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By any measure, it was a blockbuster summer for arena and stadium concerts, with numerous sold-out shows, skyrocketing ticket prices and new attendance records set by Taylor Swift at U.S. Bank Stadium and Pink at Target Field.
Things are settling down some this fall, but there is still a lineup packed with Rock and Roll Hall of Famers and more recent acts like the Jonas Brothers and the 1975.
Listed ticket prices are subject to change and do not include VIP or other premium packages.
Here’s a look at the highlights of the biggest Twin Cities concerts.
Eric Clapton
Sept. 14: Eric Clapton, the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, will play his first local concert in 14 years with blues guitarist Jimmie Vaughan as his opening act. Clapton began performing as a teenager. In 1963, he joined the Yardbirds, a British band that played Chicago-style blues. He left the group two years later, after their single “For Your Love” became a chart success. He then joined the power trio Cream and then Blind Faith with Steve Winwood, with whom he shared the stage when he last played the X in June 2009. After joining yet another band, Derek and the Dominos, Clapton embarked on a solo career that earned him 18 Grammy Awards and second place, behind Jimi Hendrix, on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time list. In recent years, Clapton has earned headlines as an outspoken anti-vaxxer, going so far as to release a pair of singles with Van Morrison about the subject, “Stand and Deliver” and “This Has Gotta Stop.” 7:30 p.m.; Xcel Energy Center, 175 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul; $346-$46; xcelenergycenter.com.
50 Cent
Sept. 15: Rapper/actor/entrepreneur Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is celebrating the 20th anniversary of his multi-platinum debut album “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” with an extensive world tour. Raised by his grandparents, Jackson boxed and sold drugs as a teenager. His 1994 arrest inspired his stage name, a metaphor for change. Two years later, he met Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay, who taught him how to write songs. He landed a deal with Columbia Records and recorded the album “Power of the Dollar.” But after Jackson was attacked and shot nine times outside his grandmother’s home in 2000, the label dropped Jackson and left the record unreleased. Once he recovered from his wounds, he released the mixtape “Guess Who’s Back,” which got noticed by Eminem, who helped him land a new major label deal. Jackson’s official debut album, “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” became a worldwide smash and launched a series of hits including “In Da Club,” “21 Questions” and “P.I.M.P.” Jackson has spent most of his time in the last dozen years focused on numerous non-musical pursuits, including television and film production, footwear, apparel, fragrances, liquor, video games and book publishing. Busta Rhymes and Jeremih open. 7 p.m.; Xcel Energy Center, 175 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul; $124.50-$54.50; xcelenergycenter.com.
Peter Gabriel
Oct. 3: Peter Gabriel rose to prominence in the ’70s as the lead singer of the prog-rock band Genesis and earned a reputation as a showman thanks to his elaborate on-stage costumes and theatrics. During the tour for the group’s sixth album, 1974’s “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway,” Gabriel announced he was leaving Genesis. He re-emerged in 1977 with his self-titled solo debut, the first of four consecutive albums without a proper title. His early hits include “Solsbury Hill,” “Games Without Frontiers” and “Shock the Monkey,” his first to make the Top 40 in America. In 1986, he released “So,” the most commercially successful album of his career. Thanks in part to heavy play for his videos on MTV, “So” topped the charts and produced the singles “Sledgehammer,” “In Your Eyes,” “Big Time” and the Kate Bush duet “Don’t Give Up.” After spending a year on the road in support of “So,” Gabriel has taken a much more leisurely approach to his career. He has since released a pair of new studio efforts in 1992 and 2003, a 2010 covers album, a 2011 collection of orchestral re-recordings and several soundtracks. Gabriel’s impending new album “i/o” was initially planned for release in 2004 and, a year later, he told Rolling Stone he had a pool of 150 songs in various stages of completion. There’s no word when “i/o” will come out, but Gabriel has been releasing a new single on the full moon of each month this year. 7 p.m.; Xcel Energy Center, 175 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul; $300-$65; xcelenergycenter.com.
Luke Bryan
Oct. 14: A native of rural Georgia, Luke Bryan moved to Nashville after graduating from Georgia Southern University in 1999. He found his first success as a songwriter, penning hits for Travis Tritt and Billy Currington. That led to a recording deal with Capitol Nashville and a gold-selling debut single, “All My Friends Say,” in 2007. But Bryan’s career really took off with 2009’s “Do I.” In the time since, 25 of the 29 singles he has released landed in the Top 5, with 10 hitting No. 1. Bryan has been named Entertainer of the Year five times combined from the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Country Music Association. Locally, Bryan claims a large audience. In 2015, he played TCF Bank Stadium and was the first musical act to headline U.S. Bank Stadium the following year. Bryan became the first artist to headline all three stadiums in the metro in 2018 when he played Target Field. Combined, those three concerts drew a total of nearly 125,000 fans. Chayce Beckham, Conner Smith, Hailey Whitters and DJ Rock are also on the bill. 7 p.m.; Xcel Energy Center, 175 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul; $194.50-$164.50; xcelenergycenter.com.
The 1975
Oct. 26: British pop band the 1975 are making their local arena debut. Lead singer Matty Healy and his bandmates first performed together while they were teenagers, with Healy citing Talking Heads, My Bloody Valentine, Ride and Michael Jackson as musical influences. The band’s 2013 self-titled debut topped the charts in England and went platinum in the States. Each one of the 1975’s subsequent five albums hit No. 1 in England and the Top 10 here. Their biggest hits include “Chocolate,” “Love Me,” “Somebody Else,” “Love It If We Made It,” “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not with You)” and “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know).” The 1975 is known for heavy touring and the band has played the Twin Cities eight times, including pairs of gigs at St. Paul’s Roy Wilkins Auditorium and the Armory in downtown Minneapolis. Their current world tour has sold more than 500,000 tickets across four continents. 7:30 p.m.; Target Center, 600 First Ave. N., Mpls.; $109-$39; 888-929-7849 or targetcenter.com.
Queen + Adam Lambert
Oct. 27-28: After Queen’s vocalist Freddie Mercury died in 1991 from complications of AIDS, surviving members Brian May (guitar), Roger Taylor (drums) and John Deacon (bass) staged a memorial concert at London’s Wembley Stadium in front of a crowd of 72,000 fans. Deacon retired from the group soon after, but May and Taylor kept Queen going through various archival record releases, one-off concert appearances with guest vocalists and a 2005 tour with Paul Rodgers up front. Three years later, Queen performed “We Are the Champions” on the season finale of “American Idol” with finalists Kris Allen and Adam Lambert, whose vocals earned plenty of comparisons to Mercury. In 2012, Lambert performed his first full concerts with Queen, which led to a series of world tours. While Queen’s biggest hits — “We Will Rock You,” “Another One Bites the Dust” and “Under Pressure” among them — have remained staples of rock radio and major sporting events, Queen picked up a new generation of fans with the 2018 film “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which won four Oscars, including best actor for Rami Malek. 8 p.m.; Xcel Energy Center, 175 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul; $955.35-$279.98; xcelenergycenter.com.
Tool
Oct. 31: Tool emerged from Los Angeles in the early ’90s with a dark, brooding and brutal sound as well as an unusually sophisticated visual presentation for the band’s videos and album art. Heavy touring, including Lollapalooza stints in 1992 and 1993, helped the band’s 1993 debut album “Undertow” go gold in five months. That fame allowed Tool to forge their own path in the music industry. They’ve released just five albums in the past three decades. The deluxe version of their most recent one, 2019’s “Fear Inoculum,” came with a full 4-inch HD screen with original video material, a small speaker and 36-page book. In concert, the group does not use live video and lead singer Maynard James Keenan spends most of the show in the shadows at the back of the stage near drummer Danny Carey. They’ve played more than a dozen shows in and around the metro, most recently hitting Target Center in March 2022. 7:30 p.m.; Xcel Energy Center, 175 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul; $120-$70; xcelenergycenter.com.
Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks
Nov. 10: Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks are sharing the bill for the fall’s sole stadium show. Joel was inspired to pursue music after seeing the Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” He scored his first hit in 1973 with “Piano Man” and went on to rule radio with a long string of smashes, including “Just the Way You Are,” “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song),” “Only the Good Die Young,” “You May Be Right,” “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me,” “Tell Her About It,” “Uptown Girl,” “Keeping the Faith” and “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” He stopped releasing pop albums after 1993’s “River of Dreams.” Nicks began her solo career in 1981, when Fleetwood Mac was on a hiatus. Her debut album “Bella Donna” spawned the hit duets “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” (with Tom Petty) and “Leather and Lace” (with Don Henley) as well as what became her signature song, “Edge of Seventeen.” Her sophomore record “The Wild Heart” included the single “Stand Back,” which features an uncredited Prince on synthesizer. 6:30 p.m.; U.S. Bank Stadium, 401 Chicago Ave., Mpls.; $349.50-$249.50; usbankstadium.com.
Aerosmith
Nov. 13: Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Aerosmith will hit the road this fall for what they’re calling a farewell tour. Formed in Boston in 1970, Aerosmith scored a series of hits that remain radio staples to this day, including “Sweet Emotion,” “Walk This Way” and “Dream On.” But by the 1980s, drug addiction and clashing personalities nearly led to the end of the group. After several members went through rehab, Aerosmith made a stunning comeback, becoming MTV darlings and selling even more records the second time around. Aerosmith’s 2001 album “Just Push Play” failed to live up to its predecessors in terms of sales, as did 2004’s collection of blues covers, “Honkin’ on Bobo.” The group released their 15th and final album, “Music from Another Dimension,” in 2012. In 2015, band members began publicly discussing a final tour and a 2017 European outing was billed as their farewell. More recently, Aerosmith played an extended Las Vegas residency as well as the first Twin Cities Summer Jam in 2019. The Black Crowes open. 7 p.m.; Xcel Energy Center, 175 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul; $590-$174.95; xcelenergycenter.com.
Eagles
Nov. 17-18: Classic rockers the Eagles are saying goodbye, yet again, with a farewell tour. One of the biggest bands of the ’70s, the Eagles performed what they said would be their final concerts together in 2015. Band member Glenn Frey died the following year, seemingly putting an end to the group. But in 2017, Don Henley — the sole founding member remaining in the band — hired country star Vince Gill and Frey’s son Deacon to join a new version of the Eagles alongside guitarist Joe Walsh and bassist Timothy B. Schmit. They have since mounted several successful tours with local stops in 2018 and 2021. The group’s 1976 compilation “Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975)” and “Hotel California” stand among the best-selling album in history. The Eagles won six Grammy Awards, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2016. Steely Dan opens. 7:30 p.m.; Xcel Energy Center, 175 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul; only platinum and VIP tickets available; xcelenergycenter.com.
Jonas Brothers
Nov. 19: Siblings Kevin, Joe and Nick formed the Jonas Brothers in 2005 and rose to fame two years later when they signed a deal with Disney’s Hollywood Records. After making a guest appearance on Miley Cyrus’ Disney Channel show “Hannah Montana,” they hit the road with Cyrus as her opening act. Soon after, they began headlining arenas on their own. After releasing four albums, the trio canceled what was to be their fifth record together and a planned 2013 tour, citing a “deep rift within the band” over “creative differences.” In February 2019, the Jonas Brothers announced they had reunited and released a new single, “Sucker,” which entered the Billboard charts at No. 1. They’ve since released “The Album” and are back on the road for a tour where they’re playing every song from five of their albums. Fans should expect to hear the full show after the JoBros played a truncated version at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand. 7 p.m.; Xcel Energy Center, 175 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul; $169.95-$44.95; xcelenergycenter.com.
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