Legendary jam band Phish tops Hot Tours with ticket sales totals reported from its traditional year ending run of concerts at the partially refurbished Madison Square Garden in New York City. The band played the arena to close out 2011 with sellout shows on each night from Dec. 28 through New Year's Eve. The four performances grossed more than $4.3 million with a total of 75,707 tickets sold - an average of 18,927 per show. At the end of 2010, the band played three shows at the arena (Dec. 30, 2010-Jan. 1, 2011) with 55,710 tickets sold for the whole run, an average of 18,570 per show. The arena is undergoing a three-year "transformation," with renovations occurring during the summer months when the venues NBA Knicks and NHL Rangers are not in season. A change in the lower bowl seating layout was among the first year's changes, which could help explain the change in average attendance for Phish this year compared to last.
Elton John ranks second on our tally with $1.2 million in box office grosses reported from performances on Jan. 6th and 7th in Honolulu, Hawaii. A two-show stint at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center drew a total of 13,822 fans for both nights. This year's concerts in Hawaii continue a tradition for Sir Elton. He has played multiple-show runs at the 8,700-seat Honolulu arena during January in three previous years, according to box office totals reported to Billboard. In 2010, he performed on Jan. 6th and 9th, selling 13,880 tickets for both concerts. A decade earlier, he sold 25,191 tickets for a three show run on January 7-9, 2000 and 13,125 tickets the following year for shows on Jan. 12-13, 2001.
Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band land at No. 3 among this week's 10 top-grossing Hot Tours with a gross of $504,443 reported from Jacksonville's Veterans Memorial Arena. The performance on Jan. 10, attended by 6,272 fans, was one of three 2012 dates tacked on to the second leg of the band's 2011 North American tour that kicked off in November in Baltimore. The first leg of the 2011 tour began in Toledo, Ohio in late March and ran through the end of May.
| Rank | Artist/Event
Total Gross
Show Dates
Show Venue/City (Shows/Sellouts)
Total Attendance (Capacity) |
| 1 | PHISH $4,387,679
| | Dec. 28-31 | | Madison Square Garden, New York (4/4) | | ELTON JOHN | | | | | |
| 2 | ELTON JOHN
$1,247,710
| Jan. 6-7
| | Neal S. Blaisdell Center, Honolulu (2/2) | | 13,822 (13,822) | | | | | |
| 3 | BOB SEGER & THE SILVER BULLET BAND
$504,443
| | Jan. 10 | | Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville (1/0) | | 6,272 (6,633) | | | | | |
| 4 | ARCTIC MONKEYS
$420,909
| | Jan. 12 | | Hordern Pavilion, Sydney (1/1) | | 5,300 (5,300) | | | | | |
| 5 | THE KOOKS
| $398,134 | | Jan. 6 | | Hordern Pavilion, Sydney (1/1) | | 5,408 (5,408) | | | | | |
| 6 | GOV'T MULE
$322,787
| Dec. 30-31
| | Beacon Theatre, New York (2/0) | | 5,243 (5,590) | | | | | |
| 7 | PHILIPPE BOND
| $310,901 | | Dec. 22-Jan. 14 | | Salle André-Mathieu, Laval, Quebec (2/0) | | Théâtre du Vieux, Terrebonne, Quebec (3/0) | | Salle Hector-Charland, L'Assomption, Quebec (2/0) | | L'Étoile Banque Nationale, Brossard, Quebec (4/0) | | Centre des Arts Juliette-Lassonde, St-Hyacinthe, Quebec (2/0) | | 9,105 (9,398) | | | | | |
| 8 | MAZE FEATURING FRANKIE BEVERLY
$304,794
| Jan. 14
| | NOKIA Theatre L.A. Live, Los Angeles (1/0) | | 5,037 (5,734) | | | | | |
| 9 | B.B. KING | $199,657 | Jan. 7-8
| | Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater, Fla. (1/1) | | Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, Fort Myers, Fla. (1/0) | | 3,424 (3,700) | | | | | | |
| 10 | JERRY SEINFELD $139,062
| Jan. 6
| | William Saroyan Theatre, Fresno, Calif. (1/0) | | 2,040 (2,395) | | | | | | |
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