Dublin Download highest grossing concert in the world

A Primal Nut

According to http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/boxscore.jsp.

At first I was proud especially as we are a small country. It grossed about twice as much as no.2. But tbh it has more to with the fact the two days were sold as seperate gigs, yet they are counted together in this chart. The British Download was one ticket for all three days I think. Still, I would have expected it to gross more, but there ya go!

Doctor J

Why would you be proud that we're being ripped off? Not just first but sixth and seventh too?

Toast

According to this http://www.billboard.biz/billboard/images/pdf/2005_top25_boxscores.pdf last years U2 gigs in croke park won with 21 million dollars. This is unbelievable.

Cunning Alias

If you look at the ticket prices of the other events were not being ripped off. The Download prices were average, if not cheaper than some other events. Celine Dion prices up to 225!

BrianD

Plus it's gross ticket sales. Doesn't take into account the cost of production of each event.

PiE

Toast wrote:

According to this http://www.billboard.biz/billboard/images/pdf/2005_top25_boxscores.pdf last years U2 gigs in croke park won with 21 million dollars. This is unbelievable.

And that's just one of many U2 concerts on that list.

F*ck you Bono. F*ck. You.

Heathen

dont ya just love being irish? hahaha

Rip Off Ireland

Alter-Ego

Aiken Seem to be raking in the cash.

gucci

just shows us the sort of money these guys are taking in at these shows,any guestemites by anyone of the kind of money metallica etc charge for apperaence fee? just so i can plot to get them playing in my own back garden+know how much to charge 10 of my mates to break even!!

add in tshirts sales etc.

kippy

I dont think any of the gigs were over prices. If you look at the attendance, they high attendances had the high turnover, and do seem to tally.

Fair play to U2.

SBob

Alter-Ego wrote:

Aiken Seem to be raking in the cash.

Right now i'm delighted AIKEN are raking in the cash

dajaffa

The proceeds (not sure if it was for one of them or all three, I think ticket proceeds from all three, dunno bout merchandise etc) actually went to charity for the U2 croke park gig

magpie

Right now i'm delighted AIKEN are raking in the cash

My sentiments exactly. From now on I will be checking very carefully who is promoting a concert before purchasing tickets.

BrianD

SBob wrote:

Right now i'm delighted AIKEN are raking in the cash

Despite the fact that their tickets are consistently higher in price than other promoters?

In fairness to both of the main promoters in the market they have done a helluva lot to bring a wide variety of artists and bands to this country.

magpie

No offence Brian, but you may be a little partisan in this whole thing?

BrianD

magpie wrote:

No offence Brian, but you may be a little partisan in this whole thing?

Why would I be? I don't work for either of the main promoters but I do provide services for both promoters and others within the industry.

I should have added to my last post that Aikens seem to bring in quite a few of the "classic artists" that command high ticket prices (see 'em before they croak) which would push up their gross income from ticket sales. Perhaps this is why they seem to be more expensive.

Roll on The Eagles Farewell Tour Part 19.

Motley Crue

OP - With the price of tickets in this country that doesnt suprise me at all.

Next year you can expect a 3Day event, with even more security guards who dont have a clue whats going on and more insulting promoters, even more disorganisation...a campsite...an a list of artists who recieve criminal amounts of money for 25mins playing on a stage 75% of the audience cant see them on properly anyway

robnubis

3 IRISH GIGS in the top ten. this shows how ripped off we are by certain companies that cannot be named.

lodgepole

robnubis wrote:

3 IRISH GIGS in the top ten. this shows how ripped off we are by certain companies that cannot be named.

Not really. Gigs in Ireland sell out far more frequently than elsewhere in the world. We now have a fanstastic range of gigs here every year (comparable to both New York and Toronto as I discovered last year) which we didn't previously. We're a gig going nation, and that's reflected in how much these gigs are earning.

Go back to the original article and look at the ticket prices for all of the gigs. They're comparable across the board.

Alter-Ego

Motley Crue wrote:

OP - With the price of tickets in this country that doesnt suprise me at all.

Next year you can expect a 3Day event, with even more security guards who dont have a clue whats going on and more insulting promoters, even more disorganisation...a campsite...an a list of artists who recieve criminal amounts of money for 25mins playing on a stage 75% of the audience cant see them on properly anyway

I thought both days in the rds this year were very well organised. Better organised than a certain other irish festival.

Ok ticket prices are high in this country, but the prices for the irish gigs on that list are certainly not the highest.

Fanny Cradock

the list would seem to put a kibosh on the popularly held belief that we are being ripped off in comparison to other counties.

Civilian_Target

Well, if you look at the numbers for the U2 2005 gigs, you can see why they gross so highly, far and away the highest attendance in the top 10, and therefore the lowest ticket price of them all!

Interesting numbers: was it Guns and Roses or Metallica that sold out BTW?

Beastieboy

Civilian_Target wrote:

Well, if you look at the numbers for the U2 2005 gigs, you can see why they gross so highly, far and away the highest attendance in the top 10, and therefore the lowest ticket price of them all!

Interesting numbers: was it Guns and Roses or Metallica that sold out BTW?

Guns and Roses didn't sell out i think.....one thing i remember about it was the emptiness....don't know about Metallica.....

honru

I would have thought Metallica was the one that sold out.

This is quite surprising, but there haven't been many massive tours doing the rounds in America this year, and apperantly the concert attendence over there is on the decline. A few points aswell:

- Strength of the euro against the dollar

- Evidently loads of Guns 'N Roses/Metallica merchansise sold between the two days.

- Lengthy queues for beers and, especially Guns N' Roses, everyone was pie-eyed. They were easily racking more than €200 a minute.

- Both concerts counted together... although they would both still place in the top 10.

I'm more surprised with Bob Dylan and Take That making the list tbh, but you can notice a pattern with the prices Aiken are charging.

Bottle_of_Smoke

robnubis wrote:

3 IRISH GIGS in the top ten. this shows how ripped off we are by certain companies that cannot be named.

you gotta remember insurance costs are higher than in ~Britain - anyone who owns a car knows that.

So to make the same profit they gotta charge more here

Motley Crue

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote:

you gotta remember insurance costs are higher than in ~Britain - anyone who owns a car knows that.

So to make the same profit they gotta charge more here

Its still a rip off, and STILL unacceptable

Toast

Motley Crue wrote:

Its still a rip off, and STILL unacceptable

Apparently is very acceptable.

Motley Crue

Toast wrote:

Apparently is very acceptable.

I say we do something about it, form a support group, make calls and write letters to local politicians and councillers (instead of just complaining about them wasting taxpayers money) and make sure if this, or any other festival, returns next yr that its properly run, consumer friendly, and doesnt cost an arm and a leg

Take the Paul Simon concert, two tickets for that are going to set you back 220Euro before booking fee, and you still havent taken into account transport costs AND food on the day & at the venue AND maybe accomidation overnight

Second, how about pit passes, why arent these sent out with the tickets to the gigs for the first people who apply for them online. that way you dont have people queuing up all day in the heat or hours beforehand. I realise this will discriminate against though who cannot buy their ticket in the first few tickets but we've got to stop this practice of turning up at gigs and queuing for several hours...its nonsense, and shouldnt be allowed.

Het-Field

When you think of other festivals which are a rip off, Download was really good. Metallica and Guns N Roses were superb. Alice in Chains havnt lost it, and Stone Sour are great. for 140 Euro we wont get the same weekend again. The weather (particularly at Guns N Roses) was excellent, and the security was excellent. Unfortunatly with the R.D.S shutting down next year for renovations the orgainsers will set it up in some racecourse and hike the ticket prices for bands that are useless and wwouldnt hold a candle to Metallica