Mirrorball06
The Fly
We know the total box office figure from the Vertigo Tour but what are the figures from the other tours like War, Unforgettable Fire, Joshua Tree, Lovetown, Zoo TV, Popmart and Elevation?
Mirrorball06 said:We know the total box office figure from the Vertigo Tour but what are the figures from the other tours like War, Unforgettable Fire, Joshua Tree, Lovetown, Zoo TV, Popmart and Elevation?
powerhour24 said:I remember reading that Popmart took in $80m losing money off of $100m in production costs, but merchandise sales kept the tour in the black. Elevation made much more than that but I don't have the number right now.
powerhour24 said:Ok the 80,000,000 must have come from the first leg. But I know in terms of profitability ZooTV, Elevation, and especially Vertigo far outdid Popmart.
STING2 said:
POPMART outdid ZOO TV in terms of how much money went to the band members because of the dramatic way they changed the way they promoted the tour. Instead of aligning themselves with local promoters all over the world, they went with one tour promoter, Michael Cohl, who agreed to gaurentee the band $100 million dollars regardless of how successful the tour was, in exchange for being the sole promoter of the tour in every market. POPMART also saw a huge increase in ticket prices, relative to the average cost of the tour per day. These things combined allowed U2 and Michael Cohl to make a large amount of money on the tour, with U2 of course receiving $100 million dollars.
doctorwho said:
Actually, STING2, this is incorrect a bit.
U2's ticket prices in '97 were in line with, if not less than, most acts. The fact that prices ranged from $35-57.50 actually made U2 fairly cheap! Bee Gees, for example, were over $100 for tickets. I recall doing some homework back in '97 and U2 were indeed on the lower end. Fans were just shocked because they were used to the $25-35 price range, not $57.
And, while U2 did receive $100M, I have a feeling that was to pay their entire crew as well as themselves. That is, I doubt Bono, Edge, Larry, Adam and Paul McG each got $20M from that tour. I'm sure they made millions, but not as much after paying staff, crew, props, transportation, etc. This is why T-shirts and other souvenirs sales at shows help bands so much.
Mirrorball06 said:I got some information from U2faqs.com.
1. U2 tours by the numbers
1985: The Unforgettable Fire tour was the 18th highest grossing tour of the year, covering 30 cities.
STING2 said:Only a small number of the tickets, about 5,000 per show, were at the 37.50 price. The vast majority of tickets were at the 52.50 price and the average ticket price was still a little over $50 dollars and in the Spring of 1997, this was the highest average ticket priced charged for a STADIUM TOUR in history. The Bee Gees may have charged $100 dollars for some of their tickets, but the Bee Gees were not playing 60,000 seat stadiums, at least not in the United States. They were playing 10,000-15,000 seat arena's. As the venue gets smaller, the number of tickets available gets smaller as well, which increases demand and increases the price of those tickets.
Its true that in 1994, the Eagles had some high priced tickets, but the average was not $100 dollars and most shows were in Arena's rather than stadiums. Pink Floyd also had some ticket prices in the $70 dollar and $80 dollar range, but the average ticket price for Pink Floyd's 1994 Division Bell Stadium tour was $34 dollars, well below the average for POPMART. The Stones Voodoo Lounge Tour average ticket price was just slightly below what U2 charged on POPMART.
The average ticket price in the concert industry regardless of venue was still in the 30 dollar back in 1997. While there were certainly some tickets priced at $100 dollars or more for some artist playing theaters or arena's back in 1997, NO one in the industry had ever had an average ticket price as high as U2's for a stadium tour ever. That of course changed in August of 1997 when the Stones launched their Bridges To Babylon tour, but in the Spring of 1997, U2's average ticket price was the highest anyone had ever seen for concerts in stadiums.
U2's crew is included in the cost of the tour. POPMART cost 214,000 dollars every day that the tour was on the road. Paying the staff, crew, props, transportation, venues, promoter, is all apart of the daily cost. The POPMART tour GROSSED $171 million dollars. Michael Cohl payed the band $100 million dollars, and still had plenty of money to pay for the cost of the tour. Bono, Edge, Adam, Larry, and Paul each walked away with 20 plus million dollars from that tour, their biggest pay day ever thanks to the business deals made a couple of years earlier which included Michael Cohl taking control of the entire tour as well as all the risk, and paying the band a nice sum of money, just as he had been doing with the Stones earlier.
U2 still works with Michael Cohl's promotion company TNA, because its simply the best deal out there. The deals with Michael Cohl over the past 10 years have helped to probably more than double the wealth of the band from just the money made from touring.
U2FanPeter said:
Just an aside to the above:
What were the prices for The Rolling Stones 1997 US Stadium tour? This tour would have been in the planning stages by Cohl around the same time as Popmart
The Jackson 5 US stadium tour of 1984 had ticket prices of $30-40(I have a ticket stub with $40). It was astronomical for the time where the average was in the $15 range. How much did inflation change in 13 years?
The Beatles for their 64-66 stadium shows had prices in the $5-6 range. How much did inflation change in 30+ years? I'm thinking it's would be in the $60 range for a 30 minute show with barely any PA and simple staging over 2nd base.
Evis was $3 tickets for stadium shows in 1957.
Was Popmart really the highest ticket price for a stadium show in history?
u2fp
STING2 said:The Jacksons stadium tour usually just had one ticket price of $30 dollars. If you have a $40 dollar ticket, that is very rare. What show was that? [/B]
vaz02 said:Elvis did stadium shows?
STING2 said:
The Stones tour did not start until August 1997, and was in the planning stages while U2 were on tour. The initial basic ticket price for their stadiums shows was $60 dollars, with a few sections at the back at $39.50.
The Jacksons stadium tour usually just had one ticket price of $30 dollars. If you have a $40 dollar ticket, that is very rare. What show was that?
What cost $30 US dollars in 1984 would cost $47.12 in 1997. What cost $6 dollars in 1966 would cost $29.83 in 1997. Tickets for the 1965 Shea stadium show were $4 dollars I believe, plus it took two weeks to sell 55,000 tickets. Having a music concert in a sports stadium was considered unusual back then, plus the market was much smaller back then as well.
I don't think Elvis played any stadiums back in the 1950s or 1960s. He did play arena's and maybe some stadiums back in the 1970s, and charged ticket prices of $10 US dollars and $15 US dollars in 1977 in Arena's.
I believe the Beatles were the first artist to use sports arena's and stadiums for concerts.
When the POPMART tour went on sale in February 1997, it had the highest average ticket price for a stadium tour in history. They priced it just a couple dollars above the previous high which had been the Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge tour in 1994. Adjusted for inflation, the Voodoo Lounge tour would still be slightly higher. Although, my figure did not consider inflation, even considering that, in February 1997, only the Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge tour had a higher ticket price for stadiums, and only a few dollars higher.
U2FanPeter said:I pulled out a handful of Vancouver ticket stubs. Price excludes S/C
David Bowie 8/9/83 BC Place $20
Van Halen(Roth) 5/1/84 Coliseum $13.50
The Jacksons 11/18/84 BC Place $40
Van Halen(Hagar) 10/23/86 BC Place $23
David Bowie 8/15/87 BC Place $29.50
U2 Joshua Tree 11/12/87 BC Place $24.50
Pink Floyd 10/12/87 BC Place $24.75
The Who 8/19/89 BC Place $29.75
Rolling Stones 11/2/89 BC Place $32.50
David Bowie 5/20/90 BC Place $32.50
U2 ZOOTV 4/23/92 Coliseum $29
U2 ZOOTV 11/3/92 BC Place $34.50
Peter Gabriel 7/16/93 Coliseum $47.50
Guns N' Roses 3/30/93 BC Place $32.50
Pink Floyd 6/94 BC Place $37.50
Rolling Stones 12/18/94 BC Place $50
3 Tenors 12/31/96 BC Place $50-$2,000
U2 POPMART 12/9/97 BC Place $55
Rolling Stones 11/25/06 BC Place $176
BC Place = Covered Stadium
Pacific Coliseum = Arena
To me the Jacksons and Peter Gabriel look unnaturally high.
Did the 3 Tenors ticket price affect Popmart? They did about a dozen US Stadium concerts circa 94-97 with stupid high ticket prices.
u2fp