Black Jacket Symphony brings 'Thriller' to the Fargo Theatre on Feb. 26

The album-recreation troupe will play Michael Jackson's record note for note, then a set of hits, in the 870-seat Fargo Theatre on a late-February Friday.

By late February, Fargo has had about all the winter it can take. A Friday night spent with one of the best-selling albums of all time, played start to finish downtown, is a good way to forget about it for a while.

The Black Jacket Symphony plays the Fargo Theatre on Friday, Feb. 26, 2027, at 7:30 p.m. The date was announced Oct. 23, and tickets are on Ticketmaster. The Fargo Theatre holds 870.

This winter's show is Michael Jackson's *Thriller*. The Black Jacket Symphony's format is simple and demanding. As the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's listing for the tour puts it, the group recreates the album live "in its entirety—note-for-note, sound-for-sound," then comes back for a second set of Jackson's greatest hits. Singing lead on the *Thriller* tour is Bogdan Ioan, per the same listing.

The idea is the record itself: every horn stab, synth line and backing vocal on the album, played live by a band in the room. That's a big job with an album as densely produced as *Thriller*, and it's the reason a crowd will sit for the deep cuts as well as the singles. The second set is where the dancing usually starts.

The Fargo date is part of a long winter run. The tour plays Columbia County Performing Arts Center in Evans, Ga., on Jan. 15 and Birmingham's BJCC Concert Hall on Jan. 23. It reaches Atlanta Symphony Hall on Feb. 7 and the ETSU Martin Center in Johnson City, Tenn., on Feb. 11. Two nights before Fargo, it stops at Sioux City's Orpheum Theatre, and on March 4 it moves on to the Helena Civic Center in Montana. Fargo is the band's swing through the northern Plains, and the closest stop for anyone between the Twin Cities and Bismarck.

Why this room: 870 seats in an old downtown theater is just the right size for this kind of show. It's big enough for a full production, and small enough that you can hear the details of an album arranged that carefully. For an album meant to be heard all the way through, a seated room where people actually listen matters.

The idea is the record itself.

When to get tickets: four months out is the right time. A Friday in a room under 900 seats, with a show that draws everyone from Jackson fans who were there in 1982 to their kids, can sell well ahead. Buy through the Ticketmaster link, and note that some stops on this tour list no refunds or exchanges. Check the terms before you buy.

Then make a night of it. Get dinner on Broadway, wear something you can dance in for the second set and be in your seat by 7:30.

Sources: Black Jacket Symphony at Fargo Theatre — JamBase (jambase.com); The Black Jacket Symphony — Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (aso.org); Symphony Hall Announces Two New Performances For Winter 2027 — ASO (aso.org); Black Jacket Symphony: Thriller — ETSU Martin Center (calendar.etsu.edu); The Black Jacket Symphony Presents: Michael Jackson's Thriller — Helena Civic Center (helenamt.gov); Black Jacket Symphony Birmingham tickets on sale — TicketNews (ticketnews.com); Thriller (album) - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); Fargo Theatre - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)