According to the concert trade magazine Pollstar, Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet tour made more than $280 million worldwide, making it the highest grossing tour ever by a solo artist.
The Material Girl’s tour also ended up being this year’s highest grossing concert in North America, with ticket sales exceeding $105 million.
This year’s Top 10 Highest-Grossing Tours in the US were:
Metallica’s rise to meteoric stardom reads like a page out of some modern day, metallic rock fairy tale.
Back in the early 80′s erstwhile drummer Lars Ulrich made guitar player/singer James Hetfield an offer “I’ve got a track saved for my band on Brian Slagel’s new Metal Blade label.”
Trouble was, at that point, he didn’t have a band. A few hirings and firings and they ended up with one in short order.
Their copy of No Life Til Leather found its way circuitously to a record shop called Metal Heaven. They were recruited by the owner to play a few shows, showing up in NYC in a swiped UHaul trailer,
To make a long story short, just a few years and a few albums later, they grabbed a gig with the touring Ozzy Osbourne, and that job, and a top thirty album sent them leaping into metal mega stardom.
Now, there is an up and coming Metallica Guitar Hero game in the works, reportedly coming up for release in the first part of 2009, to play as a member of Metallica.
Metallica, with all of their passion and drive are touring 2009 away, playing in cities such as Philly, DC, Boston, Chicago, not to mention Frankfurt, Paris, Vienna and Munich. Metallica seems to be in as much demand as ever, and people are screaming for tickets. Fortunately it doesn’t much matter where you live, you can find a venue to see this powerful band, it’s the tickets to see Metallica in all their glory that might be hard to come by..
Shows as far off as the end of March are already sold out, and if you want your chance to view Metallica live, up close and personal, it might be in your best interests to start working on that now. Shows are sold out in Philadelphia, Boston,London, Glasgow and Stokholm, so if Metallica is on your list of things to do in the New Year, grab those tickets now, because its apparent they aren’t going to last long.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the oldest football teams in the AFC, having been established in 1933. Their beginnings were, shall we say, somewhat less than glorious, with their first game lost to the Giants with a score of 23 to just 2 points.
They never made it to the playoffs until fifteen years later in 1947, and then didn’t win.
In the mid sixties Pittsburgh was, in reality, something of an embarrassment to Pennsylvania, even having a record horrible year in there, with a 2 and 12 year. Thankfully television wasn’t yet a household item, so we didn’t have to watch their ignominious defeats.
In all honesty, it wasn’t until the seventies when the Steelers became a household word, and one of the most loved teams of all time and a lot of that, the team owes to a man who wasn’t even a Pennsylvania native.
Terry Bradshaw, a Louisiana boy got drafted when Pa won a coin toss. Bradshaw turned the Steelers into something the state,(as a Pennsylvania native I can attest to that) and in fact the country was excited about, and they, along with Chuck Noll, set about earning themselves the “Steel Curtain” commentary that was now being applied to them.
Noll latched on to some of the best and brightest, including Mean Joe Greene, Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swan, and a few other names you’d all recognize for the Steelers.
The Steelers decade was definitely the seventies, with four Super Bowls belonging to them in that time span. 1974 and 1975, 1978 and 1979 were all Super Bowl wins for the Steelers.
Another followed about twenty years later in 2005, and Pittsburgh had arrived.
The Steelers of 2008, with a striking record and having won four of their last five games, look to be what the old Steel Curtain Steelers used to be.
Most of us will likely do the same thing we did last year…The party with friends or family and the buffet at midnight, which is of course fun,and exciting, but in reality, not so different from what we did last year and the year before last.
What if we could do something completely different.
You can register my vote for rocking with Fergie in Las Vegas for New Years Eve.
Fergie is appearing live at the Venetian Hotel and Casino in Vegas for New Years Eve, and what could offer a more interesting way to spend the night than that.
Check out Fergie on New Years Eve, spend the night dancing and partying with the stars and when the night is over you’ve got no where to drive to, nothing to do but retire safely to a room that wraps you in luxury for the night and spoils you til the next day.
When you’ve had your rest and are feeling ready to play again, head downstairs the next day and spend New Years Day with the Phantom of the Opera.
Phantom of the Opera, also taking place at the Venetian, beginning January 1 2009 at the Venetian in Vegas, is among the best and most long running of shows. The plot line features a disfigured musical genius, who has hidden himself away from the world in an Opera Housein Paris, and sets out to terrorize the participants of the Opera company playing there, all for the benefit of a young woman that he desperately loves.
The Phantom of the Opera, a timeless classic, is something everyone should see once, and in combination with tickets to see Fergie the night before, what more could you ask for for a mid winter break that will revitalize you.
Guaranteed to get you out of the winter rut, these aren’t shows that won’t sell out quickly,so if you want to get out of the snow and step into a little heat, and a whole lot of excitement, check out Vegas for New Years.
Last week, “Entourage” turned-Broadway star Jeremy Piven began experiencing some neuro-muscular dysfunction, which made it extremely difficult for him to lift his arms and legs, Usmagazine.com reports.
According to the Piven’s doctor, the actor was suffering from mercury poisoning probably caused by the fact that Piven usually eats sushi twice a day. He had also taken some Chinese herbs, which also could have led to the elevated mercury levels found in his body.
Due to his condition, Piven has now decided to quit the Broadway play “Speed-the-Plow” – a decision the play’s writer, David Mamet, basically just made fun of.
“I talked to Jeremy on the phone, and he told me that he discovered that he had a very high level of mercury. So my understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer,” Mamet was quoted as saying in Variety.
The play is still scheduled to run through Feb. 22. Norbert Leo Butz and William H. Macy will replace Piven.
