Rolling Stones and U2 tours hottest tickets of 2005

LOS ANGELES - The Rolling Stones smashed their own 11-year-old record for the highest-grossing North American concert tour of all time in 2005, helping lift overall ticket sales to a new high, trade publication Pollstar said.

The Stones sold US$162 million worth of tickets by playing their golden oldies for 1.2 million concertgoers, while Irish rockers U2 pulled in US$139 million ($204 million) from 1.4 million fans. U2 worked a little harder for its payday, playing 78 shows in North America, compared with 42 performances by the Stones.

Tickets for two U2 shows in Auckland, to be staged in March, sold out within hours last month.

The old record for a tour was US$121 million, which the Stones set in 1994.

Canadian pop singer Celine Dion was third on the list with US$81 million, thanks solely to her exclusive engagement at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, where she belted out her ballads for tourists at 155 performances.

Paul McCartney and the Eagles rounded out the top five, with respective sales of about US$77 million each.

Pollstar said ticket sales for all major shows rose to US$3.1 billion, breaking last year's record of US$2.8 billion, thanks to a jump in the average ticket price to US$57 from US$52 last year. Indeed, the top 100 acts sold a combined 36 million tickets, down 1.5 million from last year.

The relentless rise in ticket prices combined with the decline in the number of tickets sold was "a little disconcerting," said Gary Bongiovanni, editor of the Fresno, a California-based publication.

Apportioning blame depends on who you ask. Promoters say the artists demand too much money, forcing them, in turn, to charge higher ticket prices. Artists say promoters keep offering more lucrative deals, which they can hardly reject, especially when CD sales are in a tailspin.

New albums by the Stones and McCartney had disappointing sales, while the Eagles have not released a new studio album in decades.

Top acts can generally name their prices with no risk of chasing away customers, with the Stones charging upward of US$450 ($659) in some cities.

Their average ticket cost about US$134 ($196), Pollstar said, while U2 tickets averaged out at about US$97 ($142). Tickets for their Auckland shows were sold for between $99 and $199, though they were going for many times that on online auction site Trade Me.

Dion and McCartney had average ticket prices of about US$136 and US$135, respectively.

The North American scene could be a little quieter next year, with the Stones and U2 focussing on international markets. Once again, oldies acts could be the top draw, with veterans like the Who, Prince, Queen with Paul Rodgers, and Pink Floyd frontman David Gilmour hitting the road.

 

- REUTERS