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Minnesota State Fair

Guns N’ Roses coming to U.S. Bank Stadium, Nickelback coming to Minnesota State Fair

by Jay Gabler

December 05, 2016

This week started with a bang, as two big concert announcements dropped early in the morning. Guns N' Roses will bring their reunion tour to U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on July 30, and next summer's State Fair Grandstand series will begin with Nickelback.

GnR have been teasing a local gig announcement with "welcome to the jungle" electronic billboards across the Twin Cities. The U.S. Bank Stadium gig will be the first Guns N' Roses show with the classic lineup of Axl Rose, Slash, and Duff McKagan since they shared a 1992 bill with Metallica on the very same spot — then home to the Metrodome. The band's name was initially floated as a possible first rock gig for the new Vikings stadium, but that spot ended up going to Metallica on Aug. 20, 2016.

The Nickelback show will take place on the State Fair's opening night next summer: Aug. 24, 2017, kicking off what organizers bill as "Minnesota's biggest music festival." In terms of sheer numbers that's indisputable, given the hundreds of local and national entertainers who play at the Grandstand and free stages over the fair's annual run. Nickelback have recently been in the news over a flap in their native Canada, when a Prince Edward Island police department apologized for threatening to penalize drunk drivers with forced Nickelback listening.

Guns N' Roses tickets ($35-$250) go on sale this Saturday, Dec. 10, with VIP packages going on sale today at 10 a.m. Nickelback tickets ($65-$80) go on sale this Friday.

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This activity is made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.