Superstars in €60m Irish gig bonanza
LAST year was a bonanza year for global acts including Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift and U2 performing here as over 700,000 music fans paid €60m to see top acts in a string of concerts around the country.
New figures show that eight separate events staged by U2, Ed Sheeran, Billy Joel, Michael Bublé, Taylor Swift and The Rolling Stones all featuring in ‘Pollstar’s’ Top 100 International Box Office events in 2018.
The most lucrative series of gigs was staged by Ed Sheeran at Phoenix Park in Dublin last year. They were the ninth-most lucrative series of shows at one venue across the world in 2018, generating €14m.
The ‘Pollstar’ figures show that 184,187 paid €14.12m to see Mr Sheeran over three nights at Phoenix Park last May. The Mr Sheeran gigs at Dublin, Cork and Galway generated €28.9m at the box office.
However, the single-most lucrative gig of the year was by ageing rockers The Rolling Stones. Seventyfive-year-old Mick Jagger’s energetic performance at Croke Park earned rave reviews and the gig before 64,823 generated a whopping €7.2m at the box office.
U2 last year had one of the most lucrative tours in the world generating $126m at the box office after playing 59 gigs in 30 cities.
U2’s series of gigs at the 3Arena generated €5.6m after 46,529 paid to see the band.