Concert Pulse: The Carters Land Stateside, Queen Celine Returns, Slayer Continues Farewell

Dave Simpson / WireImage – Celine Dion Auckland
Spark Arena on August 11, 2018 in Auckland, New Zealand.

Celine Dion has entered the Pollstar Global Concert Pulse in a big way, with mammoth reports from Down Under and Las Vegas residencies putting her at No. 4.

Meanwhile, reports have come in for the Beyoncé/Jay-Z “OTR II Tour” that just arrived stateside, with impressive numbers as the Carters settle in on their home turf.

Click here for the full Pollstar Global Concert Pulse, which ranks tours by average gross over the last three months.

While not quite at the level of Taylor Swift’s current Reputation North American stadium run (whose two Mercedes-Benz Stadium shows in Atlanta grossed $18 million on 116,745 tickets), the Carters have had no trouble playing two-night North American stadiums: Aug. 2-3 at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey sold 99,755 tickets grossing $13.9 million, Aug. 10-11 at Chicago’s Soldier Field sold 86,603 tickets and grossed $12.3 million and July 27-28 at FedExField in Maryland sold 81,964 tickets and grossed $11.4 million.

The massive production damaged the field at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C., to the point that the whole thing needed to be replaced, although the Associated Press reported that promoters covered the cost of $150,000-$200,000 (Live Nation did not respond to Pollstar‘s request for comment).

With the new U.S. data, the tour remains at No. 3 on the chart but raises its average gross to $6.57 million per market with an average of 59,015 tickets sold.

Robin Harper / Parkwood / PictureGroup – DRUNK IN LOVE:
Beyoncé and Jay-Z share a moment during the couple’s co-bill performance at Telia Parken in Copenhagen, Denmark, June 23, 2018.

The North American reports are larger than any of the European gigs from the couple, although they did doubles in Paris, London and Amsterdam that were still around the $10 million mark. The full Europe leg grossed $87.6 million. The 30-date North America tour continues into October and wraps in Seattle.

Celine Dion hits No. 4 on the chart with her signature multiple-night runs and hefty ticket price, with three shows at Spark Arena in New Zealand Aug. 11-14 selling 30,778 tickets and grossing $5.73 million to go along with a report of eight shows at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas selling another 30,879 and grossing $5.12 million with longtime promoter AEG Presents / Concerts West. That puts her average gross at $4.78 million across 12 markets reported. Her average ticket price of $212 is well above anyone on the chart other than “Springsteen on Broadway,” although The Boss’ price is largely thanks to the extremely intimate confines of the Walter Kerr Theatre at less than 1,000 seats. And, as Dion’s song says, “That’s the way it is.”

Making waves still near the top of the chart is the always active Keith Urban, who hits the chart at No. 33 with an average gross of $653,265 on an impressive 30 cities. Highlights from his current run with Kelsea Ballerini include Aug. 24 at the venerable Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, which moved 13,250 tickets and grossed $900,343. His arena run continues into early November.

Metal gods Slayer, which just announced additional international dates for its farewell tour, put up some triumphant numbers as well with the band at No. 44 with an average gross of $370,415 and 7,080 tickets sold. While it’s a Slayer farewell, the tour is still a mighty package with metal veterans Lamb of God, Anthrax, Behemoth and Testament on nearly all the dates.

Andrew Chin / Getty Images – Slayer
Slayer’s farewell tour makes a stop at Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, British Columbia, May 16.

The biggest report submitted was from Sacramento, Calif.’s Papa Murphy’s Park, which moved 13,711 tickets and grossed $715,760 with promoter Nederlander Concerts May 12. Other standouts include Place Bell in Quebec, which sold 9,266 tickets and grossed $523,537 May 30, and Smart Financial Center at Sugar Land in Texas, which sold 6,429 tickets and grossed $338,093 June 17.

With the new dates, the lauded thrashers will continue to bid the road farewell into at least 2019.