When a new tour is announced featuring two of the artists in The A.V. Club’s five best albums of 2017, it’s cause for us to get excited. But when that same tour includes other great musicians, including the guy who rapped, “Missus Piggy want her Biggie back…I’ma keep on eating till my ankles fat”? Perfection.
Top Dawg Entertainment announced yesterday that it was launching “TDE: The Championship Tour,” a massive North American tour including nearly every artist on the label, including Kendrick, SZA, Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, SiR, Lance Skiiiwalker, and more still to be announced. The tour begins May 4 in Vancouver and continues across the continent until closing night June 16 in Pittsburgh, PA. No word yet on whether or not there might be some special performances at the concerts involving tracks from the upcoming Black Panther soundtrack curated by Lamar and TDE CEO Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, but in our minds T’Challa basically descends from the ceiling every night when Kendrick Lamar performs that great new song.
Tickets are going on sale this coming Friday from Ticketmaster, starting at noon local time for the venue of your choosing. (But if you’re determined to score advance tickets, there’s another of those American Express deals where members in select cities can buy early-bird tickets now through Thursday at noon.) The full list of dates is below, along with asterisks for the cities featuring the American Express presale option. We do not, as of yet, have asterisks next to the cities where Schoolboy Q will perform “Hands On The Wheel,” but hopefully it’s everywhere.
TDE: The Championship Tour 2018
May 4—Vancouver, BC*—Rogers Arena
May 5—Seattle, WA—White River Amphitheatre
May 6—Portland, OR—Sunlight Supply Amphitheater
May 8—Oakland, CA*—Oracle Arena
May 10—Los Angeles, CA*—The Forum
May 13—San Diego, CA—Mattress Firm Amphitheatre
May 14—Phoenix, AZ—Ak-Chin Pavilion
May 15—Albuquerque, NM—Isleta Amphitheater
May 17—Dallas, TX—Starplex Pavilion
May 18—Austin, TX—Austin360 Amphitheater
May 19—Houston, TX—The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Presented by Huntsman
May 22—Tampa, FL—Midflorida Credit Union Amphitheatre
May 23—West Palm Beach, FL—Coral Sky Amphitheatre
May 25—Atlanta, GA—Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood
May 26—Raleigh, NC—Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek
May 27—Virginia Beach, VA—Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach
May 29—New York, NY*—Madison Square Garden
May 30—Wantagh, NY—Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater
Jun 01—Bristow, VA (DC)—Jiffy Lube Live
Jun 02—Hershey, PA—Hersheypark Stadium
Jun 03—Buffalo, NY—Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
Jun 05—Boston, MA—Xfinity Center
Jun 07—Hartford, CT—XFINITY Theatre
Jun 08—Philadelphia, PA—BB&T Pavilion
Jun 09—Saratoga Springs, NY—Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Jun 12—Toronto, ON*—Budweiser Stage
Jun 13—Detroit, MI*—DTE Energy Music Theatre
Jun 15—Chicago, IL—Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
Jun 16—Pittsburgh, PA—KeyBank Pavilion
*American Express presale