Portraits of the 500: Behind the scenes with Tim McGraw in concert

Raise a cup (or a phone) to Tim McGraw. The country star was singing to some 20,000 fans at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, Calif., on May 10. McGraw was front and center, but Live Nation (No. 404 on the Fortune 500) is everywhere else in the performance business. Its concert division hosted 23,000 shows last year, far more than any U.S. competitor. Its artist management group pilots the careers of U2, Madonna, and over 200 other acts. And its Ticketmaster unit sells 400 million tickets a year. Live Nation (LYV), which has jumped 86 slots up the Fortune 500 during its five years on the list, raked in $6.5 billion in revenues last year, helping double the company’s stock price in 2013.