Will Nelly Perform To Half-Empty Rialto?

JOLIET, IL — At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, world-famous rapper Nelly brings his A-game to downtown Joliet's Rialto Square Theatre, but Nelly is not the hottest celebrity visiting Joliet this week. Nelly's Thursday night show is sandwiched between Tuesday and Friday performances from Long Island Medium TV star Theresa Caputo.

Both of Caputo's Rialto shows were already sold out heading into this week. Nelly, on the other hand, isn't as fortunate.

And if Nelly doesn't have hundreds of walk-ups for ticket sales, he may wind up performing in front of a half-full theater. The Rialto seats 1,960 guests.

Keep in mind several Rialto concerts over the past couple years have had strong walk-up sales on the day of the show.

One example was the Gordon Lightfoot Rialto show in 2017.

Concertgoers who buy their tickets at the box office also avoid paying the online ticket fees.

A review of available seats on the Rialto Square Theatre website indicates there are hundreds of tickets still available for the Nelly concert for as low as $35. Hundreds of seats for $49 were also available.

According to biography.com, Nelly, whose real name is Cornell Haynes Jr., was born on Nov. 2, 1974, in Austin, Texas, and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. "His 2000 solo debut, Country Grammar, was a hit, spawning a smash single by the same name, and his unique approach to music has kept his sound fresh and the hits coming. Nelly's next four albums all made it to the top three on the Billboard chart, with the singles routinely making the top 20 and four of them going to No. 1. When the two-time Grammy Award winner isn't creating hit songs with collaborators or on his own, Nelly ventures into film and television work, and has appeared on CSI: NY and in the film The Longest Yard," the website notes.

According to Twitter, Nelly has 3.9 million followers.

Nelly's Facebook page has 10.2 million likes and 9.5 million Facebook Followers.

His music video for "Just A Dream" has 433.4 million — that's right — YouTube views.

But just how many of Nelly's loyal fans from Joliet and the Chicago area make a last-minute decision to drive to downtown Joliet's North Chicago Street for Nelly's 7:30 p.m. concert in less than 24 hours remains iffy, very iffy.