Fresh off a holy-spirited performance at the Grammy Awards that earned him even more raves, Chicago's buoyant hip-hop star Chance the Rapper will hit Xcel Energy Center on May 12 as part of his first arena-headlining tour. Tickets go on sale today at 6 p.m. via Ticketmaster and the arena box office for $39.50-$79.50.
The sudden on-sale time is yet another unconventional move in Chance's chance-taking career. On Sunday, his 2016 album, "Coloring Book," became the first record to win a Grammy Award that was only available digitally (as in: no physical copies were sold in stores). It won him trophies for best rap album, best new artist and best rap performance (the latter for the song "No Problem").
Since his headlining debut at First Avenue in 2013, the now-23-year-old rapper has consistently taken bigger steps in the Twin Cities each year, going from a mid-afternoon set at the Soundset festival in 2014 to a Myth nightclub show in 2015 to a well-received performance at last summer's Rock the Garden concert -- where it was pretty clear from the audience's response he was the day's top draw. A month after his Xcel Center gig, he will serve as one of the headliners at Justin "Bon Iver" Vernon's Eaux Claires festival in Eau Claire, Wis.
Here's a taste of that transcendent performance Chance gave at the Grammys on Sunday. In the old days, they called this gospel music, but "hip-hop" sells more records.
