Game Of Thrones Lives On With Live Experience

Regardless of whether you gave thumbs up or otherwise to the much-discussed final season, the tour that kicks off in September will include new music from the eighth season as well as the earlier ones presented in an outdoor setting at North American amphitheaters. The tour’s first two jaunts in 2017 and 2018 were staged in an arena environment.

Like the earlier arena show, the upcoming live version will feature GoT’s music written by Ramin Djawadi as well as appearances by the Emmy-winning composer himself in select markets. 

The production will continue to include a live orchestra along with big-screen presentations of fan-favorite scenes from all eight seasons of the television show, but with the sky as the backdrop.

The “Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience” first hit the arena stage in 2017 with a slate of 24 shows booked in North American cities. 

A Feb. 20 event that year held at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., began the opening leg that ended on April 2 with a performance at Moda Center in Portland, Ore. 

Then in 2018, the producers of the show added a 23-show European trek to the tour during May and June staged at arenas in 14 countries, followed by a second North American leg last fall. 

The 2018 North American run included 23 performances booked from Sept. 6 through Oct. 14, beginning with a show at Seattle’s KeyArena and wrapping at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

Boxoffice figures reported by tour promoter Live Nation show that 68% of the available tickets were purchased in North American venues during the 2017 and 2018 treks.

With a total of 45 shows reported from both years, the “GoT” tour topped $20.8 million in Boxoffice revenue from 325,575 tickets – an average of 7,235 sold per show and a gross average of $462,675.

New York City’s Madison Square Garden produced the best results for both gross and sold tickets among all of the reported North American arenas during the first two years. 

The venue drew a crowd of 14,633 for a performance on March 7, 2017, and then hosted another show in October of the following year with 9,856 fans present. Grosses from 24,489 tickets at both shows totaled $1,980,595. 

The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., was second-highest with $1.8 million in sales from 23,900 tickets at performances on March 23, 2017, and Sept. 9, 2018.

Fans in the Bay Area produced the next highest counts with two shows at San Jose’s SAP Center on March 29, 2017 and Sept. 8, 2018.The two-show gross reached $1.6 million from 22,733 sold seats. 

Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena logged the highest totals at a Canadian venue with a total gross of $1.2 million from 22,661 sold tickets on March 4, 2017 and Oct. 14, 2018.

Only 10 of the 23 arenas on the European run reported Boxoffice stats to Pollstar, but per show averages show 6,975 sold tickets at each concert. The arena with the highest gross – Madrid’s WiZink Center – reported $1.2 million at their event on May 8, 2018, while the top attendance count came from Lanxess Arena in Köln, Germany, with 13,037 total tickets.

The upcoming North American amphitheater run begins on Sept. 5 at St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview in Syracuse, N.Y. The two-month tour wraps Oct. 5 with a performance at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. 

Djawadi is scheduled to appear at three of the fall shows including the L.A. finale, a show the night before at FivePoint Amphitheatre in Irvine, Calif. and, the New York-area concert on Sept. 14 at Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, N.Y.