Billy Joel, Stevie Nicks to perform at M&T Bank Stadium as Ravens seek to bring more big concert acts to Baltimore
Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks will perform at M&T Bank Stadium, part of a push to bring more big concert acts to the downtown Baltimore venue that is home to the Ravens.
The rock icons will play Saturday, Oct. 7 at the stadium. Tickets go on sale Jan. 20 at 10 a.m.
“The concert will go a long way” in highlighting Baltimore City, said Mayor Brandon Scott, adding that officials are looking forward to bringing more world-class events to the city.
Past performers at the stadium include Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Billy Joel, Metallica, One Direction, Justin Timberlake and U2.
Joel, 73, whose hits include “Uptown Girl,” “Just The Way You Are” and “The Longest Time,” and Nicks, 74, are launching a joint tour this year. Nicks, a member of Fleetwood Mac, is also a popular solo artist.
The tour is being promoted with the slogan, “Two Icons, One Night.”
At this point, the first announced date on their joint tour is March 10 in Los Angeles. The other announced stops, according to Joel’s website, are Dallas; Nashville, Tennessee; Philadelphia; Kansas City; Boston, and Minneapolis.
In 2019, Joel became the first performer to play a concert at neighboring Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Thursday’s announcement at the 25-year-old Ravens stadium follows state Board of Public Works approval last week of the NFL team’s new, 15-year lease with the Maryland Stadium Authority. The lease begins a new period of stadium upgrades and incentivizes the club to bring major events to the 71,000-seat stadium.
Under the new agreement, the Ravens will retain all revenue from non-NFL events, such as concerts, college football games and exhibition soccer matches, and the state collects a 10% admissions and amusement tax. The tax is applied to the base price of each event ticket, with 80% going to the stadium authority and the rest to the city.
That’s a change from the previous lease, under which the team didn’t maintain rights to all the revenues and the authority gave a negotiated portion — varying from event to event — of the tax to the club to subsidize losses in case the event lost money.
No additional concert act has been finalized. “We’re always looking to bring these kinds of events to Baltimore,” said Rich Tamayo, senior vice president of stadium operations. “Bringing Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks, I think it’s something that we want for the city, and being one of 10 venues to do it, we feel honored.”
Oct. 7 will be during the 2023 Ravens season. The club’s schedule has not yet been announced, though the team knows who its opponents will be.
The pandemic complicated efforts to schedule shows. Country star Garth Brooks was supposed to perform in the fall of 2021 but canceled due to a surge in COVID-19 cases.
As the pandemic eased, former Beatle Paul McCartney played his first Baltimore show since 1964 last June at Camden Yards. Also last year, the baseball stadium hosted Dru Hill, Smash Mouth, Flo Rida and The Struts in a postgame summer concert series.
Another major act coming this year to the city is Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which will play an overhauled venue now known as the Baltimore Arena on April 7. The Boss also played at the site, previously known as the Baltimore Civic Center and Royal Farms Arena, in 1973, 2009 and 2016. Springsteen will be the first major performance after the arena completes a $200 million face-lift.
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