Stones 50 and Counting vs U2 360

[CosmoKramer]

So the first boxscores are in for the Stones and here is what we have:

Staples Center Los Angeles, Calif. May 3, 20, 2013
Gross:$9,933,548 Attendance: 28,313 (2 shows)

Honda Center Anaheim, Calif. May 15, 18, 2013
Gross:$8,163,662 Attendance: 26,579 (2 shows)

MGM Grand Garden Las Vegas, Nev. May 11, 2013
Gross:$6,119,172 Attendance 13,227 (1 show)

Oracle Arena Oakland, Calif. May 5, 2013
Gross:$5,068,993 Attendance: 14,133 (1 show)

HP Pavilion San Jose, Calif. May 8, 2013
Gross:$4,507,648 Attendance:12,803 (1 show)


Keeping in mind that these numbers are, on there own, amazing! Especially for arena shows.

With that said, I find it very interesting that all of the attendance figures above are well below listed capacity for concerts at those venues.

Example:

The Stones played to 12,803 (listed as sold out) in San Jose, however U2 played to 18,000 per night (2 nights) on Vertigo.

The Stones played to roughly 14,150 people per night at the Staples Center (2 shows both listed as sold out), however U2 played to roughly 17,250 per night during Vertigo

While these shows grosses stand for themselves, it does indicate that the Stones have saturated these markets at the current ticket price levels (which I think are hovering over $300 a ticket).

With regard to the question "can the Stones over take U2 360's records"....I would have to believe 100% NO. They will come nowhere near the overall gross or attendance of the U2 360 tour. Granted, there are only 7 shows reported in but LA is a very lucrative market, especially for the Stones, so it won't get much better than this for them (save for the UK).

They averaged roughly $5 million per show over the first 7 shows, so at this rate they would need to play about 150 shows in order to pass U2 360. If the Stones continue to play arenas, I don't believe that they can maintain this average gross over 75 dates, let alone 150. There are just not enough markets that are going to shell out $300 a ticket for the Stones (or any artist for that matter). They currently have 22 dates scheduled and those dates are all in major markets, so I do feel for these dates, the gross will hold.

For this exercise, I am not going to take into account the 8 shows that they did for their "pre-tour" because they hadn't announced a full tour and people bought tickets thinking that they might just be one off shows. Im fine if people want to count that gross into the "50 and Counting" tour but the demand/gross from the pre-tour is not a fair reflection of the demand/gross of the actual tour (i.e. its not apples to apples).

With that said: With the 22 shows on tap at the moment, they should gross about 110-125 million. I would also have to believe that they will add more dates to this tour but it remains to be seen how many they "want" to play (they can pretty much go anywhere in the world and play if they choose).

If you add in the "pre-tour" grosses: $38.5 million + 2 Paris shows that were not reported (very small venues, so we will say $6 million)=$44.5+125 million for the current 22 dates would give them 169.5 million.

For the record, I think U2 is the current biggest tour act in the world but if we went "all time", I would still say the Stones are bigger (U2 would need at least 2 more $400 million + tours).

I would be very interested in Maoil's opinion on this given he is the resident "guru" on this topic.

 

[bono_212]

I was curious to see the attendance figures, based on an article in read the other day suggesting the stones were still selling out even with the ludicrous prices.

It looks as though my suspicions are going to be confirmed on this one and they're just fudging the numbers to save face.

 

[prbiker15]

I think they only fudged up the gross figures - because some prices listed on Billboard Boxscore, I think, are a bit misleading. I don't remember them putting $69.85 tickets on sale in Anaheim, or $67.50 tickets in Oakland. I've only heard ticket prices being $85, $150, $250, $450 and $600 ($750 in Vegas!)

Oh, and with the figures from the '50 & Counting' "warm-up shows" in 2012, we're at a total (so far) of 168,857 fans with $72,480,033. They wouldn't have any problem selling out shows if they did stadium shows with lower ticket prices.

The O2 Arena - London (November 25-29)
31,755 / 31,755 (100%)
$17,100,700

Barclays Center - Brooklyn (December 8)
14,471 / 14,471 (100%)
$7,297,560

Prudential Center - Newark (December 13-15)
27,476 / 27,476 (100%)
$14,288,750

They're also playing two huge sold-out shows in London's Hyde Park in July - that can equal anywhere between 80,000-100,000 people over both shows, and as much as $15-20 million in gross. I think the Stones will only surpass U2's Wembley Stadium shows in terms of gross.

 

[CosmoKramer]

I think they only fudged up the gross figures - because some prices listed on Billboard Boxscore, I think, are a bit misleading. I don't remember them putting $69.85 tickets on sale in Anaheim, or $67.50 tickets in Oakland. I've only heard ticket prices being $85, $150, $250, $450 and $600 ($750 in Vegas!)

Oh, and with the figures from the '50 & Counting' "warm-up shows" in 2012, we're at a total (so far) of 168,857 fans with $72,480,033. They wouldn't have any problem selling out shows if they did stadium shows with lower ticket prices.

They're also playing two huge sold-out shows in London's Hyde Park in July - that can equal anywhere between 80,000-100,000 people over both shows, and as much as $15-20 million in gross. I think the Stones will only surpass U2's Wembley Stadium shows in terms of gross.

http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-76038181/

I don't think that they are selling out many shows as soon as tickets go on sale(ie instant sellouts). I have read similar stories, like the one above, that state tickets are available up to show time. Additionally, they are significantly discounting the remaining tickets before the show starts.

Can you imagine paying $600 for a ticket and the person next to you only payed $85! I get that some money is better than no money and sell the ticket for what you can get but how about not screwing your fans by charging $600 to start with.

As the article mentions, the average ticket price is about $325, which is "double" their ticket price in 05-06. What the article doesn't mention is that in 05-06 they were playing stadiums and well over 100 shows, if they end up trying that again, that average ticket price will plummet(but still be impressive). Lastly, while the average ticket price does stand at a hefty $325, I think the expectation was that it would be closer to $400, hence the ticket price cuts.

 

[rennowba]

I think they only fudged up the gross figures - because some prices listed on Billboard Boxscore, I think, are a bit misleading. I don't remember them putting $69.85 tickets on sale in Anaheim, or $67.50 tickets in Oakland. I've only heard ticket prices being $85, $150, $250, $450 and $600 ($750 in Vegas!)

Oh, and with the figures from the '50 & Counting' "warm-up shows" in 2012, we're at a total (so far) of 168,857 fans with $72,480,033. They wouldn't have any problem selling out shows if they did stadium shows with lower ticket prices.

They're also playing two huge sold-out shows in London's Hyde Park in July - that can equal anywhere between 80,000-100,000 people over both shows, and as much as $15-20 million in gross. I think the Stones will only surpass U2's Wembley Stadium shows in terms of gross.

Only 60,000 tickets were sold for the hyde park shows so thats 120,000 over the two dates

 

[rennowba]

I was lucky enough to get one aswell cannot wait.