I just checked out the U2 tour which started in San Diego last night. It turns out you have to be a member of U2.com in order to see thgeir tour dates. This is very different as compared to RS.com on the last tour. I think it is fair that you have to pay in order to get access to reserved parts of a commercial web site, like U2.com and RS.com, but accurate and complete tour dates are public information of great importance, and if an official web site hide such information away from the fans by payments and login, then the site is of no use at all.

PS. For the record, you may see the U2 tour dates on www.Pollstar.com, but for some strange reason they do not list the July 27 show at Valle Hovin in Oslo, sold out in an hour or so, and I can't see any show in Helsinki. May be they don't visit Finland?

Bjornulf

Hello,

Do you know where I can get information about the the number of seats of the arenas / stadiums that U2 are going to play?

I want to compare the number of spectators of the Licks Tour and the Vertigo Tour.

Thanks!

Many places are the same ones as with the Stones. Arenas in USA, also some in UK, mostly stadiums in Europe. For crowd capacity see:

RS Tour 2002: [iorr.org]
Rs Tour 2003: [iorr.org]

Most arenas are 15,000 +/- 3,000. Most stadiums are 50,000 +/- 15,000. U2 ticket prices are only 50% of Stones ticket prices, so it is not a real comparison. Like oranges vs. potatoes.



Bjornulf

I prefer oranges to potatoes. But foremost, as Rock is supposed to be popular music, I would dream that for this Farewell Tour, they come back to Steel Wheels Tour alike and set another record of popular audience which have drown since then
due to ticket prices mostly. 7.5 Millions, then 6.0 Millions,and to a poor 3.5
Millions in Forty Licks. The Rock Fans deserve it, they too. I guess they have enough money. So what is the need to play in front of a 10,000 audience. Music History have to have the Stones deliver their History for the Last Time. With Brian regarding them, Bill on Stage in wembley and Taylor awaiting for This time to say Goodbye. U2 is an epiphenomenon. Stones build up that music with the Who,
Kinks, Dylan and zeppelin. For those, and I cannot think of Mick not responding to a challenge : face his destiny and leave us with arenas. It' s gonna be tough.
But they did it on other more rough times :Altamont, coke period. And they rocked better than ever on Forty Licks.

Farewell tour my arse!

Is that true? The Steel Wheels tour had 7,5 mio. spectators?

BV,

look at www.u2tour.de and you find everything including setlists, reviews etc.

Sjouke

Also take a look at www.u2tours.com

That's something they must have changed in the last couple of days, because a week ago I checked their tour dates on the official site without a problem.

The "farewell tour" will be free! Hundreds of free gigs all around the world so that everyone and their granny gets to see the Rolling Stones. :-)

You heard it here first!

I think I've bust a button on my trousers....

Fantastic to see (and hear) that you can listen to part of the concert the day after on www.u2tours.com

It must be an soundboard recording so i wonder how they got hold of this. Does U2 post on there website? If so that would be an awesome thing to do for your fans!!!!

Cheers,
Wuudy

phd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I prefer oranges to potatoes. But foremost, as
> Rock is supposed to be popular music, I would
> dream that for this Farewell Tour, they come back
> to Steel Wheels Tour alike and set another record
> of popular audience which have drown since then
> due to ticket prices mostly. 7.5 Millions, then
> 6.0 Millions,and to a poor 3.5
> Millions in Forty Licks.

Stones Tours Attendance:
- 1989/90 - Steel Wheels 6.250.000
(3.200.000 US, 2.550.000 Europe, 500.000 Japan)

- 1994/95 - Voodoo Lounge 6.570.000
(2.650.000 US, 2.630.000 Europe, 952,000 South America/Africa, 337.000 Australia/New Zealand)

- 1997/99 - Bridges To Babylon 5.700.000
(2.500.000 US, 2.500.000 Europe, 700,000 South America/Japan)

- 2002/03 - Licks Tour 3.460.000
(1.507,000 US, 1.625.000 Europe, 333.000 Asia/Australia)

Wow, absolutely amazing figures. I didn't know the Steel Wheels Tour did so well...
The Licks Tour is somehow disappointing. There is an obvious decline...I hope the next tour will be more popular again.

Btw, where did u get these figures from? Are these the offical ones?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-03-30 14:23 by ThatsWhatISay.

<The Licks Tour is somehow disappointing. There is an obvious decline...I hope the next tour will be more popular again.>

They played club and arena shows on the Licks tour. They'd have to still be playing that tour for reaching those numbers of the earlier tours.

One need to say that those are amazing numbers... but still need to notice that in their so called most important market - US - the decline has been clear, but of course, the venues also had get smaller with more expensive tickets. But the truth remains that they reach fewer people than before - and I suppose that the same tendency will continue in their second biggest market, Europe. (In those two markets Four Licks Tour sold about 50% less tickets than Steel Wheels Tour.)

- Doxa

Rorty Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One need to say that those are amazing numbers...
> but still need to notice that in their so called
> most important market - US - the decline has been
> clear, but of course, the venues also had get
> smaller with more expensive tickets. But the truth
> remains that they reach fewer people than before -
> and I suppose that the same tendency will continue
> in their second biggest market, Europe. (In those
> two markets Four Licks Tour sold about 50% less
> tickets than Steel Wheels Tour.)
>
> - Doxa


going by the last two tours, it seems their biggest market, attendance wise, is Europe

They'd generate more money in North America, however, as prices tend to be higher

Arena shows in USA, missing stadiums in South America, and spending time on club shows and arenas across the world. We love the smaller shows, but you know every time they book a day on a club or an arena, there will be 40,000 people locked out from that show date, vs. if it was a stadium show. But I would much rather have the one week in a city with club, arena, stadium one more time. Stockholm. London. Paris. Munich. Netherlands. Boston. Los Angelses. Sydney and so on. The Stones gave us quality weeks for sure, for the hard core fans, but this way of organizing the tour does not make as much money or as much people in total. There is quality and there is quantity.

ThatsWhatISay Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>Btw, where did u get these figures from? Are these the offical ones?



All official numbers:
Steel Wheels from Fortune
Voodoo Lounge and Bridges To Babylon from Billboard boxscore
Licks Tour from Billboard and Live Licks CD.


I have aprox. numbers for the 81-82 tour too (not 100% official):
1981: 2.000.000 attendance, $52.000.000 gross
1982: 2.000.000 attendance, $40.000.000 gross ($90.000.000 for the tour)


Tour Gross (official):
1989: $98.000.000
1990: $50.000.000 ($148.000.000 total)

1994: $121.000.000
1995: $199.000.000 ($320.000.000 total)

1997: $89.000.000
1998: $140.000.000
1999: $67.000.000 (US) / $25.000.000 (Europe)
Total: $320.000.000 (Billboard) *
* Other sources (Rolling Stone) said that the tour grossed $345 million.

2002: $87.900.000
2003: $211.600.000 ($299.500.000 total)

The Grossing U.S.A. Concert Tours of All-Time:
(single-year statistics, up to Dec. 2004)

1. The Rolling Stones (1994, 60 shows) $121,200,000.
2. Bruce Springsteen (2003, 47 shows) $115,900,000.
3. U2 (2001, 80 shows) $109,700,000.
4. Pink Floyd (1994, 59 shows) $103,500,000.
5. Paul McCartney (2002, 53 shows) $103,300,000.
6. The Rolling Stones (1989, 60 shows) $98,000,000
7. The Rolling Stones (1997, 33 shows) $89,300,000.
8. The Rolling Stones (2002, 34 shows) $87,900,000.

We can say goodbye to the #1, U2 will be there this year with an expected US gross of $130.000.000 or more.
The problem is the Stones doing US tour on two legs (97-98, 2002-03), they did over $120 million in US during that tours but not in a single year like the Voodoo Lounge tour.

If these figures continue, I estimate that the Stones will be playing to 25 people in the wembley Stadium by 2030.......

Regards,


Ian.

Rolling Stones Tribute

Play Rolling Stones

I always thought the Voodoo Lounge tour was the unchallenged king among the top-grossing tours, but I didn't know the B2B Tour was a tie or -in case the Rolling Stones is right- even grossed more. Very intersting. You're the man for the facts! :-)

Thnx!

But how can the Vertigo Tour gross $130 mio. if they only play arenas? Do they charge exorbitant prices?

My mathematics are going wrong. U2 estimated crowd : 60 dates, 1.2 Millions in the US with a Grosss up 130 Millions USD, e.g. per capita 105 USD. RS 2002 leg :
1.2 Miilons attendance, gross up : 85 Millions USD, e.g 70 USD per capita.That does mean U2 can sell 50 % over the Stones. Good for them.
Now, if you add up the 2003 US leg tour : attendance 240,000 x 70 USD that makes up to 16.8 Millios USD added to the 85 Millions 2002 leg totaled 102 Millions USD. RS still well performed in the top ten.
Now, for this Tour I still guess they will perform more in Stadiums than Arenas.
Even if it gives more money. What is reminded in Memory is popular success.

The OFFICIAL attendance for the Licks tour 2002 leg was 737,293.
The 1.507.000 figure include the Toronto Rocks show, so the total US attendance up to Feb. 8, 2003 (the end of the US tour) was 1.017.000: (1.017.000 + 490.000 from Toronto Rocks)

The gross figure is meaningless anyway. What matters is net profit and profit margin! Now I bet those figures aren't quite as easy to get hold of!

Do the gross figures include the sponsorship deals and how much are they worth?

Interesting numbers. I do some maths:

Steel Wheels: 6.25 million = $148.000.000 i.e. $23,68/ticket
Voodoo Lounge 6.57 million = $320.000.000 i.e. $48,71/ticket
Bridges/No Sec 5.70 million = $320.000.000 i.e. $56,14/ticket
Licks Tour 3.46 million = $299.500.000 i.e. $86,56/idiot paper

How can we intepret these numbers?

Well, first we got to remember the minor inflation, the fact that the total gross is not consisted solely on the the sold tickets, but sponsors etc. that concert prizes are different all over the world: the prizes for North America market are quite bigger than for South America,. etc.

But still we can say:

Steel Wheels was a "cheap", almost amateurish attempt to check the demand; and it was - as to be seen - sold under the market prize. By 1994 The Stones seemed to understand their value: to make a tour it should gross about $300.000.000. That's the prize for the Stones to make a tour. During the following decade (1994-2003) the customers were the ones to make that plan true.

As can be dramatically seen, the leading policy to gather that sum was to perform to smaller audiences (was that intentional or not), and increase the prize of avarage ticket; it almost doubled during that time. And if compared to their first "come back/farawell tour" of 1989/90, the one of 2002/2003 reached only a half of the people but grossed twice as much!

So, if we do a little bit prediction in the base of those statistics, the new tour should gross about $300.000.000, gather about 2.3 million people (they lost 2.2 million tickets from Bridges to Licks in a four and a half years, now in two to three years time the loss will be about 1.1 million tickets) an avarage ticket would pay about $130.

Well, what can a poor boy do...

- Doxa

Nice one Doxa!

But does anyone know what the sponsership deals are worth?

What would interest me is if the sponsorship deals would cover most of the costs of putting the show on the road, because then the boys would be raking it in.

They do. And they are!