Much like when the Super Bowl was in town, The NCAA March Madness sportsball games will bring some of the best music the music industry has to offer to Minneapolis- or more specifically, The Armory.
The AT&T Block Party kicks things off on Friday, April 5th with The Chainsmokers. Grammy Award-winning and Billboard Chart topping artist/producer duo, The Chainsmokers, have evolved into a dominating musical force with a diverse repertoire of songs that have led them to become one of music’s hottest recording acts. Comprised of Alex Pall and Drew Taggart, their signature sound deftly reaches across indie, progressive, and pop realms. Their evolution as producers and as songwriters has seen them develop some of the biggest breakthrough songs over the course of the last few years, and their original tracks and remixes have topped the charts throughout the world.
Coca-Cola will sponsor night two of the festivities with a can’t miss show from the one and only Jonas Brothers. The preeminent male group of this century, Jonas Brothers opened the floodgates for a new era of titans in pop music. They earned three consecutive number one albums and sold out shows throughout three continents. Selling over 17 million-plus albums with over 1 billion streams worldwide, they’ve achieved dozens of platinum and gold certifications. Jonas Brothers notably received a GRAMMY® Award nomination in the category of “Best New Artist,” garnered “Breakthrough Artist” at the American Music Awards, won Billboard’s “Eventful Fans’” Choice Award for “Best Concert Tour of the Year,” and took home a Mexican Grammy, showcasing their international influence. The tremendous success of the band provided a launch pad for the successful and storied solo careers of Nick Jonas, Joe Jonas, and Kevin Jonas, who have kept loyal fans yearning for a reunion, until now.
The weekend of excitement will be capped off by the Capital One JamFest featuring the beautiful Katy Perry and the amazing Zedd. Katy made her Capitol Records debut with 2008’s One of the Boys after signing to the label in 2007. She cemented her status as a global superstar with the follow-up album, Teenage Dream (2010), which made her the only female artist (tied with Michael Jackson) to have five No. 1 singles from one album on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (“California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “Firework,” “E.T.” and “Last Friday Night”). PRISM, her 2013 album, debuted at No. 1 on iTunes in 100 countries and has sold more than 12.5 million adjusted albums worldwide. With the singles “Roar,” “Firework,” and “Dark Horse” each surpassing the 10 million threshold including song sales and streams, Katy became the first artist to earn three RIAA Digital Single Diamond Awards.
Multi-platinum, GRAMMY award-winning artist/DJ/producer Zedd made his debut with Clarity after signing with Interscope in 2012 and has been breaking down barriers surrounding music genres ever since. Last fall, Zedd teamed up with Shawn Mendes for a remix of “Lost In Japan” from Shawn’s latest album. The remix is the follow up to Zedd’s 2018 singles, “Happy Now” with Elley Duhé and his monster hit, “The Middle” with Maren Morris and Grey. Zedd released “The Middle” in January 2018, and earned Zedd his second #1 at Top 40 Radio. “The Middle” held the top spot at Top 40 Radio for seven weeks, was #1 at Hot AC Radio for five weeks, and spent 40 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. Digitally, the song has amassed over 1 billion streams. In December, Zedd received three GRAMMY nominations for “The Middle,” including nominations for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Pop Duo or Group Performance. The three nominations make Zedd a five time GRAMMY nominee.
Tickets to all of these events are free but on a first come, first served basis and, to nobody’s surprise, they are all gone. March Madness weekend is going to be insane here in Minneapolis. I truly hope you get to go out and experience some of it!
