Ricardo Arjona is ready for an American voyage…
The 50-year-old Guatemalan singer-songwriter has announced plans to bring his Viaje (Voyage) tour to the United States, with the kick off concert set for the American Airlines Arena in Miami on February 27.
The announcement comes after Arjona sold more than 500,000 tickets in South America alone as part of his popular tour.
Arjona’s tour, as of now, will hit 13 markets, including New York, El Paso and Los Angeles. Tickets will go on sale Friday through Ticketmaster.
Arjona’s tour is shaping up to be one of the biggest U.S. tours for a Latin act in 2015. His last U.S. arena stint — which started in February 2012 and ended a year later, following his Latin American tour — featured 14 dates in 12 venues and played two nights at both the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles and Puerto Rico’s Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot. All told, Arjona grossed $13.5 million in ticket sales, according to BoxScore, and came in as the fourth highest-grossing Latin tour of 2013.
This time around, Puerto Rico dates haven’t been announced yet, and the tour is already bigger, with stops in cities Arjona didn’t play the last time around, including Hidalgo and El Paso, Texas.
Prior to his U.S. dates, Arjona will also tour Mexico, including five shows at the 10,000-seat Auditorio Nacional.
The tour is named after his Viaje album, which debuted at No. 1 in May and is the ninth top-selling Latin album this year to date, according to Soundscan. It’s also nominated for a Latin Grammy in the Best Singer/Songwriter album category, while the single “Lo Poco Que Tengo” is currently at No. 18 on Billboard‘s Latin Airplay chart.
Arjona, who branched out as an independent artist four years ago — albeit distributed by Sony Music — has been aggressively investing in his tour and promotion, and his live show has grown increasingly complex and lucrative.
The Viaje show features a train station set that’s more 60 feet tall, with over 200 robotic lights and more than 40 tons of equipment onstage. While the scale is seen with major mainstream acts, it certainly isn’t common for a Latin act on the road. But it’s been giving steady dividends. In Buenos Aires alone, Arjona became the first artist to play seven GEBA Stadium shows, which were seen by more than 200,000 people.
Here are Arjona’s 2015 U.S. tour dates so far:
Feb. 27 – Miami, American Airlines Arena
March 1 – Fairfax, Patriot Center
March 6 – Chicago, Allstate Arena
March 8 – New York, Madison Square Garden
March 13 – El Paso, El Paso Coliseo
March 14 – Phoenix, ComericaTheatre
March 15 – Las Vegas, Axis Theater
March 18 – Hidalgo, State Farm Arena
March 20 – Dallas, Verizon Theatre
March 22 – Houston, Toyota Center
March 26 – San Jose, SAP Center
March 27 & 28 – Los Angeles, Nokia Theatre
March 29 – San Diego, Viejas Arena
