Kid Rock, Detroit Symphony Team Up For Benefit

The May 12 show at Detroit’s Fox Theatre aims to raise $1 million, the DSO said. Kid Rock plans to perform with the orchestra and his own band. Detroit Symphony Music Director Leonard Slatkin is expected to conduct the orchestra.

“As a musician, and of course a Detroiter, I am proud to be supporting this longstanding cultural institution,” Kid Rock said in a statement. He said the performance, which will include his Twisted Brown Trucker Band, will be “well worth the price of admission.”

Tickets go in sale Saturday. They start at $100, with top price levels including an afterparty.

The DSO said the idea was originally conceived by Kid Rock and Quicken Loans founder and chairman Dan Gilbert, who owns the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. The orchestra, Slatkin and Kid Rock are volunteering their services for concert.

Plans for the show first were reported by The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press. The fundraiser comes as the DSO works to improve its financial footing. A six-month musicians’ strike that ended last year worsened its already challenged finances.

Kid Rock was born Robert Ritchie. He’s known for dabbling in musical styles from hip-hop and hard rock to country and Southern rock.

He grew up in and lives in suburban Detroit.