Lips on ice seal rumors of a Rolling Stones 2020 date in Minneapolis

[UPDATE: Sources in the tour camp say the Minneapolis date is May 16, which will likely be one of the first and maybe the first stop on the band's 2020 tour. Look for the formal announcement Thursday.]

A new ice sculpture with the iconic tongue-and-lips logo spotted outside the IDS Center on Monday morning seems to confirm it: The Rolling Stones are coming back to Minneapolis this summer.

Twin Cities music fans who've gotten no satisfaction from concerts at U.S. Bank Stadium could have mixed emotions over the news, though: Minneapolis' billion-dollar NFL stadium will almost certainly be the site of the concert.

An official announcement is expected Thursday. Rumors of the band's 2020 tour plans are swirling on fan sites, with billboards and other signs spotted in other cities in recent days.

A continuation of the British rock gods' No Filter Tour -- which started up last summer -- none of the 2020 shows have been formally announced with ticket info yet. The average price for tickets on last year's tour was $240, and the starting price was usually $159.

The Stones were last seen in Minnesota in 2015, when they delivered a warmly received outdoor show at the Gophers' TCF Bank Stadium in 2015 (a year before USBS opened). They will at least be given shelter at the new-ish indoors Vikings palace, where complaints over bouncing acoustics were widespread after shows by Guns N' Roses, U2, Metallica and Beyonce with Jay-Z. Last year's Garth Brooks gigs were considered an improvement after curtains were drawn to cover much of the stadium's faux-glass surfacing.

It looks like Minneapolis will be one of about 20 or so U.S. cities on the band's No Filter 2020 Tour. Set lists on the 2019 dates included obvious favorites such as "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Brown Sugar," "Gimme Shelter," "Sympathy for the Devil," "Start Me Up" and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and usually a handful of deeper cuts, too, such as "Sweet Virginia," "Let It Bleed," "Rocks Off" and the Keith Richards-sung "You Got the Silver."

Last year's tour grossed more than $415 million over 45 shows. Oh, how far we've come.

Richards and his Glimmer Twin, Mick Jagger, have made no hint at this being a farewell tour, but since they're each now 76 – and the guy who actually steers the whole operation, drummer Charlie Watts, turns 79 in June – many fans have guessed this could be the last time. Several of the dates on last year's tour had to be postponed while Jagger recovered from a heart-valve procedure; all reports were that he rebounded with all his usual energy.

The ice sculpture is going up the same day Target Field announced a July 24 show with Guns N' Roses, adding to what was already shaping up to be the busiest year yet for stadium concerts in the Twin Cities.

Also already confirmed at U.S. Bank Stadium are Kenny Chesney on May 2, Motley Crue with Def Leppard, Posion and Joan Jett on June 27, George Strait on Aug. 22 and German metal band Rammstein on Aug. 30. Target Field also previously announced an Aug. 11 date featuring Green Day with Weezer and Fall Out Boy.