Keyshia Cole is celebrating a milestone this year, and she’s inviting all of her fans to the party. The singer is commemorating 20 years of her breakout smash debut album The Way It Is on her forthcoming The Way It Is 20th Anniversary Tour. And what’s a party without friends, a few of whom will join her on the transatlantic journey starting in July.
Cole’s tourmates will consist of a rotation of artists who’ll appear on select dates. Tink, Wale, Lil’ Kim, Fridayy and Jeremih will take turns as openers. There will also be a number of special guests who’ll pop up along the way including SWV, T-Pain and Jadakiss.
The Way It Is 20th Anniversary Tour produced by AEG Presents and Free Lunch begins on July 1st in Baltimore. Keyshia and company will then take the celebration nationwide to cities such as Philadelphia, Chicago, Toronto, Brooklyn, Greensboro, Tampa, New Orleans, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. After blazing a trail across North America, the party will pick up across the Atlantic for shows in Paris, Amsterdam and the UK, where the final show is scheduled to take place on September 26th in Birmingham. Altogether, Cole will take her anniversary shows to 25 domestic and international cities.
“I’m so grateful to be celebrating The Way It Is 20 years later with the fans who have been with me since day one,” Cole gleefully stated in a press release. “This album changed my life, and being able to take it on the road — from city to city, country to country — is truly a full circle moment, and blessing.”
Released on June 21, 2005, The Way It Is was the world’s introduction to Keyshia Cole. The Oakland native was dubbed the Princess Of Hip-Hop Soul, and the platinum album yielded four singles: “I Changed My Mind,” “(I Just Want It) To Be Over,” “I Should Have Cheated” and the ubiquitous “Love,” which has gone viral in recent years thanks to Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
Although the project was a hit, Keyshia’s first headlining tour wasn’t until 2009 in support of her third effort A Different Me. This is the tour that The Way It Is devotees have been waiting on. If that’s you or if you missed her commemorative performance at this year’s Dreamville Festival, then get your coins and credit cards ready to buy tickets to this historic run.
In addition to touring her debut collection for the first time, the album will receive its first-ever vinyl release this June. The 2LP package is available to pre-order in black vinyl and a limited edition rose garden pink translucent vinyl set. All vinyl pre-orders will also get early access to ticket presales for the tour.
The exclusive presale will go down starting Wednesday, April 23rd at 10 a.m. local time until Thursday, April 24th at 10 p.m. local time. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Friday, April 25th at 10 a.m. local time. Visit the commemorative The Way It Is 20 website when tickets go live and for more information.
- Advertisement -View The Way It Is 20th Anniversary Tour tour flyer below with Keyshia Cole running back her signature look from that era complete with flaming red hair and platinum blonde highlights. Guest artists for each tour date are designated on the complete schedule.
Keyshia Cole The Way It Is 20th Anniversary Tour dates:
July 1 – Baltimore, MD – CFG Bank Arena ◾️♦
July 2 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center ★♦
July 5 – Chicago, IL – United Center ★♦
July 6 – Cleveland, OH – Rocket Arena ★♦
July 9 – Toronto, ON – Coca-Cola Coliseum ★♦
July 10 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena ★♦
July 12 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center ★♦
July 13 – Newark, NJ – Prudential Center ★♦
July 16 – Greensboro, NC – First Horizon Coliseum ★♦
July 17 – Birmingham, AL – Legacy Arena at the BJCC ★♦
July 19 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena ★♦
July 20 – Hollywood, FL – Hard Rock Live ★♦
July 22 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena ★♦
July 23 – New Orleans, LA – Smoothie King Center ★♦
July 25 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center ★♦
July 26 – Fort Worth, TX – Dickies Arena ★♦
July 31 – Oakland, CA – Oakland Arena ♥$
August 1 – Las Vegas, NV – T-Mobile Arena ♥$
August 2 – Lincoln, CA – The Venue at Thunder Valley ♥✝
August 8 – Los Angeles, CA – Crypto.com Arena ♦
Europe/UK dates:
September 19 – Paris, FR – Adidas Arena ✝
September 21 – Amsterdam, NL – AFAS Live ✝
September 23 – London, UK – The O2 ✝
September 25 – Manchester, UK – AO Arena ✝
September 26 – Birmingham, UK – Utilita Arena Birmingham ✝
★ Tink
♦ Wale
✝ Lil’ Kim
♥ Fridayy
$ Jeremih
◾️ SWV
