Boxoffice Insider: Dead & Company Have Strong Showing In Early Results

The band chose the Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek in Raleigh, N.C., as the starting point of the trek, performing at the amphitheater for a sellout crowd of 19,794. Among the 31 dates booked, most of them are set in outdoor amphitheaters, but there are also stadium dates in the mix, including two during their first week on the road. After the Raleigh opener and a second concert at Jiffy Lube Live in the Washington, D.C., market, the third show on the itinerary was in New York at Citi Field, the home venue of the New York Mets. It is one of three Major League Baseball stadiums tapped for the tour.

With attendance logged at 36,642 and gross sales topping $4.1 million, the sold-out New York concert on Aug. 20 marked the band’s fifth consecutive year appearing at the ballpark since 2016 – not counting last year when the effects of the pandemic did not allow for full-capacity stadium bookings. This year’s gross is the group’s highest ever at the stadium, perhaps due in part to a rise in ticket prices compared to the previous four engagements that all featured a $45-$150 ticket scale. This year’s tickets ranged from $49.50 to $179.50.

Attendance this year, though, ranks as the second-highest on record for the band at the Mets’ ballpark. Boxoffice archives show that the June 23, 2019 concert drew their largest crowd for a single performance with 39,726 tickets sold.

Then, in their first appearance in Philadelphia since a November 2017 show at Wells Fargo Center, the group performed on Aug. 21 for 31,328 fans at the Philadelphia Phillies’ home stadium, Citizens Bank Park. The show earned a gross of $3.3 million, second only to the New York total on this summer’s tour.

The tour’s only two-night stand among these early was a Sept. 2-3 run at Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Mass. The Boston-area shed also scored the tour’s second-highest ticket count of 35,451 – just 1,191 tickets fewer than the New York stadium total. The Dead & Company tour continues through Oct. 31 in American cities. Among the remaining dates planned are a two-night appearance at Chicago’s Wrigley Field Sept. 17-18. They played there previously during the summer of 2017 and again in 2019, selling a total of 152,340 tickets at two shows on each tour. Also, a second two-show shed event is planned for Denver’s Fiddler’s Green Amphitheater on Oct. 22-23, and the tour will wrap with a three-night engagement in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Bowl.

Two other touring acts impacting the Pollstar charts with recent boxoffice reporting are country headliners Zac Brown Band and Chris Stapleton, both with schedules also dominated by amphitheater dates.

The former’s total number of sold seats from their opening Aug. 5 show through the most recent performance on Sept. 4 is 204,877. The 12 reported concerts produced a gross of $14.1 million which is second only to Luke Bryan’s $17.4 million take among the country artists who have topped the charts this summer.

Following the Zac Brown Band, Stapleton’s nine reported concerts have amassed a ticket total currently at 133,450 from shows dated July 28 through Aug. 14. His grosses land just over $7.9 million. Like the Dead & Company trek, both country tours are also promoted by Live Nation.