Jill Scott performs in concert at The Apollo Theater on August 9, 2016 in New York City.
Rob Kim/Getty Images
Jill Scott, Miguel and Babyface are among the headliners slated for Live Nation Urban’s fourth annual Summer Block Party Festival. Concurrently, Billboard also exclusively announces that for the first time the festival’s original Chicago site will now host a second night. And in another first, Philadelphia is being added to the festival market lineup. These moves follow the event’s successful expansion into Houston last year.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Scott will kick off the 2018 Summer Block Party Festival run in her hometown of Philadelphia on June 30. Fantasia will join Miguel as co-headliner in Houston (July 7). Keith Sweat leads the bill in Chicago (July 14) followed the next night (July 15) by co-headlners Babyface and Boyz II Men. The full talent lineup, which also includes Ludacris, Ne-Yo and more, appears below. Tickets go on sale on April 20 at 10 a.m. EST/CST.
Launched in Chicago during 2015, the Summer Block Party Festival has presented a diverse lineup of established and rising R&B stars from Erykah Badu and SWV to Ledisi and Jazmine Sullivan. Its goal, as Live Nation Urban president Shawn Gee noted then, was to establish a network of multi-act “festival-themed” shows for R&B artists and fans to engage with across the country.
“R&B music, along with hip-hop, has been indexing high on the streaming consumption charts for the past few years,” Gee tells Billboard. “However, there are very few live and radio platforms that specifically cater to the genre. A hip-hop, EDM or alt-rock act can do 15 -20 soft ticket festival plays across a summer touring season. Live Nation Urban’s goal is to continue to expand this platform, so we can offer both emerging and superstar R&B artists the ability to showcase themselves in front of a large live audience across multiple key markets.”
In addition to the Summer Block Party Festival, Live Nation Urban’s growing network of events includes the upcoming Roots Picnic and Broccoli City Festival as well as Rap Caviar Live, A Night of Symphonic Hip-Hop and Kirk Franklin’s Exodus Music & Arts Festival.
Here’s the 2018 Summer Block Party Festival lineup:
June 30
Jill Scott, Boyz 2 Men, DJ Jazzy Jeff & Special Guests
Philadelphia/The Mann Music Center
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0200548C35F7EB94
July 7
Miguel, Fantasia, Ne-Yo, Tank
Houston/Cynthia Woods Pavilion
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/3A00548E7E3A1A71
July 14
Keith Sweat, Ja Rule & Ashanti, Ne-Yo, Tank, Daley
Chicago/Huntington Bank Pavilion @ Northerly Island
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0400548F949A116B
July 15
Babyface, Ludacris, Boyz II Men, Brandy, Kevin Ross
Chicago/Huntington Bank Pavilion @ Northerly Island
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0400548F94A2116F?
