JAY-Z, Mary J. Blige Tour Grosses More Than $9 Million in First Eight Dates!

LOS ANGELES (Top40 Charts/ Live Nation) - Live Nation, the world's largest live music company, announced today that JAY-Z and Mary J. Blige's "Heart of the City" tour has sold out seven of the first eight dates on its North American trek, grossing more than $9.1 Million dollars thus far and averaging more than 12,000 music fans per night. With dates quickly selling out across the country, the tour is on track to gross in excess of $33 Million dollars over the 28 performances currently scheduled across the U.S. and Canada.

Highlights from the tour thus far include Wednesday night's $1.5 Million gross at Toronto's Air Canada Centre, nearly $1.7 Million at Philadelphia's Wachovia Center, and a whopping $1.8 Million in ticket sales at East Rutherford's Izod Center. In addition the "Heart of the City" stop in Baltimore's 1st Mariner Arena was the second highest grossing concert of all time for the venue, topped only by the Rolling Stones.

The tour still has its strongest markets to come, including three dates at Madison Square Garden in New York, JAY-Z's hometown, and a Los Angeles appearance at the world famous Hollywood Bowl and a two night stand at Chicago's United Center. The tour culminates on May 8th in Uncasville, Connecticut.

The "Heart of the City" tour has received rave reviews on every stop, and today's Toronto Star summed up the general sentiment perfectly when they said: "The men in the audience pumped their fists and rhymed along, while the women dug for their inner gangsters at what was undeniably one of the most thrilling hip hop performances this city has witnessed."