.