Do you have any sources for these points?

There is no way whatsoever the Inland Revenue would go looking for money based on spurious guesses of newspapers and other online outlets of a persons wealth. They would look at the accounts submitted each year by their accountants and if they had queries they would audit the said person.

As to your second point. It is true that the show may not have been as expensive as some, there is no way you can say for sure that it wasn't an expensive show to put on. You'd have to access the accounts for a start. I bet the show wasn't cheap with all the transportation costs and fireworks etc. You can't really make a blanket statement based on visuals.

Compared to the spectacles put on by the likes of popstars and rock acts like Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Cold Play, Muse, etc., the Where We Are Tour was probably much cheaper to put together. Aside from the rising platform with LED screens and lights on it, the stage was pretty straightforward and simple.

Going to have to agree. Last year their tour gross was "only" $114 million. This year it was $300 million. Even if they only personally pocketed 30% of that money, it would've put them well over $100 million earnings this year with their other endorsements, album sales, merchandising, perfume line, etc.

Transportation costs? Staff Costs? Don't forget about the things you don't see.

Charlotte Church - "I've been getting investigated by the taxman year on year because the papers keep on printing I'm worth £9m, £11m, £22m, £25m," said Church.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/charlotte-c...llions-1456052

Gisele Bundchen - ”I do OK, I earn plenty, but not as much as they say. I’ve already been audited by the IRS because of this list and, truthfully, whether I’m on this list or not doesn’t interest me.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/vannale/...h-as-they-say/

After it emerged how much 3/4 Take That were trying to hide in tax schemes HMRC are going to be much more confident in auditing showbiz people.

Speaking of Take That, I went to their shows at Wembley. They had dozens of dancers, costumes, a huge man structure that rose from the stage, people climbing up flooding walls and Robbie flying in on wires. 1D have none of that. Their show is the boys wandering around the stage accompanied by the musical band, with some pyrotechnics, streamers for Happily, laser things for SOML, a fab looking stage + rising bit, and the huge screens. Other acts have the same costs for sound, lighting, trucking equipment around the country etc. The South America leg was sponsored by a telephone company and the N American one by Nabisco. 1D have to hire a lot of security given the devotion of their fans but WWA was a very profitable tour. Next year's one will also be very profitable. There are rumours of Europe dates coming on sale early Nov by the way.

2 days to go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oevPJ0ZUo9k

Niall looks so cute!

After MM and You & I it's lovely to see the boys warm on a music video set.

So two famous people who want self publicity mean that the Inland Revenue audits everyone on the Rich List? Giselle's one refers to the IRS in America, but Sorry, I am not convinced that the Inland Revenue would believe a Newspaper with no access to actual accounts over actual accounts submitted by their accountants.

Take That was a different kettle of fish. It was leaked that three members participated in the scheme and were being audited by the Inland Revenue service.

As for the tour. Sponsorship would have paid for some of it, but not the whole tour. American Idol is sponsored by Coke, but they don't pick up the whole tab for the show. And yes, it will not have been as expensive compared to take that, but there is no way with absolute certainty you could say it was a cheap show to put on.

To be fair to Dumdedumdum, she DID provide us with some sources to her claims. I don't necessarily agree with her more negative/pessimistic posts, but she's not just posting nonsense out of thin air. But of course it's hard nowadays to find out what source (esp. online) is really reliable and who's just spreading rumours.
I think there's no need to really dissect each and every post, it's an Appreciation Thread after all, let's just enjoy this exciting time, with new music coming in 4 weeks and a video dropping TOMORROW!

Plus, SMG has finally been added to Capital FM's playlist, I read (not on Capital FM's website though... But it's been played loads in the last few days, so it must be on the playlist!)...

No one said the show was cheap, just probably cheaper than some of the more obviously spectacle-based tours. I don't know why you're being so defensive about this as if it's an insult when we're really just saying they made smart and economical business decisions. We said this last year when we heard they were doing a stadium tour instead of arenas and that it would be more financially beneficial and less stressful.

In related news: They have just announced some European dates (mostly Scandinavian though...) in June 2015 and 17 US dates in July-September.
They're still playing the biggest stadiums, just some cities they haven't been before (some are the same though). Still plenty of days in between dates, which would give them the chance to add more dates in case they're sold out pretty quickly (ticket sales start 1 November).
That leaves the period between 4 April (Dubai show) and 10 June (first European date in Vienna) for a UK leg of the tour? Does that mean it's goint to be an arena tour? Isn't April/May in the UK too early for stadiums? First of all, the weather/temperatures, but they will also still be used for the football season...
What do you think? I mean, there MUST be a UK leg, they can't afford to just skip that

I expect a UK leg to be announced too. It wouldn't make any sense not to, so I speculate the same thing as you do.
Nothing in my country yet. Then again, since they wouldn't tour in my area anyway, it doesn't really make a difference... I might as well travel

Some US numbers:

- SMG sold almost 49k last week (almost the same as the week before), totalling 284k (--> halfway there to a gold certification)
- Probably due to streaming, it's up 6 places to #40 on the Hot 100 charts. Expect it to rise even further next week. Even though it's down to #28 on itunes, the video will help it, plus generate thousands (millions?) of streams in the US alone.
- Still very positive industry predictions for FOUR: http://www.hitsdailydouble.com/rumor...uploads/q4.png --> 500-600k! Seems a bit high to me as the hype doesn't seem as big as last year and especially 2012, but who knows?! I love to be positively surprised

I wasn't being defensive and I didn't take it as an insult. I just tend to find that Dumdedumdum always gets very carried away with the things she says and makes statements about things that only the management or record label would know. For instance telling us that the Naughty Boy produced single would 100% be the first song off the album or that this tour was inexpensive for them as a group to put on. Anyway, I shall let her get on with it from now on.

Just had a look on Twitter, some of the UK fans are well pi$$ed of nothing was announced. Like you say I am sure something will be announced soon. Would you be coming to the UK again? It would be nice to see you again.

I am going to be ultra positive and say 650K Although the US album sales market is in dire straights. There is a very interesting article from Forbes Magazine here.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcin...tinum-in-2014/

Not one album has crossed the Platinum sales (1 Million) mark in 2014. I expect that will change in Q4 with Taylor and 1D, but it really is shocking for the US to be honest.

Hehe, I love your optimism! Taylor might make it in the first week, but wow, that's really bad for the US... Not a single platinum album so far...

Delighted to see my predictions come true for the OTRA expansion. The Europe leg will surely be extended, I also wonder about the stadium availability. Wembley always has lots because it's not a club (unlike Stadium of Light) but they can work around any sports fixtures. The English sports season finishes late May, I'm gonna guess European ones about the same time. Louis apparently DM'd a fan hinting that they weren't going to leave us Brits without a show.

Taylor's sales figures will be of great interest to the industry because as you say MTUK album sales have been freefalling.

Speaking of sales and income, look how well the boys are doing!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/29739709
These are company accounts filed with Companies House so they are reliable. 1D Media is just one of the boys' companies and it's mostly UK income (the majority of the boys' money is international, taxed in Ireland). They'll have made a lot more than £6m each (who knows how much) and that was the arena tour year. This year's stadiums will have netted them a very tidy sum. If they are investing it wisely then they're set up for life

I love the fact that they set themselves up as corporations in Ireland. Corporation tax is only 12.5% as opposed to our 23%. Some people would criticize them for not paying tax in the UK but I think if anyone was as rich as they are and it is legal they'd do the same thing.

I agree that most people complain about things like that but would be doing the same thing if they could.
But they apearently pay taxes in the UK for their UK originated income (if I rightly understood?).

I would love to go back to the UK to see the boys if I can, I don't see the point in going to Paris (it might even turn out to be more expensive for me -not that it's even possible now).
Fingers crossed it all works out!

If I am not mistaken under EU law you can funnel the majority of your income through whichever company has the most favourable tax rates. Amazon put all the income from their uk website through Luxembourg and pay very little tax. Morally it may not be right but you can't blame them for doing it if it's legal.

Only three full weeks until the album is on sale Which could mean it leaks at any time lol. Did you see photos of Taylor's album on sale in a shop in Germany?

I'd like them to spread out the 5 pre-order songs like Taylor is doing rather than 1 a day for the week before the release. With the grat tracks, is it the first one that counts on the singles chart or can acts/labels choose which one will count? If they want to get a good chart position they could give the strongest of the pre-orders an official lyric or audio video (like SMG currently has) so it can get clicks when people see articles about the album. If it's one of Harry's songs I'm sure the media will say it's about Taylor.

Speaking of which, who will Harry's girlfriend be this album?

Oh wow 134,000 a day! What I could do with that but then I can't sing and have no talent I always remember Mark Owen talking on big brother about feeling like his life was over when TT split up He had all this money and no job satisfaction. I do hope the boys have a future doing other stuff that they enjoy

I'm glad I also have no talent, I'm completely unenvious of their success (well, maybe not completely).

I feel all the boys have a shot of a fulfilling life after 1D, they seem to have always been aware that pop groups have a short lifespan and explored other things. Like Liam and Harry getting involved in making music for other acts. Zayn will hopefully make music with Labrinth and Naughty Boy (I'm not giving up on that lol), and Louis is probably a better behind the scenes operator than I give him credit for. It was nice to see him on the X Factor. And Niall is Niall, if he had nothing to do but play golf, watch TV with friends and go to music concerts he'd be happy

It depends how ambitious the boys are. i don't think any of them is going to have a Beyonce, Robbie or JT career of sustained success over more than 10 years (and perhaps they wouldn't want to) but they could do ok. The Spice Girls have all had successful careers, although the musical success has decreased. Like you say, it's keeping busy that's the trick. I think Howard said that after TT split he pretty much sat on the sofa for years.