It’s a good thing she's downsized to arenas. She’s no longer able to sell stadiums out the world over like The Rolling Stones and U2. Some of the video footage from the MDNA tour is embarrassing. Only putting half a stadium in Gothenburg on sale is not selling it out. I know you have to factor the size of the stage into that, but the stage wasn’t big enough to only put 35,000 seats on sale in a stadium that can fit 75,000. This occurred in multiple venues throughout the tour including the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, The Aviva Stadium in Dublin, the Olympic Stadium in Kiev, and the National Stadium in Warsaw, there are even empty seats on the video footage of several arena shows.
Here are some pics from the MDNA Tour:
http://s30.postimg.org/su28cdwwx/69_F0_J.jpg
http://s22.postimg.org/l496p11n5/DSC01956.jpg
http://s2.postimg.org/d44pa6d0p/mdna_dublin1.jpg
http://s3.postimg.org/nh8sr5y8z/q_Og_Dp.jpg
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Live Nation usually reports all their artists’ shows as being sold out claiming it's not the capacity of the venue but the tickets on sale, this is why most of their tours are listed as sold out on Wikipedia even though that isn’t always technically true. They lied about Madonna's Hyde Park gig in 2012 when they claimed it was the biggest concert ever held in the park despite the fact that The Rolling Stones played to between 250,000 and 500,000 fans in the park way back in 1969
Two of my friends went to see Madonna in Montreal in September and said there were about a thousand empty seats yet it was sold out according to Wikipedia. Trust me, it wasn't. Some of the upcoming European shows still haven’t sold out and the Australian leg is nowhere near sold out despite the fact it’s her first tour there in 20 years. There was supposed to be a third show in London, but it was cancelled quietly behind the scenes due to slow ticket sales of the first two shows. The Asian leg is going to be her saviour this time around.
Someone on another forum compared the Rebel Heart Tour ticket sales to those from previous tours at the same venue, this is what they wrote:
Quote:
“But, when compared to her previous tours in those same venues as you say:
-She did 2 nights at Bell Center in Montreal with S&S Tour and it had 34,301 attendees... 26,468 this time.
-Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia was sold out in MDNA Tour with 15,741 attendees... reported as sold out now with 10,544.
-Boston was sold out with 13,995 in MDNA Tour... sold out now with 12,780.
So some of those don't seem to be really sold out... I know the stage and production varies from one tour to another, she has chairs on the floor now, so there are more or less seats available... but not 5k people less in the same venue, IMO.”
Madonna’s tours gross a lot of money because her ticket prices are so high. High ticket prices = higher gross, it’s not rocket science. I know people still fork out the money to go and see her, but that doesn’t change the fact her ticket prices boost her box office big time. She has the most expensive tickets of 2015 beating Fleetwood Mac. Her Sticky & Sweet Tour grossed more than U2’s Vertigo Tour despite the fact that she a) played 46 shows less than them, and b) played to over one million less people. Madonna knows full well she wouldn't break any records if she charged regular ticket prices like many other singers and bands.
And no, a basic Madonna tour wouldn't work. She needs a big production to entertain people. She wouldn't be able to entertain people by standing on stage for two hours with just a live band behind her. She doesn't have a good enough voice. She needs the backing track, the backing dancers, moving platforms and pretty lights to entertain people. She's like a 58-year-old Katy Perry and Britney Spears.
It's obvious Madonna's future is no longer in the singles chart. She hasn't had a number one in America for 15 years, the only Billboard chart she can still top is the irrelevant Dance one. She hasn't had a substantial hit in the UK or worldwide for six years.