PopMart Tour Fun Facts (for those who may have always wondered)

[U2Fan101]

After reading that great U2 Live Documentary book, I decided to see just how bad PopMart did ticket wise. After working on this for about an hour, I have compiled the following.
This is broken by leg in this format :

Leg
Tickets Sold out of Tickets Available
Percentage of Tickets Sold
Average Attendance of Leg/Tour if only 1 show performed
Notes dealing with each leg

At the very end is the complete total for the tour.


Leg I: North America
1,096,553 Out of 1,253,167
87 Percent Tickets Sold
Average attendance – 39162 out of 44755
Only sold out shows on this leg were:
Opening Night Las Vegas 4.25.97
Salt Lake City 5.3.97
Philadelphia 6.8.97
Winnipeg 6.12.97
Edmonton 6.14 & 6.15.97
Los Angeles 6.21.97
Foxboro 7.1 & 7.2.97
9 out of 28 shows sold out

Leg II: Europe
1,498,539 out of 1,854,653
80 Percent Tickets Sold
Average attendance – 46829 out of 57957
Notes: With the exception of the shows in Germany, Sweden and the final France show, every concert was sold out. However, the German shows especially HURT sold-out percentages. German shows alone only sold 146,000 out of 350,000. That is only 41 percent tickets sold. Ouch.
22 out of 32 shows sold out

Leg III: North America
575517 out of 586516
98 Percent Tickets Sold
Average attendance – 33853 out of 34500
Notes: Only shows to NOT sell-out were:
Detroit 10.31.97
Miami 11.14.97
Seattle 12.12.97
14 out of 17 shows sold out

Leg IV: South America/Australasia/South-Africa
690926 out of 718549
96 Percent Tickets Sold
Average attendance – 46061 out of 47903
Only shows to NOT sell-out were:
Melbourne 2.21.98
Brisbane 2.25.98
Tokyo 3.5.98
Osaka 3.11.98
11 out of 15 shows sold out


TOTALS

3,861,535 out of 4,412,885
87 Percent Sold Out
Average Attendance – 41974 out of 47966
56 out of 92 shows sold out

What hurts the avrage attendance was really those Germany shows. They were just horrible. However, what hurts the amount of shows being sold out is from the first leg in America.

Anyway, this was for fun (and out of boredom) if anyone was ever wondering.

 

[BonoFox1]

That is intresting..Thank you for sharing

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

87% sold out doesn't seem bad.

Thanks for taking the time to make this!

 

[starsgoblue]

 

[mofo82]

remember the number crunchers computer game from grade school (80's)...well, reading those stats gave me a flashback. that was cool

 

[Blue Room]

Hmm, the first two Chicago shows were soldout 6-27-97 and 6-28-97. I KNOW for a fact the first one was. 6-29-97 was not.

6-27-97 Soldier Field Capacity 42,500 sellout
6-28-97 Soldier Field Capacity 42,500 sellout
6-29-97 Soldier Field Capacity 42,500 sold 31,984

*Did you just miss these? If not, I have to question whoever the fact checker is that did the Concert Documentary update because these were soldout. I was at all three of these and if the first two were not sellouts there could have been more than 100 seats available (and I dont think there were, the place was packed), which is a technical sellout according to most promoters. I dont have the update yet but that is a pathetic job of fact checking if they indicated that.

Also, your third leg shows appear to be wrong also. I know for a fact that St. Louis was no sellout (the whole upper deck was empty) and neither was Atlanta, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Tampa (very low attendance), San Antonio, etc.. I dont know where the concert documentary book got their figures but some of these are definately wrong.

Popmart was not the huge failure that alot claim including the press. The POP album didnt do as well as expected (by U2 standards, most artists would kill to sell that many records though) and they had some problems performance wise on the first half of the first leg. A few experimental areas they attempted had lower attendance (IE Memphis, Clemson, Raleigh (cancelled), etc.). So the press jumped all over it. Don't believe the hype basically.

Maybe StingII has more accurate figures, this is his area of expertise. I may be wrong on a few things myself. But the Chicago shows I know for a fact.

 

[Popmartijn]

Hmm, the first two Chicago shows were soldout 6-27-97 and 6-28-97. I KNOW for a fact the first one was. 6-29-97 was not.

6-27-97 Soldier Field Capacity 42,500 sellout
6-28-97 Soldier Field Capacity 42,500 sellout
6-29-97 Soldier Field Capacity 42,500 sold 31,984

*Did you just miss these? If not, I have to question whoever the fact checker is that did the Concert Documentary update because these were soldout.

They may indeed be. The thing with the U2 Live book is, they give the combined figures for multiple nights in the same venue. So they state for Chicago that 116,972 tickets were sold and that full capacity would have been 127,500. They don't indicate that the first 2 nights were sold out and that around 11,000 tickets were left for the third.

Also, your third leg shows appear to be wrong also. I know for a fact that St. Louis was no sellout (the whole upper deck was empty) and neither was Atlanta, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Tampa (very low attendance), San Antonio, etc.. I dont know where the concert documentary book got their figures but some of these are definately wrong.

The U2 Live book is also not claiming that these were sold out. They don't have the exact figures for these shows, so they give an estimate of the attendance. However, for the concerts you mention, they didn't state the capacity of the venue.

Maybe StingII has more accurate figures, this is his area of expertise. I may be wrong on a few things myself. But the Chicago shows I know for a fact.

More information can be found in the U2 Chart/Sales Statistics thread in the Peeling Of Those Dollar Bills forum:
http://forum.interference.com/t57204.html

C ya!

Marty

P.S. What happened to those 8 people?

 

[Blue Room]

Marty, they may not have said specifically. But if the general totals are stated as the original post says then they are not accurate.

I have been meaning to purchase the update but havent yet. If there are these kind of inaccuracies printed it makes me wonder about the accuracy of alot of other things said in it. Then again, I may just be a pessimist lately due to recent events !

 

[JOFO]

 

[Popmartijn]

Marty, they may not have said specifically. But if the general totals are stated as the original post says then they are not accurate.

They never mentioned the general totals.

 

[VicksSs]

Thanks!! This is interesting to know... I always thing that, although U2 are the megaband they are and all, the failure of Pop/Popmart is a bit exaggerated...

 

[babyman]

They took anyway the cash............................

 

[vaz02]

this must of murdered u2's confidence , no wonder the elevation tour was so enclosed.

 

[STING2]

After reading that great U2 Live Documentary book, I decided to see just how bad PopMart did ticket wise. After working on this for about an hour, I have compiled the following.
This is broken by leg in this format :

Leg
Tickets Sold out of Tickets Available
Percentage of Tickets Sold
Average Attendance of Leg/Tour if only 1 show performed
Notes dealing with each leg

At the very end is the complete total for the tour.


Leg I: North America
1,096,553 Out of 1,253,167
87 Percent Tickets Sold
Average attendance – 39162 out of 44755
Only sold out shows on this leg were:
Opening Night Las Vegas 4.25.97
Salt Lake City 5.3.97
Philadelphia 6.8.97
Winnipeg 6.12.97
Edmonton 6.14 & 6.15.97
Los Angeles 6.21.97
Foxboro 7.1 & 7.2.97
9 out of 28 shows sold out

Leg II: Europe
1,498,539 out of 1,854,653
80 Percent Tickets Sold
Average attendance – 46829 out of 57957
Notes: With the exception of the shows in Germany, Sweden and the final France show, every concert was sold out. However, the German shows especially HURT sold-out percentages. German shows alone only sold 146,000 out of 350,000. That is only 41 percent tickets sold. Ouch.
22 out of 32 shows sold out

Leg III: North America
575517 out of 586516
98 Percent Tickets Sold
Average attendance – 33853 out of 34500
Notes: Only shows to NOT sell-out were:
Detroit 10.31.97
Miami 11.14.97
Seattle 12.12.97
14 out of 17 shows sold out

Leg IV: South America/Australasia/South-Africa
690926 out of 718549
96 Percent Tickets Sold
Average attendance – 46061 out of 47903
Only shows to NOT sell-out were:
Melbourne 2.21.98
Brisbane 2.25.98
Tokyo 3.5.98
Osaka 3.11.98
11 out of 15 shows sold out


TOTALS

3,861,535 out of 4,412,885
87 Percent Sold Out
Average Attendance – 41974 out of 47966
56 out of 92 shows sold out

What hurts the avrage attendance was really those Germany shows. They were just horrible. However, what hurts the amount of shows being sold out is from the first leg in America.

Anyway, this was for fun (and out of boredom) if anyone was ever wondering.

I've noticed several mistakes with your statistics. To start on Leg III, most of the shows on that leg did not sellout. It is in fact the worst Leg of the tour as far as that is concerned.

Minneapolis, Detroit, Miami, St. Louis, Tampa, Jacksonville, New Orleans, San Antonio, Atlanta, Houston, Vancouver, and Seattle did not sellout.

The only shows on this Leg that soldout were actually outside the United States. Shows in Toronto, Montreal, and Mexico City did sellout. That is a total of 5 shows, the rest did not sellout.

Bellow are the correct statistics for the third leg of the tour:

POPMART 3RD LEG: NORTH AMERICA 17 SHOWS TOTALS GROSS: $26,036,837 ATTENDANCE: 575,742 AVERAGE GROSS: $1,531,579 AVERAGE ATTENDANCE: 33,867

This leg of the tour had the lowest average attendance of the entire tour.

 

[STING2]

Here are the correct statistics for each leg of the tour as well as the final totals:



1ST LEG OF POPMART: 29 SHOWS
GROSS: $53,798,240 ATTENDANCE: 1,096,547
AVERAGE GROSS: $1,855,112 AVERAGE ATTENDANCE: 37,812


2ND LEG: EUROPE POPMART TOTALS: 32 SHOWS
GROSS: $58,697,632 ATTENDANCE: 1,572,721
AVERAGE GROSS: $1,834,301 AVERAGE ATTENDANCE: 49,148


POPMART 3RD LEG: NORTH AMERICA 17 SHOWS TOTALS GROSS: $26,036,837 ATTENDANCE: 575,742 AVERAGE GROSS: $1,531,579 AVERAGE ATTENDANCE: 33,867


POPMART 4TH LEG: 15 SHOWS TOTALS
GROSS: $33,144,315 ATTENDANCE: 690,926
AVERAGE GROSS: $2,209,621 AVERAGE ATTENDANCE: 46,062


The Totals for the Entire 93 date POPMART TOUR are GROSS: $171,677,024 ATTENDANCE: 3,935,936 AVERAGE GROSS: $1,845,989.5 AVERAGE ATTENDANCE: 42,322

 

[STING2]

Hmm, the first two Chicago shows were soldout 6-27-97 and 6-28-97. I KNOW for a fact the first one was. 6-29-97 was not.

6-27-97 Soldier Field Capacity 42,500 sellout
6-28-97 Soldier Field Capacity 42,500 sellout
6-29-97 Soldier Field Capacity 42,500 sold 31,984

*Did you just miss these? If not, I have to question whoever the fact checker is that did the Concert Documentary update because these were soldout. I was at all three of these and if the first two were not sellouts there could have been more than 100 seats available (and I dont think there were, the place was packed), which is a technical sellout according to most promoters. I dont have the update yet but that is a pathetic job of fact checking if they indicated that.

Also, your third leg shows appear to be wrong also. I know for a fact that St. Louis was no sellout (the whole upper deck was empty) and neither was Atlanta, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Tampa (very low attendance), San Antonio, etc.. I dont know where the concert documentary book got their figures but some of these are definately wrong.

Popmart was not the huge failure that alot claim including the press. The POP album didnt do as well as expected (by U2 standards, most artists would kill to sell that many records though) and they had some problems performance wise on the first half of the first leg. A few experimental areas they attempted had lower attendance (IE Memphis, Clemson, Raleigh (cancelled), etc.). So the press jumped all over it. Don't believe the hype basically.

Maybe StingII has more accurate figures, this is his area of expertise. I may be wrong on a few things myself. But the Chicago shows I know for a fact.

The first two shows were initially soldout for a long time, but a small number of tickets were released prior to each show and not every ticket was sold. That is why in Amusement Business records, the shows are not recorded as official sellouts. In addition, each show was set up in a reduced capacity layout. Its designed to look completely full when you look at it, but actually is several thousand seats lower than full capacity. The Rolling Stones came in a few weeks later and played two shows to 110,000 people, about 55,000 people per night. The U2 shows were set up for a 42,500 person capacity, with only the third night failing to sell a significant number of tickets.

The U2 LIVE A CONCERT DOCUMTENTARY is accurate and does have the official figures. But the figures posted above are not what is posted in the book for that 3rd leg. It correctly mentions the fact there were only 15,000 people at the Jacksonville show as well as only 20,000 for the Tampa show. It also has the precise tour totals for each leg of the tour which came directly from Amusement Business.

 

[STING2]

Marty, they may not have said specifically. But if the general totals are stated as the original post says then they are not accurate.

I have been meaning to purchase the update but havent yet. If there are these kind of inaccuracies printed it makes me wonder about the accuracy of alot of other things said in it. Then again, I may just be a pessimist lately due to recent events !

Purchase the book, the totals in it are accurate. What is posted above and claimed to be from the book is inaccurate. Perhaps they did not see where the totals for each leg were posted, or made a mistake when adding things together.

 

[clifedge]

87% sold out doesn't seem bad.

I think they mean 87% of available tickets were sold. 56 out of 92 is not 87%.

Anyway, thanks for doing that, U2fan101!

 

[U2girl]

Thanks for this.