Rolling Stones, U2 Top 1997 Tours

Stadium tours by U2, the Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson lifted concert revenues in 1997, with veteran acts in general dominating the touring landscape.

Total grosses reported to Amusement Business topped the $1 billion mark for the first time in two years and were up more than $190 million from last year. U2 finished as the top grossing act, reporting more than $138.5 million from 78 shows worldwide.

The Reba McEntire/Brooks & Dunn co-headlining tour finished tops among country acts, taking in close to $32 million; Garth Brooks led the way in country attendance, attracting 1.3 million fans and charging less than $20 per ticket. The top promoter of the year, including co-promotes, was Toronto-based The Next Attraction, which handled the Stones and U2 tours.

The top concert gross of the year was Michael Jackson's three-night stand in July at Wembley Stadium in London, which took in more than $9.2 million. No act that has broken in the 1990s made its way into the top 10 tours of the year, giving credence to concern by promoters that not enough stadium- or arena-level headlining acts are being developed.

The most successful festival tours were Lilith Fair and Ozzfest, with others posting disappointing numbers.

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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