After a busy summer filled with big days out at stadiums and festival grounds, Twin Cities music lovers are looking at a different option for fall: smaller two-night affairs in local arenas and theaters.
“Just Give Me a Reason” singer Pink — who returns to Xcel Energy Center on Thursday — is one in an assortment of performers who found a reason to settle into town for two nights on tour in late 2024. She’s also playing St. Paul’s hockey arena on Friday, opting for a second show there after setting a one-night attendance record for concerts at Target Field last year.
Coming in hot off his Super Bowl halftime performance in February, R&B star Usher also made the choice to turn his first Minnesota tour stop in a decade into a weekendlong affair, with shows scheduled Nov. 2 and 3 at Target Center in Minneapolis.
This year’s best song winner at both the Oscars and Grammys, Billie Eilish, is also doubling up on Minnesota tour dates this time around with a pair of dates Nov. 10 and 11 at Xcel Center.
For concertgoers, these two-night stands are something to cheer for. Diehard fans can go both nights. More casual fans have a choice of nights.
Also, the acoustics at arena concerts are almost always superior to those in a bigger stadium, where both Eilish and Usher likely could have performed this year, like Pink did last year.
“I always prefer Xcel Center to the other big venues — the sound is so much better,” said Cathy Arneson of Minneapolis, who opted in for Friday night’s Pink concert after missing the Target Field show. “I heard it was great, so I wasn’t going to miss this show.”
Maybe best of all, two-night stands typically amount to lower ticket prices for fans compared with a one-night-only tour stop, especially on the resale end. More options for fans help prevent prices from getting jacked up, including by Ticketmaster itself, whose “dynamic pricing” techniques have come under fire in recent years.