Neil Diamond Shines Atop Hot Tours Roundup

Neil Diamond tops the Hot Tours ranking (see list, below) with $29.5 million in box office revenue reported during the past week from his 2015 tour through North American cities. The veteran entertainer kicked off the trek earlier this year with shows booked in 29 markets in the U.S. and Canada during a three-month stretch. On the road in support of Melody Road, his first album released on Capitol Records after signing with the label in 2014, Diamond began the tour in Allentown, Pa. on Feb. 27. The top-grossing North American engagement was a two-night stand in Los Angeles on May 19 and 23 at the Hollywood Bowl. Sales topped $3.7 million at the 17,000-seat amphitheater based on a combined sold ticket count of 31,665 for both shows.

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The Melody Road tour’s North American leg wrapped at the end of May with grosses topping $35 million based on 34 performances reported to Billboard since the tour’s launch. A European leg will begin on June 17 in Germany and will continue until July 26, ending at London’s O2 Arena. In October and November, Diamond will head to Australia and New Zealand for concerts booked in nine cities.

Landing at No. 2 on the list of top-grossing touring artists is Foo Fighters with $20 million in sales reported from its jaunt through Australian markets in February and March. The band’s Sonic Highways world tour bowed last December with two stadium dates in South Africa and kicked off this year with a seven-city stint in South America that also garnered $20 million at the box office.

The Aussie stretch began on Feb. 24 at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium and continued through March 8 with a final show at nib Stadium in Perth. Rise Against was the special guest for each of the Foo Fighters’ stadium performances promoted by Australia event producer Frontier Touring. Top box office counts came from Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium that logged the highest gross and attendance totals during the run. The stadium was filled to capacity for the Feb. 28 performance with 56,981 fans in attendance and sales topping $5.4 million.

Also scoring a slot on this week’s Hot Tours tally are touring giants the Rolling Stones and U2, both reporting sales stats from their 2015 tours that kicked off in May. The Stones take the No. 3 ranking with $16.3 million in revenue from the first two stadium dates on its Zip Code tour, set to run in North America through mid-July. San Diego’s Petco Park hosted the tour opener with a sellout crowd of 40,944 on May 24.  The next performance was held in Columbus, Ohio at the football stadium on the campus of Ohio State University. Attendance at Ohio Stadium on May 30 totaled 59,038.

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Following in the No. 4 slot is U2 with the first box office totals reported from Innocence + Experience, the band’s first touring effort since its 360° tour (2009-2011) that ranks as the highest-grossing tour of all time with $736 million in sales. The 2015 trek through arenas launched on May 14 with two-night engagements in Vancouver, San Jose and Phoenix. All six performances were sold out with 106,466 tickets sold. Combined grosses at all three arenas topped $12 million.