What is the problem really? If they play in front of 45,000 at a 60,000 capacity stadium then what is the problem? Do you feel sorry for those 15,000 that did not come or do you feel happy for those many many that did actually get a show? What is the problem????????

Bjornulf

No problem for sure, just write that they can play in front of 45,000 at a 60,000 capacity stadium...

lodge Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I hope bv is right but I doubt. Think about last
> year. Munich was not sold out and you could get
> tickets for every concert you wanted on the spot
> either at a real price or even much less.

Not EVERY spot..I know a few friends who wanted tickets for Horsens and went down there and had to listen from the outside...and that was 85.000 ;-)

pascal.lapp (wrote: "No problem for sure, just write that they can play in front of 45,000 at a 60,000 capacity stadium..."

What do you mean "they can"? Is this an amazing discover? Does it surprise you? These were exactly the numbers of Chile gig, in 1995: they played in front of 46,000 people at a 60,000 capacity stadium. Munich #2, in 1982: 50,000 people, only, at a 74,000 capacity stadium. Yes, this was the second Munich show- the first one had been soldout. But, remember, 1982 round was the first Stones tour in Europe after six years. Long enough time, i think.

Of course, they can play in front of 45,000 at a 60,000 capacity stadium, even something like that (only 75% of the venue's capacity) is the exeption, not the rule: last year, in Europe, low percentages (at a level 70%- 75%) refered to four concerts, only: Vienna, Munich, Hannover, Berlin.

Also they can play without selling out at a 35,000 -40,000 stadium capacity, not at a huge one. It happened in 1997 at Manitoba, Wisconsin, Rich Stadium (NYC), Forth Worth. 1998: Malaga, Gelsenkirchen, Oslo, Tallin. In Istanbul (1998) they played to 14,873 people at a 20,000 stadium capacity.

And, of course, they can cancel shows due to slow ticket sales. It rarely happens, but happens: Turin #2 1990, Dublin 1990, Lyon 1998, Marseilles 1998, Stade De France #2 1998, Gijon 1998.

My point: an act touring with so high frequency, playing in so many countries and charging (in the last years) very high prices, cannot play at 100% filled venues, everywhere. This is not necessary for them, if they can draw 4 plus million of people during the tour, by these prices, after having played to 22 million in the years 1989- 2003. If the total attendance will be (for example) 4,300,000 people, who the hell cares if the total capacity is 4,500,000 or 4,600,000? And what is this factor affecting? The quality of the performances? No. The atmosphere of the gigs? No. Even last Chicago gig, "in a cold, cold night", at a half empty stadium (they only one really half empty stadium during the tour, so far) had nice atmosphere- according to the reviews. So, no anguish...

I don'''''t get it? I was at Paris last year and it was stuffed,the newspaper the next mourning had it at 87,000,but felt like 100,000. I was on stage in Berlin and it was a full house don't know the numbers there,but i know it was full. Munich was the only place i saw that was'nt full i actually ate 1 ticket because it was fos and some jerk offered me 5 euro,i told him to stick it waited five minutes and went in without selling it. If the guy was a gentlman i would of probably let it go at 20 for some beer's but now i have an unused Munich stub which is cool.

Some decades ago promoters and bands were proud to tell exact ticket figures. Now, they fear the taxman... I mean, there must be a visible difference if you claim to have played to 45,000 or to 60,000 people.

stonesfrk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don'''''t get it? I was at Paris last year and
> it was stuffed,the newspaper the next mourning had
> it at 87,000,but felt like 100,000.

yes yes 150.000 too...


NO

62.0000 from promotters

Promotors usually say shows are sold out within minutes/hours, which is usually far from true.

When the tickets are gone they are gone. Bergen sold out in 30 minutes. Horsens in 5 hours. The Stones will have no problems filling their shows this summer. Rome, Lisbon, Gothenburg, many cities they have not been in years.

Bjornulf

The Rolling Stones
Stadio San Siro
Milan, Italy
July 11, 2006
$3,850,513
56,175 (sold tickets)
67,509 (stadium concert capacity)
Concert Productions International/Live Nation

The Rolling Stones
Ernst Happel Stadion
Vienna, Austria
July 14, 2006
$3,512,366
39,328
51,390
Concert Productions International/Live Nation

The Rolling Stones
Olympiastadion
Munich, Germany
July 16, 2006
$5,770,265
53,501
72,074
Concert Productions International/Live Nation

The Rolling Stones
AWD-Arena
Hannover, Germany
July 19, 2006
$3,419,676
34,595
44,676
Concert Productions International/Live Nation

The Rolling Stones
Olympiastadion
Berlin, Germany
July 21, 2006
$3,997,912
44,989
65,995
Concert Productions International/Live Nation

The Rolling Stones
RheinEnergieStadion
Koln, Germany
July 23, 2006
$4,156,755
37,642
39,212
Concert Productions International/Live Nation

The Rolling Stones
Stade De France
Paris, France
July 28, 2006
$5,956,525
62,761
80,000
Concert Productions International/Live Nation

The Rolling Stones
Amsterdam Arena
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
July 31, 2006
$5,585,441
50,001
52,969
Concert Productions International/Live Nation

The Rolling Stones
Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion
Stuttgart, Germany
Aug. 3, 2006
$4,804,206
50,399
53,972
Concert Productions International/Live Nation

The Rolling Stones
Dubendorf Airfield
Zurich, Switzerland
Aug. 5, 2006
$8,146,543
65,135
69,000
Concert Productions International/Live Nation

The Rolling Stones
Le Palais Nikala
Nice, France
Aug. 8, 2006
$3,356,525
46,882
54,128
Concert Productions International/Live Nation

The Rolling Stones
Estadio do Dragao
Porto, Portugal
Aug. 12, 2006
$3,554,944
47,801
51,990
Concert Productions International/Live Nation

The Rolling Stones
Twickenham Stadium
London, England
Aug. 20, 22, 2006
$13,526,368
100,540
109,892
Concert Productions International/Live Nation

The Rolling Stones
Hampden Park
Glasgow, Scotland
Aug. 25, 2006
$4,022,000
31,495
33,506
Concert Productions International/Live Nation

The Rolling Stones
Don Valley Stadium
Sheffield, England
Aug. 27, 2006
$4,596,417
34,034
34,741
Concert Productions International/Live Nation

The Rolling Stones
Millennium Stadium
Cardiff, Wales
Aug. 29, 2006
$5,534,100
48,988
57,224
Concert Productions International/Live Nation

The Rolling Stones
Koengen Festival Site
Bergen, Norway
Sept. 1, 2006
$3,169,218
20,375
20,375
Concert Productions International/Live Nation

The Rolling Stones
Horsens Forum Outdoor
Horsens, Denmark
Sept. 3, 2006
$8,838,178
84,588
85,300
Concert Productions International/Live Nation

bv Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When the tickets are gone they are gone. Bergen
> sold out in 30 minutes. Horsens in 5 hours. The
> Stones will have no problems filling their shows
> this summer. Rome, Lisbon, Gothenburg, many cities
> they have not been in years.


I know, some/many do, the Licks shows all sold very fast. I was just trying to point out that promotors are not necessarily speaking the truth. For example about amsterdam 1 last year, MOJO said it was sold out in hours.

Jelle

The promoters tell the press it is sold out.
Then they tell the taxman they sold nothing.
The truth is usually somewhere in the middle.

But fact is the Stones do not need to sell every seat.
Just like if you get a large meal,
you do not need to eat it all,
if you are not that hungry,
or if you buy a magnum bottle of wine,
you don't need to drink it all on the same day.

The venues are chosen because they are "large enough".
They fit the purpose. They have space.
Then it is up to the local people to use that space.
And usually, believe it or not,
some local people do show up and voila there is a show.

Bjornulf

pascal.lapp, look at the statistics of the whole european tour. Carefuly.

Total attendance 909,229 (average number, 47,854 at each gig). Total capacity 1,046,888. So the venues were 87% packed.
In Germany, in which Football World Cup took place, 80%. In the rest of Europe 90%. Eleven european shows, out of 19, were at the category 90% -100% . Three shows 80% - 90%. Four shows 70% - 80%. Only one show less than 70% (Berlin, 68%). If you say that these numbers were truly poor, considering the prices and the fact that the Stones visited Europe just three years ago (2003), i suppose you are kidding...

And, as for Europe, i don't find any "inflated" attendance number. Everything seems to be in accord to reviews. Also i don't see capacity numbers to be reduced. In contrary, as for Stade De France, i see a number (62,761) that was clearly under the real attendance- anyone says that, Press included. And i see an "inflated" (a bit) capacity's number: 80,000 while during previous tours SDF had be mentioned as sold out with 75,000 or 76,000 tickets. When official numbers had been published, i said that SDF case smells like a clear tax evasion! Now i see that other fans have the same thoughts...

I did see Rolling Stones at Stade de France in 2003 and 2006, and I did not notice much diffrence. Both times the stadium seemed to be very full, completely packed in 2003, but not far from sold out in 2006 I guess. There must have been much more than 62 000 crowd members last year, but to be honest I don't care - beacuse it was one of the best shows on the entire tour.

Everybody don't care but want the stadium to be sold out ah ah ah...or want to think they were...

So you want a "sold out" stadium to feel better for yourself, right? It is not about the Stones, but knowing you went to the world's most popular and totally sold out show. Sure it feels better, but the show is just as good, whether it is 80% or 100% sold out. It is the same band on stage...

Bjornulf

I think the Stones know very well that every single stadium show they put on sale is not going to 100% sell out. That was pretty apparent last fall in North America when they played in stadiums in oversaturated or concert sluggish markets. I think they wanted to play in as many markets as possible in a short time span and rather than put every show in an arena, they wanted to reach as many people as was possible in each market.

While it obviously costs more for them to stage a show in a stadium than in an arena, they can easily compensate for that by selling more tickets. In a lot of cities they could have easily sold out a concert in a 15,000-20,000 seat arena, but instead staged a concert in a stadium that holds 40-60,000. They probably only need to sell around additional 5,000 tickets over the capacity of an arena to cover all extra costs involved in doing a show as a stadium show. As a result, if they drew only 30,000 people to a stadium compared to 20,000 in an arena, it was well worth it for them. It can be considered a win-win situation as the band makes more money by having chosen to play in a stadium and more fans have the opportunity to see the show. Some people will choose to focus on the fact that the Stones could not sell those extra empty 15,000 or so seats instead of focussing on the fact that any band that is able to sell 30-35,00 extremely expensive tickets is doing increidbly well.

Think its worth mentioning also that several of those shows last summer took place on re-arranged dates. When a show gets postponed - and especialy during the summer when people have other plans and many people travel long distances to concerts - there are a sizeable % of them who cant make the new date at short notice.

Look at that attendance for the final show of the tour in Denmark. Despite it being delayed three months and taking place in a small out of the way city, they still managed to pull in over 84,000 people to the rescheduled show - almost 100% capacity. Quite impressive.