Champaign, IL – The Champaign Park District has announced that A.J. CROCE will perform CROCE PLAYS CROCE: 50TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR at the historic Virginia Theatre in downtown Champaign on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, at 7:30 P.M. Reserved seating tickets are $39.50/$59.50/$69.50/$79.50 plus an additional per-ticket processing fee of $4.00 to $8.00. Tickets go on sale Friday, November 10, 2023, at 10:00 A.M. at the Virginia Theatre Box Office, online at thevirginia.org, or charge by phone at 217-356-9063. Presented by Exceptional Artists.
A.J. Croce presents CROCE PLAYS CROCE: 50TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR is a very special night of music featuring a complete set of classics by his late father Jim Croce, some of his own tunes, and a few songs that influenced both him and his father. This special event features such timeless songs as “Operator”, “You Don’t Mess Around with Jim”, “Time in a Bottle” (a song written for A.J.)“, Rapid Roy (The Stock Car Boy)”, and “Lovers Cross”, among many others.
JIM CROCE was an American folk singer with a tragically short-lived professional recording and touring career and decades of posthumous fame as one of the greatest songwriters ever. With sales surpassing 50 million records, including three #1 songs and 10 Top 10 hits, Croce’s short career and long-lived legacy are remembered through songs like “Operator”, “Time in a Bottle”, and “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”.
A.J. CROCE’S 30-year touring and recording career has produced ten studio albums to date that have been released via both major and independent labels, charting 20 Top 20 singles and with radio coverage on Top 40, Americana, and Blues platforms. A virtuoso piano player, A.J. has performed at TED and has given a master class at the University of Barcelona. Mr. Croce has performed on The Late Show, The Tonight Show, The Today Show, CNN, MTV, and VH1 and has toured with Willie Nelson, Lenny Kravitz, Earth, Wind, and Fire, and B.B. King.
While A.J.’s last album, Just Like Medicine, paired him with producer and soul legend Dan Penn and an all-star cast of players and guests including Vince Gill and Steve Cropper, his new album was born of memories—of favorite artists and shows, but mostly, of late-night gatherings with groups of friends, many of them fellow musicians, with Croce at the piano taking requests.
For more, visit:
• www.ajcrocemusic.com
• www.facebook.com/ajcrocemusic
• www.youtube.com/channel/UCEj63qEagHlbmj5FDduxLEA
• www.instagram.com/ajcroce/
