By Jon Bream
Despite the economy, the concert business did just fine in 2009. In fact, tickets sales and grosses topped those of 2008, according to Pollstar, which covers the concert industry.
Perhaps a big reason for the upsurge was the return of U2, the top grossing act of 2009 by a wide margin. Classic acts ruled the Top 10, with only Britney Spears and the Jonas Brothers crashing the party. In 2008, Kenny Chesney was the only artist to sell more than 1 million tickets; in 2009, Chesney, U2, Bruce Springsteen, the Dave Matthews Band and the Jonas Brothers surpassed 1 million tickets sold. Here are the Top 10 tour grosses for 2009. All of these stars, save U2, visited the metro area or Minnesota (DMB played 10,000 Lakes Festival in Detroit Lakes, Chesney the Apple River Country Splash in Somerset, Wis.) last year. Of course, U2 is coming to Minneapolis on June 27 at the new TCF Bank Stadium. 1. U2, $123 million
2. Bruce Springsteen & E Streeet Band, $94.5 million
3. Elton John/Billy Joel, $88 million
4. Britney Spears, $82.5 million
5. AC/DC, $77.9 million 6. Kenny Chesney, $71.1 million 7. Jonas Brothers, $69.8 million
8. Dave Matthews Band, $56.9 million
9. Fleetwood Mac, $54.5 million
10. Metallica, $53.4 million
