By Stacey Willets
Just when you thought “line dancing” was dead, it turns up in the TicketNews Top Tens. For Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana), daughter of Achy Breaky singer Billy Ray, it may have skipped a generation, but for Radio City Christmas Spectacular, the kick line has been an age old tradition. Seventy-five years and thirty-six Rockettes adds up to Radio City taking number six on the Top Events chart this week.
The leggy ladies are followed by this year’s World Series hopefuls. The Colorado Rockies drop one spot to number seven but have a National League pennant to ease their disappointment. They will meet either the ninth-ranked Boston Red Sox or tenth-ranked Cleveland Indians in their first-ever trip to the World Series, an event that could possibly end Hannah Montana’s nine week reign at the top of the chart.
While the playoffs give the MLB teams a boost, putting Colorado at two, Boston at three, and Cleveland at four, even the World Series-bound Rockies aren’t enough to top the Dallas Cowboys. Baseball may not have been able to take down mighty Dallas, but the ninth-ranked New England Patriots did. Ironically, the much anticipated Pats game helped to keep the Cowboys at number one on the Top Sports chart even as it knocked them from sharing the top spot in the NFL team rankings.
The New York Rangers appear at number seven in the Top Sports rankings this week, a reminder that baseball and football aren’t the only sports being played. But even with the addition of the NHL to the chart for the first time this season, football is a clear favorite. While fans don’t even know yet which teams will be playing in the BCS Championship Game, they’re already buying tickets. The January 7 event takes number ten this week.
There’s no rest for the Wicked. Not only has the top-grossing musical lost its place as number one on the Top Events chart, this week the Rockettes kick the production out of the top spot on the New York City Theatre chart as well. Radio City Christmas Spectacular, still going strong after seventy-five years, ascends to number one.
Garth Brooks knows how to give the people what they want. Although he doesn’t plan on launching a full-blown tour until his youngest daughter graduates high school in 2015, he is slated to perform at the Sprint Center in November. Nine times. One show was added as tickets for another ran short, meaning the citizens of Kansas City, still raw with emotion over the Hannah Montana supply and demand dilemma, survived the Brooks sellouts with smiles. Although Brooks sings he has friends in low places, he spends this week at number seven among the Top Ten Concerts.
Nine Garth Brooks shows in one city sounds like a lot, but it’s less than the ten Newark shows Bon Jovi will be performing at the Prudential Center when their tour kicks off next week. Before they take the stage in New Jersey, they made a stop in New York this weekend to perform on Saturday Night Live, hosted by their own Jon Bon Jovi. Whether concert-goers were impressed by the SNL appearance or are just looking for last minute ticket bargains, Bon Jovi returns to the Concerts rankings at number five.
With several months to go before Bette Midler takes Céline Dion’s place at the Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace, she is keeping herself busy . . . planting trees. The Divine Miss M joined New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the Bronx this week to plant the first tree of an ambitious goal of one million. While Ms. Midler, founder of the New York Restoration Project, ensures that from a distance the boroughs look much more green, ticket sales for her upcoming Las Vegas stint put her at number five in the rankings.
The eco-friendly songstress would be pleased to know that also “new” to the Vegas chart this week is the show Stomp Out Loud, a unique musical production performed amidst piles of salvaged junk. The show claims the number ten spot, demonstrating that rhythm and recycling can go hand in hand.
To see all this week’s rankings, check out the press release in the Daily Buzz section of TicketNews.com.