J. Cole and Young Thug announce joint North American tour. Here are all the dates.

San Diego Union-Tribune

May 8, 2018 9 AM PT

Chart-topping hip-hop maverick J. Cole has announced his 2018 North American tour with fellow rapper Young Thug. The tour is in support of Cole’s latest release, “KOD.”

It is the fifth consecutive album by Cole — whose full name is Jermaine Lamarr Cole — to enter the national Billboard charts at No. 1. Last week, he became the first act in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 single charts to debut three songs in the Top 10 simultaneously. That topped Ed Sheeran and Drake, who last year each debuted two songs in the Top 10 in the same weeks.

Cole’s tour opens Aug. 9 in Miami and concludes Oct. 10 in Boston. It includes an Aug. 22 show at Viejas Arena at Aztec Bowl at San Diego State University. All tour dates appear below.

Tickets for thee tour go on sale to the general public beginning at 10 a.m. local time Saturday at dreamville.com and LiveNation.com, as well as by phone at (800) 745-3000..

A pre-sale for American Express card members begins today, Tuesday, at 10 a.m. and concludes Friday at 10 p.m.

A 12-hour Spotify pre-sale begins Friday at 10 a.m. local time. “KOD” bundle sales, which provide fans early access to ticket pre-sales, begin Friday at 7 a.m. PST through https://smarturl.it/KODStore.

J. Cole KOD tour dates:

Aug. 9 - Miami, FL - AmericanAirlines Arena

Aug. 11 - Tampa, FL - Amelia Arena

Aug. 12 - Atlanta, GA - Infinite Energy Center*

Aug. 14 - New Orleans, LA - Smoothie King Center

Aug. 15 - Houston, TX - Toyota Center

Aug. 17 - San Antonio, TX - AT&T Center

Aug. 18 - Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center

Aug. 21 - Phoenix, AZ - Talking Stick Resort Arena*

Aug. 22 - San Diego, CA - Viejas Arena at Aztec Bowl SDSU

Aug. 24 - Los Angeles, CA - Staples Center

Aug. 29 - Oakland, CA - Oracle Arena

Sept. 2 - Boise, ID - Taco Bell Arena

Sept. 4 - Sacramento, CA - Golden 1 Center

Sept. 5 - Anaheim, CA - Honda Center

Sept. 7 - Las Vegas, NV - T-Mobile Arena

Sept. 8 - Salt Lake City, UT - Vivint Smart Home Arena

Sept. 10 - Denver, CO - Pepsi Center

Sept.t 12 - Little Rock, AR - Verizon Arena*

Sept. 13 - Birmingham, AL – Legacy Arena at The BJCC

Sept. 17 - Nashville, TN - Bridgestone Arena

Sept. 18 - Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center

Sept. 19 - Minneapolis, MN - Target Center

Sept. 21 - Detroit, MI - Little Caesar’s Arena

Sept. 22 - Chicago, IL - Allstate Arena

Sept. 23 - Columbus, OH – Schottenstein Center

Sept. 25 - Buffalo, NY - KeyBank Center

Sept. 26 - Hartford, CT - XL Center

Sept. 28 - University Park, PA - Bryce Jordan Center

Oct. 1 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden*

Oct. 4 - Toronto - Air Canada Centre

Oct. 5 - Montreal - Bell Centre

Oct. 6 - Philadelphia, PA - Wells Fargo Center

Oct. 8 - Washington, DC - Capital One Arena*

Oct. 10 - Boston, MA - TD Garden

*Young Thug not performing

george.varga@sduniontribune.com

Twitter @georgevarga

Music

George Varga

Veteran San Diego Union-Tribune pop music critic George Varga began drumming in rock bands at 12 and writing professionally about music at 15. A Louisiana native who grew up mostly in Germany, Varga has earned three Pulitzer Prize nominations for his writing at the U-T and is a voting member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to providing live coverage of the Grammy Awards and festivals from Coachella and KAABOO to the 1994 edition of Woodstock, he has interviewed everyone from Ray Charles, Miles Davis and Britney Spears to Willie Nelson, Kanye West and Bruno Mars. A double first-prize winner at the 2018 Society of Professional Journalists awards, Varga is also a contributing writer for Jazz Times magazine and has written for Billboard, Spin and other publications. After attending San Diego City College and San Diego State University, he created and taught the 2002 UC San Diego Extension course, “Jazz in a Post-Ken-Burns World.” Varga lives with his wife in North Park.