There is no point in arguing with you people, if you take a basic statisics class you can see how stats can be altered to make them look as good or as bad as you want them to be. What I am stating is a fact you could get tickets to any of the 3 concerts 2 hours before the show started. If Boxscore counts this as a sell out I guess their definition of "Sell Out" and mine are 2 different things.
Ever since 1985, and even before that on rare occasions, U2 has often released tickets the day of the show often to prevent or degrade the scalping market. The fact that tickets are still available 2 hours or even 2 minutes prior to the start of the show is not evidence of the show not being soldout. If it were, then most U2 shows since 1985 have not been soldout. Not even U2's shows in Dublin in Croke Park in 1987.
Billboard Boxscores definition of a sellout is the selling of all tickets released for sale, which may not happen until just before the boxoffice closes sometime during the concert.
The three Croke Park shows in 2009 had a combined attendance that was 3,545 tickets less than the 3 shows in 2005. It could be that demand was slower with the third show and the promoter never released the entire physical capacity that was available for sale. It could also be that the new stage and lighting reduced the number of people who could be on the field at each show. Also, a change in the fire code laws about the number of people that could be on the field could have reduced the figures.
However U2s management especially since after Popmart will do anything to make shows appear like they are sold out. There is no doubt that the tickets were released in blocks of seats therefore making it much easier to control what would be considered a sellout according to Boxscore.
Every artist in the industry attempts to sellout, and will gradually release tickets for sell in order to have a better chance of getting a sellout, but it does not always happen. There have been 32 Bruce Springsteen Concerts this year that have not soldout, even when the number of tickets released for sell was actually smaller than the full physical capacity available.
My definition of a Sellout means:
All of the tickets in the original configuration of the concert were sold (which didnt happen)
Just because you see empty seats at a concert does not mean tickets for those seats were not sold. Some Scalpers often buy up rows are blocks of tickets and are unable to re-sell them.
An important thing to remember is that this is the first ever Stadium tour done in the round. This opens up tens of thousands more seats usually that would not normally be available.
In the normal configuration, most stadium shows have about 40,000 to 50,000 people. There are only a small number of artist that can actually attract 40,000 to 50,000 people to multiple shows on a tour.
But what U2 are doing now is on another level than that. Average attendance for the first 13 shows is nearly 80,000! Nearly double of what the average attendance is at a stadium show with the normal set up, that only a small number of artist are able to perform. As the available capacity increases for any show, the chances of a sellout grow less likely.
When this tour is completed at the end of 2010, it will be the highest attended tour in history, and I don't think anyone will care whether or not U2 really did completely sellout every single show in a 360 configuration in a stadium.
