Red Clay Strays to Open Regions Arena With Three Shows, March 25-27

When the Red Clay Strays walk onto the stage at Regions Arena next March, it will mark the first time any act has performed in the city’s new downtown venue — and the band taking that first shot at history will be one born and raised on Mobile Bay. What was announced as a single grand opening concert on Friday, March 26, 2027, has grown in three days into a three-night stand, with shows now set for Thursday, March 25, Friday, March 26, and Saturday, March 27.

The Oak View Group, which operates the arena for the city, announced Monday morning that Mobile’s own Red Clay Strays will headline the venue’s grand opening concert next spring, with Birmingham soul favorites St. Paul and the Broken Bones opening the show. The date had been teased with posters hung around downtown over the weekend, and it lands at a pivotal moment for a project that has slipped past its original opening target.

The band said they are looking forward to playing a hometown show again, having been gone too long.

Latest: Band launches donation contest for Mobile nonprofits (Sept. 25, 2026)

The Red Clay Strays are using the buzz around their homecoming to raise money for two Mobile-area charities. The band is running a contest that will send two winners to see the Strays perform in Nashville, with a prize package that includes VIP tickets, backstage passes, a signed setlist and travel fare.

Fans enter by making an online donation, and every dollar goes to the Child Advocacy Center and the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Alabama. The contest announcement did not specify which Nashville date the trip is tied to; the band’s current Grateful Tour schedule includes two nights at Bridgestone Arena on Oct. 22 and 23.

Giving back at home is a familiar move for the band. Earlier this year, the Strays donated more than $60,000 to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and Penelope House, the Mobile-area domestic violence shelter.

City: Arena progress made the early opening possible

The City of Mobile also framed the concerts as a reward for the construction team’s pace. In a statement, the city said it is celebrating the exceptional progress of the team building Regions Arena, which kept the project on schedule and under budget, allowing early activation ahead of the mid-spring contractual completion; that progress allows the Mobile band to perform on March 26, 2027, ahead of formal completion.

The band described the homecoming as a way to introduce the arena to Mobile while celebrating the success of “Grateful,” its third studio album. The Friday show starts at 7 p.m., and tickets are on sale now.

Red Clay Strays at Regions Arena at a glance

• Who: The Red Clay Strays, with special guest St. Paul & The Broken Bones
• When: Thursday, March 25; Friday, March 26; and Saturday, March 27, 2027
• Where: Regions Arena, 401 Civic Center Drive, Mobile
• Tickets: On sale now through Ticketmaster
• Charity contest: Donate online for a chance at a Nashville VIP trip; proceeds benefit the Child Advocacy Center and the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Alabama

Update: Third show added for Thursday, March 25 (Sept. 23, 2026)

Demand for the homecoming has now stretched the Strays’ Regions Arena run to three nights. On Wednesday, Sept. 23, one day after a second show was added for Saturday, March 27, the band and the venue announced a third performance for Thursday, March 25, 2027. The new date falls a night ahead of the originally announced Friday, March 26, concert, making it the first of the three shows on the calendar.

The band said they are absolutely blown away and incredibly grateful for the support.

St. Paul & The Broken Bones will be the special guest at all three shows.

Presales for the Thursday show opened at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, with several presales continuing through Thursday, Sept. 24. General public tickets for all three nights go on sale at 10 a.m. Central on Friday, Sept. 25, through Ticketmaster.

The three-night booking echoes the band’s summer 2025 run at the Wharf Amphitheater in Orange Beach, where the Strays also headlined three straight nights. This time, the group formed in Mobile gets to open a brand-new arena in its hometown.

Update: Second Regions Arena show added for Saturday, March 27 (Sept. 22, 2026)

The Red Clay Strays will now open Regions Arena with two nights instead of one. On Tuesday, Sept. 22, a day after the grand opening concert was announced, the band and the venue added a second show for Saturday, March 27, 2027, at 7 p.m., citing “overwhelming demand.” St. Paul & The Broken Bones will again appear as the special guest.

The second date was announced before the general public on-sale had even started for the first. Presales for both shows began Tuesday, Sept. 22, at 10 a.m., and tickets for both nights go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 25, through Ticketmaster.

Ticket prices on Ticketmaster

The venue did not publish a price list with the announcement, but Ticketmaster’s seating map on Tuesday afternoon gave a picture of the demand. The map appeared to show the Friday, March 26, show all but sold out, with the remaining seats listed from $312 to $465. Far more seats were available for the added Saturday show, with prices starting at $47 and running to more than $330.

Because presales were still underway at the time, availability and prices were changing through the week.

Mayor praises the arena’s builders

Mayor Spiro Cheriogotis also used the announcement to address the construction schedule, which slipped past its original opening target because of weather. He credited B.L. Harbert International, the city’s construction partner on the arena, and its subcontractors for keeping the project moving.

Cheriogotis said the team and subcontractors worked around the clock, fighting weather including two named storms, to deliver the arena in time; he is incredibly pleased with their work and determination to keep the project on time and on budget, calling it a Herculean effort.

The mayor said he expects Mobilians to come out in force to celebrate the homecoming and be among the first to see a show in the arena.

A familiar pattern for the band

Multiple-night runs close to home are not new for the Strays. In summer 2025, the band headlined three nights at the Wharf Amphitheater in Orange Beach, the largest venue in the region at the time. From that stage, band members recalled paying their dues in clubs and restaurants in and around The Wharf.

The band has also performed on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in addition to its “Tonight Show” appearances, and it played the 2025 CMA Awards and 2026 ACM Awards broadcasts.

Grateful Tour dates ahead of the homecoming

Before the Mobile shows, the Grateful Tour ’26 resumes Saturday, Sept. 26, with a top-billed set at Bourbon & Beyond in Louisville, Kentucky. Upcoming dates include:

• Oct. 7-8: Dickies Arena, Fort Worth, Texas
• Oct. 22-23: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
• Nov. 13: State Farm Arena, Atlanta
• Dec. 5: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas

Special guests on select tour dates include The Revivalists, Travis Tritt, Sierra Ferrell, Muscadine Bloodline, Shane Smith and The Saints, Wyatt Flores, Haley Reinhart and Brent Cobb.

More on “Grateful” and the band’s 2026

“Grateful,” the band’s third studio album, has 11 songs that mix soul and roots rock with themes of faith, gratitude and perseverance. It includes the single “People Hatin'” and the love song “If I Didn’t Know You,” whose music video features comedian Matt Rife and fitness influencer Mariah Morse and has passed 7 million views. The six-piece band again worked with producer Dave Cobb, recording at his home studio in Savannah and at a historic Nashville studio, and the members wrote many of the songs together during the sessions.

This year the band also hosted its first Red Clay Strays Fan Fest, a sold-out five-night event at Abayance Bay Marina in Rexford, Montana, and played California’s Stagecoach festival and CMA Fest in Nashville. “Moment of Truth,” the band’s 2022 crowdfunded debut, is certified Gold by the RIAA, and “Wondering Why” has been certified 3x Platinum.

A hometown band at the top of its game

For a city that has watched the band’s rise from the ground floor, the booking carries a symmetry that is hard to miss. The Red Clay Strays formed in Mobile in 2016, growing out of a local cover band whose members began writing original material together. Lead singer Brandon Coleman, bassist Andrew Bishop, guitarist Drew Nix, drummer John Hall and guitarist Zach Rishel built the group on the Gulf Coast bar circuit, and keyboardist Sevans Henderson joined in early 2024 after first crossing paths with the band on the road.

The band self-released its debut album, “Moment of Truth,” in 2022. The record’s single “Wondering Why” found a second life on TikTok the following year and eventually climbed into the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart and inside the top 20 of the Hot Country Songs chart, giving the band its first entry on the Billboard Hot 100. The momentum that followed included a deal with RCA Records and an Emerging Artist of the Year honor at the 2024 Americana Honors & Awards.

The group’s second album, “Made by These Moments,” arrived in July 2024, produced by nine-time Grammy winner Dave Cobb and recorded at his studio in Savannah, Georgia. It became the band’s first entry on the Billboard 200 and reached the top 10 of Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. The band made its television debut on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” that year and has since performed on the show twice, most recently playing “Don’t Wanna Know” from the new album ahead of a milestone night in New York.

That new milestone was a sold-out headlining debut at Madison Square Garden on Aug. 9 — the kind of venue booking that, not long ago, would have seemed implausible for a band that spent years playing sticky barroom floors across the Southeast. The Strays have also won Academy of Country Music honors in each of the last two years, first as New Vocal Duo or Group of the Year in 2025 and again this year as Group of the Year at the 61st ACM Awards.

The band’s ascent has been built on the road as much as on records. After “Made by These Moments,” the Strays took a sold-out tour across the United Kingdom, Australia and North America, played festival slots at Austin City Limits and Railbird, and recorded their first live album, “Live at the Ryman,” during a three-night headlining run at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium. In May 2024 they opened for The Rolling Stones at Gillette Stadium outside Boston, and they have since played two sold-out nights at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. The honors have followed: a Vocal Group of the Year nomination from the Country Music Association and a Billboard Music Award for Top Country Group, on top of the back-to-back ACM wins.

The Mobile shows come as the band tours behind its third studio album, “Grateful,” released June 5 on RCA. The current Grateful Tour has already taken the band through Boston’s TD Garden, that sold-out night at Madison Square Garden and Vancouver’s Rogers Arena, and it resumes Saturday with a festival slot at Bourbon & Beyond in Louisville. Headline dates ahead of the Mobile show include two-night stands in Fort Worth and Nashville, a November date at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena and a December stop at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The arena’s long road to opening night

The concert gives Regions Arena a marquee debut after a construction timeline that has moved. City officials had long pointed to a January 2027 opening, but acknowledged earlier this month that the building will not be ready then. The arena will sit out the Mardi Gras 2027 season following a year of weather setbacks — more than 100 rain days during construction — and another act already booked for the building, comedian Matt Mathews, saw his sold-out shows shifted from March to April 3.

The Red Clay Strays’ opening run, which now begins March 25, stands as the venue’s formal christening. Mayor Spiro Cheriogotis said the choice of headliner will help launch the venue into its new era.

Cheriogotis said he truly believes the show from the chart-topping hometown band will help launch the world-class venue into a new era of concerts, sporting events, touring acts, and family shows in Mobile; the future is bright for Regions Arena, starting March 26.

Regions Arena rises on the 22-acre site of the former Mobile Civic Center, the 1960s-era complex that was demolished to clear the way. The project carries a budget of approximately $300 million, including demolition of the old arena, theater and Expo Hall along with road and utility work on the property. The Mobile City Council approved the plan in February 2025 with a $237 million construction contract awarded to B.L. Harbert International and a 20-year, $250 million bonding arrangement to pay for the work. Ground was broken on the project in May 2025.

The city partnered with Oak View Group to operate and manage the venue under a multi-year agreement that also covers the Mobile Convention Center and the Saenger Theatre. Regions Bank purchased the arena’s naming rights in April 2026 under a 12-year deal, and the building is designed to host concerts, family shows, sporting events and ice hockey, with flexible seating that can accommodate events for roughly 10,000 spectators. The design came from architects Populous and Goodwyn Mills Cawood, and the arena’s ballrooms were laid out with Mardi Gras balls in mind, a nod to the Civic Center’s role in Carnival seasons past.

The financing picture told its own story about the stakes. Borrowing $250 million over 20 years will cost the city roughly $460 million in principal and interest, a figure the city judged affordable in part because older debt is being retired. The project also drew support from private partners, including a two-year, $15 million commitment from Oak View Group, and the overall campus plan reserves space for future phases, including a theater.

The Mobile Mysticks, an SPHL franchise announced earlier this month, will anchor the building as its hockey tenant beginning in the fall of 2027. Erik Hudson, the arena’s general manager, called the opening concert a historic night for the venue and the city.

Hudson said welcoming the Red Clay Strays as the first act at Regions Arena is an incredibly special way to celebrate the grand opening; it will be a historic night for the venue and Mobile, setting the stage for an exciting future of live entertainment.

St. Paul and the Broken Bones join the bill

The opener brings another Alabama act with a deep resume. St. Paul and the Broken Bones formed in Birmingham in 2012 around vocalist Paul Janeway and bassist Jesse Phillips, and grew into an eight-piece outfit with a horn section — Browan Lollar on guitar, Kevin Leon on drums, Al Gamble on keys, Allen Branstetter on trumpet, Amari Ansari on saxophone and Chad Fisher on trombone. The group broke through with its 2014 debut album “Half the City,” which reached the Billboard 200, and went on to play Lollapalooza, Coachella and Glastonbury while sharing stages with the likes of Elton John and The Rolling Stones.

Tickets and what comes next

Presale access begins Tuesday, Sept. 22, at 10 a.m. central for verified fans, with additional presales following through the week, including one for users of the band’s official app on Wednesday. The general public on-sale opens Friday, Sept. 25, at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster. Full tour and ticket information is available through the band’s website.

For Mobile, the announcement converts months of construction updates into a concrete date on the calendar. The arena that was pitched as a game-changer for downtown — a replacement for a 60-year-old building that major tours had outgrown — now has its first events, its first headliner and a hometown story to sell when the lights come up next March.

The city still has work to do before then, from finishing construction and outfitting the building to filling the rest of an opening calendar that will include concerts, the Mysticks and family shows. But the trajectory is set: the first notes played inside Regions Arena will belong to a band whose members learned their trade a short drive from where the stage now stands.

Ticket Giveaways Around Town

The band told fans through its app on Monday, Sept. 21, that it planned multiple ticket giveaways during the week. After a brief social media notice, five pairs of tickets were handed out around lunchtime Monday at Callaghan’s Irish Social Club in Mobile. The band said word of additional giveaways will come through its app and social media channels.

Regions Arena said general public sales begin at 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 25, via Ticketmaster. Ticket prices were not included in the initial announcement; prices listed once presales opened are detailed in the update below.

About the Opening Act

St. Paul & The Broken Bones, the soul-rock band from the Birmingham area, has placed more than a half-dozen singles on the national adult alternative airplay charts since 2014. Pairing the group with the Strays puts two of Alabama’s best-known musical exports on the same bill for the arena’s first night.

Full Presale Schedule and Venue Address

The originally announced grand opening show takes place Friday, March 26, 2027, at Regions Arena, 401 Civic Center Drive, Mobile, AL 36602. The Thursday, March 25, and Saturday, March 27, shows are at the same venue. Ticket sales for the Friday show rolled out in stages this week:

• Verified Diehards presale: Tuesday, Sept. 22, at 10 a.m.
• Verified Strays presale: Tuesday, Sept. 22, at noon
• Red Clay Strays app user presale: Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 10 a.m.
• All presales end Thursday, Sept. 24, at 10 p.m.
• Public on-sale: Friday, Sept. 25, at 10 a.m.

The Songs and Stages Behind the Homecoming

Beyond “Wondering Why,” the band is known for songs including “Wanna Be Loved” and “I’m Still Fine.” In addition to national late-night television appearances, the Red Clay Strays have performed on the 2025 CMA Awards and the 2026 ACM Awards broadcasts.

Mayor Cheriogotis said he is incredibly excited that the Red Clay Strays are coming home to officially open Regions Arena.

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• Matt Mathews' Sold-Out Regions Arena Shows Move From March to April 3 After Arena Delays