Rolling Stones add Gary Clark, Jr., for Petco show – U

The Rolling Stones have added Grammy Award-winning blues dynamo Gary Clark, Jr., as the opening act for the fabled band’s tour-opening Sunday concert at Petco Park.

Clark is scheduled to take the stage at 8 p.m. Sunday. Gates for the show, which kicks off the Stones’ 2015 Zip Code tour, are scheduled to open at 6 p.m. With Petco Park’s new metal detectors, which were added this year at each entrance to the stadium, an early arrival is advisable for anyone wishing to hear Clark’s opening set.

Judging by his galvanizing performances at Rock in Rio USA earlier this month in Las Vegas and at the 2013 Coachella festival in Indio, Clark is well worth the effort. He will also open Foo Fighters’ Sept. 24 concert here at Sleep Train Amphitheatre.

Gary Clark, Jr., Live at KCRW, 2014

As of this writing, tickets.com – the official ticket agency for the Stones’ concert here and for all San Diego Padres’ home games – lists the Sunday starting time for Sunday’s show as 7 p.m. This is incorrect, according to a concert representative, who indicated the website will be updated..

Clark is not the only opening act announced Tuesday for the Stones’ pending tour, which will visit 15 North American cities between Sunday and July 15. Country-rock star Keith Urban will open the band’s June 17 show at LP Field in Nashville, while blues giant Buddy Guy will open the band’s June 23 Milwaukee show. After that, Ed Sheeran will open the band’s June 27 concert at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City and the Avett Brothers will open the band’s July 1 concert at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, N.C. (Sheeran headlines his own show at San Diego’s Valley View Casino Center on June 23.)

Guy and the Stones first crossed paths back in the late 1960s, while Clark and Urban are no strangers to concerts by the band or each other (having performed together during thsi year’s Grammy Awards telecast). Urban sat in with the Stones during the opening date of the 2013 leg of the band’s 50 And Counting tour at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Clark, meanwhile, holds the distinction of having sat in with the band more than any other guest artist on that tour.

Clark, 31, first gained national attention when he performed at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Festival in Chicago. Clapton was so impressed, he later said of Clark, that: “I wrote him a letter, saying, ‘Thank you – you make me want to play again’.”

In February, Clark teamed with Sheeran and Beyoncé to perform the Stevie Wonder classic “Higher Ground” for the CBS TV special, “Stevie Wonder: Songs In The Key Of Life – An All-Star Grammy Salute.”