Janet Jackson is returning to Charlotte in 2023. Will she give her hits their due this time?
If you have a Janet Jackson fan in your life and you haven’t yet done your holiday shopping for that person yet, your moment is coming.
Promoter Live Nation announced this week that the legendary pop star will bring her 2023 “Together Again Tour” to Charlotte’s PNC Music Pavilion on Friday, May 12, and tickets go on sale to the general public at 11 a.m. Friday following a presale for Citi credit card holders that ends at 10 p.m. Thursday.
The Charlotte show — her first here since she headlined the same amphitheater in August 2018 — will take place four days before the woman behind ’90s megahits like “Together Again” and “That’s the Way Love Goes” turns 57 years old.
Rapper Ludacris will serve as Jackson’s opening act.
A peek at the Citi presale shows lawn tickets for $39.95 and fixed seats in the pavilion area starting at $59.95.
According to Live Nation, the new tour will celebrate “her 50th anniversary in entertainment and spotlight the milestones for two of Jackson’s most critically acclaimed albums — 25 years of ‘The Velvet Rope,’ and 30 years of ‘janet,’ featuring her biggest chart-topping hits, plus new music.”
Other “Together Again” shows within striking distance of Charlotte include an April 25 date at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C., and an April 27 performance at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
For whatever it’s worth, we gave her 2018 show at PNC a mixed review, in large part because she gave short shrift to many of her hits.
“If you looked down at your phone to post that concert selfie on Instagram,” our review noted, “there was a good chance you missed a favorite song. If you ran to refill your drink, there was a good chance you missed four. Twenty-five minutes into the show, Jackson had already covered an astonishing 11 songs.”
In total, Jackson packed (generally just parts of) 33 songs into her 98-minute set, which of course also included several minutes when she was off stage changing costumes.
At this point, her May 12 concert is the first on the schedule for PNC in 2023 (although it’s likely others will slide in ahead of her over the next couple-few months). The amphitheater’s other bookings so far include Dead & Company on May 30; Shania Twain on June 28; Matchbox Twenty on July 11; Bret Michaels on Aug. 6; Foreigner on Aug. 9; and Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top on Sept. 1.
Coincidentally, Live Nation also announced this week the return of its “season pass,” which allows those who have one to get onto the lawn for many of the concerts on its 2023 schedule for $199 — not including fees, of course. This past year the same pass was good for roughly three dozen shows, which is a steal if you take anywhere close to full advantage.
However, the word many is in italics above because the pass doesn’t include all shows. Exclusions apply, and they typically apply to shows that are expected to be particularly popular.
Presently, when you click on “PNC Music Pavilion” to see the list of exclusions for the “season pass,” it says: “None at this time.”
It also reads: “Subject to change.”
