Venues Breakdown From Stadiums (The Stones) To Clubs (Sylvan Esso)

Pollstar’s weekly Global Concert Pulse chart provides subscribers with a glimpse of the different kinds of tours reporting to Pollstar from around the world in the last three months. We decided to draw this out by breaking down how the tours represent various types of venues – stadiums, arenas, theatres and clubs – on the chart for Nov. 27.

At the top of the list, obviously, are the stadium tours. The Rolling Stones‘ European tour came in at the peak spot, with 11 reports to an average crowd of 64,612 per show. That tour includes three shows at Nanterre, France’s U Arena as one report, and the rest of the venues are stadium-size, though some are covered and include the words “arena” in the name.

Behind the Stones is U2, which actually averaged larger audiences, with 78,041 average reported attendance per market. The difference between those stadium tours is ticket prices, as U2’s average price was $113 and the Stones was $160, the highest on the chart by far.

The tours in the 3-4 slots, Coldplay and Metallica, mostly consists of stadiums, though Metallica did throw in a few two-night stands in arenas in Amsterdam, Paris and Cologne, Germany. After that, Lady Gaga comes at the number 5 spot, with a routing of mostly arenas, though she has a good number of two-night stands and a few baseball stadiums thrown in. 

Paul McCartney and Guns N’ Roses similarly mixed arenas and stadiums into their routing, both opting for the bigger venues in their respective South American tours.

 

Bruno Mars is the first artist to appear on our list without any stadium plays, although that will soon change as he is taking on the huge stages in his current run through Latin America. He sits at the number 8 spot on the chart, with an average gross of $2,241,572.

Florida Georgia Line, number 19, and Luke Bryan, number 21, actually put up great numbers in terms of average attendance, 20,109 and 18,653 respectively thanks to great turnouts at large amphitheatres, fairs and Bryan’s specialized farm tour. They kept prices low on tickets, scoring points with fans but moving them down in the Pulse ranking. 

In general, from Bruno Mars down the chart starts to represent lots of arena acts, including Roger Waters, Depeche Mode, Ed Sheeran, Kendrick Lamar, and many more. The first break in that trend comes at number 20, Jerry Seinfeld. The comedian got to this spot through a combination of aggressive pricing [with tickets moving at a reported average of $123] and repeat shows, with a routing full of two-night stands and doubleheaders. Thus, although Jerry is mostly sticking to theaters, he is doing arena-type numbers in numerous markets. 

Dave Chappelle, similarly, got to the 24 spot by repeatedly filling Radio City Music Hall with his residency. Tickets were going for a reported average of $116.

Beyond those two comedians, the chart is mostly a list of the arena tours reporting to Pollstar for the next 20 spots, including John Mayer at number 26, Green Day at number 36, Chris Stapleton at number 39 and Gloria Trevi / Alejandra Guzman at 42.  

Amphitheaters are the hardest venue to classify based on pure attendance figures, as they can vary widely in terms of size, but as average attendances on the chart start to slide into the 5-000- to- 10,000 range you start seeing more and more sheds on the artists’ routings. 

Joe Bonamassa is the first bona fide theater tour to appear on the list, thanks to a whopping average ticket price of $116. The bluesman logs in at the 50 spot, with an average reported gross of $324,675.

A few tours like Chicago / Doobie Brothers, number 49, seem to be in the unique position of switching between theatres and arenas.

At the positions of 54 and 55, Tedeschi Trucks Band and Mary J. Blige, mark a point on the chart where schedules start to include lots of theaters, though plenty of following artists still have arenas and sheds in their routing. Those two are averaging reported grosses of $264,226 and $263,217 respectively.

A notable entry on the chart is number 56, Vans Warped Tour, which is known to set up in amphitheaters, stadiums, fairgrounds, parking lots, university campuses and other unconventional venues. The event’s founder Kevin Lyman recently announced that 2018 would be the last year of the Warped Tour. The tour reported an average gross of $250,557 per show.

Productions like Dancing With The Stars, Bring It! Live, and Kidz Bop Live stage primarily in theatres because of production requirements. 

The smallest venues represented on the Top 100’s schedules are clubs. Many tours might decide to alternate between clubs and theaters depending on a number of factors, but some acts like Steve Aoki, who places at number 97, seem to be dedicated to the club space, in his case to showcase his dance music.

The number 100 spot is occupied by Sylvan Esso, whose routing is mostly full of clubs. The duo was moving tickets at an average reported price of $27, with an average gross of $64,089.