UK legs attendances

[Thailand Express]

A quick comparison

Manc
2007 - 15552
2011 - 9115
2013 - 7806

That's quite a drop! Mind you I was at the 2007 show and I don't recall the crowd being as big as that, where does that figure come from?

[Thailand Express]

Even with the increase in ticket prices it is just not as profiatable for them to play here now as it was in 2007. It would be interesting to see what the attendance figures were like for the US and Canada over the 2007 - 2013 tours.

My fear is that they won't bother coming to the UK if they tour again so it would be back to the US to see them 

According to the figures on Rush is a Band, the London O2 was the highest grossing show of the tour, so despite the tail off in numbers it seems coming to Europe is still financially viable. And that's also factoring in that the Pound is around 25% weaker against the Canadian Dollar than 5 years ago...

[zoony]

That's quite a drop! Mind you I was at the 2007 show and I don't recall the crowd being as big as that, where does that figure come from?

But if you look at the figures in Skiddaw,s post on the previous page, there were only 8898 tickets made available for the Manchester show?

[Andrew_Haldane]

It would seem from those figures that the band have priced themselves out of reach of some of the less hardcore fans. 2 nights at Wembley (aircraft hanger though it is) attracted more fans than 1 night at the far more attractive O2. Its hard to see a reversal of that trend in declining figures when they charge so much for tickets especially in a recession.  Unless they suddenly retire it would seem that scaling back the schedule and scale/cost of the production of future tours is inevitable at some point. If they are clever about it they should still end up with a very decent profit for less work. Simply playing 2 nights in less Cities, cutting the set in half and alternating it, (adding a couple of rare classics to the encore) and providing a decent local support act or two would cut costs and travelling time and may fill up some of those empty seats or at least arrest the decline. Perhaps Geddys remarks about doing more festivals  signal a transition towards a downscaled set and production generally or at least that they want to test its viability.

[zoony]

I wonder how much the band have to do with the ticket prices?

[Thailand Express]

Fact is a lot of people who went along in 2004 or 2007 will have "ticked the box" and seen a legendary act perform either after a long absence or for the first time.

There's not many artists that I'd go to see 4 times in a decade, so it's not surprising that attendances are dropping back to the hardcore fans, not just in Europe but North America too.
A good example from this tour would be the visit to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they haven't played since Hold Your Fire. The gig sold out in 10 minutes and they had to add another night. I don't think that's happened in many other places where, if not contempt, familiarity certainly breeds apathy...

[Andrew_Haldane]

Fact is a lot of people who went along in 2004 or 2007 will have "ticked the box" and seen a legendary act perform either after a long absence or for the first time.

There's not many artists that I'd go to see 4 times in a decade, so it's not surprising that attendances are dropping back to the hardcore fans, not just in Europe but North America too.
A good example from this tour would be the visit to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they haven't played since Hold Your Fire. The gig sold out in 10 minutes and they had to add another night. I don't think that's happened in many other places where, if not contempt, familiarity certainly breeds apathy...

Ultimately its about maximising profit rather than attracting more fans but Im pretty sure there would be a lot more tickets sold at £30 than £85 even if they toured once a year

[Thailand Express]

It's a balancing act, similar to the problems faced at struggling football clubs where fans claim their main reason for not going is the price. But experience shows that halving the admission price very rarely doubles the gate...

[freewill]

back in their day they would have done 4/5 nights in each of Wembley & the NEC, what was it then £20 per ticket?

[Thailand Express]

back in their day they would have done 4/5 nights in each of Wembley & the NEC, what was it then £20 per ticket?

I don't think they've done more than a double nighter since the 80s when tickets were a tenner or less...

[Matt2112]

Incidentally, funnily enough, as I'm in the middle of a house move I inadvertently dug out my tickets from the NEC in '88 and Sheffield in '92 the other day - £10.00 and £14.00 respectively.      Not sure how that compares with inflation given decent tickets are £80.00 nowadays, but a shock nonetheless.

[Night Flyer]

Incidentally, funnily enough, as I'm in the middle of a house move I inadvertently dug out my tickets from the NEC in '88 and Sheffield in '92 the other day - £10.00 and £14.00 respectively.      Not sure how that compares with inflation given decent tickets are £80.00 nowadays, but a shock nonetheless.

Paid £5.00 for MP/ESL in '81. Can't remember what for Signals off hand but Signals was a double nighter in the Edinburgh Royal Highland Barn.

Ah here we go again. The old days (sigh)

[Thailand Express]

That said the Hold Your Fire CD would've cost you more than Clockwork Angels on CD....

[Nick]

Also it must hit the Merch sales which must be very lucrative. This year i brought a programme and that was it, my mates bought nothing due to the high prices. i recall that on the R30 tour they broke the merch sales record at the NEC (or was that urban Rush myth?).

Certainly no need to do Sheffield next time as that crown could easily fill the gaps in Manc. However if it was marketed as a farewell tour it could be
a R30 all over again.

[BaldiePete]

Paid £5.00 for MP/ESL in '81. Can't remember what for Signals off hand but Signals was a double nighter in the Edinburgh Royal Highland Barn.

Ah here we go again. The old days (sigh)

Signals in Edinburgh was also £5.