Biggest Band/Act to play in Ireland

Arghus · 13-04-2020 10:17pm

Sure, most of the biggest acts in the world have played here at one time or another. It's like another poster has already said - we're not Outer Mongolia.

A more interesting question would be who are some of the biggest acts that haven't played here.

Panthro · 13-04-2020 10:22pm

BailMeOut wrote: »

how do you determine who is bigger? Record sales or number of concert tickets sold?

Google informs me Rhianna is 1.73m tall and my home gal Tay Tay swift is 1.78m All American altitude baby, aww yeah.

Montage of Feck · 13-04-2020 10:30pm

Upforthematch wrote: »

I know that best selling doesn't equal biggest but take a look at these lists on Wiki - not even in the top 20

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_music_artists

Htf is Rhianna no.2 of all time?

Rothko · 13-04-2020 10:34pm

Arghus wrote: »

Sure, most of the biggest acts in the world have played here at one time or another. It's like another poster has already said - we're not Outer Mongolia.

A more interesting question would be who are some of the biggest acts that haven't played here.

Elvis is the obvious one as he never played outside America.

Off the top of my head, I don't think Motley Crue ever played here.

IAMAMORON · 14-04-2020 12:19am

rolling boh wrote: »

The question was about the biggest act to have played here not the best so no point comparing personal favorites really as few will agree .I have no doubt myself that the Beatles are still the biggest band in popular music not my favorite by any means but the facts really point to them I think .

They still don't have as many album sales as Pope John Paul II though.

He wins, Karol Józef Wojtyła, he even beats Bob Marley and Peile/ Pelé.

We all forget Muhammad Ali as well. He even got busted for drink driving.

PTH2009 · 14-04-2020 3:00am

Rothko wrote: »

Elvis is the obvious one as he never played outside America.

Off the top of my head, I don't think Motley Crue ever played here.

A good few bands from the 80s never played here for some reason

Van Halen
Scorpions
Boston
Kansas

Rothko · 14-04-2020 3:43am

PTH2009 wrote: »

A good few bands from the 80s never played here for some reason

Van Halen
Scorpions
Boston
Kansas

I'm particularly surprised that Van Halen have never paid us a visit.

MOR316 · 14-04-2020 3:58am

Beatles
Michael Jackson
U2
Rolling Stones

cj maxx · 14-04-2020 4:03am

Trigger Happy wrote: »

Meat loaf during his fat phase...

Fat basterd walked off the stage in carrickmacross after a Meath lad hurled a can at him.

To my shame I was there

MaureensFry · 14-04-2020 4:14am

Probably from a youths perspective its Rihanna, Eminem, Taylor Swift, Queen, U2, Ed Sheeran, Kanye West, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga etc.

Agent Coulson · 14-04-2020 5:58am

Meatloaf 1989 Carlow Youth Centre.

rtron · 14-04-2020 6:14am

Garth Brooks - 5 nights in croker and never showed up.

PTH2009 · 14-04-2020 5:29pm

Rothko wrote: »

I'm particularly surprised that Van Halen have never paid us a visit.

AFAIK David Lee Roth played here solo once upon a time but the band never did

They dont think they played in Europe much

Bands like Kiss and Rush only played here once and it was amazing

Rothko · 14-04-2020 5:42pm

PTH2009 wrote: »

AFAIK David Lee Roth played here solo once upon a time but the band never did

They dont think they played in Europe much

Bands like Kiss and Rush only played here once and it was amazing

I'm surprised Kiss played here at all as I didn't think they had much of a following.

trashcan · 14-04-2020 5:44pm

the beer revolu wrote: »

The Virgin Mary
AKA The Mother of God

She played Knock and Ballinspitle.
Big crowds.

I heard they were very moving occasions.

trashcan · 14-04-2020 5:48pm

IAMAMORON wrote: »

They still don't have as many album sales as Pope John Paul II though.

He wins, Karol Józef Wojtyła, he even beats Bob Marley and Peile/ Pelé.
]

Was that pic taken during his rendition of Sunday Bloody Sunday? ( His protest against having to do yet another Sunday mass)

CruelSummer · 22-04-2020 5:13pm

IAMAMORON wrote: »

I am sorry but Taylor Swift will never be in the same league as Bob Marley.

I think it is worth clarifying before any volume arguments arrive.

To clarify my bias further, I would consider having to listen to a Taylor Swift album ( for even as little as 10 minutes )as a form of mental torture. Filling Croker twice to a gang of spoilt children does not equate to greatness, I hope so at least.

I am giving Robbie Williams a pass for the time being.

The disrespect Taylor Swift garners from certain quarters is astounding. I was at Croke Park, there were zero 'spoilt children' in sight. She was absolutely amazing, her songwriting is among the best of this generation, her lyrics are masterful, and she doesn't deserve these type of comments akin to 'music snobbery' that pervails from some. I can't stand it. I love all types of music, bands, etc.

IAMAMORON · 22-04-2020 5:19pm

CruelSummer wrote: »

The disrespect Taylor Swift garners from certain quarters is astounding. I was at Croke Park, there were zero 'spoilt children' in sight. She was absolutely amazing, her songwriting is among the best of this generation, her lyrics are masterful, and she doesn't deserve these type of comments akin to 'music snobbery' that pervails from some. I can't stand it. I love all types of music, bands, etc.

Great, I am pleased for you. I hope you are getting something out of it.

Take care.

MOR316 · 22-04-2020 5:35pm

Again, if you're talking biggest in terms of sales/legacy/influence/popularity, it's going to be The Beatles and Michael Jackson.
Followed very closely by Queen, Rolling Stones and ABBA

In comparison, Rhianna, Sheeran etc, in terms of the criteria I mentioned, don't come close to any of those! Not remotely.

Taylor Swift, perhaps but, time will tell

ShatterAlan · 22-04-2020 6:15pm

PTH2009 wrote: »

Who was the biggest band/act to play in Ireland in your opinion ???

The Beatles
Frank Sinatra played here in the 80s

Elvis Presley never played here or in europe for that matter

Elvis never performed outside the US.

ShatterAlan · 22-04-2020 6:17pm

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

After the Beatles it would be Rihanna then Jackson

What about the Stones in Slane?

JeffreyEpspeen · 22-04-2020 6:19pm

PTH2009 wrote: »

AFAIK David Lee Roth played here solo once upon a time but the band never did

They dont think they played in Europe much

Bands like Kiss and Rush only played here once and it was amazing

Gene Simmons has been back in Ireland since. I can't remember why exactly, just saw pics on DailyEdge at the time.

I believe his wife is of Irish descent and holidayed here in the past.

Pity they don't come back.

bodhrandude · 22-04-2020 7:52pm

Robert Plant played the Picnic in 2013, not Led Zeppelin but near enough.

Feisar · 22-04-2020 8:21pm

Eagles

The Davestator · 22-04-2020 8:29pm

Taylor Swift tickets were almost being air dropped such was the amount knocking around for free so she can be dismissed.

M Jackson or Queen were in their prime when they played here and will go down as legends so that would be my choice.

Most of the rest were just flavours of the month

CruelSummer · 22-04-2020 9:00pm

The Davestator wrote: »

Taylor Swift tickets were almost being air dropped such was the amount knocking around for free so she can be dismissed.

M Jackson or Queen were in their prime when they played here and will go down as legends so that would be my choice.

Most of the rest were just flavours of the month

No it just means Irish people don’t have any taste. We seem to glorify mediocrity in this country in recent years when it comes to music, The Coronas, etc., One hit wonders, average at best.
Taylor swifts Reputation Stadium Tour was launched after her hiatus so people didn’t know what to expect and it was expensively priced. Here are a few facts:

‘The tour received 2,939,783 attendees and grossed $345.7 million in revenue, becoming Swift's most successful tour to-date, the third highest grossing female concert tour of all time, and the highest-grossing concert tour in United States and North American history.’

Doesn’t get much bigger than that...

The Davestator · 23-04-2020 10:09am

CruelSummer wrote: »

No it just means Irish people don’t have any taste. We seem to glorify mediocrity in this country in recent years when it comes to music, The Coronas, etc., One hit wonders, average at best.
Taylor swifts Reputation Stadium Tour was launched after her hiatus so people didn’t know what to expect and it was expensively priced. Here are a few facts:

‘The tour received 2,939,783 attendees and grossed $345.7 million in revenue, becoming Swift's most successful tour to-date, the third highest grossing female concert tour of all time, and the highest-grossing concert tour in United States and North American history.’

Doesn’t get much bigger than that...

That's all fair enough, but the thread is about Ireland!

I have no issue with Swift, but the fact was that they couldn't give the tickets away

DEFTLEFTHAND · 23-04-2020 10:51am

cj maxx wrote: »

Fat basterd walked off the stage in carrickmacross after a Meath lad hurled a can at him.

To my shame I was there

Meatloaf actually did an old school national tour of the country back in the day.

My Dad saw him in a hall in Shinrone, Co. Offaly (small village a few miles outside of Roscrea) of all places. This was when meatloaf was a major established name in the industry.

Joe_ Public · 23-04-2020 11:01am

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Meatloaf actually did an old school national tour of the country back in the day.

My Dad saw him in a hall in Shinrone, Co. Offaly (small village a few miles outside of Roscrea) of all places. This was when meatloaf was a major established name in the industry.

Shinrone was a good little venue. Saw the pogues there and there were always good acts being booked. The arlo guthrie gig is legendary. Remember thin lizzy coming to rathdowney, not far away, but was too young to have made that at the time.

melekalikimaka · 23-04-2020 11:12am

CruelSummer wrote: »

The disrespect Taylor Swift garners from certain quarters is astounding. I was at Croke Park, there were zero 'spoilt children' in sight. She was absolutely amazing, her songwriting is among the best of this generation, her lyrics are masterful, and she doesn't deserve these type of comments akin to 'music snobbery' that pervails from some. I can't stand it. I love all types of music, bands, etc.

I think we may be seeing things through Taylor tinted glasses, the average age at that gig was extremely young, I'm sure some people wouldnt look at that as a negative but calling her the biggest act to play in ireland when i imagine a large proportion of the crowd was there to babysit, kinda takes away from the argument.

and youre opinion that there was zero spolit children there is not quite accurate in imo

rolling boh · 23-04-2020 11:44am

Think this thread has moved away from the original question of the biggest act to played here to arguing about whether Taylor Swift is bigger than Bob Marley or other acts . Everybody will have their own favourites and that is fine each to their own .

its_steve116 · 02-05-2020 2:09am

ShatterAlan wrote: »

Elvis never performed outside the US.

He played in Canada in 1957.
https://www.elvispresleymusic.com.au/pictures/1957-april-2.html

dd973 · 02-05-2020 3:24am

Didn't Bruce Springsteen play some big gigs here around the mid 80's when he was big.

Lucy8080 · 02-05-2020 4:05am

As they say ,it's all relative!

Springsteen played Slane june '85. This was the year (84/85) of the "Born In The U.S.A." album. That was the hottest ticket in any town around the western world at that time.

The Beatles played the Adelphi in '63, but Springsteen had a back catalogue back in ' 85 that the Beatles did not have in '63.The Beatles more than fulfilled their potential in the following years.

The ' Stones in '82 were a disappointment, even to some of their most ardent fans.

Lucy8080 · 02-05-2020 4:08am

So , for timing ,demand and crowd, I reckon Springsteen pulled it off.

bigar · 02-05-2020 5:41pm

Birneybau wrote: »

I don't remember Pope John Pauls 3 through 10

Rothko wrote: »

They're very underrated

They lost me during their wilderness years (4 to 7). Whoever thought it was wise to put polar and grizzly bears together on stage should be excommunicated. The blood did contrast nicely with the white robes though. I was surprised they continued after the loss of 4 and 5 so soon after each other
The 8th 's return to the eighties was misjudged. You need to have a full head of hair for a mullet and don't even get me started on those fluorescent leg warmers and golden hot pants.

Biggest Band/Act to play in Ireland

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