Pink to become Target Field's first female concert headliner next August

She will be joined by newly inducted rock hall-of-famer Pat Benatar at the Minneapolis ballpark on Aug. 10.

November 14, 2022 at 4:05PM
Pink’s last Twin Cities concerts were consecutive sold-out shows at Xcel Energy Center in 2018 and 2019. (Leila Navidi, Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The first female performer to ever headline a concert at Target Field — and she'll have one of rock's pioneering women with her, too — Pink will take a swing at Minneapolis' ballpark on Aug. 10, 2023, with Pat Benatar for an opener.

The Thursday night concert was announced Monday morning among 20 other stops on the "Just Give Me a Reason" and "Walk Me Home" singer's Summer Carnival Tour.

Other Midwest dates include Milwaukee's American Family Field on Aug. 14, Omaha's Charles Schwab Field on Aug. 21 and Fargo's Fargodome on Aug. 19 — the latter of which is one of several dates that will feature Brandi Carlile for a warm-up act instead of Benatar. A third opener, Los Angeles pop-rock band Grouplove of "Tongue Tied" fame, is also performing at all the tour stops.

Tickets to the shows go on sale Nov. 21 at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster. Citi cardmembers and Verizon customers will get presale access starting Wednesday. Neither the Twins nor tour promoter Live Nation (the parent company of Ticketmaster) named ticket prices for the show in the publicly owned stadium, which is typical nowadays of Live Nation's dynamic-pricing policies.

Known for her high-flying stunts and other special effects in concert — she's not just being cute when she called the tour a "carnival" — Pink last performed in the Twin Cities at a sold-out Xcel Energy Center in 2018 and 2019. She also performed at the Armory as part of the Super Bowl LII hoopla in February 2018.

The real-life Alecia Moore, 43, is readying an album for release between now and next summer. She just dropped the first single from it, the post-pandemic anthem "Never Gonna Not Dance Again."

Benatar, who will be joined by her husband/guitarist Neil Giraldo as always, is hitting the road with Pink fresh off her induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Nov. 5. Pink and Carlile were among the younger fans at the induction to help sing the 69-year-old legend's classic hits, such as "Heartbreaker" and "Hit Me With Your Best Shot."

The first concert with a woman headliner in Target Field's 12-year history will also be the ballpark's first stand-alone concert in two years. Last summer's only show there was a postgame concert by country singer Cole Swindell.

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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