Superstars hit the road for summer
Taylor Swift and Mick Jagger are just a couple of the big names touring this season
With Taylor Swift, the Rolling Stones, U2 and other superstars launching U.S. tours this month, the summer concert season offers music fans a wealth of options.
Last year, Pollstar estimated the size of the North American concert business at $6.2 billion. That number could grow in 2015.
“What’s on sale is doing well,” says Pollstar’s editor in chief, Gary Bongiovanni. “It may well lead to a record year for tour revenue.”
At least a dozen acts are playing stadiums, including the Stones, Swift, AC/DC and One Direction. The forecast looks promising, given that 2014 was the biggest year for stadium shows since 1994, says Billboard executive director Ray Waddell.
“This year is supposed to be just as big,” he says. “I think people have missed stadiums.”
The cost of attending those mega-shows will vary greatly, from the Foo Fighters tour, where tickets rarely cost more than $75, to the Stones, who set the top price for their 14 U.S. shows at around $400.
The Stones “are probably going to be the highest average ticket price on tour,” Bongiovanni says. “They may not work as many dates, but on a per-date basis, there probably won’t be anybody that comes close to them.”
Country music touring appears particularly robust: Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan and the Zac Brown Band have stadium shows booked.
Ed Sheeran, who had his first arena-headlining tour in the USA last year, has added a fall leg to this year’s tour that wraps with him playing Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., in September.
“Ed Sheeran’s a stud,” Waddell says. “People love him, and it translates to ticket sales.”
The summer’s must-have ticket, though, isn’t even for a tour. It’s for what’s billed as the final reunion of the Grateful Dead. Demand for three Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead shows at Chicago’s Soldier Field over the July Fourth weekend was so great that two dates were added, for Santa Clara, Calif., or the weekend before.
“This Grateful Dead thing is nuts,” Waddell says. “They could have done more than most tours if they had met demand. That’s going to be one of the biggest concert events in history.”
FOO FIGHTERS BY JEFF KRAVITZ, FILMMAGIC;
SWIFT BY KARWAI TANG, WIREIMAGE;
TWAIN BY MELISSA RENWICK, GETTY IMAGES