Khalid Announces Summer Arena Tour To Hit Madison Square Garden, More

Taylor Hill / Getty Images – Khalid,
Khalid announced a summer arena tour on Monday.

Khalid announced a sweeping North American tour on Monday. The 32-date summer trek will take the rapidly rising R&B talent to arenas across the U.S. and Canada, and represents his largest headlining tour yet.

Sharing its name with Khalid’s second album, due this Friday, the “Khalid Free Spirit World Tour” kicks off June 20 at Phoenix’s Gila River Arena and concludes August 17 at Miami’s AmericanAirlines Arena.

Along the way, Khalid will perform at some of America’s most prominent arenas, including New York’s Madison Square Garden (July 31), Boston’s TD Garden (Aug. 10) and Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center (Aug. 11). The tour also includes three headlining gigs in his native Texas, at Dallas’ American Airlines Center (July 14), San Antonio’s AT&T Center (July 16) and Houston’s Toyota Center (July 18).

Clairo will provide support for all dates of the Live Nation-produced tour, excluding the July 21 show at Kansas City’s Sprint Center.

The tour follows spring festival dates Khalid has booked at Coachella and Hangout.

Since releasing his debut album, American Teen, just over two years ago, Khalid has enjoyed a meteoric rise – which has been reflected in his live profile. The singer grossed $8.9 million in 2018, securing him a spot on Pollstar‘s Year End Top 200 North American Tours chart. He proved a major draw, selling out shows in nearly every market he played; noteworthy stops on Khalid’s spring 2018 tour included two nights at San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, where he sold 17,482 tickets and grossed $780,574, and a gig at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre, where he sold 9,350 tickets and grossed $496,706.

Khalid and manager Courtney Stewart announced plans for an arena tour at a Pollstar Live! keynote in February. Stewart explained that Khalid’s touring rise has come from a deliberate, measured live strategy.

“When you’re building an artist, don’t skip steps,” he said. “Especially in Khalid’s case, things grew really fast. We had the opportunity to skip steps. But we took our time on the touring side. … I think it’s important, as things are growing, don’t get too excited and actually build your fans organically.” Stewart added that Khalid’s “unreal” track record of never missing a show bolsters his credibility.

After multiple presales, tickets for Khalid’s upcoming arena tour go on sale to the general public on April 5 at 12 p.m. local time. Ticket purchases include one CD copy of Free Spirit.

Find a complete list of dates below and, for more about Khalid’s rapid rise, revisit Pollstar‘s coverage of his Pollstar Live! keynote.

June 20 – Phoenix, AZ – Gila River Arena