The Australian leg of the Black Ice tour is THE HIGHEST GROSSING TOUR IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY. A quick google news search can tell you that. And U2 don’t have a hope in hell in outgrossing AC/DC in their home country next year. For one, because if U2 do play Australia, they’ll only be playing Sydney and/or Melbourne, judging by the strategically scheduled 360 tour and how there’ll only be 10 or so shows left in the schedule after the UK/European & North American legs finish next year and since they’ll need room to schedule South American shows too. And simply because the way U2’s concert demand formula works there is different from other countries/territories - U2 would need TWICE the overall inflation & accumulated album sales in order to do a FULL tour of Australia to outgross themselves compared to their last stop there on the Vertigo tour…considering what inflation & their total of overall accumulated album sales are right now and will be next year when they release their next studio album.
Listen, when Black Ice Boxscores for Australia all come in and U2 360 Boxscores for Australia have all come in, a simple comparison will be made and then will know. Until then, your only talking claims, projections, etc., not facts.
There will be 12 to 16 shows left after U2 wraps up the 2010 legs of North America and Europe.
As for your formula's about inflation and accumulated album sales, remember your formula which said U2 album sales would have to double in order for the next U2 tour to be able to outgross the Vertigo Tour? We can repost that qoute here if you like.
You could only claim A HANDFUL OF MARKETS at best where the first UK/European leg of the A Bigger Bang tour was “strategically scheduled“. Whereas the WHOLE 360 tour is. And The Stones don’t need to “strategically schedule” an ENTIRE tour like U2 now does. Why? BECAUSE THE STONES ARE A LARGER DRAW THAN U2 IS. U2 haven’t played Prairie Canada PROPERLY since 1997. So the very idea that EVERY U2 fan in this region are going to “wait to see them” when they play their hometowns is COMPLETELY ABSURD.
Well, take a look again at the Stones 1ST LEG of Europe:
11/07/2006 Stadio Giuseppe Meazza - Milan, Italy
14/07/2006 Ernst Happel Stadion - Vienna, Austria
16/07/2006 Olympiastadion - Munich, Germany
19/07/2006 AWD Arena - Hanover, Germany
21/07/2006 Olympiastadion - Berlin, Germany
23/07/2006 Rhein Energie Stadion - Cologne, Germany
28/07/2006 Stade de France - Paris, France
31/07/2006 Amsterdam ArenA - Amsterdam, Netherlands
03/08/2006 Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion - Stuttgart, Germany
05/08/2006 Dübendorf Airfield - Zurich, Switzerland
08/08/2006 Palais Nikaia - Nice, France
12/08/2006 Estádio do Dragão - Porto, Portugal
20/08/2006 Twickenham Stadium - London, England
22/08/2006 Twickenham Stadium - London, England
25/08/2006 Hampden Park - Glasgow, Scotland
27/08/2006 Don Valley Stadium - Sheffield, England
29/08/2006 Millennium Stadium - Cardiff, Wales
01/09/2006 Koengen - Bergen, Norway
03/09/2006 Forum Horsens Stadion - Horsens, Denmark
U2 360's FIRST LEG of Europe:
24 shows stadium shows
Stones "A Bigger Bang" FIRST LEG of Europe:
18 stadium shows and one ampitheater show
The Stones skip most of Scandinavia with only one stadium show in Denmark, and one little Ampitheater show in Norway. U2 360 1ST LEG EUROPE has TWO FULL STADIUM shows in Scandinavia.
In Eastern Europe, U2 360 1ST LEG EUROPE is playing 3 stadium shows. One in Poland and Two in Croatia. The STONES played
ZERO shows in Eastern Europe on their first leg.
The Stones skipped Ireland, U2 played 3 shows there.
The Stones skipped Spain, U2 played two shows there.
While both bands did not play Belgium, U2 is playing two shows in Amsterdam and two in Paris, while the Stones only did one in each.
In Italy, U2 are playing two shows in Milan, while the Stones only played one show.
Its only in the Germany speaking countries in central Europe where the Stones seem to have any advantage at all in terms of the first legs. What this shows though is that the Stones did an equal amount of as you say, strategic scheduling.
Also, lets compare the first leg of U2 360 in North America to the stadium portion of the Stones first leg in North America on A bigger Bang.
Stones 1st Leg stadiums North America 2005:
21/08/2005 Fenway Park - Boston, MA
23/08/2005 Fenway Park - Boston, MA
26/08/2005 Rentschler Field - Hartford, CT
28/08/2005 Frank Clair Stadium at Lansdowne Park - Ottawa, ON
31/08/2005 Comerica Park - Detroit, MI
03/09/2005 Magnetic Hill Concert Site - Moncton, NB
10/09/2005 Soldier Field - Chicago, IL
15/09/2005 Giants Stadium - East Rutherford, NJ
26/09/2005 Rogers Centre - Toronto, ON
28/09/2005 PNC Park - Pittsburgh, PA
01/10/2005 Hersheypark Stadium - Hershey, PA
06/10/2005 Scott Stadium - Charlottesville, VA
08/10/2005 Wallace Wade Stadium - Durham, NC
04/11/2005 Angel Stadium of Anaheim - Anaheim, CA
11/11/2005 PETCO Park - San Diego, CA
13/11/2005 SBC Park - San Francisco, CA
15/11/2005 SBC Park - San Francisco, CA
U2 360 1ST LEG NORTH AMERICA:
September 12, 2009 Chicago, IL Soldier Field
September 13, 2009 Chicago, IL Soldier Field
September 16, 2009 Toronto, ON Rogers Centre
September 17, 2009 Toronto, ON Rogers Centre
September 20, 2009 Foxborough, MA Gillette Stadium
September 21, 2009 Foxborough, MA Gillette Stadium
September 24, 2009 East Rutherford, NJ Giants Stadium
September 25, 2009 East Rutherford, NJ Giants Stadium
September 29, 2009 Landover, MD FedEx Field
October 1, 2009 Charlottesville, VA Scott Stadium
October 3, 2009 Raleigh, NC Carter-Finley Stadium
October 6, 2009 Atlanta, GA Georgia Dome
October 9, 2009 Tampa, FL Raymond James Stadium
October 12, 2009 Arlington, TX Cowboys Stadium
October 14, 2009 Houston, TX Reliant Stadium
October 18, 2009 Norman, OK Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
October 20, 2009 Glendale, AZ University of Phoenix Stadium
October 23, 2009 Las Vegas, NV Sam Boyd Stadium
October 25, 2009 Pasadena, CA Rose Bowl
October 28, 2009 Vancouver, BC Canada BC Place Stadium
The Stones first leg only had 17 stadium shows with a standard set up. By contrast U2 360's first leg has 20 stadium shows in full 360 set up. Both tours skip around. Yes, they did play some arena shows, but with the exception of two arena shows in Philadelphia and two in Atlanta, Stones visits to markets where they did not play a stadium consisted of only
ONE arena show.
You can post the half a dozen (or so) markets that I predicted incorrectly for the first North American leg of the 360 tour ‘til you‘re blue in the face…but just remember this: you were wrong when you said the ENTIRE (or virtually entire) Vertigo tour was heavily underbooked.
Once the boxscores are available, we can precisely compare your predictions to what actually happened.
As for your inaccurate alleged claim, you have yet to provide a qoute and in any event, even if your claim was true, you can't with any sort of precision prove that parts of the Vertigo tour or the whole thing was NOT underbooked.
The boxscore predictions and the actual results is a precise fact based comparison. In contrast your alleged claim is unsourced and is about something that is much more vague and difficult to prove either way.
Currently, U2 would have to gross over $700 million without a "strategically scheduled" tour to top The Stones. But since their ENTIRE 360 tour is scheduled this way, topping The Stones is not going to happen, even if they do gross $700 million by the end of it because it will be through "strategic scheduling"...
Well, now we can mark MOGGIO down as claiming that NO MATTER what U2 360 grosses, even if it grossed over 1 BILLION dollars, it will not top the Stones because according to him it was
"strategically scheduled".
LOL
If and when U2 360 is shown to have outgrossed the Stones next tour, NO one is going to be claiming that they did not top the Stones.
Live Nation will do everything it can to bring in the maximum gross for any Stones or U2 tour possible. There is no special scheme, schedule, or plan that they are going to use for U2, that they would not use for the Stones especially if it would increase the amount of money the Stones would make from the tour.
In any event, a look at the Stones A Bigger Bang Tour schedule will reveal a tour as strategically scheduled as any, designed to bring in the maximum gross possible for the Rolling Stones.