Atmosphere reviving its 'Welcome to MN' tour

The February outing kicks off in Mankato and will include a First Ave stop.

December 12, 2011 at 4:36PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

You Bemidji fans really must have made a good impression on Atmosphere. For the second February in a row, Minneapolis' hip-hop kingpins -- yep, the title is still theirs – will perform in the First City on the Mississippi (so says Bemidji's letterhead) and four other smaller cities around the state, a reprisal of their "Welcome to Minnesota Tour." The outing will kick off Feb. 20 at Mankato's Verizon Wireless Center Ballroom and include stops in Duluth, Rochester and St. Cloud. In the middle of the trek, the group will also squeeze in one (and only one, it looks like) concert at First Avenue, the first Atmosphere shows there in more than a year. Here's the full itinerary:

2.20 - Mankato - Verizon Wireless Center Ballroom
2.21 - Bemidji - Sanford Center Ballroom
2.22 - Minneapolis - First Avenue
2.23 - Duluth - Clyde Iron Works
2.25 - Rochester - Mayo Civic Center Auditorium
2.26 - St. Cloud - Atwood Center Ballroom @ SCSU

Like last year's tour, Slug & Co. are bringing along some excellent, lesser-known Twin Cities acts: Kill the Vultures, Big Quarters (both of whom have gigs in town this weekend) and MaLLy, along with Brother Ali's old turntablist BK-One. Tickets for all the shows go on sale Friday (Dec. 16) at 11 a.m. through Ticketmaster. Tickets for the Minneapolis, Duluth and St. Cloud dates are also available in-person at Fifth Element. Here is the Facebook page for the tour.

Atmosphere's winter tour plans also include the first-ever winter concert at the famed Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado and a jazz festival in South Africa.

about the writer

about the writer

Chris Riemenschneider

Critic / Reporter

Chris Riemenschneider has been covering the Twin Cities music scene since 2001, long enough for Prince to shout him out during "Play That Funky Music (White Boy)." The St. Paul native authored the book "First Avenue: Minnesota's Mainroom" and previously worked as a music critic at the Austin American-Statesman in Texas.

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