Stones' World Tour Could Gross Record $400 Million

By REUTERS
Published: January 7, 2006
Filed at 3:38 p.m. ET

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang tour exploded in 2005, and could end up as the top-grossing tour ever, pending an epic box office battle with U2's Vertigo tour.

The Stones hold the record, from their 1994-1995 Voodoo Lounge tour, which grossed nearly $320 million.

A Bigger Bang is more than halfway to Voodoo's total, with a summer of stadium dates to come. In 2005, the Stones sold 1.2 million tickets, grossing more than $162 million from 42 North American dates on the tour's first leg.

As big as they banged in North America, the Stones were second for the year worldwide to U2's Vertigo, which was the top-grossing trek of 2005, according to Billboard data. Vertigo reported grosses of $260 million and drew more than 3 million people to 90 concerts, all sellouts.

Vertigo will resume in March, having sold another 750,000 tickets to stadium shows in Mexico, South America, Australia and New Zealand. All told, U2 could gross a staggering $390 million from 130 shows and 4.4 million tickets sold.

Impressive as the potential gross is, U2's hold on the top tour trophy could be short lived, as the Stones have a slate of stadium dates awaiting in South America, Japan and Europe for this year and a higher ticket price than U2. The $400 million mark could be within reach, but Stones' promoter Michael Cohl is more impressed with the attendance the band is achieving than the revenue.

``The dollars are the dollars, we're charging just slightly more than we were charging last time (about $134),'' Cohl tells Billboard. ``The fact that shocks the hell out of me is we went from 10 stadium shows up to 18 stadium shows. We went from doing 25,000-30,000 (people) a night in the stadiums to doing 40,000-50,000. That is incredible.''

The Stones are also notching more than $17 per head in merchandise sales, bringing in more than $20 million in 2005.

The European swing -- all the stops are stadiums -- begins May 27 in Barcelona and runs through the end of August. ``Right now we've got about 36 of them booked,'' Cohl says.

Before that, the band will play more North American dates, beginning January 10 in Montreal, followed by stadium concerts in Mexico and South America. The February 18 kickoff is a free show on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, projected to draw 1.5 million people. The tour is targeted to wrap August 29 at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, and sales are ``on pace or ahead in every city but one from last time,'' Cohl says.

Topping Voodoo Lounge does not seem to be a priority for Cohl. ``I don't even know what Voodoo Lounge did,'' he says. ``I know that people keep track of it, and it's not that I don't. But I really don't know what the gross was, and it's kind of unfair. How do you compare something at a 1994 ticket price to something at a 2005 ticket price?''

Still, a world record is a world record. ``I'm sure we'll beat it,'' Cohl says. ``More important than anything else, I think the fans are enjoying it more, I think the shows are better, and I think the band is playing better than ever.''

Even when the Voodoo Lounge gross record inevitably falls, that tour's attendance mark appears safe for the foreseeable future. Voodoo played only stadiums, selling out 123 of 128, and drew a remarkable 6.4 million people.

Reuters/Billboard




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-01-09 18:50 by TooTough.

``The dollars are the dollars, we're charging just slightly more than we were charging last time (about $134),'' Cohl tells Billboard

keep telling yourself that Michael, maybe someday you'll believe it....

well, it's probably just a matter of defining "slightly." Perhaps in Cohl's world "slight" and "twice" are synonyms....

This information benefits no-one except The Rolling Stones their accountants and management.
It just makes them look conceited and money grabbing - they would be nothing without their fans.
So how about Michael Cohl etc saying, "Thank you nice people for paying our grossly over-inflated ticket prices and buying our outragiously priced merchandise, so we can boast to you about how much MONEY we have made for our greedy selves".

Doesn't Cohl work for both U2 and the Stones? I know he travels with the Stones but doesn't his company promote both tours?

georgeV Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Doesn't Cohl work for both U2 and the Stones? I
> know he travels with the Stones but doesn't his
> company promote both tours?


Yes, maybe but's what your point?

He is very quick to defend the Stones numbers even though he represents both bands.

georgeV wrote: "Doesn't Cohl work for both U2 and the Stones?"

I think Mark Fisher had worked for both, not Cohl. But i'm not sure.

Cohl works for them both, as do much of the crew

That's what I thought when I read the gross in the news section. It's just a f*cking battle between Stones and U2 who will have the bigger gross. Sigh!

So now it's pretty clear why we will have only stadium shows in Europe. Money money money! Honestly I don't know when the old f*rts will spend all the money in their lifetime?

"on pace or ahead in every city but one..."

would that be Amsterdam?

I would guess it could be Glasgow, personally

Turd is exactly right in what he says.

Dont you just love the glee in Cohl's quote about breaking a world record - at all costs? Its all that matters to him and the Stones, it seems

The stones are a money machine since 1981 - They don,t give a damm about the boring setlists and the fans.

Jagger keeps saying to the live audience when he first talks to the crowd
IS EVERYONE FEELING ALRIGHT WITH THAT FALSE SMILE ON HIS FACE.HE HAS been saying that line FOREVER.He has not learned a new DANCE move or PRANCE since Tina Turner
showed him how to dance.

rknuth Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That's what I thought when I read the gross in the
> news section. It's just a f*cking battle between
> Stones and U2 who will have the bigger gross.
> Sigh!

to be honest, I think its more a big deal for the Stones. U2's tickets werent cheap, but they could have been even higher, certainly on a par with the Stones and McCartney's

Either way, its a win/win for Cohl and a lose/lose for the fan.
>
> So now it's pretty clear why we will have only
> stadium shows in Europe. Money money money!

In all fairness,its worth pointing out that U2's European tour was also exclusively stadiums. More down to ticket demand than anything else. Theres not much point in the Stones playing arenas in Europe anyway. Unlike Licks, its the same show regardless of the size of the venue and the same prices.

> Honestly I don't know when the old f*rts will
> spend all the money in their lifetime?

I know some people reckon Keith will live forever but I suppose if hes still around in 2306 he might just be dipping into the cash he's made on THIS tour by then!

I doubt the Stones are particularly concerned with cd sales of ABB.
This is where the big $$$ are, and they know it!!!!!!

Gazza Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> rknuth Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > That's what I thought when I read the gross
> in the
> > news section. It's just a f*cking battle
> between
> > Stones and U2 who will have the bigger
> gross.
> > Sigh!
>
> to be honest, I think its more a big deal for the
> Stones. U2's tickets werent cheap, but they could
> have been even higher, certainly on a par with the
> Stones and McCartney's.
>



Yes, they could have been on par with The Stones. But audience would not have followed, not at the incredible level of 4.4 millions attendance. And we all know
that they could have sold out many more Stadiums in Europe.

I think the fans are enjoying
> it more, I think the shows are better, and I think
> the band is playing better than ever.''
>


some people will say anything for a dollar

phd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Gazza Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > rknuth Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > That's what I thought when I read the
> gross
> > in the
> > > news section. It's just a f*cking
> battle
> > between
> > > Stones and U2 who will have the bigger
> > gross.
> > > Sigh!
> >
> > to be honest, I think its more a big deal for
> the
> > Stones. U2's tickets werent cheap, but they
> could
> > have been even higher, certainly on a par
> with the
> > Stones and McCartney's.
> >
>
>
>
> Yes, they could have been on par with The Stones.
> But audience would not have followed, not at the
> incredible level of 4.4 millions attendance. And
> we all know
> that they could have sold out many more Stadiums
> in Europe.
>

Disagree, actually. They sold out stadiums in minutes throughout Europe. I doubt that a slightly higher price would have meant any of those shows not selling as a result.

Frankly, imo, Michael Cohl is dead wrong about the Voodoo Lounge tour and ABB. Although I think ABB is a better album/disc, the concert audience wouldn't know it since they only play two,or three cuts a night. On Voodoo Lounge, at least in the U.S. we got a minimum of five or six tracks every night. More songs played as well, generally 23-24 songs a night as opposed to 20 now and yet the shows were around the same time length of 120-130 minutes.

The band may be playing ok right now, but let's be honest. They have short circuited their latest release, a fine one at that, by playing too many warhorses when they are not getting new fans to their shows anyway. Ninety percent of the fans going to the shows have seen them play Sympathy, SMU, or Satisfaction at some point in their lives. Certainly JJF, BS, TD, and HTW have been played at 99% of their concerts in the last 30 years. I love these songs, but we don't need ALL of them every night. I digress.

Michael Cohl, you're all about money, and we know that, but the Stones should be about the music and that appears to have changed.

"......... but the Stones should be about the music and that appears to have changed".

No, don't think they'll be singing 'Salt of the Earth" anymore.

Perhaps Allen Klein wasn't so bad after all, at least he was more descreet about his financial goings on.

U2's popularity remains a mystery for me.
Calling them the "world's biggest/greatest band" must have been the result of desperation to avoid giving this credit to the Stones in their fifth decade.

Every U2 concert visitor should be warned of the risk of getting serious depressions when listening to their melancholic music. Seeing them live only the volume of the sound prevents you from falling into some hypnotic Irish voodoo state of trance.

Maybe it is just where we are at personally during certain years/ tours/ albums, etc. Frankly, I enjoyed both the VL tour and CD better than ABB. Maybe we just got spoiled by the 3 venue format of Licks last tour but, while I have enjoyed the CD and the 6 shows I have seen this tour, I have not seen anything that has been overly exciting.