Machine Gun Kelly sets his sights on Xcel Center in July for 'Mainstream Sellout' tour

The rapper-turned-pop-star is headlining arenas for the first time after packing Minneapolis' Armory last fall.

March 21, 2022 at 2:57PM
Machine Gun Kelly performed in February at the NHL All-Star Game in Las Vegas. (Rick Scuteri, Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

After packing the Armory during the height of COVID's Delta variant without any extra safety precautions last September, Machine Gun Kelly will have a lot more breathing room when he returns to the Twin Cities on his first arena-headlining tour July 28 at Xcel Energy Center.

The heavily tattooed rapper turned lightly rocky pop star announced his bluntly titled Mainstream Sellout Tour on Monday morning with 52 stops across North America and Europe, also including Midwest stops in Fargo, Des Moines, Milwaukee and Omaha. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster at prices not yet publicized, with pre-sale options beginning Tuesday morning.

Perhaps best-known at the moment as actor Megan Fox's fiancé, the real-life Colson Baker (age 31) will have two other well-known women serve as his opening acts in St. Paul: former teen-pop-punker Avril Lavigne and Hollywood scion Willow, who's the daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. Other legs on the tour have Travis Barker and Pvris for warm-up acts, but not for the Xcel Center date.

MGK's tour is named after his new album "Mainstream Sellout," which arrives Friday. The record has yet to land a lot of mainstream radio support for its singles "Ay!" and "Emo Girl" — the latter of which features Willow — but Kelly racked up a string of previous hits including "Rap Devil," "My Ex's Best Friend" and the Camila Cabello collaboration "Bad Things."

about the writer

about the writer

Chris Riemenschneider

Critic / Reporter

Chris Riemenschneider has been covering the Twin Cities music scene since 2001, long enough for Prince to shout him out during "Play That Funky Music (White Boy)." The St. Paul native authored the book "First Avenue: Minnesota's Mainroom" and previously worked as a music critic at the Austin American-Statesman in Texas.

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