Saturday, September 05, 2009 LOS ANGELES: Madonna smashed her own record for top-grossing tour by a solo artist, but the "Material Girl" had to play more shows in bigger venues, according to data released by concert promoter.The pop singer's yearlong "Sticky & Sweet" world tour, which wrapped in Israel on Wednesday, pulled in $408 million after playing to more than 3.5 million fans at 85 shows.It broke the record set in 2006 by her previous outing, the "Confessions" tour, which grossed $194 million from 1.2 million fans at 60 shows. A promoter spokesman said the previous trek featured many arena stops, while the latest one was centered on bigger stadiums.On September 28, Madonna will release "Celebration" CD and video compilations, which will draw the curtain on her 27-year relationship with Warner Music Group Corp. In 2007, she signed a pioneering, 10-year, $120 million "360" deal with Live Nation covering recording, merchandising and touring.The top-grossing tour overall is the Rolling Stones' $558 million "Bigger Bang" trek of 2005-2007, which drew 4.7 million people to 144 shows.
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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