Ticket Announcement: Kanye West Lights Up The Erwin Center

After Van Halen, Bruce Springsteen, Radiohead, and Jay-Z all elected to skip Austin on their spring US tours, it's not unreasonable to feel that our music-loving town seems to be off the radar of the arena pop and rock circuit. This despite a perfectly functional (if rather dated) basketball arena smack in the center in town. Thankfully, the Louis Vuitton Don Kanye West agrees with you, and has elected to show Austin some big-production love with a date here at The Frank Erwin Center in late April.

As pretty much anyone with a radio knows, West's Daft Punk-sampling "Stronger" was one of 2007's biggest singles, and he even performed it with them on the Grammy Awards. West now has 10 Grammy Awards on his mantel after only three album releases. His album Graduation was also the biggest selling rap album of last year, with first week sales of over 950,000 copies. Suffice to say that local hip-hop fans will be thrilled to catch this big show without having to drive to Houston or Dallas.

In addition to West, a veritable "who's who" of acts are on the support roster. Foremost among them is pop/R&B queen Rihanna, who perhaps had 2007's biggest single in "Umbrella." She'll be joined by alt.rapper Lupe Fiasco, who is attracting rave reviews for new album The Cool. Rounding out the bill are production duo The Neptunes, who are touring here under their N.E.R.D. moniker.

Tickets to the Glow In The Dark tour go on sale this Saturday, March 1st at 10am at all University of Texas ticket outlets (which includes many H-E-B stores). You may also purchase them online or by phoning 512-477-6060. Prices aren't cheap - tickets start at $47 - but it should be a pretty great night. Check out some videos of artists performing on the Glow In The Dark tour after the jump.