The unstoppable Brandi Carlile will return to Minnesota State Fair grandstand in 2023

The Grammy favorite sold out Xcel Energy Center last summer after a long history of Twin Cities gigs.

March 16, 2023 at 7:48PM
Brandi Carlile lit up Xcel Energy Center in 2022. (Erica Dischino, Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

She's big enough to easily sell out arenas nowadays, but Brandi Carlile apparently is not too grand to return to the Minnesota State Fair grandstand this year.

The Grammy-adorned singer/songwriter of "Right on Time" and "The Story" fame was announced Thursday as another 2023 grandstand headliner. She will land at the fair again on Aug. 29. Tickets go on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m. via eTix.com or 800-514-3849 and will be priced $79-$199.

A big hit at the Great Minnesota Get-Together in 2019 after a decade-plus of steadily bigger and more fanatical Twin Cities gigs, Carlile capped off her ascent with a triumphant — and sold-out — Xcel Energy Center concert last July.

This summer, she has a wide variety of gigs lined up prior to her grandstand return, including stadium tour dates with Pink (one of them: Fargo's Fargodome on Aug. 19) and her own three-day festival in June at the Gorge Amphitheater near her home in Washington. That latter event will famously feature Joni Mitchell's first advertised gig in two decades, after the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer joined Carlile on stage at the Newport Folk Festival last year.

Carlile is the fifth of 11 headliners to be announced in the fair's 2023 grandstand concert series. Here's the lineup so far confirmed:

  • Friday, Aug. 25: The Chicks
  • Monday, Aug. 28: Happy Together Tour with the Turtles, Little Anthony & the Imperials, Gary Puckett & Union Gap, the Vogues, the Classics IV and the Cowsills
  • Tuesday, Aug. 29: Brandi Carlile
  • Wednesday, Aug. 30: Yung Gravy
  • Thursday, Aug. 31: Duran Duran with Bastille and Nile Rodgers & Chic
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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