Boxoffice Insider: Two Decades Of Live History At Royal Albert Hall

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Larry Hulst / Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images – A Touch Of History
Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck perform together at the ARMS Charity Concert at the Royal Albert Concert Hall in September 1983 in London, England. Clapton is royalty among royalty, with 64 shows at the storied venue since just 2000.

In Royal Albert Hall’s 150-year history, the vast array of entertainers who have performed at the historic London performance hall are countless, numerous even since the summer of 1999 when Pollstar received its first Boxoffice report. But even in that almost 22-year period – about 15% of the venue’s lifespan – the data housed in the archives includes a wealth of live entertainment highlights.


Since that first reported show – a performance by Al Green on June 29, 1999, that drew 3,767 attendees – we have tracked a total of 1,385 performances at the 5,000-seat theater. Boxoffice revenue is $307 million for just those shows alone, with a total number of sold tickets currently at 4,516,624 through the most recently reported event on Nov. 25, 2019. The performance that evening, promoted by SJM Concerts, featured the Australian Pink Floyd Show with a crowd of 3,388 and ticket sales hitting $265,031.

One of the names that stands out during the past two decades is legendary rock artist Eric Clapton who has 60 headlining shows on record – 64 if you count the sold-out reunion of Cream in May 2005 that drew 18,088 fans over four nights for a $3.7 million take. But the gross earnings from all 64 of his concerts combined total $35.2 million with a sold-ticket tally of 301,006.

Clapton performed multiple-show engagements at the venue in 10 of the past 22 years, including two separate 11-show runs – one in May 2009 and another two years later. Total tickets surpassed 50,000 both times with the 2011 concerts producing the top results: a $6.1 million gross from 54,846 tickets from May 17 to June 1. The earlier run, May 16-29, 2009, saw a ticket count of 51,810 and revenue topping $4.9 million.

Four more British rock veterans are among those who have made an impact with multiple dates in the archives. Mark Knopfler, Jeff Beck, David Gilmour and Roger Hodgson have all performed at the theater with concert appearances in various years. Knopfler’s 27-show Boxoffice haul is $7.5 million with a ticket count of 112,546 at six engagements from May 2005 through May 2019. Each concert run included at least two performances, but the show count was six in 2008, 2010 and 2013. For Beck, the number of shows is six, all occurring during an 11-year period beginning in 2004. His combined gross lands at $1.2 million with 19,638 sold seats.

Gilmour played a five-night engagement in 2015 and returned for another five-show run in 2016, both kicking off on the 23rd of September. He sold 44,778 seats overall at all 10 shows and grossed $4.7 million. Of Hodgson’s eight concerts, the first was an October show in 2007 and the most recent, a two-show stand in May 2019. Sold tickets for all of them numbered 29,810 with a combined gross of $1.9 million.

But more than just male rock titans have Boxoffice results from Royal Albert Hall stored in the archives. R&B star Gladys Knight is on the books with concerts in three consecutive summers beginning in July 2015. Her three-show ticket count is 11,573 with gross earnings of $792,972. Kylie Minogue appeared for a two-night stint of “A Kylie Christmas” on Dec. 9-10, 2016, drawing 9,276 fans for a total gross of $585,450. It was a return engagement for the pop star who debuted the holiday production on Dec. 11 of the previous year.

Country artist Kacey Musgraves headlined the venue for the first time on Nov. 18, 2015 in what she has called a “bucket list” experience for her. Coming the year after she won her first two Grammy Awards, her performance drew a capacity crowd of 3,876 and earned a Boxoffice take of $116,225. Also, the late comic Joan Rivers wrapped her 2012 “Now or Never” trek at the London theater on Oct. 22, the 11th show on her sold-out U.K. tour that drew 23,258 fans.