Adele Breaking Ticket Records Down Under

In Australia, the British singer sold 400,000 tickets in less than a week of staggered sale dates, and now extended to eight shows Feb. 28 to March 19. The original five sold out in 30 minutes. Second dates were added within an hour to Brisbane’s 42,000-capacity Gabba (Brisbane Cricket Grounds), Sydney’s ANZ Stadium (83,500) and Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium (53,359). T

he second Sydney show, announced Nov. 24 after 90,000 tickets sold in three days, is set to break the ANZ Stadium’s concert attendance record and become its single biggest event since 2002. In New Zealand where she is playing three shows at Auckland’s 47,000-capacity Mt. Smart Stadium, Adele has become the fastest selling of all time. The March 23-26 shows moved 120,000 tickets in eight hours.

She also enters the NZ record books by performing the most shows by an artist in a single tour. The previous record was set in 1986 by Dire Straits, which played to 102,000 over two nights.

David Bowie’s final show of the worldwide Serious Moonlight Tour, at Auckland’s Western Springs Stadium on Nov. 26, 1983, drew 74,480. In Australia, AC/DC shifted 750,000 tix during its Black Ice visit while Dire Straits holds the record for most tickets sold. One in 15 Australians bought a ticket (a feat that entered the Guinness Book of Records) while the 1986 tour’s Sydney leg alone shifted 250,000.

For Australia, LN used Ticketmaster for three cities and Ticketek for two. Fan annoyance over long delays turned to anger when tickets entered secondary markets within an hour of going on sale. Scalpers are asking for up to A$5000 ($3,738) a ticket. These were 18 times the value of for the maximum ticket price of A$308.77 ($230.89).