CosmoKramer

Makes me wonder why you think it is u2 who report these numbers and not live nation...also, read through the thread and you will get your answer as to what defines a sellout

badu2fan

U2 might not report numbers but they list shows as sell outs and I dont hear them saying we only sold out 3/4 of the shows. Which IMO is pretty damn good.

As what defines a sell out is the whole problem since promotor and band can create sellouts without anyone questioning them.

Maybe we need Rolling Stone Magazine to do a report on the bean counters of the concert industry. (never anyone I would trust with my new born)

THis sellout crap is just a promotional tool used by Live Nation and U2 and other bands to create a false sense of demand being meet so ticket prices need to be higher.

It looks to me that the ticket price are too high and if the average price in stadium was closer to $70 vs $100 you would have sell outs in all markets. And a 30% less gross would still be some awesome cash in such a horrible economic period.

The financial woes are more for Live Nation then U2 since they signed a multiple year contract which I assume takes all the risk out of U2.

Wish someone here with so much energy to watch these billboard numbers would dig up the contract and let us have a go at that for a discussion.

It would be fun to know what the band is responsible for vs Live Nation and even BlackBerry etc.
Who pays for the Claw and design etc. Did U2 have to put up any money for tour? If the tour didn't make a profit would U2 have a guaranteed amount to be paid?
Or would the band be in debt to corporate America?

ramblin rose

According to Paul McGuiness the tour would be at break even by the end of the 2 leg.

U2 360° World Tour: Paul McGuinness Says U2 Bono, Edge Have Not Made Profit Yet From Tour | Business | Sky News

__________________
ramblinrose[at]interference.com

Maoilbheannacht

Its also been brought up about thousand times that the way the music industry determines a "SELLOUT" is based on the number of tickets RELEASED FOR PURCHASE VS. how many of them are sold. If all are sold, the show is marked a sellout. The term "SELLOUT" has NOTHING to do with what the maximum physical capacity of a particular venue might be.

Maoilbheannacht

The way a "Sellout" is defined today in the industry is the same way it was defined back in 1976 before the members of U2 had even met each other and were going to school in Dublin. I can list plenty of Boxscores from 1976 of shows that are marked sellouts despite the fact that its not the maximum capacity of the venue. Bruce Springsteen and every other artist today have had shows over the past year that "soldout" at a capacity that was smaller than what the venue could actually hold. In fact, this is the way it has always been done has NOTHING uniquely to do with U2.

So, this really much a do about nothing.

CosmoKramer

The following are posts from the "Police Reunion Tour" thread in this forum. These posts were made in August of 2008, well before U2 even announced the 360 tour:
Originally Posted by Hewson
"So will the Tweeter Center in Mansfield MA show be listed as a sellout even though I can currently buy a pair of 7th row seats, or if I choose I can buy 50 seats together (not lawn, but actual seats), becuase in the end when they sell 8,500 seats, Arthur Fogel will list the Tweter's capacity for the Police at 8,500 and not the 19,900 it holds for every other artist?"
And my point proven:
Quote:
July 31, 2008
Mansfield, Massachusetts
Comcast Center
Capacity: 13,523
Attendance: Soldout
Gross: $1,352,730
Average Ticket Price: $100.03
To end this discussion:
Sold out my ass."


Quote:
Originally Posted by Strongbow
July 12, 2008
George, Washington
The Gorge
Capacity: 10,255
Attendance: Soldout
Gross: $1,150,923
Average Ticket Price: $112.23
"50% real Capacity(check wiki or radiohead from last week), Ouch. Now I can see why they skipped Vancouver/Western"



So as you can see, this whole "sell out" thing is NOT a secret deal between U2 and Corporate America. It might have more to do with Live Nation as I am sure U2 cares more about the fact that they played to 50k in a night than sell out of tickets at a place that only holds 15k.

Maoilbheannacht

Again, it has nothing to do with either. If you go back and look at boxscores from 1976, you will find plenty that are listed as soldout for venues, that could physically seat more people. This is the way it has been done since the begining of the music industry. Promoter releases x number of tickets. If x number of tickets are sold and no more are released, the show is marked a sellout.

beau99

You don't have to be a jerk to everyone

That may be how a sellout is marked, but that doesn't make it right.

ijwthstd

In other words, they were reported as sold out after the fact even though they weren't. Like I would really believe only 10,000 and change were ever available for a show by The Police when they sold out 2 arena shows in the area the year before or 13,500 in a market where they played a stadium the year before. If that were the place, there wouldn't be 50 together available on TM (often ticket limits are removed when the shows aren't selling well).

pudgie_child

Oooh, oooh, I just remembered this dandy:

"U2 has always been at their best when surrounded by the audience, this staging takes a giant leap forward. With 85 percent of the tickets priced at less than 95 Euro, general admission floor tickets priced at 55 euro and at least 10,000 tickets at every venue priced at the 30 Euro price range, we have worked very hard to ensure that U2 fans can purchase a great priced ticket with a guaranteed great view" says U2's manager Paul McGuinness."

http://u2.com/news/article/4624

ramblin rose

Not sure you actually read the article but the prices in the article are in Euro and presumably are referring to the European dates. This thread is about US boxscores.

__________________
ramblinrose[at]interference.com

U2FloridaFan

You can just feel the tension in this thread, and why?????? The boxscores are what they are. For the umpteenth time, Live Nation and U2 are not doing anything different than every other promoter and artist does. The fact that they've had anywhere between 42 (don't they have a larger stadium anywhere in Vegas? Seems strange in a place where everything is bigger than life that this would be their smallest NA date so far) and 100K at every show speaks volumes for their popularity regardless of "sellout" or "record." All the info in this thread was initially very informative, but now I think this topic has been beaten to death. What more can be said...until the next NA leg??

...note to self...unsubscribe from this thread........

__________________
Password...Anaheim!!

Boston 1 - September 20th, 2009
Boston 2 - September 21st, 2009
Tampa - October 9th,2009
Anaheim 1 - June 6th, 2010
Anaheim 2 - June 7th, 2010
Miami - July 9, 2010

GibsonExplorer

All of the shows are sellouts? Tell that to online ticket scalpers who must've lost thousands upon thousands of dollars this time around LMAO. My brother who's a big fan bought tickets for great seats off Ebay for less than half-price for two different cities (Houston and Phoenix), and every seller was desperate to be rid of their tickets. How could Ticketmaster sell all of their "available" tickets if scalpers selling tickets at ridiculous discounts cannot? Search U2 tickets and view completed listings, see for yourself (Ebay may not keep those records for very long, though--so try the Vancouver show.)

ramblin rose

What does scalpers buying tickets have to do whether the show was sold out?

That's the scalpers problem if they chose to buy up tickets to resell. Let's see if the scalpers make the same mistake this leg, if they do, I hope they get stuck with a bunch of tickets again.

Scalpers don't come into play when determining boxscores, they're just another buyer.

__________________
ramblinrose[at]interference.com

ijwthstd

Scalping/resale is an entirely different dynamic than regular sale. First off, most people are reluctant to buy in the secondary market. If enough tickets are available to satisfy demand, then tickets won't be worth very much on the secondary market. Also stadium shows (with a few exceptions, such as Rose Bowl) are a very easy ticket just due to the amount of tickets available.

I bet a lot of those people aren't even real scalpers, they buy the limit when they go on sale then try to get their friends on board.

The Police at Staples set a concert record but I got a rear lower level ticket off Ebay for $22.50