Boxoffice Insider: Ariana Grande Heads To Europe With Sweetener Trek

For 2017’s Dangerous Woman trek, the O2 was originally on the itinerary, but her London show was one of several cancelled in European arenas after the terrorist attack on Manchester Arena in May of that year. This summer she makes her return to the O2 on Aug. 17, 19 and 20 to begin the current tour’s nine-week trek through 19 cities on the continent. She will close out the European leg with a second visit to the arena for concerts on Oct. 15-16.

Other than the O2 Arena’s five concerts, Grande also has multiple shows planned in five other venues in Europe this year. Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome and Dublin’s 3Arena each have three performances on the schedule.

Then, at AccorHotels Arena in Paris, Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany and Birmingham Arena back in the U.K., she has two concerts booked.

The Pollstar Boxoffice archives show that on her Honeymoon tour that played four continents in 2015, the pop star performed 15 shows in Europe alone during May and June of that year. Two of the 13 arenas hosted Grande for two performances – the Zénith in Paris and

Ziggo Dome where she logged her top box-office counts: a $1.4 million gross from 32,941 sold seats on May 28-29. The Europe dates on the Honeymoon tour took in $7.9 million from 15 concerts with 166,339 tickets purchased. Per show averages featured a sold ticket total just over 11,000 and more than half-a-million dollars per show in gross sales.

Grande’s 2017 Dangerous Woman tour contained 14 headlining dates at European arenas with show dates spanning six weeks from May 8 through June 17. Once again, top box-office success was found at Ziggo Dome with 31,800 tickets sold at the Amsterdam arena and

earnings topping $1.6 million from a sellout crowd.

Gross totals from 14 shows in Europe hit $10.7 million based on 173,492 total tickets – all contributing to a leap in the overall per show average compared to the Honeymoon run two years earlier. The average gross per show was $767,445 – 44.5% higher than in 2015, while

the sold ticket average saw an 11.8% jump in 2017, coming in at 12,392.

The opening leg of this year’s “Sweetener” tour included 48 shows over 18 weeks set in North American markets, beginning with an opener on March 18 at Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y. A sellout at Salt Lake City’s Vivint Smart Home Arena on July 13 completed the first leg that racked up a total gross of $77.6 million from 662,759 tickets at 43 arenas.

Following the European events, Grande returns to North America for a string of shows, kicking off at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y. on Nov. 9. The final stop on the tour will be a two-night engagement at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. on Dec. 21-22.