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U2’s ‘Joshua Tree’ Trek Grosses $316 M, Vies For Tour Of The Year
Scott Legato / Getty Images – U2
U2 brings its “The Joshua Tree Tour” to Ford Field in Detroit Sept. 3.
A frontrunner for Pollstar’s Tour of the year is officially in the books as U2 has submitted the reports for its 5-month “Joshua Tree Tour” in 2017.
In total the tour had 50 headline shows in North America, Europe, and South America, which grossed a combined reported total of approximately $316,000,339. The tour was promoted by Live Nation and featured Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers, OneRepublic, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and Beck as openers.
The kickoff show for the tour was May 12 in Vancouver, to a reported sell-out crowd of 45,436 at BC Place. The last night was Oct. 25, to a reported 100-percent sold-out crowd at the 69,679-capacity stadium Estádio Cícero Pompeu de Toledo in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The tour was first teased around the end of 2016 as a Christmas present to fans. The initial dates were announced in January, with more additions scattered throughout the following weeks and months. The trek was a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the group’s The Joshua Tree album, U2’s first No.1 album in the U.S.
The routing was almost entirely comprised of stadiums, with 21 shows in North America to lead things off. Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.; Soldier Field in Chicago; and MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. were all selected for double-doses of U2. In the midst of this leg, the group played Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn., on June 9.
The first north American leg grossed a reported $123 million and reported more than 1 million tickets.
After that was a run of 12 shows in Europe, starting with two nights in England’s Twickenham Stadium July 8-9. Rome’s
September saw the band return to North America for eight more shows with a combined gross of $380,585,915 millon and 350,292 tickets reported.
October was the month of U2 in Latin America. There were a total of nine plays in the final leg, two in Mexico’s Foro Sol, one in Colombia’s Estadio El Campin, two in Argentina’s Estadio Unico Ciudad De La Plata, one in Chile’s Estadio Nacional and four in Brazil. This leg earned the band a reported $70 million and moved 574,976 reported tickets.
Pollstar got the chance to chat with Frederic Opsomer of PRG who helped to develop the SPACEFRAME technology and the 4K Broadcast Camera System that were both implemented on this tour. We also highlighted a review of the band’s performance at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., from The Mercury News which read: “There was a personal element to this concert that has been missing from U2 for years, as the band spent its time blowing our minds with giant claw-shaped stage designs and other eye candy. This time around, the group simply let the music do the talking — and it said volumes.”
Guns N’ Roses will be U2’s chief competition for Tour Of The Year, with $243 million already reportedly grossed in 2017, and the group will be on tour in North American arenas throughout November.