Tom DeLonge hoping to avoid "middle fingers" and "bottle[s] to the head" on first Angels & Airwaves tour in seven years

Credit: Caleb MalleryTonight, Angels & Airwaves will launch their first tour in seven years with an intimate concert in Solana Beach, California. Frontman Tom DeLonge himself hasn’t toured in nearly five years, and says it’s “kinda terrifying” to be returning to the live stage.

“It’s like someone hands you a bike and you still know how to ride it, you know?” DeLonge tells ABC Radio. “Someone hands me a guitar, I still know how to play it, so I think a lot of it’s kind of just in my DNA. But until I do it, I’m kinda sitting here going, ‘Oh my God, I gotta get back on stage!'”

The concept of performing your art for a live audience, DeLonge says, has always been nerve-racking for him.

“You’re asking for some middle fingers or a bottle to the head,” he laughs. “So you gotta do it well, you gotta do it passionately, and you gotta do it confidently.”

“I’m very aware of what it takes, obviously, and so I guess the terror that’s building up in me is really good,” DeLong continues. “And I’ve always had it, so it’s not like this is new.”

Earlier this year, Angels & Airwaves dropped a new single called “Rebel Girl,” and another track, “Kiss and Tell,” arrives Friday. As has always been the case with AVA, DeLonge plans to accompany the new music with a variety of multi-media projects, including films, books, and even findings from his To the Stars Academy UFO research program.

However, DeLonge says that this tour will be about something simpler.

“This one right now is really about celebrating who we are and the fact that we haven’t toured in a long time, and having a bit of communion with our fans,” he says.