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A Bigger Bang Tour 2005 - 2006

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Topic: Stones' world tour could gross record $400 million Return to archive
January 8th, 2006 04:07 PM
moy Stones' world tour could gross record $400 million
Sat Jan 7, 2006 3:38 PM ET

By Ray Waddell
NASHVILLE (Billboard) - The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang tour exploded in 2005, and could end up as the top-grossing tour ever, pending an epic box office battle with U2's Vertigo tour.

The Stones hold the record, from their 1994-1995 Voodoo Lounge tour, which grossed nearly $320 million.

A Bigger Bang is more than halfway to Voodoo's total, with a summer of stadium dates to come. In 2005, the Stones sold 1.2 million tickets, grossing more than $162 million from 42 North American dates on the tour's first leg.

As big as they banged in North America, the Stones were second for the year worldwide to U2's Vertigo, which was the top-grossing trek of 2005, according to Billboard data. Vertigo reported grosses of $260 million and drew more than 3 million people to 90 concerts, all sellouts.

Vertigo will resume in March, having sold another 750,000 tickets to stadium shows in Mexico, South America, Australia and New Zealand. All told, U2 could gross a staggering $390 million from 130 shows and 4.4 million tickets sold.

Impressive as the potential gross is, U2's hold on the top tour trophy could be short lived, as the Stones have a slate of stadium dates awaiting in South America, Japan and Europe for this year and a higher ticket price than U2. The $400 million mark could be within reach, but Stones' promoter Michael Cohl is more impressed with the attendance the band is achieving than the revenue.

"The dollars are the dollars, we're charging just slightly more than we were charging last time (about $134)," Cohl tells Billboard. "The fact that shocks the hell out of me is we went from 10 stadium shows up to 18 stadium shows. We went from doing 25,000-30,000 (people) a night in the stadiums to doing 40,000-50,000. That is incredible."

The Stones are also notching more than $17 per head in merchandise sales, bringing in more than $20 million in 2005.

The European swing -- all the stops are stadiums -- begins May 27 in Barcelona and runs through the end of August. "Right now we've got about 36 of them booked," Cohl says.

Before that, the band will play more North American dates, beginning January 10 in Montreal, followed by stadium concerts in Mexico and South America. The February 18 kickoff is a free show on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, projected to draw 1.5 million people. The tour is targeted to wrap August 29 at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, and sales are "on pace or ahead in every city but one from last time," Cohl says.

Topping Voodoo Lounge does not seem to be a priority for Cohl. "I don't even know what Voodoo Lounge did," he says. "I know that people keep track of it, and it's not that I don't. But I really don't know what the gross was, and it's kind of unfair. How do you compare something at a 1994 ticket price to something at a 2005 ticket price?"

Still, a world record is a world record. "I'm sure we'll beat it," Cohl says. "More important than anything else, I think the fans are enjoying it more, I think the shows are better, and I think the band is playing better than ever."

Even when the Voodoo Lounge gross record inevitably falls, that tour's attendance mark appears safe for the foreseeable future. Voodoo played only stadiums, selling out 123 of 128, and drew a remarkable 6.4 million people.

Reuters/Billboard

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

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