The 2020 edition of the Mexican Dead & Company destination event, Playing In The Sand, has topped Billboard‘s March 7th-dated Hot Tours chart, which ranks concert engagements by their gross earnings. The Grateful Dead spinoff act—which features Dead veterans Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, and Mickey Hart alongside John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, and Jeff Chimenti—raked in nearly $18.7M from the January trip south of the border, according to statistics culled from the Billboard Boxscore.
Dead & Company’s Playing In The Sand, which took place from January 16th–19th, has grossed increasingly larger sums each year since its inception ($15.1M in 2018, $17.3M in 2019). The four-night event beat out tours and residencies by the Eagles, Aerosmith, Blake Shelton, Aventura, Marc Anthony, The Lumineers, Post Malone, Tedeschi Trucks Band, and tobyMac for the top spot on the new list.
Although Playing In The Sand offers all-inclusive packages for thousands of dollars each—making it difficult to compare to the band’s “regular” shows in terms of gross earnings and ticket sales numbers—the Dead & Company event also ranks as the third-highest grossing Mexican engagement in the history of the Billboard Boxscore. Only U2‘s Estadio Azteca event in 2011 and Luis Miguel‘s 30-show residency at Auditorio Nacional in 2006 have earned more money in Mexico. The total numbers from the three editions of Playing In The Sand, the band’s only shows in Mexico, have also made them the ninth-highest grossing band in Mexico’s Boxscore history.
You can check out the full numbers from the March 7th, 2020 Hot Tours chart below:
Dead & Company will deliver a headlining performance at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on May 2nd before heading out on their 2020 summer tour in July. For a full list of upcoming Dead & Company concerts, head here.
[H/T Billboard]