Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters Tours Gross Millions in 2011

2012-01-09

Story by Cat Badra

Three grungy alternative bands are inside Pollstar’s list of the Top Grossing North American Tours of 2011

Who says rock is dead? Not the grunge personalities of Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters. All three bands landed inside Pollstar’s annual list of the Top Grossing North American Tours of 2011, taking in millions over the past 12 months.

Pearl Jam played only a handful of shows in 2011, yet Eddie Vedder and company landed a healthy No. 68 on Pollstar’s list, taking in 12.3 million. Chris Cornell-fronted alternative band Soundgarden took in 6.1 million during their summer run to land at No. 126 on the list. Probably the most active of the remaining grunge bands this past year was Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters, who raked in an impressive 20 million and scored the No. 43 spot on Pollstar’s chart with their extensive U.S. arena tour in support of, “Wasting Light.” Fans of Maynard James Keenan should note that alternative metal band A Perfect Circle landed at No. 166 on the list, grossing 4.4 million for their summer trek of North American theaters.

As for the top 10 acts, they consist of mainly pop and country artists. One big exception are Bono and camp U2, who took No. 1 position with their massive 360 Tour, which took in 156 million. The rest of Pollstar’s top 10 featured country / pop starlet Taylor Swift at No. 2 with $97 million, country man Kenny Chesney at No. 3, pop diva Lady Gaga and No. 4 and Bon Jovi and company taking the No. 5 spot. Elton John, Sade, Kanye West and Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and Celine Dion rounded out the 10 highest grossing acts.

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