Bruce on Fire in '03

Glory days are here again for the Boss.

Hitting that Thunder Road in support of The Rising, his first album of new material with the E Street Band in 18 years, Bruce Springsteen raked in a healthy $115.9 million to nab the title of top-grossing live act for 2003, according to stats from concert trade mag Pollstar.

Playing 47 marathon concerts in mostly stadiums and arenas, including two rare gigs at Boston's Fenway Park and a record-setting 13-date run at Giants Stadium in his native New Jersey, the blue-collar rocker drew more than 1.6 million paying fans.

"Bruce did the biggest tour of his career and the second-biggest tour of all time in North America," said Pollstar editor Gary Bongiovanni.

Springsteen's trek ranks just behind the Rolling Stones's record-setting 1994 Voodoo Lounge outing, which raked in an unprecedented $121.2 million.

In contrast, because Mick and the boys played mostly dates in Asia and Europe this year on their heavily hyped 40th anniversary tour, the Stones earned $38.5 million, only good enough for 14th place.

Coming in second was Canadian popster Celine Dion's lucrative Las Vegas engagement at the brand-new Colosseum at Caesar's Palace, which hauled in $80.5 million from 145 shows.

"That's a tremendous amount of money to gross in one place," said Bongiovanni.

The usual oldies acts make up the rest of the top five.

Taking tickets to the limit, the Eagles came in at number three, selling $69.3 million worth of tickets for 55 shows, followed closely by a newly reunited Fleetwood Mac, which made $69 million from 71 shows. And enduring pop diva Cher, forever on the road wrapping up her farewell tour, grossed $68.2 million from 102 shows (more dates are set for Sin City's MGM Grand in January).

Legendary folk duo Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel ($64.5 million), the Aerosmith-KISS combo ($64 million), the Dixie Chicks ($60.5 million), the ivory-tickling tandem of Elton John and Billy Joel ($50.9 million) and the Metallica-headlined Summer Sanitarium tour ($48.8 million) rounded out the top 10.

For country enthusiasts, Bongiovanni also noted that the Dixie Chicks were the top-grossing country act ever (even though they consider themselves now to be apart of the larger rock 'n' roll family).

"Country itself did well, there were five acts in the top 20," said Bongiovanni.

Overall, Pollstar predicts total revenue for tours in the U.S. this year will add up to $2.4 billion, up from last year's $2.1 billion, and continuing an upward trend as the fifth consecutive year of growth for the industry.

An ever-inflating ticket price accounted for some of those record earnings, with all of the top five acts charging well over $100 per stub.

The Stones were the priciest, averaging $158 per seat, followed by Simon and Garfunkfel, whose heavily promoted reunion tour cost $136.90. Kudos for the cheapest average ticket prices around belond to country crooner Kenny Chesney, who graciously charged $35.76.

In terms of attendance, Springsteen's 1.6 million tickets sold was tops, followed by flag-waving country star Toby Keith, who drew 1.2 million fans on a busy jaunt that took him to 104 shows in 104 cities, barely surpassing Cher, who played 102 gigs in 98 cities. Keith's rivals, the Dixie Chicks, netted 1.1 million tickets sold for third place.

Meanwhile, next year is shaping up to be another busy year on the concert front, with major tours expected from the likes of U2, Britney, Phish and additional dates for Simon and Garfunkel.