true. but technically other countries saw him, not just the USA

Pedant!

The most coveted tickets in the '70's were probably Dylan's Rolling Thunder Review in the mid-70's, with a rotating cast including Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, T-Bone Burnett, and others. Dylan played smaller halls and put the tickets on sale the day of or the day before the show.

Dylan also had another big tour in his "comeback tour" with the Band.

2d most coveted were probably the Stones tours. People fought in lines for those tickets. I remember.

ABBA? Are you kidding? Never considered serious rock.

A group you haven't mentioned were the Beach Boys. Believe it or not, they were a spectacular touring band in the early '70's, playing their (then) newer, more experimental stuff, as well as their old stuff and covers (including a killer Johnny B. Goode and, believe it or not, a very good Jumpin' Jack Flash). After Mike Love took over the group in the mid-70's, they turned into the nostalgia factory they've been ever since, but they constantly played huge stadium crowds.

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lem motlow
as someone who had to scrape up tickets for nearly every band mentioned ,trust me,it wasnt even close-

the stones and zeppelin.there was no way to accurately judge who could sell the most tickets because they simply sold out every show as soon as it went on sale and you got the feeling that no matter how many shows each band played every one would sell-out.

you could always buy tickets of course but it was gonna cost you.for one thing most people who had them wanted to go to the show and any extras went to their friends or family.the scalpers knew they had gold in their hands and they went instantly for top dollar.

those two,without a doubt.anyone else- and i dont care who it was,was an afterthought.

Absoloutly. I've spent a few nights at the ticket window to be able to get tickets for both bands. How you can say what tickets were hotter? They both were sold out in a few hours in those days. The big difference was that Zep was a fantastic gig and the Stones was a hurracain that made the whole town be aware of their presence.

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leteyer

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lem motlow
as someone who had to scrape up tickets for nearly every band mentioned ,trust me,it wasnt even close-

the stones and zeppelin.there was no way to accurately judge who could sell the most tickets because they simply sold out every show as soon as it went on sale and you got the feeling that no matter how many shows each band played every one would sell-out.

you could always buy tickets of course but it was gonna cost you.for one thing most people who had them wanted to go to the show and any extras went to their friends or family.the scalpers knew they had gold in their hands and they went instantly for top dollar.

those two,without a doubt.anyone else- and i dont care who it was,was an afterthought.

Absoloutly. I've spent a few nights at the ticket window to be able to get tickets for both bands. How you can say what tickets were hotter? They both were sold out in a few hours in those days. The big difference was that Zep was a fantastic gig and the Stones was a hurracain that made the whole town be aware of their presence.

And not that much has changed today. Given the amount they've toured and talk of the market being saturated, if your town is picked as a Stones town on a new tour, that makes the evening news and newspapers. THEN, when they arrive everyone knows and is talking about it. A true event.

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ineedadrink

JJF - the beach boys - live at carnegie hall 1973

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oMTBjC9Ju4&list=PLPkrGg9fqYB2k6csfkMHK5g5uGJi3jxQL

In early 1970's Three Dog Night

Not Deep Purple?

I agree with Gazza. I am not a big Grateful Dead fan, but they were constantly touring in the 1970's and probably have the most shows.

Someone here probably knows more about this than me, but Bill Walton wrote in his autobiography that he was at 869 shows.

I wonder which one literally was the biggest, meaning the most musicians on stage.

James Brown JBs? Parliament Funkadelic? Fela Kuti's Africa 70?

C

Elvis's 1970's tours should have foretold the future nostalgia tours.

Demand was almost limitless - most arenas were 2 shows a night, and ticket prices were roughly twice your average concert while I don't think he had much new material. So if you want to gross on top of shows played and tickets sold, Elvis might be the contender.

There was no Pollstar magazine in the 1970's and Billboard only began collecting and publishing figures later in the decade.

Who knows, maybe Ted Nugent or the Doobie Brothers might qualify too in addition to the aforementioned Grateful Dead or KISS - who only headlined arenas latter half of 1975-1976-1977 & 1979.

Was it the Stones, Led Zeppelin, or the Who? was his question....
I love where these forms take it...

70's hands down Zeppelin, even though my heart is with the stones.

Joe Cocker – Mad Dogs and Englishmen… - has there ever been a stage a rock tour that was so overcrowded? Even Elvis' band was smaller, wasn't it?

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umakmehrd
Was it the Stones, Led Zeppelin, or the Who? was his question....
I love where these forms take it...

70's hands down Zeppelin, even though my heart is with the stones.

I agree...I think this is just a known thing. It was in the 70s at least.

Zep owned the 70s whereas the Stones were hot the early 70s and in 78.

It stands to reason after 10 or so years at the top other bands would come in and steal their thunder...the fact the Stones KEPT COMING BACK is what has made them absolutely remarkable and singular.

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tatters

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Gazza

If anyone's arguing about 'most coveted ticket', its a no contest when you consider that not one of those 1,156 shows took place outside the USA. An international tour would have blown away anything by anyone else demand-wise.

Except a Beatles tour.

The last Beatles tour was far from successful. They didn't play well, there were issues with crowd control, Beatlesmania seemed to be over, and due to Lennon's Jesus remark and statements about the Vietnam war shows in the US were not sold out.

Mathijs

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Mathijs

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tatters

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Gazza

If anyone's arguing about 'most coveted ticket', its a no contest when you consider that not one of those 1,156 shows took place outside the USA. An international tour would have blown away anything by anyone else demand-wise.

Except a Beatles tour.

The last Beatles tour was far from successful. They didn't play well, there were issues with crowd control, Beatlesmania seemed to be over, and due to Lennon's Jesus remark and statements about the Vietnam war shows in the US were not sold out.

Mathijs

Really? I didn't know this. Source?

OK, here it is:
[en.wikipedia.org]][/url]

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treaclefingers

...It stands to reason after 10 or so years at the top other bands would come in and steal their thunder...the fact the Stones KEPT COMING BACK is what has made them absolutely remarkable and singular.

Yep...they're still here , still doing it, still commanding huge fees to perform in sports stadia .

That's what make them remarkable.

The Rollong Stones in 1972 were the biggest live act in America.They were all over the media.Their tickets sold out in seconds.Writers like Capote and Southern were following the tour .Celebrities crammed their concerts.LED Zeppelin was not even in the picture



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024-06-06 17:47 by Taylor1.

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Taylor1
Writers like Capote and Southern were following the tour .Celebrities crammed their concerts.LED Zeppelin was not even in the picture

Yeah didn't LZ have a "rock low-brows" reputation (thanks to Bonham and Grant?) while Cavett would interview Bill Wyman on his show...?
Different class of people? I'm sure Jagger would say "yes" and he'd never let his name be associated with the word "mudshark"...

One of the greatest touring bands of all time was the Grateful Dead. Unlike the mega British bands, the Dead would play big and small cities including festivals, colleges and anywhere they could set up. Let's not forget they would play 3 to 4 hour shows with different setlists each show.

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The Sicilian
Let's not forget they would play 3 to 4 hour shows with different setlists each show.

A rock show is like life : it'd better be short and exciting than long, slow and boring...

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umakmehrd
Was it the Stones, Led Zeppelin, or the Who? was his question....
I love where these forms take it...

70's hands down Zeppelin, even though my heart is with the stones.

I was 2years old at the time, but from what I’ve read and seen the1972 Stones tour wasn’t just the biggest tour of the year it was THE EVENT of 1972.The Stones continued with great popular tours, and they and other bands made much more money on subsequent tours, but no tour comes close to the impact that one had.Please Led Zeppelin isn’t in the same ballpark



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024-06-06 23:28 by Taylor1.

Yes 72 tour was amazing so was 78 unfortunately Led Zepplin was the biggest for that decade - Stones are my favorite by a moonlight mile but....

My impression of this post was what band played the most shows in the 70's. It's not about which band is the favorite or which band had the most impact.

Certainly, the Stones, Who and Zepplin were the most popular acts:

The Dead have played more shows than any band in history, so I'm sure someone somewhere can point out how many gigs they played in this time frame. The Stones played 262 shows between July 1969 and 1977. Zeppelin played 399 in the same period, and Pink Floyd around 370.

They played 139 shows in 1970, 86 in 1971, 88 in 1972, 75in 1973, and 82 in 1978. which adds up to 470 shows and that doesn't include the other years.

There may be a few bands not as well-known bands who played more.

The best live band and touring band in the U.K. in the early '70's was Mott the Hoople .

Number of shows per year:

1970
Stones - 23
Zep - 70
Who - 74

1971
Stones - 18
Zep - 61
Who - 73

1972
Stones - 48
Zep - 46
Who - 17

1973
Stones - 56
Zep - 61
Who - 27

1974
Stones - 0
Zep - 0
Who - 15

1975
Stones - 47
Zep - 61
Who - 43

1976
Stones - 42
Zep - 0
Who - 36

1977
Stones - 2
Zep - 44
Who - 1

1978
Stones - 26
Zep - 0
Who - 1

1979
Stones - 2
Zep - 4
Who - 35

Demand? There's always the "no group in history had ever attracted such an audience in Britain" about Zep selling out the 5 Earl's Court shows in a few hours.

Zep played the most shows so in regard to Stones/Zep/Who that would make them the biggest touring band of the 1970s (in this case, 1970-1979).

I am perplexed to find a thread on a Stones fan forum where it can be read that in the 70s the Stones were not light years ahead of any band. I'm amazed.

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emotionalbarbecue
I am perplexed to find a thread on a Stones fan forum where it can be read that in the 70s the Stones were not light years ahead of any band. I'm amazed.

If you stick with the context of the thread subject, it's nothing to do with the culture of any band, strictly who was in demand the most.