Will they sell out stadiums in the USA?

[pudgie_child]

They could have sold out the Rose Bowl in 1997 if there were no show in San Diego or shows in Oakland.

That's a good point. The 1997 show was at the Coliseum, which had a capacity of around 75-80,000 for the U2 show.

 

[walkon274]

I have 3 questions that some of you fellow fanatics can help me out with:

1. Does anyone have up to the date information about the U.S. presales and when they're going to take place? The general sale is March 30, so 3 days before that....I'm thinking Thursday through Saturday possibly of next week.

2. Does anyone know whether U2.com is seriously going to enforce the use of pre-sale codes by members who have already purchased European tickets?

3. Where will the presales take place? Ticketmaster or Live nation? If it's the normal U.S. ticketmaster, I feel a little more comfortable about the pre-sale.

Any info will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

That's a good point. The 1997 show was at the Coliseum, which had a capacity of around 75-80,000 for the U2 show.

Capacity at the POPMART show was 65,000. It was 71,000 on the Joshua Tree Tour.

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

I have 3 questions that some of you fellow fanatics can help me out with:

1. Does anyone have up to the date information about the U.S. presales and when they're going to take place? The general sale is March 30, so 3 days before that....I'm thinking Thursday through Saturday possibly of next week.

2. Does anyone know whether U2.com is seriously going to enforce the use of pre-sale codes by members who have already purchased European tickets?

3. Where will the presales take place? Ticketmaster or Live nation? If it's the normal U.S. ticketmaster, I feel a little more comfortable about the pre-sale.

Any info will be greatly appreciated.

1. No, but your assumption is possible.

2. They are pretty strict about that, so I would say yes.

3. Not sure, it might be a little of both.

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

I was amazed to see that in Cardiff and Wembley, there are top tier tickets selling for 150 pounds, plus it appears the whole lower level section on both sides to the back was also at 150 pounds. In Dublin, tickets in the stands were priced at $127 dollars and $177 dollars, all the way to the back. Despite those high prices, at least 50% higher than in 2005, both shows soldout in no more than a few hours. They will probably gross $12 million dollars per Croke Park show.

 

[pudgie_child]

Capacity at the POPMART show was 65,000. It was 71,000 on the Joshua Tree Tour.

That's not accurate. Attendance was 65,000, but the show didn't sell out. I was there, and there were a lot of empty seats in the far end zone sections.

And the seating capacity was actually higher for the Popmart show because the field had since been lowered and more seats had been added where the track used to be.

 

[U2FanPeter]

This is typical of what U2 has done, and most artist do when they announce a tour of this size. Guess how many shows U2 put on sale for the ZOO TV outside Broadcast tour in the USA the first weekend? 2

I've never seen a tour announcement go from 20 cities(without dates) to 16 cities(with dates) down to 4 confirmed shows with a conditional list of cities listed. LN and U2 have questions about how hungry American are for these Stadium shows and are playing thier cards close to their chest.

JT and ZTV were different in that 3rd leg dates weren't announced until the 1st leg were more or less done.

Well, when the Denmark show goes on sale in a few weeks, you'll be eating your words on that. Plus, they will be playing Helsinki Finland in the summer of 2010 and may in fact return to Sweden where I'm sure a third show would again sellout in record time.

Do you think they will sell more European tickets in 2009 than 2005?

They won't be comparative, their going to blow them out of the water. Take a look at the Milan show. Average ticket price on the last tour was $55 dollars, this tour its $110. With the seating capacity expanded at San Siro Stadium, they soldout the place in hours and now a second show has been added. Together, both shows will gross a combined $18 million dollars, far in excess of the two shows on the Vertigo Tour which did $7.5 million.

I'd REALLY like to see your math on these 2009 shows, especially San Siro. Considering the top tier tickets that may or may not be released in the "blindspots" or how the RED auctions are counted, there's no way of getting exact average ticket price. Even McGuiness would only have access to preliminary numbers. I also showed in another thread that the claim of 10,000 cheap seats in SIRO was roughly 2,000 short.

For the shows in Dublin, the average ticket price is $127, on the last tour it was $85. The band could potentially gross $12 million per show in Dublin. With three shows, thats a $36 million dollar gross. On the Vertigo tour, the three shows did $21 million dollars combined in gross.

I actually though all 2005 Euro shows had average close to $85. $55 in Italy is quite a regional difference.

Most fans remember how great U2 stadium shows were from the 80s and 90s. I've seen U2 in football stadiums 8 times, and there was NEVER "bad sound" at any of the shows. I have had friends complain about the sound in the arena shows though.

Willie W. apologized for the sound in his blog/diary after the Vancouver Popmart show. Covered Stadiums and overhangs seem to be the biggest problem. A couple venues for each U2 Stadium tour have had sound issues. I'm curious to see if rear stage seating is the go-to place for those wanting the best sound without breaking the bank or waiting in lines.

Well, its the Europeans that have public transportation to take them everywhere, and have typically had a lower average ticket price than US fans until this tour. Most Americans pay more and have to actually drive themselves to the show. Entitled society, I don't think so.

Obviously it's less travel in the northeast US than west coast. And the distances in Europe are shorter than Amurica. I'm just wondering if Europeans are more likely to travel outside of their "local" U2 show than North Americans travelling beyond their "local" U2 show.

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

That's not accurate. Attendance was 65,000, but the show didn't sell out. I was there, and there were a lot of empty seats in the far end zone sections.

And the seating capacity was actually higher for the Popmart show because the field had since been lowered and more seats had been added where the track used to be.

Can you name any artist that has actually played to more people at the Coliseum than U2 did with their 1997 POPMART show?

 

[pudgie_child]

Can you name any artist that has actually played to more people at the Coliseum than U2 did with their 1997 POPMART show?

What's your point? The fact is that the show wasn't sold out, and this was even addressed by Robert Hilburn of the L.A. Times in his review of the show. Like I said before, I was at the show and can testify to the fact that there were empty seats at the western end zone.

 

[U2FanPeter]

Can you name any artist that has actually played to more people at the Coliseum than U2 did with their 1997 POPMART show?

FWIW, Springsteen sold it out for 4 nights in September(?) 1985 to end his Born USA tour.

Bruce may have even sold some rear stage seating which he did on some 85 shows.

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

I've never seen a tour announcement go from 20 cities(without dates) to 16 cities(with dates) down to 4 confirmed shows with a conditional list of cities listed. LN and U2 have questions about how hungry American are for these Stadium shows and are playing thier cards close to their chest.

JT and ZTV were different in that 3rd leg dates weren't announced until the 1st leg were more or less done.

There never was 20 cities without dates. The 16 cities "with dates" was something that was only briefly posted and then quickly taken down. Again U2 are not going about this any differently than they have done in the past. They could have released information like this before in one bunch, but its always been staggered like this, with POPMART the only possible exception.

Do you think they will sell more European tickets in 2009 than 2005?

Its certainly possible depending on how many shows they play, but remember, they return to Europe in the summer of 2010 for the second leg. Once the tour is finished, they will have set attendance and gross records for a European tour as well as individual gross and attendance records for most of the venue and markets played.

I'd REALLY like to see your math on these 2009 shows, especially San Siro. Considering the top tier tickets that may or may not be released in the "blindspots" or how the RED auctions are counted, there's no way of getting exact average ticket price. Even McGuiness would only have access to preliminary numbers. I also showed in another thread that the claim of 10,000 cheap seats in SIRO was roughly 2,000 short.

Its an estimate based on the ticket prices and the area's of the stadiums that are covered by the ticket price, plus what is known about the capacity. These are larger shows with in the round seating than on the last tour. All the Italians are mentioning about how shocked they have been by the huge surge in ticket prices. Despite that, U2 now have two soldout shows in one of the largest stadiums in Europe.

I actually though all 2005 Euro shows had average close to $85. $55 in Italy is quite a regional difference.

It was about $78 dollars actually. Here are all the stats from Vertigo Europe in 2005: You'll have to do the math if you won the ticket price average for individual shows:

2ND LEG OF VERTIGO WORLD TOUR: EUROPE

29. Brussels, Belgium : June 10, 2005 : Koning Boudewijn Stadion : GROSS $4,864,554 : ATTENDANCE 60,499 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1

30. Gelsenkirchen, Germany : June 12, 2005 : Arena AufSchalke : GROSS $4,203,947 : ATTENDANCE 59,120 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1

31, 32. Manchester, England : June 14-15, 2005 : City Of Manchester Stadium : GROSS $11,119,740 : ATTENDANCE 107,671 : SHOWS 2 : SELLOUTS 2

33, 34. London, England : June 18-19, 2005 : Twickenham Stadium : GROSS $13,677,410 : ATTENDANCE 110,796 : SHOWS 2 : SELLOUTS 2

35. Glasgow, Scotland : June 21, 2005 : Hampden Park : GROSS $5,819,053 : ATTENDANCE 53,395 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1

36, 37, 38. Dublin, Ireland : June 24-25, 27, 2005 : Croke Park : GROSS $21,163,695 : ATTENDANCE 246,743 : SHOWS 3 : SELLOUTS 3

39. Cardiff, Wales : June 29, 2005 : Millennium Stadium : GROSS $6,406,073 : ATTENDANCE 63,677 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1

40. Vienna, Austria : July 2, 2005 : Ernst Happel Stadion : GROSS $4,200,416 : ATTENDANCE 55,645 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1

41. Chorzow, Poland : July 5, 2005 : Stadion Slaski : GROSS $3,127,416 : ATTENDANCE 64,711 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1

42. Berlin, Germany : July 7, 2005 : Olympiastadion : GROSS $4,725,530 : ATTENDANCE 70,443 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1

43, 44. Paris, France : July 9-10, 2005 : Stade De France : GROSS $11,822,645 : ATTENDANCE 160,349 : SHOWS 2 : SELLOUTS 2

45, 46, 47. Amsterdam, The Netherlands : July 13, 15-16, 2005 : Amsterdam Arena : GROSS $13,022,200 : ATTENDANCE 165,516 : SHOWS 3 : SELLOUTS 3

48. Zurich, Switzerland : July 18, 2005 : Stadion Letzigrund : GROSS $3,574,993 : ATTENDANCE 44,260 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1

49, 50. Milan, Italy : July 20-21, 2005 : Stadio San Siro : GROSS $7,565,264 : ATTENDANCE 137,427 : SHOWS 2 : SELLOUTS 2

51. Rome, Italy : July 23, 2005 : Stadio Olimpico : GROSS $4,010,779 : ATTENDANCE 67,002 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1

52. Oslo, Norway : July 27, 2005 : Valle Hovin : GROSS $3,765,136 : ATTENDANCE 40,000 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1

53. Goteborg, Sweden : July 29, 2005 : Ullevi Stadion : GROSS $4,081,864 : ATTENDANCE 58,478 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1

54. Copenhagen, Denmark : July 31, 2005 : Parken Stadion : GROSS $3,650,294 : ATTENDANCE 50,000 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1

55. Munich, Germany : August 3, 2005 : Olympiastadion : GROSS $5,343,379 : ATTENDANCE 77,435 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1

56. Nice, France : August 5, 2005 : Parc des Sports Charles-Ehrmann : GROSS $3,548,702 : ATTENDANCE 51,900 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1

57. Barcelona, Spain : August 7, 2005 : Camp Nou : GROSS $5,130,437 : ATTENDANCE 81,269 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1

58. San Sebastian, Spain : August 9, 2005 : Estadio de Anoeta : GROSS $2,936,571 : ATTENDANCE 43,720 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1

59. Madrid, Spain : August 11, 2005 : Estadio Vicente Calderon : GROSS $3,679,354 : ATTENDANCE 57,040 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1

60. Lisbon, Portugal : August 14, 2005 : Estadio Jose Alvalade : GROSS $4,492,762 : ATTENDANCE 55,362 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1





2ND LEG OF VERTIGO WORLD TOUR TOTALS

GROSS: $155,932,214
ATTENDANCE: 1,982,458
AVERAGE GROSS PER SHOW: $4,872,882
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE PER SHOW: 61,952
AVERAGE TICKET PRICE: $78.66
SHOWS: 32
SELLOUTS: 32

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

FWIW, Springsteen sold it out for 4 nights in September(?) 1985 to end his Born USA tour.

Bruce may have even sold some rear stage seating which he did on some 85 shows.

Sorry, I meant to say SINCE 1997, has any artist played to as many people as U2 did on POPMART at the Coliseum?

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

What's your point? The fact is that the show wasn't sold out, and this was even addressed by Robert Hilburn of the L.A. Times in his review of the show. Like I said before, I was at the show and can testify to the fact that there were empty seats at the western end zone.

What I meant to say is that SINCE U2 played the Coliseum on POPMART in 1997, has any artist played to as many people as U2 did?

So U2 did not sellout the Coliseum on the POPMART tour, so what? They did not sell it out on the Joshua Tree tour either, although they did play two shows, and had play 5 arena shows earlier in the year.

I don't think selling 65,000 tickets anywhere is a negative. That LA show was actually the highest attended show in North America of the entire POPMART tour, and I challenge you to find an artist since 1997 who has played to more people at a single show in LA.

By the way, seeing an empty seat at a concert does not necessarily mean a ticket was not sold for that seat.

 

[Moggio]

The reason why there's two shows in Milan this year is because there's NO shows in nearby central/southern Italy AND Switzerland.

Also, the reason why there's two shows in Sweden this year is because there's NO shows in nearby Norway, Finland or Denmark.

And the reason why there's probably going to be two shows in Barcelona this year is because there's NO shows in nearby Portugal or the rest of Spain.

The above is more than obvious.

 

[pudgie_child]

What I meant to say is that SINCE U2 played the Coliseum on POPMART in 1997, has any artist played to as many people as U2 did?

So U2 did not sellout the Coliseum on the POPMART tour, so what? They did not sell it out on the Joshua Tree tour either, although they did play two shows, and had play 5 arena shows earlier in the year.

I don't think selling 65,000 tickets anywhere is a negative. That LA show was actually the highest attended show in North America of the entire POPMART tour, and I challenge you to find an artist since 1997 who has played to more people at a single show in LA.

By the way, seeing an empty seat at a concert does not necessarily mean a ticket was not sold for that seat.

There were large sections of empty seats, so they were not sold.

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

The reason why there's two shows in Milan this year is because there's NO shows in nearby central/southern Italy AND Switzerland.

Its not as though the only way that U2 can play TWO shows in Milan is by not playing Switzerland and central/southern Italy. Case in point check out the last tour:

49, 50. Milan, Italy : July 20-21, 2005 : Stadio San Siro : GROSS $7,565,264 : ATTENDANCE 137,427 : SHOWS 2 : SELLOUTS 2

51. Rome, Italy : July 23, 2005 : Stadio Olimpico : GROSS $4,010,779 : ATTENDANCE 67,002 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1

48. Zurich, Switzerland : July 18, 2005 : Stadion Letzigrund : GROSS $3,574,993 : ATTENDANCE 44,260 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1

40. Vienna, Austria : July 2, 2005 : Ernst Happel Stadion : GROSS $4,200,416 : ATTENDANCE 55,645 : SHOWS 1 : SELLOUTS 1


All shows soldout the day they went on sale by the way.

Also, the reason why there's two shows in Sweden this year is because there's NO shows in nearby Norway, Finland or Denmark.

They could sellout shows in all three despite having two shows in Sweden. The vast majority of the people at the two shows in Sweden will be Swedish. Those two shows by the way soldout in less than 2 hours, the first one selling out in 15 minutes.

And the reason why there's probably going to be two shows in Barcelona this year is because there's NO shows in nearby Portugal or the rest of Spain.

Consider the capacity of Camp Nou with in the round seating, this one place where not doing shows further south or in Portugal might help if they play two shows. Largest capacity ever for any type of a event at the stadium was for the POPE with an audience of 120,000!

The above is more than obvious.

Whats more the obvious is that U2 will be beating out what the Stones did in Europe on A Bigger Bang and what Madonna is currently doing on her sticky and sweet tour. U2 are going to blow past Madonna's 58 show $270 million total from 2008 with just 45 shows in 2009. By the time they complete all 100 shows of the tour in either late 2010 or early 2011, U2 360 will be the highest grossing tour ever in history.

 

[Moggio]

Maoilbheannacht,

I'm not going to argue with you anymore, like I have literally thousands of times in the past, since you very cleverly spin everything anyone says...and because I'm absolutely sick of your extreme lack of objectivity.

There's NOTHING you said above that I agree with.

 

[jammin909]

I don't see U2 selling 95k tickets for the Washington DC show. The show is on a Tuesday night and I think the casual fan will be intimidated by traffic and ticket prices. I don't think U2 has a strong enough fan base to sell 10k tickets at $250 even if the show was on a weekend.

 

[MTEdge]

Don't know if this has popped up here yet, but WOW! The 360 comes into better focus after this seating chart!

Seating Chart. Official Ticketmaster site

 

[ntalwar]

I don't see U2 selling 95k tickets for the Washington DC show. The show is on a Tuesday night and I think the casual fan will be intimidated by traffic and ticket prices. I don't think U2 has a strong enough fan base to sell 10k tickets at $250 even if the show was on a weekend.

Yeah - it will be tough. They might end up lowering the $250 to be more in line with the price in Europe ($150-200). For a Redskins game last season, I was able to buy a $250 face value club seat for $50 outside the stadium. I think there will probably be scalpers outside the stadium for the concert as well, selling seats for under face value.

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

I don't see U2 selling 95k tickets for the Washington DC show. The show is on a Tuesday night and I think the casual fan will be intimidated by traffic and ticket prices. I don't think U2 has a strong enough fan base to sell 10k tickets at $250 even if the show was on a weekend.

They sold 8,000 tickets at the $160 price on Vertigo along with another 32,000 tickets at the $95 and $45 ticket price in under 45 minutes back in 2005 for two shows at the Verizon Center in Washington DC. Then consider the fact that Philadelphia does not have a show. I don't think this is a show that well sellout instantly the first day, but more likely a show that sells out in the last few days before the show happens.

 

[whitehead]

I predict that they will have trouble in the majority of the cities. If the new album wasn't such a "grower" and more instantly appreciated by the tweeners and frat boys then I'd have no doubt. Plus this economy is not on their side either.

(Curious to see how the public reacts to Magnificent.)

 

[U2FanPeter]

Sorry, I meant to say SINCE 1997, has any artist played to as many people as U2 did on POPMART at the Coliseum?

60,000 for a electronic music fest in 2008, 63,000 for a Latin performer in 2006. Floyd and Stones played there in the 90's. 70,000 for Metallica in 2002.

FWIW, Bruce did 322,000 in 1985 over a single week in one venue.

NSync did close to 60,000(x2) at the Rose Bowl in 2000 & 2001.

George Strait has also played a number of 65,000+ shows in the past 15 years around North America. Including 68,000 for a solo headliner show at the Houston Astrodome in the early 2000s

 

[U2FanPeter]

I don't think selling 65,000 tickets anywhere is a negative. That LA show was actually the highest attended show in North America of the entire POPMART tour, and I challenge you to find an artist since 1997 who has played to more people at a single show in LA.

By the way, seeing an empty seat at a concert does not necessarily mean a ticket was not sold for that seat.

Metallica played to 70,000 people at the Coliseum in 2002.

Rolling Stones played 6 stadium shows in California. Twice the number of shows as u2, and all in the same 2 cities.

BTW, weren't thousands of seats bought by U2 label or the promoter in 1997 and publically reported?

 

[U2FanPeter]

There never was 20 cities without dates. The 16 cities "with dates" was something that was only briefly posted and then quickly taken down. Again U2 are not going about this any differently than they have done in the past. They could have released information like this before in one bunch, but its always been staggered like this, with POPMART the only possible exception.

When has U2 ever done a "piecemeal" tourdate announcement in the US like this in the past? They were usually announced in huge chunks with some extra cities and shows added.

Once the tour is finished, they will have set attendance and gross records for a European tour as well as individual gross and attendance records for most of the venue and markets played.

Some of these shows are playing the same venues as Celine's(or Rod's 1995 "in the round" venture in 1995) center stage Euro stadium tour. Since those shows had no "blindspots", how can u2 break those attendance records?

 

[ntalwar]

They sold 8,000 tickets at the $160 price on Vertigo along with another 32,000 tickets at the $95 and $45 ticket price in under 45 minutes back in 2005 for two shows at the Verizon Center in Washington DC.

There's a big difference between $160 and $250. When The Police played at Verizon Center, they did not sell out the most expensive seats (~$225?). They had to move some people from the nosebleeds down to that area. I bought a seat for under $100 face value and was able to sit in the expensive section next to stage. U2 also released many day of show tickets for $160 in 2005 - one of which I was able to buy (next to the ellipse). I think they may revise the $250 downward for some cities.

 

[WildHoneyAlways]

Don't know if this has popped up here yet, but WOW! The 360 comes into better focus after this seating chart!

Seating Chart. Official Ticketmaster site

how did you find that? I still can't find any U2 ticket dates on ticketmaster!

 

[eiret21]

i think they will have trouble

given that the uk tour has not sold out they may have over priced the tickets

its incredible really that they have yet to sell out any show in the uk, so much so that multiple dates are now highly unlikely

 

[KUEFC09U2]

Again the UK tour didnt sell out "right away" last time out, only london sold out right away last time (which it has done again), croke was always going to sell out within hours, but you could still pick up tickets until about 2 weeks before the show for manchester and cardiff last time out, yet some go on about them being "sold out" from the first day?

As for multiple dates, only manchester and london had multi dates last time, london could still get a second date, as someone on u2.com posted an e-mail they recieved from ticketline telling them to get back in touch on monday, as thats when the new tickets would likely go on sale.

 

[U2crush]

how did you find that? I still can't find any U2 ticket dates on ticketmaster!

What i did to find it for Gillette Stadium was go into another event that is on sale for there and there is a seating dropdown...and U2 is one of the choices!!