Brothers of the Sun Tour Tops Pollstar’s Summer List

Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney's Brothers of the Sun tour is the highest-grossing 2012 summer tour in any genre, according to Pollstar. And their competition doesn't even come close. Numbers are based on average box office gross per city, with the Brothers trek raking in more than $4.2 million per city. In the No. 2 spot is Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters with just over $2 million. Rounding out the top five are tours featuring Coldplay ($2 million) and Dave Matthews Band ($1.4 million), followed by Cirque du Soleil's "Michael Jackson: The Immortal" ($1.3 million). The only other country acts in Pollstar's Top 20 summer tours list are Lady Antebellum (at No. 15 with $490k), Miranda Lambert (No. 16, $433k) and Eric Church (No. 20, $321k).

Tim and Kenny are dazzling audiences all over the country with their high-energy stadium shows, which begin with sets by Jake Owen and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. Tim has used the opportunity to preview new music from an upcoming album -- his first project for his new label home, Big Machine Records.

"We're doing two new [songs] in the show, 'Mexicoma' and 'Truck Yeah,'" Tim tells The Boot. "They're going over great. For any artist, the most fun you have in a night sometimes is playing new stuff, especially new stuff that already sounds like a hit. And these two songs, when we play them the reaction is like they've been out ten years already. They're a lot of fun."

"Truck Yeah" has only been out a few weeks and is already a smash hit. It made its debut at No. 22 on the singles chart, becoming the country icon's highest solo singles chart debut of his 20-plus year career. Tim's highest overall chart debut just happens to be his previous radio release, the Kenny Chesney duet, "Feel Like a Rock Star," which the two perform together every night on tour. The uptempo tune is featured on Kenny's chart-topping Welcome to the Fishbowl album.

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