Bon Jovi, Springsteen, Spice Girls Lead 2008’s Top-Grossing Tours
Bon Jovi and the band’s Lost Highway jaunt was named 2008’s top-grossing tour, scoring $210.6 million and drawing over 2.1 million fans during a trek that covered both the U.S. and Europe. According to the Billboard Boxscore, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band claimed second place as the Magic tour grossed $204 million. Madonna’s ongoing and record-breaking Sticky & Sweet Tour held the third spot thanks to $162 million, the second leg of the Police reunion tour grossed $150 million for fourth and Celine Dion rounded out the top five with $91 million.
The year’s top-grossing engagement was the Spice Girls’ 17-night sold-out run at London’s O2 Arena, which earned $33.8 million, while Celine Dion performed at the year’s top-grossing concert, as her return to Quebec and Montreal’s Bell Centre made $33.8 million, nearly twice as much as Bonnaroo grossed ($17 million.) Despite the worldwide recession, the touring industry had their best year on record with grosses just under $4 billion, up 13 percent from last year.
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