Boxoffice Insider: Live And Socially Distanced, TobyMac Plays Arenas In Winter Run

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Johnny Louis / FilmMagic – Back Again
TobyMac performs during the “Hits Deep” tour at BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla., Febr. 18, 2017. The “Hits Deep” run continued into this winter with a strong socially distanced showing.

TobyMac is among the growing number of performers booking tours in North American indoor arenas in 2021, still with social distancing and other safety regulations due to the pandemic, but arena dates nonetheless. The Christian hip-hop/rock veteran was out early with his return to the road, kicking off his long-running “Hits Deep” tour in February with concerts booked at arenas in southern U.S. cities.

Joining the seven-time Grammy Award winner on the tour were Christian pop/rock artist Tauren Wells along with We Are Messengers, Unspoken, Cochren & Co. and Terrian. The trek featured an 18-show schedule that included multiple-show engagements in four cities.

One of those was the Austin, Texas, suburb of Cedar Park that hosted the tour opener, a two-night stint at the H-E-B Center on Feb. 5 and 6. Sold tickets numbered 3,897 at the 6,800-seat indoor arena, which offered a reduced capacity of 2,552 tickets per show. With 76% sold, the two-show gross totaled $160,408, according to reporting by concert promoter Awakening Events.

The tour also played two-night stands at two Florida arenas: Amalie Arena in Tampa and Hertz Arena in Estero. The top box office result of the three runs was recorded in Tampa, where fans bought 85% of the available tickets for Feb. 19-20, totaling 5,538 over both nights. The $236,624 Tampa gross ranks as TobyMac’s top earner among the 11 shows reported so far from opening night through Feb. 21. The Hertz Arena shows on Feb. 12-13 earned $145,143 from 3,556 total tickets.

This winter leg of TobyMac’s annual “Hits Deep” trek wrapped with the only three-night engagement on the itinerary, a March 5-7 run at the Allen Event Center in the Dallas market. Based on sales data reported as of press time, the socially distanced tour has an average gross just under $100,000 per show, with a ticket average of 2,315.

TobyMac will kick off an upcoming series of drive-in theater dates on April 7 in Leeds, Ala., which will be followed by a full slate of outdoor concerts planned through mid-May. He also currently has plans for more indoor concerts at arenas and theaters in October and November.

In addition to the TobyMac tour, Hertz Arena, located near Fort Myers on the southwest Florida coast, also hosted multiple Mexican artists earlier this year for sold-out, socially distanced shows. A January 22 event, “Primer Cañonazo 2021” featured performances by norteño band Los Tucanes de Tijuana, Ramon Ayala y sus Bravos del Norte among others, drawing an audience of 2,009. Promoted by Florida-based Arma Promotions, the event grossed $130,585.

The same promoter also staged “La Poderosa Banda” at the arena on Feb. 20 with a lineup of multiple acts including Banda Los Recoditos, Duelo and Banda los Sebastianes. Fans bought all 1,580 tickets offered for the event that grossed $102,700.

Two indoor events in Russia land among recently reported concerts on Pollstar’s Global Live Boxoffice chart, both featuring Russian rock artist Diana Arbenina. With social distancing and pandemic safeguards in place, the first was a performance in Ekaterinburg at the city’s international exhibition center (Expo) on Feb. 10 with 2,267 attendees. Five days later she performed for 1,308 at Arena Sever in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.

Although not an indoor venue, The Amp St. Augustine also lands on the Live Boxoffice chart with a two-night engagement in January by JJ Grey & Mofro to celebrate the reopening of the northeast Florida amphitheater for the first time since the live industry shutdown last March. Both shows were sellouts with socially distanced crowds present – 1,668 on Jan. 15 and 1,719 on the following night. The overall gross from both concerts hit $248,706.