Midnight Train
Soul songstresses Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle join forces for Austin tour stop
Labelle and Knight will perform at the Bass Concert Hall on June 19.
It may be hard to nail down what gives someone “soul,” but two iconic performers are taking that je ne sais quoi on tour. Gladys Knight (“Midnight Train To Georgia”) and Patti LaBelle (“Lady Marmalade”) are joining forces for a summer tour that breezes through Bass Concert Hall on Monday, June 19.
Both women came up as frontwomen of groups — Knight with her family as Gladys Knight & the Pips, and LaBelle with girl group Labelle. Knight stayed more in the realm of soul and R&B, while LaBelle crossed over to a more rock sphere. Both have won numerous awards and are considered pioneers in the genre.
Knight and LaBelle are the same age, but after decades of friendship spanning the majority of their lives, the former calls the latter her “little sister.” The pair famously first appeared together in the 1986 HBO special Sisters in the Name of Love, and have been seen as a pair many times since, including when LaBelle bestowed Knight with her Kennedy Center honors in 2022 and even facing off in a Verzuz battle (a webcast stream in which the two artists chatted and took turns singing karaoke to their own tracks).
The duo will be hard to catch elsewhere, as both are on separate tours that only sometimes converge. LaBelle will perform at San Antonio’s Majestic Theater on June 17, joined by Knight the following day in Grand Prairie, Texas, at the Texas Trust CU Theatre. Knight’s independent tour schedule does not show any Texas dates.
Tickets for the Austin performance will go on sale on March 31 at 10 am at texasperformingarts.org. Presale tickets will be available to Texas Inner Circle members starting March 28 at 10 am.
