***UPDATE: Tickets go on sale Aug. 8 at 10 a.m. for $199.50, $129.50, $99.50 and $49.50. I was right about the prices (see below). Presale starts Thursday through Live Nation's site.
With their highly anticipated joint album (no pun intended) due to arrive Aug. 8, hip-hop kings Jay-Z and Kanye West have confirmed a Minneapolis date on their accompanying tour: Oct. 8 at Target Center. Tickets are expected to go on sale the same day as the album, titled "Watch the Throne" -- which is also the name of the tour, and actually the official moniker of the duo. Seat prices have yet to be named, but they probably won't be cheap: Both dudes have filled the arena without the other one's help.
The local date comes about halfway through the duo's tour itinerary, which kicks off Sept. 22 in Eminem's backyard of Detroit. Although they have been longtime collaborators and chums, this is the first time the rap icons have hit the road together.
"Watch the Throne" is also their first full-fledged album together (that's the cover art to the right; yeah, not too ostentatious). They have already issued one single, "Otis," which heavily samples Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness." Click here to hear the track -- pretty erratic and messy, I'd say, but in a way that's part of its charm. You can download the single if you pre-order the deluxe edition of the record via iTunes.
Kanye's last performance in town was his Target Center gig on the Glow in the Dark Tour in 2008, a concert that probably ranks among my all-time top 10 and was one of the absolute best instances of a single performer commanding the stage all by his or her lonesome self. No kidding, and I would nowhere near say that about the other three times I've seen him.
Jay-Z doesn't have quite the same prowess on stage -- which might explain why his last time at Target Center was way back in 2004 on a tour with R. Kelly. But hey, he's Jay-Z.
