Lady Gaga, Bieber Fever Outdone by Christian Tour

It’s quite a day when a multi-artist event that promotes Christian bands drives a bigger audience than secular rock stars like Bon Jovi, U2, Justin Bieber and, yes, Lady Gaga. That’s just what the Winter Jam Tour Spectacular has done. It was the number one tour in the world for the first quarter of 2011, according to Pollstar.

The Winter Jam 2011 Tour Spectacular saw 524,239 fans come out on its 46-market tour. Headliners included the Newsboys, David Crowder Band, Kutless, Francesca Battistelli, RED, KJ-52, and guest speaker Tony Nolan, along with a Pre-Jam party presented by the American Bible Society with Sidewalk Prophets, Chris August, Chris Sligh and Jason Castro.

“We are grateful and humbled by the response to this year’s Winter Jam that only God Himself could have orchestrated,” says NewSong’s Eddie Carswell, tour founder. “It is amazing to think that nearly 100,000 people made meaningful, life-changing decisions to follow Christ and that over 13,000 made a commitment to assist orphans through our partnership with Holt. To truly impact lives is the reason that Winter Jam was created 16 years ago.”

Since its formation by NewSong in 1995, Winter Jam has featured many of the top names in Christian music, including TobyMac, Third Day, Newsboys, Steven Curtis Chapman, Skillet and Jeremy Camp, among many others. This year’s tour featured the most artists and performances in the event’s history.

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