Barbra's Tour Breaks Records

November 27, 2006, 11:15 AM ET

Ray Waddell, Nashville

Despite talk in the early going of slow ticket sales, Barbra Streisand's first live performances in six years put up record-setting box office numbers. The 20 concerts grossed $92,457,062 and set house gross records in 14 of the 16 arenas played on the tour.In the other two arenas, Madison Square Garden in New York and the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, she already holds the building record, according to tour producer CPI. Streisand now has the top three grosses in the Garden and the top two at the MGM.Tour producer Michael Cohl had predicted as much earlier, scoffing at industry scuttlebutt that the tour was not performing up to par at the box office. Now that the trek is done, Cohl is happy. "I say 'nay' to the naysayers," he tells Billboard.com. "That was probably one of the most satisfying parts of the whole thing. But the most satisfying part for me was how amazing the show was. I watched every night and I loved it. I'd never seen her in concert and she was sensational."Cohl does not rule out more dates by Streisand in 2007. "We're talking about it," he says. "From the stage in Los Angeles she said that she's thinking of going to Europe and the Far East, so here's hoping it happens."
2006 has been a huge year for Cohl and his CPI team. CPI also helmed the Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang tour, which broke the all-time tour record this year at about $437 million, and the $28 million tour by the Who. "It was the most amazing year of my life, let's face it," he says. "It was a busy a year. But I had sat around and done very little hanging out in Florida for over a year, trying to figure out what to do and whether or not to do it. And as soon as the Stones decided they were going to work, then I was going to go back to work, so you may as well go at it whole hog. So I did."