James Blunt is coming home.

The former Lifeguards officer turned singer, who is appearing at the BIC as part of his Moon Landing tour, has already visited China, Holland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

But he is particularly looking forward to his Bournemouth date.

“I’ve been to Bournemouth many times,” he tells Seven Days.

“The BIC is a regular for me. For me it’s a bit of a home crowd. I come from Hampshire – near Andover is where my family are from – so I always have lots of friends and family there.

“I don’t have time to stop by and see them, but they will have a drink afterwards backstage.”

The tour will feature songs from James’s latest Moon Landing album, including the hit Bonfire Heart, but he promises there will be tunes from previous records – which have amassed worldwide sales of 20 million – as well.

“It’s the biggest production I’ve ever done and it looks amazing on stage,” he said.

“We’ve got lunar modules on stage and it looks fantastic. It’s costing a bomb, but it looks fantastic.”

The tour doesn’t end until March 2015 – after his UK dates, James will head to Canada, America, Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia.

But the eloquently spoken star is not fazed by the long travelling time.

“I’ve been doing it quite a long time. I enjoy being on a tour bus and I love what I do.”

The singer, who previously enjoyed a distinguished career in the Household Cavalry, got engaged to his to his long-term girlfriend Sofia Wellesley, granddaughter of the Duke of Wellington, in December, before kicking off his tour on New Year’s Eve.

He also had his 40th birthday in February, but there hasn’t been much time for celebration.

“Yes, 30 years old,” he joked when I asked him how he felt about reaching a milestone.

“I get asked a lot about numbers, but I don’t feel any different. This year is just focusing on the tour. A tour is totally all-encompassing.

“People say they haven’t heard from me for a while, what have I been up to? Even before a tour, when the album comes out there’s pre-promotion.

“I’ve been in a new city every single day since August. I’m very lucky.”

He’s reminded of just how lucky every time he steps out on stage – particularly in Germany where he has been playing to audiences of more than 10,000.

“They’re singing all the words to every song, which is not only useful for when I’ve forgotten the words, but it’s an incredible sound.”

Off-stage, James has been creating something of a storm on social media, with cutting put-downs to his Twitter trolls.

He admits the record company was not best pleased with some of his responses, “Labels like to protect people,” he explained.

“But what am I going to do? It’s showing people you don’t have to take things seriously.

“I’m playing and 10,000 people will turn up. For the guy who’s giving me abuse, he hasn’t even bothered to come to the venue to see my music and say he doesn’t like it.

“Twitter is an opinion-based platform, but at the same time, people’s opinions shouldn’t count for that much.

“People in their bedrooms writing five words of abuse is not reality. There’s a real world out there.”

James Blunt: Moon Landing 2014 World Tour is at the BIC on April 20. Tickets are £39.55 from bic.co.uk.