25 must-see concert tours in 2018 (and how to get tickets)

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Dates: May 2-June 29
Details: The paragons spent 2017 revisiting The Joshua Tree, their seminal 1987 LP, but for 2018 they are casting their eyes back on the present. They’ll launch the sequel to 2015’s Innocence + Experience tour as they finally dropped Songs of Experience this month. North American dates are scheduled to kick off in May, and if you were one of the fans lucky enough to score tickets for any of their last three outings, you know to be wowed. From carting a 29,000-square-foot stage called the Spaceship around the globe in 2009 to the trippy LED curtain that connected their 2015 stages, or the giant Joshua Tree that defined their presentation last year, Bono and the gang deny themselves nothing when it comes to staging. May can’t come soon enough. —M.V.

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Dates: May 8-Oct. 6
Details: “…Read for It”? Obviously. Next year the pop star will head back on tour for the first time since her 1989 jaunt ended in 2015, hitting stadiums on the 44-date trek. She recently added shows to the lineup, so additional dates are possible. One big question remains unanswered: How much of “Old Taylor” should fans expect this time around? If her Jingle Ball performances are any indication, hits like “Shake It Off” will be mixed in with reputation material. —Nick Maslow

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Dates: March 1-April 15
Details: If her smattering of festival performances this summer is any indication, Lorde’s forthcoming arena tour should be as ambitious and forward-thinking as her second album, Melodrama — EW’s favorite record of 2017. To mirror the album’s themes of social disillusionment, loneliness, and heartbreak, Lorde flitted around the interior of a clear shipping container on modulating risers, giving her a sense of eerie remove as she belted new gems (“Green Light,” “Homemade Dynamite”) and fan favorites (“Royals,” “Team”). And for this stint, the Kiwi sensation picked stellar openers: Hip-hop firebrands Run the Jewels and distortion-drenched indie-rocker Mitski will begin the festivities every night. —E.R.B

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Dates: March 1-Sept. 8
Details: A few things are guaranteed at a Pink concert: Pop bangers, emotional ballads, plenty of attitude, and aerial stunts. (Important question: Will she scale the side of a building this go-round?) In support of her seventh studio album, Beautiful Trauma, the tour of the same name will give Pink the first chance to experiment with her latest material. —N.M.

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Dates: Jan. 5-Feb. 28
Details: Lana Del Rey is having the time of her life — or at least it looks that way. She’s grinning on her Lust for Life album cover, putting out cheeky music videos, and trading in her sad-girl twirl for some classic girl-group choreography. Expect the singer to channel that same lighter mood when she hits the road with Jhené Aiko and Kali Uchis in the coming months. —N.F.

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Dates: May 3-Aug. 4
Details: Nearly three years after her return to touring, Shania Twain will command stages all across the U.S. again. This time, she’s not just revisiting her epic catalog — though you can be sure to hear hits like “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” and “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?” — she’ll also be sharing her 2017 album Now, which EW gave an A- review. —M.V.

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Dates: Feb. 8-June 16
Details: The pop-country harmonizers are bringing their terrific 2017 LP The Breaker along with Kacey Musgraves and breakout trio Midland on the road with them next year for what promises to be one of the most stellar nightly lineups on the move. The run begins in February and runs through Memorial Day, stopping at major festivals like Country2Country in the U.K. and the Bayou Country Superfest in New Orleans. —M.V.

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Dates: Feb. 26-March 31
Details: Demi Lovato was already “Confident,” and now she’s “Sorry Not Sorry,” suggesting fans should be ready for the ever-evolving pop star to push the envelope even further on this tour. Bonus: DJ Khaled is her opening act, and you just know he’s going to recruit stars for fun cameos. —N.M.

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Dates: March 31-July 22
Details: The superstar couple’s 2017 trek — their third Soul2Soul world tour and first in more than a decade — earned rave reviews and rabid audiences. They’re extending the run in 2018, bringing their 80-foot LED light wall, which broadcasts pictures of the family they’ve built over two decades of marriage to the audience. “I think people want a certain level of production when they come see our show,” McGraw told EW earlier this year. “And it’s fun for us to be out there with the lights and the bells and the whistles. We bring an element of theater to it, and that works well for us.” —M.V.

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Dates: Jan. 18-March 24
Details: The country music queen left Nashville shellshocked with her epic 2016 double album, and starting in January, she’ll take the set across America. Jon Pardi and Brent Cobb with join her on dates that currently stretch through the end of March. Lambert is a seasoned performer and commands her audience, and with breakout years from Pardi and Cobb recently behind them, this promises to be one of the strongest lineups of the year. —M.V

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Dates: Jan. 8-Feb. 10
Details: Known for her spirited shows, Shakira is set to hit the U.S. with her El Dorado world tour after delaying the European leg due to a vocal cord hemorrhage. The Colombian musician’s sixth jaunt is in support of her bilingual album after which the tour is named. —N.M.

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Dates: Jan. 5-Feb. 6
Details: Of all the acts of the ’00s rock revival, how many can still sell out arenas with ease? Enough time has passed since the Vegas band’s 2004 debut that cuts like “Mr. Brightside” and “Somebody Told Me” can be considered genre classics — and eternally enthusiastic frontman Brandon Flowers makes sure to trot out the hits. But the group’s upcoming tour isn’t just a nostalgia trip; expect plenty of tunes from their energetic fifth album Wonderful Wonderful, released earlier this year. —E.R.B.

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Dates: Jan. 20-Feb. 18
Details: The Scandinavian artists are longtime friends as well as collaborators — and they’ve had quite the winning streak in 2017. After teaming up for “Nights With You” and the  “9 (After Coachella),” they’re bringing their quirky hooks and earth-shaking beats to North America for the sweatiest dance party of winter. Make sure you drop your jackets off at coat check. (For more, read EW’s profile of MØ.) —N.F.

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Dates: Feb. 22-April 12
Details: With his fourth album, the just-released War & Leisure, the crooner affirmed that he’s one of the most vital voices in both R&B and the music world at large. But even if his subject matter is more serious than ever — the album tackles topics including Black Lives Matter and police brutality — Miguel’s committed to making his shows spaces of positivity. “I want my music to be a place for my audience to go and be able to feel good,” he told EW earlier this month. —E.R.B.

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Dates: March 11-July 14
Details: By the time the former One Direction singer is done with his ever-expanding debut world tour, he will have showcased his vocal chops and good looks at over 80 concerts. That number alone is a good indication that this is not a show to be missed.

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Dates: June 22-Aug. 12
Details: It’s a combination of artists that would’ve seemed unfathomable in the ’90s: Pixies, whose raw edginess inspired the likes of Nirvana, and Weezer, whose crunchy power-pop scanned as a direct rebuttal to grunge’s bleakness. Then again, Weezer’s recent collection of electro-pop jams, Pacific Daydream, also would’ve been inconceivable to fans of “Buddy Holly” and “Say It Ain’t So.” The two massively influential acts will light up amphitheaters and outdoor venues this summer. —E.R.B.

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Dates: Jan. 27-June 7
Details: If the Best New Artist nominee (and onetime EW music critic!) hasn’t won you over with his sparkling, genre-bending debut, American Teen, and half a dozen features this year, consider this: His tour is named after the pit bull mix he recently adopted, and $1 from every ticket sold will benefit local animal shelters. —N.F.

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Dates: May 30-Oct. 15
Details: “This Love”! “Sugar”! “Makes Me Wonder”! Don’t even try to list all the songs Adam Levine could belt on this tour — just trust he still remembers the lyrics from the band’s catalog of hits, which stretches back to 2002’s “Harder to Breathe.” No Matter what he sings, Levine’s voice will soar. —N.M.

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Dates: April 18-Sept. 12
Details: Dave Grohl’s as committed a performer as they come — when the Foo Fighters frontman broke his leg on the band’s 2015 tour, he had a throne built so he could keep performing — and the Foos might have the deepest arsenal of hits of any alt-rock group. Expect tons of radio staples, but also plenty of material from the band’s solid, Greg Kurstin-produced 2017 album Concrete & Gold. —E.R.B.

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Dates: Feb. 9-March 2
Details: The Led Zeppelin frontman continued his late-career resurgence this fall with the release of Carry Fire, a politically dynamic record that fused his traditional blues and folk with other, more eclectic genres. Along with his backing band, the Sensational Space Shifters, Plant has become one of the best touring legacy acts, bringing low-key intensity to new tunes and Zeppelin classics alike. —E.R.B.

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Dates: June 6-Aug. 5
Details: The two chart-toppers have stood among music’s most outspoken acts in 2017 — and next year, they’re hitting the road together on The Adventures of Kesha and Macklemore Tour. It’s too early to say for sure, but the extensive string of outdoor dates could be summer’s uplifting highlight. —E.R.B

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Dates: March 16-Aug. 25
Details: The country super-superstar took most of 2017 off from touring — hey, headlining stadiums is hard work! — but he’ll return next year. The Trip Around the Sun Tour kicks off April 21 and runs through August, when he’ll wrap, as usual, with an epic weekend commanding Gilette Stadium. Few artists will ever play as big of crowds as Chesney, and even after all these years, he’s not resting on any laurels. As he told EW in 2016, “It makes me happiest when somebody who may not have been invested in our music — their boyfriend or girlfriend [dragged] them to the show — leaves going, ‘What the hell just happened?'” —M.V.

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Dates: March 2-11
Details: To many Deadheads, Bob Weir and Phil Lesh — two of the iconic jam band’s founders — seem somewhat immortal. Though the “Core Four” set of original Grateful Dead members, comprised of Weir, Lesh, and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, performed together for the final time in 2015, they’ve all continued to tour in various iterations. (Lesh with his “friends” ensemble, the other three with John Mayer as Dead & Company.) This limited run of dates — just pairs of shows in New York, Chicago, and Boston — marks a first: In more than 50 years of making music together, Weir and Lesh have never toured as a duo. The new pairing should yield plenty of setlist surprises. —E.R.B.

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Dates: Jan. 20-June 14
Details: Price has rocketed to the top of the country world in the wake of her outstanding 2016 debut Midwest Farmer’s Daughter and its incisive follow-up All American Made, which was No. 5 on EW’s list of 2017’s best albums. But her live show may be even better. Backed by a spirited band that can flip from blaze to simmer on a dime, Price’s on-stage aplomb has netted her gigs from Saturday Night Live to opening for Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan on last summer’s traveling Outlaw Music Festival. —E.R.B.

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Dates: Feb. 10-April 5
Details: Auerbach hasn’t released a record with the Black Keys since 2014, but he’s continued releasing excellent, soul-infused blues, from his 2015 debut with the Arcs to his second solo album, which dropped earlier this year. Like Waiting on a Song, Auerbach will be flanked on the Easy Eye Sound Revue Tour by seasoned session musicians who’ve collaborated with Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, and more. He’ll also be joined by Robert Finley and Shannon & the Clams, standout acts on his burgeoning label Easy Eye Sound. —E.R.B.