After he wore the club's signature brand of star-adorned Nike sneakers to the Grammy Awards, Jason Isbell will return to First Avenue on Sept. 24 to celebrate the venue wearing his star permanently on its walls.
First Ave announced the "very special" underplay concert with Isbell and his band the 400 Unit on Wednesday morning just a little over two weeks out from the date. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. for $75 via axs.com, with a venue pre-sale option starting Thursday morning. Even with a two-ticket limit per buyer, they're bound to go fast.
A regular at First Ave since the early-2000s — when he was still a member of the Drive-by Truckers — Isbell last played the club in 2014 following the release of the redemptive album that pushed him to the next level, "Southeastern." Since then, his gigs have moved up to Northrop Auditorium, the Palace Theatre, Basilica Block Party and the Armory, the latter of which hosted him and about 7,000 fans last December.
Isbell actually responded to First Ave's tweet about the show Wednesday with a photo that showed him coincidentally or not still wearing his Converse shoes honoring the club. He and the band are squeezing in the short-notice Minneapolis gig between a two-night stand at the Salt Shed in Chicago and a gig at the historic Val Air Ballroom in Des Moines.
This time around, though, Isbell's wife Amanda Shires will not be playing with the 400 Unit. She's on her own fall tour promoting her new album, "Take It Like a Man," which will bring her to the Amsterdam Bar & Hall in St. Paul on Nov. 7.
Correction: A previous version of this post was off by one day on the date of show, which is Sept. 24.
