Wild Nights at MN Zoo will feature Nur-D, Caitlyn Smith, more

The third annual Wild Nights at the Minnesota Zoo music series will have some changes this summer:

? Only two acts per night will be featured on two stages. Each will play two sets, one at 8 p.m., another at 9:15. One of the artists each night will be a tribute band.

? There will be a silent disco each night.

? Guest can check out the music from above via the Treetop Trail.

? There will be only five nights of entertainment compared to nine last year.

All the acts but one is Minnesota based but Caitlyn Smith, who lives in Nashville, grew up in Cannon Falls.

Like last year, the nights will be loosely themed musically. But instead of two bands on each of three stages, the music will be limited to two live acts per night. One will appear on the Weesner Family Amphitheater, the site of concerts by big names for more than two decades. The other artist will perform on a stage set up on the upper south plaza.

In 2020, the immensely popular Music in the Zoo series — featuring more than two dozen shows by the likes of Brandi Carlile, the B-52′s and Willie Nelson — was called off after a 27-year run because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Zoo officials chose not to bring it back and instead offered the initial Wild Nights series in 2022.

Here is the 2024 Wild Nights lineup:

June 14 — PopRocks and High and Mighty.

June 28 — Chastity Brown and Church of Cash.

July 12 — Caitlyn Smith and the World According to Garth

July 28 — Kiss the Tiger and Mallrats

Aug. 9 — Nur-D and Chase & Ovation

Tickets will go on sale March 28 at mnzoo.org/wildnights. Prices are $40 or $30 for zoo members or $175 for a season pass, $150 for members. Concertgoers must be 18 or older.