Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! When Bono and co. wrapped their 360 tour in July, it became the highest-grossing and biggest ticket-selling tour in the history of the music business, according to Billboard. While U2 are known for their stadium-sized riffs and larger-than-life fame, they now officially hold the title for the biggest band in the world - at least as far as tours go. The magazine reports that their 360 outing raked in $736,421,586 over the course of it's three-year run. Take that, Rolling Stones.
The tour was an exercise in hugeness. "
As time moves on and we get further away from it, it actually seems more impressive than when you're actually in the middle of it," sayd
Arthur Fogel, Live Nation Global Touring chairman. "
It just leaves a tremendous sense of accomplishment, and is without a doubt one of the greatest experiences in the business that I've ever had."
The 360 tour was as all-encompassing as its name suggests. The jaunt generated $293.3 million in box office and close to three million tickets sold during the Billboard calendar year alone, which ran from Nov. 1, 2010 to Nov. 8, 2011. Fogel shoots down the notion that the 360 tour is somehow different from the majority of tours in the industry.
"I don't subscribe to the theory at all that somehow this tour is its own animal," he says. "This is what drives our business, this is what gets people excited about going to shows, this is what proves that we are the real deal as an industry. When you can capture the attention and imagination and enjoyment of seven million people, that's what this business is all about."
With album sales on a constant decline, U2's high (though obviously nowhere close to standard) grossing numbers are certainly refreshing. And mind-boggling.
Thanks for the report to Spinner.com.
