NEWS
Beyoncé‘s ‘Cowboy Carter’ tour has become the highest-grossing country tour ever.
The 32-show run wrapped up on Saturday (July 26) in Las Vegas with a surprise Destiny’s Child Reunion.
Now, it’s been revealed that the trek grossed $407.6million (£305.5million) with 1.6 million tickets sold, according to Billboard Boxscore.
In making over $400million, the tour has reached a feat that no other country tour ever has, per Pollstar. Bey is also the first American artist to have two separate tours gross over $400 million, with her 2023 ‘Renaissance‘ trek – previously named one of the highest-grossing tours of all time – amassing $579million (£434million) across 56 shows.
The ‘Cowboy Carter’ run is also the shortest tour to ever reach the figure, with its closest competitors lagging far behind. Those include her own previous tour (56 dates), The Rolling Stones’ 2017 – 2021 No Filter Tour (58 dates), and Metallica’s ongoing M72 World Tour (60 so far).
This time around, Bey performed in only nine cities, choosing to play mini-residencies in the likes of Los Angeles, New York City, Atlanta, London and Las Vegas. It was a different approach to the ‘Renaissance’ run, which saw her play 39 cities in 17 countries.
Other surprise guests included Jay-Z, who made a special appearance in Atlanta for ‘Crazy In Love’, followed by solo performances of his own tracks ‘Public Service Announcement’ and ‘I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)’. It came after he previously joined her in France in June, marking their first time sharing a stage in seven years.
Before that, Beyoncé surprised fans once again in Paris, by bringing out Miley Cyrus to perform their collaboration ‘II Most Wanted’ together for the first time.
Beyoncé’s first London date at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium earlier this month earned her a glowing five-star review, with Nick Levine writing for NME: “As a performer, she remains pretty much flawless – who else can sing from a bucking mechanical bull without missing a note? And as a creator of stadium spectacle, she keeps getting better. No one leaving this show will be removing their cowboy hat on the ride home.”
In other news, hard drives containing unreleased music from Beyoncé were reportedly stolen out of a rental car during the tour stop in Atlanta.
According to CNN, the vehicle in question was rented by Beyoncé’s choreographer Christopher Grant, who had arrived in Atlanta early to prep for the singer’s mini-residency.
Perry Farrell has released another public apology following an on-stage confrontation involving his bandmate Dave Navarro.
The Jane's Addiction frontman was involved in a physical altercation with guitarist Dave Navarro last year during a live performance, an incident that prompted the band to cancel their reunion tour and eventually led to their split.
“I'd like to address what happened on stage last year,” Perry, 66, said in a statement shared across both his personal Instagram account and Jane's Addiction’s official page. “I've reflected on it and know I didn't handle myself the way I should have. I apologize to our patrons and my bandmates for losing my temper and for disrupting the show.”
He went on to admit that he did not meet fan expectations and described himself as deeply remorseful toward everyone impacted by the incident.
“Jane's Addiction has been at the center of my life for decades. The band, the songs, the patrons, and the impact that we've had on music and culture mean more to me than any words I could ever possibly write down,” he shared.
“My aim has always been to give our audience the best possible show, something real, honest and positive. In Boston, we fell short of that, and I'm truly sorry to everyone who was impacted.”
Jane's Addiction also issued its own statement regarding the altercation, which ultimately led to the group’s remaining members filing a lawsuit against Perry alleging assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract.
“Today we are here to announce that we have come together one last time to resolve our differences, so that the legacy of Jane's Addiction will remain the work the four of us created together,” the band wrote, signaling that the group would not move forward with Perry. “We now look forward to the future as we embark on our separate musical and creative endeavors.”
