By Chris Richburg
Despite the worldwide media attention being given to Jay-Z’s marriage to longtime girlfriend Beyonce Knowles on Friday (April 4), the pair’s honeymoon will come at a later date, as the chart topping rapper continues on The Heart of the City tour with Mary J. Blige.
Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige performed in Greensboro, North Carolina last night (April 5), where the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul congratulated Jay-Z and Beyonce on their recent marriage
Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige are due in Washington D.C. tonight (April 6) at the Verizon Center.
It’s been a whirlwind week for Jay-Z. In addition to getting married and touring, the rapper is also on the verge of signing a $150 million dollar entertainment deal with Live Nation.
While Jay-Z and Beyonce’s union is generating huge press, news of his partnership with Live Nation has drawn criticism from Morgan Joseph analyst David Kestenbaum, who labeled the deal as "excessive."
According to the New York Post, Morgan Joseph questioned the motivation for the new alliance and predicted that it will result in deeper debt for Live Nation.
"We question the reasoning behind Live Nation's reported deal with Jay-Z, and remain wary of management's willingness to spend such substantial amounts of money on developing its Artist Nation segment," Kestenbaum said in a note to investors. "We cannot figure out why Live Nation would pay $30 million more for Jay-Z, particularly given his relative touring underperformance and lower-profile status vs. the other two."
Representatives for Live Nation and Jay-Z revealed tour statistics to AllHipHop.com, which show the tour is quite successful, raking in tens of millions of dollars.
The first eight dates of "The Heart of the City" tour grossed more than $9.1 million dollars, while averaging more than 12,000 fans per night.
According to Live Nation, the outing is expected to generated in excess of $33 million dollars from the 28 performances scheduled across the U.S. and Canada.
Thus far, the Heart of the City tour raked in $1.5 million at a stop at Toronto's Air Canada Centre on Wednesday (April 2), nearly $1.7 million at Philadelphia's Wachovia Center and $1.8 Million in ticket sales at East Rutherford's Izod Center.
The tour’s Baltimore performance at the 1st Mariner Arena was the second highest grossing concert of all time for the venue, topped only by The Rolling Stones.
The Heart of the City tour will conclude in Uncasville, Connecticut on May 8.