The 12 biggest, boldest and best concert tours headed to Charlotte in 2020 — so far
It’ll be hard to top a year of concerts in Charlotte that included Alan Jackson, Ariana Grande, Cher, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Guns N’ Roses, Jonas Brothers, Justin Timberlake, Panic At The Disco — *pauses briefly to take a breath* — Phil Collins, Queen + Adam Lambert and Travis Scott.
But 2020 certainly looks like it’s going to give it a heck of a try.
Though there’ll be much more to come in the way of concert announcements for our city, these are the tickets we’re most coveting as we survey the schedule for the months ahead.
12. Mandy Moore
Last time in Charlotte: September 2007 at the original incarnation of Amos’ Southend Music Hall.
This time in Charlotte: 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 1, at Knight Theater.
Worth noting: She’s best-known, these days, for portraying Rebecca Pearson — in and out of older-age makeup — on NBC’s celebrated family drama “This Is Us.” Her TV character, in her younger years, is an aspiring singer; in real-life, meanwhile, she had modest success as a pop star in the 2000s. (Her biggest hit, “I Wanna Be With You,” reached No. 24 on the charts in 2000.) But it’s now been more than a decade since she’s toured or released new music, so even if she gets a new album out before hitting the road in late March, the allure for the 35-year-old singer here is either nostalgia or her celebrity as an Emmy Award-nominated actress. Frankly, we’re as curious and intrigued about this one as anyone.
Tickets: $46.50 and up at www.blumenthalarts.org or 704-412-5361.
11. Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe
Last time in Charlotte: June 2018 for Def Leppard (Spectrum Center, with Journey); August 2015 for Mötley Crüe (the former Time Warner Cable Arena).
This time in Charlotte: 4:30 p.m. Saturday, July 11, at Bank of America Stadium.
Worth noting: This is a hair-metal fan’s dream date, as the two heavy-hitting headliners are bringing along Poison and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts to create a nostalgia-fueled rock-and-roll experience that likely will sprawl across more than six hours, all with the uptown skyline as a backdrop.
Tickets: $155.50 and up at www.ticketmaster.com or 800-745-3000.
10. Alabama with The Charlie Daniels Band
Last time in Charlotte: July 2003 at the former Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre.
This time in Charlotte: 7 p.m. Saturday, July 11, at Spectrum Center.
Worth noting: Randy Owen, Jeff Cook and Teddy Gentry left cotton-picking jobs in Fort Payne, Ala., to spend the summer of ’69 playing music in a Myrtle Beach bar called The Bowery. And so, the venerable country band will actually be 51 years old when its “50th Anniversary Tour” rolls into Charlotte, having been forced to reschedule more than 20 shows last year due to Owen’s struggles with cluster headaches and vertigo. (The original date here was Oct. 11, 2019.) While the lead singer is reportedly healthy again, this show — which focuses heavily on Alabama’s ’80s heyday — likely will go on without Cook, who has Parkinson’s disease. That said, fans will hear from another Southern-rock legend: The Charlie Daniels Band — led by the now-83-year-old Daniels, an N.C. native — will open.
Tickets: $59.50 and up at www.ticketmaster.com or 800-745-3000.
9. Billy Joel
Last time in Charlotte: December 2015 at the former Time Warner Cable Arena.
This time in Charlotte: 8 p.m. Saturday, April 18, at Bank of America Stadium.
Worth noting: Since the Carolina Panthers were founded in 1995, the organization has made it pretty clear that their stadium is primarily to be used for football, and occasionally for soccer, but very rarely — nearly never, in fact — for concerts. That all changes with the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s show, the first of three gigantic tours locked into BofA’s calendar this year (so far). And it was just announced that — two weeks after he performs classic hits like “My Life,” “Uptown Girl” and “We Didn’t Start the Fire” for the Charlotte crowd — his monthly residency at Madison Square Garden in New York will continue with a 76th consecutive concert, on May 2. One week after that, the “Piano Man” will turn 71.
Tickets: $109.50 and up at www.ticketmaster.com or 800-745-3000.
8. Diana Ross
Last time in Charlotte: February 2016 at Belk Theater.
This time in Charlotte: 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 29, at Belk Theater.
Worth noting: This tour is dubbed “Diamond Diana: 75th Birthday Celebration,” although she’ll actually be only a few weeks shy of turning 76 when she performs at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center. If you were lucky enough to score tickets to the sold-out show, you can expect the legendary singer to perform hits of her own, hits she made famous as the voice of girl group The Supremes, covers of other Motown classics and as many costume changes as a pop star half her age.
Tickets: Sold out.
7. The Black Crowes
Last time in Charlotte: September 2010 at the former Road Runner Mobile Amphitheatre.
This time in Charlotte: 8 p.m. Friday, July 3, at PNC Music Pavilion.
Worth noting: If you’re a fan, you know that as recently as just a year ago it seemed like the odds of a Led Zeppelin reunion were better than the odds of bitter siblings Chris and Rich Robinson ever getting this band back together. (The ever-volatile brothers have not played a show since 2013, when they vowed never to play or speak together again.) But in November, they announced their mending of fences on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM Radio show — and performed a few songs live, proving they still sound great — and now here we are: just over five months away from the kickoff of their “Shake Your Money Maker World Tour,” which commemorates the 30th anniversary of the blues-rock band’s debut album of the same name. Bets on whether they make it without another blow-up?
Tickets: $29 and up at www.livenation.com or 704-549-1292.
6. Alanis Morissette
Last time in Charlotte: January 2008 at the former Cricket Arena.
This time in Charlotte: 7 p.m. Sunday, June 21, at PNC Music Pavilion.
Worth noting: The 45-year-old Canadian is celebrating the 25th anniversary of her hit album “Jagged Little Pill” — heralded as “a powerful, DIY feminist statement” — with a new tour that itself makes a powerful feminist statement ... by featuring support from fellow ’90s female alt-rock acts Garbage and Liz Phair. By the way, there’s also a “Jagged Little Pill” love-fest going on in New York City right now: A jukebox musical of the same name made its debut on Broadway last month, and has been met with solid reviews. Or, if you’re craving something new from Alanis, you’re in luck — her ninth studio album, titled “Such Pretty Forks in the Road,” will be released on May 1. It’ll be her first offering since 2012’s “Havoc and Bright Lights.”
Tickets: $55 and up at www.livenation.com or 704-549-1292.
5. Metallica
Last time in Charlotte: October 2018 at Spectrum Center.
This time in Charlotte: Friday, May 1, and Saturday, May 3, at the Epicenter music festival at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Worth noting: Technically, its appearance at this festival is part of the seminal thrash-metal band’s long-running “WorldWired Tour” — which started in February 2016 and has already brought cuts like “One,” “Enter Sandman” and “Master of Puppets” through Charlotte once. But practically speaking, fans shouldn’t count on experiencing much deja vu; in fact, the band will perform unique headlining sets on both nights here. Hopefully, frontman James Hetfield is healthy again after a fall stint in rehab forced a break from its tour. On the off-chance Metallica has to back out of this one, there are plenty of reinforcements for Epicenter: Godsmack and Papa Roach on Friday; Disturbed, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Staind on Saturday; Deftones and Volbeat on Sunday — among many, many, many others.
Tickets: $99.50 and up at www.epicenterfestival.com.
4. Michael Bublé
Last time in Charlotte: October 2013 at the former Time Warner Cable Arena.
This time in Charlotte: 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 18, at Spectrum Center.
Worth noting: In concert, there are two sides to this 44-year-old Canadian crooner. The predictable side is the one that belts out covers of tunes embraced by people twice his age. And then there’s the side of Bublé that urges you to laugh at that predictable side. At one point during his last show here, he morphed into a stand-up comedian for nearly 10 minutes, cracking wise about Justin Bieber, Michael Jackson and a woman holding a sign saying she’d been to eight of his shows (“Oh, you crazy b----”). At another, he encouraged couples in the crowd to snuggle, then jokingly encouraged singles to hook up with them for a threesome. His concerts are romantic, to be sure — but even better is that they’re hilarious.
Tickets: $68.50 and up at www.ticketmaster.com or 800-745-3000.
3. Ozzy Osbourne
Last time in Charlotte: August 2007 (as part of Ozzfest) at the former Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre.
This time in Charlotte: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 2, at PNC Music Pavilion.
Worth noting: First things first: The 71-year-old heavy-metal rocker is not on his deathbed. Yes, he fell and injured himself at home in L.A. last spring while battling pneumonia, and yes, as a result he had to postpone all of his 2019 tour dates (including a June 4 gig at PNC). But no, the more-recent reports of his imminent demise are “utter b******t,” according to his daughter, Kelly Osbourne. Of course, it’ll be interesting to see exactly how much life he does still have in him on stage; on May 27, Atlanta will be the first to see his upcoming “farewell world tour,” which will celebrate his five-plus decades as a performer (both as a solo artist and as lead singer of Black Sabbath). Remarkably, Ozzy has said this tour will not be his last. He’s just kissing off world tours, he claims.
Tickets: $29.50 and up at www.livenation.com or 704-549-1292.
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2. Celine Dion
Last time in Charlotte: September 1998 at the old Charlotte Coliseum.
This time in Charlotte: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 21, at Spectrum Center.
Worth noting: In June, the 51-year-old ballad queen put the wraps on a run of residencies in Las Vegas that spanned 16 years, then in September, she launched the “Courage World Tour” — her first in North America since 2009 — ahead of the November release of a new album, also named “Courage.” Though Dion will perform a couple of songs from it, expect the majority of her setlist to be populated by emotive soft-pop hits from yesteryear (think “Because You Loved Me,” “The Power of Love” and — of course — “My Heart Will Go On”) as well as a healthy dose of her endearing eccentricities.
Tickets: $85 and up at www.ticketmaster.com or 800-745-3000.
1. Garth Brooks
Last time in Charlotte: March 1998 at the old Charlotte Coliseum.
This time in Charlotte: 7 p.m. Saturday, May 2, at Bank of America Stadium.
Worth noting: The 57-year-old singer responsible for chart-topping country hits like “If Tomorrow Never Comes,” “The Dance” and “Two Piña Coladas” was last in the Carolinas in November 2016, when he played three shows at Greenville, S.C.’s Bon Secours Wellness Arena as part of “The Garth Brooks World Tour.” That tour smashed records previously held by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and himself, and included 390 concerts in 79 cities, with 6.3 million tickets sold — making it the biggest North American tour in history and the biggest American tour in the world. The 74,000 tickets for the 2020 Charlotte show — his only stop in the Carolinas on “The Garth Brooks Stadium Tour” — sold out 90 minutes after they went on sale.
Tickets: Good luck with that!
The best of the rest
Friday, Feb. 7: Andrea Bocelli at Spectrum Center.
Sunday, Feb. 16: Tony Bennett at Belk Theater.
Friday, Feb. 21: Marc Anthony at Spectrum Center.
Friday, March 6: Sturgill Simpson at Spectrum Center.
Tuesday, March 10: Kristin Chenoweth at Belk Theater.
Saturday, April 25: Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band at PNC Music Pavilion.
Friday, May 29: The Lumineers at PNC Music Pavilion.
Friday, June 19: The Doobie Brothers at PNC Music Pavilion.
Thursday, June 25: Kenny Chesney at PNC Music Pavilion.
Wednesday, July 1: Chicago at PNC Music Pavilion.
Friday, July 10: Tedeschi Trucks Band at PNC Music Pavilion
Saturday, Aug. 8: Journey at PNC Music Pavilion.
Monday, Sept. 14: Maroon 5 at PNC Music Pavilion.
And not too far away...
Saturday, Feb. 29: Post Malone at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.
Sunday, March 1: Post Malone at Greensboro Coliseum.
Thursday, March 12: Billie Eilish at PNC Arena in Raleigh.
Monday, July 27: Justin Bieber at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.
Wednesday, July 29: Justin Bieber at Greensboro Coliseum.
Saturday, Aug. 1: Harry Styles at PNC Arena in Raleigh.
This story was originally published January 3, 2020 at 12:56 PM.
