Tragically Hip tops Justin Bieber in global list of biggest summer concert tours

TORONTO – Even Justin Bieber couldn’t outdo the Tragically Hip this summer.

Tickets sales for the Kingston, Ont., rockers’ “Man Machine Poem” tour ranked among the highest on the worldwide circuit.

Industry tracking agency Pollstar says the Hip’s tour holds seventh place on its global concert charts, which tallies average box-office grosses.

That’s below superstars like Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce and Paul McCartney but above other tour favourites including Bieber, Rod Stewart and Rihanna.

The Hip raked in an average gross of US$1.85 million per show, based on ticket sales from 10 of their 15 tour stops between July and August.

Pollstar’s data is supplied by venue managers and concert promoters.

Hip frontman Gord Downie revealed earlier this year that he’s battling terminal brain cancer, and fans flocked to their sold-out shows. The final tour stop in Kingston attracted millions of viewers through a live broadcast on CBC-TV and online.

Downie has since announced plans to release the solo project “Secret Path,” inspired by the story of 12-year-old Chanie Wenjack, who died after running away from a residential school in 1966.

The Canadian Cancer Society and the Sunnybrook Foundation announced earlier this week the Hip’s recent tour helped raise more than $1 million for brain cancer research in Canada.

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