It's little wonder there is such little demand for the Stones compared with 10 years ago given the prices being charged.

I wonder how many show would have sold out in seconds if the tickets were more realistically priced at $75 or so.

MSG hasn't even sold out.
Two medium sized stadium shows have plenty of tix left in a huge city like Boston a few days before the tour kicks off.

Having to bring on board bands like AC/DC and Metallica for Licks and On Stage tours must be sort of giving the Stones some sort of hint.

I'd be interested to see the attendances for the U2 Vertigo tour come its end, and compare them with the Stones.
I'm sure U2 tix are nowadays harder in general to get a hold of.
Probably because they aren't asking for an organ donation with each ticket purchased.


kyle m

Have you ever lent somebody $20 and never seen them again? It was probably worth it.

I tried to get tickets for a lot of shows. But most shows are sold out via ticketmaster except the ones which are also open on rs.com
I am very surprised that this discussion comes up again. I agree that sales might not be as fast, but there are a lot of dispcrepancies. Also check out the brokers, 90 % have the same source and same tickets to sell. So not to much.
I just really wonder about certain concerts who gets the tickets. I know of nobody who was able to purchase front tickets like garden at the Hollywood Bowl and I really know quite a lot of fans who attend that shows.

The Stones do not "take on board" other bands to increase ticket sales, that is rubbish - they have always had great support acts at their shows. Even so, everyone goes to see the "one and only" ROLLING STONES - the greatest without question.

"I'd be interested to see the attendances for the U2 Vertigo tour come its end, and compare them with the Stones."

U2 has discovered how to get a big audience..... to play happy joyful tralalala music.....

U2 were charging 65 pounds sterling, for pitch standing at their U.K shows, earlier, this summer.
....that is not cheap.

I went to a few U2 "SOLD OUT" concerts here in Europe and the day of the show the ticket booths were open and the people that tried to make a profit were having a hard time selling their tix....

So everyone trying to get in, got in...No real shortage.

But Kyle's right..The ticket prices for the US gigs are really offensive, lets see how much they will charge elsewhere.

Star if you believe that you'll believe anything.

AC/DC were brought on board during Licks to increas tix sales, which at that point in many cases were very poor in Europe for the stadium/field shows.
And have a discussion with someone that saw a German Licks show that had both the Stones and AC/DC plasying - ask them if they think "everyone" there was to see the Stones.
I can tell you that they weren't.

Hi Rockingfan

Go to Google and check out at various sites how many tix are available for umpteen shows.
Not to mention Ebay has been awash with tickets that are being passed in at face value.

This definately wouldn't keep coming up if the tickets weren't so outrageously priced.

kyle m

Have you ever lent somebody $20 and never seen them again? It was probably worth it.

"U2 has discovered how to get a big audience..... to play happy joyful tralalala music....."

That may be the reason why they are the heaviest selling band on Earth.
But tralalalas aside - their prices aren't anywhere near as crushing as the Stones.
Although they may not be "cheap" to see, they're alot easier on the wallet and selling more concert tix than the Stones.

ps - Hi leteyer!


kyle m

Have you ever lent somebody $20 and never seen them again? It was probably worth it.

"Having to bring on board bands like AC/DC and Metallica for Licks and On Stage tours must be sort of giving the Stones some sort of hint. "

The ticket-sales in SF hasn't increase after Metallica was brought in - so what's the deal there.....

In 2003, there were about 30,000 tickets sold for the Helsinki show (a 42,000 capacity stadium). ZZ Top were added to the bill and an additional 10,000 tickets were sold.

country honk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> The ticket-sales in SF hasn't increase after
> Metallica was brought in - so what's the deal
> there.....
>

Yes, I thought that show was sold out even before it was announced that Metallica was going to be the opening act.

The first SF show is sold out. The second...far from it.

Also AC/DC was added to the German Shows mostly, because of lack of sales I believe. However it was a nice add in. especially when tehy played rock me baby. Besides the high ticket prices however there is also a missing enthusaiasm about the band. did not tour for three (?might be wrong) years. The Stones should have started next year, at least money wise, health wise they did not want to take a risk. And with the new CD I am very convinced that this will load up again the ticket sales.

Who cares about ticket sales?

It's not about the people who don't go, but about the ones who do. Be one of them and let the Stones rock you into heaven!!!!

saintmick Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Who cares about ticket sales?



Mick Jagger

i couldn't give a shit if there are 5,000 or 50,000 at any gigs i'll attend to be honest

i'll be there to see the Stones not to count the folks around me

the Stones wont be out of pocket believe me! the promoters will feel the brunt not the Stones.

as for the AC/DC Germany situation, its 100% true that those shows were 50/50 between DC and Stones fans. places like Hockenheim would've looked pretty bear without em that's for certain

but seeing as they're my two favourite bands i was like a dog with two dicks!

Monkey Man, the 95% of the tickets are gone. And think, we are talking about
(a) the third tour in the last 8 years and (b) the second contiguous tour that starts without the full promotion of a new album YET.

During the seventies every tour of the Stones was attracting less than 1,000,000 even than 500,000 people, because of the frequency of the tours. In the last years the Stones tour very often again, but they play to many more than 3 million on every round. It's almost a MIRACLE! The Stones as live act is still a big phenomenon. Since 1989 they attracted 22.5 million people worldwide at their concerts and now they can add about 3.5 or 4 million, EVEN the ticket prices are so high (atleast in the USA).

You mention AC/DC and Metallica. So what? The Stones very often have been supported by famous bands like Pearl Jam, Smashing Pampkins, RHCP, G'n'R, Living Colour. How many people do you think they attracted in Germany during Licks Tour
because of AC/DC ? What about the concerts they did without AC/DC? OK, if the australian rockers are SO popular, i suppose they will do a stadium tour in Europe to attract atleast 1.5 million people... MMmm??

You say : "I'd be interested to see the attendances for the U2 Vertigo tour come its end, and compare them with the Stones."
Yes, but you must wait a year to compare. You have to see the numbers of the whole tour of the Stones. Vertigo ends in December and of course will be the most successful tour of the year, according every fingure (grosses & tickets). But adding the capacities of the venues of the Vertigo tour you can see that the whole number will be 3.5 million maximum (1.5 in USA and 2 in Europe). Is this the most ambitious tour in the history of the U2? Yes, supposely. But i have to admit that they have a "historical" rediculous hype: from the first day of the ticket sales all the venues "were" sold out, including the last concerts of their tour! Of course as leteyer wrote, as many fans of U2 know very well, the real situation is very different...


Monkey Man, yes, U2 is the "heaviest selling band on Earth" if you talk about album sales. But as live act, the Stones are by far #1. And the high ticket prices (in the USA), even being a annoying factor, even we hate it, is a figure of the popularity of the Stones.

The problem is not how many people are going to be there...But how much do "I" have to pay.....I rather pay 60£ for the pitch and get there early and asure a good spot and not have to pay 450USD...

Well said, saintmick. I like the way you think.

That said, Kyle is right. The demand for this tour just isn't there. No doubt it's mainly because the prices are so outrageous.

But sadly, I think another part of the reason is because a lot of people are starting to wake up to the fact that the band pretty much sounds like sh&t anymore. As the saying goes, you can fool some people some of the time ...







-- Keep on rollin'. Keep on. Keep on. Keep on. --

Let's face it...$450 for a ticket is an insult. Do they really care about their fans? Truly, I think not. They figure if they can get we "suckers" to cough up that kind of dough, hey..it's not their problem! After seeing every US tour since '72, the only way they get my money this time around is if i can get into the Beacon for $50 (it WILL happen in January). I'm not even going to buy the new album...Limewire, baby.

There is a ceiling for what the masses will pay for even a Rolling Stones show and it looks as if the Stones have reached that ceiling. I have no sympathy for the resellers......I just sold a ticket to a Boston native for opening night for face value and glad to do it. (I upgraded my seats.) The Stones have taken the scalpers out of the picture. At the end of the day, it is the Rolling Stones....they cannot be replaced.....they are the greatest....go see them while you can!

I wonder how excited the credit card companies get when the Stones go on tour?

When you're talking about ticket sales, you have to talk about the primary market (Ticketmaster) and the secondary market (brokers, ebay, news listservs, etc.). Just because Ticketmaster is out of tickets for a show does not mean all the seats are filled. As Kyle states, there are a lot of tickets available in the secondary markets that are being offered at near list price, and it's doubtful that they will get any more expensive as the show date nears. Prices have definitely curbed some of the demand this time around.

Karl

harlito1969 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wonder how excited the credit card companies get
> when the Stones go on tour?

Probably excited enough, to treat their Execs, to a vip box, for a show.

Bluespeyer, according to the typical and so boring (to me) nagging on this board, the "problem" about how the band sounds started since the tour of 1989/90. But the tours they did since 1989 were the most successful in their history! So don't try to present your opinion as the opinion of the big audiences... You say "sounds like shit". I say "fortunately their playing is well- balanced, fortunately the horrible Love You Live spirit is not here anymore". It's just a metter of taste. But don't tell me that a bunch of whining naggers prove the "disappointment" of the big audiences. It's just rediculous...

stickydion Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> . But i have to
> admit that they have a "historical" rediculous
> hype: from the first day of the ticket sales all
> the venues "were" sold out, including the last
> concerts of their tour! Of course as leteyer
> wrote, as many fans of U2 know very well, the real
> situation is very different...
>
>
> >
Can you tell us which one is then the real situation?
>
>
>
>

KSI sorry but for the Hollywood Bowl the market is try. I have only seen sky high prices for up front tickets or NONE at all.
There was a guy selling 4 tickets garden section for minimum 2000 $ for 4 tickets, but he stopped the selling as he realized he could get more and openend it again at 3999.90 $. I do not know who is paying such a lot of money, but either on the front at the Bowl are only selected people or they sell it later on again. I also believe that we did not have much of chance for on stage tickets for Anaheim and San Diego due to the high demand and less tickets than on the east coast.

Ticket prices must be much higer in the US then in europe. When they came to Sweden last time, my ticket to stadion cost about 80$(600kr) , globen 60$(450kr) and to crikus 65$(500kr). All of the tickets were down on the floor

"What about the concerts they did without AC/DC? OK, if the australian rockers are SO popular, i suppose they will do a stadium tour in Europe to attract atleast 1.5 million people... MMmm??"


er, yes they could

AC/DC headline Hockenheim themselves when they tour Germany. not to mention the likes of Donington Festival in the UK which holds more than Twickenham / Wembley Stadium

i don't think you quite grasp how BIG a band AC/DC are

maybe that's why the Stones paid em 3m to help em out in Germany )

Rockingfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> KSI sorry but for the Hollywood Bowl the market is
> try. I have only seen sky high prices for up front
> tickets or NONE at all.
> There was a guy selling 4 tickets garden section
> for minimum 2000 $ for 4 tickets, but he stopped
> the selling as he realized he could get more and
> openend it again at 3999.90 $. I do not know who
> is paying such a lot of money, but either on the
> front at the Bowl are only selected people or they
> sell it later on again. I also believe that we did
> not have much of chance for on stage tickets for
> Anaheim and San Diego due to the high demand and
> less tickets than on the east coast.


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