The Winter Jam Tour Spectacular, Christian music’s biggest tour, has shattered its own record to become the No. 1 tour in the world (during the first quarter) for the second consecutive year.
According to Pollstar’s 2012 Worldwide First Quarter Ticket Sales Charts – Top 100 Tours, Winter Jam outpaced attendance for all other tours, including Cirque du Soleil’s “Michael Jackson: The Immortal,” Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, The Black Keys, Jason Aldean and Brad Paisley, among others.
“For 17 years, each Winter Jam Tour has had its own unique personality, made so by not only the artists on stage, but by the entire team of people who made each night happen,” said Eddie Carswell, Winter Jam creator and founding member of Grammy-nominated NewSong, Winter Jam’s host.
Winter Jam, headlined by Grammy-nominated alternative rockers Skillet, sold out in 32 of the 47 cities it visited. The tour, which ended April 1, surpassed last year’s record attendance by more than 10,000, playing to a total of nearly 535,000 people.
“Being the headliner on Winter Jam was an incredible opportunity for Skillet,” said the band’s frontman, John Cooper. “The fans, the music and the message were absolutely relevant and impacted people’s lives each and every night. The worst part of Winter Jam was having to end the tour and go back to ‘normal’ life!”
Carswell added: “Although we are overwhelmed by the attendance figures and sellouts, what means the most to us are the stories we heard every single night of how God moved in people’s hearts. Providing a platform for the Gospel message was why we began Winter Jam, and that mission remains true today.”
In addition to headliners Skillet and hosts NewSong, this year’s tour also featured Sanctus Real, former Newsboys frontman Peter Furler, Kari Jobe, Building 429, Group 1 Crew, illusionist Brock Gill, and national speaker/PULSE Movement founder Nick Hall. In addition, the OneVerse Pre-Jam Party included performances from Dara Maclean, For King & Country and We As Human.
Following its January 6 launch in Charleston, W.V., Winter Jam played to capacity audiences in some of the country’s top venues, including Atlanta’s Philips Arena, The Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy Arena, the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., and the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C., where more than 20,000 were in attendance.
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