I asked that question about 7 or 8 years ago on a Stones board and mostly the answer was no.

Only because of the Grateful Dead to which have stopped touring a long time ago.

So today, in 2011, I think the Stones have played to more people than any other band ever.

Am I wrong?

The Bigger Bang tour must of topped off the number to the most if you understand what I'm trying to say.

Very hard to say, because with the Grateful Dead, you'd be counting the same 20,000 people over and over again.

i'm doing a head-count right now...will get back to you in a bit...

I'm gonna say yes.

Yes.

I did read somewhere that Elton John just played the 3,000th show of his career, though it's been mostly arenas, not stadiums. I think he only ever played stadiums during his mid-70s peak.

The Beach Boys.

I say yes too.

The Dead's numbers have stopped a long time ago.

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tatters
Very hard to say, because with the Grateful Dead, you'd be counting the same 20,000 people over and over again.

Understand, but that's not the same concert.

I know The Dead played at Egypt, but I think the Stones have played to more people than The Dead.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-10-20 17:46 by donteverstop.

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tatters
I did read somewhere that Elton John just played the 3,000th show of his career, though it's been mostly arenas, not stadiums. I think he only ever played stadiums during his mid-70s peak.

i had to go read that news story with my own eyes to believe it.

average of 75 shows a year for 40 years.

but dylan i think is around 3300 or so?

grateful dead one site says 2400.

bb king has got to be over 4000 easy.

any other big names in the two or 3 thousand club?

BB King only plays theaters now and has been for some time.

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donteverstop
BB King only plays theaters now and has been for some time.

wasnt considering him for the most attended title, just amazed at his number
of shows that's all.

but if elton averages 10,000 that means 30,000,000 a possible number, so
he's in the running isnt he?

also you've got the festival issue, about how you count big multi-band lineups,
and also the free concert issue like altamount and especially rio bang...

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nocomment
also you've got the festival issue, about how you count big multi-band lineups,
..

you take the total turnout, divided by the number of acts...then take the square root of that and multiply by pi

bang 4.5 million, licks 3.5 million attendees, no other stones tour in
the top ten, so difficult to see how they could have more than about
15 million total. think u2 would be roughly around 15 million too.
very roughly. very very roughly, so probably elton and the dead ahead,
maybe 20 million each. guesses thats all based on very incomplete numbers.

just looked at eltons figures for the 2000's. slightly more than 10,000 per
show. so he may indeed be the winner, in the neighborhood of 30 effin million.
but if true, surprised he doesnt claim the title somewhere.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-10-20 18:14 by nocomment.

dead could maybe average 20,000 which might give them a runaway
40 million plus. they quickly got up to the arena level and did lots
of stadium size shows for twenty years straight...

so here's the guess numbers for others to take a shot at refining...

dead 40 million
elton 30 million
stones 25 million
u2 17 million
dylan 15 million



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2011-10-20 19:32 by nocomment.

I think the numbers favor the Stones.

Remember, since 62-Today and the next tour.

Dead's 40 mil seems very high - When Jerry passed (god rest his soul) the Dead's numbers stopped.

Stones kept on touring.

Elton's numbers seem a bit high too.

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donteverstop
I think the numbers favor the Stones.

Remember, since 62-Today and the next tour.

Dead's 40 mil seems very high - When Jerry passed (god rest his soul) the Dead's numbers stopped.

Stones kept on touring.

Elton's numbers seem a bit high too.

hang on...i'm still counting

The first 1,000 or so shows the Stones played were almost all in theatres, ballrooms and clubs, dont forget (the 1,000th show was in 1967. The 2,000th was in August 2006).

I think theyve probably played to around 32-35 million people. So, to answer the original question - almosty certainly.

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donteverstop

Dead's 40 mil seems very high - When Jerry passed (god rest his soul) the Dead's numbers stopped.

but the dead didnt have so many shows at the club ballroom auditorium level before taking it
to the arenas and then lots of mega shows. still think they had to average
more than 20000 for 2400 shows. which puts them well over 40 million.

cant see the stones anywhere near 30 million. about 15 million from 89 onwards,
maybe a bit more. how many before 89? more than 10 million? dont think so,
maybe. we'll change it to 25 million, but dont really believe it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-10-20 19:33 by nocomment.

Tattoo You tour - 4 million
Steel Wheels tour - 6.25 million
Voodoo Lounge tour - 6.5 million
BTB/No Security tour - 5.7 million
Licks tour - 3 .5 million
Bigger Bang tour - 4.7 million (I think this excludes the Rio show, so maybe 6 million is a decent guess)

Total from 1969-78 is around 4.5 - 5 million

Estimating 2,000 people per show for the first 5 years (1,000 shows) and its maybe a bit under 2 million for that era

Certainly over 35 million in any case. Maybe as much as 38 million.

[www.iorr.org]

Voodoo Lounge tour was 7 million, their largest attended tour I think. So if bang was 4,5 and licks 3,5 that's already 14 million. How much was steel wheels/jungle tour and bridges tour ? I guess about 20 million in those 5 tours.

1960's?

1972-1973 tour ?

1975-1976 tour ?

1978 tour ?

1981-1982 tour ? Lot of stadiums anyway.

So maybe 25 - 30 million in total? One more tour and they could be number 1 if those Dead numbers are correct.

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StonesTod

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donteverstop
I think the numbers favor the Stones.

Remember, since 62-Today and the next tour.

Dead's 40 mil seems very high - When Jerry passed (god rest his soul) the Dead's numbers stopped.

Stones kept on touring.

Elton's numbers seem a bit high too.

hang on...i'm still counting

lol

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StonesTod

hang on...i'm still counting

12 - 66 - 1243 - 82 - 101

Sorry, did I mess it up?

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Koen

Quote
StonesTod

hang on...i'm still counting

12 - 66 - 1243 - 82 - 101

Sorry, did I mess it up?

it's okay...i've had to restart a number of times anyway. i've only got so many fingers and toes.

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Indian Girl
Voodoo Lounge tour was 7 million, their largest attended tour I think. So if bang was 4,5 and licks 3,5 that's already 14 million. How much was steel wheels/jungle tour and bridges tour ? I guess about 20 million in those 5 tours.

1960's?

1972-1973 tour ?

1975-1976 tour ?

1978 tour ?

1981-1982 tour ? Lot of stadiums anyway.

So maybe 25 - 30 million in total? One more tour and they could be number 1 if those Dead numbers are correct.

if youre right about voodoo attendance, then 30 million is in reach. the site
i visited said bang was the biggest attendance ever for anybody (including
1.5 million rio) at 4.5 million. if theyre wrong about voodoo and steel wheels,
and they exceed bang, then probably gazza's numbers are right at 32 million
or so.

but from taking a quick look at the list of dead venues, i dont think 30000
average per show for 1500 of their shows is unrealistic at all, with easy
another 5 million at their first 800 shows. so they could be at 50 million
but no one seems to make that claim or any claim about their ultimate number.

eltons 30 million at over 3000 shows seems assured, again without any long
history of playing small places.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011-10-20 20:06 by nocomment.

The attendances from Steel Wheels on are verified figures, mate.

From 1969 to 1982 I calculated based on the size of venues they played tour-by-tour. Dont forget that in 1969 alone there were two shows which were attended by a total of between half and three quarters of a million.

Up to 1967 is harder, but its probably more than 1.5 million and less than 2 million.

Voodoo is about 7 million at least according to this :

[users.abo.fi]

then as we said the site we got our numbers was wrong.