Though many feel that Tom Petty’s performance at the Super Bowl halftime show was understated (consider he was compared to last year’s performer Prince), his appearance at the major sports event helped to propel Petty & The Heartbreakers into the rankings for the week of Jan. 28 through Feb. 3. The group’s solid, if low-key, four-song set was just enough to prepare fans for their summer tour, which has already garnered enough sales to make it this week’s fifth-ranked Overall Top Event.
The Super Bowl may have helped Petty sell tickets, but it was a different Tom drawing Super Bowl sales. If fans weren’t compelled to see if Tom Brady and the New England Patriots would complete a historic undefeated season, they were determined to watch Eli Manning and the New York Giants throw a wrench in the Pats’ plans. Whether ticket buyers paid to witness a great achievement or the greater upset, Super Bowl XLII remains the Top Overall Event and Top Sports Event this week.
If the Super Bowl didn’t demonstrate that Bostonians and New Yorkers love their sports teams, the rest of the sports rankings might. The Boston Red Sox again take number two, archrival New York Yankees appear at six, the New York Knicks maintain number eight, and the Boston Celtics rank at ten.
A long-running favorite is soon to close on Broadway, leaving the great city of New York to remind you that there’s “no day but today” to purchase your tickets to Rent. Theatergoers are responding, putting the twelve-year-old rock musical at number ten on the Top Theatre chart and number eight in the Top New York City Theatre rankings. The Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning production closes June 1.
The Color Purple is going out of season as well, slated to end its Broadway run February 24. Slumping sales since the loss of American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino are reported to be the cause of the decision. The musical makes an appearance at number eight on the Top Theatre chart this week.
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers are off to a strong start in the Concerts rankings, debuting at number two just below the Jonas Brothers. Other classic rock icons Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen maintain positions three and four, respectively. Rush moves up to number six this week. Van Halen drops from eight to the number ten position. They may lose a bit of ground in the rankings, but the band can boast success in staying together to tour for over four months now despite a formerly rocky relationship between Eddie Van Halen and front man David Lee Roth, whereas the Spice Girls Reunion will fizzle out Feb. 26, shy of three months on the road.
With songstress Céline Dion gone from Las Vegas, ticket buyers have turned to other Canadian entertainers. Quebec-based Cirque du Soleil occupies four of the top ten Vegas rankings with “O” at three, LOVE at four, KÀ at six, and Mystère at eight.
