Concert Pulse: McCartney, Katy Perry, Gabriel Iglesias Debut

With the influx of year-end boxoffice reporting, this week’s Global Concert Pulse is chock full of new touring data, with major new entries near the top of the chart like Paul McCartney and Katy Perry, additional Jay-Z reports, and strong grosses from comedian Gabriel Iglesias.  

Kevin Winter/Getty Images – Katy Perry
Katy Perry takes over Staples Center in Los Angeles Nov. 7.

While the original Beatle charted on the Concert Pulse a few months ago, the latest reporting includes much bigger grosses, putting his average at $5.2 million per event.

McCartney is No. 7 on Pollstar’s Year End Worldwide Top 20 Tours. His yearly total was $132 million grossed and 903,020 tickets sold at an average of a whopping 33,455 tickets per event.

For the last three months, highlights include big shows in Australia, including 39,191 tickets sold out to Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane Dec. 9, promoted by Frontier Touring Company. He’s No. 4 on the Concert Pulse chart this week. 

In North America, Sir Paul played the new Little Caesars Arena in Detroit twice, selling out 30,166 tickets and grossing more than $4.5 million Oct. 1-2 for promoter Marshall Arts. 

Scott Legato / Getty Images – Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney acknowledges the fans during the first of two shows at the new Little Caesars Arena in Detroit Oct. 1.

Other big showings include 36,200 tickets sold Sept. 23 to the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y., which grossed $3.8 million (Bowery Presents / AEG Presents / Marshall Arts), and two nights at Barclays Center in Brooklyn Sept. 19 and 21, which sold out a combined 30,002 tickets and grossed just under $4.4 million (AEG Presents).  McCartney’s average ticket price for the period was just under $140.

Katy Perry figures high on this week’s chart at No. 16, with an average gross over the last three months of $997,860, average tickets sold at 9,323 and average ticket price of $107.03.

Individual dates reported include 8,782 tickets sold to Philips Arena in Atlanta Dec. 12, which grossed $950,017, 8,744 tickets sold Dec. 10 to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, which grossed $896,760, 10,243 tickets sold to BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla., Nov. 19 which grossed $672,842, and 10,779 sold for Nov. 14 at the SAP Center at San Jose, which grossed $1.21 million.

Click here for the full Global Concert Pulse chart. 

Perry’s “Witness” tour stretches well into 2018, with U.S. dates ending in February and international markets including Europe, Australia, Asia and five dates in Mexico taking her into August, where she ends with two dates at Spark Arena in New Zealand.

Jay-Z is also high on the chart, and a new entry on the Global Concert Pulse at No. 10 after submitting a few more reports for his 4:44 tour, which already had reported many sellouts and near sellouts. His average gross for the last three months is $1.5 million, 14,865 tickets and he had an average ticket price of $101.29.

After already doing large indoor venues earlier in the year as well as summer fairs, the comedian known as Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias kept it going in the last part of the year, with big shows including Dec. 8 at American Bank Center Arena in Corpus Christi, which sold 4,571 tickets and grossed $268,735, a sold-out AT&T Center in San Antonio Dec. 7 (8,697 tickets, $507,285 gross)  and two shows at the State Farm Arena in Hidalgo, Texas, Nov. 24-25, which sold a combined 6,647 tickets and grossed $361,130. Icon Entertainment Group / Tate Entertainment,  handles Iglesias’ U.S. dates.   

On the Concert Pulse chart, he’s No. 53, with an average gross of $246,852 and 4,388 tikcets sold. 

But he’s also very popular in Europe, with big shows including Lotto Arena in Belgium Sept. 23, which sold 4,989 tickets and grossed $205,323, and 7,775 tickets sold to the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam Sept. 21, which grossed $365,988.

Iglesias’s manger, Joe Meloche at Arsonhouse Entertainment, told Pollstar that Iglesias’ reach goes across the globe, with big business in the Middle East and Australia as well as Europe. 

Brett Schauf – Gabriel Iglesias
Intrust Bank Arena, Wichita, Kans.

“It’s something that we’ve been growing and building on,” Meloche said, adding that it’s Iglesias’ fourth time touring Europe, where fans may not understand all the cultural nuances of the material but resonate with Iglesias’ stage presence and storytelling.

“We first went out there just one market at a time and with social media and videos to get fans interested, and then bringing him in live, and luckily people connected with his comedy in a live show.”

“Gabe has a very good comedy technique, and uses great storytelling and voices to make those come alive, so it’s very universal in that sense,” added Meloche, who also manages comedian Jo Koy who just sold 25,000 tickets in Hawaii, making him the biggest selling comic in the island’s history according to the manager.

“Gabe had a mission statement that he wanted to play every state, we just jumped in a bus and whether we did 500 tickets or 1,000 or 2,000 we tried to hit as many as possible, but the whole idea was to hit a growth pattern.  If we came back, did we increase or decrease? It’s always been an increase with Gabe.”

Iglesias has more U.S. dates coming up, including arenas like Staples Center in Los Angeles and Frank Erwin Center in Austin, and is already booked for a few more fairs in August, including the Great Allentown Fair in Pennsylvania Aug. 30. He’s booked by CAA in the U.S.