Old Dominion Athletics has rounded out the lineup for its DaBaby concert at Chartway Arena, and the opening slate leans heavily on local talent. Stu Money, Baby Rhiii, Jo Bianca, Serenityee and Toosii will all perform ahead of DaBaby when the show hits the Norfolk campus on Wednesday, October 28.
A Hometown-Heavy Opening Lineup
Three of the five openers have direct ties to Hampton Roads. Stu Money hails from Norfolk and has recorded two albums, including Solidified, which he released in 2024. Baby Rhiii, who is from Chesapeake and Portsmouth, is also a current Old Dominion University student; she began releasing music in 2023 and has collaborated with Scarlip. Jo Bianca comes from Hampton, rounding out the local contingent on the bill.
The remaining two openers bring broader national profiles to the show. Serenityee is from San Antonio, Texas, while Toosii began his career in 2017 and emerged as a mainstream artist in 2023, scoring a hit with his song Favorite Song. The announcement of the full opening lineup was made by Old Dominion Athletics.
DaBaby Headlines a Concert Built to Fund Athletics
DaBaby, who has produced multiple Billboard hits and released five studio albums — including Be More Grateful earlier this year — will headline the October 28 show at Chartway Arena on the Old Dominion campus. According to odusports.com, the concert marks a new partnership between Old Dominion Athletics and Elk Sports & Entertainment/JanDar Productions, and it will directly benefit ODU Athletics by supporting efforts to increase funding for revenue sharing with student-athletes.
JanDar Productions will handle all production for the show, bringing more than 25 years of experience in the live-event space, per the same announcement. The university said the partnership aims to create high-profile entertainment experiences for the Norfolk and Hampton Roads community while generating meaningful support for ODU's student-athletes. The event is also listed on the venue's own event page as DaBaby & Friends Live, per chartwayarena.com, which also notes an ODU student ticket offer requiring no promo code.
Part of a Broader Shift in College Sports Funding
Old Dominion's concert fits into what the school describes as a growing national trend of artists performing on college campuses to help fund athletics revenue-sharing efforts. Institutions participating in revenue sharing are required to report their payments to student-athletes through the College Athlete Payment System, according to the College Sports Commission. A business-of-college-sports analysis has framed this kind of move as part of a broader pattern, noting that schools nationwide are turning tradition, access, facilities and even identity into new forms of monetizable inventory, according to Business of College Sports.
For Hampton Roads fans, though, the headline is simpler: a national chart-topper is coming to Chartway Arena, and he is bringing some of the area's own rising names along with him.
