Two nights are better than one for fans of Pink, Eilish and other Twin Cities concertgoers

Usher, too, is settling in for two nights in an arena this fall, helping fend off inflated resale prices and poorer stadium acoustics.

By Chris Riemenschneider Star Tribune

October 14, 2024 — 6:15am

After a busy summer filled with big days out at stadiums and festival grounds, Twin Cities music lovers are looking at a different option for fall: smaller two-night affairs in local arenas and theaters.

"Just Give Me a Reason" singer Pink — who returns to Xcel Energy Center on Thursday — is one in an assortment of performers who found a reason to settle into town for two nights on tour in late 2024. She's also playing St. Paul's hockey arena on Friday, opting for a second show there after setting a one-night attendance record for concerts at Target Field last year.

Coming in hot off his Super Bowl halftime performance in February, R&B star Usher also made the choice to turn his first Minnesota tour stop in a decade into a weekendlong affair, with shows scheduled Nov. 2 and 3 at Target Center in Minneapolis.

This year's best song winner at both the Oscars and Grammys, Billie Eilish, is also doubling up on Minnesota tour dates this time around with a pair of dates Nov. 10 and 11 at Xcel Center.

For concertgoers, these two-night stands are something to cheer for. Diehard fans can go both nights. More casual fans have a choice of nights.

Also, the acoustics at arena concerts are almost always superior to those in a bigger stadium, where both Eilish and Usher likely could have performed this year, like Pink did last year.

"I always prefer Xcel Center to the other big venues — the sound is so much better," said Cathy Arneson of Minneapolis, who opted in for Friday night's Pink concert after missing the Target Field show. "I heard it was great, so I wasn't going to miss this show."

Maybe best of all, two-night stands typically amount to lower ticket prices for fans compared with a one-night-only tour stop, especially on the resale end. More options for fans help prevent prices from getting jacked up, including by Ticketmaster itself, whose "dynamic pricing" techniques have come under fire in recent years.

"Giving fans two nights to get tickets helps everyone," said Henry Hormann of St. Paul, who is taking his daughter to the first of Eilish's two shows, their second time seeing her perform.

Hormann said he paid $50 less through Ticketmaster — $262 vs. $312 — for seats in the same club-level section to see Eilish this year versus when she played a single night at Xcel Center in 2022. Her show there two years ago sold out instantly, whereas next month's pair of shows took months to sell out.

Pink's ticket prices for this week's two Xcel Center shows are comparable to her one sold-out night at Target Field last summer, starting at around $75 when they went on sale. Just a few days out, though, there is still a decent assortment of Pink's arena seats still available in the $135-$155 range on Ticketmaster, which was not true for Target Field. Prices on resale sites such as StubHub are also not highly inflated. (The fact that she was just here last year no doubt helped ease demand, too.)

Fans usually aren't the only ones getting more bang for the buck with these two-night stands. The artists themselves also can enjoy some financial benefits — a factor taken more into consideration in recent years as the cost of producing concerts has sharply risen at all levels of the touring business.

"A two-night stand means only one load-in and one load-out are needed for two shows which results in less labor needed for setup and teardown," said Kelly McGrath, general manager at Xcel Energy Center. "That along with no travel costs between tour stops is advantageous to a tour."

Many of the performers enjoy spending an extra night in town, rather than rushing off to the next tour stop. McGrath said the arena will even sometimes provide a "list of local activities" to the artists and their crew if they're here for more than one night.

"Having a full day off in a city is definitely enjoyed by the full tour" entourage, she said. "There is not a full day of production set up, giving everyone some time off."

One veteran singer, Margo Timmins of the acclaimed Canadian folk-rock group the Cowboy Junkies, voiced her joy over getting to perform two nights at one local venue, the Dakota, two weeks ago.

"We got to spend three nights and two days in your city instead of having to get right back in our vehicle," Timmins enthused near the end of their second gig. "I can't tell you how wonderful that was."

Being able to charge a little more for tickets because of its smaller, intimate setting, the Dakota has made multinights stands a common feature on its concert calendar. Upcoming runs at the downtown jazz hub include John Hiatt this week (Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday), Madeleine Peyroux (Oct. 24-25), Chris Botti (Oct. 28-30) and Happy Apple (Nov. 8-9).

In the midsize venue range, multinight stands often give the artists the chance to stretch out and perform different sets to sometimes the same audience members each night. That's true with upcoming three-night marathons by electronic pop star Pretty Lights at the Armory (Nov. 8-10) and Americana rock darlings Wilco at the Palace Theatre (Dec. 13-15). Another example: Alt-twang vets the Drive-by Truckers will need two nights to fully revisit their sprawling 2001 double-album "Southern Rock Opera" at the Uptown Theater (Oct. 25-26).

Because stage production is often tightly choreographed for arena concerts, a two-night stand in the bigger rooms usually means two versions of the same performance. Usher has somewhat varied the set lists at other two-night stops on his tour, but both Pink and Eilish have mostly played the same songs in order at their other paired-up concerts.

Many fans are still fine with one night, though. The small break in ticket prices from these two-nighters still is not enough to risk breaking their pocketbooks paying to go twice.

"I wish I could go to both, but I can only afford one show," Arneson said of Pink's doubleheader.

Although his daughter would love to go to see both of Eilish's concerts, Hormann said not only does he not want to spend that much money, "I'm too old now to really enjoy being out two nights in a row."