the menzingers tour

Find anything you save across the site in your account

On the Impossible Past (10th Anniversary Edition)

By Anna Gaca

November 19, 2022

In 2011, after touring the country opening for  Title Fight and  Touché Amoré ,  the Menzingers went home exhausted to write their third album,  On the Impossible Past . It was the record that eventually took them to the top of the bill. Cherished by fans, it’s the band’s definitive statement (although I’m as likely to reach for 2017’s  After the Party )—the one that inaugurated a signature vernacular of doomed romance with diner waitresses and self-loathing nostalgia. Heartland rock for the world-weary and downwardly mobile,  On the Impossible Past is (to  paraphrase Dan Ozzi) a premature elegy for youth and for a child’s conception of America—the kind you might learn as a white kid from northeastern Pennsylvania, a false promise fading to adult disillusionment. “Maybe I’m not dying, I’m just living in decaying cities,” goes a prophetic-sounding line from “The Obituaries.” Spiritually, what’s the difference?

Buffing away the hardcore and Irish punk inspirations that flecked the band’s first two albums,  On the Impossible Past is tragic, melodic pop-punk comfort food. The lines become clearer, the frames smaller, until the band is working in miniature, squeezing novellas into restaurant booths: “You’ll get seated as diners or lovers, you’ll get the check as friends for the better.” The tensions in their music arise in the space between literary aspiration and the urge to just scream, between abstract political circumstances and the mundane ways they encroach on life. So heady are the fleeting highs of “Ava House”—“You can’t touch us, we’re untouchable”—that you might forget it’s another elegy, for a recession-era Philadelphia punk venue with a shaky floor that had already shut down by the time they recorded it.

But the bigger picture is barely visible in  On the Impossible Past , obliterated by sure bets on the short term. In Nabokov’s  Lolita the phrase is “drunk on the impossible past,” and this is undeniably drinking music. The drink of choice is beer, cheapest you got, consumed on concrete stoops, Brooklyn rooftops, and behind the wheel of the “American muscle car,” a flashy symbol that only feels more obvious 10 years later. When the car drives into the first scene you already know it’s going to get totaled by the end of act two, and that it belongs to the singer’s friend, or ex-girlfriend, only serves to underscore this band’s narrative position as permanent underdogs. “I held the wheel while you drank and drove,” moans Greg Barnett on the title track, riding shotgun through a brief, disastrous interlude that ties together several of the record’s paralleling stories of self-destruction.

In the Menzingers’ lineup of dual guitarists and lead singers—Barnett’s tuneful, expressive vocals alongside Tom May’s rawer roar—there’s an inherent community that’s key to the band’s charm. At Le Poisson Rouge in New York City this month, May took over some vocal parts for Barnett, who’d lost his voice, but he didn’t sing them as himself; his timbre warped into the more melodious shapes of his bandmate, as if tapping into a shared consciousness. Within the world of the songs, though, you rarely have the sense that the two men are aware of one another; even in ragged harmony, they seem almost like two actors portraying the same role, with personas so sympathetic you’re afraid to ask what sent these ex-girlfriends running for the hills. Maybe it was all the drinking. Or maybe that’s just the way it goes, now; your friends grow up and move away for better opportunities, or they go to war and come home shattered, and you, in the words of a different band of tristate good-boy punks,  will always be a loser . In “Casey,” another dedication to a restaurant server, I sometimes imagine a semi-unrequited crush on a coworker at a dead-end job, the person who when they finally quit left you wondering what you were even doing with your life.

That’s another unsteady comfort of Menzingers songs: the permission to have feelings even though it’s all been done before, the sound of machismo in retreat; this is the band’s most welcoming and quintessentially “emo” aspect. There’s no posturing, and (more Nabokovian of them) if the narrator is unreliable it’s only because he believes himself. As in America, the truth is hidden a little deeper, in the many allusions to “the shame, the fear, the guilt that’s tough to mention,” as Barnett sings on “Sun Hotel,” a memorial to another defunct local dive and a pretty good song in unfortunate violation of the rule that if you’re going to rip off  Leonard Cohen , you’d better write an  incredible one.

The new 10th-anniversary reissue is accompanied by a disc of acoustic demos, known as  On the Possible Past and originally distributed in an edition of 1,000.  Possible represents a rough draft of about half the final album, with the two opening songs in place and several key tracks (“The Obituaries,” “Gates,” “Nice Things”) yet to be added, and for the most part it takes the aggressively strummed approach of a  Punk Goes Acoustic project. The biggest surprise—much remarked upon by fans over the years—is the early alternate “Sun Hotel,” which borrows even more from Cohen yet is strangely more affecting. It’s softer, reworking the intimate vignette of “Chelsea Hotel #2” as a behind-the-scenes portrait of friends of the band. “Dan played ‘Casey’ while sipping on a Mickey’s,” Barnett sings. Just then, the suggestion of companionship is so real it fills the room. Turns out “the loneliest corner in the whole world” has a corner store.

Upon the album’s release, Barnett  described it as “essentially an accidental concept record,” which feels accurate to the self-contained storytelling, if not the poetic license the term often implies. Because even when the writing is more evocative than literal, the songs are realistic first, the type of fiction that’s truer than fact. If the band has struggled to move on from the fatalistic allure of the Impossible Past  world—if “The plot does not develop/It ends where it begins,” from “Burn After Writing,” has at times felt like a  self-fulfilling prophecy —consider it a failure of subject as much as author. The Menzingers’ colloquial punk forms and plainspoken lyrics situate personal disappointment and dysfunction in wider contexts, like a persistent societal failure to fix anything that matters to young people, then or now. That’s the world where we live. With  On the Impossible Past , they located one crack in dystopia approximately somewhere in eastern Pennsylvania and tried to pry it open bare-handed.

All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

By signing up you agree to our User Agreement (including the class action waiver and arbitration provisions ), our Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement and to receive marketing and account-related emails from Pitchfork. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

with Touché Amoré & Screaming Females

Wed November 9th, 2022

Minimum Age: 16+

Doors Open: 7:00PM

Show Time: 8:00PM

Event Ticket: $40

Day of Show: $40

alternative emo

Post-hardcore, ticketing policy.

Proof of vax is NOT required for this event

The Menzingers

Since forming as teenagers in 2006, The Menzingers have shown their strength as rough-and-tumble storytellers, turning out songs equally rooted in frenetic energy and lifelike detail. On their new album Hello Exile, the Philadelphia-based punk band take their lyrical narrative to a whole new level and share their reflections on moments from the past and present: high-school hellraising, troubled relationships, aging and alcohol and political ennui. And while their songs often reveal certain painful truths, Hello Exile ultimately maintains the irrepressible spirit that’s always defined the band. The sixth full-length from The Menzingers, Hello Exile arrives as the follow-up to After the Party: a 2017 release that landed on best-of-the-year lists from outlets like Clash and Noisey, with Stereogum praising its “almost unfairly well-written punk songs.” In creating the album, the band again joined forces with producer Will Yip (Mannequin Pussy, Quicksand), spending six weeks recording at Yip’s Conshohocken, PA-based Studio 4. “That’s the longest amount of time we’ve ever worked with Will,” notes Barnett. “We wanted to make sure these stories didn’t get lost in the music, so we kept it to a lot of room sounds with the guitar and bass and drums.” Despite that subtler sonic approach, Hello Exile still rushes forward with a restless urgency—an element in full force on the album-opening “America (You’re Freaking Me Out).” With its pounding rhythms and furious guitar riffs, the viscerally charged track provides a much-needed release for all those feeling frenzied by the current political climate. “We’re living in a pretty insane time, where all you can think about every single day is ‘What the hell is going on with this country?’” says Barnett. “But as I was writing that song I realized that it’s kind of always freaked me out, especially coming-of-age during the Iraq War. I love so much about America, but I think you can’t deny that there are some people in power who are absolutely evil.” Elsewhere on Hello Exile, The Menzingers turn their incisive songwriting to matters of love and romance, exploring the glories and failures of human connection. A wistful piece of jangle-pop, “Anna” paints a portrait of lovesick longing, complete with dreamy recollections of wine-drunk kitchen dancing. And on “Strangers Forever,” the band shifts gears for a searing tribute to parting ways, backing their spiky guitars with brilliantly barbed lyrics (e.g., “Maybe it’s for the better if we both stay strangers forever”). An album fascinated with home and displacement and belonging (or the lack thereof), Hello Exile takes its title from its heavy-hearted centerpiece. With its aching vocals, graceful acoustic guitar work, and beautifully lilting melody, “Hello Exile” draws inspiration from Anton Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Dog” (a short story set in the Black Sea resort city of Yalta). “I grew up in a tiny town that’s essentially a cross between a summer-vacation spot for New Yorkers and a retirement home, so for most of my childhood there were always people coming in and out of my life,” says Barnett, who hails from Lake Ariel, PA. “Reading that story made me think of how isolating it felt when my friends would leave to go back to the city at the end of the season, and I’d still just be stuck way out there in the woods.” In looking back on the songwriting process behind Hello Exile, Barnett points to the starkly confessional “I Can’t Stop Drinking” to illustrate the band’s commitment to total candor. “We’ve written so many songs about fun times with alcohol—but the older you get, it’s not always fun anymore,” he says. “With ‘I Can’t Stop Drinking,’ I wanted to be completely truthful and get away from glorifying anything. Sometimes it’s tough to look at yourself and at others that way, but it felt important to make it as real as possible.” With the band achieving that soul-baring intimacy all throughout the album, Hello Exile emerges as The Menzingers’ most emotionally daring work to date. “We’ve always been in love with good songwriting and the beauty of taking a song to its fullest potential, but with this album I feel like we’re really becoming the band we’ve always wanted to be,” says Barnett. Not only a creative turning point for The Menzingers, that uncompromising honesty helps fulfill their mission of leaving each listener with a potent sense of solidarity. “A lot of these songs are looking at different life challenges—they’re stories of people at some sort of crossroads,” Barnett says. “We might not have the answers for anybody, but hopefully the songs will help them to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and know that they’re not alone in whatever tough decisions they’re facing.”

Touché Amoré

Los Angeles’ Touché Amoré blend jangly post-hardcore with emotionally raw screamo to create a unique sound that turns the influence of bands like Jawbox and Converge into something strangely coherent. The group’s third album, 2013’s Is Survived By, reached the top half of the Billboard 200. Formed in 2007 by singer Jeremy Bolm, guitarists Clayton Stevens and Nick Steinhardt, bassist Tyler Kirby, and drummer Elliot Babin, Touché Amoré made their debut in 2009 with To the Beat of a Dead Horse. The album eventually came to the attention of Jacob Bannon’s label Deathwish, Inc., which released the follow-up, 2011’s Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me, as well as their third album, 2013’s Is Survived By. The latter peaked at number 85 on the U.S. albums chart as well as landing in the Top 30 of the alternative, rock, and hard rock charts. It also topped the vinyl albums chart. After finishing up a tour in support of Is Survived By, the band decamped to L.A.’s Seagrass Studio with producer Brad Wood (Sunny Day Real Estate, Smashing Pumpkins) to begin work on their fourth LP. The resulting Stage Four was released in 2016 on Epitaph. It fared slightly better on the rock side charts, reaching number 168 on the Billboard 200. In November 2018, Epitaph issued 10 Years/1000 Shows: Live at the Regent Theater. Recorded that February at Touché Amoré’s 1,000th show, it made appearances on the vinyl and independent album charts. The following year saw the group re-record the entirety of their 2009 debut album, To the Beat of a Dead Horse, and release it as Dead Horse X in deference to its tenth anniversary. In 2020, Touché Amoré returned with their fifth studio effort — Dead Horse X not included — Lament.

Screaming Females

Screaming Females is a three piece rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey.

similar artists

Thu May 9th, 2024

Sat May 11th, 2024

Fri May 17th, 2024

The Menzingers

View all concerts, nov 29, 2024.

Find a place to stay

Upcoming concerts from similar artists.

Underground Arts

Johnny Brenda's

Broken Goblet Brewing

The Fillmore Philadelphia

Wells Fargo Center

Highmark Skyline Stage at the Mann

Skyline Stage at the Mann

Citizens Bank Park

Live Photos

What fans are saying

Share Event

About the venue.

The Menzingers Biography

• Live Videos
• Performance Videos

• JD Photography
• Visit Front Row Live Ent
• WATERPARKS on Recording Debut Album ‘Double Dare’ w/ @RobertHerrera3
• Mike Hranica of The Devil Wears Prada Interview on Evolution, Longevity & ‘Transit Blues’ w/ @RobertHerrera3
• Saosin Taste of Chaos Photo Gallery & Interview Talking Parenting, Fitness & Recording ‘Along The Shadow’ w/ @RobertHerrera3
• Taking Back Sunday talk New Album ‘Tidal Wave’ & “Holy Water” w/ @RobertHerrera3
• As It Is talk Recording New Album, Pierce The Veil & Blink 182 w/ @RobertHerrera3
• Coheed and Cambria, Underoath & Circa Survive Headline Chain Reaction’s First Ever Chain Fest
• The New Regime talk New Music, Muse Tour & Angels & Airwaves w/ @RobertHerrera3
• Tonight Alive Break Down New Album ‘Limitless’
• ONE OK ROCK Photo Gallery at Self Help Fest 2016, Taka Talks New Album & Good Charlotte Album w/ @RobertHerrera3
• Travis Barker Confirms BLINK 182 ALBUM is Done! Interview w/ @RobertHerrera3
• While She Sleeps Talk Writing With No Voice & Recording “Trophies of Violence” w/ @RobertHerrera3
• Asking Alexandria Talk ‘The Black,’ Warped Tour, “Send Me Home” & Reveal New Tour Plans w/ @RobertHerrera3
• The Used on ‘Imaginary Enemy,’ Reveal Starting New Album w/ @RobertHerrera3
• For Today Talk Rap Mixtape and New Album ‘Wake’ w/ @RobertHerrera3
• Phinehas Talk ‘Till The End’ and Hardest Song to Write “Truth Be Told” w/ @RobertHerrera3

The Menzingers Announce More North American Tour Dates!

The Menzingers announced they will be heading out on a North American tour for the rest of the year alongside The Descendents, The Movie Life, Sublime with Rome, and the Offspring. Additionally they will be performing at ALTitute Fest, Riot Fest, and Sound on Sound!

The band will be supporting their new album After The Party which was released earlier this year. Check out the tour dates below and pick up tickets HERE

THE MENZINGERS TOUR DATES 7/21      Boston, MA                          Rock On! Concert Cruise 7/22      Somerville, MA                    Thunder Rod& 7/23      Worcester, MA                    The Palladium& 7/25      Buffalo, NY                          Waiting Room# 7/26      Toledo, OH                          Frankie’s# 7/27      Newport, KY                        The Southgate House Revival# 7/28      Kalamazoo, MI                    Bell’s Electric Café 7/29      Green Bay, WI                     Badger State Brewing Company 8/25      Asbury Park, NJ                  The Stone Pony 8/26      Poughkeepsie, NY              The Chance 8/27      Scranton, PA                       ALTitude 2017 9/7        Montreal, QC                       Metropolis+ 9/8        Toronto, ON                        Rebel+ 9/9        Sterling Heights, MI         Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre @ Freedom Hill! 9/10      Maryland Heights, MO        Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre! 9/13      Portland, ME                       Port City Music Hall% 9/14      Hartford, CT                         Webster Theater% 9/15      Boston, MA                          Blue Hills Bank Pavilion! 9/16      Philadelphia, PA                  Project Pabst! 9/17      Chicago, IL                          Riot Fest 9/19      Rogers, AR                          Walmart AMP! 9/20      Memphis, TN                       Growlers% 9/21      The Woodlands, TX            The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion! 9/22      Irving, TX                             Pavilion at The Music Factory! 9/24      Flagstaff, AZ                        Flagstaff’s Green Room^ 9/25      Tucson, AZ                          The Rock^ 9/26      Chula Vista, CA                   Mattress Firm Amphitheatre! 9/27      Mountain View, CA              Shoreline Amphitheatre! 9/28      Camarillo, CA                      Rock City* 9/29      Las Vegas, NV                    Downtown Las Vegas Events Center! 9/30      Salt Lake City, UT               USANA Amphitheatre! 10/3      Calgary, AB                         Marquee* 10/4      Edmonton, AB                     The Needle* 10/6      Vancouver, BC                    Rickshaw* 10/7      Seattle, WA                         El Corazon* 10/8      Portland, OR                       Hawthorne Theatre* 10/9      Boise, ID                               The Olympic* 10/11    Omaha, NE                          Sokol* 10/12    Rock Island, IL                     Rock Island Brewing Company* 10/13    Nashville, TN                       The Basement East* 10/14    Akron, OH                            Musica* 11/12    League City, TX                   Sound on Sound Fest

& Captain We’re Sinking as support # The Sidekicks as support + w/ Descendents % The Movelife & Make War are support ! w/ Sublime With Rome and The Offspring ^ Sundressed as support * Super Whatever as support

Like this Article? Share it!

About The Author

Alberto is a full time nerd with a passion for music and videos. When he's not filming, studying, or sleeping (often at the same time) he enjoys going on foodventures, crossing things off his to do/watch/read/eat lists, and singing off key at the top of his lungs.

Related Post

The Menzingers Debut “After the Party” Music Video

The Menzingers Take A Nostalgic View of Asbury Park in “Lookers” Video

The Menzingers Debut New Track “Lookers”

The Menzingers, mewithoutYou Announce Co-Headlining Tour

Leave a response.

Click here to cancel reply.

Featured Video

• Entries feed
• Comments feed
• WordPress.org

Feeling Generous?

Copyright © 2012 Punkvideosrock | Copyright © 2012 Front Row Live Ent

The Menzingers

Wed jun 26 2024 at 07:30 pm utc-05:00, the madrid theatre | kansas city.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The Madrid Theatre, 3810 Main St,Kansas City,MO,United States

Discover more events by tags:

Sharing is caring:, more events in kansas city.

Mike Kelly's Westsider

Aquarius and Vucan's Forge

The Nonprofit Village at 31w31

Southmoreland Park

Uptown Theater

Kansas State School for the Blind

The Madrid Theatre

McCoy Meetin' House

Union Station Kansas City

Kansas City is Happening!

Never miss your favorite happenings again!

The Menzingers

• Tickets & Event Details
• Venue Details

General Admission ADV

Balcony adv, box seats left, box seats right, event details, event disclaimers & policies.

• Ticket purchases are subject to the tkx Terms and Conditions and the tkx Ticket Service Agreement.
• Ticket purchases are non-refundable.
• Duplicate tickets will not be admitted.
• Ticket holders may be subject to search to enter.
• No backpacks or oversized purses/bags/totes are allowed.
• No professional cameras are permitted without a photo pass from the artist or venue. Film and/or point and shoot cameras are allowed.
• No weapons of any kind allowed.
• Alcohol purchases limited to those 21+ with a valid state-issued photo ID.
• Any questions? Contact [email protected]

Event Information

Friday, June 14th, 2024 Doors open at 7:00pm Age Restriction 12+

Presented By

Foundation Presents

Event Artists

The Menzingers, Lucero, The Dirty Nil

• Download Shazam

London Drugs

The menzingers.

419 Shazams

Music Video

Top Songs By The Menzingers

Shazam footer.

• Help for Apple Devices
• Help for Android Devices
• ShazamKit for Developers
• Privacy Policy
• Manage Your Data

Featured In

Upcoming concerts for the menzingers.

• Jun 05 Jun 05, 2024 Fete Music Hall Providence View Concert
• Jun 06 Jun 06, 2024 Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center (HMAC) Capitol Room Harrisburg View Concert
• Jun 07 Jun 07, 2024 White Eagle Hall Jersey City View Concert
• Jun 08 Jun 08, 2024 White Eagle Hall Jersey City View Concert

• Popular artists in Sydney
• Trending artists worldwide

• Tourbox for artists

Search for events or artists

• Sign up Log in

• Get the app
• Sydney concerts
• Change location
• Popular Artists
• Live streams
• Deutsch Português
• Concerts near you
• Popular artists

Sunday 18 August 2024

The Menzingers

On sale now

You'll only find fair, trustworthy tickets on Songkick.

Buy tickets

Discover more in sydney.

345 Parramatta Rd 2040 Leichhardt, NSW, Australia crowbarsyd.com

Share this concert

Line-up details.

Last time in Sydney: 4 years ago

Will you like them?

Biographies

The Menzingers is an American punk rock band hailing from Scranton Pennsylvania, US, forming out of the remnants of popular local ska bands, Bob and the Sagets and Kos Mos.

Live reviews

Hailing from Scranton in Pennsylvania The Menzingers are currently at the fore front of a new breed of punk rock bands. Punk rock bands that combine the energy and in your face attitude of their influences but also a …

Report as inappropriate

Photos (12)

4 people interested

Upcoming concerts for The Menzingers

• Saturday August 17, 2024 The Menzingers Crowbar Sydney, Leichhardt

Related upcoming events

• Friday August 09, 2024 Story of the Year Roundhouse Sydney, Sydney
• Sunday September 29, 2024 Teenage Bottlerocket Crowbar Sydney, Leichhardt
• Friday November 22, 2024 La Dispute The Roundhouse UNSW, Kensington

• Most popular charts
• API information
• Brand guidelines
• Community guidelines
• Terms of use
• Privacy policy
• Cookies settings
• Cookies policy

Get your tour dates seen everywhere.

• But we really hope you love us.

NEW ALBUM "SHOULD'VE LEARNED BY NOW"

Out everywhere now.

Join the email list

Latest News

On Tour with The Menzingers this June

Holiday Merch now available

LUCERO FAMILY CHRISTMAS

“That Much Further West” turns 20

Fall Tour 2023

Upcoming Shows

Live Nation offers $25 tickets to several Twin Cities shows during Concert Week

Crowd at Palomino Festival held at Brookside at the Rose Bowl on July 9, 2022 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images)

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Live Nation is offering $25 tickets to several highly anticipated concerts coming to the Twin Cities area in 2024. 

Discounted tickets to see more than 900 artists will be available during this year's Concert Week, running May 8-14. 

The limited-time ticket offer spans a variety of genres.

Concert Week tickets include all fees upfront in the $25 all-in cost. To celebrate the 10th annual Concert Week, Live Nation has expanded the promotion to 20 countries in addition to the U.S. 

Minneapolis concerts participating in 2024 Concert Week

Target Center:

• Cage The Elephant – Aug. 12
• Maggie Rogers – Oct. 25

  Armory:

• Gunna – May 10
• Jacob Collier – June 10
• Orville Peck – June 11
• Bryson Tiller – June 28
• The Kid Laroi – July 5
• Still Woozy – July 25
• Mike. – July 27
• Vampire Weekend – July 31
• Lindsey Stirling – Aug. 24

The Fillmore:

• XOMG POP! – June 6
• Taking Back Sunday – June 21
• The Struts – Aug. 18
• The Gaslight Anthem – Aug. 30
• Mother Mother – Sept. 17
• Marcus King – Sept. 27
• Sunny Day Real Estate – Sept. 28
• Two Door Cinema Club – Sept. 29
• Alec Benjamin – Oct. 10
• Judah & The Lion – Oct. 11
• Lawrence – Oct. 23

  Uptown Theater:

• Joyner Lucas – May 11
• Chicano Batman – May 18
• P.O.D. – May 25
• Madaraka Festival – June 8
• PVRIS – June 14
• The Used – June 26
• A.C.E. – July 9
• Dashboard Confessionals – Sept. 26
• The Airborne Toxic Event – Oct. 4
• Drive-By Truckers – Oct. 25 and Oct. 26

Varsity Theater:

• Better Than Ezra - May 11
• Microwave - May 14
• Battle Beast - May 15
• X Ambassadors - May 18
• Hanabie - May 21
• Born of Osiris + Atilla - May 22
• Lords of Acid - May 25
• Bodysnatcher + Spite - May 26
• Archspire - June 5
• Pop 2000 - June 9
• Rawayana - June 18
• Menzingers - June 23
• Leo Skepi - June 26
• Dandy Warhols - June 28
• Northlane - June 30
• Demola - July 27
• The Volunteers - Aug. 7
• Two Feet - Sept. 28
• La Santa Grifa - Oct. 10
• Loveless - Oct. 16
• Tokyo Police Club - Nov. 11

St. Paul concerts participating in 2024 Concert Week

Xcel Energy Center:

• Janet Jackson w/ Nelly – June 18
• Russ – June 21
• Chicago/Earth Wind & Fire – July 13
• Rob Zombie w/ Alice Cooper – Aug. 25
• Weezer – Sept. 4
• Cigarettes After Sex – Sept. 24
• P!nk – Oct. 17
• Korn – Oct. 27

Somerset, Wisconsin, concerts participating in 2024 Concert Week

Somerset Amphitheater:

• Train & REO Speedwagon – July 8
• Limp Bizkit – July 16
• Hootie & the Blowfish – Aug. 8
• Luke Bryan – Sept. 5

For a complete list of participating shows, visit LiveNation.com/ConcertWeek . The full list of Concert Week events with Chicago venue details will be available for public viewing beginning May 8. 

How Concert Week works

When the full list of shows has been posted, customers can select the show and look for a ticket labeled "Concert Week Promotion." Then add the ticket to the cart and checkout. 

How to find participating shows 

Fans can filter their search on Live Nation's website by participating events, venues, or artists. 

Customers can also set the location to the closest city and the site will refresh to only include participating shows nearby. 

How to buy tickets

Tickets for Concert Week in the U.S. will be available starting with T-Mobile and Rakuten early access beginning on Tuesday, May 7. 

The general on-sale for Concert Week will begin on Wednesday, May 8 at 9 a.m. CT through Tuesday, May 14 at 10:59 p.m., or while supplies last.

Live Nation’s Concert Week offers $25 tickets to everyone from Janet Jackson to the Dandy Warhols

C oncert promoter Live Nation will offer $25 tickets to more than 65 concerts in the metro area during its 10th annual Concert Week. The sale includes everything from shows at arenas like St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center (Janet Jackson, June 18; Weezer, Sept. 4) down to clubs like Varsity Theater in Dinkytown (X Ambassadors, May 18; Dandy Warhols, June 28).

The sale runs from 10 a.m. Wednesday through 11:59 p.m. May 14 online at livenation.com/concertweek . Customers of T-Mobile , Rakuten and Hilton Hotels have access to a presale that starts at 10 a.m. Tuesday. There are no additional fees added to the $25 tickets beyond sales tax.

In a news release, the company said more than 5,000 shows in the U.S. and Canada are included in Concert Week.

Here’s a sampling of some of the concerts that will be part of the promotion:

Xcel Energy Center: Russ, June 21; Chicago and Earth, Wind and Fire, July 13; Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper, Aug. 25; Pink, Oct. 17; Korn, Oct. 27.

Target Center: Cage the Elephant, Aug. 12; Maggie Rogers, Oct. 25.

The Armory: Jacob Collier, June 10; Orville Peck, June 11; Bryson Tiller, June 28; The Kid Laroi, July 5; Vampire Weekend, July 31; Lindsey Stirling, Aug. 24.

Somerset Amphitheater: Train and REO Speedwagon, July 8; Limp Bizkit, July 16; Hootie and the Blowfish, Aug. 8; Luke Bryan, Sept. 5.

The Fillmore Minneapolis: Taking Back Sunday, June 21; the Gaslight Anthem, Aug. 30; Marcus King, Sept. 27; Sunny Day Real Estate, Sept. 28; Two Door Cinema Club, Sept. 29.

Uptown Theater: Chicano Batman, May 18; P.O.D., May 25; the Used, June 26; Dashboard Confessional, Sept. 26; Drive-By Truckers, Oct. 25-26.

Varsity Theater: Better Than Ezra, May 11; Battle Beast, May 15; Lords of Acid, May 25; Menzingers, June 23; La Santa Grifa, Oct. 10; Tokyo Police Club, Nov. 11.

Related Articles

• Music and Concerts | Concert review: Jimmy Buffett loomed large over Kenny Chesney’s U.S. Bank Stadium show
• Music and Concerts | Free concert at Como Park will celebrate both World Accordion Day and Star Wars Day
• Music and Concerts | The Arts Partnership to host four free concert screenings in Rice Park
• Music and Concerts | Buzzy young crooner Stephen Sanchez added to Minnesota State Fair Grandstand lineup
• Music and Concerts | Grammy and Oscar favorite Billie Eilish will return to Xcel Energy Center in November for two shows

Maggie Rogers on Turning the Light Back On With ‘Don’t Forget Me,’ Feeling Nostalgic at 30, and Personally Manning the Box Office for Her Arena Tour

By Chris Willman

Chris Willman

Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic

• Sierra Ferrell, Tyler Childers, Brandy Clark Lead Nominees for Americana Awards 52 mins ago
• Post Malone, Noah Kahan Added as Performers for ACM Awards 3 hours ago
• T Bone Burnett Taps Into a River of Love for His First Acoustic Album in Decades: ‘In a Way It Feels Like My First Solo Record, at All’ 1 day ago

Maggie Rogers is headlining arenas for the first time this fall, but she didn’t want it to feel like moving into bigger spaces for her concerts would mean a more impersonal experience. So for 11 shows that just went on sale in late April, she went out and personally manned the box office on opening day to help sell tickets for those big shows. Rogers had earlier done the same thing for a short series of club shows she performed to kick off the touring cycle behind her new album, “Don’t Forget Me.” For the fans who lined up to take advantage of having Rogers as their personal ticket concierge, the experience lived up to its unforgettable billing.

Popular on Variety

Variety spoke with her just after she’d returned home from her short tour of… the nation’s box offices. Among the topics: enshrining the concept of friendship in the grooves of the new album; speaking of buddies, sharing a Bruce moment recently with her friend Zach Bryan ; and wrapping up her graduate course work at Harvard Divinity School in this coming month, shortly before she hits the road.

Oh my gosh, I had so much fun. I’ve just been on a high. You never get to choose the people that show up for your music, but I feel so lucky to really feel like I’ve got the best people holding my art, this community of such unbelievably kind and generous and sweet people. All the stories I heard of people taking care of each other in line — there was some girl I was talking to one night in Philly while I was on stage, while she was requesting a song, and then later I got all these comments of people being like, “Oh my God, we love her. Her dad brought us donuts in line.” It was such a high and so sweet to be able, in this era of empty digital transaction, to really hold hands in person with the people that allow me to do this thing that I love on a daily basis.

I always say about my fans that it always feels like we’re at a house party. Like, if you’re not the friend that I brought, you’re a friend of a friend. To be able to wake up in the morning and have coffee with people and see people make friends in line and then buy tickets together… or to be able to have the familiar faces who have been there from the beginning walk up to a box office door and choose exactly where they want to sit in an arena… but also the fact that it’s an arena bowl that we’re looking at, picking tickets together! — that was so surreal.

Did you give anybody who came through the lines any guidance about where the best place to sit in an arena is?

You know, I didn’t really grow up going to arena shows. All of my favorite artists always played rock clubs. And I think a symptom of streaming, in a positive way, is that it allows artists who aren’t putting on the biggest pop show in the world to reach an audience in a really different way, and so I feel like we’re in an era where some of my favorite bands are playing arenas. It’s nice to know that some of my fans are able to be in the pit and will get to be as close to the stage as possible. But I don’t know that I’m a good source of knowing where to sit in an arena.

You’re playing the big rooms — Madison Square Garden and the Forum. These are in the fall, when maybe amphitheaters aren’t advisable, but you must be doing arenas because you’re excited about that.

Each one of your albums does have a very different personality, so it makes sense that you would be thinking about how each type of album might play in a different kind of venue. Your last album, “Surrender,” seemed like a pretty dramatic album. This one has some drama in the lyrics, too, but the critical line on this album… the New Yorker called it “breezy,” and Pitchfork said “zippy, even groovy.” So there’s a lot of adjectives with a Y on the end that suggest something that makes people feel good. It seems like there might’ve been a concentrated effort on this album to have a very kind of friendly vibe to it.

The record was made so quickly that there wasn’t a lot of conscious intention. When I was making it, I just felt really open, and that’s what you can hear. There’s a real sparkly, fun lightheartedness in the record because that’s how I felt as I was making it. But there wasn’t a lot of premeditation. I had no concepts for songs; I had no mood boards. As Ian Fitchuk and I were going into the studio, we had never really ever worked together before, and then on day one we wrote “It Was Coming All Along” and “Drunk.” Day two, we wrote “So Sick of Dreaming” and “The Kill.” So it was following a sense of openness and lightheartedness, and the result is that all my friends say that this is the version of me that they know.

I think also that that openness is a product of becoming a little bit more comfortable in all of this. You know, my transition into music happened very publicly, very quickly, and it really scared me. Now I’m coming into this place where I turn 30 in two days, and I really love my work and feel really comfortable and confident in my art. It’s been a path through my twenties and finding and refining my voice and how I want to express myself. There are different types of music that I love that I want to explore, like trying on different clothes, and that feels super normal, too.

Speaking of trying on different clothes… this will be the most superficial question I’ll ask, but you’ve had a pretty different hairstyle during each album cycle you’ve come through now. Not to be a hairstyle reviewer, but in some way it has felt like your look reflects a change in the music, and the look now is kind of mature and yet free-and-easy. Is that in any way part-and-parcel for you, like, yes, there’s a whole new me than there was two years ago, and that’s reflected in the album?

That segues perfectly into the next question, about how the passage of time factors a lot into these songs. The album has lines like “when all the years start to blend in together,” or “time moves slow until one day you wake up and realize”… and specifically, “I’m flying long past 22,” which is a very specific reference for you to make. As you said, you’re about to turn 30 and there are lots of markers in your life. It’s been five years since your first album, but eight years since you had kind of a viral moment. So “flying long past 22,” does that kind of signal a moment when everything changed for you, but it feels like a long way in the rear view mirror?

Totally. I mean, I’m a really naturally nostalgic person. And especially because I’m in the business of documenting time. That’s kind of why I got into songwriting in the first place, because I wanted to be able to mark time and archive. I’m definitely an archivist. There’s a lot of different parts of my life that I have archived, and I journal almost every night before I fall asleep. I’ve always said that a record is a record of a period of time. On this album, there are so many scenarios or stories that have never happened to me as a person, but the feelings or the details within them are very specific to my life. So it feels in a way like some woven tapestry owed to my twenties. Though the story that runs through the album is not the exact one-to-one story in my life, I think that by saying something that was fiction, I was able to tell a much greater truth about the reality of my life or the way that I felt in my twenties. And it’s really helped me. You know, you’re catching me in the last two days where I’m like saying goodbye to this decade of my life and taking stock of what I really want to leave in the past and what I want to welcome and usher in. And music has always been a way that I do that.

The album is very conversational at times — literally, at times, because in the very first song you’re talking about a conversation with Nora, and you quote her talking to you by name. Later on you have some other names, a Sally and a Molly. One throughline in the lyrics is a lot of breakup songs, or anticipating a breakup or remembering someone who’s gone or anticipating someone being gone in the future. But it feels like these references to friends anchor that, with the fact that you have friends who are there for you, even when romantic relationships may be temporary or fickle. Is throwing the names of actual people in there — specifically, women friends — intentionally trying to create that sense of balance?

It feels very simple and silly, but I really love my friends, and putting them in the record has been so fun. My friend Nora and I met on the eastern shore of Maryland when we were 15, and we both walked into a Christmas party wearing all black and have been best friends ever since. You know, I’ve only played four shows so far for this record, but I get to hear Nora’s voice on stage every night [in a spoken-word interlude during “So Sick of Dreaming”]. I just called her and put her on speaker and that was how she answered the phone — that was a one-take. And hearing Nora’s voice on stage every night is the absolute sweetest thing.

In “So Sick of Dreaming,” you do have that very specific storytelling moment in the bridge with Nora’s voice, and that’s not your experience. Did you feel like, although the song is very general, you needed to ground it in something that was about as specific as it gets?

That was me just being really playful. When we made all these demos, Ian and I had this plan and I really wanted to go to Muscle Shoals or some great Southern studio and make a live record. These were just demos that we assumed we would play with a great band later. So when I put that voicemail in, it was just to make Ian and I laugh, knowing that later we would probably fill it with some great instrumental section. But after we made all these demos, we realized that because we weren’t trying to make a record, there was actually this incredibly beautiful, unguarded version of ourselves that was able to come through in all of these first takes. And there was a looseness about the record that sort of worked as, like, a live record made by two people.

And that Knicks voicemail… I would like to go on record that I’m rooting for the Knicks in the playoffs. It’s very important to me that that is known! But that story (told by Nora), that’s some New York perfect thing, like Carrie Bradshaw, the clueless silliness… You know, even the voice I’m using, like, “By the way, the Knicks lost,” it’s so sassy and silly, and it’s been cool on the road. I’ve been changing the team to be whatever the home team is for the town. And it is still shocking to me that I figured out how to write a song that can get a city to root against their own home team! People are yelling, like, “And by the way…” It’s “the Bulls lost” in Chicago. I’m learning more about basketball actively every day than I ever have in my entire life.

When you play Los Angeles, we will wait for you to diss the Lakers. Well, we have two basketball teams to diss, so you’ll be picking one.

I’m gonna have to pick? All right. We’ll see. I don’t even know what the other one is, so I’ll be learning actively on the road.

You were recently on stage not just with Zach Bryan, who you have sat in with before, but but Bruce Springsteen. What was that experience like?

I saw Zach’s show at Crypto.com Arena last fall, where you were a guest on several songs. He was playing in the round, and he did the thing where he is constanty moving around and performing on one of the four sides of the stage. And I thought, is Maggie going to know to do that too? And sure enough, you went around to all four sides of the stage.

I feel really grateful. I’ve had many wonderful teachers throughout the eight years that I’ve done this. And in 2017 and 2018 I opened for Mumford and Sons, and they played in the round on a very similar stage. They’re also a band where it’s really live and there can be guests and you’re running around and going to this side and that side, and those guys really taught me how to handle a stage like that, where there’s an immense amount of perfect chaos, and you need to keep an eye on the audience and keep an eye on the band. So when I got onto that stage (with Bryan), in that perfect moment, it was one of these times of alignment in my life where I had really done my homework, where I had had great teachers and great experiences that made me feel like I was really ready for it.

Did you feel like you learned anything from Zach about how you’re going to rock arenas, or did you already feel prepared for that before?

What’s amazing about Zach is that he’s so wonderfully himself both on stage and off. And I love the sort of dramatic performance element of putting on a show, but playing with Zach is a really great reminder that just being yourself is also always enough.

Finally, to really shift gears… you’ve been attending Harvard divinity school for years. The New Yorker article said you’re writing a book based off your thesis that ties together ideas about religion and pop. So this a book you’re actually going be publishing, not just turning in as something academic, right?

Yeah, I’m about halfway through with it right now. I’ve decided that, rather than selling the book, I’d rather just write it and then I’ll find a publisher once I’m finished writing it, rather than sort of bringing a couple chapters forward first. But, yeah, I love writing, and I wrote a hundred-ish pages for my academic master’s thesis. I’ve had this fellowship at Harvard over the last semester where I feel just so lucky to get to work with so many wonderful teachers and have such a creative space that feels just really safe and really nourishing there. And yeah, I’m just working away on it. I like creative projects that take a long time and that ask you to sit with ideas, and this is something that I’ve been sitting with and working on for the last three or four years, if you count my academic work. So I don’t really have a timeline for it, but I’m loving having this project in my back pocket.

I love school so much. I’m sad to go, but it feels time, and the good news is that I’ve made friends and connections and have mentors there that I think I’ll carry for a lifetime. And I see a world where like I would love to teach or be a professor one day. That’s far, far off in the future, but I know that it’s not the last time I’ll be in and around school. And I’m really happy to take the sort of structure and groundedness I’ve found in academics on the road, as something I can work on in a hotel room or a dressing room.

Rogers’ summer and fall tour schedule:

5/4         Charlotte NC                                                      Lovin’ Life Festival^

5/23       San Diego, CA                                                     Gallagher Square at Petco Park

5/24       Phoenix, AZ                                                         Arizona Financial Theatre

5/27       Morrison, CO                                                     Red Rocks Amphitheatre  +

5/31       Irving, TX                                                              The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory

6/1         The Woodlands, TX                                          The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman

6/3         Rogers, AR                                                           Walmart AMP

6/5         Indianapolis, IN                                                 Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park

6/7         Cincinnati, OH                                                    The ICON Festival Stage at Smale Park

6/8         Milwaukee, WI                                                  BMO Pavilion

6/9         Sterling Heights, MI                                         Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre

6/14       Manchester, TN                                                Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival^

6/16       Columbia, MD                                                    Merriweather Post Pavilion  +

6/19       Raleigh, NC                                                         Coastal Credit Union Music Park

6/20       Charleston, SC                                                   Credit One Stadium

6/22       Miami, FL                                                             FPL Solar Amphitheater at Bayfront Park

“ THE DON’T FORGET ME TOUR, PART II”

10/9      Austin, TX                           Moody Center                                                 

10/15    Philadelphia, PA              Wells Fargo Center                                       

10/17    Boston, MA                        TD Garden                                                         

10/22    Toronto, ON                      Coca-Cola Coliseum                                   

10/24    Chicago, IL                        United Center                                                                                                                

10/25    Minneapolis, MN            Target Center                                                  

10/29    Seattle, WA                       Climate Pledge Arena                                 

10/30    Portland, OR                     Moda Center                                                                                                      

11/1      San Francisco, CA         Chase Center                                                  

11/2      Inglewood, CA                  Kia Forum                                                          

More From Our Brands

Bette midler says she should’ve sued lindsay lohan after young star exited sitcom, ‘smart casual’ is menswear’s most dominant dress code. here’s how to nail it., wnba on verge of league-wide charter flights for 2024 season, the best loofahs and body scrubbers, according to dermatologists, ratings: ncis hawai’i ends with 2nd-best audience of season, verify it's you, please log in.

The Menzingers - Australia 2024

Tickets {{ currencyformat(total) }}.

{{ modalMessage }}

Add To Calendar