One of the Minnesota music scene’s most famous alumni, Lizzo is coming back to Minneapolis to kick off what her people say “promises to be a blockbuster era of music.”
Lizzo will return to First Avenue in March to hype her new album at old stomping grounds
The March 18 underplay gig is one of three to promote “Love in Real Life,” whose title track she released as a single Friday.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
February 28, 2025 at 2:42PM
The Grammy-winning, platinum-selling R&B and hip-hop star debuted a new single on Friday alongside news she will perform an intimate concert at First Avenue on March 18.
Tickets for the Tuesday night return to her old stomping grounds go on sale Thursday at 10 a.m. via axs.com, with an artist presale option beginning Wednesday. Sign up at lizzomusic.com for access. There’s a two-ticket limit per purchase. Prices are not yet advertised.
Lizzo’s First Ave homecoming will cap off a week with two other underplay gigs around the country, one at the Wiltern in her adopted hometown of Los Angeles on March 12 and then another at Irving Plaza in New York on March 16.
After her megahit “About Damn Time” won the Grammy Award for record of the year in 2023, Lizzo kept a relatively low profile in 2024 and even took to social media to say, “I quit,” after enduring online criticism for many years. Her only public performance last year was alongside Barack Obama and Bill Clinton at a Joe Biden fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall.
These three shows and the new single, however, seem to signal that the 36-year-old singer and rapper is planning a full-scale comeback.
Her first album since 2022’s “Special” is slated to arrive this summer, titled “Love in Real Life.” She released the title track from the record — an upbeat, ‘80s-flavored rocker about a night on the town — to streaming platforms on Friday along with a cinematic music video. The video was directed by Colin Tilley, who has also filmed award-winning videos for Kendrick Lamar and Megan Thee Stallion.
Lizzo has a lot of history at First Ave going back to some of her first performances with her old group the Chalice in the small, adjoining room 7th St. Entry in 2012.
She made her coming out as a solo performer opening for Har Mar Superstar in the First Ave Mainroom in September 2013 just before the release of her debut solo album, “Lizzobangers,” produced by Twin Cities music mainstays Lazerbeak (Doomtree) and Ryan Olson (Marijuana Deathsquads). She also performed there in 2015 as the opener on Sleater-Kinney’s reunion tour, which became her coming out on a national scale.
A good indicator of how far she has come since then: Her last performance in the Twin Cities was a sold-out concert at Xcel Energy Center in 2022.
The March 18 underplay gig is one of three to promote “Love in Real Life,” whose title track she released as a single Friday.
