'Hot Girl Summer' in Memphis: Megan Thee Stallion & GloRilla tour on its way to FedExForum
Get ready, "Hotties." Hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion is about to play Memphis, and Bluff City rap queen GloRilla will be there with her.
Megan, the three-time Grammy Award-winning Texas rapper, will headline Downtown’s FedExForum as part of a stop on her Hot Girl Summer Tour on Thursday, May 30, along with hometown hero Big Glo.
Here’s what to know before the highly anticipated show comes to Memphis.
Megan Thee Stallion and GloRilla hit the road
In mid-March, Megan Thee Stallion teased the tour on her social media with a swimsuit photo, accompanied by the caption: “HOTTIESSS GET READY TO COME HAVE SOME FUN WITH ME AT THEE HOT GIRL SUMMER TOUR. Get your outfits ready nowww! We getting started this MAY. im so exciteddddd.”
A week later she confirmed the dates, including a Memphis stop. It was also announced that Memphis breakout star GloRilla would be part of the package.
The tour kicked off May 14 in Minneapolis and continues through the Midwest and East Coast before heading to the South. The full Hot Girl Summer run will take in 30 cities across the U.S. and Europe. Memphis is among several Southern cities — including Atlanta, Raleigh, North Carolina, and a couple Florida stops — included on the tour.
Megan Thee Stallion in Memphis
Megan Thee Stallion has made some memorable appearances in Memphis, going back to a 2019 performance at FedExForum as part of the Yo Gotti birthday bash.
Following the pandemic, Megan Thee Stallion returned to the city in 2022, when she headlined the Beale Street Music Festival at Liberty Park. Her Saturday night concert at the fest was delayed by several hours due to thunderstorms, and looked like it might not happen at all.
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But once she took the stage, well after midnight, her performance proved definitive, and its impact immediate, as the crowd erupted and remained in a heightened state as she served up a succession of sharp, highly provocative hits — from "Freak Nasty" to "Sex Talk," "Eat It" to "WAP.”
Her assured and energetic set made clever use of a dazzling production aesthetic — lots of glittering lights, fog machine blasts and choreography. Fans can expect more of the same, and on an even bigger level, at the upcoming FedExForum show.
GloRilla comes home to Memphis
As an added attraction, the Hot Girl Tour will include GloRilla — the 24-year-old Memphis rapper born Gloria Woods — who’s become the female leader of the Bluff City’s current hip-hop renaissance.
In early 2022, GloRilla’s viral hits “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” and “Blessed” launched her into national consciousness. Since then, she’s scored a Top 10 Billboard record with “Tomorrow 2,” a remix collaboration with hip-hop queen Cardi B.
In late ’22, GloRilla earned a surprise win at the BET Hip Hop Awards, taking home the Best Breakthrough Artist award and released her debut major label EP, “Anyways, Life Is Great,” via Yo Gotti’s CMG label.
GloRilla signed with CMG during a ceremony that summer at which time Gotti noted that the rapper was “a natural born star — she has a different sound and approach that’s needed in hip-hop right now.”
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The prediction seemed to come true quickly when, in late 2022, GloRilla was honored with a Grammy nomination for “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)." Though she didn’t take home the award at the ceremony, Glo has continued her run on the charts with the 2024 singles “Yeah, Glo!” and her collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion, “Wanna Be,” as well as a new EP she released in April, “Ehhthang Ehhthang.”
She also made news in March after palling around with President Joe Biden at the White House. GloRilla garnered less desirable headlines a month later with a DUI arrest in Georgia.
Hot Girl Summer Tour tickets
The Hot Girl Summer tour has proved to be one of the hottest, hardest and most expensive concert tickets to get this year.
The show sold big numbers early, and the most recent check-in on Ticketmaster reveals only a small number of seats remain.
A relative handful of good floor seats are available for $438. A few seats in the sections to the side of the stage can be had for between $311 and $403 — and that’s about it, at least if you don’t want to go the reseller route.
For those desperate to see the concert, verified resale tickets are available through Ticketmaster, starting at $85 for nosebleed seats in the upper sections. Resale options and prices go all the way up to $947 for tickets that give you access to the “Hottie Club” standing room only section right in front of the stage.
Megan Thee Stallion and GloRilla in Memphis: Hot Girl Summer Tour
Thursday, May 30, at FedExForum, 191 Beale St.
Tickets start at $311; go to Ticketmaster.com
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Megan Thee Stallion, GloRilla bring Hot Girl Summer Tour to Memphis
