€74m box(ing) office boom

Taylor, Sheeran & Keano spike 3Arena sales

SHOWS by stars such as Elton John, Westlife, Arctic Monkeys, Rod Stewart, Ed Sheeran saw the 3Arena increase box office revenues by 50% to €74.02million.

Figures from trade industry journal Pollstar show one Sheeran gig at the Dublin venue last May generated €1.36million.

Its statistics also revealed for the year from November 2022, 985,341 fans attended the 3Arena.

And it wasn’t just musical artists generating footfall as soccer pundits Roy Keane, Gary Neville and Jamie

Carragher appeared at the venue in March and their sell-out show generated €488,600 at the box office.

There was an even more lucrative night in May when boxer Katie Taylor’s fight with Chantelle Cameron made €2.08million. But the largest box office for the year at the 3Arena belonged to the Arctic Monkeys who generated €3.63million for three nights in

October. Elton John might be 76 but the Rocketman’s earning power remains undimished as his two gigs at the Dublin venue generated €2.98million.

The highest earning Irish act was Westlife whose three gigs in December 2022 helped post receipts of €2.95million.

Other Irish acts to feature prominently include Picture

This which had a combined box office of €1.38million for two gigs in October while Inhaler, led by Bono’s son Elijah Hewson enjoyed a box office of €447,198 last November.

2FM presenters, The 2 Johnnies recorded a box office of €465,514 for their gig at the venue in December 2022.

Chris Brown was one of a select group of artists who could generate more than €1million per night at the 3Arena with his two gigs in February generating a total of €2.12million.

TAKE IT AS RED Jennifer Lopez sizzles in promo pics for her new album

SHE’S been the pick of the bunch for more than 25 years and Jennifer Lopez shows here that she is still blooming well into her fifties. Mum-of-two J-LO has branched out into a number of lucrative and successful areas since first coming out of the Bronx block in the 90s. And the 54-year-old has broken a good few hearts too in that time before returning to old flame Ben Affleck in recent years. Her first love though will always remain her music and she is releasing a first album in 10 years, This Is Me… Now, which is said to be inspired by Ben. Aw, bless!

TOP DRAW Katie Taylor and Roy Keane