Hello everyone!
Today I was reading an article in which it was stated that Adele's current international tour became one of the most profitable tours for the artist due to 600 000 tickets sold. Then Dire Straits's Brothers in Arms 86' tour was mentioned and also AC/DC Black Ice Tour from 2010 as being the best selling tours.
No word about Queen, really nothing. And when I read that Adele's current tour historically became one of the best selling tours apart from the two mentioned above, my mind shrieked "Wait a minute! The Magic Tour, the crowds, the income, historic significance".....
If we were to compare just the ticket sales of Adele's current tour and Queen's Magic tour then Queen would be the winner here, wouldn't they ?
Do we know exactly how many tickets were sold ? Was the precise information about tickets sold for Queen's 1986 Tour mentioned somewhere ?
Before you ask, yup, I searched, both QZ and other sources.
Cheers!
I haven't seen the article, but is it talking about profit that the promoter is making or the artist or even the record company. Selling 600 thousand tickets on any tour is a big amount, but you then have to look at the length of the tour and size of venues.
The artist and management and the promoters agreements have influence on what is made. Usually a promoter will agree a price for an artist to tour. That price will either be per gig or for the whole tour. Some bands are big enough to negotiate a bonus system were by they are paid extra for sell outs or above a certain percentage of tickets being sold ahead of a tour. It is the promoter who runs the risk of losing money on gigs, not the artist.
The costs of the production, stage, sound, lights, crew,catering and transport is part of the tour negotiations. Some artists foot the bill, some promoters do and some times the cost is shared, this can involve the record company too.
Adele, I would imagine won't be touring with anything like the amount of sound and lighting the Magic tour used. So immediately her costs will be less. Also ticket prices in 86 were very different to what they are now. Also PA systems are smaller and take less space to transport and one Vari lite or Clay Paky can do the job of 8 or 10 old Par Cans so lighting doesn't have to take us as much transport space.
You said you were surprised by the none inclusion of Queens Magic tour. Yes it was hugely successful but only toured Europe.my guess is this article was about US tours or world tours.
U2's Joshua Tree tour (European leg) made more money than Queens Magic tour. It played to the same sized audiences in most cities, but the stage production was much smaller. They used the same Clair Brothers PA but the staging was smaller and the lighting was minimal so crew and transport costs were less. Dire Straits Brothers in Arms was again a smaller production and played multiple nights at some venues which again cuts cost.
AC/DC Black Ice can't really be compared to touring costs thirty years ago, although production wise it was similar in size to The Magic tour.
The Magic Tour was a short tour of Europe. If we'd go by profit per show they likely did very well. But the Brothers in Arms Tour was a year long tour with 248 concerts.
I'm only guessing but I think the article might be referring to tours of Australia and New Zealand only!! As far as tours go The Rolling Stones and U2 beat just about everybody. The Magic Tour was one of the very first Big Stadium Tours but unfortunately Fred died before the start of the Mega selling Tours!
I read the article on the billboard.com, and yes, slightlymad1970, you're right, it refers only to her concerts in Australia (600 000 tickets sold/ 8 stadiums).... Well the times are changing but it's very hard today, at current shows to feel the grandness which was present at Queen's shows and defined them.
But again, we have no information (more or less precise), how many tickets were sold in total to see Queen live in 1986 ?
Stockholm, Rasunda Fotboll Stadion: 37500(sold out)
Leiden, Groenoor'Dhal: 12800 (sold out)
Paris, Hippodrome de Vincennes: 40000 (avail. 80000)
Brussels, Foret National: 9200 (sold out)
Mannheim, Maimarktgelände: 85700 (sold out)
Berlin, Waldbühne: 22600 (sold out)
Munich, Olympiahalle: 11200 (sold out)
Zurich, Hallenstadion: 11400 (sold out)
Dublin, Slane Castle: 95000 (sold out)
Newcastle, St.James Park: 38000 (sold out)
London, Wembley Stadium: 72000 (sold out)
Manchester, Maine Road: 35000 (sold out)
Cologne, Müngensdorfer Stadion: 50000 (sold out)
Vienna, Stadthalle: 12000 (sold out)
Budapest, Nepstadion: 80000 (sold out)
Frejus, Amphitheatre: 15000 (sold out, but moved from a bigger venue: stade de l'ouest)
Barcelona: some say Monumental Plaza de Toros
-some say Mini Estadi de FCBarcelona, never the less: sold out, about 20000 (?)
Madrid, Rayo Vallecano: 45000 (sold out) - the offical capacity for this small stadium is much less... so i guess sold out with appr. 20000 (?)
Marbella, Estadio Municipal: 37000 (sold out, but also seems way too much, acc capacity I guess 28000 (?))
Stevenage, Knebworth Park: 120000 (more than sold out...appr 180000...)
From an old thread:
http://www.queenzone.com/forums/897316/attendance-for-magic-tour.aspx
Ok, perhaps look at it this way. Queen played Mt Smart Stadium in 1985. Attendance was 35,000.
Adele played the same venue on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday this past week. Total ticket sales 130,000.
Of course, tickets are also far more expensive these days than they were in the 80's.
Any reasons the Paris date was half full? Was One Year Of Love in the French chart then? Might explain it.
John 8 years ago (1978) said about the U.S. Tour ´78 (35 gigs):
„The American section of the tour alone will cost a million dollars. We estimate that our total will be one-and-a-quarter million, so we shall be left with a profit of only about £125,000. Take away the tax, and there will be very little left to split between the four of us. But we reckon it´s worth it, because of the extra record sales it will help to generate. Apart from that, we enjoy it.“
... those were the old days of their touring story. :)
OH BOO HOO JOHN.
[QUOTE] [b]dysan wrote:[/b]
Any reasons the Paris date was half full? Was One Year Of Love in the French chart then? Might explain it.[/QUOTE]
I don't know why but indeed, it seems tickets did not sell very well for both French shows. Paris was half full and the second show was move from Nice to Frejus, a smaller venue.
Two Magic singles were released in France. The single A Kind Of Magic worked quite well in the charts. It is still a very popular song in France and is broadcast on radio today.
About One Year Of Love, it was released in october 1986 so many months after the Magic Tour. It hardly made a blip in the charts.
The list only lists 1 x Wembley gig, there were of course 2, both sold out
Of course, there were several nights in Leiden, Munich, Wembley, Vienna, etc. All were sold out. You just have to do your maths then. ;)
RE: One Year Of Love: I did actually hear it on French Radio in about 1990 so maybe it was a 'radio hit'
Thank you all, especially little foetus for providing the information about the ticket sales and reminding me about the difference of the costs! It seems that compared to today's smaller tours, Magic Tour would do quite well, wouldn't it ?
