With their popular Music in the Zoo series not returning this summer, Twin Cities concert promoters Sue McLean & Associates are focusing their attention on other outdoor shows, including a big weekend pairing with blues-rocker Gary Clark Jr. and country-pop star Kelsea Ballerini at Plymouth's Hilde Amphitheater on July 29 and 30, respectively.

Tickets for those Friday and Saturday night shows go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. via eTix.com priced $60-$150, with options including a two-day pass for both concerts. Pre-sale access begins Tuesday.

Clark will have "Hang Me Up to Dry"-hitmaking rockers Cold War Kids for his warm-up act as well as fellow Austinite Suzanne Santo and local darlings Kiss the Tiger. Ballerini is bringing along the Band Perry and buzzing newcomer Brittney Spencer as her openers.

Arguably the most celebrated guitar hero of the past decade, Clark won the Grammy for best contemporary blues album off his last record, 2019's "This Land," but he has also maintained a strong rock following. Case in point: He's also playing dates in Europe this summer with Guns N' Roses. Ballerini is still riding high off her 2020 album, "Kelsea," which included the hits "Homecoming Queen?" and "Half of My Hometown."

Late industry pioneer McLean's team (SMA) has been producing a few concerts per summer at the Hilde in recent years, including shows last summer with Trombone Shorty and the BoDeans. The amphitheater holds 7,500-plus people with an ample grassy general-admission area for lawn chairs. These gigs will also feature a "party pit" down front and VIP sections.

This year's Hilde shows will help fill the void at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley, where SMA hosted the Music in the Zoo series with great success for 27 years until the pandemic brought an abrupt halt to it in 2020. Despite the concert industry coming back with a roar this year, the zoo's keepers will keep things quieter there at night this summer.

John Locher, Associated Press, Star Tribune
Kelsea Ballerini performed “Big Jeans and Faded Dreams” at the Country Music Awards in Las Vegas.

"We understand the Minnesota Zoo is focused on their animal collection and their own events, and there are no plans to bring back Music in the Zoo at this time," SMA president Patricia McLean said in a statement, which offered another consolation for Twin Cities concertgoers: Her company will also once again produce concerts at Canterbury Park.

Stay tuned for details on the gigs to be held inside the horse track in Shakopee, which last summer included performances by Old Crow Medicine Show, Daughtry, En Vogue, Steve Earle and Robert Cray.