Free 10-day fan fest coming to Nicollet Mall
Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis will be the site of the massive free, 10-day fan festival leading up to Super Bowl LII on February 4. Events include a robust schedule of free concerts throughout the 10-day festival that opens Friday, January 26 at 4 pm.
Minnesota music legends Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis signed on to serve as Minnesota Music Ambassadors and to ensure that concerts will showcase the Minnesota Sound. “It’s an honor to be a part of welcoming the eyes and ears of the world to our home state of Minnesota,” the hitmaking duo said in a statement. “We are proud to be a born and raised Minnesotan and even more proud to be able to showcase and share the wonderful gift of our music and culture with the world.
“From Bob Dylan to Prince, Minnesota’s musical legacy is like no other. We’re happy to be a part of bringing our local folks and families together to share in this celebration of our iconic music community.”
Among the performers are The Revolution, Sheila E. and Morris Day and the Time, who will perform on Monday, January 29 at the Verizon Up Stage at Ice Mountain to be located on Nicollet Mall at 8th street. This evening, dubbed ‘Prince Night,’ will conclude with a community sing-along of Prince’s legendary song Purple Rain.
It was announced Friday, Jan. 19 that Brother Ali, Skylar Grey, and X Ambassadors have joined the star-studded list of performers. More details about the lineup and the full schedule of events appear below:
VerizonUp Stage Performance Schedule
Friday, January 26: Bold North Kickoff
4:00 p.m. DJ Mad Mardigan
5:00 p.m. Kick-off Celebration with Idina Menzel, VocalEssence and Esera Tuaolo
6:15 p.m. Cynthia Johnson performing “Funkytown”
6:45 p.m. Hitchville
7:30 p.m. Trailer Trash
8:30 p.m. Lost Highway
9:15 p.m. Chris Hawkey Band
Saturday, January 27
2:00 p.m. DJ Mad Madigan
4:00 p.m. Beats and Rhymes
5:00 p.m. Lexii Alijai
6:00 p.m. iLLism
7:00 p.m. deM atlaS
8:00 p.m. Brother Ali
9:00 p.m. Prof
Sunday, January 28
2:00 p.m. DJ Kimuel Hailey
4:15 p.m. Bailey Bryan
5:00 p.m. Sara Renner
5:45 p.m. The Steeles
6:15 p.m. Twin Cities Community Gospel Choir
7:30 p.m. Sounds of Blackness with Big Jim Wright & Ann Nesby
Monday, January 29: Salute to Prince
8:00 p.m. Sheila E.
8:30 p.m. Morris Day
9:15 p.m. The Revolution
Tuesday, January 30
4:00 p.m. DJ Matty Matt
7:15 p.m. Socaholix
7:45 p.m. International Reggae All Stars
8:30 p.m. Ipso Facto
Wednesday, January 31
4:00 p.m. DJ Brother Jules
6:00 p.m. Stokley Williams
6:45 p.m. Dessa
7:30 p.m. Mint Condition and Stokley Williams
8:30 p.m. New Power Generation with Andre Cymone
Thursday, February 1
4:00 p.m. DJ Kimuel Hailey
4:00 p.m. Les Stroud
4:45 p.m. Jakubi
5:45 p.m. fDeluxe (aka The Family)
6:45 p.m. New Power Soul
7:45 p.m. Andre Cymone
8:45 p.m. Rae Sremmurd
Friday, February 2
2:00 p.m. DJ Howard Kessler
4:00 p.m. Zuluzuluu
4:45 p.m. Cobi
5:45 p.m. The Jets
6:45 p.m. KING
9:00 p.m. Skylar Grey
Saturday, February 3: Skol Day
11:30 a.m DJ Dudley D
4:00 p.m. Kris Wu
4:45 p.m. Bob Mould
5:45 p.m. The Suburbs
6:45 p.m. The Jayhawks
7:45 p.m. Soul Asylum
9:00 p.m. X Ambassadors
Sunday, February 4: Game Day
12:00 p.m. DJ Dudley D
1:00 p.m. 13 Crowns
There will be a designated concert viewing area in front of the Verizon Up Stage at Ice Mountain to ensure the safety of guests and the continued flow of pedestrian traffic along Nicollet Mall. Entry to the viewing area will open each day at the same time as Super Bowl LIVE presented by Verizon. Fans will not be allowed to wait in line prior to that time for entry. There are two entries to the concert viewing area: on Nicollet Mall between 8th and 9th, and on 8th Street between Nicollet and Marquette. All who enter the concert viewing area are subject to additional security screening, including hand-held metal detectors and bag checks. A list of prohibited items is available on our website. Audio and screens will be available along Nicollet Mall for additional viewing.
Not all of the fun will be reserved for the outdoors. There will also be additional exciting events across the city, including Super Bowl Experience Driven by Genesis, an NFL’s interactive theme park which will be located at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Also, MNSBHC planners announced that the Dayton’s Project will be activated during the 10-day Super Bowl festival, transforming into a fan engagement space for visitors. Visit https://www.mnsuperbowl.com/events for more information.
—Information provided by Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee
This story was updated January 19, 2018. A previous version of this story was published November 2, 2017.
Mayor Hodges states that we have a 24 hr downtown full of entertainment…..she is wrong. Mpls downtown is racist and culturally stifling. There are no live music venues that cater to black folks or the athletes and black professionals and others of color that live here. Mpls does not want to see white women and black men together, so they only cater to country and western crowds, which are dominated by white people. Jimmy and Terry will just be figure heads, while most of the acts that are playing are white, eclectic,rock, blue grass etc.
Watch and see
Time will tell as to what the entertainment will be, what Jimmy and Terry produce for us. I will remain optimistic and chose to believe that Mn will showcase all talent here, it is vast we have some awesome talent here both white and black. believe it or not we have a lot of diverse cultures here, i believe we will pleasantly surprised with what we see, and hear. And I cant wait to see what they do.