Winter Jam shatters attendance records as world's #1 tour for two consecutive years
NASHVILLE, Tenn.— Christian music's biggest tour, the Winter Jam Tour Spectacular, has shattered its own record to become the #1 tour in the world (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 - “Michael Jackson: The Immortal,” Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, The Black Keys, Jason Aldean and Brad Paisley, among others. See below for exclusive highlights from Winter Jam 2012.
Founded and hosted by Grammy®-nominated NewSong and headlined by Grammy®-nominated alternative rockers Skillet, the 47-city tour—which ended April 1 before a capacity crowd at Grand Rapids' Van Andel Arena—saw 32 sold-out concerts and 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!"
“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 NewSong. “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, West Virginia, The Winter Jam 2012 Tour Spectacular 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, Tennessee; and the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina, where more than 20,000 were in attendance.
Promoted by Premier Productions and presented by Holt International, Winter Jam 2012 Tour Spectacular partners included BeMyVote.com, the University of Mobile, Teen Mania's Global Expeditions, OneVerse, The Life Book Movement, Logo's Bible Study Magazine, Teen Missions, Premier Christian Cruises, Xtreme Conferences, Camp Electric, The Creation Museum, Wayne E. Bailey Produce, and Texas TransEastern.
Since its formation by NewSong in 1995, Winter Jam has featured many of the top names in Christian music, including TobyMac, Jeremy Camp, Steven Curtis Chapman, Third Day, Newsboys, Tenth Avenue North and Fireflight, among others. The tour has also been instrumental in helping launch the careers of such acclaimed artists as Francesca Battistelli, Chris August and Sidewalk Prophets.