(FORTUNE Magazine) – It's beginning to seem as if the main difference between a rock group's concert tour and a moon landing is that the rock tour makes a profit. Expenses are enormous, logistical problems horrific. Yet rock tours are proliferating as never before, and major corporations often go along for the ride. For example, David Bowie's tour this year requires two identical giant sets that leapfrog each other around the U.S. to be ready for each concert date. The tour had grossed $12.8 million by early October -- not counting over $1 million from Pepsi-Cola, which posted its logo at the concert as well as on programs and tickets. Other big-league tours outclass even Bowie's. Pink Floyd spent over $4.5 million preparing for its current tour and is laying out about $550,000 each week on the road. Yet after only 22 of a likely 140 dates, the band has grossed $14.8 million. ''It's been a phenomenal year for stadium tours,'' says Jane Cohen of Performance, a trade weekly that tracks ticket revenues. Nine acts this year have already broken the $10-million mark in North American shows. Bon Jovi leads so far with $18.8 million for 82 shows, but Cohen thinks Pink Floyd and U2 will surpass that figure by the end of their tours. Other cash-rich acts: the seemingly immortal Grateful Dead, with $16.9 million in ticket sales this year, and 20-year-old Genesis, at $12.7 million. Groups keep up to 70% of the gross. Tickets are only part of rock stars' revenue riff. Top acts like Bon Jovi and U2 sell as much as $10 of merchandise to each concertgoer on average. Program guides are hot at $10 a pop, but the big volume is in $17 T-shirts. Superstars get a royalty of about 35%, according to Dell Furano, president of San Francisco-based Winterland Productions, the biggest concert merchandiser, half owned by CBS Records.