All of a sudden, U.S. Bank Stadium has become a popular place to start a major U.S. concert tour. Now, we'll see if it can become a more regular stop for large-scale hip-hop shows.
Rapper Kendrick Lamar and electro-soul mega-voice SZA will kick off their 2025 co-headlining trek at the Vikings stadium April 19. Minneapolis is the first stop on the duo's 19-city Grand National Tour, which also will hit Chicago's Soldier Field on June 6 and other NFL stadiums.
Tickets for the Saturday night concert in Minneapolis go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday via Ticketmaster, with presale options beginning Wednesday at 10 a.m.
U.S. Bank Stadium enlisted the Vikings' Justin Jefferson to announce the concert on social media.
"I know y'all ready, 'cuz I am," the wide receiver enthused in the promotional video from the stadium (posted below).
On Monday, Australian rock legends AC/DC also announced that their 2025 tour will open at the Minneapolis football stadium, whose enclosed roof makes it a good starting point for a spring tour without any possible weather hassles.
Of course, the venue's design has also made it an extra-challenging place for concert sound engineers. The last big hip-hop show to go there, Beyoncé's and Jay Z's joint performance in 2018, suffered from especially poor acoustics.
Lamar's and SZA's outing will be the biggest hip-hop tour to hit Minneapolis since that date with Bey and Mr. Carter. Fresh off releasing a surprise album last week, "GNX," Lamar has a great track record for hi-fi, high-energy concerts in town, including two dazzling Xcel Energy Center shows in 2017 and 2022 (the latter date topped this music critic's list of favorite concerts that year).
SZA, however, has been more of a stranger to the Twin Cities. She skipped Minnesota on her past few tours, even after her enchanting 2022 album, "SOS," turned her into a major pop star. She and Lamar have a long history of working together in the studio, most notably on 2018′s "All the Stars," a hit single from the original "Black Panther" movie.