The Atlanta Hawks’ game five win against the Boston Celtics in Boston Tuesday has forced Janet Jackson’s scheduled Thursday concert to move to Friday.
This means Jackson roadie crew will have to erect the stage and lighting Wednesday for the first State Farm Arena concert, dismantle it for the Hawks’ game six playoff game Thursday then rebuild it all again for Friday night’s concert.
This also means people who were expecting to attend Thursday night’s concert will either have to change their plans so they could attend Friday or get a refund at point of purchase.
And for Friday Jackson concertgoers, they will be mingling with the 50,000-plus Taylor Swift fans attending the first night of her two-night stay at neighboring Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“This is such an exciting time for the city with world-class events between Hawks Playoff basketball, Janet Jackson and Taylor Swift in downtown Atlanta,” said Trey Feazell, the State Farm Arena executive vice president for arena programming. “We are committed to ensuring all of our guests have a great night out at each of our events and are working with our partners to provide the most seamless experience possible.”
The NBA as of Tuesday night has not confirmed exactly what time the Hawks game will begin on Thursday though it’s likely to happen in the evening. Limited tickets remain at Hawks.com/playoffs and Ticketmaster.com.
As for Jackson’s concert, doors will open Friday at 6:30 and the concert is set to start at 7:45 p.m. with opener Ludacris. Given the traffic and parking challenges with that many people converging downtown on Friday at the same time, fans are strongly encouraged to use public transportation services such as MARTA. Limited tickets remain at Ticketmaster.com.
The Swift concert is sold out.
