The_acrobat

The Police tour ends tonight in New York. As soon as information becomes available, could somebody post the results for that tour? While I doubt it will beat Vertigo tour, it is secured itself the #3 tour of all time I believe. I just wanna see how the Police did in comparison.

U2FanPeter

96 shows, all of course completely sold out.

The_acrobat

I'm pretty sure that the Police shows I saw at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, and Churchill Downs in Louisville, were anything but soldout.

U2FanPeter

I was getting emails from Live Nation beggin me to go to shows this julay.

Of course the final Billboard boxscores will show nearly every show sold out except one show in Germany.

phommel

I don't know if this is completely true. The fact that U2s Vertigo/elevation Tour concerts sold out so fast, in minutes or hours a lot of times, does mean they could have asked a much higher price for their tickets. The same counts for the Stones in the other way around. For the latest tour the prices were so high, that a lot of concerts didn't even get close to a sell out...
Besides, there are many bands that do not ask the maximum price, for example Radiohead or Pearl Jam...

Something else, should the gross now and in the future not be calculated in another way? since LiveNation is doing/will do auctions and that will increase the gross!

Yahweh

The one here in Edmonton Canada for The Police wasnt even 50 percent full so anybody that says they were all completely sold out is getting misguided information. Ticket prices were too high and this had a lot to do with that.

vaz02

Maybe the touts bought the tickets but couldnt sell them on. I guess that still counts as a sell out.

tpsreports2424

kiss renuion tour, sold out almost every single night and there were 292 shows

Strongbow

The Police tour finished August 7, 2008 at Madison Square Garden and although there are 6 individual shows that have yet to be reported to Billboard Boxscore, the tour is now the 3rd highest grossing tour in history, the final attendance and Gross totals for the tour have been reported and they are:

THE POLICE TOUR 2007-2008 TOTALS WORLDWIDE:
GROSS: $358,825,665
ATTENDANCE: 3,300,912
SHOWS: 143




Arthur Fogel, the promoter of the tour as well as the promoter of U2's tours for over a decade now, as well as U2's upcoming tour in 2009 had this to say about the tour:


Quote:
Calling from the Garden just prior to that final show, Fogel shared his thoughts on the final Police action from Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summer. "It's somewhat surreal," he said. "It's hard to believe 16 months have blown past this quickly."" I have a tremendous sense of pride and accomplishment on this one," he said. "Clearly, they're one of the biggest bands of all time, and this tour has just proven how strong an act they are around the world. They weren't together that long, and so much time has passed, yet the music has endured." "Rarely do you say, 'I think it's as it should have been,' as opposed to, 'I should have done it this or that way,'" Fogel said. "I really feel that it played out perfectly."




Here are the top 8 grossing tours of all time! Notice the Police are at #3 with $358 million in gross. Also, notice that there are only 8 tours that have actually made it past the $200 million mark, which is only a little more than half of what the Police just did.

1. Rolling Stones "A Bigger Bang Tour" 2005-2006 $558 million

2. U2 "Vertigo Tour" 2005-2006 $389 million

3. The Police "Tour" 2007-2008 $358 million

4. Rolling Stones "Bridges To Babylon/No Security Tour" 1997-1999 $339 million

5. Rolling Stones "Voodoo Lounge Tour " 1994-1995 $319 million

6. Rolling Stones "Licks Tour" 2002-2003 $300 million

7. Bruce Springsteen "Rising Tour" 2002-2003 $238 million

8. Bon Jovi "Tour 2007-2008" $207 million



The Police tour grossed nearly FOUR times what the Van Halen Reunion tour was able to do. The Van Halen reunion with David Lee Roth finished out at a $94 million dollar gross.

Here are the full gross and attendance figures for both the Police tour and U2's Vertigo Tour side by side:

THE POLICE TOUR 2007-2008 TOTALS WORLDWIDE:
GROSS: $358,825,665
ATTENDANCE: 3,300,912
SHOWS: 143

U2 VERTIGO TOUR TOTALS WORLDWIDE:
GROSS: $389,047,636
ATTENDANCE: 4,619,021
SHOWS: 131

U2FanPeter

For whatever reason(likely selfish) Van Halen never left North America. How do the US/Canada dates directly compare(including VHs fat paycheck Quebec City gig that may not have a boxscore)?

Strongbow

The likely reason that the Van Halen re-union did not tour outside United States/Canada is that the demand was really just not there. Van Halen historically rarely tours outside of North America because of this. Based on the proportion of album sales sold outside the USA/Canada by Van Halen, your probably looking at an international tour only bringing in another $30 million to $50 million maximum.

Anyways, the Police's total gross in the USA/Canada to date is:

$171,675,695

This figure does not include the last 3 shows, two at Jones Beach, one at Madison Square Garden which have not been reported yet and will likely bring in another $6 million in gross.

So that would be about $178 million for the USA/Canada, the third highest figure ever for the USA/Canada and $35 million more than U2's highest figure for the USA/Canada so far. Its the 3rd highest figure ever for the USA/Canada and only $3 million short of the $181 million the Rolling Stones did on Bridges To Babylon/No Security which is in 2nd place in that area.

U2FanPeter

Sounds similar to the Spice Girls - a world tour that only included 5 countries and only several shows outside UK/US. Despite VH and SG doing press conferences with ambitious worldwide plans.

I would have thought VH could do Ok in some Euro markets, but maybe not enough to make a full tour. Same with Japan/Asia.

One would think VH would go over well in Australian culture, but only the Cherone version of the band has ever played there!!!!

Is there ANY future plans for VH? Not even a hits cd, any back catalgue reissue or a live DVD was released in conjunction with that tour.

Strongbow

I would say SG has many more opportunities to play in a variety of countries than Van Halen since their biggest albums were popular all over the world.

Van Halen has been strangely silent since they finished the tour. I actually did think they would try at least a few shows outside the USA/Canada, but they obviously decided not to do it. I have heard a rumor that Eddie Van Halen has 3 albums worth of material ready to go. Perhaps they will record a new album with Roth.

Moggio

The highest grossing tours don't necessarily equate to or determine who is the largest draw. For example, Madonna & Barbra Streisand only play 50 shows or less when they tour. But overall, both artists are larger draws than U2, The Police, etc...

Moggio

Kiss played 192 shows on their '96-'97 Alive Worldwide tour, with a gross of roughly $100 million worldwide.