Delaware State Fair concert tickets go on sale Nov. 19
The Delaware State Fair has announced its first five shows for the 2022 Delaware Lottery Summer Concert Series opening Thursday, July 21, at the M&T Bank Grandstand.
Sam Hunt will perform at 7:30 p.m., July 21. Hunt made his remarkable debut back in 2014 with “Montevallo,” a revealing self-portrait album using a pastiche of sounds native to his Georgia hometown: country, hip-hop and R&B. Singles like “Leave the Night On,” “Take Your Time,” “House Party,” and “Break Up in a Small Town,” all were platinum-certified in their own right; each also enjoyed true crossover success.
Nelly will take the stage at the M&T Bank Grandstand at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, July 23.The Missouri twang in Nelly’s voice made him stand out in a 2000s rap landscape dominated by the two coasts and, increasingly, the South. But the St. Louis MC has used that outlier status to his advantage throughout a career that blurs borders between hip-hop and other genres.
Nelly bounded into pop immediately with 2000’s “Country Grammar,” debuting his lilting, keyed-up melodic rhymes over boastful cuts like the title track, which converted a schoolyard clapping game into an instantly familiar, uniquely playful hook. He solidified his mainstream status on 2002’s “Nellyville” thanks to “Hot in Herre,” a funky, sweaty night-out essential blessed by the white-hot touch of The Neptunes.
A demolition derby presented by Taylor & Messick will bring an evening of car-smashin’, hootin’, hollerin’ and clappin’ fun at 6 p.m., Sunday, July 24.
TobyMac and Cade Thompson will perform at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 26. Presented by the Delaware State Fair and the Bridge, TobyMac brings “Everything,” and serves up a musical invitation to his fans to let go of the worry that can beat a soul down. He presents songs to move people toward each other and against the “Elements.”
ZZ Top is on deck for 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, July 27, at the M&T Bank Grandstand. The only member of ZZ Top without a beard is drummer Frank Beard, but that’s just the second-strangest thing about this Texan trio. The strangest thing about ZZ Top is that they can lay claim to being both the dirtiest no-nonsense, blues-rock band of the ‘70s and the glitziest camera-ready, electro-boogie group of the ‘80s. Upon forming in Houston in 1969, ZZ Top was among a wave of Southern rock bands outfitting bluesy, British Invasion-schooled riffs with countrified fingerpicking and desert-baked grooves.
For more information, go to delawarestatefair.com.
