REVOLVER:A 52-YEAR-OLD singer who hasn't bothered the limelight for well over a decade raked in more than $53 million for her live shows in 2011, which means her jaunt around the stadiums was in the top 10 biggest grossing tours of last year.
In there mixing it with U2 and Bon Jovi, the English jazz/soul singer Sade is the biggest surprise entry in the yearly list which serves as a reliable indicator of the strength or otherwise of the live market and of punters’ preferences.
The fact that many people thought Sade Adu had long since given up the game (her biggest successes were way back in the 1980s) makes her inclusion at the box-office take top table all the more remarkable.
Media-wise, Sade’s been pretty dormant and has only put out two albums in the past 20 years. And her shows last year didn’t even have the pull of a “last ever tour”.
If you could come up with a weighting that would recast the top-selling live music shows of 2011 in terms of profile and past performance, then surely Sade would be the overall winner of the 2011 crown. File it under “nobody knows anything” as neither promoters nor punters nor, one suspects, the artist herself would have predicted such a strong showing.
But dig into Sade's reviews and you soon see the attraction. "She constantly dazzled during an excellent two-hour set" and "she is one of popular music's finest ever vocalists" were common critical responses. The Los Angeles Timesnoted of her Staples Center show: "Whereas someone like Bruce Springsteen or Lady Gaga drives their way into the hearts of large crowds with overwhelming energy and volume, Sade controlled her environment with restraint and allure, drawing us in rather than forcing herself upon us."
“With the shows, people that aren’t fans can discover something,” Sade said during the tour last year. “Our biggest compliment is still when people who weren’t interested in us buy all the Sade albums after they have been to one of our concerts.”
Outselling Michael Bublé, Katy Perry, The Eagles, Glee and Justin Bieber live shows, Sade was a welcome curiosity on a top 10 list that had taken on a uniform feel.
The top five placings for U2, Bon Jovi, Take That, Roger Waters and Taylor Swift were widely predicted, though the gap between the highest and second highest earners was more substantial than ever: U2 took in almost $300 million from just 44 shows while Bon Jovi earned $192 million from 68 shows. (U2’s “360 degrees” stage configuration did allow for more people at each show.)
While all of last year’s top 10 can still jump around a bit (give or take the odd back problem), this year will see the highest-ever age profile of big touring acts, with The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones (widely rumoured for a 50th anniversary jaunt), Black Sabbath, Paul McCartney, Carole King (hurrah!) and 78-year-old Leonard Cohen all taking to the boards.
Throw in Tom Petty, Madonna, Ringo Starr and a couple of dozen more acts from the 50-plus club and you’re looking at a top 10 list next year that could have an average age of around 60. Even the much-touted Stone Roses are now all in their 50s.
There will be the usual meaningless concern expressed about what this means for the future of the music industry and the fact that no one out there is really equipped to fill the box- office shoes of The Eagles and The Stones. Still it does appear that you are now a non-starter in terms of stadium shows unless you have plenty of career mileage and can thus appeal to a pan-generational audience.
The live music scene has been totally divorced from the weekly album/singles chart for many years. There is no longer even the slightest hint of an any overlap at all. For 2012 it’s out with the new and in with the old.
Mixedbag
* Bon Iver, The Low Anthem and The Decemberists all appear on the new Chieftains album, due out in February.
* Justin Bieber to play Elton John in the latter’s biopic. WTF?
