Two British music stars have made the most cash from US tours so far this year. Paul McCartney's US tour has been the most lucrative music tour of the year taking $52.8m (£33.9m) in ticket sales, according to a survey by US trade mag, Pollstar. Elton John's joint tour with Billy Joel came in second. McCartney enjoyed good reviews, sell out dates and an average ticket price of $129.59 (£83.27) in his first US tour for a decade. The double bill of Billy Joel and Elton John took $44.4m (£28.5m) from 23 shows in just eight cities with an average ticket price of $108.70 (£69.87). The duo might have come top had Joel’s health problems not postponed ten dates to the Autumn. The success for the British music veterans comes as newer Brit talent struggles to make it big in the Stages. And the survey did not deliver good news for the live music industry in general. It said that the top 50 acts sold a combined 10.6 million tickets in the first half of the year, a fall of three percent from the equivalent period last year, and down 18% from 2000. Some suggest the fall in attendance might be due to rising ticket prices – average entry fees have gone up 11.3%, considerably more than the current US inflation rate of 3.6%. "One has to wonder where the millions of ticket buyers we lost since 2000 have gone,” a Pollster spokesperson asked, "Can we get them back or have they been priced out of the market for good?"
Jul 15, 2002
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1 min read
Brits top declining US live market
Paul McCartney's US tour is the highest-grossing of the year so far per Pollstar, while overall ticket sales for top acts fell three percent on last year.