Ten years or so since people started saying, "This might be the last chance to see him… ," Willie Nelson is returning to the Twin Cities for another Mystic Lake Casino concert May 16. Tickets go on sale Saturday for $49 and $59 via MysticLake.com or 952-496-6563.
Country music's great mystic man, who will turn 82 just a couple weeks before the show, is playing the casino in Prior Lake just a day after he co-headlines the Starlight amphitheater in Kansas City with Beck.
He put on two shows at Mystic back in 2010 and returned to town in 2013 to play the Minnesota Zoo amphitheater, all performances that suggested he isn't slowing down (though his Family band with sister Bobbie Nelson has lost several members and has been in flux on recent tours). Last year, ol' Willie even earned a black belt in the Korean martial art GongKwon Yusul. Here's to 10 more years.
In other concert news:
*The fact that few people know where the concert site is did nothing to dampen the sales of the First Avenue co-promoted Alabama Shakes and Father John Misty concert May 30 on Hall's Island, all 8,000 or so tickets for which sold out in under an hour last Friday.
*Poppy alt-rock throwbacks Third Eye Blind and Dashboard Confessional will pair up for an outdoor show in town at Cabooze Plaza on June 28. Tickets go on sale Friday at noon via LiveNation.com at prices not yet announced.
*The Tragically Hip, aka Canada's Pearl Jam, will return to First Ave on Sept. 21 on tour marking the reissue of its best album, 1993's "Fully Completely." Tickets go on sale Friday at noon through eTix.com for a loonie price of $42.50 (is the Canadian dollar doing well or what?).
*Rock the Garden's 2015 lineup will be announced Tuesday around 4 p.m. starting with an on-air roll-out at 89.3 the Current (we'll post it here soon afterward). The annual party outside Walker Art Center is on again for two days, June 20-21, and based on the unconfirmed names we've heard so far, it should indeed rock.
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