Concert Pulse: Foo Fighters, Zac Brown Band, J. Cole Make Splash On Chart

Theo Wargo / Getty Images for Zac Brown Band – Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown plays Fenway Park June 15 as part of his ‘Down The Rabbit Hole’ Tour in Boston.

As year end draws near, a heaping helping of new tours have entered the Pollstar Global Concert Pulse chart, topped by Foo Fighters, Phish, Jeff Lynne’s ELO, Zac Brown Band and Shakira all in the top 20 space and grossing an average of more than $1.4 million each.

Topping the new entries this week are Foo Fighters, with an average gross per market of $2.26 million on an average 28,882 tickets sold, putting that at No. 11. 

Grohl and friends have wrapped headline touring for the year with arenas in the Midwest including Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena and Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum but will play the Chris Cornell tribute at the Forum near Los Angeles in January, with Metallica, Jimmy Kimmel, Ryan Adams and others. 

Brett Schauf – Foo Fighters
Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters channels the guitar gods during the band’s show at Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kan., Nov. 13.

Recent boxoffice reports include two nights at Wrigley Field at the end of July, which sold 76,699 tickets and grossed just shy of $6.5 million, Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center in Noblesville, Ind., July 25 (23,434, $1.12 million), another two nights at Boston’s Fenway Park July 21-22 (60,710, $4.7 million) and two nights at Madison Square Garden July 16-17, which sold out 30,503 tickets and grossed $2.75 million. 

The Foos appear set to continue their large-venue plays after being announced for festivals including headlining the inaugural Sonic Temple Festival by Danny Wimmer Presents in Columbus, Ohio’s Mapfre Stadium May 17-19, and are already lined up to play many major European summer festivals in 2019. However, in February they will do two much more intimate shows when opening the brand-new Fillmore New Orleans being built by Live Nation.

Grossing in similar numbers and playing similarly sized venues is Zac Brown Band, putting up monster grosses into the millions, which is rare for someone whose average ticket price is just above $50. 

Reports include two nights at Citi Field in New York, which sold 62,685 tickets and grossed $4.1 million, which still trails his largest report submitted to Pollstar so far – three shows at Boston’s Fenway Park in 2015, which grossed just a hair under $7 million. 

Other baseball stadiums in the last few months include Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., July 27, which sold 25,762 tickets and grossed $1.68 million, and Target Field in Minneapolis Aug. 10, which sold out at 33,773 tickets and grossed $2.25 million. 

Zac has proven to be somewhat of a crossover hit, bringing along artists including OneRepublic, Leon Bridges and as support himself for the Eagles Sept. 22 at Petco Park in San Diego, which sold 40,707 tickets and grossed just under $8 million. Those impressive showings put him at No. 19 on the chart this week, with an average gross of $1.44 million on 27,301 tickets sold per market. 

Michael Zorn / Invision / AP – J. Cole
J. Cole croons for the crowd at the Budweiser Made In America Festival at Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia Sept. 2.

 J. Cole continues his run as a major arena headliner, entering the chart at No. 38 with more than $730,000 grossed per night and with new material from his KOD album that dropped in April. With support from Young Thug, reports include two nights at Staples Center in Los Angeles, which sold 21,159 tickets and grossed $2.2 million Aug. 24-25, and Madison Square Garden Oct. 1, which sold 12,075 tickets and grossed $1.4 million.

Strong showings from smaller markets include Aug. 17 at AT&T Center in San Antonio (8,743, $797,129) and Aug. 21 at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, which sold 8,496 tickets and grossed $744,815. J. Cole’s inaugural Dreamville Festival, produced by Austin-based ScoreMore Shows which is now part of Live Nation, was delayed when Hurricane Florence ravished J. Cole’s native North Carolina where the event was to take place. It’s been rescheduled for April.