Veteran pop-punk rocker Billy Idol [ tickets ] will hit the pavement later this month to tackle a busy summer tour schedule that supports his soon-to-be-released hits compilation, "The Very Best of Billy Idol: Idolize Yourself."The blond-maned singer kicks things off June 22 in San Diego and plans to knock off a full slate of North American headlining dates in June and July before tackling a run on the European festival circuit. After that, it's back to North America for an August stint opening for Def Leppard, as well as additional headlining performances in August and September.Details for the North American dates are included below, and Idol's European tour schedule is available at his MySpace page.Due in stores June 24, "Idolize Yourself" is a career-spanning set featuring 18 tracks, including a pair of newly recorded songs titled "New Future Weapon" and "John Wayne.""When I'm singing ['John Wayne'], I'm thinking about the characters John Wayne played," Idol said in a press release. "They were usually men with a flaw in their character or something dark in their past they're trying to rise above before the end of the movie. So it's not about the kick-in-the-door John Wayne or the barroom fight John Wayne--it's more the man who overcomes." Of the collection's other new track, "New Future Weapon," Idol added, "I was reading about the new stealth fighter plane the Raptor, and I was struck by the ambivalence of the pilot talking about the enemy. Musically, it's got a bit of the Spaghetti Western about it. It's a sick song, as you might expect."Idol will mark the release of "Idolize Yourself" with a June 24 appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," during which he'll perform several songs on the show's outdoor stage.
