Now we know why. The “world’s greatest rock and roll band,” as described by Rolling Stone magazine, will bring its “No Filter” tour to Cardinal Stadium June 14. The band’s stop in Louisville is part of its 15-city North American tour and comes on the heels of record-breaking, sold-out performances in 2019.

The Rolling Stones originally formed in London in 1962 and include Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts. The band has released 30 studio albums, 23 live albums, 25 compilation albums and a whopping 120 singles. They have sold more than 240 million albums worldwide, making them the fourth bestselling group of all time.Ģż

, The Rolling Stones’ first Louisville performance was at the Fair Grounds in 1989. The band played again at Churchill Downs in 2006.Ģż

This also isn’t UofL’s first major concert. In the summer of 2018, Cardinal Stadium played host to Taylor Swift’s Reputation Tour, and also hosted U2 in 2017 and Kenny Chesney in 2015.Ģż

Michael Ortman, UofL stadiums manager, worked on both of them. , he said Louisville is an ideal location for artists because it’s centralized and close to other mid-major cities such as Indianapolis: “Iā€™m hoping we can continue to be on that radar,ā€ he said. ā€œIf weā€™re on that radar, opportunities exist for us to be known as ā€˜UofL gets it. Letā€™s go there to play a show.ā€™ā€Ā 

And so, here comes The Rolling Stones.ĢżTickets go on sale Friday, Feb. 14 at 10 a.m. on .Ģż

The four-day festival, now in its sixth year, includes concerts, master classes, youth ensemble showcases and an international competition with a first prize of $1,000.

Stephen Mattingly, UofL guitar instructor and festival director, said the event is open to all enthusiasts and playing levels and draws players from around the world.

ā€œThe festival offers stylistically varied concerts for all guitar fans and an array of workshops for guitarists of any age or level,ā€ heĀ said.

Concerts will be held in the Margaret Comstock Concert Hall, School of Music, on UofLā€™s Belknap Campus. The opening concert will feature the award-winning French guitarist Thibaut Garcia. Later concerts will present an array of virtuosic solo guitar music.

Highlights include:

• Sept. 15, 7 p.m. evening concert: Thibaut Garcia
• Sept. 16, 4 p.m. afternoon concert: Tantalus Quartet; 7 p.m. evening concert: Marek Nosal
• Sept. 17, 4 p.m. afternoon concert: Stephen Lochbaum; 7 p.m. evening concert: Kevin Manderville and Emma Rush
• Sept. 18, 1 p.m. competition final round; 7:30 p.m. University Orchestra concert: Mattingly performs ā€œConcierto de Aranjuezā€

Tickets are $50 for concert series, $20 for individual concerts and free for UofL students. The general registration fee for participants is $150 for adults or $75 for a youth weekend fee. Tickets and registration forms are available at the door or .