Wilmington's Azalea Festival announces 3 concert acts for 2022, one of them is 'insane'

Brantley Gilbert to headline the 75th annual Azalea Festival in Wilmington on April 7, 2022.
Brantley Gilbert to headline the 75th annual Azalea Festival in Wilmington on April 7, 2022.
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The North Carolina Azalea Festival announced Thursday a trio of Wilmington concerts for its 75th annual celebration in April of 2022. It's a little bit country, a little bit rock 'n' roll and a little bit "insane in the membrane."

Country singer Brantley Gilbert (“You Don’t Know Her Like I Do") is set to perform Thursday, April 7. Veteran rockers REO Speedwagon (“Take It On the Run") will play April 8. And hip-hop icons Cypress Hill ("Hits from the Bong") will play April 9.

Classic-rock stalwarts REO Speedwagon to play Wilmington's Azalea Festival on April 8, 2022.
Classic-rock stalwarts REO Speedwagon to play Wilmington's Azalea Festival on April 8, 2022.

All three concerts will be held at Live Oak Bank Pavilion at Riverfront Park, and tickets go on sale 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 4. Tickets to Brantley Gilbert range from $48-$88. REO Speedwagon tickets are $39-$79 and Cypress Hill is $42-$82.

Cypress Hill will  play Wilmington's Azalea Festival on April 9, 2022.
Cypress Hill will play Wilmington's Azalea Festival on April 9, 2022.

It'll be the second year the Azalea Festival has staged its concerts at Live Oak Bank Pavilion, the new downtown amphitheater managed for the city of Wilmington by the Live Nation entertainment company.

The festival's 2022 lineup is nothing if not diverse.

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Kicking off the festival will be country superstar Gilbert, who's got multiple platinum albums and seven No. 1 country hits. He's a Georgia native who started his career writing songs for the likes of Jason Aldean ("Dirt Road Anthem") before striking out on his own and finding major-league success.

Classic rock/pop icons REO Speedwagon shot to fame in the '70s and '80s on the strength of such radio-friendly hits as "Keep On Loving You," "Can't Fight This Feeling" and "Time for me To Fly," becoming what AllMusic.com calls "the undisputed arena rock kings of the early '80s." Led by singer and songwriter Kevin Cronin, who joined up not long after the band first formed in 1968, the band has been touring off and on for five decades.

As for Cypress Hill, their iconic 1993 debut album "Black Sunday" featured one of the catchiest hip-hop hits of all time, "Insane in the Brain." Longtime proponents of marijuana legalization (as their song "Hits from the Bong" would attest), AllMusic.com cites the group's "slow, rolling bass-and-drum loops ... a new, stoned funk" as being "extraordinary influential in '90s hip-hop."

The 2022 Azalea Festival is scheduled for April 6-10 of next year.

Contact John Staton at 910-343-2343 or John.Staton@StarNewsOnline.com.

Want to go?

What: N.C. Azalea Festival concerts for 2022

When: Brantley Gilbert plays April 7; REO Speedwagon plays April 8; Cypress Hill plays April 9

Where: Live Oak Bank Pavilion at Riverfront Park, 10 Cowan St., Wilmington

Info: Tickets range from $39-$88 and go on sale 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 4.

Details. 910-794-4650 or NCAzaleaFestival.org

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Wilmington's Azalea Festival announces 3 concert acts for 2022