The Police Tour '07 - Part 3

[Strongbow]

IIRC, U2 have screens at nearly every US stadium show in 1987. The only exeptions I can think of are possibly Vancouver and the $5 Tempe shows that got filmed. There are print ads that had the words "screens" written quite prominently.



Did the Police have 350,000 fans greet them outside their hotel when they arrived on the continent?

u2fp

Several of the Joshua Tree stadium shows I have on video don't have any video screens.

I doubt there were 350,000 people outside the Beatles Hotel when they arrived. There is no way one could accurately caculate that total in any event as people are not paying to stand outside the hotel, so its another questionable and meaningless statistic that just leads to a discussion of basically nothing. Try sticking with things we actually know like tour dates, venue capacities, and actual confirmed attendance figures.

 

[U2FanPeter]

Several of the Joshua Tree stadium shows I have on video don't have any video screens.

The screen was located at the rear of the soundboard, so it's not visible in many/most US audience shot videos. Those 30% of the audience nearest the stage could not see the screens, only those with poorer sightlines/nosebleed seats.

I doubt there were 350,000 people outside the Beatles Hotel when they arrived. There is no way one could accurately caculate that total in any event as people are not paying to stand outside the hotel, so its another questionable and meaningless statistic that just leads to a discussion of basically nothing. Try sticking with things we actually know like tour dates, venue capacities, and actual confirmed attendance figures.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wyrs5uR-nwc

This is from the "Beatles Down Under" TV special from the 80's. You cite a Aussie TV Countdown special, and here I am actually showing one.

BTW, did Countdown have to bargain for exclusive Police interview/performance footage from the show you keep referencing?

u2fp

 

[Strongbow]

The screen was located at the rear of the soundboard, so it's not visible in many/most US audience shot videos. Those 30% of the audience nearest the stage could not see the screens, only those with poorer sightlines/nosebleed seats.



www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wyrs5uR-nwc

This is from the "Beatles Down Under" TV special from the 80's. You cite a Aussie TV Countdown special, and here I am actually showing one.

BTW, did Countdown have to bargain for exclusive Police interview/performance footage from the show you keep referencing?

u2fp

Did the Beatles ever play a single show(where people purchased tickets) in Australia as large as the Police performance in Melbourne in 1984? The answer to that question is no.

Countdown stated that the Police performance was the largest performance by a foreign artist in the history of Australia and you have yet to provide anything to disprove that statement.

I'm sure will have some more actual Police figures coming into the Billboard Boxscore chart in the coming weeks in regards to the current tour which is what this thread is actually about.

 

[U2FanPeter]

Did the Beatles ever play a single show(where people purchased tickets) in Australia as large as the Police performance in Melbourne in 1984? The answer to that question is no.

Countdown stated that the Police performance was the largest performance by a foreign artist in the history of Australia and you have yet to provide anything to disprove that statement.

I'm sure will have some more actual Police figures coming into the Billboard Boxscore chart in the coming weeks in regards to the current tour which is what this thread is actually about.

Did Stadium PA technology even exist in Australia in 1964?

Yes, the Police may have some attendance record for ONE concert, with less than 2 acts that did not come from Australia.

There is enough proof to show a Fleetwood Mac centric bill in 1977 drew about the same amount of people - without video screens. The other groups would otherwise play theater type sized venues in OZ.

Who had the biggest ever show with the homegrown act? It wasn't ACDC and I found nothing for S.N.Fever era Bee Gees. Olivia?

Since this thread is going in circles it would probably be more interesting to put all complete Austalian audience tour numbers side by side for comparison.

Fleetwood Mac 77
KISS
STONES 73/90s?/00s?
Bowie 78/83
Police 84/08
Dire Straits 85
Jacko 88
Springsteen 85/03
U2 89/93/97/06

u2fp

 

[Hewson]

By the way, although Bryan Adams did not chart in 1983 in Australia, the "Little River Band" did. It seems that the "Little River Band" may have had a strong fan base in Australia as well when Fleetwood Mac played with them and Santana.

So how could Little River band have had an effect on ticket sales if we believe this piece of info:

Selling lots of albums does not necessarily translate to large concert ticket sales, especially when the artist is only on their first or second commercially successful album.

?

 

[ramblin rose]

Here's a cool compilation of the Anaheim show. Amazing bootleg job.

http://blip.tv/file/629375?filename=Sbcooler-ThePoliceLiveInAnaheimCalifornia593.flv

 

[phanan]

The Billboard review was of a show in Philadelphia, not Melbourne Australia. I'm sure its a good estimate and maybe even an actual figure for the Philadelphia show, but it has nothing to do with any of the shows Fleetwood Mac played at in Australia.

When the popularity of a band is pretty much the same throughout the world, you'll find that those estimates hold true for anywhere they played.

Kind of like U2 on the Vertigo tour. That tour was certainly consistent no matter where they played.

Don't know, and don't at all see how that would be relevant.

 

[Strongbow]

Yes, the Police may have some attendance record for ONE concert, with less than 2 acts that did not come from Australia.

I think you could have admitted that four pages ago.

Australia is not always toured by artist and it can be difficult to compare shows and tours from different decades. More importantly, precise Billboard Boxscore information only exists consistently for area's outside North America from 1995 onwards. I think its better to compare data that is known or precise boxscore data, than to over generalize and endlessly guess at what was or could have been or what this photograph tells you etc etc.

 

[Strongbow]

So how could Little River band have had an effect on ticket sales if we believe this piece of info:

?

It suggest that the "Little River Band" may have had chart and album success in Australia back when they played with Fleetwood Mac in 1977 that would have drawn people to the show. I was searching the 1983 Australian charts and could not find Bryan Adams charting at all. Bryan Adams opened for the Police in Australia in March 1984, but it appears he was essentially unknown to most Australians at that time. I was surprised though to come across the "Little River Band" in that search.



The biggest album sellers are often very different from the biggest concert ticket sellers. A look at 2007's top 10 albums and top 10 concert tours could easily make that point.

But just look some of this decades biggest album sellers, like M&M, Linkin Park, Coldplay, Nickleback, Norah Jones, Evanescence, The Black Eyed Peas, Nelly, Outkast, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Nelly Furtado, Mariah Carey, 50 Cent, Usher, Kelly Clarkson, Beyonce, Gwen Stefani, Avril Lavigne, Alicia Keys, Dixie Chicks etc.

All of those artist have some of the biggest selling albums of this decade. Most have multiple multi-platinum albums. But most of them struggle to fill arena's, or are better suited for theaters. None of them can play stadiums anywhere on their own with possibly one or two exceptions. Coldplay did smaller stadiums in the UK, but are not even close to approaching that outside the UK. This decade has not produced any stadium acts, and the 1990s only had Pearl Jam at that level for a while and the Dave Matthews Band at that level but only in the United States. Yet, all of these artist have sold massive sums of albums, more than enough to justify an Arena tour with multiple shows in each market or Stadiums in all markets, yet none of them can do that consistently around the world.

So that is essentially what I was talking about when I said that selling massive numbers of albums does not necessarily translate into strong concert ticket sales, especially when the artist is on their first or second commercially successful album.

 

[Strongbow]

When the popularity of a band is pretty much the same throughout the world, you'll find that those estimates hold true for anywhere they played.

Kind of like U2 on the Vertigo tour. That tour was certainly consistent no matter where they played.

Actually the majority of artist experience different levels of success throughout the world, especially when it comes to selling concert tickets. Only artist that are unusually popular like U2 experience roughly equal levels of success everywhere throughout the world. Fleetwood Mac was not at that level worldwide in 1977 as shown by the different types of venues they played in Europe and North America. In fact, just prior to Rumours, Fleetwood Mac was only playing in small theaters unless they were opening for a big artist or at least on the same bill as another multiple other artist like a festival. Even on their Rumours tour they were still playing with other big artst on the same bill and in fact were only a co-headlining act at some of the biggest shows they played at in 1977. Thats not surprising at all given that three years earlier, few people knew who Fleetwood Mac were.

 

[U2FanPeter]

04-03-84 - Melbourne Showgrounds

The Police
Bryan Adams
Australian Crawl
Sunnyboys
Kids in the Kitchen

How is that not a festival bill?

It was also only 2nd of 2 Australian Police shows, and the final performance of the Syncronicity tour(later known as the last full show until 2007)

They likely did 100,000 for those 2 shows. Compare that to 180,000 that KISS did in 3 weeks or equal number The Beatles did in 1964.

u2fp

 

[blueeyedgirl]

Jeez Louise, I came in here looking for reviews of the concerts in Australia and all I've seen for about 7 pages is nitpicking over numbers. Are either of you in Australia? Have either of you seen the Police in Australia? If not, might I suggest you desist from your nitpicking and start talking about the MUSIC? Just a suggestion, mates?

 

[U2FanPeter]

Jeez Louise, I came in here looking for reviews of the concerts in Australia and all I've seen for about 7 pages is nitpicking over numbers. Are either of you in Australia? Have either of you seen the Police in Australia? If not, might I suggest you desist from your nitpicking and start talking about the MUSIC? Just a suggestion, mates?

Is there new Police music?
New Police DVD?
New Police Setlist?
Rescheduled Police Unplugged?
New boxset of the mountains of vintage Police live/studio music fans are clamouring to hear?
New DVD of the mountains of vintage Police footage that exists? A new Stewart Copeland blog/forum posting?

Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.

u2fp

 

[martha]

Does anyone else care about how many people saw them and how much they grossed?

Nope.
Nope.
Nope.

 

[blueeyedgirl]

Is there new Police music?
New Police DVD?
New Police Setlist?
Rescheduled Police Unplugged?
New boxset of the mountains of vintage Police live/studio music fans are clamouring to hear?
New DVD of the mountains of vintage Police footage that exists? A new Stewart Copeland blog/forum posting?

Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.

u2fp

They're in the middle of a tour in Australia? Australia doesn't count, obviously!

 

[Strongbow]

04-03-84 - Melbourne Showgrounds

The Police
Bryan Adams
Australian Crawl
Sunnyboys
Kids in the Kitchen

How is that not a festival bill?

It was also only 2nd of 2 Australian Police shows, and the final performance of the Syncronicity tour(later known as the last full show until 2007)

They likely did 100,000 for those 2 shows. Compare that to 180,000 that KISS did in 3 weeks or equal number The Beatles did in 1964.

u2fp

Festivals consist of popular artist, Bryan Adams, billed second to the Police had yet to chart any of his albums or singles at the time of the show. U2 had 5 bands on the bill the first time they played the Milton Keynes Bowl in England but few people refered to it as a festival if any. Again, its NOT THE NUMBER OF BANDS ON THE BILL BUT HOW POPULAR THE BANDS ON THE BILL ARE!

The Police played to more people at the Melbourne concert in March 1984 than any other foreign artist in history, in Australia, at that time. I don't care what Kiss was able to do in 3 weeks, or what the Beatles did in 1964. The Police were wrapping up the Synchronicity Tour and the goal was not to break some ALLEGED record or total brought up by some U2 fan on a message board 24 years later.



In any event, I don't find 180,000 in 3 weeks for anyone any where to be really that unusually impressive. U2 just did more than that in 3 days in Sydney. Hell, the Police did nearly that in two days in Paris in 2007!

But please, in terms of numbers RELEVANT to this thread, these are the only numbers you should have in your mind:


THE POLICE TOUR 2007 TOTALS WORLDWIDE TO DATE:
GROSS: $236,071,567
ATTENDANCE: 2,140,756
SHOWS: 78
SELLOUTS: 75
SHOWS PLAYED BUT NOT REPORTED YET: 3

The Police tour is already the 6th highest grossing tour in the history of the planet with 8 months of touring still to go!

The numbers speak for themselves. No fantasy, no generalizations, no photographs where one tries to explain crowd size ala like Big Foot or Nessie photos, just the facts in a thread about a tour that is still on going.

 

[U2FanPeter]

The Police played to more people at the Melbourne concert in March 1984 than any other foreign artist in history, in Australia, at that time.

Paul Dainty says otherwise, from promotional advert he provided for a Fleetwood Mac related show in 1977.

Email his office for a 1977 audience figure.

The 1984 Australian single show record held by The Police only stands if it's connected to 2 conditions:
-It's an foreign headliner
-The headliner is the only act on the bill that has played a larger venue than theater in Australia

u2fp

 

[blueeyedgirl]

Well, that was time lost you coulda been spending trying to get a root....

 

[Strongbow]

Paul Dainty says otherwise, from promotional advert he provided for a Fleetwood Mac related show in 1977.

Email his office for a 1977 audience figure.

The 1984 Australian single show record held by The Police only stands if it's connected to 2 conditions:
-It's an foreign headliner
-The headliner is the only act on the bill that has played a larger venue than theater in Australia

u2fp

Do you have anything to say about the current Police tour, or are you going to continue to hunt for Big Foot for another 10 pages?

 

[cobl04]

Well, that was time lost you coulda been spending trying to get a root....

Jeez Louise, I came in here looking for reviews of the concerts in Australia and all I've seen for about 7 pages is nitpicking over numbers. Are either of you in Australia? Have either of you seen the Police in Australia? If not, might I suggest you desist from your nitpicking and start talking about the MUSIC? Just a suggestion, mates?

Does anyone else care about how many people saw them and how much they grossed?

Nope.
Nope.
Nope.

Thank you But they won't listen...

 

[U2FanPeter]

THE POLICE TOUR 2007 TOTALS WORLDWIDE TO DATE:
GROSS: $236,071,567
ATTENDANCE: 2,140,756
SHOWS: 78
SELLOUTS: 75
SHOWS PLAYED BUT NOT REPORTED YET: 3

Why is the biggest tour of the year have almost no discussion of the musical merits of the group and why are some Police related websites(including stingus.net) forums surprisingly vacant?

It's remarkably unparalleled in showbiz past or present.

That is one mystery I'm still currently trying to get to unravel about the Police 07-08 tour.

u2fp

 

[Hewson]

It suggest that the "Little River Band" may have had chart and album success in Australia back when they played with Fleetwood Mac in 1977 that would have drawn people to the show. I was searching the 1983 Australian charts and could not find Bryan Adams charting at all. Bryan Adams opened for the Police in Australia in March 1984, but it appears he was essentially unknown to most Australians at that time. I was surprised though to come across the "Little River Band" in that search.

Oh its clear now, you saw Little River Band on the 1983 Aussie charts and therefore claimed that they helped Fleetwood Mac sell tix in 1977. Can't beat that sound logic.

 

[Strongbow]

Oh its clear now, you saw Little River Band on the 1983 Aussie charts and therefore claimed that they helped Fleetwood Mac sell tix in 1977. Can't beat that sound logic.

I was not expecting them to have been on the charts at all, and suggested that they MIGHT have had a chart run in 1977 and before that as well. Do you understand? Is that out of the realm of possiblity? I don't think so.

 

[Strongbow]

Why is the biggest tour of the year have almost no discussion of the musical merits of the group and why are some Police related websites(including stingus.net) forums surprisingly vacant?

It's remarkably unparalleled in showbiz past or present.

That is one mystery I'm still currently trying to get to unravel about the Police 07-08 tour.

u2fp

There have been thousands of newspaper articles all across the world about the tour about the band, the reunion, the surprise, and yes the bands history and musical merits which have already been acknowledged for the past 25 years. You would have to be living on another planet not to know this.

Just like unscientific polls on websites, some random judgment of traffic on a few websites would tell you virtually nothing, the same with U2. The Police do have a much older fan base, primarily in their 40s if were talking about the fans that activelly supported them in the early 80s.

A more interesting mystery is why all of your comments in a Police thread about the band tend to express something that could only be viewed as negative. There is a term for that on this message board.

 

[blueeyedgirl]

Thank you But they won't listen...

So, D, what's the weather like where you are?

 

[martha]

Of the two discs in the Police Live! album, I think the second disc is better. They were better musicians by then, and had a wider selection of material.

 

[Strongbow]

Of the two discs in the Police Live! album, I think the second disc is better. They were better musicians by then, and had a wider selection of material.

The second disc is slicker and more polished, but the first disk has some very interesting performances from a purely three piece band, no back up singers or sequencers. But that Boston 1979 show was no where near to being the best show on the Regatta De Blanc tour. I think the band were at their best live on the Zenyatta Mondatta tour both in terms of performance, sound mix, style, and tempo. But, no Zenyatta Mondatta tour material showed up on the official live album. Like U2, the Police have plenty of boots available over the Net of just about any show you can think of.

 

[intedomine]

I probably prefer the second disc overall, but it has the annoying Demolition Man, which gives me the irrits.

 

[Hewson]

I was not expecting them to have been on the charts at all, and suggested that they MIGHT have had a chart run in 1977 and before that as well. Do you understand? Is that out of the realm of possiblity? I don't think so.

So when it suits your argument, speculation is fine, but if others speculate, you tell them the only things that matter are cold hard figures.

Can't have your cake and eat it too.

I think its better to compare data that is known or precise boxscore data, than to over generalize and endlessly guess at what was or could have been or what this photograph tells you etc etc.

 

[Strongbow]

So when it suits your argument, speculation is fine, but if others speculate, you tell them the only things that matter are cold hard figures.

Can't have your cake and eat it too.

I'm not the one who started this speculation and I certainly do think its better to have factual statistics, so I don't see any contradiction there. But hey, if you want me to go look up the Australian top 20 album and single charts from the mid to late 1970s to see where the Little River Band placed if at all, I'll do that when I get the chance.

But you must worship speculation. After all, your the one that claimed the Police had made a mistake in booking stadiums based on the results of the initial sell of tickets for Fenway Park. Its obvious this fact must irritate you, but the Police Reunion Tour of 2007-2008 is already the 6th most successful tour of all time and will likely have the #2 spot once it finishes in August leaving all your prior erroneous speculations on the success of the tour in the dust.

Do you have anything positive to say about the Police? If not, perhaps you should take your trolling somewhere else.

Oh, and when comes to eating things, perhaps you should chew on this:

THE POLICE TOUR 2007 TOTALS WORLDWIDE TO DATE:
GROSS: $236,071,567
ATTENDANCE: 2,140,756
SHOWS: 78
SELLOUTS: 75
SHOWS PLAYED BUT NOT REPORTED YET: 3