Tuesday, 12 April 2011

U2's 360 Tour is the highest grossing tour in history

"It takes 120 lorries to transport, has a 50-metre tall sound system and cost more than any tour in the history of music. But it appears that U2's 360° extravaganza was worth the investment as it has become the highest grossing tour ever, beating the record set by the Rolling Stones.
The Irish band's first tour in three years, which kicked off in June 2009 at Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium, made it past the $558m (£341m) world record after their concert in São Paulo, Brazil, with 20 more gigs to go. The Stones pulled in $558m (£341m) for their Bigger Bang tour between 2005 and 2007.
By the time the U2 tour ends this July, the band will have played to more than 3 million fans in more than three dozen cities around the world and will have made an estimated $700m.
U2's manager, Paul McGuinness, said he and the band were proud of the tour. "That dollar figure for the gross looks enormous," he said. "Of course I can't tell you what the net is, but I can tell you that the band spend enormous sums on production for their audience. Fans all over the world agree that a ticket to U2 360° is good value for money."
Estimated to have cost more than $100m, 360° was already set to be the band's most expensive tour, with the transportation of the stage alone estimated to cost $750,000 a day whether or not the band played. It was projected to gross $750m by the end of 2010, eclipsing takings from the 2005-06 Vertigo tour, which earned U2 $389m."
Source:  The Guardian, 11th April 2011

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