PETER GABRIEL - I/O: The Tour 2023 (general info)

    Quote from Backdrifter

    My inflation calculator tells me that's £11.80 now. Even the worst seat in a theatre gig, which what I imagine your 77 one was, would be at least £25 now depending on the act.

    Manchester Apollo, 29/4/77, seat X18 in the stalls, a good seat! I think at the time of his first tour PG would not have been able to command higher ticket prices. By the time he played the same venue in 1983 (same seat category) the price had almost trebled to £7. I agree that ticket prices are much, in many cases, too high these days, but then I suspect there are many more people wanting a piece of the action these days, plus the actual cost of taking all that kit on the road that really is not needed. I've another ticket stub I've just looked at for Muse at Grosse Freiheit in Hamburg, October 2003, Euro 21 (£15 at the time) That was the time they were playing arenas in UK, with arena prices!

    Quote from seftonave

    Manchester Apollo, 29/4/77, seat X18 in the stalls, a good seat! I think at the time of his first tour PG would not have been able to command higher ticket prices. By the time he played the same venue in 1983 (same seat category) the price had almost trebled to £7.

    There are 3 ticket price milestones when I thought, wow these are getting expensive. One was the very one you mentioned, the 1983 PG tour. Before that I'd seen him, Genesis and Hackett at Hammersmith Odeon in 1980, for around £3, £3.50 (£11.70, £13.70 now). On the 83 tour, same venue it was £7.50 (£23.30 now) which seemed steep, a significant increase. Genesis the year before had been the same price and for the first time it was a flat price for the whole tour, not with different prices per venue.


    (The IT Wembley tix in 87 were £15 [= £39.60 now], which made me gulp as it came out of my student overdraft - I remember my friend Bill Rowley wincing and saying "that's a ferocious price!" PG at Earls Court was £12).


    The next 2 major hikes happened at the same time in 2001, U2 at £45 (--->£77) and Madonna at £80 (-->£137), both Earls Court. Which makes the Madonna one the first to more or less align with what they are now.


    Imagine Genesis playing anywhere on the last tour, let alone Wembley Stadium and it being under £40.

    Abandon all reason

    Quote from thewatcher

    Seems to be outpacing inflation. I wonder if there are structural reasons behind it (transport logistics, carbon taxes in different jurisdictions, more middle men etc).

    I imagine the massive drop in revenues from album sales is another significant factor in ticket prices across the board.

    Fans aren't buying LPs and CDs like they used to.

    Quote from Witchwood

    I imagine the massive drop in revenues from album sales is another significant factor in ticket prices across the board.

    Fans aren't buying LPs and CDs like they used to.

    For sure it is. Nevertheless those high ticket prices make concerts unaffordable for large parts of our society. I think that is the case for most countries. Sadly.

    ... make tomorrow today!

    I just looked at the level of ticket sales for the UK tour.


    The sales are more than average: with the inflation crisis and the poverty that is setting in, the venues are filled to about 60%.


    The lack of new material (even if the album is coming) and the very high price of the tickets are an obvious brake. And Peter doesn't have the same impact on the crowds as Genesis.


    I think he'll still manage to fill up the venues by May.


    Sales are much better on the rest of the European tour.

    If I remember correctly his UK shows during the SGU tour were not the biggest success as well. But probably sales will increase a bit when album promotion begins :/

    ...

    • Official Post

    Sales very quite different in North America 2002. Canada was fine, but several US shows were like 1/3 empty. On the European leg, shows were sold well, especially in Germany. I saw two London shows in 2004 and both were not sold out.

    During the Back To Front Tour, all shows I have seen (outside the UK only) were pretty much sold out.

    • Official Post

    A Little correction. I think the two London shows I went to were in 2003, not 2004

    Quote from thewatcher

    Seems to be outpacing inflation. I wonder if there are structural reasons behind it (transport logistics, carbon taxes in different jurisdictions, more middle men etc).

    The music business model is the reverse of what it was in the 1970s, i.e., in the '70s, bands made money selling records and tours were merely marketing vehicles to drum up sales. Bands, rarely, if ever , made money on tour in the 1970s. I had chat many, many moon ago with the promoter who brought Genesis to the Tower Theater in Philly for the SEBTP tour and he said something like "I paid them $250, and their touring expenses were $500". My numbers might be slightly off, but not by a lot. Today, bands make zero dollars selling albums, hence the financial model dictates that they make a killing touring. The first act to do this big time was the Eagles on their Hell Freezes over Tour in 1994? Tickets were insanely exorbitant, something like $150, which was unheard of. But boomers (of which I am i part of the very late segment) forked over the money. Guess what? Every other '70s band starts kicking up their ticket prices after that "watershed" tour. It's a great time to be a promoter since they stand to make major $$$$$$$$ from tours.

    • Official Post

    Some issues about the Munich show

    You may have seen the newsletter, so there are now more seats than originally planned.

    Problem: With more than 10,000 tix already sold, they needed to rearrange the seats and standing areas. German ticket holders are not really pleased ...

    I think my impression of the amazing live show comes from the growing up DVD, now that I come to think of it. The parts where he was upside down doing that duet with his daughter, the big zorg (??) ball he was in for growing up, and the big electricity type lighting effect on Signal to Noise.


    Would really look forward to a show of his. He seems to be a proper innovator with his live spectacle.

    I've seen him a number of times on various tours from 1980 through to whenever the orchestral one was. They've largely been visually striking in some way, with the exception of that orchestral one and 07, and always overall enjoyable. I'm going to two of the UK ones and looking forward to them.

    Abandon all reason

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