Sade makes over N8bn from 2011 concerts

It’s a huge return to form for Sade Adu, who was first tipped for huge success when singles ‘Smooth Operator’ and ‘Your Love Is King’ burst on to the music scene in 1984. She never matched her early success and slipped off the radar after releasing her fourth album, ‘Love Deluxe’, in 1992. The disc […]

It’s a huge return to form for Sade Adu, who was first tipped for huge success when singles ‘Smooth Operator’ and ‘Your Love Is King’ burst on to the music scene in 1984. She never matched her early success and slipped off the radar after releasing her fourth album, ‘Love Deluxe’, in 1992. The disc was her last effort for eight years until ‘Lovers Rock’ in 2000 and a follow-up last year.

But the Nigerian-born singer has drawn in crowds again with her Sade Live world tour of 59 stage shows in front of nearly 600,000 fans.

Rock behemoths U2 were this year’s highest grossing live act, according to Billboard magazine. The Irishmen played to almost 3million people over 44 dates, raking in more than £180million. Close on their heels were US rockers Bon Jovi, who made more than £120million from 68 shows. The boy-band called ‘Take That’ were helped when Robbie Williams returned to complete the original line-up on stage, earning them £117million on their European Progress tour.