Forrest Frank’s “Jesus Is Alive!” landed within the prime slot on Billboard’s Sizzling Christian Songs chart on Might 30, marking the singer’s second No. 1 on the chart. It was simply the most recent triumph for Frank, who has damaged quite a few information on Billboard‘s Christian and Gospel charts. He’s additionally hit the mainstream in a manner that’s uncommon for a faith-based artist: His 2024 album, Youngster of God, entered the Billboard 200, whereas that album’s follow-up, 2025’s Youngster of God II — which debuted at No. 1 on the High Christian Albums chart — peaked at No. 12 on the tally.
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In all, Frank’s albums have spent 45 weeks at No. 1 on the High Christian Album chart, whereas Youngster of God II has spent extra weeks at No. 1 on the tally in a calendar yr than some other album — beating out Ye’s (previously generally known as Kanye West’s) 2022 album Donda.
These chart successes led to Frank’s sold-out 29-date Jesus Technology Tour, with highlights from the run together with a date at New York Metropolis’s Madison Sq. Backyard on June 10 and one other at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pa., on June 14. The tour — which offered greater than 470,000 tickets inside 10 days of its announcement —consists of a mixture of arenas and stadiums, with upcoming stops together with Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Wash., on July 10; Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., on July 17; and Moody Heart in Austin on July 2 (the tour wraps at Globe Life Discipline in Arlington, Tex., on Aug. 1).
Jimmy Eat World, in the meantime, is at the moment celebrating the 25th anniversary of its 2001 album Bleed American. Propelled by the band’s hit single “The Center,” which reached No. 5 on the Billboard Sizzling 100, the set hit the highest 40 on the Billboard 200 and has offered greater than 1.7 million copies, in accordance with Luminate. To coincide with the anniversary, the band kicked off a tour run on June 9 at Purple Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colo., with dates scheduled at amphitheaters and theaters all through the summer season.
Whereas Christian music and early-aughts rock nostalgia don’t seem to have a lot overlap, each excursions will be traced again to 1 man: Jeffrey Hasson, co-head of UTA’s Nashville workplace and 2026 Billboard Energy 100 honoree, who has earned the title of Billboard‘s Govt of the Week.
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Forrest Frank broke quite a few information in 2025, together with his albums hitting No. 1 on Billboard‘s High Christian Albums chart for 45 weeks — greater than some other artist, together with Ye. How did that success translate into this tour run?
Forrest has related with a era of followers and is on the forefront of a cultural second that may be very particular and really uncommon. The historic success of his album has translated to unprecedented demand for the dwell present, and it’s been unimaginable to see that connection come to life on this sold-out tour. We’re seeing attendance information being set in arenas throughout the nation.
Forrest has seen record-breaking demand for his 2026 The Jesus Technology Tour. How did you consider one of the best routing for this trek?
A variety of thought and analysis went into deciding on the precise markets on the tour. We thought of the demo of the fanbase, historic gross sales information from Forrest, the expansion of the style, market site visitors and the entire different inside metrics we have now at our fingertips.
Did presale demand result in any selections to schedule further dates?
The preliminary rush from the presale confirmed demand for a number of nights throughout the nation. Nonetheless, household is extraordinarily necessary to Forrest, so we selected to verify he may get again to them quite than extending additional, and save that demand for the long run.
Jimmy Eat World launched its twenty fifth anniversary run at Purple Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado. Purple Rocks is thought to guide up shortly. How did you route the tour round that date?
Purple Rocks is such a particular venue for each artists and followers, it’s totally value discovering the suitable date to make use of as an anchor throughout the calendar and work into and round it. The Bleed American tour launch lived as much as the Purple Rocks hype in each manner. The band delivered simply an unbelievable efficiency, and it actually set the tone for the complete tour, which has been good evening in and evening out.
How far upfront did you propose each of those runs?
Each tour varies, however these have been each deliberate over a yr upfront. Summer time is our busiest time of yr, with so many excursions going out, [plus] festivals, sporting occasions, journey, [and] this summer season you have got the World Cup within the combine. There are such a lot of components and logistics to plan round. It’s a fairly large, advanced puzzle, however it’s rewarding when all of it comes collectively.
What’s your course of for figuring out one of the best venue in your purchasers to play — not solely when it comes to capability and ticket gross sales, but additionally in curation of the room?
We now have an excellent really feel for the general market and the profession trajectory of the artist, their temperature or warmth index at any given second. Then, we attempt to make the most of each device at our disposal to determine the suitable curation of each metropolis and venue. The data set round an artist ranges from historic gross sales historical past and market performs to streaming and social information and general visibility. With venues, clearly, the dimensions room you might be concentrating on narrows it down, after which we bear in mind {our relationships} with promoters, and each the fan and artist expertise.
