With the Minnesota State Fair's spotty history of hip-hop bookings, Twin Cities rap fans should cheer the news that one of the cheeriest and best MCs of the day will be a grandstand headliner in 2024.
Chance the Rapper has been confirmed to play the grandstand on the first Friday of the fair, Aug. 23. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. via eTix.com priced $48-$148, with presale options starting Thursday. An opening act has not been named.
The Grammy-winning Chicago wordsmith known for the radio hits "No Problem" and "Summer Friends," Chance has largely been on break from performing and recording in recent years. Instead, he has kept up his profile as a coach on NBC's "The Voice." The Minnesota fair gig is one of only three currently on his tour itinerary, and there's still no word on when his follow-up to his 2019 album "The Big Day."
This will be Chance's first Twin Cities performance since his sold-out Xcel Energy Center show in 2017, but it will actually be his third time performing on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. He also appeared there in a 2014 set at the Soundset Festival and in a 2013 gig opening for Macklemore & Ryan in the fair's grandstand series.
Chance's show is the fifth of the 11 headlining acts to be announced in the ticketed grandstand series for 2024. Here's the schedule so far:
- Friday, Aug. 23: Chance the Rapper
- Saturday, Aug. 24: Nate Bargatze (comedian)
- Monday, Aug. 26: The Happy Together Tour 2024 with the Turtles, Jay & the Americans, the Association, Joe Molland's Badfinger, the Vogues and the Cowsills
- Thursday, Aug. 29: Mötley Crüe
- Monday, Sept. 2: Kidz Bop Live