Not So Dead Trousers

Düsseldorf punk band Die Toten Hosen’s tour that ends at the local Esprit Arena Oct. 12 sold more than 750,000 tickets and grossed nearly euro 36 million ($48.6 million). 

Photo: Nils Hasenau
Die Toten Hosen finished up a monster German tour, which included a sold-out 50,000-capacity Tempelhof Airport in Berlin Aug. 9 and a total tour gross of nearly $50 million.

The band, whose name translates as a midly sexual German joke “the dead trousers,” played 36 shows and never did less than 90 percent business.

In fact, the KKT-promoted tour sold out 29 of the shows. Most of the money stays at home as it was something of a do-it-yourself tour.

Berlin-based KKT was founded in 1990 by Die Toten Hosen manager Jochen Hulder, Kiki Ressler, and the band members. “For the “Machmalauter!” [“Make It Louder”] tour in 2008 and 2009 we sold around 670.000 tickets,” Ressler told Pollstar. “With this in mind, the increase up to 1,070,000 sold tickets this time is quite impressive in the band’s 30-year career.”

The worst show in terms of percentage of capacity was at Cologne Rhein-Energie Stadium June 29, but the venue holds 42,000 and the 92.2 percent house and euro 46 ($62) ticket produced a gross of euro 1.78 million ($2.4 million).

The best result was at Berlin’s 50,000-capacity Tempelhof Airport Aug. 9, where a sellout brought in more than euro 2.3 million ($3.2 million).

The two homecoming shows in Düsseldorf played to 95,600 and produced a box office gross of just under euro 4.2 million ($5.6 million).

Thirty-four of the shows took place in Germany, with two Swiss shows in St Gallen and Zurich.